Voyage of the Stars

Chapter 48 Set sail
After reaching the fifth stage, Hope will continue to rotate at a rotation speed of about 1.27rmp, and then embark on the journey to the stars.

Although humans have lived on Callisto for decades, it is far behind compared to Earth.You must know that humans have evolved to adapt to the earth's environment, whether it is physiological structure, cell memory, growth process, or genetic information.

It has been more than 40 billion years since the first single-celled animals were born.

Therefore, no matter what time it is, the earth's gravity environment is the most suitable for humans.

Because of this, the new government decided that the final simulated gravity of the Hope spacecraft should be set at a value similar to the Earth's environment.

The speed of 1.27rmp prevents humans from being adversely affected by the Coriolis effect. It can be said that the design of the Hope spacecraft has met expectations.

More than a month passed quickly. During this period, the speed of the spacecraft slowly increased step by step. After rounds of adaptation, people once again regained the feeling of the earth's gravity environment.

In fact, if you include hibernation time, it stands to reason that most people have lived in the environment on Callisto for decades, and it is impossible to re-adapt to the Earth's gravity environment in just over a month.

However, due to the needs of space development, humans had some relevant drugs to assist in this adaptation process long before the disaster occurred.

When the human body adapts to the microgravity environment, the fluid in the whole body will decrease by a full liter, and because the cardiovascular system does not need to overcome gravity to supply blood to the brain, the function of the heart muscle will gradually weaken.

If you want to return to the Earth's gravity environment, there must be a slow process.

"Hope, set sail! Target: Ross 154"

After everyone adapted to the spacecraft environment, Yue Yuan finally issued the order he had been waiting for for more than 40 years.

This target was not chosen randomly, but was determined by astronomers as the best destination after decades of observations.

If you follow normal thinking, it is definitely best to go to the nearest star that is too far away, but the nearest star Proxima Centauri, including the Centauri triple star system to which it belongs, has exploded, so humans naturally cannot go there.

So the scientists had to choose another destination.

After decades of studying the direction and speed of Callisto drifting in space, as well as the moving direction of the dust cloud after the supernova explosion, we also compared several stars closest to humans, the number of planets they have, possible resource distribution, etc. Taking a combination of factors, they finally came to the conclusion, Ross 154.

In fact, there is a closer star in terms of distance, that is Wolf 359, which is only 7.7 light-years away.Originally it was the preferred destination, but because it is in a system with only two planets, one rocky and one gaseous.

According to scientists’ observation data, the rocky planet is still close to its main sequence star. Judging from its orbital position and the surface temperature of the main sequence star, the surface temperature of the rocky planet is very likely to remain at 480~500 degrees Celsius. between degrees Celsius.

It is impossible for humans to mine resources on such a harsh planet.

Ross 154 is much better. According to the radial velocity method, humans know that it has seven planets, two of which are likely to be giant gas planets, and the other five are rocky planets. The key is that the five rocky planets are still Is it the closest to the main sequence star? .
The so-called radial velocity method is simply a method of detecting whether a star system has a planet based on the gravitational interaction between the planet and the star.

It is one of the seven methods for detecting extraterrestrial planets. It is roughly measured based on the gravitational influence of a planet on its main sequence star. When a planet orbits, its gravity will cause the star to "wobble" slightly. The larger the planet, The greater the impact on the star.

This star's "wobble" can tell people how many planets a star system has and how big they are.This technique is also known as the Doppler method because it measures the changes in the star's light caused by gravity, because it captures the tiny wobbles caused by the planet toward or away from the star it orbits. Color of light.

Scientists infer that in addition to the five rocky planets, there should be many satellite systems, which is simply a paradise for humans today.

And although Ross 154 is a red dwarf star with a surface temperature of only 3470 Kelvin, which is 3196.85 degrees Celsius, with today's human technology, as long as it is a shining star, there are ways to obtain energy.

Following Yue Yuan's order, the Hope, the spacecraft that carries all the hopes of mankind, finally embarked on this long, 9.545 light-year long road.

In fact, Ross 154 was originally about 9.693 light-years away from the solar system, but Callisto carried humans a certain distance, so when Hope set sail, it became 9.545 light-years away.The light of nuclear fission lit up the dark Callisto, and the blue flame illuminated the silver Hope.

The Hope, located in the synchronous orbit of Callisto, began to slowly change its orbit driven by three huge fission thrusters.

Its orbit changes from circular to elliptical.

Yes, unlike the awesome interstellar voyages in the novel, the Hope did not jump out from the synchronous orbit of Callisto all of a sudden. It needed to change orbit, change orbit, and change orbit again, and then finally land on Callisto. Fly out with the help of gravity.

That's right, it's a gravity slingshot.

Although Callisto has a pitifully small mass and is not suitable for use as a gravitational slingshot planet, humans now have nothing but Callisto.

Human beings who are short of energy are naturally unwilling to let go of all available forces. Moreover, humans also need to correct the direction of the Hope in the process of changing orbit.

Slowly, Hope's circular orbit became elliptical and then flattened.

In the days that followed, Hope was like a comet, moving far and near in a circular motion around Callisto. At the same time, the humans on board Hope were also preparing for the final acceleration.

"All parameters have been corrected and Hope is about to enter the acceleration phase."

Another hopeful call came from the command center.

"The attitude adjustment of the Hope has been completed and it is expected to enter the predetermined acceleration orbit in one minute and 23 seconds."

"All members of the engine crew are in place, and the main thruster will enter full power operation in one minute and 20 seconds."

"The signal for the exterior shots is normal and is being connected to the screens everywhere on the Hope!"

Listening to the reports and shouts, Yue Yuan sat in the captain's position with a calm expression. The picture on the big screen in front of him had been divided into nine exterior pictures, which looked like a nine-square grid.

In the picture, there is a half-length shot of the Hope, a long tongue of flames ejected from the thrusters, and a screen full of dark stars.Of course there is also the fading figure of Callisto.

"Goodbye, Jupiter's fourth satellite - Callisto!" Yue Yuan said silently in his heart as he watched Callisto slowly dimming from the screen.

There are still a lot of traces of human industry on Callisto, including many factories and very large machinery and equipment that cannot be removed. These things have not been destroyed by humans. They will represent the traces of human beings and accompany Callisto on its journey. Another wandering road is hidden in the vast sea of ​​stars.

If a certain civilization is unlucky, we might encounter it in the distant future.

But this is not what humans can care about now. In fact, there is another reason why humans have not blown up the remaining projects and super-large equipment, and that is to save energy.

While Yue Yuan was remembering Callisto, the light of the Hope's thrusters suddenly increased, and the strong interaction allowed the Hope to completely break away from Callisto's gravitational field and slowly sink into the boundless starry sky.

This is the first interstellar voyage in human history, and it is also an interstellar voyage with no return.

9.545 light-years is so far away. Even if we travel in the direction of the spread of residual interstellar dust, humans still have no chance to make mistakes. But if we don't set sail, we won't even have a chance.

(End of this chapter)