Starting from a top student and marching towards the sea of ​​stars

Chapter 461: Towards the Sea of ​​Stars!

As the space elevator began to operate steadily, the people who had felt a little nervous before gradually relaxed and began to pay attention to the scenery around them.

This is a huge difference between riding a space elevator and riding a spacecraft, because the outer frame structure of the space elevator is transparent, and you can directly see the scenery outside while riding the space elevator.

This design was not something Ning Chen deliberately did, it is just a property of the material itself. However, this property is also an unexpected surprise, allowing people riding the space elevator to better enjoy the scenery along the way, just like enjoying a wonderful journey.

"Ning Chen, this feeling is so comfortable! I can clearly feel the gravity of the blue planet gradually decreasing, and I can also see the curvature of the blue planet gradually becoming clearer. This feeling is as if my body is really about to leave the blue planet, and in front of me is the entire vast universe..."

"Yes, Song Xiyun, I have a similar feeling now. We humans are so insignificant that we are not even a speck of dust in front of the entire universe. But we have the courage to step into the universe. In this respect, we are undoubtedly great..."

When it comes to academic and technological research, Ning Chen never overestimates himself or belittles himself. Instead, he judges his research ability and success with a very accurate understanding.

Indeed, in front of the vast universe, Ning Chen knew that he was just an ignorant child, and perhaps he had not even entered the boundary of the rules of the universe. But no matter how small he was, Ning Chen would never feel afraid or retreat because of this.

…………

After several days of travel, the space elevator carrying Ning Chen, Song Xiyun, Yue Jiafeng and others finally arrived at their final destination.

In fact, the location of this terminal station from the horizon of Blue Planet is not "far". It is only one-fourth of the distance from Blue Planet to the Moon. If you take a spacecraft normally, you can even travel back and forth between Blue Planet and the Moon in this time.

But even though the speed of the space elevator is relatively slow, the huge significance brought about by the success of this technology is incomparable to previous aerospace technology.

First of all, the cost of using a space elevator to transport people and materials into space is relatively low, because the space elevator can be reused almost indefinitely. In theory, the space elevator only needs to consume a portion of energy each time it works.

Today, as controlled nuclear fusion technology and room-temperature superconducting technology gradually mature, the value of these energy sources can even be ignored.

Although humans have now developed reusable rocket and spacecraft technology, there are many restrictions on these reuses, and the number of reuses is still relatively limited, far less than the service life of a space elevator of at least hundreds of years.

Secondly, the safety performance of the space elevator is also very guaranteed. This is like the difference between taking a high-speed train and taking a car. The probability of an accident between the two is completely not on the same level.

In addition, although the absolute speed of the space elevator is not that outstanding, the overall transportation efficiency is still very high. It can send a large number of people and materials into space each time. If it were to use conventional rockets and spacecraft to transport the same number of people or materials, it would take an unknown number of trips.

Therefore, in the long run, the construction of the space elevator can be said to be a milestone for the space development of humans on the blue planet, allowing humans to explore space more easily.

After reaching the end of the space elevator, Ning Chen and others came to the space station built by Xia State and made a short stop here.

This is currently the largest space station in the world. It can accommodate hundreds of people and is also responsible for the important task of storing and transporting space resources. However, Ning Chen feels that the current carrying capacity of this space station is definitely far from enough.

In the future, Ning Chen plans to continue expanding the scale of this space station to adapt to the rapidly developing space exploration work of Blue Star civilization.

After resting for a day in the space station, Ning Chen and others continued to take the space elevator back to the surface of Blue Planet.

The journey back was still very smooth. Except for the acceleration and deceleration processes, which put some physical strain on the passengers, the space elevator ran very smoothly during most of the process. It was even more stable than taking an airplane or a ship.

After several more days of travel, Ning Chen and others returned safely to the surface of Blue Planet, completing the first space elevator trial operation mission.

After their feet were back on the ground, everyone was finally able to relax completely.

"Huh... Ning Chen, we are finally back on the Blue Planet. The trial run of the space elevator this time was indeed longer than expected. When we went to the moon together before, the time we took on the journey was not that long."

"Yes, Song Xiyun, judging from the time we spent on the road, this trip does seem longer. But I think this experience is really good. During the entire journey, we don't have to worry about anything else. We can even enjoy the space scenery during the journey. This experience cannot be experienced in other space transportation methods."

"That's true. I really enjoyed this trip. It was like being in space. I believe everyone who has experienced this trip will have similar thoughts."

Hearing the conversation between Ning Chen and Song Xiyun, Yue Jiafeng also came over, nodded and said:
"Indeed, once we got used to the rhythm of the space elevator, we really began to enjoy the scenery during the journey. I think many people will want to take the space elevator in the future, not necessarily to go to space or the space station, but more importantly to experience the process. As for where the destination is, it is actually not that important."

In fact, after riding the space elevator for a while, Yue Jiafeng had basically eliminated the tension and fear about the space elevator in his heart, and similar feelings also appeared in the hearts of most people.

With the completion of the first trial run of the space elevator, the number of viewers who continued to watch the live broadcast in the live broadcast room has become much smaller. However, there are still many people who continue to pay attention to the various situations of the space elevator and hope to have the opportunity to experience the space elevator project in person.

Some of these people are not stingy with their money, because they can afford the daily consumption of hundreds of thousands on the Science Fiction Island, so they naturally won't be stingy with the cost of taking the space elevator.

However, Ning Chen is not in a hurry to open the space elevator project to the public. After all, Ning Chen still hopes to make good use of the space elevator technology and continue to improve the various space projects on Blue Star. After these tasks are almost done, he will study the matter of opening up the space elevator to me.

What Ning Chen wanted to do most urgently was to transport more parts and materials to space through the space elevator, and to expand the size of the space station, which would also make it easier for humans to explore space in the future. After completing the planning of these tasks, Ning Chen could finally take a break and plan the future direction of technological development.

"Song Xiyun said before that she wanted to live on the second science fiction island for a while. Now is indeed the time to do this. Wait a minute... I don't know how the progress of the new industrial revolution is now."

These days, Ning Chen has been focusing on the space elevator and has no energy to pay attention to other things. He has not even taken a glance at the system interface.

It’s not that Ning Chen can’t spare the time to even take a look at the system interface, but Ning Chen doesn’t want to be distracted while working, but hopes that he can always maintain a state of high concentration.

Thinking that he was about to see the final result, Ning Chen felt a little nervous, because this could prove whether Ning Chen's previous assumptions were correct.

Of course, Ning Chen knew that everything he was doing now would not lead to a breakthrough in the new generation of industrial revolution immediately. Otherwise, the system would have proactively prompted Ning Chen long ago.

However, as long as the construction of the space elevator can make the entire progress bar achieve a leap forward, this is enough to show that Ning Chen’s previous idea was basically correct.

With this nervous and excited mood, Ning Chen opened the system interface and found the location showing the progress bar of the new generation of industrial revolution.

When Ning Chen saw the huge changes in the progress bar, he was so excited that he couldn't express it in words. He knew that there was nothing wrong with his original choice, and it even exceeded Ning Chen's previous expectations.

"I never thought that the successful completion of the space elevator project would allow the progress bar of the new generation of industrial revolution of Blue Star civilization to exceed 95%! It seems that this time, my technology tree was really right!"

In fact, different people will have different answers to the definition of the new generation of industrial revolution, but in Ning Chen’s opinion, the more important issue is the direction.

Whether it is controlled nuclear fusion technology, room-temperature superconducting technology, biological computer technology, or cutting-edge artificial intelligence technology, these technologies all serve the development of civilization. No single technology is an indispensable answer to the development of civilization.

But Ning Chen firmly believes that the next goal of Blue Star civilization must be to move into space, so Ning Chen is willing to develop space elevator technology at all costs.

Fortunately, Ning Chen's idea was indeed tested in practice and did not disappoint Ning Chen.

After calming down, Ning Chen began to think about his future plans.

At present, Ning Chen is less than 5% away from completely completing the new generation of industrial revolution of Blue Star civilization.

In order to complete the remaining small part of the progress, Ning Chen knew there were two ways to do it.

The first is to develop a completely new technology. This technology needs to be of sufficient significance, at least at the same level as controlled nuclear fusion and room-temperature superconductivity, to be able to help Ning Chen break through the last 5% of progress with a high probability.

The second approach is to stop developing entirely new technologies and instead focus on improving existing ones.

Ning Chen knew clearly that although current technologies such as room-temperature superconductivity and controlled nuclear fusion seemed to be very mature, they actually still had great research and development potential and could be further strengthened.

As long as we find the right direction for technological enhancement, even if we do not develop other new technologies, we can still push the technological level of Blue Star civilization forward to a higher level.

After some rough calculations, Ning Chen determined that both directions were feasible options, but in comparison, the second option was a more suitable choice overall.

Because rashly starting the research and development of a new technology undoubtedly involves great risks, and until now, Ning Chen has not had any good ideas about new technologies, which is undoubtedly not conducive to the progress of the research project.

As for strengthening existing technologies, Ning Chen has many relatively mature ideas. Even while riding the space elevator, Ning Chen has already conducted very careful thinking.

Continuing in this direction, Ning Chen fully believed that he could achieve this goal without having to immediately develop any new technology.

Thinking of this, Ning Chen decided to complete these tasks while he and Song Xiyun were heading to the second science fiction island.

The next day, Ning Chen told Song Xiyun about his thoughts.

After hearing Ning Chen's thoughts, Song Xiyun couldn't help but say excitedly:

"Ning Chen, we can finally go to the second science fiction island, right? This is really great news. I have been looking forward to this day for a long time, and now I can finally realize this dream."

"Yes, now the work on the space elevator has been basically completed, and the security level nearby has also been improved to a higher level than before. Finally, there is nothing for us to worry about. Of course, our trip to the second science fiction island this time is not just to enjoy life. In addition, we still have many other tasks to complete."

Song Xiyun was naturally mentally prepared for this. In Song Xiyun's mind, in addition to being able to experience future life in advance, the Science Fiction Island is also a place to improve her work efficiency. Song Xiyun would naturally not slack off in her work because of this.

(End of this chapter)