Asteroid belt.

In the solar system, in addition to the eight large planets, there are thousands of small objects that we cannot see with the naked eye.

Like the eight planets, they revolve around the sun in an elliptical orbit, and they seem to be insignificant gravel compared to the eight planets, and these small celestial bodies are the asteroids in the solar system.

Among them, the vast majority of asteroids are concentrated in the vast space between Mars and Jupiter.

There are more than 500,000 asteroids here.

There are also a small number of asteroids whose orbits are smaller than Mars or even smaller than Venus, and others whose orbits are beyond Jupiter's orbit.

The question of the origin of asteroids has been bothering many scientists.

Some explosion theories have long held that there was originally a large asteroid between Mars and Jupiter, which later exploded, and the asteroid belt is the debris of the asteroid after the explosion.

However, there has been no rational explanation for why this hypothetical asteroid exploded, and where does the energy come from.

Another collision theory assumes that in the space occupied by the asteroid belt, there were originally 5~10 "planets" about the same size as Ceres, and a large number of debris was formed due to the continuous collision.

However, with the continuous advancement of astronomical observation technology, scientists began to generally believe that the asteroid belt should be formed by a group of stars (the predecessors of planets smaller than planets) in the primordial solar nebula.

However, because of the gravitational influence of Jupiter, these stars are prevented from forming planets, causing many stars to collide with each other and form many debris and debris.

The three largest asteroids in the asteroid belt are Homo sapiens, Marriage and Vesta, all with an average diameter of more than 400 kilometers, while only one dwarf planet, Ceres, has a diameter of about 950 kilometers in the main belt, and the rest of the asteroids are smaller, some even the size of dust.

In the established impression, the asteroid belt should be an area with an unusually dense distribution of matter.

But actually. The material in the asteroid belt is very thin, often separated by hundreds or thousands of kilometers between them, and to date, several man-made space probes have safely passed through the asteroid belt without incident.

Asteroids in the main belt are generally divided into three categories, according to their spectrum and main form: carbonaceous, silicate and metallic.

This time, Chen Xin took a fancy to it. It is an asteroid with the astronomical code name Mathilde, which is dominated by iron and nickel.

At this time, the asteroid Mathilde is following the eternal trajectory of the mighty asteroid army, orbiting the sun.

From here, the sun had become the size of a softball, and the cold light shone through the porthole into the cockpit of the Dream without feeling the slightest warmth.

The original open sails of the Dream spaceship had converged at some point, and the blue flame in the vent at the tail of the spacecraft was slowly extinguishing. Dream relied on its own inertia to maintain parallel speed with the Mathilde asteroid.

The Mathilde asteroid is 6.4 kilometers long, about 2.8 kilometers in diameter, and its mass is only 2.9*10^9 tons, which is far from making it reach hydrostatic equilibrium.

The density of the Mathilde is relatively uniform. The body is also relatively well-proportioned, which is one of the reasons why Chen Xin chose this asteroid.

The attitude engine on the Dream spacecraft started slowly. Like a light feather, the Dream slowly landed on the Mathilde.

Due to the Mathilde's very limited gravitational pull, the Dream had to protrude four probes from under the belly of the aircraft, rotate at high speed, and nail deep into the Mathilde, holding the Dream and Mathilde firmly together.

A pile of liquid metal crashed silently from the USS Dream. Penetrated directly into the interior of the Mathilde.

From the moon to the asteroid belt, a month's journey seems a bit long, but Chen Xin and Gangyi are not idle.

They did a lot of simulations and calculations on the computer for the characteristics of the Mathilde asteroid.

In order for Earth and Mathilde to join forces in three years' time, the Mathilde's orbit must be constantly corrected. But the thrust required to propel an asteroid of more than two billion tons out of its original orbit is also terrifying.

As a result, the company decided to use the iron-nickel ore on the Mathilde to build the work-free engine.

Although the thrust of solid hydrogen-oxygen fuel engines per unit time is higher, the specific impulse of non-working fluid engines is higher, and fuel is not used.

All it takes is to build a super-large fusion generator set on the Mathilde.

According to the calculations of the steel hammer, at least six to eight heavy engines with a thrust of more than one million tons can be installed at some key points on the Mathilde to achieve the original goal.

Of course, it is not enough to rely on the Mathilde's own materials, fortunately, the asteroid belt is rich in resources, Chen Xin piloted the Dream space plane, shuttled back and forth near the Mathilde for nearly a week, and captured a lot of asteroids containing rare metal resources, the small ones are only the size of stones, and the size is nearly 100 meters, which is barely enough to make the raw materials needed to build nuclear fusion reactors and engines.

At this time, the steel hammer has completed the installation of the base on the Mathilde asteroid, and the rest of the work will only need to be completed in another half a month.

Fortunately, after swallowing a large amount of calorie metal on the moon, the purification and manufacturing ability of the steel hammer to the metal has been greatly improved, otherwise according to the previous efficiency of such a large workload, even if the steel hammer is given half a year, it may not be able to do it.

While Chen Xin was busy here, the work on the earth did not stop.

Once the world's top 10 countries in terms of economy and military are united, their strength and efficiency are also extremely amazing.

Immediately after the UN reform plan was passed, various countries announced the formation of a coalition force to be stationed in the Middle East to encircle and suppress IS.

In this battle, PLA dispatched 100,000 troops, including the navy, land and air force, and became the largest case of China's overseas use of troops since the Korean War.

The Somali army, which has recently completed its reorganization, will also join the joint operations of various countries, and the unmanned fighter units of the Somali Air Force will become the strongest air support force in this joint operation.

According to the agreement of various countries, after this battle, all the armies participating in the war will automatically become a member of the United **.

In addition, various countries have also launched severe crackdowns on cult organizations within their respective territories to prevent some cult organizations from waiting for an opportunity to cause chaos after the news is announced. (To be continued......)