"Arin, you're here."

Mu Donglai was very surprised by the arrival of Pang Xuelin and Mu Qingqing.

Pang Xuelin has been entangled in all kinds of things over the years, and he can meet Mu Donglai a few times throughout the year.

That is, Mu Qingqing, occasionally comes back when he is free.

Mu Donglai wanted to see the two, which was not easy.

Especially a few years ago, when Mu Donglai learned that Pang Xuelin and Mu Qingqing were planning to build an interstellar spaceship to explore outer space, the old man immediately blew up, resolutely opposed, and even did not hesitate to divorce Mu Qingqing and Pang Xuelin.

After all, the only daughter was abducted by Pang Xuelin on a spaceship that could never come back, which is equivalent to a goodbye once separated.

Later, as the Ark Project attracted global attention and the media reports were repeated, the attitude of the country and governments and people around the world towards the Ark Project changed greatly, and Mu Donglai gradually opened his heart.

In his words, if he were a decade or so younger, he would also like to be part of the program.

It's a pity that he is now in his prime, and no matter from the perspective of physical condition or the role of the Ark Project, he can't join this plan.

Next, Pang Xuelin and Mu Qingqing settled in Chang'an.

Mu Qingqing accompanies her father most of the time, while Pang Xuelin chats with Ren Zhengfei, Ni Guangnan, and Huang Zaixing every day, talking about the future of the company and the next development direction of the company.

If Pang Xuelin leaves, he and Mu Qingqing will have no children, so how to deal with the assets under his name in the future has become the focus of media attention.

In the past year, Pang Xuelin has cooperated with the government to complete the nationalization of some assets.

He plans to set up an education foundation to support primary and secondary education in poverty-stricken areas across the country.

The other assets were distributed to the employees of Transwarp Group step by step according to the model of the real-world Warwick.

Of course, employees only have the right to dividends, not the right to control, and once they leave the company, they have to sell their shares to the company at the agreed price.

This is very beneficial to the stability of the company's future development and to maintain the company's vitality in the future.

Pang Xuelin and Mu Qingqing stayed in Chang'an for nearly a month before leaving.

This time, they and 38 other reserve crew members will go to the completed Ark 1 in space for a two-year trial and training mission.

Two years have passed in a flash.

Two years later, on December 21, 2012, the day of the end of the world in the Mayan calendar, Pang Xuelin was also chosen as the day of the expedition.

Hainan, Wenchang Cosmodrome.

Hundreds of thousands of aerospace enthusiasts from all over the world gathered in Wenchang, crowding the entire Wenchang county.

If it weren't for the deliberate control of the authorities, I am afraid that there would have been more people who came to see off this expedition.

The world's media focused on this world-renowned departure ceremony.

This is the greatest adventure ever undertaken by mankind.

Its historical significance is comparable to Magellan's voyage around the world, Columbus's discovery of the New World, and even more.

Heads of state from more than 50 countries and more than 100 representatives of more than 100 countries of the United Nations also attended the scene.

At the departure ceremony, Pang Xuelin, as the captain of Ark No. 1, received the badge of the Ark Project from the hands of the United Nations Secretary-General, a metal disc made of titanium alloy, on which the sun and the eight planets of the solar system were engraved.

In addition, around the disk, there are also engraved basic parameters such as pi, Planck's constant, gravitational constant, speed of light, fine structure constant, etc., representing the basic understanding of the universe and the natural world of human beings.

Originally, scientists also hoped to mark the specific location of the solar system on it, but under Pang Xuelin's strong opposition, it was finally disagreed.

Of course, compared with the stellar exploration plan in China, the Ark plan proposed by Pang Xuelin has a lot more tasks.

One of the most important missions is to release a small unmanned probe on Ark-1 when approaching a star system.

The probe also carries a solar sail, which will be used to slow down and gradually moth into the star's orbit.

In this way, the Ark Project can not only meet Pang Xuelin's requirements to explore as many star systems as possible, but also conduct in-depth exploration of each star system that passes by.

Even in the exploration of alpha centauri Proxima centauri, the closest star to the solar system, scientists are considering plans to return unmanned probes.

Whether or not it will ultimately succeed is unknown.

But for human beings, the Ark Project is the first cry of human civilization to this universe after all.

After completing the departure ceremony, Pang Xuelin, Mu Qingqing and the remaining eighteen selected explorers went to the lounge to say their final goodbyes to their relatives and friends.

In the lounge, Shuiwa and his wife, Liu Qi, the third aunt, Mu Donglai and others have been waiting for a long time.

Liu Qi is now nearly fifty years old, and he still maintains a weight of more than two hundred catties.

When hugging Pang Xuelin, the partner who first cooperated with Pang Xuelin couldn't help crying.

"Brother Pang, take care in the future, if it weren't for the fact that the child was still young, I would definitely have to follow you."

When he hugged the water baby, he was red-eyed, and just beat Pang Xuelin's chest a few times.

"Brother Shuiwa, Uncle Mu and the third aunt will ask you to take care of it in the future."

"Don't worry, I will definitely take care of the second elder."

The water baby nodded heavily.

In the end, Pang Xuelin came to Mu Donglai.

Mu Donglai didn't cry, but looked at Pang Xuelin with a smile.

It was Mu Qingqing, lying in her father's arms and crying.

"Xiao Pang, I'll leave Qingqing to you, you must take care of her."

Pang Xuelin took Mu Qingqing's hand and said in a deep voice: "Uncle Mu, I will definitely take care of Qingqing." ”

The farewell time of more than an hour ended quickly, and Pang Xuelin, Mu Qingqing, and the remaining eighteen adventurers left the lounge one after another.

The eighteen adventurers who participated in the Ark Project this time were carefully selected from the 15 million applicants around the world and all underwent rigorous training.

Considering the danger of the Ark Project and the various crises that may be caused in the future, these eighteen adventurers, with an average education of master's degree or above, nine men and nine women, have been married one after another in the past two years of getting along.

At 21:25 in the evening, in the eyes of the global public, the space shuttle was officially launched.

Four hours later, the shuttle docked with Ark 1 in geosynchronous orbit.

Eight hours later, the shuttle separated from Ark-1 and returned home, and Ark-1 began to change the angle of the solar sails, officially starting the long journey.

……

α Centauri, also known as South Gate II, is located in the constellation Centauri in the southern part of the sky, and is a triad star system, which is the closest star system to the Sun.

The combined apparent magnitude is -0.27 (more than the fourth brightest Arcturus), and the absolute magnitude is 4.4.

The Centauri α was once known as the outermost guide of the Southern Cross, which is so far south that most of the Northern Hemisphere is not visible. It is rumored that when Zheng He went to the West, he used it to guide the direction.

This is the closest star system to the Sun, at only 4.37 light-years (about 277,600 AU).

Its interior is divided into ABC stars, of which A/B form a double star system.

α Centauri A is the dominant star in the South Gate 2 binary system, slightly larger and brighter than the Sun. This star, like the Sun, is yellow in color, and its star spectrum is classified as G2V. By determining the mutual orbit parameters, astronomers concluded that its mass is about 10%~12% larger than that of the Sun, and its radius is about 20%~25% larger than that of the Sun. Its stellar rotation speed is 2.7±0.7 km·s, and its rotation period is 22.5 days, which is 3 days shorter than the Sun's rotation period (25.2 days).

α Centauri B is the companion star in the South Gate 2 binary system, slightly smaller and fainter than the Sun. This main-sequence star is orange and its star spectrum is classified as K1V. Its mass is about 90% of the Sun's, while its radius is about 86% of the Sun's. Its stellar rotation speed is 1.1±0.8 km·s, and its rotation period is about 41 days. Although α Centauri B is fainter than α Centauri A, it emits more X-ray energy than A.

α Centauri C, also known as Proxima Centauri, is the third star of the α triad of Centauri, located 0.25 light-years from the A/B binary star system.

The main-sequence star is red, and its spectral classification is M5Ve, which means that it is a small main-sequence star. Its B? The V color index is +1.9, while the mass is 0.122 solar mass (128 Jupiter mass).

Proxima Centauri is located 4.24 light-years from the Sun and is also considered the closest star to the Solar System.

If you look at the universe from the vicinity of South Gate 2, you will see many celestial objects seen by observers on Earth, and most of the constellations have hardly changed, such as Orion and Ursa Major. But the brightest star in the constellation Centauri will disappear, and the Sun will become a star in the constellation Cassiopeia with an apparent magnitude of 0.48.

Basically, the shape of Cassiopeia will change from \\/\\/ to /\\/\\/, and the Sun will be at the tail end of the ε Cassiopeia.

Bright stars near the Sun, such as Sirius and Nanhe-3, as observed from South Gate 2, appear in a very different position. Sirius will become part of the constellation Orion, appearing at 2 degrees from Betelgeuse, and slightly fainter than observed on Earth (-1.2 magnitude).

And although Beiluo Shimen and Vega are far apart, they will be replaced.

Proxima Centauri will be an inconspicuous 4.5 magnitude, which shows how faint Proxima Centauri is considering that it is only 1/4 light-year away from α A and α Centauri B.

If there is a planet orbiting α Centauri A or α Centauri B, they will be very bright binary stars on that planet.

For example, if there is an Earth-like planet (orbital period of 1.34 years) at a distance of 1.25 AU from α Centauri A, α Centauri A will be similar in brightness to the Sun for the planet, while Centauri α B will be dimmed by 5.7 to 8.6 magnitude, but still reach a magnitude of -21.0 to -18.2, which is 190 to 2700 times fainter than α Centauri A, but still 170 to 2300 times brighter than the Full Moon.

Conversely, if there is an Earth-like planet (with an orbital period of 0.63 years) at a distance of 0.71 AU from α Centauri B, α Centauri B will be similar in brightness to the Sun for the planet, while Centauri α A will be 4.6 to 7.3 magnitude dim, but still -22.1 to -19.4 magnitude, which is 70 to 840 times fainter than α Centauri B, but still 520 to 6300 times brighter than the Full Moon.

For a planet orbiting one of the stars, a second sun does not adversely affect climate or photosynthesis (about the distance between Saturn and the Sun).

But this means that for about half the year, the night sky is not pitch black, but dark blue, and people can walk around and even read without artificial lighting.

In the "Three-Body Problem" series, the three-star system of the Centauri constellation α was written by Da Liu as a three-in-one star with similar mass and distance, because the orbits of these three stars are unstable, resulting in the orbit of the planet where the three-body civilization lives is also extremely unstable, sometimes captured by one of the stars, and sometimes wandering around these three stars, the constant era and the chaotic era alternate one after another, thus forming a very unique three-body civilization.

But in this world, the Centauri α basically stay in tune with reality.

Because of the launch of the Ark Project, before Pang Xuelin and his departure, scientists on Earth mobilized a large number of resources to observe the Centauri α.

Among them, a team of scientists from the Geneva Observatory in Switzerland has discovered the existence of an exoplanet around α star B in the constellation Centauri.

The exoplanet appears to be very close in size and composition to Earth, and the planet itself is within the habitable zone of α star B in the constellation Centauri.

In addition, the European Southern Observatory also found a planet around Proxima Centauri, which was named Proxima Centauri b, its mass is about 1.2~1.3 times that of the Earth, and the distance between the main star Proxima Centauri is about 0.047AU, and the orbital period is about 11 days, and its position is just in the habitable zone.

A team of astronomers at the Andalusian Institute of Astrophysics in Spain used the ALMA radio telescope array to detect the presence of three dust bands around Proxima Centauri, which may suggest a multi-planetary system around Proxima Centauri.

Therefore, according to the orbit planned by Pang Xuelin and physicists, Ark-1 will directly release an unmanned probe when it is about a light-year away from Proxima Centauri.

In the future, the exploration of Proxima Centauri will mainly be carried out by unmanned probes.

Ark-1, on the other hand, aims primarily at the A/B binary star system of α Centauri.

November 8, 2045 A.D.

Ark One hibernation chamber.

Pang Xuelin opened his eyes suddenly, the hatch opened silently, and the voice of MOSS sounded in Pang Xuelin's ears.

"Professor Pang, you have been hibernating for 30 years and 8 months on August 12 at 22 hours and 26 minutes, MOSS will wake you up according to the scheduled procedure, and the Ark spacecraft will pass Proxima Centauri in a month and arrive at A/B binary in two years. Next, you'll have two years to research the Centauri α Samsung system! ”