The evolution of insect swarms from XNUMX million years ago

Chapter 232 Orbital Landing (2)

In the field of vision of the large-scale optical astronomical telescope half hidden underground, there was finally new movement in the alien spacecraft parked near the moon's orbit.

First, a large number of small structures detached from the alien spacecraft, which did not have weapons installed and seemed to be a scientific research ship, and moved to other spacecrafts. Then, a large number of small structures also detached from the large spacecraft, which may be a transport and supply ship. .

It seemed to be some kind of small shuttle used to transport personnel and supplies between large spaceships. After they shuttled back and forth for a period of time, the scientific research ship made an action that made Lin Yi unbelievable.

At the bow of the ship, several high-temperature plasma streams shot out and continued to change direction, pushing its huge body to slowly change its orbit, as if it was slowing down!
Under normal circumstances, the earth's gravity is like an invisible line that pulls a spacecraft floating in orbit and swings with its rotation. The centrifugal force and gravity are balanced, allowing the spacecraft structure to be suspended in the orbit.

But actively accelerating or decelerating is equivalent to destroying this balance and increasing either gravity or centrifugal force, causing the object to be thrown out of orbit or pulled back into the atmosphere.

There is only one possibility for the opponent's scientific research ship to actively slow down, and that is to prepare to increase the gravity on itself and enter the atmosphere.

But for a spacecraft with this structure, once it enters the atmosphere and is completely captured by the planet's gravity, it is impossible to accelerate to the first cosmic speed again and take off.

Unless there is black technology such as anti-gravity, it is possible for such a large warship to be used in both air and space. Otherwise, it will most likely only make a one-time forced landing after entering the atmosphere, and there will be no possibility of returning to space.

The other party's performance does not look like it has mastered gravity and other related technologies. Although there are unknown navigation methods in advance, at present, it is still unlikely to have anti-gravity and other technologies.

……

Under the continuous deceleration buffer, the speed of the alien scientific research ship slowly decreased, stabilized its body, and slowly landed towards a certain area.

While thinking about it, the opponent's body has entered the atmosphere, passed through the ionosphere, and slowly landed towards the middle layer. Under the hull, the plasma spurting out became more intense, and it seemed that some kind of afterburner-like process had been started. model.

If the opponent maintains this speed and trajectory, it will probably eventually land near the equator. The specific location is currently unknown, but it will definitely be in a relatively open plain.

Near the equator, a large number of swarms of ancient Dictyoptera flying insects quickly searched for an area suitable for the spacecraft to land, and squatted in advance to wait for the situation.

This is why Lin Yi is convinced that the other party does not have similar anti-gravity technology. If it does, there is no need to drive the thruster into the atmosphere, wasting energy and precious propulsion fluid.

Including various small arthropods in nests on the ground, they also found their positions one after another, hiding in the vegetation, waiting for the other party to land, and then making plans.

"The best landing point has been determined. It is expected to land after one star, and the buffer system will be activated..."

Below the scientific research ship, blazing working fluid tail flames spurted out, further decelerating the huge hull. With the assistance of the shipboard AI, the power of multiple thrusters was perfectly balanced, allowing the hull to fall steadily downwards.

Because planet landing was taken into consideration from the beginning of the design, as a scientific research outpost, there is no precision equipment under the hull of the scientific research ship, but a flat arc shape. Then, on the sides of the scientific research ship, several special hatches were opened on the sealed hull. Below, a circle of mechanical structures slowly stretched out. They were heavy structures similar to artillery hoes.

These structures extend in all directions, with the ends firmly pressed into the soil, supporting the huge hull of the scientific research ship.

Immediately, more structures began to unfold on the scientific research ship - in order to withstand the friction and high temperature when passing through the atmosphere, many fragile structures were retracted into the hull during landing, and at this time, they will be unfolded again.

The large-scale radio wave transmitting and receiving device was deployed first and quickly restored contact with the remaining spacecraft of the exploration fleet in space. A signal indicating that the landing was successful and everything was normal was immediately sent back to space.

Quantum communication, which is still in its early stages of development, can transmit limited signals at the same time. In the case of short distances, traditional radio waves are more efficient, and the distance inside and outside the atmosphere is naturally not too far.

As the crystallization of the most sophisticated technology, the scientific research ship is highly automated as a whole, and a control system that can quickly switch between the spacecraft form and the outpost form has been programmed from the beginning of the design.

The energy supply lines were quickly switched, and the continuous energy of the nuclear fusion reactor began to generate electricity at full power and store the electricity.

From the moment it landed, the main thrusters, radiators and other equipment used in space have been reduced to decorations. Now, the energy and computing power that originally supplied propulsion and related system operations can begin to supply more equipment to operate at full power.

"The landing procedure has been completed, the coordinates have been sent, and orbital airdrop can begin."

After all, the capacity of the scientific research ship is limited, and it is occupied by a large number of large-scale comprehensive scientific research equipment. There is little space to accommodate other construction equipment. Therefore, if you want to gain a foothold here for a long time, you need more equipment support.

Most of these equipment are stored in transport supply ships, which are large in size and can accommodate a large amount of supplies.

Although the transport and supply ship does not support direct landing like a scientific research ship, its wide carrying compartment has a large number of airdrop compartment structures, which can realize orbital airdrop of complex equipment.

These disposable drop pod structures trace their technical origins to the early return capsules of pre-space age space stations, but are much larger and can protect the materials and even personnel inside as they pass through the dense atmosphere of the planet.

The special buffer structure makes these airdrop compartments sufficient to transport some precision instruments, further making the exploration of unfamiliar planets more convenient.

If all the airdrop silos carried in a transport and supply ship are dropped, plus some of the equipment brought by the scientific research ship, it is completely possible to establish an outpost with self-sufficiency and even a simple but complete preliminary industrial system.

In a short period of time, although this outpost research base only had some researchers and supporting armed and logistical personnel stationed there, it had laid the foundation for the development of the planet. If it needed to be colonized in the future, all it would take was sending people over.

This is why the mother planet agreed to the request for the scientific research ship to enter the atmosphere. For the Ezki civilization, which has not yet entered the era of large space navigation and has a slightly underpopulated population, this is the best early construction plan.

(End of this chapter)