Hot Wavelength

Chapter 52 (Burst 2): Chalk
In November 2032, Liangguo Rocket City

Daphne noticed that Michael had been sullen these past few days, and with a woman's intuition, she realized that Michael seemed to be somewhat distant from her.

Daphne desperately wanted to ask him what was wrong, but she didn't know where to begin. Daphne always felt incredibly lucky; although they weren't officially husband and wife, it was truly rare to be able to know and love such a legendary figure as Michael.

She understood Michael; he was a complex yet simple man, like a multifaceted yet pure crystal.

Michael's personality is like a diamond; no matter how many brilliant facets and sparkling points it has, there is only one unchanging inner quality in his personality: hardness.

Michael's dreams were bold, and his innovations were always ahead of their time. He would try things that everyone said were impossible.

Whenever faced with great difficulties, his first reaction is often not to deny himself or stop and wait patiently, but rather to be like a hard and sharp spear, knocking down one obstacle after another.

After much thought, Daphne finally understood the reason. A month ago, she had submitted an evaluation report on the Michael Mars Hyperlight Power Station to the T Project Committee.

A few days ago, after Michael returned from meeting Mr. E at the Shuo Mansion, he became preoccupied and depressed.

Michael finally couldn't hold back any longer. He pulled Daphne to the Mars model and said bluntly, "Why are you also against my Mars 'backup' plan? Mr. E told me that the risk assessment report you submitted concluded that the superluminal power station could trigger another explosion on Mars."

Having prepared herself mentally, Daphne wasn't surprised. She asked, "What was Mr. E's attitude? Was it he who called off your plans, which is why you're so frustrated?"

"They wanted me to stop, using the same old excuse: humanity only has one Earth, and we can't afford the slightest risk," Michael said. "I told them, 'Let's shut down all of Liang's nuclear power plants first, and then persuade other countries to do the same. Otherwise, wouldn't the Earth and humanity be in great danger?'"

Daphne smiled and said, "Mr. E didn't say you were making excuses, did he? What's the final decision?"

Michael's expression was complicated, and he said as if talking to himself, "They agreed to upgrade the external brain VESSEL using ternary computing, believing it would provide all parties with more accurate and scientific decision-making support."

Daphne breathed a sigh of relief for Michael; it seemed the road wasn't completely blocked, after all, Michael had devoted over a decade to his Martian "backup plan." She suddenly changed the subject, asking abruptly:

"Michael, do you love me?"

Michael was taken aback by the question and said, "Of course I love you. I love your wisdom and gentleness, and I especially admire your independence as a woman. Even more fortunately, you can help me in my astronomical career, and you are one of the few people who understand me emotionally."

Daphne rested her head on Michael's broad shoulder and said, "That's not what I meant. I can feel your love. The problem is on my side. Do you know how conflicted I was when I submitted the report opposing your plan?"

Michael reached out and gently stroked Daphne's long golden hair, a pang of guilt rising in his heart. He realized that he hadn't considered the issue from Daphne's perspective.

In Michael's view, Daphne's roles as a lover and a risk assessor are completely different and do not affect each other.

Clearly, he was oversimplifying things.

At this moment, he understood Daphne's feelings and felt deeply remorseful for neglecting her these past few days under the influence of his subconscious.

With their misunderstanding resolved, the two exchanged tender words. Daphne's long-held grievances turned into tears, soaking Michael's shoulder. Between sobs, Daphne said, "Michael, do you know how much I love you? I'd do anything for you and support all your decisions. But do you know how much it hurt me when I discovered that my love for you had conditions and boundaries?"

Michael was somewhat at a loss, and he tried his best to soothe his beloved woman with body language and breath. To distract Daphne, he changed the subject, saying:

"I read your evaluation report carefully, darling. You're amazing! It's a novel, unique, and well-reasoned astronomical paper."

This tactic worked. Daphne's attention slowly returned to her Martian explosion hypothesis, and the two began to discuss it enthusiastically, talking back and forth as if they had traveled back millions of years and witnessed the spectacle of a Martian explosion.

Daphne's initial idea for the Martian explosion came from a seemingly unrelated inspiration that didn't even originate from Mars, but from Earth.

Numerous meteorites have fallen to Earth, and research has revealed that some of them originated from Mars. Scientists are curious and are racing to determine the age of these Martian meteorites.

Contrary to expectations, the age of meteorites is not the billions of years predicted by theory, but rather very "young". The "youngest" meteorites formed more than 100 million years ago, and some are even only tens of millions of years old.

According to traditional theories, volcanic activity on Mars ceased more than 30 billion years ago, so how could it form such "young" rocks?
Even more perplexing is that at least two Martian meteorites, discovered at different times and locations, have been determined to have originated from the Martian mantle. How could rocks from the Martian lower mantle end up on Earth?

Thus, a hypothesis arose in Daphne's mind: Could Mars have experienced an explosion? That is, under repeated thermal expansion and contraction, large areas of the Martian crust fractured and, propelled by internal energy, detached from the Martian surface? If this were true, then the unique astronomical phenomena of Mars and its surroundings would be easily explained.

For example, Mars' diameter and volume are much smaller than Venus and Earth, and its orbital eccentricity of 0.09 is also much greater than that of Earth and Venus. As the fourth planet from the center of the solar system, its volume should not be so small, and its orbit should not be so elliptical.

For example, there are more than 50 asteroids between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, forming the asteroid belt. Where did these asteroids, rocks, and ice crystals come from?

The capture theory lacks sufficient theoretical basis and has been abandoned by mainstream scientists. An alternative theory is that the asteroid belt is debris from an exploding planet.

However, what is unreasonable is that the total mass of the asteroid belt is only one percent of that of Earth and about nine percent of that of Mars. Therefore, the hypothetical exploded planet is too small to be called a planet at all.

If the asteroid belt is part of the Martian crust, it makes sense that its total mass is less than that of a planet.

The Martian surface topography also provides evidence for the explosion theory. High-resolution images sent back by multiple Mars rovers show traces of liquid water flow over large areas of the Martian surface.

Further research revealed that liquid water covered more than a third of the Martian northern hemisphere. Where did all this water go?
One theory is that they seeped into the interior of Mars, while another is that they evaporated into space.

Mars is far from the sun, located outside the snow line of the solar system, and its average surface temperature is about -55 degrees Celsius. The most likely form of liquid water on Mars is surface ice, with water beneath the ice.

Of all the moons and asteroids with ice-covered surfaces beyond the snow line, none have experienced a complete evaporation or sublimation of water ice to this day. Why is it that only Mars has lost its water?

At this point, Daphne found a paper published in 2024 and pointed to a diagram of impact craters in the paper, saying: "High-resolution images taken by the HiRISE camera on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) show that Mars is covered with impact craters, with impact intervals of about 300 million years."

"The most recent impact occurred about 234 million years ago in Corinthian crater at 17 degrees north latitude in the northern hemisphere of Mars. That area was once covered by a large amount of water."

"What is puzzling is that this impact event generated a secondary impact, forming a fan-shaped area that extends southward from the center and is as wide as 2000 kilometers."

"Even more unbelievable is that the total number of holes with a diameter greater than 10 meters generated by the secondary impact reached an astonishing 20 billion!"

Michael understood Daphne's meaning and said, "You think this wasn't formed by an impact at all, but rather that the heat energy inside Mars was ejected into the crust through these 20 billion holes, and part of the crust was cracked and ejected into space."

Daphne nodded deeply, pointing out that this was yet another strong piece of evidence for the Martian explosion hypothesis.

“It happens every 300 million years, so when do you think the most violent Martian explosion will occur?” Michael asked.

This all starts with a thin layer of white powder in the Earth's strata. Geologists distinguish the age of rock layers according to the order in which they were deposited.

In 1822, archaeologists studying the Paris Basin discovered a layer of grayish-white powder in a stratum dating back 65 million years, indicating the end of a "period." The period from more than 140 million years ago to 65 million years ago was named the "Cretaceous Period."

The word chalk means "clay" in Latin, and its main component is calcium carbonate.

Where did chalk come from? And how did it form? The answer is that it was formed by the mass death and deposition of marine invertebrates, such as shellfish. But what caused the mass death of shellfish? To answer this question, hypotheses such as volcanic eruptions and asteroid impacts have become popular.

Paleontologists further discovered that almost all dinosaur fossils are located beneath the Cretaceous strata, which is 6500 million years ago. At the end of the Cretaceous period, dinosaurs became extinct in a very short period of time.

Volcanic eruptions are insufficient to cause the global extinction of large animals. The asteroid impact theory is widely accepted, and the impact point has been located in the northeastern part of the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico.

Could the impact of just one asteroid impact be so significant? Scientists have discovered traces of asteroid impacts in the western mountainous regions of India and Siberia around 6500 million years ago, though smaller in scale than Yucatan.

"You mean 6500 million years ago, Earth was hit by a meteor shower?" Michael asked.

“Yes, the probability of multiple asteroids hitting Earth at the same time is extremely small, unless their origin is very close to Earth,” Daphne said with a smile, wiping away her tears.

“I understand. You think what hit Earth 6500 million years ago wasn’t an asteroid, but fragments of Martian crust that exploded!” Michael said.

&
The poem composed of collected verses at the end of the chapter:
Amidst crisscrossing strange rocks, a floodwaters recede; by Ni Zhao, Qing Dynasty.
All things return to one breath. —Ming Dynasty, Buddhist monk Zongle
The same price for soil in the Cretaceous region, Song Dynasty, Fan Chengda

A lofty standard now emerges from the towering dome. — Guo Zhiqi (Ming Dynasty)
(End of this chapter)