Beneath Deep Space

The ion engines of the six spacecrafts emitted light blue flames, gradually moving away from the Deep Space...

After everyone's strong dissuasion, Yu Yifeng did not appear in person this time. He just stood on the observation deck of the Deep Space and watched these spacecraft leave...

Half a day later, all spacecrafts, with "Titan Z" as the center, successfully reached the sky above "Dige 114", about 15,000 kilometers from the surface.

They then begin to slowly slow down to lower their orbital altitude.

If the plan can be implemented smoothly, the five "Leviathan" spacecraft will enter a low-Earth orbit 1,000 kilometers above the ground to carry out remote control missions for unmanned machinery.

1,000 kilometers is equivalent to the distance between some artificial satellites and the earth, and the signal delay generated is quite acceptable...

As for "Titan Z", it stays on the orbit of 3,000 kilometers.

It will be responsible for relevant data processing and providing necessary fire support...

"Titan Z" is still a bit large in size and is specially designed for war. In order to maximize its combat capability, it looks like a spherical space fortress with various complex weapons and facilities inside.

But this complex structure also has certain limitations... Like Deep Space, it cannot land on the planet.

"If Titan Z goes too far into the planet's gravity well, it will be difficult to climb out. Its own ion engine is not powerful enough."

"Looking at it this way, should we design a large spacecraft specifically for climbing deep gravity wells?" Yu Yifeng couldn't help but ask in the captain's room.

"You mean...a big spaceship that can land on planets? The manufacturing cost is too high, there is no need!"

"Every structure of this kind of spaceship needs to be redesigned, which is troublesome."

Yuriko shook her head and said calmly, "You know, the curvature engine cannot be used in places with strong gravity. According to our current theory, the spacecraft still has to jet in the opposite direction to obtain propulsion power..."

"The ion engine sprays high-speed plasma. In principle, it still sprays in the opposite direction... It's very low-end, isn't it? How much gas does a 100-million-ton large spacecraft need to spray if it wants to fly out of the atmosphere?"

Having said this, she smiled slightly and said: "So climbing the deep gravity well and the space elevator are already good choices."

Yu Yifeng nodded: "That's true. It's very economical to use electrical energy to convert potential energy... So, what about certain propulsion methods without working fluids? Is there any scientific research progress?"

Yuriko thought for a while and shook her head: "Laser propulsion is the current mainstream of research and has achieved some success. But the propulsion power is not strong and it is difficult to improve. Microwave propulsion has the same problem..."

"Without working fluid propulsion, the price-performance ratio is completely unsatisfactory. We fire a large number of high-energy lasers backwards, but the recoil in return is just a little bit... I think it is unlikely that working fluid propulsion will replace the ion engine, unless there is a theoretical basis qualitative change!”

"Is it so difficult to push without working substance...Okay..." Yu Yifeng sighed.

While talking like this, the scientists ahead have made new discoveries.

Perhaps because of the war, scattered space junk is scattered in the low-Earth orbit of space, all moving at high speed around the planet.

These space junks are very annoying to aerospace engineering because they have a certain probability of hitting the spacecraft and causing major accidents. Their speed is more than ten times that of ordinary bullets, so their kinetic energy is much higher than that of bullets.

Although the human spacecraft has been reinforced in key parts, it will still be in trouble if it is hit by large space junk.

Therefore, the automatic defense lasers of each spacecraft are all turned on...

"Space junk never occurs naturally, it can only be man-made!" When all scientists see space junk, it's like seeing a treasure...

Immediately afterwards, among this pile of space junk, people observed a spherical device similar to a communication satellite, flying rapidly.

Its speed is about 7 kilometers per second.

One of the captains reacted very quickly. The moment he observed the satellite, he immediately said excitedly: "Capture! Capture it!"

Following the captain's order, a highly maneuverable "Yuyan" escaped from the frigate and began to accelerate, chasing the satellite.

After approaching the satellite, the robotic arm throws out a soft material similar to an airgel mesh to slow down the satellite.

The satellite was successfully covered and slid inside for a certain distance. The speed finally dropped to the same level as the spacecraft.

Then, it was pulled back into the spacecraft...

"...Captured a satellite?"

The distance between Deep Space and the six spacecraft is 900,000 kilometers, and the images seen are all delayed by 3 seconds. Therefore, Yu Yifeng received the news 3 seconds later, and he frowned slightly.

If it were him, before capturing the satellite, he would definitely check it carefully to see if it was working properly to rule out some potential dangers.

Therefore, from his perspective, the captain's approach was a bit reckless...

However, he didn't say much.

The distance of 900,000 kilometers takes almost six seconds to come and go. This delay is still too large to be convenient for command. Therefore, Yu Yifeng simply delegated most of his powers to each captain in advance, allowing them to make decisions on their own within the safety regulations.

This mission is also an exercise for the soldier group.

Except for "Titan Z" whose captain is Xu Yunjin, and the captain of the next "Leviathan" is Zhao Yao, the other four ships are all new captains.

In fact, they cannot be called "new recruits", but the kind who have never fought in a war or seen blood...

There is no way, we can't protect them all the time. They have enough training, but their sense of crisis and mission experience are still seriously lacking...

After the satellite was transported back to the spacecraft, the first inspection was quickly conducted.

Its mass is about 560 kilograms, and a small hole was punched out of its core by some kind of weapon. Because of this hole, it has become a pile of space junk and does not emit any signals.

"...The danger level should be low, and theoretically there will be no bombs or the like."

After assessing the risk, the scientists immediately used a robotic arm to isolate and dismantle it and analyze its specific performance.

The first thing to analyze is the material system.

The results show that both metal and glass are the most common low-level space materials, such as titanium alloy, magnesium alloy, fiberglass, etc.

Its level...is not even comparable to the Knicks civilization!

"These materials look so familiar...well, I'm not telling you, we seem to have used them before, right?"

"Yeah... are the technology trees of every civilization the same?" Several scientists asked in confusion.

"To put it lightly, you want to create a unique technology tree... This kind of low-level technology may be really similar in every low-level civilization. Only after reaching a higher level, with more and more development directions, Only the unique technology that forms civilization..." They analyzed and speculated.