Reborn in 2011, I am the chief designer of aerospace.

Chapter 172 The Sea of Stars

Chapter update reminder: Chapter 172, The Vast Expanse of Stars, available to read here.

At 7:51, Sun Liancheng entered the frame precisely on time.

"This may be the most crucial step for all mankind toward the future," Sun Liancheng said solemnly. "Although we cannot know for sure what the extraterrestrial visitors left behind, there is no doubt that when their spaceships came and went, the technologies we glimpsed will bring immeasurable benefits to human society..."

Empty talk, platitudes, all nonsense.

Sheng Long checked the time again and saw Song Xingye raise his fist on the other end of his line of sight. This meant that there was less than a minute left before the signal to switch in. Song Xingye spread his five fingers and flashed them twice: Ten seconds to prepare...

It was his turn.

"In less than two minutes, we will ignite the engine and embark on our journey to Mars, which will take us to the planet around Christmas. In the initial phase, we will perform a system status self-check at 25% of the rated thrust."

If all goes well, after completing the first orbital loop, engine power will increase to 50%, and we will achieve full power output by the end of the second loop. Our flight data will be updated in real time on the status displays on the bulkhead and on major forums around the world.

Sheng Long paused for a moment, then continued, "This was a long preparation period. Hundreds of engineers boarded the ship to work and made full preparations for the spacecraft to embark on the longest manned interstellar voyage in human history."

Another long and rambling speech.

At the crucial, precisely timed moment, he said solemnly, "Thank you for your support, Director Sun. Without the support from Earth, we couldn't have accomplished this feat. Now, it's my turn to give the order... Three... Two... One..."

"ignition!"

The launch process of Country A was as thrilling as a Hollywood blockbuster, while the departure of "Xihe" was completely different, extremely calm.

There was no violent vibration, no engine roar, and not even the slightest sign of acceleration or movement. The speed and altitude readings on the status display seemed to have come to a standstill.

Someone couldn't help but ask, "Is there a malfunction?"

Another person pointed to the real-time external image on the main monitor. The spaceship was currently in night flight mode in the Earth's shadow zone, and the dazzling light continuously spewing from the main engine nozzles was unmistakable proof that they were operating at full speed.

Sasha smiled calmly at the camera: "You all saw it correctly. 'Xihe' is carrying out its mission as planned, starting a spiral orbital expansion from near-Earth orbit. Although it is currently carrying its full payload and operating at only 25% power, this negligible acceleration is imperceptible to human senses, probably only one-thousandth of a G."

In the zero-gravity central section, freely floating objects should have drifted backward due to the thrust, but the crew felt almost nothing. As for the rotating chambers maintaining an artificial gravity of 0.1G, the floor didn't even have the slightest sense of tilt.

The actual physics of this deep space journey is far more counterintuitive than the public imagines. The engine, originally intended to propel the spacecraft forward, is actually slowing down the spacecraft's orbital speed at this stage.

Before heading to Mars, the Xihe spacecraft must first grit its teeth and slowly break free from the gravitational pull of Earth, a process that requires an astonishing amount of energy.

The kinetic energy gushing from the VASIMR engine was now being used to slowly raise the spacecraft's orbital altitude. As time passed, the "Xihe" climbed upwards at a speed of about one kilometer per minute, propelled by four jets of hot plasma.

The orbit of this former space station is expanding outward in circles, which brings about a phenomenon that seems to defy common sense, although it is a basic fact in orbital mechanics: the larger the orbital radius, the slower the orbital speed.

Initially, the space station sped along in its orbit 1,000 kilometers above the Earth's surface at a speed of over 7 kilometers per second. In contrast, a communications satellite operating in a geostationary orbit at an altitude of 36,000 kilometers traveled at a speed of only about 3 kilometers per second, while the moon, 380,000 kilometers away, orbited steadily at a slow speed of 1 kilometer per second.

The Xihe spacecraft is also subject to the cold laws of orbital physics. As its orbital altitude increases by kilometers, its orbital speed continues to decrease. This deceleration trend will continue until the spacecraft reaches its escape velocity and breaks free from gravitational pull.

By midday, looking out the porthole, the Earth appeared to have shrunk considerably, and the curvature of the horizon became increasingly pronounced.

The Xihe spacecraft is currently in its third spiral-expanding orbit around the Earth. Its status monitors show that its linear velocity has decreased by about 0.3 kilometers per second, but its orbital altitude has increased by more than 500 kilometers. By dinnertime, the view of the Earth from an altitude of 3600 kilometers will be quite different.

Every half hour, Song Xingye and Sasha would record a short two-minute commentary. In their constantly running camera lens, the outline of the Earth had become much smaller than at the time of launch.

"Good heavens, this launch was so uneventful. I really hope we can get away from here as soon as possible," Song Xingye exclaimed.

Sasha replied thoughtfully, "Earth may not be a safe haven for us anymore."

"What do you mean?"

"Our live broadcast just now may have portrayed Commander Shenglong as too glorious and heroic."

"Tch, bullshit," Song Xingye scoffed.

"Don't forget, 'the wrath of hell is nothing compared to the humiliation of Director Sun being overshadowed.'"

"It's funny to joke about this now, but..."

The following morning, the Xihe spacecraft had completed seven orbits around Earth, which were continuously expanding outwards. At this point, they were 19,000 kilometers away from Earth, and the blue home planet that had given birth to humankind had shrunk into a perfect sphere in view.

Although the spacecraft's orbital speed has been halved, there is no doubt that it is steadily moving away from Earth. Just the day before, the entire crew was still immersed in the extreme excitement of takeoff.

However, this morning, everyone fell into an unusual silence. In the coming year, whether in good times or bad, this cold and lifeless "Xihe" ship would be their entire world.

They had no choice but to grit their teeth and persevere; there was no turning back, no way out.

Ivan finished his pancakes, tofu sausage, and orange juice as usual, then looked up at Minan and asked, "What's wrong?"

"It's nothing. I've been on this ship for several weeks and never thought about being separated from Earth. It's only now that I'm starting to really realize it."

She absentmindedly poked at the scrambled eggs in the plate with her fork and took a bite of toast.

"Alright, stop overthinking it."

"It's not that simple."

She looked away, gazing at the Earth shrinking into the distance outside the window. Then she glanced at the altimeter, its numbers ticking relentlessly like a stopwatch, each second announcing that the distance between them and their homeland was growing ever wider.

"No, you'll get used to it," Ivan said.

"How did you know? I might as well just grab an axe and start screaming and hacking around inside the spaceship..."

"First of all, never let the accompanying psychologist hear you say this. Secondly, tens of thousands of people are sent to prison every year. Although the conditions are terrible, the vast majority of people can endure the long years in prison. They are strictly detained like us, and often face inhuman torture and are completely isolated from society."

And what about us? We live comfortably and securely, enjoying meticulous care, participating in the greatest adventure in human history. Each of us will achieve great success in our respective fields, while you have already reaped both fame and fortune.

Mi Nan admitted, "But I also couldn't adapt to prison life."

"Of course you can. In fact, if you tell the truth about your last job, it's practically like being in jail. At least, the little green men from Mars can't tell the difference. You wake up in one building, walk down the corridor to another, stay there all day, and then go back to sleep late at night."

Here? You wake up in your living quarters, take the elevator to the engineering department, work all day, and then come back to sleep—just like your previous work routine.

"But back home on Earth, I can go out for some fresh air anytime."

"But you didn't; you don't usually go out."

"If I were to make a hole in the wall of a cabin, or in the wall of a prison, at least the whole world would be out there, with apple trees and birds."

But if we were to drill a hole in the bulkhead of this ship, there would be nothing outside but endless void, nothing but that dark, deathly vacuum, nothing but meaningless death.

Ivan chuckled. "Time to take your medicine. No, wait, don't take it. Pull up your pants and get back to work. Just pretend you're still in the office building. Don't worry unnecessarily."

After chatting for a while, Mi Nan checked her watch and said, "Chatting with you is always so 'pleasant.' Alright, I'm in the office building now, time to go to work. There's nothing to worry about, time to get to work."

Watching her turn and walk away, Ivan leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes.

But her words kept replaying in my mind: "If you drill a hole in any of our walls, all you'll find outside is endless emptiness, a dark, deathly vacuum, and meaningless death."

"Oh my God," he thought, "what have I done?"

By lunchtime, the orbital altitude of the "Xihe" spacecraft had doubled, and by dinnertime, it had increased to nearly three times its original altitude. At this point, Earth was already far beyond 50,000 kilometers away.

This giant blue gem, with an apparent size equivalent to thirty full moons, is still the most awe-inspiring celestial object in the deep night sky, but it is shrinking in the field of vision at a visible rate.

The "Xihe" spacecraft has completed half of its eighth orbit around the Earth, but this time, it is destined not to be able to draw a complete circle. Just after eight o'clock in the evening, Song Xingye walked into the common lounge and found Mi Nan staring blankly out the window.

As the spaceship slowly rotated, Earth glided past the porthole. She wasn't the only one doing this; all the crew members off-duty were deeply attracted to this shrinking home planet.

It's like a pocket watch in a stage magician's hand, passing by the window again and again with a hypnotic rhythm.

The ship's intercom system emitted a crisp announcement: "This is Commander Shenglong. Current altitude: 68,000 kilometers; relative speed: 3.3 kilometers per second. We are executing the escape trajectory initiation procedure. Next stop: Mars. This is the final status report for today. Good night, everyone."

Mi Nan sighed deeply and turned to give Song Xingye a bitter smile.

"We're really leaving, thank God. Life actually gets simpler when you have no other choice, you know what I mean?"

"That's right, absolutely correct."

"In less than a day, we'll be flying across lunar orbit," Minan remarked. "Let's hope we don't crash into it."

Song Xingye joked with a laugh, "If they really crash, the guys in the orbital calculation team will be incredibly embarrassed, won't they?"

He stared at the Earth outside the window for another minute, then said, "I'm going to the gym for a bit, trying to get that place to smell like 'home' again."

"Good idea, I'll come find you in a bit," Mi Nan replied.

After Song Xingye left, Mi Nan turned her gaze back to the display screen. Even if the engine suddenly stopped working completely at this moment, they would never be able to return to Earth.

They are relentlessly gliding along the orbit of the solar system, and Earth's gravity can no longer pull these wanderers back.

At this moment, they are embarking on a solitary voyage into the vast and boundless deep space.

……

Sunday, July 4, 2068.

The Xihe spacecraft has set off to leave Mars, but this is by no means a holiday for rest.

After Sheng Long issued the ignition command, the VASIMR engine started, propelling the Xihe spacecraft away from the Mars system.

This deorbiting trajectory was exactly the same as when it left Earth more than eight months ago. The spacecraft spiraled outward along a long spiral track, gradually breaking free from the gravitational pull of Mars under the continuous thrust of the VASIMR thrusters.

Unlike last time, this was not a trial takeoff; they no longer cautiously increased the power of the reactor and engine.

In less than two hours, the engineering team pushed the engine to full capacity, squeezing out all the energy produced by reactor No. 1.

Looking back, when they left Earth, the engine ignition marked the beginning of their journey, a profoundly new experience for the entire crew, although it didn't bring much sensory shock.

However, eight months later, the situation is very different. Starting the engine has become commonplace. In fact, the crew members have long been accustomed to starting and stopping the engine.

At this moment, their only desire is to return home.

As the Xihe gradually moved away from the alien mothership docked at Maxwell's Gap, and as its orbit expanded and tilted, the spaceship slowly drifted away from the star ring.

In just one hour, the Xihe had already increased the distance between itself and the mothership and the "Western target" by thousands of kilometers. When the Xihe had completed half of its initial orbit and passed through the gap in the star ring again, the alien array was already too far away to be observed with the naked eye.

The following morning, the Xihe had completed three outward spirals and was heading towards the free navigation phase along its winding trajectory.

At this point, the spacecraft had climbed 15,000 kilometers outward, and its orbit was tilted at a four-degree angle to the Martian ring.

After another full day of continuous progress, the distance doubled.

Although Mars still appears majestic in view, the oppressive feeling of its proximity is gradually fading.

Every half circle, the spaceship will pass through the intersection of the star rings.

To ensure safe passage through these areas, the engineering and navigation teams had to constantly calculate and repeatedly check the track trajectory.

Although this work is of paramount importance, it has gradually become a routine task.

By the end of the third day, they had safely crossed the outermost edge of ring A, where the ring material was extremely thin.

Just like when it left Earth, as the orbital radius of Xihe continues to expand, its linear velocity is also gradually decreasing.

Today, this ironclad rule of orbital mechanics has become common knowledge for sailors.

This trade-off between speed and altitude will continue as they spiral away from the planet.

However, it won't be long before they can completely break free from Mars' gravitational pull and return home.