Deep Space Wandering Fleet-Chapter 161 - 162 Spaceship Accident
Chapter 161: Chapter 162: Spaceship Accident
Chapter 161 -162: Spaceship Accident
The “buzzing” noise in the headphones grew louder and louder, and upon seeing several observation instruments damaged by strong radiation, Zhang Yuan hurriedly shouted, “Turn off these devices for now… just keep the astronomical observation equipment and record all astronomical data! By the way, how much has the temperature on the outside of the spaceship risen?”
The faint sense of crisis intensified to the extreme, and his breathing became unavoidably heavy.
The axis of rotation of Eta Carinae pointed towards Earth. In the instant of the supernova explosion, the greatest disaster in the universe—the gamma-ray burst—would spew forth from the axis of rotation.
The energy of the gamma-ray burst was estimated to be equivalent to, or even more than, the total energy released by the Sun over its entire 10 billion year lifespan!
After 2700 years of travel, the spaceship should theoretically have escaped the attack range… so this supernova explosion shouldn’t impact the spaceship too much. At worst, it would be like being exposed to a somewhat intense solar flare for a while.
But what if…?
What if the calculations were wrong?
What if a gamma-ray burst deviated by just a tiny angle and happened to aim directly at the spaceship?
If the spaceship were affected, 500,000 people would be doomed!
“Damn, to explode at a time like this!” Zhang Yuan cursed fiercely to himself as he frantically operated the instruments, checking the overall condition of the spaceship.
The light in front of him grew more and more intense. Zhang Yuan held his breath. This was the first time he was witnessing a supernova explosion with the naked eye.
Through the thick glass, the light fell on the floor, heating it up to an abnormal degree quickly.
His colleagues all around him watched the jumping data on their computers, continuously reporting the situation.
“The temperature on the surface of the spaceship is rising!”
“The levels of radiation inside the Observatory have already significantly exceeded the standard… The energy of a single photon is about 400,000 times that of the Sun’s…”
“The temperature on the sunlit side of the spaceship has increased to 400… 500… 600 degrees Celsius… It’s still within a tolerable range.”
Only after about twenty minutes of checking did everyone let out a sigh of relief, “The temperature won’t rise further in the short term. 600-700 degrees Celsius is already the limit. We don’t know if there will be a second explosion.”
“If it’s just this… there won’t be too many problems.”
Zhang Yuan patted his chest, relieved it was just a false alarm.
Since the supernova explosion wouldn’t cause significant damage to the spaceship. He was considering whether to inform the awakened passengers to witness this supernova event at the Observatory.
However, adhering to the principle that less is more, he quickly abandoned the idea.
Everyone recovered from their initial panic, and then excitedly started recording all sorts of data. Who knows, perhaps the scientists who wake up in the future could discover new physical phenomenon within these high-energy rays?
This kind of supernova eruption, with a mass a hundred times that of the Sun, was a rare event occurring once in ten thousand years, lasting only a few hours or at most a week. Due to the massive mass and the intense explosion, it might not even form a black hole afterwards, as almost all matter would have been violently ejected in that instant.
Human understanding of such large-mass stellar explosions was very limited. Complete recording of the entire explosion process would be very beneficial for future research.
Zhang Yuan suddenly remembered something and sighed, “Assuming the calculations are accurate… we still don’t know the fate of Earth Civilization, whether it will be destroyed by the supernova.”
Several colleagues chimed in with their own opinions, “I think there might be some impact, but it shouldn’t be crippling.”
“After all, Earth’s Civilization is such an old interstellar civilization. Even if technology has stagnated, it has come a long way. If the Sun exploded at close range, there might be no way to resist, but there shouldn’t be any problems withstanding a supernova 7000 light years away…”
“Preventive measures against this disaster have also been in place.”
“Right, if they have neutrino observation equipment, they should be able to discover the disaster a few hours in advance and then arrange for emergency evacuation.”
Zhang Yuan nodded, “Let’s hope they’re lucky. Right now, all we can do is take care of ourselves.”
Indeed, neutrinos from a supernova explosion could possibly travel faster than gamma-rays.
This was because photons on their long journey might interact with various particles in the universe. The speed of photons could not reach the absolute speed of light in the truest sense.
Some neutrinos approached the speed of light and hardly interacted with any matter.
Thus, in the pursuit over more than seven thousand years, the fastest neutrinos often managed to win by a few hours, bringing humans the earliest warnings.
Amidst this intense debate, suddenly, Zhang Yuan felt a series of slight tremors.
He quickly pressed his hand to the ground, carefully feeling it. The vibrations were subtle, elusive, seeming to carry a buzzing sensation as they were mechanically transmitted.
His heart skipped a beat!
The Earth Era spaceship was an extremely stable vessel, especially since the nuclear fusion engine was completely shut down and it was coasting on inertia; such vibrations were nearly impossible!
Something might have gone wrong!
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Zhang Yuan gasped, “You guys keep recording here, I’m going back to check!”
In the vacuum of space, there was no way to move quickly, so Zhang Yuan even activated the precious jet device in his space suit to speed up.
Rushing into the orbital train, Lin Xuanyuan’s panicked voice was already coming through his earphone: “…It’s not good!”
“…A room in area M has ruptured, and helium is rapidly escaping to the outside! Zhang Yuan, come quickly!”
Zhang Yuan shuddered all over—the spaceship’s hull had actually been breached!
A mere six hundred degrees temperature… how could it be possible?!
Normally, when a living area was not in use, to prevent the oxidation of equipment by oxygen, helium would be used to replace the air inside. Area M just happened to be an idle area. Could this be due to oversight in routine maintenance?
That was impossible.
He frowned deeply, “I understand, find a place to hide and don’t go near the commotion! By the way, close all the pressure gates near the hospital!”
The next second, another soldier was on the secure line: “Captain Zhang, an external room in area M suddenly ruptured, and we’re trying to close the nearby pressure gates!”
“Do you know the specific reason?”
“We’re investigating the surveillance…”
A series of other noises were transmitted into his earpiece.
The clamor drove Zhang Yuan to distraction as he shouted into his earphone: “Everyone, put on your space suits and stay away from area M!”
“Turn on the air pumps, evacuate the air in the surrounding areas, and close all nearby pressure gates!”
“Don’t lament the air that’s leaking out! Don’t go looking, or you’ll get sucked out with it and be dead for sure!”
He had no clue what had actually happened; he only knew that it seemed like something had struck the living quarters, creating a gap.
But how…
How could this be?
In that instant, Zhang Yuan pondered many possibilities.
Could it be that the object that struck the spaceship was moving at near-light speed? Only then could it arrive almost simultaneously with the supernova explosion.
But if it were a near-light speed object, a single hit could have turned the spaceship into actual interstellar junk, not just a small breach as it was now!
Or perhaps… a meteorite just happened to hit the spaceship, unrelated to this supernova event?
