Chapter 380: Space City

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio  Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Why would a regular battery be the one to blow the trumpets of humanity’s journey into the universe, and symbolize the dawn of the era of interstellar voyaging?

The High Energy 3 battery had an energy density close to that of gasoline. Why wouldn’t the fuel of the future be nuclear batteries, which had an even higher energy density, or the small fusion reactor?

The answer was obvious. Nuclear batteries were bulky, heavy, and had the danger of radiation. Aside from larger spacecraft, it was difficult to install them in smaller vehicles. High Energy 3 batteries had the advantages of high energy density, no radiation, improved safety and stability, and a wider application and bigger commercial value in the field of aerospace.

Seeing that the time was right, Chen Jin wasted no time. He immediately ordered the public announcement of Xing Hai Technologies’ outer space development plans, thus displaying their wild ambitions towards outer space in front of all their capitals and investors.

There were three main contents in the announcement.

First, the “Space City Project.”

“In the next 50 to 100 years, it is estimated that Xing Hai Technologies will build more than 100 structures in space consisting of space cities, space smelters, and space factories. We will migrate more than 100 million people into these developments to become permanent residents in space cities. After conducting simulations on our supercomputers, we have identified that the cost of building a space city is lower than migrating humans to the moon or Mars. The involved expenditures will be much lower than if we tried to terraform the moon or the Martian environment. We can build our space cities at roughly 36,000 to 100,000 kilometers within Earth’s circular orbit. It will ease the transportation of materials from Earth or the moon and save a lot on traveling distance and time.”

The representative of Xing Hai continued with the announcement, explaining all the exciting details to shareholders and the public.

“After space cities are built, we can flexibly deploy them to various locations according to the function of the city. For instance, with the city’s power system or traction device, an entire space city could relocate itself to the upper orbit of Mars to enhance developments on the red planet. They can also be relocated to the periphery of the asteroid belts or even to the orbit of Jupiter to harvest the resources nearby. We believe that unless there is a large amount of water on a certain planet, the cost-effectiveness of transforming planetary environments will be far less than the construction of a space city. It’s like the comparison between laying a carpet or making a pair of shoes. Both cushion your feet, but the latter has greater flexibility. Xing Hai Technologies will go full steam ahead on our ‘Space City’ project. Free Cities in space will be born one after another in our hands.”

Second, “Asteroid Mining Plan.”

The plan was to produce more than 100 “Mining Mother Ships” that utilized nuclear fusion in their energy system. The mother ships would have a tonnage of more than two million tons and would be equipped with various types of mining, mineral processing and smelting equipment for mining minerals on asteroids. If necessary, “Mining Mother Ships” would work closely with “Space Smelting Cities” with strong comprehensive capabilities, to increase the efficiency of resource extraction.

The third addition to Xing Hai’s plan was to enter the space tourism, space transportation, space medical, space adventure, and other industries to provide users with a safer and more complete service.

After Xing Hai Technologies’ space development plans were announced, a shockwave spread across the industry.

Heated discussions transpired all around the world. The share prices of hundreds of aerospace companies plummeted dramatically. Innumerable investors issued requests to Xing Hai Technologies, as they were generally optimistic about the company.

Xing Hai Technologies had the strongest technical prowess. Their proposed scheme would be more feasible, and the most reasonable.

“The truth will be exposed once an expert puts his hand into it. Compared to Xing Hai Technologies’ scheme, those hyped up proposals of other space companies are instantly overwhelmed by flaws. With just a single glance, I can tell that they’re solely after the investor’s money,” said one shareholder.

“At this stage, the ‘Space City’ scheme is indeed the best choice. Since the sun will shine on space cities 24 hours a day, their solar power generation capacity will be doubled compared with that of rotating planets. Besides, if our spacecraft were to depart from a space city to other places, there would be no need for them to be accelerated until escape velocity which would save a lot of fuel and energy. Another benefit is the incredible flexibility. ‘Space Cities’ can be relocated to any desired location, and can be backed up quickly if they were to come across any trouble,” discussed another investor.

“In a comprehensive comparison, the Space City scheme is indeed the best.”

“I think that it isn’t a bad thing to build settlements on the surface of planets. It isn’t that we’ll need to terraform the entire planet’s environment, just a few eco-cities built like a ‘dome base’ will do. The distance of transporting resources will indeed be further, and initial costs will surely be higher. But after realizing autonomy at later phases, the cost of running the planet will be minimal while it is also able to continuously deliver resources back to Earth. Wouldn’t settling on planets be the better choice?” argued another man, voicing his dissent.

“Autonomy? This means a complete industrial system or at least a set of primary industrial systems. Do you know how much that will cost on a barren planet? Besides, industrial production consumes enormous amounts of water. In the lack of water resources, engaging in any kind of activity will consume a ton of money. In the end, Space Cities are still far better in terms of cost-effectiveness.”

“Planets are dead fixed as they move about a permanent orbit. But we humans are very indefinite as we may face all kinds of unexpected circumstances at any given time. Space development activities are plagued with danger. Even if a single item is neglected, we might have to pay for our mistakes with our own lives,” said a concerned individual. “For that reason, I would trust Space Cities more. After all, cities can be positioned near the Earth during their initial phase. After testing their operations for a decade or so, the cities’ reliability can be improved rapidly.”

“If it is built on a planet, a settlement may be destroyed if a hole is smashed through its protective dome. It will be years of waiting before backup arrives, just like what happened in “The Martian.” No one would want to fall into such a mess.”

“Within these two days, more than a thousand space companies have adjusted their previous space development plans and decided to go with Xing Hai Technologies’ Space City concept. Some requested to join Xing Hai Technologies while some even begged to be acquired. The big shot has arrived to unify the industry.

“That’s pretty good. Resources on earth are not limitless. We shouldn’t waste too many resources in the wrong place. Companies that follow Xing Hai Technologies’ footsteps will generally be able to avoid risks and make some profit.”

“The true, profitable interstellar voyaging era has officially begun under Xing Hai Technologies’ lead.”

The ultimate plan that Chen Jin had been holding onto had finally been unleashed.

The development of Xing Hai Technologies was complete and on the right track. They no longer had to deal with any restrictions. Their future development would only get better and better without much to worry about. He was now a man in his forties, though he looked younger, and he was already bored with many things and worn out of any interest. Being invincible was truly lonesome.

“As I look across the field, all of them are heralds. I lack any challenge at all.”

Chen Jin shook his head. He felt that he should put aside less important things and go do something more challenging.

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