Upon receipt of the report of the Scientific Advisory Board, US Army General Stark, the rotating chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, immediately convened an emergency meeting.

At this time, it was already five o'clock in the morning Diego Garcia time.

Because Beijing is in the 8th East District, two hours earlier than the 6th East District, where Diego Garcia is located, Yang Fanglie just arrived at the General Staff Headquarters when the meeting began.

Like the Scientific Advisory Board, the Joint Chiefs of Staff has ten members.

Although the Summit of Heads of State is the supreme authority of the Planetary Defense Council, for the most part, the Joint Chiefs of Staff exercises its authority. All scientific research projects and defense projects under the name of the Planetary Defense Council are reviewed, approved, supervised and implemented by the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The Scientific Advisory Board only provides recommendations for reference and action, and decision-making power is vested in the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

After the meeting began, Luo Jinyong first introduced the situation.

Burke didn't overstep his bounds. There is an unwritten rule in the Scientific Advisory Board that whoever initiates the claim is the one who advocates it. Luo Jinyong believed that the 2014X1 asteroid still had the possibility of a "soft landing" and proposed to speed up the progress of various projects and projects, so he made a report at the Joint Chiefs of General Staff, briefed the military leaders of the 10 member countries, and persuaded them to adopt the recommendations of the Scientific Advisory Board.

“…… That's the rough picture. Finally, I would like to emphasize one sentence. Luo Jinyong said that soldiers are not scientists, but have stronger national and national values. The 10 chiefs of the General Staff control 95 percent of the world's military power, and they serve not human civilization, but their own homeland. "If the outcome is any other, all the efforts we have made up until then will be meaningless, and the time left will not be enough to preserve the seeds of human civilization, which will inevitably suffer a catastrophe. Regardless of the unlikely probability of such a possibility, we have no choice. The remaining two months, perhaps a month, will be the last chance for human civilization to fight for the right to exist. Maybe we weren't prepared enough, maybe our resistance was insignificant, maybe we were doomed, but we were alive. More than 8 billion people, including your loved ones, children, grandchildren and friends, are hopeful about the future, and we are ready to give everything for them. There is little hope, but the future is up to us! ”

Luo Jinyong said more than one sentence, but many sentences.

After a moment of silence, Burke took the lead in applauding, Yang Fanglie also began to applaud, and then the other chiefs of general staff, as well as the ten commissioners who attended the meeting.

After sitting down, Luo Jinyong turned off the microphone and let out a sigh of relief.

The other chief scientific advisors had left, leaving him and Burke alone. Burke asked him to stay, mainly in the hope that he would report to the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

"Professor, I have a question." Stark is the rotating chair and was the first to ask questions.

Luo Jinyong took a sip of water and turned on the microphone again.

"You mentioned in your report that there is a large deviation in the estimation of the final velocity of the asteroid, and there are several obvious contradictions in the data. That is, you mentioned that the final velocity of the asteroid will not exceed 500 kilometers per second, and the error is about 20 percent, and you mentioned that the final velocity of the asteroid will probably not reach 250 kilometers per second, obviously the error of these two velocity values is at least 50 percent. ”

"We don't have a full grasp of how the asteroid accelerates, so there are two extremes when estimating the velocity, and the error is for the extreme result."

"How can we give a clear estimate?"

"It takes time."

"How long."

"Forty-eight hours, preferably seventy-two hours. To minimize the error, you have to wait until eight days later, counting the ejected material that escaped from the gravitational field of Mars. ”

"Professor, on behalf of the Joint Chiefs of the General Staff, I thank you for your efforts." Stark let Luo Jinyong go. "Generals, the situation is already very clear. After three days, we will have a more accurate scientific assessment. It's just that for the rest of the time, three days are very precious. Before making a final decision, we need to have a plan in place for each situation. ”

"Although there is a large error in the current estimates, Professor Luo Jinyong mentioned a key problem." The one who rushed to speak was Sergeyev, Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Army. "That is, only with a 'soft landing' of an asteroid can we have a chance to defeat the invasion of extraterrestrial civilizations. If an asteroid hits the Earth directly, even if the speed does not increase, it will be useless for us to do anything, and a devastating catastrophe will sweep the world. Whatever we do, we must do our best to reduce the damage caused by asteroid falls. ”

It can be seen that Sergeyev is Stark's nemesis.

"Professor Luo Jinyong, what do you think?" Yang Fanglie spoke.

"If an asteroid has a 'soft landing,' it will inevitably slow down before it arrives. So far, we have only found that asteroids change their velocity by trapping other stars and ejecting material. This suggests that the way asteroids change their velocity is within the realm of physics that we are familiar with. ”

"Does that mean anything?"

Luo Jinyong let out a long breath and said: "If the asteroid slows down in the same way, because there are no larger stars to use between the orbits of the Earth and Mars, the asteroid will inevitably eject material to slow down, and it will be forward, that is, towards the Earth. ”

Yang Fanglie frowned, and the expressions of the other nine chiefs of general staff also became very grim.

Although they are soldiers, they have scientific knowledge.

"There is no doubt that the material ejected by the asteroid poses a devastating threat to humanity as well." Luo Jinyong is not alarmist, because this is also what he is most worried about. "The total mass of an asteroid is about 50 billion tons, and even if it is 250 kilometers per second at the end of acceleration and ejects material at twice the rate, it will eject 25 billion tons of material during the deceleration phase. According to the phenomenon that began to be observed, the asteroid ejected not elementary particles, but larger objects. Of the objects that fell into the Martian atmosphere, at least one had a mass of more than 100 million tons, and the rest were more than 10 million tons. ”

"What does this mean?"

"If the asteroid had slowed down in the same way, the disaster would have come sooner."

"For what?"

"An object with a mass of 10 million tons, if it is a regular spherical shape, has a diameter of about one hundred and fifty meters." Luo Jinyong paused slightly, changed his approach, and continued, "More than a hundred years ago, the big explosion that occurred in Tunguska was caused by a meteorite with a diameter of about seventy meters. It is estimated that the meteorite has a mass of less than one million tons and enters the Earth's atmosphere at a speed of only a few kilometers per second. The meteorite exploded at an altitude of about seven kilometers above the ground, destroying more than 2,000 square kilometers of nearby forest. ”

The faces of the ten chiefs of the General Staff became even more ugly.

"A tenfold increase in mass and a hundredfold increase in speed means a hundredfold increase in kinetic energy. Because of its speed, the objects ejected by the asteroid not only do not burn up in the atmosphere, but also land before being detonated by the background pressure of the atmosphere, releasing the equivalent of 1 trillion to 2 trillion tons of TNT, almost five times the explosive yield of all the nuclear warheads we have. As long as one such object hits the earth, 99 percent of the population will die instantly, and the survivors will survive for a few years at most. ”

"How likely is it to be hit?" When Yang Fanglie lit a cigarette, his hands were trembling slightly.

"If the asteroid slows down with 50 percent of its mass and ejects 10 million tons of objects, it will produce 2,500 of them. Of course, not all objects will crash into the Earth. Luo Jinyong took another sip of water, "After the speed changes, the orbit of the asteroid will also change, so the orbit of the ejected object has a large angle with the orbit of the earth, most of the objects will pass behind the earth's orbit, some will be captured by the sun's gravitational field, and some will become asteroids orbiting in a large elliptical orbit, and only a few will approach the earth." ”

"Very few?"

"We have observed that the objects ejected by the asteroid when accelerating collide with each other, and the orbits of some of the objects change, so the objects ejected by the asteroid when it decelerates are also likely to collide, and some of the objects will gain the orbit to hit the Earth."

"What are the probabilities?"

"Ten percent or so, that's just a rough prediction made by me personally."

"That is, we need to be ready to intercept one hundred and twenty-five highly threatening objects?"

"Two hundred and fifty. Still, this is the most desirable outcome. ”

Yang Fanglie's eyebrows jumped a few times, and let Luo Jinyong continue.

"The acceleration of the asteroid when it reaches the perigee of Mars indicates that after using the Martian gravitational field to accelerate, it wants to get out of the Martian gravitational field as soon as possible and reach the Earth in the shortest time. If my speculation is correct, the asteroid should theoretically slow down after passing the gravitational equilibrium point between Earth and Mars to avoid hitting the Earth as much as possible. The problem is that the distance between the earth and the fire is now more than 200 million kilometers, the earth and the sun are obtuse, and the strength of the sun's gravitational field exceeds that of Mars and the earth's gravitational field, so the asteroid may not slow down after passing the earth-fire gravitational equilibrium point, and is likely to maintain a high speed until the strength of the earth's gravitational field exceeds the sun's gravitational field. If the asteroid arrives in a month's time, it will not be more than 20 million kilometers away from Earth when it slows down. ”

"Does this make any difference?"

"If you take the Oort cloud as the boundary and shrink the solar system to the size of the Earth, 20 million kilometers is equivalent to two meters."

"This ......"

"For a simple example, aiming a twelve-gauge shotgun at you from two meters away will hit you even if it misses a little."

Yang Fanglie let out a long breath, this analogy is very appropriate.

"Perhaps, the asteroid will reduce the mass of the ejected object when it decelerates, but it means that the number of ejected objects will increase significantly. Even if the mass of the ejected object is reduced to one million tons, or even 100,000 tons, with extremely high speed, it can cause a global catastrophe. ”

At this time, Sergeyev spoke. "Professor, I have a question. Will the super-nuclear warheads we have created capable of destroying objects ejected by asteroids? ”

"If the mass of the object is within a million tons, as long as it explodes inside it, it will definitely be fine."

"Good!"

"It's just that what we're going to do is not destroy the object, but change the direction in which the object is going."

"For what?"

"Even if the mass of the object is only one million tons, the explosion will produce large fragments, and we have no control over the outcome of the explosion. Theoretically, if an object with a mass of 100,000 tons hits the earth, the scope of destruction of exposed people and the ecological environment is equivalent to that of the United States. ”

"This ......"

"As long as the interception point is far enough away and the detonation point of the nuclear warhead is precisely controlled, the nuclear explosion can change the direction of the object and keep the object away from the Earth."

Sergeyev nodded and said: "Another question, are the super-nuclear warheads we created enough?" ”

"I don't know what to do."

"This ......"

"We have very limited information, and I can only guess. Only when the final velocity of the asteroid is determined, as well as the distance from the Earth when it begins to decelerate, as well as the size of the ejected object, it is possible to calculate how many nuclear warheads are needed to intercept the next threatening object. ”

"Professor, do you have any good suggestions?" Sergeyev apparently hoped for some positive answers.

Luo Jinyong was a little hesitant, after all, his words had a lot of influence, and he didn't want to be Sergeyev's tool against Stark.

At this time, several other chiefs of general staff also stared at Luo Jinyong, and they also wanted to know the exact answer to Lu Dao.

Yang Fanglie coughed twice, suggesting that Luo Jinyong was telling the truth.

"Personally, I think that the more super-nuclear warheads, the better. By the time we know how many nuclear warheads we need, it will certainly be too late to make more. ”

"Excellent! Professor Luo Jinyong, thank you so much. If we finally defeat the invading extraterrestrial civilization, even if I pay out of my own pocket, I will erect a life-size statue for you in the square of the Kremlin. "Sergeyev obviously favors Luo Jinyong, but Luo Jinyong doesn't appreciate it." Guys, the situation is already very clear, and the priority is to create more super-nuclear warheads. ”

Everyone guessed that Sergeyev would bring up this topic.