Hot Wavelength

Chapter 60 (Hard Drive 2): Business Card
In November 2032, Liangguo Rocket City

Michael and Daphne's son, Vito, has congenital epilepsy. Because of the risks of surgery during infancy, doctors recommended that the ideal time for Vito to have the surgery is around the age of 2.

The doctor made a very small incision in Vito's skull, which had not yet closed naturally. It should be considered a minimally invasive surgery, but it broke Daphne's heart.

Fortunately, the surgery went smoothly, and after several months of careful care, the doctor announced that the surgery was a success. Little Vito's epilepsy was completely cured.

Upon examination, Vito's brain structure was found to be normal, but Daphne still felt that it was truly amazing that a child like Vito could connect to the external brain VESSEL along with Michael.

So when Michael nervously asked Daphne if she would agree to use the brain tissue Vito had cut off for experiments, Daphne surprisingly agreed without hesitation.

Michael's experiment involved fusing brain tissue removed during Vito surgery with a ternary silicon-based chip to create the first living robot.

Early winter in Rocket City wasn't cold at all, and Maria and Vito, who had just recovered, were playing in the yard.

Suddenly, her phone rang, and an excited shout came from a colleague at the space agency: "Daphne, come quick! We received a signal from the Lingguang spacecraft, it seems to have 'come back to life'."

How could this be? Weren't all the electrical equipment on the Aura destroyed three years ago? Daphne entrusted her child to a neighbor and rushed to the space agency's control center.

When Daphne arrived, she found that Michael and her father, Professor Braun, had also rushed over.

Without even a greeting, she cut to the chase: "What signal did the Lingguang send back? Which device has been restored to operation?"

"The cameras, information processors, and some network communication equipment have all been restored to operation. This is a high-resolution close-up image of Psyche that has just been transmitted back," Daphne's colleague responded.

Michael exclaimed, "You guys are amazing! You were able to remotely repair the equipment on the Aura."

There was silence.

Daphne is a member of the Aura project team, and she is familiar with every step of the project and all the work.

Two years ago, after exhausting all possible methods, the project team was forced to declare the exploration project a failure, and all attempts to repair it came to a complete halt.

Professor Braun remained silent throughout, seemingly preoccupied with something on his mind.

A commotion erupted outside the door; Mr. E, the head of Project T, had also arrived. The professor gestured for Michael and Daphne to help him welcome Mr. E into his office.

Once everyone was seated, Professor Braun spoke first: "Michael, the equipment on the Aura was not repaired by us."

Michael was surprised and asked, "You mean, it's possible that aliens remotely repaired the equipment on the Aura?"

Daphne thought to herself, "How did this get to aliens? Michael actually dares to think about something like that."

Mr. E looked serious and did not answer Michael's question directly. He said, "Six months ago, our array radar detected a very suspicious high-energy laser beam. It flashed by and did not repeat itself."

Professor Braun added, "The directional high-energy wave could only have come from a pulsar, but calculations show that this high-energy wave originated from within the solar system, and its source is likely at the edge of the solar system."

Michael was momentarily speechless, but then he suddenly realized what was happening and asked, "You two are connecting that high-energy wave with the recent repair of the Aura, right?"

“Michael, the federal government has approved an additional budget for NASA so that we can launch a probe to the edge of the solar system again after 60 years. The project will be jointly managed by your company and NASA.”

In 1977, the US Space Agency launched two probes to fly out of the solar system: Gipsy 1 and Gipsy 2.

These two probes carry information about humanity, hoping to encounter potential extraterrestrials and learn that there is a planet in our solar system called Earth, and that there is intelligent life on Earth called humans.

What information is carried, and on what medium is this information recorded?

The recorded information is mainly divided into three categories.

First, there are the sun, earth, spacecraft, and light, which are related to astrophysics.

Secondly, the bodies of men and women, which are related to life, including the various sounds they make and actions such as licking, eating, and drinking.

Thirdly, counting methods and various units of measurement related to numbers.

Spacecraft travel at speeds of only a few dozen kilometers per second. Let alone leaving the solar system, even reaching its edge would take tens of thousands of years. How to preserve the information humanity wants to transmit is a major problem.

Scientists considered metals with higher stability, so the information was engraved on an alloy metal disc made primarily of gold. This metal disc, engraved with information such as sunlight, the human body, and numerical units, is known as the "humanity's calling card."

Michael's passion for exploring the unknown was once again ignited by Mr. E and the professor.

Although he has recently suffered a series of setbacks—first having his plans to build a superluminal power station on Earth and Saturn halted, then dramatically being forced to stop his Mars reboot project amidst various criticisms, and the Venus terraforming project facing numerous difficulties and seemingly endless delays—who is more suitable than him for the job of searching for extraterrestrial life, using rapid technological advancements to present humanity with a second calling card to them?
Daphne was also happy for Michael; that's the kind of person he is—even if he loses everything, he will still hold onto hope!

In the 70s, there was no genetic technology such as DNA, nor were there commercially available transistor chips.

Now things are different. This second business card can be completely digitized, and what's even more satisfying is that the amount of information will be billions of times greater than the first business card.

The massive amount of digital information could not possibly be engraved on the old-fashioned gold discs, nor could it be stored on the hard drives commonly used by modern computers.

The hard disk base of most computers is made of aluminum alloy with nickel plating to enhance its mechanical strength, which then forms the basis for ferromagnetic magnetic powder.

The most fatal flaw of this type of hard drive is its limited lifespan. Data migration is required every three to five years at most. For spacecraft that need to fly for at least 10,000 years, ordinary hard drives are completely unsuitable.

Several years ago, a high-tech company that was a potential competitor of Michael's company developed a new type of hard drive. This hard drive was made of silicon crystal, which is glass. It requires no electricity, is heat-resistant, and can store data for tens of thousands of years.

Surprisingly, the client who requested data storage for 10,000 years did not come from government departments or high-tech companies, but from a century-old film company.

Thus, the first hard drive in human history capable of preserving information for 10,000 years contained a series of films called "The Yue People".

Michael knew that glass was a very suitable material for hard drives. Firstly, it used lasers for both recording and reading, while the original aluminum alloy hard drives required magnetic powder and magnetic probes as a transition medium, which was easily damaged and could not maintain fidelity for a long time.

Glass has good macroscopic flatness, which is conducive to smooth processing. It has a stable crystal structure and strong heat resistance, and does not require electricity for low-temperature refrigeration. However, its disadvantage is that its shock resistance is not good enough, and it is at risk of breaking in extreme cases.

Experience shows that the decisive factor in making leaps and bounds in science and technology is often not so-called experts in the field, but strategic scientists, and Michael is clearly one of them.

Michael pointed out the research direction for the new hard drive to his research team:
In terms of materials, Michael is optimistic about silicon compound crystals, such as silicon dioxide and silicon carbide. Adding trace amounts of metal elements to the crystals may also be a good option.

Regarding the structure and shape of hard drives, Michael believes that in addition to the currently popular thin sheet shape, hard drives can also be made into cubes, crystal balls, or honeycomb-shaped polyhedrons, which would effectively improve writing and reading speeds. This is because the latest hard drive etching technology uses lasers to create three-dimensional engravings inside the disk, rather than just surface engraving (as with the old blue light).

"I will develop a high-capacity hard drive capable of storing data for extended periods as soon as possible. Has the target direction of the probe been determined?" Michael asked.

“Building and launching spacecraft is not something that can be done overnight. Your current task is to develop rockets with greater thrust and design high-performance probes and new types of hard disks,” Mr. E said.

Professor Braun told Michael, "During this period, if we receive the signal again, it would be best if we could accurately pinpoint the source. If not, it won't affect our sending out humanity's second calling card to the outside world."

“That’s true. Even if I believe in aliens, I absolutely do not believe in the existence of any aliens within the solar system, even at its edge,” Daphne finally couldn’t help but say.

After their conversation ended, Michael and Daphne had a lively discussion on their way home:

"You once sent a Nikola sports car into space. This mission isn't to advertise your company, but to create hard drive business cards for humanity. This job is both honorable and challenging, and it's perfect for you."

"This is indeed an exciting feat, but unfortunately it's not as practically significant as terraforming Mars or creating a backup for Earth," Michael said with a hint of regret. "Moreover, if Psyche does indeed carry some kind of brainwave information, then my plan to drag it to terraform Venus will have to be put on hold for now."

Daphne understood Michael's feelings and said, "It is a bit of a pity, but it is even more regrettable that it will take nearly 20,000 years for the probe to reach the edge of the solar system, and we will never be able to see it."

Daphne leaned against Michael, completely understanding his sense of loss. Rebooting Mars was hopeless, terraforming Venus seemed a distant prospect, Psyche needed further exploration, and the plan to drag it along as a "sunshade" for Venus had to be indefinitely postponed.

“I believe in the present as Shakespeare spoke of, but some things can only be left to the future. Faced with the vast solar system, humanity, especially myself, is so insignificant. Fortunately, I have tried and never given up! I may not be able to hold onto hope in my generation, but I believe Vito and his descendants can.” Michael murmured to himself, as if trying to heal himself.

Daphne, with tears in her eyes, said, "Michael, you are the best! With your faith, wisdom, courage, and perseverance, plus the efforts of generation after generation, Mars or Venus will one day be built into a backup for Earth!"

"My dearest Daphne, let's engrave our best wishes on the hard drive and entrust them to the future, ten thousand years from now." Michael hugged Daphne tightly, as if he had found comfort.

Daphne seemed thoughtful and said, "Are there really aliens in the solar system? They were able to remotely repair the Spiritlight. Our probe only carried a hard drive and a business card to search for them. Why didn't we bring a computer or even an intelligent robot?"

Michael shook his head and said, "Your idea is interesting, but unfortunately we don't have the power supply capability to last for 20,000 years!"

Daphne blurted out, "Using superluminal waves to generate electricity, just like the Beyond Horizons spacecraft that reached Pluto in 2015, which stretched a 18-kilometer-long cable behind the spacecraft to convert heat energy into electrical energy."

Michael thought for a moment and said, "The Beyond Horizons spacecraft only conducted a short-term verification test of the faster-than-light wave. To make a spacecraft hold a 180,000-kilometer-long rope in a straight line for nearly 20,000 years is a very difficult engineering feat."

“This shouldn’t be difficult for you. Stretching a rope in space is easier than building a ceramic tower 18 kilometers high on Mars, right?” Daphne asked.

“Even if we solve the power problem using faster light waves, aliens might not be able to run and understand our computer programs. Who knows what system they use?” Michael said.

&
The poem composed of collected verses at the end of the chapter:
First, cultivate good roots; Song Dynasty, Emperor Taizong
The original inscription still remains. (Song Dynasty, Gu Feng)

Observing the Way of Heaven through News and Messages, Song Dynasty, Cai Kan
The aftereffects reached even distant descendants. (Song Dynasty, Zhu Yan)

(End of this chapter)