And so, the final plan was set in stone.
While constructing the massive reactor, humanity would use it as the foundation to build a true interstellar spacecraft!
This colossal vessel would measure over 30 kilometers in both width and height, and stretch more than 40 kilometers long, with the original Noah acting as its central core.
To keep the total mass manageable, everyone would continue living inside the Noah, and the vast majority of materials would be stored there. The external structure surrounding the Noah would consist strictly of the reactors, propulsion engines, weapon systems, and docking bays for various smaller spacecraft. Nothing extraneous.
The most crucial components were the four nuclear reactors, which accounted for more than 60% of the spacecraft’s total mass.
"Wow, this is absolutely incredible..." Marcus, Austin, and their trusted colleagues’ eyes lit up as they eagerly pored over the spaceship’s design blueprints, their faces flushed with excitement.
A colossal spaceship 40 kilometers long...
While it was nowhere near the size of the vessels fielded by the Viridian Empire, the sheer scale of the project was beyond human imagination.
As a rough estimate, if the cost and effort of building a modern aircraft carrier was represented by the number "1," then this spacecraft would cost around five million!
Five million!
"In other words," someone pointed out, "even ignoring the advanced technology and the astronomical design difficulty, the sheer volume of raw engineering work is comparable to building five million aircraft carriers. And all of it has to be done in space."
"And back on Earth, there were barely thirty aircraft carriers in existence... This is fucking insane."
After a quick mental calculation, Marcus was deeply shocked. He drew in a sharp breath, yet every cell in his body trembled with a thrilling excitement.
This was truly a magnificent feat of engineering! Only a ship of this magnitude could survive traversing the vast distances between stars.
Such a colossal vessel would have been impossible to build back on Earth, even with unlimited resources. Had humanity gone mad? Were they really going to devote every ounce of their productive capacity to building a single spaceship?
"I don’t know how true interstellar civilizations managed it..." Marcus muttered. "We’ve had so many lucky breaks. We have the Noah acting like a cheat code to handle the core mass, and we have an interstellar-grade quantum computer to assist with the calculations... and it’s still this difficult. Almost impossibly difficult."
"Other species couldn’t cheat," a colleague remarked. "They had to build their ships bigger and stronger from scratch, which would have made things exponentially harder!"
Another person nodded in agreement. "Exactly. We should never underestimate any interstellar civilization. Even the Viridian Empire had to overcome far greater hurdles than we are facing now!"
Just then, Jason cleared his throat, interrupting the lively discussion. "Alright, everyone. It’s safe to say we’ll be working on this mega-project for the next century."
"Even a century won’t be enough!" someone called out.
"If one hundred years isn’t enough, then we’ll take two hundred!" Jason replied firmly. "If two hundred isn’t enough, we’ll take three hundred!"
"We keep building until we cross the Great Filter!"
His expression turned deadly serious. "To achieve this goal, we must develop a comprehensive, multi-generational plan! This includes ideological education, fostering long-term shared ideals, building a fully self-sustaining industrial system, and revamping our population and birth policies."
"The Federation must become even stronger!"
"Everything must be dedicated to securing our place as an interstellar civilization! There is no room for error!" Jason looked around the room. "Alright, everyone. Please feel free to share your thoughts and proposals."
The group immediately began discussing the key points, quickly outlining the main objectives one by one.
The first item on the agenda was naturally the organization and assimilation of the Nyx civilization’s technologies. This included not only their various engineering applications but also their massive database of biotechnology! After all, during the latter half of its existence, the Nyx civilization had focused almost entirely on biotech research.
The biologists were the first to speak. Dr. Roman took the floor. "Their understanding of biology is leaps and bounds ahead of ours. Over generations, their brightest minds managed to eradicate almost all known diseases and even developed viable life-extension technologies."
"We stand to learn a great deal from their archives. Even though we are entirely different species with different biological structures, the fundamental biochemical principles are similar. We can adapt their theories for human use."
Seeing the hopeful looks in everyone’s eyes, Roman continued, "Their life-extension technology, which focuses on neutralizing free radicals is fundamentally different from our current stem-cell repair methods. Their approach is geared toward routine cellular maintenance and preventing decay, whereas our technology focuses on forced cell regeneration."
"Therefore, I believe there’s a strong possibility that our two methods could complement each other, drastically extending the human lifespan! Based on our preliminary research, if we fully absorb the Nyx data, we could push the average human lifespan to anywhere between 200 and 250 years... possibly even 300 years."
"Really?" Upon hearing this news, Jason was pleasantly surprised.
He wholeheartedly embraced the concept of longevity. He certainly didn’t want his older friends and colleagues to die of old age during the long march through the stars, leaving him alone to guide a completely new generation.
That would be far too lonely.
He immediately gave his approval. "Extending our lifespan is a top priority. I’m officially entrusting this project to your department. Please make it a reality as soon as possible! Also, Dr. Roman, how is the research on the Neural Implants progressing?"
The potential applications for Neural Implants were virtually endless. Not only could they directly enhance human cognitive functions, but they were also the key to interfacing with... the Perfect Element!
If they could harness the Perfect Element, human intelligence and lifespan would be elevated to an entirely new evolutionary tier.
"Unfortunately, the Nyx civilization didn’t possess the technology for Neural Implants," Roman said, shaking his head. "Their research on the brain was slightly more advanced than ours, but it fell far short of what’s required to develop functional neural chips."
Hearing this, Jason sighed inwardly.
It was clear that the technological hurdle for neural implants was simply beyond the reach of lower-tier civilizations. He didn’t dwell on the disappointment, however, and quickly moved on to discuss the rest of the plan.
After a grueling week of continuous work, the "Century Plan" was finally formalized.
"The first generation consisted of 50,000 people. The second generation expanded to 70,000. The third to 100,000, the fourth to 140,000, and the fifth to 190,000... Over the course of a century, we can expect to reach up to the fifth generation, bringing our total population to an estimated 550,000 people."
"Once we reach that milestone, we will draft a new population policy..."
Peter was reading the digital daily news with great interest, specifically focusing on the published "Century Plan," which spanned dozens of pages.
The comprehensive document outlined a wide range of major goals that had to be achieved over the next hundred years, covering population demographics, scientific research, industrial expansion, and societal development.
Naturally, a century was too long a timeframe for the Federation leadership to project with absolute precision. Therefore, the plan was broken down into manageable five-year phases to tackle specific milestones, such as increasing the total population, scaling up resource extraction, and expanding industrial manufacturing capacity.
In short, the Federation was absolutely serious about this endeavor—and the civilian population felt the same way!
"This is incredible!"
When Peter finished reading through the manifesto and scrolled down to see the released blueprints of the spacecraft, his breathing hitched. His blood raced, and a strange, overwhelming sense of exhilaration washed over him.
The age-old human dream of conquering the sea of stars was finally going to be realized through the Deep Space project!
In the past, Peter might have worried about whether he would live long enough to see the ship completed, but now he didn’t care.
To hell with the Great Filter!
Peter fantasized about what the colossal vessel would look like once it was fully constructed. Even if he didn’t survive to see its final, glorious form before old age took him... right now, in this moment, he was willing to fight for it with everything he had.
"Peter, hurry up! The groundbreaking ceremony for the Deep Space project is about to begin. Come and watch!"
"Move it! If you don’t come right now, I’m leaving without you!"
Dylan’s voice echoed from outside the door, anxiously yelling at the slow-moving Peter.
This was a historic moment, a true testament to the first generation of pioneers, and there was absolutely no way they were going to miss it.
Peter hurriedly dropped his data pad and sprinted out the door.
"I’m coming! I’m coming! Wait for me!"