Chapter 1518: End of Summit
Translator: _Min_ Editor: Rainystars
After three days of discussions, the Space Colonization Summit that attracted global attention finally came to an end.
Almost everyone around the world waited for the outcome of this meeting.
The thought of colonizing Himalia alone excited them.
People gathered in front of their TV, or sat in front of their computer, or grabbed onto their phone as they eagerly waited for the reporters that surrounded the entrance of the convention center. They were excited to find out what role their country would play in the space colonization boom.
In the lobby of a roadside restaurant, rig workers who had just finished their shift were eating. News around the space colonization happened to be playing on the TV in the lobby. A man with a shaved head took a sip of his alcohol, raised an eyebrow, and said while he looked at the reporter on the screen.
“Only a total of 50 candidates, why is there so little?”
“There are only 200 candidates in total, 50 is a lot. And don’t they send people by batch? I wonder who will get to go, haha.” The colleague who drank with him said while he laughed. He was quite proud that his country could be able to send astronauts to such a far place.
“That’s right, so far away from home, what’s the point to go up there.” The other person who sat next to him also sighed with emotion, but the focus of concern was completely different. Although he didn’t have an idea of the distance to Jupiter, he was right about ‘so far away’, “Hopefully they won’t make us go there.”
“Hey, come on, you won’t be able to go there if there is a chance. The eligibility requirement is at least an undergraduate degree, so you have to go to the Xin Astronaut Training Center for training. Even if you went, do you think you can learn to pilot a rocket?” Someone next to him mocked.
“Why can’t I learn it? Anyway, the official language over there is also Mandarin.” The man’s face was flushed as he argued back, “I know how to drill wells and collect gas, I may know more than those people know.”
“Haha, Old Wu, you’re definitely not exaggerating.”
There was a burst of joyous laughter at this table, and the topic quickly changed to the embarrassment Old Wu went through when he just came here.
On the other side, there was also a table full of guests, a man with glasses and dressed in a slightly more sophisticated manner watched the news while he ate. When the President of PetroHua was interviewed, he said in an emotional and excited state, with his face completely flushed, that PetroHua would invest 20 billion Xin New dollars, and that the company would build the gas wells all the way to Himalia. The statement almost made the man’s eyes bulge out.
“PetroHua is investing 20 billion Xin New dollars…My God, these guys cry poor every day, and they just spent so much money in one move.”
20 billion Xin New dollars was equivalent to 200 billion in local currency.
Most people probably only saw this much money on TV. The man clicked his tongue while he processed the shock in his head. What he didn’t know was that because of this 20 billion Xin New dollars investment, the stock price of PetroHua skyrocketed.
The news of expansion to Africa made many investors excited before, now the target was all the way to Jupiter. The elated gamblers couldn’t wait to push the stock price up to the Moon in order to vent their enthusiasm for investment.
On the other hand, in the far away Europe in the Western Hemisphere, people in Britain and France also closely followed the summit.
Countless pairs of eyes all focused on the screen with envy, suspicion, and even jealousy, but no matter what kind of feeling they had, once the summit ended, the start of the new era had nothing to do with them.
“A total of 176 billion Xin New dollars of investment, including the 50 billion Xin New dollars invested by the Future Bank, this time our colonization of Himalia has a sufficient budget. Based on the plan, we can first establish on 200-person colony in Europa to build water treatment stations, electrolysis stations, and other life-sustaining facilities. Once we can ensure that we can maintain the oxygen, freshwater, and food consumption of 1,000 people in the Jupiter planetary system, we will send a second batch of colonists to Himalia.”
At the headquarters of the Space Department, Kelvin reported to Jiang Chen on the summit on the second day after the summit ended.
Based on the contracts signed by Celestial Trade with other countries, the Himalia colonization plan would be launched immediately at the end of the month, and all investments would be ready within a month. If Himalia’s gas output could reach 500 million cubic meters per day within a year, the member states would make further investments in accordance with the agreement.
The daily output of 500 million cubic meters was almost half of Russia’s natural gas production. Although most countries were still skeptical about whether the gas production in Himalia could reach this figure, Jiang Chen was not concerned.
He read the gas reserves report from the Himalia outpost and it stated that with the exclusion of the black alkane mines in the rock formation on the surface, the hundreds of large and small natural gas lakes on the surface was at least hundreds of times larger than the proven reserves on Earth, and the figure was a conservative estimate.
As long as transportation and large-scale mining could be solved, even if the figure of 500 million cubic meters per day was doubled, it was still possible to achieve.
“The colonization plan can be executed based on this plan,” Jiang Chen hurriedly glanced at the document passed over, put it aside, then continued, “Has the cultivation problem been solved for the MW1 bacteria at the Special Projects Institute?”
“There is no issue with cultivating on Himalia, but it is difficult to cultivate on Earth,” Kelvin replied.
“Have you found the reason?” Jiang Chen asked.
“The structure of the MW1 bacteria is very unique. It is very resistant to cosmic radiation and low-pressure environments, but it has extremely harsh requirements for gravity conditions. If the coefficient of gravity exceeds 0.1g, the metabolic level of this bacteria will begin to decline exponentially. When the gravity coefficient reaches 0.8g, the metabolism of MW1 bacteria will stop. If we want to cultivate MW1 bacteria on Earth, we must improve its genotype, or build a base in the form of a space station in the gravity-free section of Celestial City.” Kelvin repeated to Jiang Chen the original words of the researchers of the Special Projects Institute.
From a cost perspective, the idea of cultivating MW1 bacteria on Earth seemed a bit unrealistic. But in fact, it did not impact the plan. After all, the gas produced by Himalia would naturally be converted into black alkane on Himalia.
Jiang Chen then asked Kelvin about the details of building a total of 20 astronaut training center branch schools in each member country and then asked him to leave.
After he checked his watch, it was already five o’clock in the afternoon.
Just when Jiang Chen planned to go to the cafeteria for dinner, and then rest for a while, the indicator light on his watch flickered.
He clicked on the holographic screen of the watch, and Lilith’s image appeared beside him.
“What’s the matter?” Jiang Chen looked at Lilith.
“Lin Lin asked me to bring you a message. The research task you gave her has already yielded results.”