Earth Era - Chapter 24: The Radio Telescope

Chapter 24: The Radio Telescope

Zhao Huasheng was somewhat puzzled by this statement: “What message? Why send a message?”

“We have reached this point, we must confirm whether the K2 level civilization that we speculated exists. If they have indeed set up a Dyson sphere around the sun, then our radio signals sent to the sun will definitely be received by them. Yes, we want to make contact with them. No matter what their intentions and plans are, we cannot continue like this.” Wang Tang’s words were somewhat helpless.

“Has the leader made a decision?” After a moment of silence, Zhao Huasheng asked.

“It was the suggestion of the Science and Research Department that the leader should do this.” Wang Tang said, “After sending the message, we will be faced with two results: one, that the K2 civilization sends us a message back, and in that case, we can arrange and prepare our next steps according to the content of the response; two, no one sends us a message back. In this case, there are two possibilities, first, that the K2 civilization has chosen to ignore us, and if this is the case, we cannot just sit back and wait; we must take the next step, whether it be active probing or other methods; second, that the K2 civilization does not even exist. If this is the case, we must hurry up and take the next step in order to save our civilization. So… logically speaking, if we do not receive a response from the signal we sent out, we should restart the Solar Probing Program.”

Zhao Huasheng nodded and said, “I agree with this statement as well. So, which observatory is responsible for transmitting the signal?”

“The Telescope at the Starry Sky Observatory that received the ‘Wow’ signal.”

The Starry Sky Telescope is the largest radio telescope on the planet, with a diameter of 500 meters. Obviously, such a giant telescope cannot be constructed like a normal radio telescope, which consists of a base and a huge pan-shaped antenna, because with the current level of human technology, it is impossible to support such a large device on the ground. In fact, it is built in a valley on the ground.

It is a basin-shaped valley with a diameter of five hundred meters and tens of meters deep. When the Star River Observatory was built, the engineers remodeled the valley according to a certain angle and curvature and then installed more than four hundred thousand aluminum plates according to a certain rule on the mountain walls and bottom of the basin. A supporting frame was also built above the basin to support the signal receiver. In this way, all wireless signals within five hundred meters in diameter will be reflected by these aluminum plates to the signal receiver above, so that it can obtain the most sensitive signal receiving ability on the earth. According to its theoretical strength, the Star River Radio Telescope can even receive wireless signals with a strength equivalent to that of mobile phone communication on Mars.

The most famous “Wow” signal ever received in the history of extraterrestrial life exploration was also received by it.

The “Wow” signal was a suspiciously powerful radio signal from the direction of the constellation Sagittarius. It had a certain degree of logic to it, making it unlikely to be a natural phenomenon. After receiving the signal, the staff at the Big Ear radio telescope were so shocked that they wrote the character “Wow” on the signal paper to express their surprise, giving the signal its name.

The Wow signal only appeared once, and no similar signal was ever detected again in the following decade, even after Big Ear and other research institutions around the world had monitored the direction of the Sagittarius constellation. The Wow signal disappeared as quickly as it had appeared, and the meaning of the signal remains undeciphered to this day.

This task of sending a message to the sun was entrusted to the world’s most powerful and famous radio telescope.

“That’s good, Meng Zhuo; let’s not go to the equatorial city first; let’s go to the Star River Observatory,” said Zhao Huasheng. “Let’s witness this event together.”

“Ok.” Meng Zhuo agreed.

“I’m not at the Star River Observatory, but it doesn’t matter, I’ll report this to the superiors. You can go directly there, and someone will receive you when you arrive,” Wang Tang said. “Well, goodbye; contact me if something happens.”

“Ok, goodbye,” Zhao Huasheng said.

After turning in the sky, the helicopter made a supply stop at an undeclared military base, then continued its journey. After roughly eight hours, Zhao Huasheng and his party arrived at the Star River Observatory.

The Star River Observatory had a very large area; the government even listed the area within 20 kilometers as a restricted area, prohibiting any irrelevant personnel from approaching. But the building area of the observatory was much smaller, just a single building two kilometers away from the Star River Radio Telescope. All the scientific researchers and maintenance personnel of the observatory lived here.

The five helicopters that Zhao Huasheng and his party rode on landed in front of the building. There was already a group of people waiting there.

“Hello, I am the head of the Star River Observatory, and these are the relevant scientists from the Research Department.” A middle-aged bald man walked up, shook hands with Zhao Huasheng, and then introduced himself to Zhao Huasheng.

Hello, I’m Zhao Huasheng. Zhao Huasheng nodded.

The number of people at the Milky Way Observatory has increased a lot compared to before. In addition to the original staff and researchers from the Solar Crisis Coordination Center, there are also many security personnel around the Observatory. They are all strong young people wearing neat military uniforms, looking serious and powerful.

The research department personnel knew Zhao Huasheng’s identity, but they didn’t say much or talk to Zhao Huasheng here, just nodded to him as a greeting. When they arrived in the control hall, Zhao Huasheng saw many screens, which were full of flashing data and various charts, as well as red, green, black and white lines. Zhao Huasheng was not an expert in radio astronomy, so he didn’t understand these things, but he didn’t ask any more.

“When was the signal sent out?” Zhao Huasheng asked.

The observatory head explained, “The signal will be directed towards the sun, and only at noon will the telescope be facing the sun. You can rest for now.”

“No,” Zhao Huasheng said, “can I go to the telescope and take a look?”

“Sure,” the observatory head said, “it’s just a routine task to send a signal, so we don’t need so many people to stay here. There’s a viewing platform next to the telescope, let’s go there.”

So Zhao Huasheng and his group, as well as several staff members from the observatory and some scientists from the research department, made a total of more than 30 people came to the viewing platform next to the telescope.

The viewing platform was higher than the valley next to it. Standing on the viewing platform, both the distant green jungle and the huge telescope reflecting the sunlight a thousand meters away could be seen.

The tree leaves in the dense forest have started to show a hint of wilting yellow due to the drop in temperature, yet the mountain breeze that blows across the viewing platform still carries a hint of coolness despite it being a scorching summer day.

“This is probably our last time using this viewing platform,” the observatory director sighed, “The weather will get colder and colder in the future, so apart from the necessary maintenance of the telescope, we will all stay inside the base and not come out anymore.”

“What, you’re not going to evacuate to the city on the equator?” Zhao Huasheng asked.

“Of course not,” the observatory director shook his head, “if we leave, what will happen to the telescope? You have to understand that the current human government does not have the funds or ability to rebuild such a big thing. We are the ears of humanity that listen to the voice of the universe, so we must stay here.”

Apart from this observatory, there are at least thirty thousand organizations on Earth, with more than five million personnel who won’t evacuate to the Equator City,” Meng Zhuo said indifferently. “Among these organizations, there are energy factories, coal mines, oil fields, nuclear power plants, research institutions, and so on. These are all immovable.”

Zhao Huasheng nodded slightly. These are the necessary institutions for the continuation of human civilization, and someone must stand up to stay in these positions.

“Fifteen minutes to the signal transmission,” the observatory’s head raised his wrist and looked at his watch, then said.

Zhao Huasheng seemed to have not heard that sentence. Zhao Huasheng’s gaze crossed the distance of a thousand kilometers and went to the distant, huge valley. Hundreds of thousands of aluminum pieces melted together at this distance, reflecting the sun’s light and making Zhao Huasheng’s eyes narrow. Within three hundred meters around the valley, there was no vegetation or any traces of animals, and outside three hundred meters, the area was full of vegetation, and occasionally the cries of wild animals could be heard.

Under the weak sunlight, the whole huge radio telescope revealed a primitive and desolate flavor.

“It’s time,” said the head of the observatory.

At the same time, Zhao Huasheng seemed to hear a faint buzzing sound, slightly low but very powerful. It entered people’s ears, making their heads dizzy.

The head of the observatory seemed not to have felt this. He suddenly opened his mouth and said loudly, “Respected unknown civilization, hello, this is the voice of the human civilization from the third planet of this small solar system…”