Deep Space Wandering Fleet-Chapter 100 - 102: Establishing New Standards

Chapter 100: Chapter 102: Establishing New Standards

Seeing that it was getting late, Zhang Yuan hurried onto a shuttle bus, heading for the science conference hall. This investigation of Jupiter’s moon was not a sightseeing tour, and there were still many tasks to accomplish.

The conference room was bustling with people, and after finding Academician Ding, he sat down properly.

Academician Ding transferred a document to him and instructed, “We have discussed such academic conferences many times before, but for you, it’s the first time. There are many major directions that we, spaceship researchers, will need to study in the future. You can choose the reports you want to listen to on your own.”

Zhang Yuan nodded.

“On the fifth day of the conference, you also have a report on the turbulence problem. Are you prepared?”

“No problem, I’ve been prepared for a while.”

...

Zhang Yuan was brimming with confidence; he had thoroughly memorized the paper a long time ago. He could recite it backward if needed.

The theme of the conference was “Exploration of Future Industrial Development,” which included a significant amount of improvement work on the existing industrial bases of the new civilization.

The Earth Civilization had developed up to now, forming a massive and complex set of industrial standards. Among these standards, many were unreasonable, but because of historical reasons, the cost of correcting them was huge, so much so that it was impossible to correct.

Academician Ding took the stage and spoke eloquently.

“Let me give a simple example. In the field of mechanical processing, constructing globally second-order smooth spline surfaces on geometrically complex surfaces has always been a very important core issue…”

“In the mechanical manufacturing, automotive, and aerospace industries, we have achieved very substantial developments. Scholars and engineers have put a lot of effort into constructing smooth spline functions on manifolds. But the results have always been unsatisfactory, with splines consistently having points where smoothness deteriorates.”

“Can this problem be solved?”

“The answer is, it cannot.”

“It has already been proven mathematically that it cannot.”

A whispering buzz filled the conference room, and Zhang Yuan thought along as well.

These points were new to him and quite intriguing.

Academician Ding continued, “Why not? Because the initial industrial system was incorrect.”

“The traditional spline construction methods, including spline theory itself, have irremediable flaws, which leads to any efforts by later generations to naturally extend traditional splines to manifolds being futile.”

“For the specific proof process, everyone can refer to the following materials…”

“I had previously looked through historical materials and found that the scholars initially did not pay attention to this issue. The industry was not developed enough at the time, and the parts were quite simple, not requiring much complex mathematics. The engineers, when establishing the entire standards, had no insight into the technological crises that could arise hundreds of years later…”

“The instability of the industrial foundation directly restricts the upper limits of the entire civilization. Our current industrial system has stabilized, and it’s absolutely impossible to start over due to the unstable theoretical foundations. Think about it, how much would it cost to start everything over? All components would need to be redesigned—is that realistic? It’s not.”

“So, our future can only be limited to partial repairs, which is another type of sadness…”

Zhang Yuan didn’t know much about this area, but he still listened with interest.

Their future key work should be the re-establishment of industrial standards for the new civilization.

Using the current mathematical foundations to rebuild an entire industrial system would be a very meaningful endeavor. That would make the entire new civilization stronger, and the subsequent development would also be smoother.

The first day of the academic conference didn’t formally end until 10 p.m., utterly exhausting.

Academician Ding and others had additional activities planned, but Zhang Yuan decided to wander around by himself for a bit and then head back early to rest.

At the door, there was a greeter waiting with enthusiasm; she was specifically responsible for receiving Zhang Yuan.

“Hi, hello.”

This chapter is updated by freēwēbnovel.com.

“Hello!”

Shrugging his shoulders, Zhang Yuan felt a bit cold; the year-round temperature here was only in the teens, not high. It might have been to ensure that the heat emission stayed within limits. He felt somewhat uncomfortable.

The girl said, “Inside your spaceship, it’s constantly 24 degrees, but your resistance to cold isn’t great. Humans as a species lose any unutilized attributes very quickly.”

“Yeah, in fact, our resistance and immunity also become weaker, making us more susceptible to illness if we return to Earth.”

“Listening to your accent…”

Coincidentally, the girl welcoming Zhang Yuan was also from Xia Country, even carrying a bit of a Donghua accent.

On this alien planet, countrymen meeting each other was an emotional occasion.

“Are you from Donghua City too? Haha, that’s too coincidental!”

The girl even offered to help Zhang Yuan with his luggage, which he promptly refused. A gentleman could not possibly let a girl carry all these things.

However, in this strange place, where his body felt oddly light, he found it hard to maintain balance with the things in his hands, almost forgetting how to walk properly.

“Let me do it; after all, there’s hardly any gravity here.” Having lived here for years, the girl, named Jin Meilin, had gradually adapted to the gravity of Jupiter’s moon and moved very steadily.

To cover his embarrassment, Zhang Yuan casually asked, “The people here are generally taller, is it because of the low gravity stretching the bones… How tall were you originally?”

“I was only 1.65 meters tall originally, but I was stretched to 1.70 meters! Honestly, girls don’t really need to be this tall. I also have to consume a biological calcium supplement daily to combat the loss of calcium, which is quite bothersome.”

The girl made a face and pointed at the muscles on her thighs, “Like me, who has been here a year, the muscle atrophy isn’t severe yet. If one stays longer, it degrades to the point of being as soft as cotton.”

Zhang Yuan laughed, “Being taller is actually great; so many guys stuck at 1.69 meters would be desperate for such a second chance!”

“As for muscle atrophy, there are many solutions, such as exercising and using centrifugal force to simulate gravity. If you return to Earth, it would recover after a while, so there’s no need to worry too much.”

Jin Meilin laughed again and said, “Mr. Zhang, it’s not as you imagine; exercise can only slow down muscle degradation, not prevent it entirely. Especially the decline of the chest, it’s too difficult to recover. Although, ha, it’s quite perky here, but after returning to Earth, it’ll be like a wilted eggplant, hard to imagine…”

Zhang Yuan scratched his hair, smiling awkwardly.

He glanced at her chest unconsciously, which indeed was very perky.

Even the buoyancy of the air here could almost match the gravitational pull of Earth, creating an almost perfect shape.

However, staring for too long seemed impolite, so after a quick glance, he looked away.

Perhaps because it was rare to meet someone from back home, the two quickly got acquainted. The cheerful girl showed Zhang Yuan around various facilities at the base, which might also appear on Earth in the future.