捕獲小行星：二十二世紀智力競爭【丘宏義科幻小說系列】（國際英文版）
The Capture of Asteroid X19380A - A Race between China and the United States to Capture Asteroids
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內容簡介
The time was between 2123 and 2148. In the 22nd century, most world mineral resources were depleted, and asteroids appeared to be the only locations in the Solar System to look for resources. During the year 2132 U S intelligence discovered that there was a fleet of giant clustered rockets sitting on the launch pads in Jiuquan, the largest Chinese space port, ready for launch. Alarmed, authorities searched old surveillance files and discovered that this fleet was a part of a deep interplanetary space expedition project which began a few years ago. Famed U S space scientist Dr. David Zhang of NSEA (National Space Engineering Administration) examined the surveillance images, and discovered that a newly established Chinese corporation XinTianDi was developing a kind of humongous nuclear devices with powers equivalent to several thousand megatons (billion tons) of TNT equivalent. A Los Alamos nuclear weapon expert Jack Brown was of the opinion that such huge nuclear devices had no places in war. Meanwhile, Dr. David Zhang also discovered that the armada of humongous spaceships was also the work of XinTianDi, and a fleet of spaceships, also humongous, launched earlier were heading towards a 90 mile sized asteroid 8 Flora. U S President immediately ordered the launch of a spy spaceship to 8 Flora to find out the intentions of the Chinese space fleet. This spy spaceship discovered that the Chinese were using autonomous robots to build a base station on 8 Flora. This project was under the leadership of a Chinese top space scientist, Dr. Wei SiMei (Stanley Wilson), a descendent of an immigrant from the United States. Under his leadership, the Chinese were sending minerals from this asteroid. U S immediately began a space project as never seen before, also to establish a mining base on 8 Flora. The project was under the leadership of David Zhang. Thus China and the United States were engaged a fierce but peaceful competition to mine the asteroids.
Yet China was already one step ahead. China had already made plans to bring an asteroid to become a satellite of the Moon. Using nuclear explosives with total blast power of several thousand megatons TNT equivalent, Chinese robots were able to separate a pair of contact binary asteroids, and one component was heading towards the Earth via Mars. Using the gravity of Mars, this component, X19380A, was slowed down enough to be captured by the Moon as a satellite. China renamed this newly acquired Moon satellite “GuangHanGong,” a mythical palace on the Moon in Chinese mythology. Soon afterwards, U S also used a set of humongous nuclear blasts to send an asteroid to near earth space, and it also become a satellite to the Moon. The United States named the newly acquired trophy Mahina, Hawaiian goddess of the Moon. The United States used the excuse to develop Man in Mars program to mothball Mahina, and secretly planned to use it for military objectives. China, on the other hand, developed GuangHanGong into a space tourist resort. China leased lands on GuangHanGong to several financial groups of the world to develop similar space resorts. The story ends with a maiden voyage of a Chinese space liner, HouYi-ChangĔ to GuangHanGong.
As for the story of La Boutique Fantistique, please read this book.
Yet China was already one step ahead. China had already made plans to bring an asteroid to become a satellite of the Moon. Using nuclear explosives with total blast power of several thousand megatons TNT equivalent, Chinese robots were able to separate a pair of contact binary asteroids, and one component was heading towards the Earth via Mars. Using the gravity of Mars, this component, X19380A, was slowed down enough to be captured by the Moon as a satellite. China renamed this newly acquired Moon satellite “GuangHanGong,” a mythical palace on the Moon in Chinese mythology. Soon afterwards, U S also used a set of humongous nuclear blasts to send an asteroid to near earth space, and it also become a satellite to the Moon. The United States named the newly acquired trophy Mahina, Hawaiian goddess of the Moon. The United States used the excuse to develop Man in Mars program to mothball Mahina, and secretly planned to use it for military objectives. China, on the other hand, developed GuangHanGong into a space tourist resort. China leased lands on GuangHanGong to several financial groups of the world to develop similar space resorts. The story ends with a maiden voyage of a Chinese space liner, HouYi-ChangĔ to GuangHanGong.
As for the story of La Boutique Fantistique, please read this book.
目錄
Table of Contents
Cast of Characters
Introduction — Asteroids, Robots and Space Travel
Part I. The Search for New Resources in the Solar System
Chapter 1. Discovery of Chinese Activities
Chapter 2. A Secret Project in China
Chapter 3. Projects and Plans
Chapter 4. The Chinese Operations
Chapter 5. The Chinese Expedition to 8 Flora
Chapter 6. America Catches Up
Chapter 7. The Cornucopia Project
Chapter 8. The American Endeavors
Part II Mining Operations on Asteroid8 Flora
Chapter 9. First Batch of Minerals from 8 Flora
Chapter 10. Contact Binary Asteroids
Chapter 11. American Dreams and a Humongous Chinese Explosion
Chapter 12. X19380A Passed by Mars – Destination: Moon
Part III. American Acquisition and Chinese Space Enterprises
Chapter 13. Operation Mahina of the United States
Chapter 14. Touring X19380A and a Space Hotel
Chapter 15. Board Meeting on Space Hotel
Chapter 16. La Boutique Fantistique
Chapter 17. Project Mahina
Chapter 18. Cosmic Hotel ChanGong – The First Travel to an Asteroid
Epilogue
Cast of Characters
Introduction — Asteroids, Robots and Space Travel
Part I. The Search for New Resources in the Solar System
Chapter 1. Discovery of Chinese Activities
Chapter 2. A Secret Project in China
Chapter 3. Projects and Plans
Chapter 4. The Chinese Operations
Chapter 5. The Chinese Expedition to 8 Flora
Chapter 6. America Catches Up
Chapter 7. The Cornucopia Project
Chapter 8. The American Endeavors
Part II Mining Operations on Asteroid8 Flora
Chapter 9. First Batch of Minerals from 8 Flora
Chapter 10. Contact Binary Asteroids
Chapter 11. American Dreams and a Humongous Chinese Explosion
Chapter 12. X19380A Passed by Mars – Destination: Moon
Part III. American Acquisition and Chinese Space Enterprises
Chapter 13. Operation Mahina of the United States
Chapter 14. Touring X19380A and a Space Hotel
Chapter 15. Board Meeting on Space Hotel
Chapter 16. La Boutique Fantistique
Chapter 17. Project Mahina
Chapter 18. Cosmic Hotel ChanGong – The First Travel to an Asteroid
Epilogue
序／導讀
Feasibility of Impulse Propulsion
Explosives have been a taboo subject to discuss, yet much civilian research has been done on this subject without mentioning this word. An example is found in marine engineering. One of the problems in ship propellers is the so-called cavitation, miniscule sized cavities caused by the formation of small bubbles of partial vacuum on the surface of the propellers because of their rapid motion. When the bubbles collapse, the voids implode and can generate an intense local shock wave. The shock wave can then cause surface fatigue and can cause a type of wear called cavitation. It is one of the most intensively studied topics in marine engineering. The implosions are actually a kind of small scale explosions.
Because of radiation effects, nuclear explosives, though powerful, are never considered a viable possibility in terrestrial constructions. However, in outer space, such taboo should not prevent their use. In fact, interplanetary space is already filled with high energy radiations from the Sun. A part of particle radiation is the solar wind, which is a mild form of radiation. There are higher energy components called solar particle events. The Sun has an eleven year cycle of sunspot activities, of which several are relatively inactive, but the remaining years are more active (called solar maximum). For unknown reasons, the durations of the solar minimum and maximum varied and are not predictable. The Apollo program of flights to the Moon had been scheduled to avoid these active years. In fact, between the Apollo 16 and 17 missions, one of the largest solar proton radiation events took place. Had the astronauts been on their missions to the Moon, they would have received lethal dosages of radiation in ten hours’ time. In general, interplanetary space is filled with lethal radiations from time to time. (This is yet another reason why sending wouldbe Buck Rogers to Mars may be perilous to their health.)
Given the radiation environments in the interplanetary space, the taboo against using nuclear explosives should not exist. In fact, to move asteroids bigger than garden rocks, the use of nuclear explosives becomes almost necessary. There is no way (at present) to move a moderately sized asteroid, say, one hundred meter in size (weighing several million tons) with conventional rockets. Nuclear explosives are needed. Even using nuclear explosives, we are still limited by the size of nuclear explosives we can conveniently assemble (although there is no theoretical limit on the yield of thermonuclear devices, in practice there are still limits). The mass of an asteroid increases as the cube of its size; a one hundred meter sized asteroid weighs several million tons, and a one kilometer sized – ten times bigger – weighs several billion tons. As I discussed in this novel, to move such an asteroid – a relatively small one in the cosmic scale – requires the use of nuclear explosives of the power of several thousand megatons of TNT equivalent. I think this is probably the practical limit for the use of nuclear explosives.
Explosives are usually destructive in the sense that the explosive forces are omnidirectional – that is, the explosive forces are almost uniformly distributed in all directions without discrimination. In order to use explosives for propulsion, the explosive forces must be made to have a preferred direction. The techniques are known as explosive lens technology. One of the two American scientists who proposed the use of nuclear explosives in space propulsion, Stanislaw Ulam, was one of the pioneers in this field. Almost all military weapons use some sorts of explosive lens technology. Explosive lens technology has also been used in the design of nuclear weapons, but the use is largely confined to neutron reflectors (to increase the yield of the nuclear weapons). As far as I know, few have endeavored to study the use nuclear explosive lens technology to concentrate bl
Explosives have been a taboo subject to discuss, yet much civilian research has been done on this subject without mentioning this word. An example is found in marine engineering. One of the problems in ship propellers is the so-called cavitation, miniscule sized cavities caused by the formation of small bubbles of partial vacuum on the surface of the propellers because of their rapid motion. When the bubbles collapse, the voids implode and can generate an intense local shock wave. The shock wave can then cause surface fatigue and can cause a type of wear called cavitation. It is one of the most intensively studied topics in marine engineering. The implosions are actually a kind of small scale explosions.
Because of radiation effects, nuclear explosives, though powerful, are never considered a viable possibility in terrestrial constructions. However, in outer space, such taboo should not prevent their use. In fact, interplanetary space is already filled with high energy radiations from the Sun. A part of particle radiation is the solar wind, which is a mild form of radiation. There are higher energy components called solar particle events. The Sun has an eleven year cycle of sunspot activities, of which several are relatively inactive, but the remaining years are more active (called solar maximum). For unknown reasons, the durations of the solar minimum and maximum varied and are not predictable. The Apollo program of flights to the Moon had been scheduled to avoid these active years. In fact, between the Apollo 16 and 17 missions, one of the largest solar proton radiation events took place. Had the astronauts been on their missions to the Moon, they would have received lethal dosages of radiation in ten hours’ time. In general, interplanetary space is filled with lethal radiations from time to time. (This is yet another reason why sending wouldbe Buck Rogers to Mars may be perilous to their health.)
Given the radiation environments in the interplanetary space, the taboo against using nuclear explosives should not exist. In fact, to move asteroids bigger than garden rocks, the use of nuclear explosives becomes almost necessary. There is no way (at present) to move a moderately sized asteroid, say, one hundred meter in size (weighing several million tons) with conventional rockets. Nuclear explosives are needed. Even using nuclear explosives, we are still limited by the size of nuclear explosives we can conveniently assemble (although there is no theoretical limit on the yield of thermonuclear devices, in practice there are still limits). The mass of an asteroid increases as the cube of its size; a one hundred meter sized asteroid weighs several million tons, and a one kilometer sized – ten times bigger – weighs several billion tons. As I discussed in this novel, to move such an asteroid – a relatively small one in the cosmic scale – requires the use of nuclear explosives of the power of several thousand megatons of TNT equivalent. I think this is probably the practical limit for the use of nuclear explosives.
Explosives are usually destructive in the sense that the explosive forces are omnidirectional – that is, the explosive forces are almost uniformly distributed in all directions without discrimination. In order to use explosives for propulsion, the explosive forces must be made to have a preferred direction. The techniques are known as explosive lens technology. One of the two American scientists who proposed the use of nuclear explosives in space propulsion, Stanislaw Ulam, was one of the pioneers in this field. Almost all military weapons use some sorts of explosive lens technology. Explosive lens technology has also been used in the design of nuclear weapons, but the use is largely confined to neutron reflectors (to increase the yield of the nuclear weapons). As far as I know, few have endeavored to study the use nuclear explosive lens technology to concentrate bl
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