#957 - Chapter 957: Lack of Gold? Capture the Psyche! A sudden awakening!
Chen Hao founded numerous large corporations, but not all of them are under the umbrella of Hanteng Capital.
Take Handing Materials, for example.
The amount of shares the country gives him is one thing.
Essentially, Handing Materials is a military-industrial central enterprise, after all, materials are the foundation of everything.
One can imagine.
Whether it's building ultra-high-speed aircraft or constructing mines on Mercury, or even the more defying Dyson sphere—all these projects cannot be separated from the support of Handing Materials, highlighting the importance of materials.
As the chief scientist of Handing Materials, Shi Changxu is well-versed in all major projects.
He has already received a national mission.
But…
He also discovered a problem.
“Chief!”
Old Shi said with a grave expression, "The higher-ups gave me the data, and after our initial analysis, we found that some materials… are severely insufficient!”
Most materials are replaceable.
For example, with aircraft, if titanium metal is the best to use, other alloys might also work, but the performance would be slightly inferior.
However, some materials are irreplaceable.
Metals account for over 70% of Mercury's total weight.
However, there aren't many categories of metals.
The most critical point…
Some metals used in manufacturing the Dyson sphere material are irreplaceable, but their content on Mercury is extremely low.
The gold needed to build aircraft and mining equipment can be provided by Earth.
But the Dyson sphere is different!
That thing needs to surround the entire sun!
The total amount of resources needed is simply immeasurable, and even if gold accounts for a very small percentage, the demand is still terrifying.
“Let me put it this way.”
Old Shi smiled wryly, “Even if all the proven gold mines in the world are mined, plus all the gold in the national treasury and among the people, it would still be far from meeting the demand—Chief, a clever woman cannot cook without rice!”
In some fields, gold has unique properties that cannot be replaced by other materials.
Yet.
The total amount of gold in the world is far from enough to complete the construction.
No matter how awesome the technology is, how can it be built without materials?
“Don't worry, it's all arranged.” Chen Hao smiled.
“Arranged?”
Old Shi was at a loss.
If there aren't any materials, there aren't any materials, how can it be solved by arrangement?
Magic?
Turning stone into gold?
“Asteroid belt.”
Chen Hao chuckled, “There's an asteroid called Psyche, with a diameter of about 250 kilometers. Metals account for over 80% of the entire asteroid, and gold accounts for a large proportion of that, with reserves of approximately… 2.7 trillion tons.”
“How much?!” Old Shi's eyes widened instantly.
How much gold is there in the world right now?
Over a hundred thousand tons have been mined.
Proven reserves are several tens of thousands of tons.
Of course, according to the proportion of gold in the Earth's weight, the global total is very astonishing, but the problem is… the content is extremely low and cannot be mined!
In short.
The total amount that has been mined and can be mined is only two hundred thousand tons or so.
But Psyche…
2.7 trillion tons!
A hundred million times!
“Didn't Tsarist Russia use that trick before?”
Seeing Old Shi's dazed expression, Chen Hao explained with a smile, “Embed a high-performance engine and push Psyche from the asteroid belt to Mercury's orbit.”
Make Psyche a satellite that can be mined at any time.
Of course, the process of pushing it from the asteroid belt to Mercury's orbit takes time.
Use the gold on Earth in the early stages.
“…”
Old Shi was dumbfounded.
He had certainly heard of Psyche, but this kind of science fiction operation…
It's outrageous!
“Old Qian, you haven't seen Old Shi in a while, chat slowly, I won't disturb you.”
“Wait a minute!”
Old Qian's mind stirred, “Psyche is placed in Mercury's orbit, and you still have to fly up to mine it. I think… it would be easier to simply land it on Mercury, wouldn't it? It would also save a lot of trouble.”
Mercury has a diameter of nearly 5,000 kilometers, making it a true planet.
What about Psyche?
It has a diameter of 250 kilometers.
Even if it's placed directly on Mercury, theoretically, it won't have any impact.
“I estimated that even if the Dyson sphere is built, it won't use up all of Psyche's gold, so… I'll push it back to Earth in the future.” Chen Hao chuckled.
It's an asteroid, okay?
The weight is astonishing.
Once it's placed directly on Mercury, it will be difficult to lift it up again in the future…!
“I see.”
Old Qian suddenly understood, “With Psyche's weight, under the influence of Mercury's gravity… the four fundamental forces are hard to resist.”
It's easy to fall down.
It's hard to rise up.
Suddenly!
Chen Hao's pupils constricted after Old Qian said this.
The conversation with Deng Xiaoyan and Zhao Yunjie more than half a month ago gave him a flash of inspiration, but he couldn't grasp the key point.
As a result, he would often be in a daze during the following period, but he still had no clue.
Previously.
Old Qian's mention of 'rejuvenation' seemed to give him another flash of inspiration.
But he still couldn't grasp it.
Until this moment…
“Chief, you…” Old Shi noticed that something was wrong with him, standing there in a daze like an idiot.
“…”
Old Qian grabbed Old Shi and immediately stopped him with his eyes.
Silence!
Don't speak!
Chen Hao's eyes were dull and motionless, as if he had been frozen in place.
Time slowly passed, and after a full dozen minutes, he suddenly woke up, “I understand…”
“Understand what?” Old Qian asked.
“The direction of new weapons!”
The dazed expression disappeared.
Chen Hao's face was full of surprise, and he grabbed Old Qian's hands tightly, “Old Qian! That sentence of yours… is too important!”
“I… what did I say? Which sentence?”
“The four fundamental forces are hard to resist!”
“No…”
“Xiang Yan!”
Chen Hao shouted outside.
Xiang Yan, who had sent Old Shi in, was still waiting outside, thinking of sending Old Shi away, “Chairman Chen!”
“Summon experts in mechanics and nuclear physics for a meeting!”
“Yes!”
Xiang Yan jogged away.
“Old Qian, let's go!” Chen Hao was extremely excited.
“Okay!”
“I… can I listen?” Old Shi couldn't help but ask, unable to suppress his curiosity.
How could a new weapon direction be found based solely on a sentence from Old Qian?
That's amazing, right?
“No problem!”
Chen Hao was extremely excited.
…
The research center had a large number of projects underway, with no shortage of elites in mechanics and nuclear physics.
Soon, two to three hundred scientists gathered.
Everyone was puzzled.
Why was there a sudden meeting?
They needed to know that the various projects they were involved in were either nearing completion or were being fully advanced—at this time, they should be working hard to overcome the difficulties, why hold a meeting if there was nothing to do? Wouldn't that be a waste of time?
“Everyone!”
A group of three people walked into the conference room.
Old Qian and Old Shi took their seats, while Chen Hao walked to the stage, “The enemy came to the solar system tens of thousands of years ago and destroyed the alien civilization at that time.”
“Even the alien civilization at that time was far less powerful than the enemy.”
“Therefore, tens of thousands of years later, when the enemy discovers that a higher civilization has appeared in the solar system again, they won't take it too seriously.”
In the eyes of the hunter, the level of civilization that has appeared this time is said to be far inferior to the alien civilization of their predecessors.
Why bother mobilizing troops and wasting resources?
One battleship is enough!
“What about after we survive this round?” Chen Hao asked.
Did it need to be said?
When they discover that the opponent is strong enough and their own battleship has been destroyed, the hunter will inevitably launch a full-scale attack.
The Earth's current strength is far from being able to contend with them!
“We need new weapons!”
