Chapter 49: Extreme Efficiency
The first problem Li Qingsong faced was the transportation of supplies and cargo.
If he had sufficient technology, Li Qingsong would have loved to build a space elevator. That would have eliminated all the troubles of spaceship transport, allowing massive quantities of supplies to be sent directly into space with ease.
Unfortunately, his technology had not yet reached that level. For now, he could only rely on spaceships.
The existing spaceships could only transport two tons of supplies at a time, which was far too inefficient. But developing a new model of spaceship was not something that could be accomplished overnight.
That being the case, the only option was to increase their numbers.
So, the first decision Li Qingsong made was to immediately expand the productivity of the spaceship production chain and build more spaceships in the shortest time possible.
At the same time, the very process of building more spaceships and using them frequently was, in itself, a way to find hidden risks, identify defects, and discover opportunities for upgrades and optimization.
At that moment, all of the dozens of precision machining plants Li Qingsong possessed were repurposed, shifting their focus to the task of manufacturing spaceship components.
On a certain plot of open land, after simple leveling and reinforcement, a new spaceship assembly line using a frame structure was completed in just one month, replacing the original small-scale production line.
And so, amidst the constant roar of heavy-duty trains and Sky-Soarer I-type spaceships, a massive tide of components flooded the area.
The more than ten thousand Clones working here, aided by the most efficient automation technology available, seemed to have become robots themselves, not daring to slack off for even a second.
Behind them, dozens of backup Clones were on standby at all times.
Normally, they would just stand there quietly, not consuming any of Li Qingsong’s precious consciousness connection quota. But the moment a Clone on the line needed to step away, even just to take a piss, a backup Clone would immediately step up and take over their work seamlessly, ensuring the assembly line’s production wasn’t delayed by even a single second.
Under these conditions, with a total of over a hundred precision machining plants, several high-reliability chip factories, and numerous other factories for connectors, plastic films, screens, rubber, Detectors, controllers, and more all operating at full capacity, the new spaceship assembly line’s output skyrocketed to four spaceships per day in a short period.
Four spaceships a day might not seem like much, but one had to understand that these were massive machines integrating all of Li Qingsong’s most advanced technologies at this stage. Their complexity and precision were simply incomparable to something like a train or a factory.
On the assembly line, massive spaceships—weighing over 30 tons empty and over 50 tons when fully fueled—were produced in a continuous stream, then immediately put into transportation service without a moment’s delay.
At the launch site, spaceships were taking off or landing at almost every moment.
Due to the sheer frequency of launches and landings, the ground of the launch site had even become somewhat vitrified from the heat.
And this was just one of more than a dozen existing launch sites.
Under these circumstances, construction materials for the space laboratory, packed in crates, were transported into space one after another, orbiting Ceres at a speed of about 900 meters per second.
While going all-out to increase the number of spaceships, Li Qingsong was also doing something else.
More spaceships naturally meant more fuel consumption.
The current fuel reserves were insufficient. The production capacity for methane and oxygen had to be increased by more than a hundredfold!
A single transport run for one spaceship consumed about 15 tons of fuel. Three runs a day meant 45 tons. With about 220 spaceships currently in operation, that was roughly 10,000 tons of fuel per day.
And as the number of spaceships increased, this figure would continue to skyrocket.
It wouldn’t be surprising if average daily consumption reached tens of thousands of tons of fuel in the future.
In particular, with the construction of the space laboratory, the electricity and energy consumption of all other factories had also increased significantly.
To generate enough electricity, there had to be a sufficient supply of fuel.
According to Li Qingsong’s calculations, his base cluster had previously consumed about 100,000 tons of Tolin and methane, and 30,000 tons of oxygen, on average each day.
But now, factoring in the fuel required for the spaceships, this number had suddenly doubled, reaching 200,000 tons of Tolin and methane and over 60,000 tons of oxygen per day!
As a result, the Clones working in the Oxygen Ore, Tolin, and methane mines were also plunged into a frenzy of activity.
Vast numbers of machines and Clones joined the mining efforts. Heavy-duty trains roared along the tracks day and night without pause. To compensate for the transportation shortfall, even the Sky-Soarer I-type spaceships were drafted into emergency supply transport missions.
With more spaceships, chip consumption also increased dramatically.
Besides the main control computer, other parts of the spaceship also required chips.
A sensor, a controller—they all needed chips.
A single spaceship required tens of thousands of chips!
Producing four spaceships a day meant over 200,000 chips; that’s over 70 million chips a year!
What’s more, the space laboratory he was building would also require a massive number of chips.
Li Qingsong estimated it would need at least a hundred million.
So, the chip factories also became incredibly busy.
Additionally, to free up more manpower for production, the number of personnel in the agriculture, animal husbandry, and aquaculture bases was greatly reduced. However, the production of food and biological resources could not be allowed to decrease.
So, they too began a period of intense activity.
At the same time, building the space laboratory itself entailed a vast number of production and research tasks. Consequently, more factories, as well as the research Clones in the science centers, were also plunged into a flurry of work.
In an instant, because of this one space laboratory, all of Li Qingsong’s bases—whether mining or industrial, research or food production—every single one was thrown into a state of extreme busyness.
Li Qingsong pushed his 700,000 consciousness connection quotas to their absolute limit.
Every minute of every second, large numbers of Clones would jog to their beds. The instant they fell onto the mattress, their consciousness link would disconnect. At that very same moment, a Clone on another bed would snap its eyes open, practically leap up, wolf down breakfast in a few bites, and dash out of the dormitory.
At all times, open-top buses were parked at the dormitory entrances. Throngs of Clones would jump off, and every bus that had just emptied would be filled within a minute by other Clones jumping on.
The buses would then roar away as if taking flight, delivering loads of Clones to factories, bases, buildings, and research institutes...
In space, thousands of Clones in Space Suits performed spacewalks, assembling components one by one.
On the ground below, spaceships took off and landed, carrying crate after crate of construction materials into space.
Everything was orderly. Despite being busy to the extreme and efficient to the extreme, there was not the slightest hint of chaos, let alone any instances of coordination errors.