Cataclysmic Era: I can unlock the tech tree

2040 years.

The sun has expanded to the vicinity of Venus's orbit.

Venus, which originally had a thick atmosphere, was completely transformed into a barren planet by a nearby solar storm.

Just like Mercury before.

"Zero, when did Venus fall into the sun?"

Looking at the holographic image in front of his desk, Lü Yongchang asked softly.

"December 10, 2042, Professor," Zero replied succinctly to Lü Yongchang's question.

Lu Yongchang stared blankly at the ever-expanding fireball.

On December 10, 2042, Venus will set.

This is the deadline for humans to leave Mars.

Unlike Mercury, the impact of Venus falling to the sun is extremely significant.

There are two reasons.

On the one hand, Venus is closer to Mars than Mercury.

On the other hand, Mercury, as the smallest planet in the solar system, has an average radius of only 2440 kilometers, while Venus has an average radius of 6073 kilometers!

This means that Venus falling to the sun will trigger a solar storm with significantly increased power!

If humans continue to stay on Mars, the outcome is predictable.

"Zero, what stage is the Heavenly Court's plan at?"

After a moment of silence, Lü Yongchang asked again.

A year ago, after the energy crisis was resolved, Lü Yongchang immediately made the decision to launch the Heavenly Court Project.

After the Heavenly Court Project was launched, Zero invested almost all of its computing power into various factories.

As Lü Yongchang finished speaking, the holographic image in front of him suddenly changed.

The original solar system star map has disappeared, replaced by images of the Martian spaceport.

There, rows of starships, each 1500 meters long, stood neatly arranged in the deep, dark space.

"Professor, the Heavenly Court Project is 63.8% complete," Zero's voice rang out from the side.

"To date, 500 Home Nebula-class starships have been completed."

"The construction of 500 [Taotie] Nebula-class supply reserve ships is more than halfway complete."

"The construction of 250 Golden Crow Nebula-class battleships has not yet begun."

"Construction of the new flagship, the Earth, has not yet begun."

Lu Yongchang nodded thoughtfully. With the breakthrough in starship manufacturing technology, the original Heavenly Court plan was also modified accordingly.

Nebula-class starships are the result of a first-level civilization's technological advancement.

In other words, these starships contain the pinnacle of technology of a Type I civilization.

In Lü Yongchang's plan, starships will be divided into nine levels.

In order, they are nebula-class, comet-class, minor planet-class, satellite-class, planet-class, star-class, white dwarf-class, neutron-class, and finally, black hole-class starships.

In Lü Yongchang's view, only the starships planned by the Heavenly Court can be called Nebula-class starships.

The Luan Bird and Xuan Nu Starship of the past can only be considered as transitional products.

If we had to categorize it, it might be better called a satellite-class starship.

"When do you expect all the construction projects to be completed?" Lu Yongchang asked directly.

Zero responded: "The entire construction is expected to be completed by October 2042."

August 2042...

Lü Yongchang frowned.

Humans have only two months to avoid the massive solar storm caused by Venus falling to the sun.

As for the evasion plan, Lü Yongchang had already thought it through.

After leaving Mars, the human fleet will head directly towards Jupiter.

At that time, 1250 starships will "hide" on the far side of Jupiter and set off for the Kuiper Belt after the solar storm has passed.

only……

"Wouldn't two months be a bit too short?" Lu Yongchang asked in a low voice, his brows furrowed.

"Professor, there is enough time." Zero quickly presented a series of calculations and deductions to him.

"According to calculations, we will arrive at the far side of Jupiter a week before Venus sets."

Upon hearing this, Lü Yongchang's right eyelid twitched slightly: "I hope so."

The office fell silent again.

"Professor, I have bad news," Zero's voice rang out again.

The familiar tone and voice made Lü Yongchang's right eyelid twitch again.

"hiss……"

He gasped sharply.

How much time has it been?

Is this thing really that effective?!

"Tell me," Lü Yongchang said, rubbing his forehead, sounding somewhat weak, "What kind of trouble has arisen this time?"

Zero's tone was very calm: "Professor, our hydrocarbon reserves have dropped to the warning level."

Lu Yongchang was stunned for a moment before he realized, "Carbons? How could this stuff drop to the warning level?"

So-called hydrocarbons are nothing more than various hydrocarbon substances.

These substances, in addition to serving as fuel, can also be used to synthesize various chemical substances, making them indispensable raw materials for modern industry.

Under normal circumstances, with a well-developed industrial system, this thing is not scarce at all.

For example, carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide can be combined with hydrogen to synthesize methane.

"It's a matter of synthesis rate," Zero explained softly. "Since the Heavenly Court Project began, our consumption rate has far exceeded our synthesis rate."

"All right."

A hint of helplessness appeared in Lü Yongchang's eyes.

These raw materials, which are extremely common on Earth, have now become scarce commodities.

"I'll figure something out."

After saying that, Lü Yongchang fell into deep thought.

He unconsciously tapped the desk in front of him with his knuckles, one thought after another flashing through his mind.

On Earth, obtaining these hydrocarbons would be extremely easy.

Extracted from fossil fuels, or from biogas digesters...

In short, there are countless ways to obtain large quantities of hydrocarbons.

But these methods no longer work after leaving Earth.

There is no fossil fuel on Mars!

As for biogas digesters...

Mars City doesn't have that much organic waste to produce biogas right now!

After much deliberation, he decided to turn his attention to other planets.

"Zero, open the solar system star map for me and mark the position of Titan."

The hologram changes silently.

The relative positions of Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and Titan were instantly presented to Lü Yongchang.

"The relative location is good."

Upon seeing the holographic image, Lü Yongchang's eyes lit up: "Zero, call Fang Xu and the others."

"Next, prepare to land on Titan!"

Titan, also known as Saturn's moon.

It is the largest of all Saturn's moons and the second largest moon in the solar system.

What makes it special is that it is the only satellite with a dense atmosphere, and its surface atmospheric pressure is even 1.5 times that of Earth!

(Io, Europa, Ganymede, Callisto, Enceladus, and Triton all have atmospheres, but their atmospheres are extremely thin.)

In addition, Titan's atmosphere has a very peculiar composition, consisting of 98.44% nitrogen and a large number of different kinds of hydrocarbons.

According to the exploration, Titan, with a surface temperature as low as -179 degrees Celsius, has a large number of oceans and lakes composed of hydrocarbons!

This is the reason why Lü Yongchang decided to land on Titan.

At that time, the collection vessel will even be able to directly extract large quantities of liquid hydrocarbons from the methane ocean on Titan's surface!

It's convenient and worry-free, even saving you the trouble of compressing gas.

In Lü Yongchang's view, there was no better deal than this!