Jinling Aerospace Assembly Center.

This high-tech factory, which covers an area of hundreds of acres, collects and distributes parts of China's cutting-edge aerospace equipment, provides cloud information services by the Xinghai-1 quantum computer, and realizes completely unmanned standardized production through a series of automation equipment such as assembly lines, multi-axis electric drive robotic arms, large and small logistics vehicles, cargo drones, etc.

It's like a furnace, smelting and forging. And the dreams of all the people of the country for the universe.

Standing in awe on the edge of the high wall of this behemoth, Director Chang Hezhi, one of the leaders of the fire plan, together with Academician Yuan Huanmin and other senior engineers and executives of the Aerospace Science and Technology Group, stood quietly waiting for something.

About ten minutes passed.

Finally, a black car, escorted by several military vehicles, drove into the park in a rather low-key manner and stopped at the door of the factory on the hour.

As the door opened, an old man with a dignified face and a young man stepped out of the car almost at the same time.

Needless to say, the identity of that old man will not be unfamiliar to any Chinese person.

The same was true for the young man.

Not even a Chinese, his academic achievements that do not match his age have already conquered the international academic community, but anyone who has paid attention to the news related to the scientific community can subconsciously call his name after seeing him-

Or, at least, you will know the name "Professor Lu".

Noticing the serious expressions on everyone's faces, the old man smiled kindly and said.

"Don't be so serious, I'm just here to have a look...... That colony pod, right in this factory? ”

Noticing that the old man was looking at his side, Lu Zhou smiled and nodded.

"It's been assembled, please come inside."

"Academician Lu, please first!"

After some politeness, the group walked into the factory located in the center of the aerospace assembly center.

Glancing around at the high-precision automation equipment full of metallic texture, the old man said with emotion.

"I've seen a lot of factories all over the country, but only here, I've seen it once, and I've been shocked once."

The logistics vehicles are like a stream of ants, and the interaction with a series of mechanical equipment such as mechanical arms and conveyor belts is so smooth that there is no pause.

The whole factory is like a whole, and every gear here is running under the coordination of AI. It may not be the fastest, but every 1 millimeter is just right.

It's as if ......

Even the movement trajectory is carefully designed.

"This is the latest industrial cloud service technology developed by our group, in addition to the aerospace assembly center, this system has been put into use in the logistics center of Shenzhen, Shanghai and other first-tier cities, as well as some manufacturing enterprises in Jinling High-tech Park and Shanghai Pilot Port Industrial Park. According to the feedback of our customers, the standardized accessories manufactured by automation technology have won quite wide acclaim in the international market! ”

Looking at the shocked expression on the old man's face, Lu Zhou thought for a moment and continued.

"The application of AI and industrial automation are the general trend, and with the breakthrough of quantum chips and computer technology, we are now barely ahead of the world. In the future, there will be more and more unmanned factories, and the population will migrate from low-end industries to high-end industries, which will bring a series of social problems including job mobility, extended education time, etc., which we must consider. ”

"The employment rate is indeed a problem," the old man nodded thoughtfully, "it is unrealistic to hinder the development of technology, and when the technology is mature enough, this kind of automation technology will sooner or later migrate down from high-end industries...... Is that what you're trying to say? ”

Lu Zhou: "Basically correct. ”

"Is there any good solution?"

"Social welfare, increase public spending, and develop the tertiary industry...... These are all good solutions, and I believe that the scholars of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences will definitely be more professional in studying these problems than me. ”

"I'm afraid it's still a bit difficult to do social welfare," the old man frowned and thought about it, "Our situation is still a little different from other countries, first of all, population is a big problem. ”

"In the short term, it's a problem," Lu Zhou nodded, "but I believe that as long as the productive forces are developed enough, let alone 1.4 billion people, even if the population doubles, it will be able to maintain the expenses of a high-welfare society." ”

The old man's face showed a thoughtful expression, and he suddenly turned his head to look at the secretary who was following him.

"Did you write it down?"

The secretary nodded and closed the shorthand notebook in his hand.

"Wrote it down."

"Good."

Nodding, the old man looked at Lu Zhou and said with a smile.

"This matter will be studied at a meeting when I go back, so let's take a look at the colony module that is going to be sent to Mars first."

Lu Zhou said with a smile.

"Just ahead, we're there!"

Passing through an alloy door, in an empty factory building, the group saw an ostrich-egg-like silver-white spacecraft covered by steel brackets.

The spacecraft covers an area about half the size of a basketball court, and it makes it difficult to associate it with a spacecraft on its own.

In contrast, it's more like a space station.

At first glance, almost everyone was shocked by the sheer size of the device.

Especially Academician Yuan Huanmin and other engineers from Hangke Group.

Compared with other laymen's "just watch the excitement", they know better how difficult it is to send this thing to the sky.

Staring at the spacecraft that was said to be a colony module for a long, long time, Academician Yuan Huanmin finally couldn't help but ask.

"This thing...... How are you going to get it to Mars? ”

This question has entered the hearts of many people.

Almost everyone, including Director Chang Hezhi, the person in charge of the fire plan, and the Grand Elder of the Lunar Orbit Construction Committee, looked at Lu Zhou because of this problem.

Facing everyone's inquiring eyes, Lu Zhou smiled slightly and explained.

"It's not difficult to send it to Mars, as long as you send it to synchronous orbit first, whether it's Xiaguang or Queqiao, you can take it to Mars."

"Of course, this time we don't need to bother Xiaguang and Queqiao, our design institute took into account the particularity of this set of equipment when designing the colonial cabin, and designed a separate flight system for it."

"Including the colony module, which is the core component, the entire flight system contains more than a dozen different functional components that together form a colony ship capable of far-planet navigation. We will launch these components into synchronous orbit in batches and complete the assembly there! ”

A separate flight system ?!

Shocked by the amount of information contained in this sentence, Yuan Huanmin said in a daze.

“…… Colony, colony ships? ”

"That's right," looking at the stunned Academician Yuan Huanmin, Lu Zhou nodded, "It is not an isolated individual, but together with other components, it forms a whole. ”

"Therefore, theoretically, it is not only applicable to Mars, nor can it be regarded as an artificial biosphere alone, but a relatively complete set of far-planet colonization systems designed by our researchers for extraterrestrial colonization."

"If you can, even in a more distant world, it applies!"