The celebration of Ignition Day came to an end, but the excitement burning in people's hearts did not cool down at all, but was pushed to a new peak.

Space elevator!

This grand project that originally existed only in people's imagination has never thought that one day in the future, it will truly enter their lives.

And now it seems that this day is coming soon.

No matter what other viewers watching the grand event were thinking in front of the TV, at least for those sitting in the venue, almost no one suspected that Lu Zhou was joking with them.

After all, just three days ago, they sat here and witnessed such a miracle with their eyes. The shock brought to them by the aurora that enveloped the night sky of the entire urban cluster will probably never be simply forgotten in their lifetime.

Besides, even the century-old problem such as the second-generation controlled fusion cannot stop him from moving forward. What is a space elevator?

They are willing to believe in his abilities and vision.

Even now, this is very much like a big pie...

Busy crowds surged from the venues in the Heart of Asia, and were guided by staff and security guards to the direct light rail station and parking lot.

Although I couldn't hear everyone in the crowd talking excitedly, the expressions on their faces had already written all the things they wanted to say on their faces.

Standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling window of the Asian Heart Lounge and looking at the crowd surging downstairs, Li Guangya's mouth gently raised a hint of smug curve.

Hearing the footsteps coming from behind, he put his hand behind him, looked at the reflection projected on the floor-to-ceiling window and said with a smile.

"Did you see the expressions on people's faces?"

Walking to his side, Lu Zhou looked at the square outside the floor-to-ceiling window and replied in a casual tone.

"I saw it, what's wrong?"

"It's nothing, I'm just a little emotional," Li Guangya narrowed her eyes and continued with great enthusiasm. "In the Council Report five years ago, I reported on the strategic significance of space elevators, but the attitude of the vast majority of Council members was ridiculed. Although I did this not to prove anything, I have to admit that this feeling is quite pleasant."

Lu Zhou glanced at him and asked.

"I don't understand one thing in particular."

“Which point?”

"Why are you so persistent about space elevators?"

"On the one hand, it may be because of feelings," Li Guangya smiled, paused for a while, and continued in a serious tone, "As for the other hand, I have read a paper... or a research report."

"Report?"

"Well, about the development and utilization value of resources outside the asteroid belt."

In concise language, Li Guangya and Lu Zhou described the content of the research report.

As we all know, since the industrial system on the Mars colony matured, the frontier of human civilization has expanded from the Mars orbit to the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

The large amount of high-purity ore that is cheap and easy to use provided by the asteroid belt supports the huge heavy industrial system on Mars and provides a continuous stream of daily necessities and consumer goods to the society on Earth.

However, since the territory of human civilization expanded to the asteroid belt, the natural expansion of this territory seemed to have stopped.

At the beginning, many sociological scholars and experts gave the view that after their society developed to an unprecedented stage of prosperity, they fell into the trap of excessive prosperity. Because there was no survival crisis, the society as a whole lost the driving force for progress.

However, the view given by that research report is different.

It interprets this special social phenomenon from an unprecedented perspective.

Based on efficiency and economic value being the fundamental driving force of all social activities, the research report established a simple mathematical model and came up with a concept called "effective economic zone".

That is, when human social activities within the scope of this effective economic zone have positive and above economic effects. However, once this range is exceeded, the economic effects will decrease with various factors such as distance and navigation time.

The scale of an effective economic zone is usually determined by many factors such as technical strength, industrial scale and distribution area. At present, the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter is the boundary of this "effective economic zone".

Resources are mined from the world outside the asteroid belt, sent to Mars for processing, and then transported the processed finished products back to Earth. The supply chain beyond the effective economic zone will appear unprofitable due to cost issues. Therefore, almost no company will put the world outside the asteroid belt into its plan after passing cost estimates.

Since the author of this research report is a well-known professor of economics at the Pan-Asian Academy of Sciences, he is still very influential in the field. Although Li Guangya was not born in researching finance, he believes that the future of Pan-Asian cooperation is in faraway space and has always paid attention to research in this area.

After reading that research report, the idea of ​​building a space elevator emerged in his mind.

At present, the overly prosperous pan-Asian cooperation has begun to show signs of inversion. Not only are the people content with the status quo, but the entire society is driven to make progress.

As an aspiring young man, he could not sit idly by the great alliance that was brought to the forefront by other emerging alliances, and they still had the great goal of building a community with a shared future for mankind.

Pan-Asia cooperation requires a super project that can drive regional economies, expand the scope of effective economic zones, and enable its citizens to regain their once proud and proud.

And space elevators are undoubtedly such an excellent choice.

Even though he made this decision, he was not the chairman of Pan-Asia cooperation at that time, which did not prevent him from including the "Building Plan" in his ruling program in advance.

He will do what he is determined to do!

"I have to thank you for this," Li Guangya glanced at Lu Zhou and said with a smile. "If it weren't for the time you woke up, I bet that those people must have labeled me as a madman."

Lu Zhou replied in a tone that he didn't care much.

"You're welcome, it's just a few words, but it's much easier than the big trouble on Ceres... By the way, do you need my help in the subsequent design work?"

Unexpectedly, Lu Zhou, who was afraid of trouble, took the initiative to ask for help.

Li Guangya was slightly stunned, then said with a smile.

"It is of course the best thing you are willing to help! If you are not available, I won't force it. As we said, you are very grateful for being able to provide us with some help when necessary."

Lu Zhou glanced at him unexpectedly.

"It seems you were ready a long time ago."

"Of course," Li Guangya smiled confidently and said leisurely, "When I was still serving as vice chairman of the board, I was already preparing for this day."

That was five or six years ago.

At that time, the research on space elevators was not taken seriously. After all, the key material issues were not solved, and no matter how much they were discussed, they were still castles in the air. Therefore, neither the academic community nor the industry regarded this thing as a project that could be realized in the short term.

If he had not approved more than one billion credit points in favor of opposition, implemented it into the field of space elevator design, and then mobilized administrative power to integrate the technical backbone of top research institutions such as the Institute of Orbit Engineering of the Pan-Asian Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Aerospace Facilities Design, and established the initial R&D team of the space elevator project, now he would probably have to worry about not having rice to put it into the pot.

Now the problem of the materials has finally been solved, and Li Guangya is full of confidence in realizing his ambitions.

Although I was curious about where this guy came from, I was confident that everything would go so smoothly, Lu Zhou didn't say much, just nodded simply.

"Since you've prepared in advance, I'm relieved."

The system does not specify its participation in this project. As long as the ladder to space is built on Earth, his promotion mission will be considered completed.

If possible, of course he still hopes that they can use their own strength to complete this magnificent super project, rather than relying on their own ancestors.

Although he has been active for endless time, this does not mean that his time is worthless.

But actually, they have a very big chance of winning.

After all, the most critical material problem has been solved by them myself.
Chapter completed!