Chapter 118: Technological Boom(1)

Mount Sharp, officially known as Aeolis Mons, stands approximately 5,000 meters tall. Its sedimentary layers hold a geological history dating back over a billion years. The region is exceptionally rich in mineral resources; within just a few days of their arrival, the survey teams discovered massive veins of calcium sulfate, magnesium sulfate, fluorine, and iron.

Several small uranium deposits were also located about 300 kilometers away from the Noah. While their production capacity couldn’t compare to the massive strip mines in the northern region, humanity was in no position to be picky. When it came to energy, more was always better. Mars lacked fossil fuels, meaning the colony relied entirely on nuclear and solar power. Since nuclear fuel was highly efficient and easy to transport, securing as much uranium as possible was a top priority.

Railway construction began at a breakneck pace, automated excavators tore into the Martian soil, and research teams were assigned to analyze the structural materials recovered from the alien wreck. Every phase of the new settlement proceeded smoothly and systematically.

Meanwhile, the surveillance outposts kept a close watch on the distant alien vessel, but they detected no unusual activity.

Time flew by. It had been two years and three months since the destruction of Earth, and half a year since Jason and his vanguard team had returned from their expedition.

It was now March of Year 0002 of the New Era. Three months prior, the citizens had celebrated their second New Year aboard the Noah.

However, the second New Year had been an incredibly quiet affair with no large-scale organized events. The reason? The vast majority of the science division was frantically researching the recovered alien technology!

It was as if they had all been injected with stimulants. Their minds were consumed entirely by technology, reverse-engineering, and discovery. The thrill of unraveling the unknown was a potent addiction. Asking them to halt their research for a holiday?

Absolutely out of the question!

They universally refused to take any time off, not even for the New Year celebrations. They just wanted to work. Some even got into heated arguments with administrative staff who tried to mandate rest periods. In short, it was impossible to pull them away from their labs. Because of this, the second New Year had come and gone with barely a whisper.

Thanks to the relentless dedication of these scientists, the technological capabilities of the Federation had skyrocketed over the past six months.

However, Jason knew that humanity had not yet achieved a true qualitative leap in its foundational science. They still had a long way to go before they could truly call themselves an interstellar civilization.

Scientific breakthroughs required time, and six months was far from enough! But Jason wasn’t anxious, and neither were the researchers. They had time to study, adapt, and learn. As long as they made incremental progress every day, they would eventually reach that critical tipping point.

Jason formulated a fitting analogy: Humanity’s current situation was like a 19th-century blacksmith suddenly acquiring a 21st-century commercial jet airliner! Letting the blacksmith study it was fine, but expecting him to immediately build a replica was impossible.

This was due to a fundamental lack of theoretical knowledge, practical experience, and industrial infrastructure. Without those prerequisites, even if a civilization could observe advanced technology, they couldn’t reproduce it. It was a frustrating, undeniable reality.

Just like the blacksmith and the jet airliner, whether it was the turbofan engines, the avionics, or even a single specialized composite panel, They couldn’t replicate them because the technology spanned multiple distinct eras of progress.

However, even if they couldn’t copy the alien vessel, the scientists could still draw inspiration from it. They didn’t need to build something like faster-than-light engine right away; using that inspiration to build their equivalent of the Wright brothers’ first airplane was a perfectly acceptable first step.

The scientists aboard the Noah were in this exact phase of exploration. They couldn’t directly jump to the level of the Precursors, but they were extracting invaluable design philosophies and material concepts from the alien artifacts. They ran countless experiments, slowly transforming the raw data into technology they could actually manufacture.

Patience was key; only the technology a civilization fully understood truly belonged to it. Only through steady, gradual progress could they firmly walk the path of scientific ascension.

Every day, a mountain of research reports and requisition forms piled up on Jason’s terminal, and he spent hours meticulously analyzing them.

“The Aegis Industrial Complex has been fully constructed, but currently, only 12% of its manufacturing capacity is being utilized. Many production lines remain on standby.”

“The initial quota for automated excavators and cargo trains has been met; there is no need to scale up production in the short term.”

“Most of the heavy steelmaking blast furnaces have been spun down, leaving only two operational. The Noah’s overall industrial power consumption has stabilized at 20 megawatts…”

Jason nodded as he read. This was well within their projections.

Spinning down the factories didn’t mean a loss of industrial capacity. The moment they needed materials, those production lines could be reactivated, instantly unleashing a massive wave of manufacturing power.

This mega-factory, sprawling across an area of nearly 300 square kilometers, rivaled some of the largest manufacturing hubs from the Earth.

Chief Engineer Isaac and his brilliant architectural team had divided the complex into fifteen distinct, highly specialized zones, linked together by a vast, incredibly complex automated logistics network.

A total of six thousand scientists, technicians, and engineers managed the facility. With manual labor almost entirely replaced by robotics, the human crew was primarily responsible for structural design, systems monitoring, and high-level machine maintenance.

Thanks to the Aegis Industrial Complex, the Noah’s total manufacturing output had increased by a factor of twenty!

To put it in perspective: if they needed to produce 200,000 industrial cutting drones, it would have taken the old Lunar Base at least a year. Now, the Aegis complex could churn them out in less than two weeks!

This was true industrial might, the crystallized result of humanity’s collective wisdom and tireless labor.

This massive surplus in production capacity also opened the floodgates for experimental science. Researchers could now propose wildly ambitious projects without worrying about manufacturing bottlenecks. With abundant resources, immense energy, and unmatched production speed, the Noah had become a scientific paradise.

While the complex could technically be expanded even further, they simply didn’t have the personnel to run it. Population remained their most severe bottleneck. The Ark only carried a little over fifty thousand people; they couldn’t afford to divert more manpower to the factories without crippling other sectors.

Pushing the thought aside, Jason continued reviewing the project proposals.

“Research grant for a novel room-temperature superconducting material… Approved.”

“Prototyping budget for a next-generation sub-orbital shuttle… Approved.”

“Construction materials for a miniaturized Large Hadron Collider… Approved.”

After signing off on a dozen massive projects, he rubbed his temples, feeling overwhelmed but exhilarated.

Fortunately, the concept of “fraudulent grant applications” didn’t exist aboard the Noah. Every proposal was rigorously peer-reviewed by multiple department heads before it ever reached his desk; his job was mostly to rubber-stamp them and monitor resource allocation.

Driven by his heavy sense of responsibility, Jason forced himself to read every single document thoroughly. He needed to possess a comprehensive understanding of the Federation’s technological progress to maintain effective leadership. How could he guide a civilization if he didn’t know what they were capable of building?

The most exhausting yet rewarding part of his job was attending the constant stream of press conferences hosted by the various research labs. In this era of explosive innovation, there were sometimes two or three breakthroughs announced in a single day, and he was invited to all of them. He couldn’t skip them; he just wished he could be in two places at once!

Later that very afternoon.

“…This newly synthesized aluminum-air battery boasts an energy density forty times greater than our standard lithium-ion cells, effectively bridging a massive gap in our current materials science. Moving forward, power storage will no longer be a bottleneck for our mobile tech!”

Jason was sitting in the audience for a major energy sector press conference. High-capacity batteries had always been a holy grail for the engineering teams, as they were vital for everything from heavy weaponry to civilian transport.

“As you all know, the energy density of our standard lithium batteries peaked at roughly 200Wh/kg. If you installed that in a standard surface rover, you’d get a maximum driving range of about 480 kilometers, and the cells degraded rapidly, requiring replacement every three to four years.”

“However, this new aluminum-air battery achieves an astounding energy density of 8100Wh/kg! That same surface rover would now have an operational range of up to 19,200 kilometers on a single charge! Furthermore, its chemical stability gives it a lifespan of over ten years of continuous use…”

Standing on the stage was Felix. Beaming with pride, the British physicist addressed the packed auditorium of scientists. “Therefore, once we scale up the mass production of these aluminum-air cells, our traditional lithium batteries will be rendered entirely obsolete!”

It was rare to see the usually reserved physicist display such raw emotion; he was clearly ecstatic about the breakthrough.

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