EBE Chapter 180 Not a big problem
Chapter 180 Not a big problem
"Currently, Star Ring Group has developed the basic model of curvature-driven systems, which at least proves the correctness of this theory."
Ai AA and Cheng Xin sat facing each other in a coffee shop, with Cheng Xin constantly flipping through the documents that Ai AA had brought.
Cheng Xin's professional competence at work is commendable, which is one of the reasons why Wang Haisheng was able to put her in charge of this negotiation.
He had thought that Cheng Xin, like everyone else in the department, was just a useless pretty face. Now it seemed she was actually quite useful, which made Wang Haisheng somewhat happy.
Cheng Xin shook the materials on the table and let out a long sigh.
"It's good news, but it will still take a long time to complete. The Earth Alliance is fairly satisfied with this project, but..."
Generally speaking, once this is said, it's the prelude to trying to lower the price.
"But as you know, the Earth Federation has been researching vacuum zero-point energy. The Sun Ring Accelerator has now been built, and we are just one step away from achieving vacuum zero-point energy."
"Once the zero-point energy of the vacuum is discovered and applied to the existing technological system, the theoretical speed of the spacecraft will reach the speed of light. From this perspective, the role of warp drive does not seem to be as significant as imagined."
"But how many years do you plan to take to make that final push? Ten years, a hundred years, or a thousand years?" Ai AA laughed.
Before coming, she specifically consulted with Wade to do her homework, and naturally knew that vacuum zero-point energy was still an unattainable existence for current human technology. Even the Trisolarans, who had reached the second-level civilization, chose the former between curvature and vacuum, which shows that the development of vacuum energy is indeed not something that can be achieved in a short time.
"Warp drive and new energy sources are not contradictory. Even if you discover vacuum zero-point energy in the future, it will not affect the normal use of the spaceship. On the contrary, warp drive is currently the only technology that can achieve light-speed travel the fastest. Why not take advantage of it?"
Ai AA flipped the materials on the table to the data section, where the speed data obtained after the experiment was clearly recorded.
"Other companies may not understand what light-speed travel means, but does the Earth Alliance not understand? Once humanity masters the method of light-speed travel first, it will greatly promote the research on vacuum zero-point energy."
According to Einstein's special theory of relativity, when a spaceship travels at the speed of light, time inside the spaceship is zero, but the flow of time outside the spaceship is accelerated, and no object with mass can exceed the speed of light.
People can only travel to the future, but can never go back to the past.
Because the concept of time is not just the speed of light, but also involves causality, as the grandfather paradox has proven.
Even the expansion of the universe is constrained by the speed of light.
The theory of cosmic expansion is a hypothesis proposed in the 16th century AD, which scientists inferred from the spectral characteristics of extragalactic galaxies.
The light from extragalactic galaxies reaching Earth exhibits a clear redshift in the spectrum, and this redshift becomes more pronounced with increasing distance.
According to the Doppler effect, the farther the observer is from the target, the lower the frequency and the longer the wavelength of light in the observer's spectrum, and vice versa.
Therefore, people have come to the conclusion that the universe is not static, and that other galaxies outside the Milky Way are gradually moving away from it. This led to the hypothesis of the expansion of the universe, which proves that the universe is not static.
Based on the hypothesis of the expansion of the universe, the ancients defined the Hubble constant by using the recession velocity of the target galaxy relative to Earth.
With the Hubble constant, the rest of the work became much easier. People could easily calculate that light from a distance of about 144 billion light-years away from Earth would no longer be able to reach it.
Later, people even calculated the lifespan of the universe based on this, but in the Deterrence Era, after the establishment of the new generation of the James Webb Telescope, six special galaxies were observed, overturning this hypothesis.
People have also discovered that the original calculations were wrong, and that the universe's lifespan is far more than 140 billion years, but much longer.
And the expansion speed of the universe is naturally limited to the speed of light... at least for now.
This is why we cannot observe light from 144 billion light-years away. Theoretically, their expansion speed is above the speed of light, so the light cannot reach Earth, but in reality, this is not the case.
That's a bit of a tangent. To put it simply, humanity's previous understanding of the universe was merely subjective judgment. In reality, the expansion rate of the universe has not exceeded the speed of light.
The reason it's said to theoretically exceed the speed of light is simply because you, the observer, and the observed object are flying in opposite directions.
Imagine you're standing on a bus, watching cars speeding past on the other side of the road. Can you really say your bus is going 300 kilometers per hour?
Do you think you're flying a plane?
Therefore, once humanity masters the technology to travel at the speed of light, it can explore new avenues in the study of certain energies.
In particular, the research and development of energy sources such as vacuum zero-point energy may reveal some unexpected discoveries if energy can be observed and captured in an environment where relative time is zero.
In essence, there is no conflict between vacuum energy and warp drive technology. One is a power supply method, and the other is a flight method. The relationship between the two is the same as that between an engine and fuel.
However, the local research institute is relatively poor and cannot simultaneously conduct research on both projects, so it has to make some trade-offs.
If you really have money, of course you should try to do both things well.
After all, the speed of light is the limit. The next step after the warp drive is warp technology, which is theoretically the only technology that can make a spaceship travel faster than the speed of light.
After much haggling between the two women, the investment project was finally agreed upon. Xinghuan Group was at a slight disadvantage, since they were cooperating with a government department. If they didn't share some profits, the business wouldn't be done.
Besides, Wade doesn't really care about that little bit of money; he can just deduct it from AiAA's salary.
After finishing their business, it was time for the two of them to have a private chat.
Ai AA looked Cheng Xin up and down with a surprised expression. Cheng Xin felt a little uncomfortable being stared at and turned her body slightly to the side.
"Cheng Xin, do you have a boyfriend?"
Ai AA made a surprising statement, immediately asking Cheng Xin a question that left her stunned.
"I?"
For a moment, Cheng Xin didn't know how to answer.
To say there was no such person was impossible, Zhizi had clearly told herself that Lin Xuan was her lover, but to say there was no such person was possible, she had no memory of her having such a person.
"I can't remember."
"Can't remember?"
AiAA was stunned for a moment, then reacted with shock.
"You mean you've had your memory erased?"
"Yes."
Cheng Xin nodded slightly, and then briefly recounted her experience to Ai AA.
However, she concealed the part about her contact with Sophon, since others did not know her identity. Sophon was, after all, a representative of the Trisolarans, and as one of the officials of the Earth Alliance, her secret contact with Sophon would inevitably lead to an investigation.
"I see. So it seems you have a story to tell." Ai AA revealed her lively side; she only seemed like a little girl when she wasn't working.
"how about you?"
For some reason, Cheng Xin asked a question as if possessed.
“Me? I don’t have a boyfriend, but I’ve had a few girlfriends before, um… don’t be surprised, it’s just what you’re thinking.” A playful smile appeared on AiAA’s face.
"I wanted to ask if you have a boyfriend. If not, I can..."
"I have!"
Cheng Xin wiped the cold sweat from her forehead and quickly said.
Regardless of whether Lin Xuan is truly related to me, let's get through this hurdle first, and deal with the rest later.
Her sexual orientation is perfectly normal; there's absolutely no way she could be turned gay!
"Oh, that's how it is……"
AiAA was immediately disappointed.
Seeing her like this, Cheng Xin couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
This is terrifying. People from the Era of Deterrence are definitely not normal.
As she spoke, she was about to take a sip of coffee to calm her shock.
However, AA's next statement was once again surprising.
“It’s okay, having a boyfriend is fine too, I can marry him and go with you.”
"puff!"
Cheng Xin sprayed the coffee out of her mouth.
Meanwhile, Lin Xuan, who was playing chess with Zhi Zi, was completely bewildered when she heard the system notification in her mind.
"Shock level from Cheng Xin +99".
"Shock level from AA: +99"
He frowned involuntarily, and for some reason, a very bad premonition welled up in his heart.
"These two women...could they be plotting something big again?"
However, Lin Xuan quickly shook her head and put the idea out of her mind.
He had already laid out enough traps to deal with Cheng Xin. Even if he was trapped here now, those backup plans would prevent Cheng Xin from becoming the Swordholder. In general, as long as Cheng Xin did not become the Swordholder, there would be no major problem.