Chapter 1543 - An Unexpected Discovery
Chapter 1543: An Unexpected Discovery
Inside the Celestial City Space Command Center, the staff that sat in front of the computers also waited for news from Europa.
Although the outpost on Europa was equipped with a quantum communication device, a slight delay in communication was still present. When the picture of the drilling platform being blown up was transmitted here, almost everyone in the space command held their breath.
After about half a minute, the staff took off their headphones in silence, and many people let out a depressed sigh.
Unlike the feelings of depression and regret in the mind of these researchers, Jiang Chen was in pain as he watched the platform blow up on the holographic screen.
A “blowout” like this was the equivalent of two billion dollars, and it also meant that the works of Europa’s outpost over the past month had been in vain.
The upwelling seawater would backfill the cracks that were drilled through quickly and eventually freeze again. Fortunately, the colonists activated the perforating device in time and left the drill bit and the deep-sea robot under the ice sheet. It was only saving grace behind the month of work.
But after Jiang Chen remembered that the costs of Europa colonization were split with major member states, he felt a little better, at least he was not the only one that lost money.
“Drilling for water is the wrong choice. The water pressure below the ice sheet is unimaginable. When our drill bit was about two hundred meters away from the bottom of the ice sheet, the ocean directly ruptured the ice sheet, which led to the subsequent blowout.”
Kelvin looked at the giant fountain shaped like an umbrella from the image captured by the orbiting satellite. The frown on his face was very apparent while he was in deep thought.
“How is the situation with the deep-sea robot?” Jiang Chen asked.
“It is operating normally. It can be activated again once the ocean current environment is stabilized.” When Kelvin heard Jiang Chen’s question, he pointed at the line of parameters in the lower right corner of the holographic screen. “This is the pressure. You can see that the parameters are changing rapidly. Our deep-sea robot is probably—”
“Will it be swallowed by a big fish?”
Kelvin had to process the question for a brief second. When he realized that Jiang Chen told a joke, he laughed out.
“It’s not possible. In such a primitive ecosystem, there can be no overly large organisms. Otherwise, there will be serious problems in both the consumption of organic matter and the supply of heat. It is no exaggeration to say that a whale will overwhelm the entire Europa ecosystem.”
“You can’t be certain,” Jiang Chen smiled and looked at the changing parameters. “When we first set foot on Mars, didn’t we think it was just a desert? But under the sand, there was always weird stuff coming out.”
Before the truth is revealed, no one can guarantee that their inference is correct.
Of course, from the perspective of investors, he still hoped that nothing weird would pop up from underneath Europa. Otherwise, it would not only increase costs with no benefits, but the solar system would also be too lively of a place.
“Knock on wood… HEY!”
Lin Lin head was gently tapped on as she covered her forehead and stared at Jiang Chen in anger.
Jiang Chen, who knew that he did not use force at all, ignored Lin Lin’s exaggerated reaction, pretended not to see her, and continued on the topic just now.
“What about the life signals? We should have been monitoring this, right?”
Kelvin glanced awkwardly between the two while he decided to ignore the “little tail” behind Jiang Chen, and continued after a light cough, “Based on the life signal wave we sent to Europa’s seabed, we did detect some traces of suspected life sources on the seafloor. However, due to the distance, the authenticity of those life sources is still uncertain, because…”
“Because the life signal detection device is only effective for mammals and birds, it is very ineffective for arthropods, chordates, and other temperature-changing animals, and the effectiveness for plants is almost negligible. Am I right?” Lin Lin triumphantly raised her chest and looked like she was very proud of herself.
Kelvin looked at Lin Lin in surprise, obviously, he didn’t expect a girl her age to know so much.
Just from her age alone, she was probably slightly older than his daughter. Of course, this thought was only true because he did not know about digitalized humans. If Kelvin learned Lin Lin’s true age, his expression would be much more interesting compared to now.
“Don’t worry about her, let her just show off.” Jiang Chen looked helplessly at Lin Lin. Recently, she had been acting a little abnormal, and he didn’t know what to say. After he coughed to signal for them to return to the right topic, looked at the numbers that jump on the holographic screen, and then said, “Is there any good solutions? Regarding the problem of the colony’s water source.”
“I will discuss with the engineers of Future Heavy Industries and see if we can solve the blowout problem through engineering design.” Kelvin lowered his head and thought for a moment, but he responded somewhat helplessly, “Before solving this problem, we will have to continue to use electricity to heat ice cubes.”
Electric heating was the most energy-consuming method of creating water. It meant that Europa, which was not an energy-abundant moon, had to find a way to generate electricity. The hope was on the nearby Jupiter. The gas giant emitted 18,000 times Earth’s radiation. Under the bombardment of high-energy particles, there should be a lot of tritium on Europa’s surface.
In the meantime, the ocean current environment near the robot finally stabilized.
The colonists far away on Europa started the execution program of the deep-sea robot.
The sphere wrapped in titanium alloy released a string of bubbles between its gaps, and the blade-like stacked armor shrank inward from the tail. It exposed the propeller hidden in the armor and began to move forward as the motor started.
On Jiang Chen’s side, it didn’t take long for the video frame in the lower right corner of the holographic screen to light up. The picture came directly from the front camera of the deep-sea robot. The only area visible was the area illuminated by the searchlight.
Lin Lin opened her eyes slightly and stared at the picture on the screen intently. Although Europa was also colonized in the 22nd century, that kind of remote matter obviously had nothing to do with her as she laid in the hospital bed all the time then.
“Will the digitalized human feel uncomfortable?” Jiang Chen asked in a low voice.
“Uncomfortable?” Lin Lin tilted her head.
“Deep-sea phobia.” Jiang Chen said, “Although I don’t have it, I still feel a kind of instinctive discomfort when I watch the picture gradually descend.”
“You should ask Lilith about this,” Lin Lin rolled her eyes.
Just as the two whispered to each other, a ray of light suddenly appeared on the screen. The faint light did not come from the beam of the searchlight, but the deeper seabed. The person at the outpost turned off the searchlight on the deep-sea robot, adjusted the motor’s output power, slowed down, and moved to the light source below.
When the behemoth appeared on the screen, everyone in the command room let out a surprised exclaim of different sorts in unison. As for Lin Lin, her eyes almost bulged out.
When Jiang Chen saw what appeared on the screen, his pupils constricted as he muttered to himself.
“…Why is this here.”