For the unique environment of Loshen Star, rockets and spacecraft are, to some extent, the same thing.
One is for single use, while the other can be reused and has more functions. But in terms of thrusters, don’t they all burn methane and oxygen to generate high-temperature, high-pressure gases that are expelled to obtain power?
If the maneuverability of spacecraft improves, the performance of rockets will naturally also improve.
Things like before, sending a probe to Earth requiring a rocket with a mass of 70,000 tons, will never happen again.
Given this, launching probes to every larger planet to comprehensively investigate their resource reserves and prepare for the future became inevitable.
Although the human world back then had already conducted thorough investigations of every large celestial body, Tom did not have access to that data.
He still had to rely on himself.
Thus, Tom quickly manufactured thousands of rockets and probes, transported them to Loshen Star’s orbit, and launched them one by one like setting off firecrackers.
These rockets varied depending on their mission objectives. However, the largest of them did not exceed 2,000 tons in total mass. Compared to that super-large rocket, they were tiny.
Of course, even with improved thruster technology, such a large difference would not be possible. The main reason was that Tom was not in such a hurry regarding time effectiveness; these probes did not need to reach their destinations in a rush and could fly slowly.
In this way, rockets with a mass not exceeding 2,000 tons were sufficient.
Thus, over a thousand probes set off on different trajectories towards the distant Deep Space. Thɪs chapter is updated by NoveI(F)ire.net
Among these probes, some were relay communication probes.
They would orbit the sun on different trajectories, providing communication relay services for other satellites.
Another part of the satellites were probes.
Some of them would reach the Eight Planets and orbit them, while others targeted the moons of large planets and some dwarf planets.
For example, Europa, Titan, Ceres, Vesta, Pluto, Triton, and the Moon.
They would fly through the vast expanse of space for over 20 years before reaching their final destinations.
After completing this task, Tom did not pay much attention to the follow-up; it was merely a matter of waiting.
His attention returned to the most important matter at hand.
The grand development of God-Enemy Star.
With the rapid technological advancements during this period, aside from resources with relatively high reserves, such as iron ore and aluminum ore, which remained abundant, the reserves of many other resources were becoming increasingly scarce, and their extraction was becoming more difficult.
For example, rare earth elements, copper ore, and dry ice ore.
It was imperative to immediately begin acquiring resources from God-Enemy Star.
"Then... Hestia! It’s your turn!"
At this moment, in Tom’s most valued No. 1 supercomputer, the Hestia AI had been continuously fed and trained for several years and had undergone trial tests, achieving results that Tom was quite satisfied with.
Given this, the Loshen Star base cluster is temporarily entrusted to you!
Tom once again prepared a massive fleet.
The total scale of this fleet reached over 1,500 spacecraft.
Apart from 400 Mercury-class Battleships, the remaining 1,100 spacecraft were all cargo ships.
They were fully loaded with various machinery, equipment, initial energy supplies, and, most importantly, Clones.
On average, one cargo ship could transport 3,000 Clones. 1,100 spacecraft meant 3.3 million Clones!
It was a bit crowded, but it didn’t matter; the Clones would not complain or express dissatisfaction.
Tom’s consciousness was currently in the mind of one of these 3.3 million Clones.
Yes, this time, Tom would personally lead the expedition! He aimed to complete the large-scale industrial construction of God-Enemy Star in the shortest possible time, then leave a certain number of Clones there, and then hand over the entire base to the Hestia for management.
During his absence, Loshen Star would also be managed by the Hestia, which would serve as a comprehensive test for it.
Amidst the roar of countless engines, the massive fleet slowly broke free from Loshen Star’s gravity field and flew towards the boundless Deep Space.
Initially, the communication delay between Tom and the Clones was very low, achieving a near real-time control effect.
However, as the distance increased, the communication delay became higher.
Thus, the production model envisioned by Tom entered the stage of true verification.
The basic operation of the entire Loshen Star base cluster was handed over to the Hestia for management.
The millions of Clones remaining there all became supervisors, maintainers, and decision-makers.
They sat in the huge control room, observing the changes in every data point, judging the overall operational status, and, under Tom’s control, pondering what these changes meant and whether any faults had occurred.
Their connection with Tom was no longer real-time; a newly emerging situation often took tens of seconds or even several minutes to be transmitted to Tom’s mind and then receive new feedback.
But it didn’t matter; these decisions did not require immediate processing, and a few minutes of delay were acceptable.
Even for the maintenance of certain equipment, the real-time requirement was not too high.
At worst, an action would pause for a few seconds or tens of seconds, just like remotely controlling robots at work.
Overall, the operation of the entire Loshen Star base cluster remained stable.
Under the control of the Hestia AI, trains were still speeding, factories were still roaring, and farming and animal husbandry bases were still producing large amounts of food.
Even the work of the research Clones did not stop.
It was just that there was some delay in communication between them; an idea born in the mind of one Clone would take a few minutes to synchronize with the minds of the other Clones.
Because of these delays, the overall efficiency of the base undoubtedly experienced a significant decrease, and some more complex tasks could not be performed for the time being—after all, the Hestia AI was not a true artificial intelligence, and its capabilities were still relatively limited.
But it didn’t matter; at this stage, Tom’s requirements for the Hestia AI were not that high.
As long as it could handle some basic production tasks in the future, that would be enough. For other matters, he would do them himself.
Time quietly flowed by, and driven by the new thrusters, this massive fleet took only about four months to return to God-Enemy Star’s orbit.
Looking at the numerous remnants and debris still present in the nearby space, and at the scarred surface of God-Enemy Star, Tom’s heart swelled with pride.
"Can your Bluetook Civilization’s so-called development even be called development?
Now, I’ll show you what true planetary development looks like!"