Chapter 42: Departure to Mars

October 23, 2020, a special day.

New human calendar, June 7, Year 1, 7:30 am.

At this time, Yu Yifeng and others, as well as hundreds of selected scientists, scholars, technicians, engineers, etc., are already sitting in their respective positions, ready to go.

Yu Yifeng and some other major project leaders are gathered in the captain's room, ready to give orders. Some members of the security team are distributed in various rooms of the spacecraft to maintain law and order.

The remaining tens of thousands of people are required to stay in their rooms and are not allowed to walk around at will. Fortunately, each room is equipped with a TV, so people can see the entire process of the spacecraft's departure.

As time passed, everyone began to get nervous, whispering, encouraging each other, or praying silently. This day is related to everyone's future, but manpower has been exhausted, and the rest can only depend on fate. People just wait and pray quietly.

"Beep", when the time came, Yu Yifeng immediately announced: "I order to recover the spaceship elevator."

"Captain orders to recover the spaceship elevator!"

"Recover the spaceship elevator..."

This spaceship is so huge that a high-speed elevator must be used to get on and off the ship. With a series of mechanical roars, the elevator next to the spaceship was slowly retracted. Because it had been tested many times before, there was no applause for this step. People just held their breath and looked forward to the next step.

"I order to remove the spaceship support!"

"Captain orders to remove the spaceship support!"

Noah shook slightly a few times, and several of the last supports supporting the spaceship were removed. Now there is only one last fulcrum, which is its "basin-type" engine. However, the entire spaceship is still stable. After careful calculations by scientists, it is impossible for the spaceship to overturn.

"I order all teams to make final preparations! The spacecraft will be officially launched in ten minutes!"

"Captain orders the observation team, maintenance team, engine team, and inspection team to prepare for work..."

At this time, the entire spacecraft was silent, and everyone's heartbeat quickened, staring at the TV screen, afraid of missing anything.

The time to test the final results has come. Everyone has been working hard for this day for six months, but whether it can succeed is still unknown.

"I order, Noah, nuclear propulsion system, officially ignite!"

"Captain orders, start Noah's nuclear propulsion system, countdown begins..."

As a string of 64-digit passwords are input, a countdown begins, "Ten, nine, eight..." Yu Yifeng is also very nervous. Whether the space program can succeed will be officially revealed in a few seconds!

"Five, four, three, two, one..." People count silently in their hearts as the countdown begins, staring at the screen without blinking. As the last second passed, suddenly, a bright white light flashed under the spacecraft. This white light was just a crack at first, and it became bigger and bigger in the end.

This was a sunrise that shocked the world!

There has never been such a strong light in the world, as if a thousand suns gathered together. These lights even took on some brilliant blue, which was a manifestation of extremely high temperature, at least hundreds of millions of degrees. A large amount of gray-black dust surged with this light.

A billion-ton helium-3 nuclear bomb-exploded!

A not very large mushroom cloud was generated under the spacecraft. In an instant, the nuclear explosion released a huge energy of 4.184*10^18 joules, as if a natural force that had been bound for billions of years was suddenly released.

This powerful energy is equivalent to the magnitude 9.3 earthquake in the Indian Ocean in 2004. However, the scope of the earthquake is so large, and the engine of Noah is so small. This energy suddenly exploded in such a small space, as if a powerful star beast was locked in a cage.

It struggled and resisted. It wanted to be free and break free from the engine.

The entire "basin-shaped" engine was instantly filled with powerful shock waves, light radiation, and electromagnetic radiation. The visual errors caused by the scorching temperature seemed as if the entire space was distorted.

The data in the laboratory began to jump wildly, and the temperature of the explosion core was estimated to be more than 2 billion degrees. Of course, this is just an estimate, and no instrument can measure the temperature accurately.

An unparalleled shock wave rushed towards the chassis of the spacecraft. The infinite power in an instant made the spacecraft vibrate violently. The "basin-shaped" engine below once suppressed a large amount of gas with its huge weight, but at this moment, it could no longer suppress it!

This "starry sky beast" finally broke through the cage. It seemed to have boundless anger. A giant hand composed of mushroom clouds easily lifted the spacecraft up!

The mass of one million tons was nothing at all. It seemed as light as a feather in front of this divine power. In just a moment, the spacecraft was thrown out fiercely.

The instant high temperature, electromagnetic radiation, and light radiation made all the TV screens tremble, and people could only see a white snow. At this time, the electromagnetic radiation was so strong that all satellite signals were blocked, and only the observation room mounted next to the spacecraft could still operate.

"The satellite can't connect! The lunar rover can't connect! The left and right observation rooms can still work!"

"...Quick! Use wired means to transmit data!"

People just held their breath and stared at the screen. The image finally became clear, and people saw this great scene on TV.

Just as an ancient Indian epic said: "If a thousand suns shine together in the sky, mankind will perish, the earth will suffer, I seem to become the god of death, the destroyer of all things in the world!"

This sentence is very suitable to describe nuclear fusion. In the face of this destructive force, most of the thick "basin-type" engine of mankind was evaporated in an instant, the sand was pressed into a crystal hard plate by the powerful shock wave, and all the sand was melted into glass-like substances by the instantaneous high temperature and high pressure!

"This is the power of the sun! "Many people saw a nuclear explosion for the first time and could not help but feel such emotion. They also began to worry about the scientists' design. What if the entire spacecraft was blown up? Professor Ding Yidong sat in the captain's room, clenched his fists, and his palms were blue and purple. He was responsible for designing the nuclear bomb, and the engine was designed by Dr. Felix and many other scientists. He believed in himself and his colleagues, but he was still nervous! "The first-stage engine has been vaporized!" Various observation instruments sent a lot of information. "The second-stage engine is completely burned! It has fallen off!" "The third-stage engine... is working, it has successfully withstood the huge pressure! The spacecraft is accelerating!" There was a cheer in the captain's room. Felix jumped up from his position and gave Ding Yidong a bear hug. The engine is fine!