Voyage of the Stars

Chapter 49: Cabin Fever in Deep Space

The current conditions of the universe are the same as previously estimated by astronomers. It is filled with interstellar dust, which is the spread of residual ashes after supernova explosions.

Although the temperature of these interstellar dusts has dropped, they still have a considerable speed. In the near future, their speeds will become slower and slower, and they will become thinner and thinner.

In this regard, scientists have calculated that the current interstellar dust in the human area is still about 2% of the speed of light, but it is already quite thin and is within the tolerance range of the Hope.

In this case, humans also took this factor into consideration when choosing the navigation direction, so it is somewhat different from what Gander said before.Interstellar dust not only becomes an obstacle to Hope, but also turns into a driving force to propel the spacecraft forward.

This is another benefit of Hope's sturdy outer material.

Of course, since the hydrogen element that permeates the interstellar space is already relatively thin, this driving force is not great, but it is better than nothing.

Just like that, Hope is spinning while slowly accelerating towards the destination.

Its speed will reach its highest value in 30 years, that is, 1% of the speed of light, and then enter the inertial flight stage. When it is about to reach its destination, its thrusters will restart, and then it will take another 30 years to decelerate.

9.545 light-years is undoubtedly an insurmountable long distance for human beings today. If there is no other way, human beings will never set foot in the starry sky at this time, because in front of the stars, the 1% that human beings were once proud of Sailing at the speed of light is really insignificant.

Everyone knew that this voyage would lead to no return, and everyone knew that it would be a road full of thorns, but no one backed down.

The Hope broke away from Callisto's gravity and slowly headed toward deep space.

People saw that in the pictures returned by the outdoor cameras, the planet called Callisto gradually became smaller and darker, and finally disappeared into the dark background of the universe, and could no longer be seen.

"Goodbye, Callisto!"

Everyone said goodbye silently in their hearts.

They know that once they leave here, they will never see each other again.

After the outpouring of feelings, people began to hibernate in their designated hibernation cabins in accordance with the new government plan.

For this voyage, mankind has made a lot of preparations during the 40 years of waiting. However, due to technical problems, there is no way for everyone to sleep for a thousand years.

There are two types of hibernation drugs for humans, one is short-term and the other is long-term.Less than three years is a short term, and more than three years is a long term, but long-term hibernation cannot sleep for 1000 years at a time.

Not to mention that drugs cannot last that long, and equipment cannot run for thousands of years at a time, so humans can only use multiple long-term hibernation to solve the problem.

With humanity's current technology, the longest theoretical hibernation time at one time is 180 years. However, for the sake of safety, all long-term hibernation chambers will not be set at the highest value, but will range from 30 to 170 years.

This is done taking into account the rotation situation.

After people wake up, rotating technicians can use the recovery period of three to five months to test and maintain equipment, thereby ensuring the safety of people's subsequent hibernation.

The technicians on duty not only have to maintain the hibernating cabin, but also maintain the possible malfunctions of the Hope during the process.

Nearly a thousand years has been too long.

Even if it is the most advanced and durable equipment, we cannot guarantee that it can run for thousands of years without any failure.In order to solve various problems that may arise during the voyage, in addition to using the rotating hibernation system, humans also made backups for various equipment of the Hope.

Take the nuclear reactor that provides power for the Hope, for example. There are two of them, one for backup and one for use.There are many other designs of this kind that are ready for use, all of which are prepared for this voyage.

As time passed, people entered the hibernation cabin one after another, and the lights in the Hope cabin were extinguished one after another.

Human beings, no one can withstand the erosion of thousands of years.

Neither can Yue Yuan. Even though he has inhaled the red gas, he can only live for 500 years at most. 1000 years is enough for him to die twice.

Therefore, he must hibernate during this voyage.

However, he did not hibernate immediately like other ordinary people, but only went to hibernate after the acceleration phase of the spacecraft was completed.

The spacecraft accelerates for 30 years, which is exactly the time when the first batch of hibernators wake up for their turn.

And the group of young technicians who had followed Yue Yuan to keep the spacecraft accelerating for 30 years were all in their 60s and [-]s when the first group woke up from hibernation.

Yue Yuan suddenly became over 90 years old.

In the plan, the first batch of technicians who wake up will stay at their posts for ten years, and a second batch of technicians will wake up and take over their jobs. Then the first batch of technicians will enter a 170-year-long Long hibernation, and so on until finally reaching the destination.

In the voyage plan, in such a rotation system, we should also try our best to ensure that the personnel on duty will not die of old age due to too long duty time.

There is no way, the number of human beings is too small now, and the birth rate of newborns during the voyage is pitifully low. Basically, except for those who have been awake for the first 30 years, who may get married and have children, there is no possibility of newborns during the intervening rotation. After all, each batch of on-duty personnel had only worked for ten years, which was not enough time.

So every human life is precious.

time flies.

It has been 30 years since the Hope set sail. Today, Yue Yuan, who has written his last voyage diary, will also enter hibernation.

Turning off the camera recording the voyage diary, Yue Yuan walked through the deserted passage and came to the control center from his room.

When Yue Yuan came to the control center, he only saw a few people on duty, which seemed particularly deserted.But he's used to it, no problem.

He also knew that the staff on duty at this time actually had nothing major to deal with, because except for the necessary manual positions, everything else was basically controlled by the intelligent AI program.

Yue Yuan knew these things very well, so when he came to the control center, he did not bother with the few on-duty personnel who seemed a little idle. Instead, he casually walked to the big screen in front of the captain's seat and said: "Light of the Milky Way, Turn on the exterior shots.”

"Okay, we are accessing the location data for you. Friendly reminder: There are currently no planets near the space where Hope is located, and the location will be sparse stars. This is one of the causes of deep space cabin fever in humans. Are you sure to turn it on? ?" replied a highly realistic electronically synthesized voice.

The supercomputer on board the Hope is called Tianhe Light. Because the designer had difficulty naming it, the intelligent AI designed based on the supercomputer Tianhe Light is also called Tianhe Light.

(End of this chapter)