Several days later, at synchronous orbit.
Two orbital cleaning ships, one after another, sailed through what seemed to be empty void.
Ou Zhanpeng heard a voice from the base in his ear: "024, continue descending fourteen kilometers!"
"024 received!" Ou Zhanpeng responded, manipulating the orbital cleaning ship to descend further until he heard the base's voice: "That's good, head another 1.4 kilometers north!"
"Received!" He adjusted their position and after a moment heard the base's instructions again: "That's good, you have forty minutes to prepare!"
"024 understands!"
Ou Zhanpeng reeled in the line, and Ling Xiao's complaint reached his ears: "Why did they make it so complicated?"
"It's already quite good, hurry up!"
"Got it."
Ou Zhanpeng halted the orbital cleaning ship on the orbit. The material bay at the rear opened, and several different materials quickly mixed together. After waiting for a few seconds, the bay door suddenly opened, and the mixed materials, under sudden pressure loss, were ejected outside. Their volume expanded thousands of times at an astonishing speed, forming a giant cylinder nearly ten meters in diameter and over a hundred meters long, with wisps of light smoke drifting from it.
"Base, 024 is ready!" Ou Zhanpeng said.
At this moment, the orbital cleaning ship had completely transformed. A small hull with a thick, long tail of solid smoke trailing behind it, it looked quite comical.
However, for this creation, Mu Xingyu and the entire team had racked their brains. Extensive experiments were even conducted on the ground to determine how to achieve formation in a short period, how to ensure its straightness, how to guarantee sufficient diameter, and most importantly, that its density was not uniform but tighter on the outside and looser on the inside, preventing debris from piercing the smoke column due to deflection.
The base's command came through the radio. Ou Zhanpeng activated the autopilot system, linked the equipment to the satellite, and the orbital cleaning ship, through satellite data, slowly adjusted its posture, gradually aligning with the trajectory of the counter-moving debris and finally holding still.
No matter how precise human hands are, they cannot maintain the same position at all times; only electronic equipment can achieve this with such accuracy.
With all preparations complete, Ou Zhanpeng got up and left, floating into the orbital cleaning ship piloted by Ling Xiao, and quickly pulling away to a safe distance.
As soon as he entered the cockpit, Ling Xiao said cheekily, "Don't know if this method will work, but it's certainly devious."
Ou Zhanpeng fastened his seatbelt and replied irritably, "Just get going then!"
More than ten minutes later, the two received notification from the base: "The debris is about to arrive, nine, eight, seven..."
The two exchanged a wry smile. Well, they were even using a countdown!
"Three, two, one!"
As the countdown ended, the two stared with wide, unblinking eyes at the 024 orbital cleaning ship.
The semi-transparent smoke tail, which had been quietly floating in the void, suddenly changed color and began to spin uncontrollably.
"Did it succeed?" Ling Xiao asked.
"Probably?" Ou Zhanpeng was very unsure.
Under the control of the driving system, the orbital cleaning ship continuously adjusted its posture, taking a full two minutes to slowly calm down.
Ling Xiao piloted the ship closer, turned on the searchlight, and observed the smoke tail. They found that the discolored portion extended over seventy meters forward from the tail end!
Finally, the two found a piece of debris no larger than a thumb, quietly embedded in the smoke tail, slightly to the right of the center.
Ou Zhanpeng let out a long sigh of relief: "It's done!"
He immediately reported the good news to the base. Mu Xingyu, who had been waiting for news, showed a relieved expression.
While Mu Xingyu could still control his emotions, others had no such restraint, and the space station immediately became a sea of joy.
With one moving with and the other against the flow, the relative speed between the debris and the smoke column was at least thirteen kilometers per second. Considering the mass of the debris, this speed was even higher than the muzzle velocity of an electromagnetic cannon, so the impact force was imaginable.
Yet, such a deadly projectile was ultimately stopped by the smoke column.
Ling Xiao shook his head, marveling, "As long as the mind isn't broken, there are always more solutions than difficulties!"
Ou Zhanpeng couldn't help but chuckle: "Why do you feel like you're complaining again?"
"It's destiny, fate, luck. When it's time to yield, you can still stand firm!"
"You truly are adaptable!"
The two orbital cleaning ships slowed down and stopped. Ou Zhanpeng returned to his own ship, and a thought suddenly occurred to him: since the properties of solid smoke were so astonishing, could it also be used to cover warships as a protective layer?
Solid smoke dozens of meters thick, with little weight, could block electromagnetic cannon rounds. If functional components were mixed in, it might even block lasers!
The more he thought about it, the more hopeful he became. Upon returning to the base, he immediately drafted a report and sent it to Mu Xingyu's desk.
Mu Xingyu initially scanned a few lines, but suddenly realized something was amiss. He then started reading from the beginning, carefully, until he finished the last word. He looked up and gazed at Ou Zhanpeng with a peculiar look: "Did you write this?"
"Yes, I wrote it." Ou Zhanpeng faced the doubt squarely, full of confidence.
"You kid, you've got quite a few ideas, very good, very sharp!" Mu Xingyu genuinely hadn't expected Ou Zhanpeng to give him such a surprise.
Not only was there the suggestion of covering warships with solid smoke, but he also recommended covering the surface of Cloud Palace Two with solid smoke to resist debris impacts.
If layers of solid smoke with different thicknesses and densities were bonded together, the thickness of the protective layer could be significantly reduced without compromising its protective capability. It could be said to be the most suitable protective measure for Cloud Palace Two at present.
Mu Xingyu vaguely felt that this report might have a significant impact on future aerospace engineering.
"You can go back now, I'll look at the report again," he said.
"Yes!" Ou Zhanpeng agreed and turned to float out.
Although he was full of anticipation for this report, he didn't dwell on it and soon forgot about it.
Mu Xingyu, however, pondered it for a long time before contacting the ground and, through organizational channels, sent the report to the appropriate department.
Not only that, but he also wrote down his own thoughts and attached them to the report.
The weight of a report from an ordinary pilot and a report endorsed by the space station supervisor was vastly different!
Mu Xingyu even had the thought that Ou Zhanpeng was somewhat underutilized as just a pilot. Perhaps sending him for further studies and transferring him to a research position could allow him to play a greater role.
But he wasn't in a hurry and waited patiently.
A few days later, news finally came from the ground: the report had a very high feasibility, and people were being organized for experiments!
Along with it came a commendation order.
Mu Xingyu let out a sigh of relief and smiled with satisfaction: "I knew it, I knew it!"
He floated up, raised his wrist to answer the phone: "Control, where is Ou Zhanpeng?"
"He is on an orbital cleaning mission!"
"Notify him, tell him to come see me immediately upon his return!"
"Yes!"