Chapter 155: The Sky City Project

In Meijiang County's Longling Town, compared to the bustling excitement of the outside world surrounding lunar tourism, Fuyun Group was keeping an exceptionally low profile. It had been quite a long time since they last rolled out any new technological products, leading some to suspect that Li Fu's genius had finally run dry.

At the Longling Town Aerospace Center, several massive "Hercules" aerospace planes sat quietly alongside their respective terminal buildings on the vast tarmac. Ground crew members were exceptionally busy at the moment, replenishing these aerospace planes with energy, compressed air, and supplies designated for transport into space.

Inside the command center, Li Fu was currently discussing the construction of their own space station with Yu Liang, Chen Bin, Cao Haitao, Yang Yiping, and others. The Sky City Project was an ambitious endeavor formulated by the group, with the initial goal of establishing a space station in orbit, which would then gradually serve as the core around which a massive space city would eventually be built.

Sky City—judging by the name alone, it was evident that Li Fu and his associates were by no means content with merely building a single space station.

A massive display screen broadcasted a detailed master plan, showcasing the envisioned layout of the entire Sky City. According to the blueprint, Sky City could be divided into five distinct sectors: the space agriculture zone, the space industrial zone, the spaceport, the research zone, and the residential zone. Each section would constitute an independent structure, linked to one another by connecting corridors to form a gigantic space city.

"Shouldn't we consider adding a weapon system into the mix? Otherwise, if a meteorite or a decommissioned satellite were to collide with our Sky City, the resulting losses would be incalculable."

Yu Liang gazed at the giant screen. The overall blueprint for Sky City had long been finalized, and construction was set to begin imminently. The group was now discussing refinements to the project, checking to see if any areas still required improvement.

After all, space was not like the terrestrial surface; once an error occurred, rectifying it was by no means an easy feat. Every single aspect ought to be factored in right from the initial design phase.

"That is indeed an issue we haven't factored in until now. However, when we originally applied to build Sky City, we didn't apply for an onboard weapon system. Would adding one now be considered a violation of the law?"

Chen Bin nodded upon hearing this. Sky City was a massive investment of monumental significance—it was Fuyun Group's bridgehead into space, and failure was simply not an option. Yet, in the harsh expanse of space, without a self-defense weapon system, meteorites, satellite debris, and the like could easily inflict catastrophic damage on Sky City.

Historically, the International Space Station had once been struck by abandoned satellite fragments, which had nearly destroyed it. One had to remember that over the decades of human space exploration, the volume of satellite debris, rocket remnants, derelict satellites, and discarded spacecraft scattered across orbit had grown to staggering proportions.

Moreover, as time went on, space debris would only accumulate. Traveling at high speeds through orbit, these pieces of space debris would cause massive devastation upon impact with any satellite, spacecraft, or space station.

Consequently, both the International Space Station and the Tiangong space station were equipped with advanced detection instruments capable of scanning for such space debris over vast ranges. The moment they detected and calculated that a piece of space debris was on a collision course, they would immediately deploy weapons to destroy it or execute orbital maneuvers to evade it.

"Our Sky City will undoubtedly be enormous in the future. Even if we install numerous large plasma engines, altering its orbit will be no simple task. If we truly lack a weapon system, we are bound to be struck by space debris frequently in the future."

Li Fu nodded along as well. Space debris was a problem that demanded serious consideration. At this thought, Li Fu could not help but furrow his brow.

"According to international conventions, outer space does not belong to any single nation. Integrating a weapon system into Sky City would not violate the laws of any country. However, we are Chinese after all, and our company is based in China. Logically speaking, the Sky City we build should be considered Chinese territory, meaning it falls under Chinese jurisdiction and must comply with Chinese laws. That makes this a delicate matter to handle."

Yang Yiping also frowned, spelling out the crucial stakes involved.

"If we were to submit an application to the authorities right now, do you think they would approve equipping Sky City with a weapon system?"

Cao Haitao stroked his chin and thought deeply.

"Our country has always maintained exceptionally strict regulations on weaponry. For a private enterprise like ours to be authorized to equip a weapon system is by no means an easy undertaking, let alone one deployed in outer space."

"Equipping our security personnel with weapons required numerous rounds of applications, and even now, they are only permitted to carry basic arms while remaining subject to regular inspections. I'd say our chances are slim!"

Yu Liang shook his head. Having grown into a massive enterprise wielding a plethora of high-tech innovations, Fuyun Group had invested vast sums of money into building a formidable security team and had even applied for weapon permits. The only reason those permits had been approved was because Fuyun Group's technology was of such paramount importance, compounded by frequent attempts by foreign spies. To safeguard their proprietary technology, the authorities naturally had no choice but to consent.

"A weapon system in space—specifically one meant to destroy space debris—would certainly need to possess decent firepower, ideally a system akin to laser weaponry."

Chen Bin bypassed the question of legality for the moment, focusing instead on determining what kind of weapon would be most appropriate.

When the others heard mention of laser weaponry, they all nodded in agreement. Traditional weapon systems were poorly suited for the environment of space. One had to keep in mind the blistering velocity of space debris, which could reach speeds of several kilometers, or even over a dozen kilometers per second, in orbital trajectories.

Such staggering speeds placed extraordinarily high demands on detection equipment, requiring them to spot space debris from vast distances. At the same time, it imposed exceptionally strict requirements on offensive weapon systems; conventional weapons simply lacked the capability to deal with such tiny targets.

Using missiles to attack space debris was feasible, but the resulting detonations would only generate even more space debris. As for other types of weaponry, they were essentially useless in space.

Laser weaponry, by contrast, was exceptionally well-suited for the task. Its advantages were glaringly obvious: laser energy output could reach the speed of light, truly achieving lightning-fast response times; it allowed for precise, directional attacks; and its energy release was controllable—high-energy beams could be utilized for lethal strikes and high-speed cutting, while low-energy beams could inflict non-lethal damage.

Using laser weaponry to obliterate space debris in orbit was unequivocally the most suitable method available at present, without exception. No other weapon system could match laser weaponry in achieving speed, precision, and zero pollution when eliminating space debris.

"Laser weaponry is certainly an exceptional choice, but lasers represent the absolute pinnacle of current military technology. Fewer than a handful of countries across the entire globe have mastered laser weapons. Moreover, even among those nations, current laser weaponry is strictly limited to dazzlers. As for actual physical attacks executed using lasers, I've yet to hear of any relevant combat examples."

"Putting aside the question of legality for a moment, simply researching and developing a laser weapon capable of physical destruction is by no means an easy task."

Cao Haitao furrowed his brow bitterly. Laser weapons were a staple of science fiction films—space fighters engaged in dogfights, dazzling beams of light flashing across the void accompanied by the explosions of enemy spacecraft blasted apart by laser fire, making for a remarkably cool spectacle.

In reality, however, humanity's current technological level lacked the capability to manufacture advanced laser weapon systems akin to those seen in sci-fi movies. If they could, what need would there be to rely on missiles to intercept other missiles?

With laser weapons, intercepting enemy missiles using light-speed laser beams would allow one to effortlessly obliterate them completely, rendering all renowned anti-missile systems fit only for the scrap heap.

"If we don't use laser weapons, what other weapon systems could possibly be deployed in space? Especially ones capable of dealing with high-speed moving space debris."

Chen Bin, who had first proposed using laser weaponry, shook his head in dissent. As early as the previous century, advanced Western nations had already experimented with anti-satellite weapons, which were essentially tests aimed at destroying directional targets in space.

The methods employed relied on anti-satellite missiles and anti-satellite satellites, both of which utilized physical propulsion to collide with or detonate near the target for destruction. Such methods suffered from slow reaction times and immense operational complexity.

One had to launch missiles or satellites into space, calculate target trajectories, and finally execute the destruction of the target. If Fuyun Group had to resort to such methods to deal with space debris, the costs would evidently be exorbitant and highly uncost-effective, while also generating even more space debris.

"Manufacturing a laser weapon is not entirely out of the realm of possibility, and laser weapons are indeed the most suitable weapon systems for use in space. If we genuinely install a laser weapon system on Sky City, we won't have to worry about Sky City's safety at all."

Li Fu, who had remained silent up to this point, slowly nodded. From the technological seed of the super civilization of the Great Han Technological Empire, Li Fu knew that laser weapons could be considered a thoroughly mainstream offensive weapon within the universe—or more accurately, a subset of energy weapons.

Laser weapons represented a very rudimentary form of energy weapon, one that essentially any cosmic civilization was capable of mastering.