novelThe Blueprint of Babel
| ← Ch.0796 | Ch.0798 → |
Translator: _Min_ Editor: Rundi
In the Country F Army command centre, senior military officers and political figures gathered, but the room was silent.
Moritz, a military adviser sent by the Freemasonry from Europe, said nothing, and the expression on his face did not reveal the thoughts in his mind. The president of Country F, Aquino IV, looked around, tightened his collar, and whispered to the assistant beside him.
"Pour a glass of water for me, thank you."
The assistant nodded and left the room.
On the other side of the table was the newly appointed Army Marshal, Stark. He silently stared at the live broadcast of the military exercises that just ended. His fists were clinched tightly against his thighs to the point where his veins were exposed.
Celestial Trade did not keep the landing exercise a secret, but rather responded to the demand of the United Nations to disclose it to Southeast Asian countries. In Stark's opinion, it was simply provocation... [Even if we showed you our cards, you still can't win!]
It was Celestial Trade's message!
"Arrogant..."
"What about urban warfare?" Moritz turned his attention to Marshal Stark. He said in a meticulous voice."Compared with the performance of drones in landing, I'm even more worried about the performance of drones in urban warfare."
The high maneuverability and flexibility of drones made them tailored to the city terrain! Although not quite familiar with this Hummingbird drone, Moritz immediately saw that the drone's real stage was not on the beach but in the city!
"No, " Aquino IV shook his head to answer the question."They only made the sensitive landing exercise public. The combat footages of urban, mountain, and jungle were not made public to the United Nations. I protested but it was useless..."
Aquino IV said in a helpless tone.
Marshal Stark looked to Moritz and hoped that the European military advisor could offer a countermeasure.
"The odds are low, but it's not too terrible." Moritz mused for a moment and put his knuckle against his chin."Tactically, hitting a drone with a rifle in mid-range is not an easy task, but in close proximity, it's possible. Fragmented grenades and rifle grenades in mid-range could still pose threats to the drones. Strategically, signal shielding and interfering with unmanned drones and terminals would be effective, although it may cause problems in our own communication. However, it should be able to effectively counter the drone tactics of the Celestial Trade."
"We must make immediate adjustments to the frontline deployment. MLL Island's counterattack plan is temporarily delayed. We need more time!"
...
As far as results were concerned, the results of the joint military exercise between Xin and Malaysia were still quite outstanding.
After seeing the powerful operational capabilities of Celestial Trade forces, Country F Army deployed to the southeast island became much more tame.
However, the newly appointed president of Country F and Army marshal obviously did not choose to back down. The Freemasonry that provided loans for the military modernization of the country had not been shaken in the slightest. The tanks and modern equipment were still sent to the island. This added more and more firewood to the already severe regional situation.
But in Jiang Chen's opinion, even if more than 80, 000 Country F Army troops were equipped with modern equipment, J the Moro regime supported by Celestial Trade would still not lose. The cards in his hand were not just the Hummingbird drones and the Aurora-20s. If Country F dared to provoke, Celestial Trade was ready to push them back into their capital!
The military exercise lasted a total of three days.
Three days later, Celestial Trade soldiers boarded a transport ship and set off for the port of the New Malaysian Special District.
Jiang Chen personally traveled to the New Malaysia Special Distract. After meeting with the prime minister of Malaysia, the Xin Malaysian joint military exercise concluded on a high note.
Upon his return to Coro Island, the Aerospace Science and Technology Center also had good news for him. The orbit section of the space elevator achieved a major technological breakthrough. Combined with the materials provided by Jiang Chen, the scientists of the institute had completed the design of the entire space elevator and verified the mathematical model through the quantum computer.
Jiang Chen who just landed didn't even go home, instead he headed straight to Future Building. He went to see Kelvin and asked the institute's scientists to show the concept map of the project.
The light blue particles were projected in the air, and the space elevator that went directly to the synchronous orbit looked like an umbrella that was propped outwards. One side was a narrow "cable" that ran through the stratosphere transit station, then reaching to the the ground. On the other side, it was a wheel-shaped space station. As an outer orbital living and working space, it also served as a center of gravity for the space elevator to control the synchronous orbit as a "counterweight."
"The ability for graphene trucks to withstand the force is much greater than its ability to withstand pressure, thus the risk of the trucks being crushed by their own weight is much greater than the risk of the trucks being pulled apart by its own weight. To avoid the space elevator being crushed by its own weight, our engineers came up with an idea to drop 36, 000 km of cable from the space station in the synchronous orbit to the ground, and at the other end of the cable to design a wheel-shaped 'counterweight'. The center of gravity at the counterweight behind the space station would contra-rotate at a constant speed, applying an outward pull to the 'cable' by centrifugation, avoiding the tracks to bear their own weight!"
"At the same time, the wheel-shaped counterweight will also serve as part of the space elevator, providing extra living and work space for the space station."
Kelvin was genuinely proud of the design.
A year ago, graphene materials had not yet appeared and putting forward such a design concept would undoubtedly cause laughters. It was like a crazy dream coming true. Just as when Physicist Pearson proposed the concept of a space elevator in 1970, peers and the media all made unfriendly suggestions to him—"Go write science fiction novels instead."
However, today, the design of the "counterweight" would surely become the standard for the construction of space elevators in the future, and Kelvinwould also become one of the founding fathers of Earth's celestial era because of this design!
He had every right to be proud.
Although future space elevators also had a structure similar to the "counterweight, " the information Jiang Chen provided to the institute made no mention of the specific design. The information from the apocalypse only included the prerequisite technologies for the space elevator as well as the base station.
"How much will the project cost?"
When it came to cost, Kelvin showed a hint of embarrassment. This space elevator was good in every aspect, except for the cost. The "2050 Space Elevator Construction Plan" announced by Nippon's Daelim Construction which would build the "sky tree" for Yoto estimated a construction cost of 9. 5 billion US Dollar, which was almost one-twelfth of his quote.
Of course, the former's price was without any concrete proof.
"From the tracks to the space station, the total cost of the project ... is estimated to be 120 billion US Dollar."
"No problem, I'll find some way to fund the project. Future Heavy Industries will adjust production capacity to fit your needs. Is it possible to start construction tomorrow?"
Jiang Chen's reaction was contrary to Kelvin's expectation. No hesitation. The president didn't even blink when he approved the project. It was not twelve hundred dollars, but one hundred and twenty billion!
Kelvin lost his ability to articulate for a moment.
"What's the problem?" Jiang Chen asked with a puzzled voice.
Jiang Chen's question made Kelvin return to reality. He stood there full of energy and shoutedout in excitement
"No! There is no problem! We'll finish the construction!"
Jiang Chen was unclear why Kelvin was full of energy all of a sudden, but seeing his subordinate so motivated naturally made him very happy. He patted him on the shoulder.
"Then go!"
| ← Ch. 0796 | Ch. 0798 → |