At 7:30 a.m. on May 15, a prototype spacecraft was ready for a test flight on Horai Island.
At the landing site behind the institute, the 10-meter class prototype spacecraft was quietly waiting for its launch.
It is named after a Greek myth.
Don't get into the story that the man who gave it its name crashed it because it was too close to the sun.
The name is taken from a song played in a 5-minute song show on a public TV station.
The old man's voice echoes.
This time, instead of taking off from the surface of the earth, we are going to test the launch by using a transporter to send it to a satellite orbit and then to start the flight.
This is also a milestone to establish a from which we will basically launch and land from.
<<5......4......3......2......>>
The countdown echoes. It is more of a mood.
<<1......0!
The transporter is activated and <> disappears.
Almost at the same time, the image from <> is projected on the magic screen.
<
The accuracy is quite remarkable considering the distance of the transmission. However, it is also significant that the <> serves as a marker.
"Oh, that's nice."
Jin also leans forward to look at the magic screen.
Jin had several ideas, but he could not come to a conclusion based solely on desk studies.
>>
IKAROS2 on the screen started to move.
<<>.
While the "Mere Old Man" is explaining the situation, IKAROS2 continues to accelerate, and becomes smaller and smaller.
<
The image is switched to the one from the in the direction you are going. Icarus2 is getting bigger and bigger. Then, after a certain moment, it gets smaller and smaller again. .......
>.
"Yeah? What is it?"
<. At that point, if inertia is restored, the relative velocity will return to what it was before the collision, and we can leave it behind in an instant.
The elimination of inertia is an application of the gravity control magic used by the demons.
Although the name of the magic is , it can actually change mass as well. Rather, this is the main effect.
Otherwise, increasing gravity locally would result in a downburst ...... of strong downdrafts.
To be precise, inertia cannot be completely reduced to zero, but it is practical enough to be almost zero, which is not a threat at the level of cosmic dust.
"Oh, this will work?"
As the old man said this, Icarus 2 on the screen changed its direction a little.
I don't know the reason or the origin of this change, but there is an area where fine rocks are densely packed.
The dense area, however, is a spherical area about 300 kilometers in diameter, with fist-sized rocks drifting an average of one kilometer apart.
.
>, is the line of the old man.
The Icarus 2 is moving at a high speed of 100,000 km/h into the dense area.
< sends us images as if we were following it with a telephoto lens. Because of the vacuum of space, there is almost no degradation of the image even at a distance.
Icarus 2 approaches the area in about 10 minutes.
At the same time as the old man announced, Icarus 2 plunged into the meteorite swarm.
After about eight minutes, IKAROS 2 exits the meteorite swarm, makes a U-turn, and re-enters the spacecraft.
This time, the speed is increased to 300,000 kilometers per hour.
Even at that speed, there were no problems at all, and no meteorites hit the hull.
The next tests were conducted at speeds of 600,000 km/h and then at 1,000,000 km/h, with no problems.
"Yes, we did it!
<
Now we have one less concern when navigating through space.
"We can just destroy the big ones."
<>
The old man spoke up in an unusually hesitant manner.
"What? ......Oh, I see!"
Jin understood what the old man meant.
Even if we destroy a huge meteorite, it will only become a small or micrometeorite.
"<> is the best way to go. ......"
<>
"That sounds good."
Now that the navigational defenses were in place, the old man decided to conduct the last test of the day.
The last test was to put a prototype space suit on an automata or a golem, and to examine its usability.
and , the smallest members of the reorganized Covert Maneuver Unit (SP), wear the suits as an experiment.
At 10 meters in diameter, it is quite large, but its interior is precisely made, and there is not much extra space.
In such a situation, it is possible to fold up the body and board in a cramped position, which is only possible with Golem.
.
At the command of the old man, the two golems open the hatch and fly out into the vacuum of space.
The difference in pressure causes the space suit that Panse was wearing to expand at once.
The inflated balloon-like space suit looked so hard to move around in.
Although the material is supple and strong, it seems to be hard to move in.
On the other hand, Viola wears an ancient dragon shell made from the shell of an ancient dragon.
Specifically, the movable parts, or joints.
<
According to the old man's explanation, the magic power that flows through the joints is adjusted so that the joints deform in accordance with the wearer's body movements.
"Isn't that something that can be applied to power suits?"
The old man can research on his own once Jin has made something, but he needs permission from Jin to develop something new.
In this case, since the technology has already been used, he was free to study it.
Ancient dragon leather on the outside, soft magic resin in the middle, and cloth woven with threads of subterranean spiders on the inside.
This soft magic resin part is said to have been adjusted to reflect the wearer's will and transform itself.
"That sounds easy, but it must have been hard work, right?
Adjusting the wearer's body to move according to his or her will is a patient task. It is because it is uncomfortable to wear something that moves more than willed or, conversely, does not move.
I just went through hundreds and thousands of trial and error for Jin's sake. Jin sensed this and thanked him again.
"Thank you, my old man.
This composite material was quite good.
Viola checks the space suit with various movements outside the spaceship, but finds no particular problem.
Both the old man and Jin were satisfied with the excellent results.