Voyage of the Stars.

Chapter 703 Across the Cantilever
Across the spiral arm
It took humans nearly 300 years to travel the 2,000-light-year journey across the stars, traveling at a warp speed ten times the speed of light. The extra time was all spent on replenishing material and energy sources.

After arriving at the so-called "ferry", for the sake of safety, humans deployed the sky survey telescope array and all detectors aimed at the direction of the Perseus spiral arm to measure the stars on the road ahead one by one. Then they installed the measured distance between each star and planned the route.

This is a route that is more than 4,000 light-years long. There are indeed many stars distributed between the two spiral arms, but they are extremely sparse, even thinner than what humans have said before. Take the two stars closest to the location of the human fleet in the direction of the Perseus spiral arm. The distance between them is 170 light-years, and the further forward you go, the farther the distance between the stars.

The distances between some stars are beyond the limits of human navigation technology.

So even though there are stars ahead, in order to avoid a dead end, humans must measure all the stars between the two spiral arms in this direction, and then plan out as many star paths as possible.

However, the reality is not as satisfactory as expected. After detecting these stars one by one, humans discovered that there is only one feasible star route. The other routes are either too far apart between stars, or are simply a dead end, that is, there is nothingness ahead without any stars.

What is even more puzzling to humans is that there is an area on this only viable planetary path where the distance between the two nearest stars exceeds 500 light years, and is estimated to be around 550 light years.

It has exceeded the maximum distance that the human fleet can sail at one time, but the good news is that there is a cloud of hydrogen molecules in that area. Humans may be able to obtain some substances by collecting hydrogen molecules to supplement energy. This is theoretically feasible, but there are risks. If something unexpected happens, the human fleet may die there because of energy exhaustion.

That position is still in the latter half of the star road.

In response to this, scientists proposed a plan. They believed that they could first accelerate the fleet's normal speed to 50% relative to the speed of light, then let the entire fleet move forward 50 to 60 light years by inertia, and then activate the warp speed to cross the remaining distance.

This method seems feasible, but they overlooked a problem, that is, the human fleet's own calculation method of resource loss for the so-called one-time travel of 500 light years. You know, it's not just about warp speed, the acceleration and deceleration of conventional navigation has also been calculated.

Therefore, if you want to use inertial navigation to make up for it, it is far more than 50 or 60 light years. Taking into account the acceleration and deceleration consumption, it is probably hundreds of light years. At 50% relative speed, a hundred light years is two hundred years, and you have to take into account the needs of human life and production during this period.

This calculation adds up to another account.

Fifty light years more than the mileage of "a tank of gas" is blocking the path of human progress. If this problem is not solved, it will be impossible for humans to complete this cross-spiral arm voyage.

This is unacceptable. We have already seen our destination, and this is the only way to go. If we go any further, we will reach the end of the Orion Arm, and it will be impossible to cross over to the Perseus Arm from there.

Therefore, if you want to find the location of the small universe marked on the star map, you can only pass through here.

But how to solve the battery life problem?
The most direct way is to improve navigation technology and solve the problem completely. However, technology cannot be improved just by saying it. It is a gradual and cumulative process of quantitative change leading to qualitative change. There is no way to rush.

In this regard, the new human government proposed a feasible plan, which is to sail in a relay manner, just like the aerial refueling in the Earth era to increase the range of aircraft. But there are some differences. In the Earth era, aerial refueling is still carried out within one's own range of activities, and the mother aircraft can return to the ground base after refueling. But now humans can't do that. Humans need to sail across the spiral arm, and they won't come back once they go, so the mothership used as "aerial refueling" can no longer be used, and can only be used as a "gas station", which is a disposable thing. Because bringing these motherships will only increase the energy loss of the fleet.

Therefore, humans plan to first build a batch of large transport ships, fill them with the produced antimatter at one of the two star systems 550 light-years apart at the edge of the spiral arm, and then let them sail to the other side. After about one-third of the way, they will shut down their warp engines and stop there to wait for the subsequent human fleet.

After the large fleet catches up, it will use the remaining antimatter of these transport ships as "fuel" to replenish, and then set out on the star road, crossing the two stars that are farthest apart. In this way, it can reach the opposite star system and achieve the goal of crossing the spiral arm.

As for those transport ships, needless to say, they will definitely be abandoned in that void of space.

This is a highly feasible plan and currently the only way for humans to cross the Perseus Arm.

If it's feasible, let's do it.

This plan and the proposal for humanity to head to the Perseus Arm next were first discussed by Yue Yuan at the new government conference. After it was finalized, the entire human fleet headed straight for the area with sparse stars without saying a word.

After several unsuccessful attempts, humans finally arrived at the most distant star system according to the planned route and started the relay navigation plan.

Yue Yuan quietly looked at the stars on the holographic screen through the data sent back by the sky survey mirror array, and from time to time he also looked at the large transport ships busy mining resources and loading materials on the screen next to him. These transport ships were moving the antimatter produced in the antimatter factory onto their own ships. After the ships were filled with antimatter, they would set out on the star journey first, and then wait for the large fleet to come and claim it, and then be abandoned by humans.

Looking at the busy factories and fleets of transport ships, Yue Yuan suddenly felt emotional.

"Perhaps, those so-called remains of civilization, traces of alien civilization, and artifacts of alien civilization may also be abandoned spaceships like the ones we have now!" Yue Yuan muttered.

Abandoned spacecraft will become space junk, and perhaps they will be discovered by other civilizations. If a civilization later discovers a spacecraft abandoned by humans here, will they be amazed at the efforts made by humans, an unknown civilization to them, to cross the spiral arm?

Tens of thousands of transport ships loaded with antimatter set sail, and after they set sail, the human fleet continued to mine and produce antimatter to refuel the entire fleet. After completing the replenishment, the fleet will embark on the most difficult section of the journey across the spiral arm.

As long as humans cross this section of star road, they will have successfully crossed the spiral arm. After all, there will be no stars closer than this, so humans will not have to worry about supply problems.

(End of this chapter)