Chapter 69: Orignal Ecology
Under the push of scorching flames, this rocket, powered purely by chemical fuel, began its fierce acceleration.
In the Bluetook settlement, Momolans looked at the bright sun in the sky with a sense of awe.
Although the technology was very backward, so backward it was like barbarians, what era was it that they were still using chemical fuel rockets, but...
To be able to build such a large rocket, it was truly a goddamn marvel.
He inexplicably felt a sensation similar to reading a history book and seeing his ancestors, in an era when they hadn’t even mastered iron tools, somehow building giant structures hundreds of meters tall.
"This civilization... is strange everywhere.
Their technology is so backward, yet they can achieve Deep Space exploration by building such large rockets;
They only have gunpowder guns, yet they can defeat our armed fleet;
So many people, yet they can cooperate so harmoniously, and everyone gives their all without complaint; is the civilization’s unity really that high...
The strangest thing is that everyone looks so similar, but you can’t ask about it; if you do, you’ll be tortured. It seems saying they look similar is an insult to them. How strange..."
Momolans sighed softly and cautiously retreated into the living quarters assigned to him.
Now, he wanted nothing but to cooperate fully, suffer less torture, and survive until the main fleet of his civilization arrived.
By then, I will be free...
By then, I will definitely ask again why all their people look so similar, and see if they still dare to torture me...
...
In space, Tom watched the giant rocket gradually moving away with a solemn expression.
Amidst the intense combustion of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, its speed had now reached over ten kilometers per second relative to Loshen Star.
At the same time, the more than twenty thousand tons of fuel in the third stage of the rocket had also been completely consumed.
Separate!
Upon receiving an instruction, the third stage of the rocket, which occupied two-thirds of the rocket body’s length, immediately detached. The second stage then ignited, pushing the greatly reduced mass of the rocket body to continue accelerating.
Faster and faster, faster and faster.
After that, the second stage rocket detached, and the third stage rocket ignited. Finally, the probe separated from the third stage rocket and entered into an inertial flight state.
At this moment, its speed had reached an ultra-high velocity that none of Tom’s spacecraft had ever achieved, reaching over 80 kilometers per second!
Furthermore, as it approached the sun, its speed would continue to increase.
Because the process of approaching the sun can be compared to a heavy object falling from a height towards the ground.
In Tom’s calculations, when it was closest to the sun, the probe’s speed would reach its highest, even exceeding 300 kilometers per second.
Yes, it was not flying directly to Earth, but rather first to the sun, accelerating throughout this process, then, after orbiting the sun, using the sun’s gravity to decelerate before finally reaching Earth.
But... even at such a high speed, it would take approximately 6.5 years for this probe to travel from Loshen Star to Earth.
It wasn’t that Tom didn’t want it to be faster, but that he couldn’t make it so.
Even the current speed was achieved through the consumption of tens of thousands of tons of fuel.
A super-giant rocket with a total mass of over seventy thousand tons served only this five-ton probe, and ultimately could only accelerate it to its current speed.
And within this five-ton probe, as much as 4500 kg of its payload was also fuel, used for deceleration when approaching Earth.
Otherwise, it would not be able to stay in Earth’s orbit.
In the end, the truly effective payload that reached Earth was only 0.5 tons.
Pure chemical fuel propulsion was indeed this wasteful.
But there was no other way. At this moment, Tom had not even touched upon the high-speed ion propulsion used by the Bluetook Civilization, let alone the secondary pressurized propulsion technology used by humans.
At this moment, this small probe had plunged into Deep Space, flying rapidly towards the sun.
And apart from some data about coordinates and equipment operating status, Tom couldn’t even use the telescope on this probe to get a glimpse of the distant scenery.
Because, apart from the most crucial core equipment, all other equipment on this probe was in a dormant state and had not been activated.
Their operation required energy, electricity, and power generation through burning fuel. But now, the 4.5 tons of fuel it carried were so precious that they could not be lightly used.
"When we get a little closer to the sun, we’ll be able to deploy the solar panels and get electricity from the sun. Things will be better then," Tom thought, his mind heavy with concern.
Time passed quietly, and in a blink of an eye, several years had gone by.
During this period, Tom had been working on the reverse engineering of Bluetook Civilization’s technological creations. Although not many technologies could be used immediately, there were still some.
Under Tom’s various methods, the captured Lantu Ke, even if unwilling and hateful, eventually joined the effort to advance Tom’s technological development, objectively contributing much strength.
As a result, the Loshen Star base cluster had been in a state of rapid development, with continuous iteration of technology and equipment.
By this time, the probe had flown a distance of over ten billion kilometers, entering the Solar System from its edge and approaching Neptune, the outermost large planet.
Here, the probe performed its first orbital maneuver, briefly activating its propulsion and turning on its camera for a period to record images of Neptune.
Looking at the vast, azure gas planet, Tom’s mind spontaneously recalled the time he passed by it aboard the Deep Space Spaceship.
"Hello, Neptune."
At this moment, the probe’s speed had increased to 102 kilometers per second, and it was still slowly increasing.
After passing Neptune, the next planet it would pass was Jupiter.
At Jupiter, the probe briefly activated again, and then headed straight for the sun.
Finally, at a distance of only 5 million kilometers from the sun, the probe grazed past the sun.
After circling behind the sun, the probe began decelerating with full effort.
The 4.5 tons of fuel began to burn, generating scorching gas, pushing the small probe to rapidly decelerate. Finally, when its speed dropped to only 9.7 kilometers per second, it caught up with Earth and entered Earth’s orbit.
After a long 14-hour delay, the command from Loshen Star finally arrived.
The probe adjusted its attitude, aiming its optical telescope at Earth.
After an equally long delay of more than ten hours, the signal from the probe was received by the giant antenna array and finally displayed before Tom.
Tom saw the azure oceans, the verdant forests, the emerald grasslands, and the desolate deserts.
What appeared before him was an Earth that seemed untouched by any pollution, unaltered by any intelligent life, completely and utterly pristine.