Chapter 260: The Starland Project

Massive objects tend to condense into a spherical shape due to gravity, which is how planets are formed.

However, when a planet's mass reaches a critical point, it becomes a gas giant because the strong gravity compresses the planet, and the lighter elements, due to the insufficient atmospheric pressure caused by gravity, cannot condense into a solid state, resulting in a thick atmosphere surrounding the planet. This forms a high-density metallic core with a gaseous outer shell.

Yan Xia initially wanted to create a massive planet, one that exceeded the theoretical limit of a rocky planet and even had a mass of one-tenth of a star.

Every science fiction enthusiast would probably have a similar idea, wondering how much larger and more expansive the land would be if they could magnify the planet they live on.

However, after Ella's calculations, this plan was mercilessly thrown into the trash.

Counteracting the massive gravity of such a planet would require an excessive amount of energy, making it completely unworthy and currently unfeasible.

Most likely, only a Type III civilization would have the leisure to create such a massive super-planet.

Therefore, the construction of Star City has some considerations. When the city is spread out, the mass is evenly distributed, allowing it to counteract the city's own gravity with minimal effort.

"So, let's create a landmass instead," said Yan Xia, drawing a design himself.

The design was a 3D model, with Shen at the center, and a landmass about the same size as Shen next to it.

The entire landmass was located directly below Shen in the design, meaning that the star would be right above the landmass. The surrounding area was an ocean, with dams at the edge of the ocean not for releasing water but for creating clouds that would transport water to the land through wind.

"Isn't this the ancient Chinese concept of a round heaven and a square earth?" Ella was speechless when she saw the blueprint.

"It feels like a waste."

"The resources used to create the landmass could build how many Star Cities?"

Yan Xia thought it was feasible.

"The materials of the Olive Branch Civilization inspired me. Can we also develop similar molecular materials, mainly silicon and carbon, so that we can quickly build a piece of land in the universe?"

Yan Xia called it "Starland."

Starland itself is not just a simple mass but a massive gravitational energy device.

Over the years, the Federation has developed a new gravitational energy technology called "Gravitational Piston" based on the gravitational energy technology initially provided by Chu.

The principle of the Gravitational Piston is quite simple; it uses gravity instead of fuel to continuously drive the piston to generate electricity.

To allow the piston to be affected by the star's gravity, its size is 300 kilometers. The mechanical energy generated by the massive piston is distributed to smaller units through gear meshing, resulting in millions of kilowatts of mechanical energy generation.

Although this model is still extremely inefficient in terms of gravitational energy utilization, it has a low base, requiring no advanced materials, and the energy consumed in the process is less than 1% of the energy produced, which looks rough compared to other well-researched gravitational energy technologies, but its power generation is slightly better. High technology is completely defeated in terms of gravitational energy utilization.

Of course, there are other reasons as well.

The Gravitational Piston can serve as a gravitational standard and measure, which can help improve the system of the Gravitational Energy Development Bureau after Starland.

The main task of Shen is to research how to make Shen shrink into a black hole and then develop the technology to convert gravity into electricity.

The graviton has discovered that the technology to turn a closed string into an open string at the Planck scale is also possessed by the Federation, but it is too energy-consuming.

Strong and weak forces are what maintain atoms and quarks, and nuclear fusion and fission can be said to be applications of these two forces. However, the physical properties of the graviton are completely different from the first three forces, and the energy required for mutual conversion is even greater. Wanting to complete the direct conversion of gravity and electromagnetic force is 100 times more difficult than researching nuclear fusion in the 20th century.

The Olive Branch Civilization must have mastered such technology; otherwise, the energy obtained from pure gravitational mechanical power generation is like a drop in the bucket, and it cannot even maintain the operation of a massive structure like Star City, let alone the consumption of hundreds of billions of lives.

Yan Xia wanted to overcome this challenge in the future, so using a black hole as a gravitational energy source could be realized.

"The Starland Project will require the plunder of all resources from dozens of stars and deep space, and it seems that it will take a long time."

Ella was actually not very enthusiastic about this plan. Building some Gravitational Pistons in the Dyson cloud can utilize both light and heat energy and gravitational energy, isn't that great?

"The era of massive objects will definitely come, and the Federation lacks the technology to create massive objects. This can also be considered as technological accumulation." Yan Xia said.

"..."

Ella didn't believe this nonsense.

This technology has no value, and it can be accumulated in the simulated universe. Is it necessary to accumulate it in reality?

Ella felt that Yan Xia just wanted to create a landmass in the starry sky out of personal interest, just like some people like Lego toys, the joy of building, a man's happiness.

Fortunately, Yan Xia also considered practicality.

"The Starland Project mainly provides space for gravitational research. To study the gravity of stars, we can only observe them, but with Starland, we can freely modify its form and obtain specific gravitational data through experiments."

"The things that can be simulated in the simulated universe are actually what we already know, and there will always be some deviations in simulating the unknown. These data are very important to us."

The manufacturing of large ships must consider gravitational-related issues, and the structure and strength of materials need to be carefully designed to prevent the large ship from being compressed into a planet.

Starland itself, as a massive and controllable gravitational source, has certain value, which cannot be replaced by anything else.

"At the same time, Starland can also serve as a material reserve, just like Star City, where the entire city is a spaceship that can be directly utilized."

"And when we need to mobilize a large number of resources, we have to go mining, which is very troublesome. During the process of building Starland, we can develop and collect all the surrounding materials and mobilize them uniformly, which can also be considered as one of the by-products."

Any big event will have an impact in many aspects. Just as the Starland Project loses things that are not the same, the things gained will also be different.

Ella nodded, but seeing the smile on Yan Xia's face, she knew that this guy's biggest idea was still to build a massive continent.

Men!

Fortunately, this plan does not waste resources, so Ella reluctantly accepted it.

The Starland Project began in the sixth year after they arrived at Shen, and some events finally occurred on the Star City side.