Chapter 1576 Anchorage Site Selection

Go to Beijing.

In the Institute of Orbital Design of Pan Asia Academy of Sciences, a group of scientific researchers in white coats are standing in front of a map with sad faces, pointing at several red circles drawn on the map.

"What about point 104? I remember that in the alternative plan..."

"Impossible. It was discussed during the last seminar. Although there has been no strong geological activity for 50 years, this area is still on the volcanic belt!"

"Then point 86—"

At this moment, footsteps suddenly came from outside the door, interrupting the discussion of the researchers gathered in front of the holographic map.

Looking in the direction of the door, when he saw clearly the people walking into the office, the gray-haired scholar immediately showed a surprised expression on his face, and walked forward and said.

"The chairman...and the secretary-general? Academician Lu? You...why are you here suddenly?"

The two powerful figures of Pan-Asian cooperation!

And academician Lu Academician!

Although the speech at the Ignition Day celebration had given him a premonition that the space elevator project was becoming a national key project of Pan-Asian cooperation, he never imagined that his small temple would attract so many bigwigs to visit.

"I'm here uninvited, sorry to bother you," Li Guangya nodded friendlyly as he looked at the old scholar who came forward, and then introduced to Lu Zhou who was standing beside him.

"This is academician Ge Huaizhi, director of the Orbital Design Institute, and also the actual person in charge of the current space elevator project. Since about 5 years ago, the research team led by him has been tackling the technical problems in the field of space elevators. A top player in the field."

When it came to the first half of the sentence, it was okay, but when Chairman Li Guangya introduced the second half of himself, Academician Ge suddenly showed an embarrassed expression on his face, and said subtly.

"Don't dare to be, dare not be, I have been studying in this field for so many years, but I can't produce a decent result, I am really ashamed."

"There's no need to be ashamed of this kind of thing. Scientific research is not about farming. It's not about planting the seeds and then watering them. Then there will be results," Lu Zhou said casually, looking at the embarrassed Academician Ge, before getting straight to the point "So, what's your problem?"

Before Academician Ge could speak, Li Guangya coughed lightly and spoke for him.

"I have encountered problems since the site selection..."

"Site selection?"

He glanced at Academician Ge in disbelief, and after getting a positive expression on his face, Lu Zhou showed a speechless expression on his face, and couldn't help but complain.

"...The place where you encountered problems really exceeded my expectations."

"Ahem, as the saying goes, everything is difficult at the beginning..." Li Gaoliang coughed dryly, quickly changed the topic to the right track, and continued with a serious expression, "Academician Ge, please talk to Academician Lu, what is going on with you? What's the situation."

Several researchers met each other, and finally Academician Ge sighed and said.

"Let me tell you, the thing is like this..."

It took about three minutes for Academician Ge to explain the whole story to Lu Zhou in concise terms.

It turned out that about five or six years ago, when the entire space elevator project just started, they had already selected the anchorage of the space elevator.

It is a small island close to Malay, located on the equator. Although it is very close to the Pacific Rim volcanic belt, theoretically speaking, this island is not a seismically active area.

Unfortunately, an earthquake three years ago completely ruined their plans.

However, no one cared about it at the time. After all, until a few days ago, research related to space elevators was regarded as a relatively marginal research project in Pan-Asian cooperation, and even the researchers in the project team did not pay much attention to it. It is doing applied science as theoretical research.

Anyway, the matter of site selection is not so critical. There is no certainty when the whole project will start. It seems that it is not very meaningful to rush to find a place to anchor the space elevator?

However, no one expected that this day came so suddenly that all the issues that were not considered at that time, or that were not seriously considered, were all exposed.

After listening to Academician Ge's description, Lu Zhou said without hesitation.

"Let me see the map."

"It's here." Academician Ge nodded, and immediately brought Lu Zhou to the map suspended in the holographic window, pointing to the red dots on the screen and said, "This is the anchorage we have visited before, basically Each of the above has invited marine geologists to make an assessment... Before, point 104 and point 86 were in our alternative plan, but due to various reasons, we eliminated it again."

Lu Zhou didn't listen to what Academician Ge was saying. He stared at the map and thought about it for about 5 minutes. Then he suddenly stretched out his index finger and clicked on the open sea in the Pacific Ocean on the east side of the Malay Archipelago.

"Finding an anchorage for a space elevator on the Pacific Rim volcanic belt is simply nonsense! The safest way is to build it directly on the Pacific Ocean."

All the territorial waters of the Pan-Asian Cooperation on the equator are almost distributed at the junction of the Indian Ocean plate and the Pacific Ocean plate, or they are close to each other. It is almost impossible to find a suitable anchorage.

Not to mention those points located on the monsoon belt. In a sense, encountering typhoons is more terrifying than earthquakes and volcanoes.

Therefore, from this point of view, only the Pacific Ocean is the most suitable choice.

"I'm afraid not." Hearing Lu Zhou's words, Secretary-General Wu Shuhua, who had never spoken, frowned slightly and reminded, "This violates international conventions and is inconsistent with the diplomatic principles of the Pan-Asian Alliance to build a community with a shared future for mankind. "

A wry smile appeared on Academician Ge's face, and he made a helpless expression towards Lu Zhou.

If he could find a small island in the Pacific Ocean to build it, he would have proposed it a long time ago.

However, this is obviously unrealistic.

"Not necessarily," after hearing Wu Shuhua's words, Lu Zhou looked at her and made a rebuttal, "Because the diplomatic principle of Pan-Asian cooperation is to build a community with a shared future for mankind, we should set an example. , build this space elevator on the high seas."

Wu Shuhua frowned, and was about to say something when Li Guangya, who was standing next to him, suddenly interrupted with a smile.

"Academician Lu is right. Once the space elevator is built, the whole world will benefit from it. From this perspective, there is nothing wrong with our behavior. We represent the interests of all mankind."

"...This, this is too messy, don't you think this explanation is a bit far-fetched?"

Hearing Li Guangya's words, a wry smile appeared on Wu Shuhua's face.

In fact, what she wants to say is that this is too rogue, and it will damage the international image of Pan-Asian cooperation.

However, Li Guangya smiled heartily, as if he didn't take it seriously.

"It's far-fetched, it's a bit preposterous at best... But I think we are quite strong, and there should be no problem doing this kind of thing. If you take a step back and cause diplomatic disputes, I believe that with your Ability, it must be easily resolved!"

Wu Shuhua sighed, and did not continue to say anything on this issue, but persuaded him from a different angle.

"Leave aside the diplomatic issues for now...haven't you considered the cost of building a space elevator on the high seas?"

Before Li Guangya could speak, Wu Shuhua continued.

"In terms of cost, the farther the anchorage of this space elevator is from our economic zone, the higher the construction and maintenance costs will be, and the economic utility will decrease. Even if this is a project that works for the present and will benefit the future, we should consider The more important thing is to leave a valuable wealth to future generations, rather than a heavy burden."

Academician Ge nodded and added something.

"Cost is indeed a big problem... A space elevator with a total length of 36,000 kilometers, this kind of super project is an astronomical figure just for the logistics cost of construction materials, not to mention the construction. This construction site is far away from us. The farther away our transportation network is, the more pressure we will experience on costs."

Discussions seem bogged down.

Even Li Guangya, who previously agreed with Lu Zhou's opinion, now has a embarrassed expression on his face.

really.

There is no point in having a space elevator far from the borders of pan-Asian cooperation.

In addition, he also thought of some other issues, such as national security and the like.

Guarding an elevator with a vertical height of 36,700 kilometers on the high seas is obviously not as convenient as this elevator in the territory.

Looking at Lu Zhou for help, Chairman Li Guangya said sincerely, "Is there any alternative?"

Lu Zhou thought for a while, and gave an answer that seemed feasible to him.

"...Although I don't know much about economics, the decision of our Lunar Orbit Construction Committee was to build a city on the moon."

Build a city?

Hearing this sentence, Wu Shuhua was stunned.

"Building a city? Do you mean land reclamation? On the high seas of the Pacific Ocean? How is it possible—"

"I didn't say land reclamation," Lu Zhou continued in a calm tone after interrupting her, "We build a big ship, about the size of Guanghan City, and let it float on the sea. Move a centimeter or two...No one will measure it anyway."

"I understand what you mean," Li Guangya's eyes lit up, and he came to his senses in an instant, "Just like the strategy we adopted in Guanghan City, the territory of the moon belongs to all mankind in name, but the spaceflight we deploy on the moon Weapons are the property of the Pan-Asian people!"

Lu Zhou smiled and nodded.

"That's it."

Freedom of navigation is the legitimate rights and interests of all countries, organizations, and regional alliances. Just because the ship is sailing slowly, you can’t stop it from launching, right?

With the current technical strength and industrial capabilities of Pan-Asia Cooperation, it is fully possible to build this city floating on the sea. At the same time, this project can be carried out together with the space elevator!

Li Guangya's eyes became brighter and brighter. He clenched his right hand into a fist and struck hard on the palm of his left hand.

"That's the deal!"

"This city should be called Penglai!"