Super Copy of Great Power Technology

With a "snap," Qiao Ruida stood up, turned off the holographic projector, cleared his throat, and said, "Alright, the expedition fleet has set off. The subsequent star system exploration team will work hard to maintain constant contact with the fleet, keep accurate navigation records, and conduct intelligence analysis. This expedition to the Proxima Centauri system is a pioneering journey and the beginning of humanity's interstellar voyage. Every discovery and every bit of experience is invaluable and must be taken seriously. In addition, any defects and problems discovered during the navigation and daily use of the various spacecraft should be collected, organized, and modified in a timely manner for application in the construction of new spacecraft."

This fleet expedition to the Proxima Centauri system is just the beginning of humanity's exploration of outer space. Such interstellar expeditions, explorations, and even colonization will become increasingly frequent and intensive. Therefore, the construction of new ships should not stop; the more the better, and the larger the tonnage, the better. If any difficulties are encountered during production, please raise them now, and we can discuss and resolve them together.”

Zhao, the dock manager of the Ruida spaceship dock, stood up and said, "President Qiao, President Cao, and other leaders, our Ruida spaceship dock is currently fully staffed and has sufficient energy. We have 32 spaceships under construction and 14 spaceships undergoing flight tests near the dock, all of which are operating normally. If there is any difficulty, it is that the raw materials for building the spaceships are somewhat insufficient and urgently need to be replenished."

Cao Yifei, general manager of Ruida Aerospace, frowned and asked with some doubt, "More than 80% of the minerals our company extracts from the moon are given to your space dock. We also buy a considerable number of asteroids from those space mining teams. With all this, aren't the raw materials sufficient?"

"The amount of various ores delivered by our own company's mining fleet, as well as those collected from space mining teams, is indeed substantial, amounting to tens of thousands of tons daily. However, our space dock utilizes large-scale automated machinery and intelligent robots, and once production reaches its maximum speed, the consumption of various mineral materials is simply too enormous. Even tens of thousands of tons per day are still somewhat insufficient. If possible, I suggest increasing the mining efforts on the moon, or sending a fleet to Mars to mine Phobos, Deimos, and even the mineral resources on the Martian surface."

Qiao Ruida lowered his head and pondered for a moment, then raised his head and said, "The moon is a hotspot for space mining operations by various countries. Areas rich in mineral deposits are already occupied by official or private mining teams from different countries. Our Ruida Aerospace possesses the most advanced space travel and space mining technologies, so we shouldn't go to the moon to compete with other teams. Mars is a good place; it's large enough, has a variety of minerals, and isn't too far from Earth, making it an ideal location for space mining operations. Let's make Mars our next development target."

Rhodes Aerospace, the big boss, strongly advocated for mining on Mars, and his subordinates naturally dared not object. Everyone actively participated, offering suggestions and quickly developing a preliminary plan for landing and mining on Mars. Afterwards, this plan was compiled and sent to the space mining team for refinement and detailing before execution. For humanity, which had just mastered reusable launch vehicle technology at the time, manned landings on Mars were fraught with difficulties. Consider SpaceX's CEO, Tim Cook, who constantly touted his Mars colonization plan, yet after more than a decade of effort, he hadn't even sent an unmanned probe. For Rhodes Aerospace, which had already mastered the technologies of spaceplanes and spacecraft, a manned landing on Mars was a piece of cake, posing virtually no challenge. Whether or not to send astronauts to Mars, whether or not to mine on Mars, or even further develop Mars, depended entirely on whether it was necessary and whether sufficient profits could be obtained from Mars. For example, with the current shortage of raw materials for the space dock, landing on Mars and conducting mining immediately became a priority.

After the work meeting, Qiao Ruida inspected the various docks and production workshops at the spaceship dock, had dinner with the frontline workers, and stayed overnight at the spaceship dock. With its air circulation system and simulated gravity, sleeping in the spaceship dock was almost indistinguishable from sleeping on Earth. Lying in bed, looking out the porthole at the vibrant blue and white Earth, a unique feeling welled up inside him. He slept soundly through the night, and the next morning after breakfast, Qiao Ruida boarded a spaceplane and returned to Ruida Space City.

In the days that followed, news reports about the interstellar expedition fleet frequently appeared on television news and online. Joridar received more detailed information, receiving daily navigation reports from the fleet via a quantum communication system. Thanks to the widespread use of anti-gravity engines, the expedition fleet accelerated extremely quickly, reaching a terrifying speed of 200 kilometers per second just two days after its departure. Interstellar space is vast and almost a vacuum; spacecraft traveling in this expansive environment experience virtually no resistance. As long as the engine thrust remains, the speed can continue to increase. Even if the engines are shut down mid-journey, the speed can be maintained for a very long time without decreasing. In fact, 200 kilometers per second is an incredibly high speed. At this speed, the expedition fleet could reach Mars orbit from Earth in just three days and Jupiter orbit in only a month.

A week later, Ruida Technology, in conjunction with Ruida Network Technology, released a major system update for its brain-computer interface (BCI) devices. The latest firmware update, besides fixing some minor bugs and adding system functions and software, most importantly added a sleep mode. Early on, some users discovered that using the BCI allowed their brains to rest, thus reducing sleep to some extent. This system update amplified this effect and made it a separate sleep mode. Ruida Technology claimed at the launch event that when using the BCI device and activating sleep mode, the brain enters a dormant state, leaving only a portion of the subconscious mind active, entering a virtual world for learning, entertainment, or gaming. In this state, the brain can get sufficient rest, and using the BCI device as a substitute for sleep is perfectly acceptable. Of course, sleep mode is not without its drawbacks. Entering the virtual world involves only a portion of the subconscious mind, similar to a dream state, where actions are often unrestrained and imaginative. Furthermore, it's uncertain how much of this memory is retained after the user exits the virtual world and wakes up. (End of Chapter)