Super Plane Mall

Chapter 292 Entering the Asteroid Belt
Although Zhu Lei knows that the possibility of a war between the Ming Empire and other universes is very small, it is not impossible. For example, the last time the Ming Empire and the Ruhr Stars actually fought in two different planes, so Zhu Lei can say with certainty that the Ming Empire will still have wars with other planes in the future, so the less other planes know about the Ming Empire, especially in terms of core technology, the greater the Ming Empire's chances of winning.

The asteroid belt in the solar system is composed of a group of planetesimals in the original solar nebula, which are the predecessors of planets smaller than planets. However, due to the influence of Jupiter’s gravity, these planetesimals were prevented from forming planets, causing many planetesimals to collide with each other, forming There are many debris and debris, among which the three largest small stars in the asteroid belt are Pallas, Juno and Vesta.

The average diameter of these three asteroids is more than 400 kilometers, and there is also a dwarf planet in the asteroid belt, Ceres, with a diameter of about 950 kilometers. The rest of the asteroids are relatively small, and some are even the size of dust. Due to the long time, the asteroid belt is now very thin. The asteroids in the asteroid belt are mainly divided into three categories according to their properties, carbonaceous, silicate and metallic.

According to the calculations and computer simulation results of Zhu Lei's scientists in his previous life and the current scientists of the Ming Empire, the mass of the asteroid belt in the primitive period may be equal to or even higher than the total mass of the earth, but in a long period of time, Most of the material in the asteroid belt was thrown out, and what remains now is only one-thousandth of its original mass.

Moreover, there is also a large amount of ice formed by the condensation of water in the asteroid belt, and scientists believe that most of the water on the earth comes from this.

And now the asteroid belt will still be subject to many disturbances, such as the melting caused by the collision between asteroids, the heat from the asteroid itself, the collisions from celestial bodies in the universe, and the gravitational influence from Mars, all of which will make the asteroids The interior of the planet is extremely unstable, so there are many meteors from asteroids on the earth every year.

Due to the size of the spacecraft, the spacecraft that explored the asteroid belt this time was called Explorer 2, while the spacecraft that explored Venus before was called Explorer [-].
The captain of the Explorer 2 spacecraft is Geng Mingzhong. He was also an officer of the Zhuque Army of the Ming Empire, and he also participated in the war against the Ruhr Stars, and performed well in the war. When he was studying in the academy, he performed extremely well, so he was selected as the captain of Explorer 2.

After Explorer 2 entered the range of the asteroid, Explorer 2 turned on all the detection equipment on the spacecraft, and also activated all the weapon systems on the spacecraft. After all, navigating in the asteroid belt is no better than other places.

Moreover, when he was about to enter the asteroid belt, he also launched hundreds of small probes into the asteroid belt. The main function of these probes is to monitor the various radiation, temperature, and physical composition inside the asteroid. probing.

And these detectors will detect various gravitational influences that are tiring. After all, the asteroid belt is too close to Jupiter, and Jupiter is the planet with the most terrifying magnetic field in the entire solar system except the sun. The impact is also very large.

Although the current material in the asteroid belt is only one-thousandth of its heyday, the material is very thin, and Explorer 2 has thick armor. Generally, small-sized asteroids are not very dangerous to Explorer 2, but Geng Mingzhong and the others still dare not take it lightly, after all, the speed of the Explorer 2 spacecraft is very fast now.

Most of the asteroids in the asteroid belt still pose a deadly threat to Explorer 2, so now all the weapons on Explorer 2 are ready at all times, once they find a small asteroid that threatens the spacecraft planet, then they will destroy it immediately.

So at this time, the operation data of all asteroids within tens of thousands of kilometers from Explorer 2 are in the large computer inside Explorer 2.

If the computer calculates that there are asteroids that are threatening to Explorer 2, the weapon system on Explorer 2 will destroy these asteroids immediately. Maybe some asteroids are still a little away from Explorer 2. For Explorer The threat of No. 2 is not very great, but these asteroids still pose a certain threat to Explorer 2, especially if the trajectory of these asteroids changes, they will directly collide with Explorer 2. So this situation is something that the people on board don't want to see.

In the next few days, Explorer 2 has been sailing in the asteroid belt, and during this time, Explorer 2 has launched hundreds of exploration satellites into the interior of the asteroid, but they have also gained a lot. They found that The interior of the entire asteroid belt is very rich in metal resources, especially some precious metals and rare metals.

For example, during this period of time, they have discovered several asteroids composed of pure gold and diamonds in the interior of the asteroid belt.

Although it is said that the Ming Empire no longer implements the gold standard system, gold is still a very valuable heavy metal, and now due to the development of technology in the Ming Empire, gold and diamonds are needed in many industrial fields. To artificially produce diamonds that are exactly the same as natural diamonds.

However, it would cost a lot of money, which is very uneconomical, not to mention gold, after all, gold is an element in nature, so it is impossible to create gold out of thin air with the current technology of the Ming Empire.

So the price of gold and naturally occurring diamonds is still very expensive, and even the price of gold is higher than when the earth implemented the gold standard system 20 years ago.

And the value of every moment of these asteroids composed of high-grade gold ore they found is now incalculable.

However, although they found that these asteroids are not very large, it is still very difficult for the current Ming Empire to move these asteroids to the moon for mining and smelting. Most of the other spaceships, including Explorer 2 and Explorer [-], are not capable of long-distance voyages, so it is simply unrealistic to move these asteroids with these three research ships alone.

So the staff on the spacecraft can only sigh and continue to detect asteroids. Although gold is no longer linked to currency, so many gold and diamonds still have a considerable impact on them, and they can see it now. One can imagine the feeling of not being able to have them.

(End of this chapter)