Chapter 402: New Progress of the Solar System State_1

"The name 'Lightspeed Spaceship Project Team' almost made Sean and the others' jaws drop."

Because the Solar System State had never publicly disclosed any research and design work on the lightspeed spaceship.

Sean's classmate, Mulun, was the first to react, "Teacher Laid, do we already have our own lightspeed spaceship?"

Then a flurry of questions followed, "Teacher Laid, what kind of power is driving our lightspeed spaceship?"

"When did this research start?"

Laid smiled, raised his hands, and gestured for everyone to calm down, "Let's take one question at a time."

Then he began to answer, "Currently the first lightspeed spaceship is still in the design phase, and I am primarily responsible for the design of the engine.

"The General Design Department estimates that within thirty years, our first lightspeed spaceship will be ready for trial navigation.

"Our spaceship uses a curvature engine, and I joined the project team in Deterrence Year 46. At that time, the team had already completed over thirty years of basic theoretical research.

"The research work started in Deterrence Year 13, initially led by Professor He Shanqi."

Everyone was startled—such an early start! And to have reached the application stage at such a fast pace, they'd hardly taken any detours!

Immediately after, everyone noticed that the name He Shanqi was unfamiliar to the assembled group.

Reading their thoughts from their expressions, Laid sighed, "Professor He Shanqi was a renowned physicist in the early years of Deterrence.

"For sixty years, he dedicated all of his time to the lightspeed spaceship project, which is why you haven't heard of him!

"But what I want to tell you is that he is the sole recipient of both the 'Boxiangdong Medal' and the 'Bill Medal' honors in the Solar System State."

The two medals Laid mentioned are the highest honors in the Solar System State's scientific community.

The "Boxiangdong Medal" is named after Boxiangdong, the founder of the unrivaled genetic technologies of the Solar System State. Recipients of this medal have achieved significant scientific or theoretical results in their field.

The "Bill Medal" is named after Bill, the executor of the "Moon City Plan" proposed by the Wallfacer in the early years of the crisis. Recipients of this medal have created great achievements in science that lead the future of the Solar System State or humanity.

In the published data, to date, only sixteen people have received the "Boxiangdong Medal," and only five have received the "Bill Medal."

It was only today that Sean and the others learned that someone had single-handedly won both medals.

Laid continued, "The lightspeed spaceship maintains such a high level of secrecy to prevent Sophon from obtaining relevant intelligence.

"Although the Trisolarans also possess the ability for lightspeed travel, the research on the lightspeed spaceship must still not be divulged, lest the Trisolarans destroy it or prepare defenses against it.

"As of now, it remains the highest secret of the Solar System State."

He paused, then continued, "The research achievements of the lightspeed spaceship are the results of a research team of more than 60,000 people who have worked hard for over half a century.

"These results may not be disclosed within my lifetime, and I may not be able to enjoy the glory they bring.

"But I do not regret being a part of this project team.

"If you are also preparing to join, please be prepared for this mentally."

Everyone suddenly went silent, feeling the greatness of those involved in these secret scientific projects.

An hour later, the spaceship arrived at the Academy of Sciences Space City.

This space city, like a lighthouse for humanity's scientific community, always shined brightly and prominently. Even in the era when the Trisolarans provided advanced technology to humanity, its radiance couldn't be concealed.

Unlike typical military or civilian space cities, this space city had several accessory cities extending from its central main city. From a distance, its appearance resembled a snowflake or radiating vines.

This was because many experiments required special environments, and many were so dangerous they needed to be sealed away with their experimental subjects.

```

Over time, more and more such experiments took place, and the Academy of Sciences Space City became what it is today.

Sean and the others had seen footage of the main urban area of the Science Academy in the news.

The population density here wasnít great, so there was a lot of green space, even a small forest.

Many of the most advanced scientific technologies were applied to this city, where one could see all sorts of intelligent robots and oddly shaped vehicles.

But what could be seen everywhere were the researchers deep in thought, seated on benches by the roadside at any time.

Beyond the main city, the extensions looked stark like warships, with no greenery or decoration, only cold corridors and identically shaped doors.

Here, Sean and his group toured the model of humanityís first curvature spaceship and listened to Laid explain the principles of the curvature engine and the difficulties they were encountering.

Their subsequent tour gave them a whole new understanding of the Solar System State.

Apart from the lightspeed spaceship, the Academy was also researching the next-generation engine after the nuclear engines: the matter-flow engine.

It was said that the name of this engine originated from the Wallfacer, Jiang Yu.

There were also the Wandering Earth project, the Sentinel project, and so on; they fully understood the Solar System Stateís plans to counter the Dark Forest threat.

In the future, humanity would depart the Solar System in waves aboard Earth and lightspeed spaceships.

In the field of cutting-edge physical materials, researchers discovered that dark matter had different properties and now roughly categorized them into two types: one that readily affected gravitational propagation and another comprised of extremely high-energy materials.

During their visit to the physical materials project team, they even met Wallfacer Jiang Yuís wife, Yang Dong.

She had a renowned reputation in the scientific community and was the idol of many.

Next was a tour of the artificial intelligence area, where they shared lunch in the employee cafeteria with the Solar System Stateís AI master, Jiang Shiliu.

Jiang Shiliu told everyone that in the future, warships would be manned by only twelve crew members, and within the next half-century, all physical labor would be contracted out to artificial intelligence.

Humanity would fully enter an era of intellectual labor.

Of course, interstellar migration might delay this, but this era would inevitably arrive.

This was a stage humanity must go through, at which time there would be profound changes in human life.

In the afternoon, Sean and the others first toured the most advanced genetic engineering progress; while the widespread application of genetic technologies had been halted, research in biology continued unceasingly.

During the tour, they gained a concept of the Third Era and Fourth Era organisms and learned about the "origin of life" and the inherent power within life.

In the research area for Third Era organisms, there was a restricted zone for visitors; the staff explained that this was the breeding area for the No. 7 Bacterium, a bacterium with potent lethality that was kept securely contained.

Because there were so many exhibits to see, they quickened their pace, viewing over a dozen high-end industrial and agricultural technology research projects like flipping through a slideshow.

These researches had long outpaced the PDC by several streets, even more than half a century in some cases.

After a day of touring, although overwhelmed, Sean and his group clearly understood the true face of the Solar System State and its massive investment in technology.

It was stronger than what the outside world understood of the Solar System State and beyond what they had imagined.

Unanimously, on their return trip, they all decided to join the work against Dark Forest Strike, where they would be assigned to departments either for research or specific implementation tasks.

In the following two years, three more discussion groups officially disbanded.

Their most prominent members made similar arrangements, just like Sean and his group.

Meanwhile, at the PDC, the religious atmosphere had finally dissipated, but there still wasnít a clear plan to address the Dark Forest Strike, leading to significant divergences due to directional issues.

```