Chapter 250 Corrosion Crisis

February 14, 2039.

Equatorial Pacific, Space Elevator Platform Command Center.

Chen Xueming had been staring at the data on the screen for three full hours. The cable had been deployed to five thousand kilometers—a milestone figure, meaning that a quarter of the project was complete. At this rate, the first cable would reach Geostationary Orbit in another month or so.

But he was in no mood to celebrate now.

Because that red data on the screen was like a thorn in his eye.

Corrosion Depth: 0.03 mm.

"Mr. Chen," Technician Xiao Zhou's voice trembled slightly, "we've checked it three times, and the data is consistent. The sample at five thousand kilometers indeed shows signs of surface corrosion."

Chen Xueming didn't speak; he just kept staring at that number.

0.03 mm sounded tiny. The Carbon Nanotubes cable had a diameter of five millimeters, so this amount of corrosion was less than one percent. But what if this was just the beginning? What if the corrosion grew deeper as deployment continued? If the problem was only discovered after the full length was deployed, then all thirty-six thousand kilometers of cable would be ruined.

"Contact Chief Designer Lin immediately." His voice was calm, but his palms were already sweating.

2:00 PM, emergency video conference.

On the other side of the screen, Lin Mo's face was somewhat pale. Having just finished listening to Chen Xueming's report, he stared at the inspection report without saying a word.

Li Xiao sat beside him, her expression equally solemn. She pulled up the material parameters for the Carbon Nanotubess and calculated quickly: "Senior Brother, with a corrosion depth of 0.03 mm, if this rate continues, the cable's strength will drop by seventeen percent in five years. The problem is, we don't know if this rate is constant or if it will accelerate."

Zhao Gang was also online. Although he didn't understand the technical jargon, he could read the severity of the situation from Lin Mo's expression.

"Chief Designer Lin," his voice was low, "what do you need me to do?"

Lin Mo didn't answer, merely staring at the number on the screen.

Silence filled the conference room for a long time.

Finally, Lin Mo spoke. His voice was calm, as if he were discussing an ordinary matter:

"Xueming, suspend the deployment."

Chen Xueming was stunned for a moment: "Old Lin, we're at five thousand kilometers. We've already deployed five thousand kilometers. To stop now..."

"Stop," Lin Mo interrupted him. "If we don't solve this problem and only find out it's unfeasible after reaching thirty thousand kilometers, the loss will be even greater."

Chen Xueming was silent for a few seconds before saying, "Understood. I'll issue the order now."

Lin Mo turned to Li Xiao: "Send me all the monitoring data, including the environmental parameters during deployment—temperature, humidity, salinity, and microbial content. I need to know exactly what this section of cable has been through."

Li Xiao nodded: "Right away."

"Also," Lin Mo added finally, "notify Section Chief Wu that the Carbon Nanotubes production line needs temporary adjustment. We need to produce a batch of experimental samples."

At 4:00 PM, the cable deployment was officially suspended.

As the news spread, the entire platform fell into a strange silence. Workers stood at their posts, watching the specialized vessel slowly cease operations, watching the silver-white cable stop extending, watching everything suddenly come to a standstill.

No one spoke.

But the same question was written in everyone's eyes: What happened?

Chen Xueming stood at the edge of the platform, looking out at the calm sea. The sea breeze was light and the sunlight was pleasant, but he felt as if a heavy stone were pressing on his heart.

Liu Jianguo walked over and stood beside him. After a long silence, he finally asked, "Mr. Chen, is it serious?"

Chen Xueming shook his head: "I don't know yet."

Liu Jianguo looked at the cable that was no longer extending: "Five thousand kilometers... and we just stop, just like that..."

"We must stop." Chen Xueming turned his head to look at him. "Chief Designer Lin is right. If we don't find the problem now and only discover it at thirty thousand kilometers, this entire year's work will have been for nothing."

Liu Jianguo was silent for a while before nodding: "True."

The two stood side by side, watching the specialized vessel anchored quietly.

In the distance, several workers were gathered around a cable inspection point, carefully taking samples. Their movements were slow and gentle, as if they were handling a fragile treasure.

At 7:00 PM, the first batch of environmental data came out.

Li Xiao sat in the data center, staring at the dense curves on the screen. Her eyes were blurred from exhaustion, but she didn't dare stop—Lin Mo was waiting for the results.

"Director Li," a technician nearby whispered, "you should rest for a bit. We'll keep watch."

Li Xiao shook her head: "No need."

She continued to flip through the data, line by line, point by point. Temperature, humidity, salinity, microbial content, ocean current speed, wind direction, and wind speed... every parameter over the past month was recorded in detail.

Suddenly, her gaze stopped on a set of data.

Microbial content: A significant peak appeared when deployed at the three-thousand-kilometer mark.

She zoomed in on that data and examined it closely—on that day, the platform had encountered a small Red Tide, and the microbial content in the seawater had surged thirty-fold. The cable had been submerged in that area for a full six hours before being pulled higher.

Microbes.

She remembered what Lin Mo had said before: "Marine microbes and salt spray acting together."

Salt spray was always present, so why hadn't they found a problem until five thousand kilometers? Because in the previous environments, the microbial variable wasn't there.

"Check the species of that microbe," she told the technician. "Contact the Marine Research Institute for biological analysis."

"Understood."

At 11:00 PM, Lin Mo's office was brightly lit.

Before him lay three piles of materials—one was the corrosion inspection report, one was the environmental parameter data, and one was the material science literature on Carbon Nanotubess. He had been flipping through them for three hours; his eyes were sore and tearing up, but he didn't dare stop.

The phone rang. It was Li Xiao.

"Senior Brother, I found it." Li Xiao's voice was tired but tinged with excitement. "When we reached three thousand kilometers, the platform encountered a Red Tide, and the microbial content in the seawater spiked. That microbe is called 'Silicivore Bacteria,' and it specifically corrodes silicon-based materials. The surface coating of our Carbon Nanotubess contains silicon, which is exactly what it targeted."

Lin Mo's mind raced: "So you mean the corrosion isn't continuous, but rather a hidden danger left behind by that Red Tide?"

"Yes. The subsequent salt spray only accelerated the pre-existing micro-damage." Li Xiao paused. "But the problem is, we don't know how many other places along that section of cable have been infested by microbes."

Lin Mo was silent for a few seconds before asking, "Can it be repaired?"

Li Xiao also fell silent.

After a long time, she finally said, "Senior Brother, I don't know. I have to run experiments."

Lin Mo nodded: "Do it. Tell me directly whatever resources you need."

Hanging up, Lin Mo leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes.

Five thousand kilometers.

They had already deployed five thousand kilometers.

If that section of cable was truly ruined, it meant over a month of effort wasted, it meant the Carbon Nanotubes production line would have to work for two extra months, and it meant the schedule would be delayed again.

But what was more terrifying than the schedule...

...was that if a solution wasn't found, the same problem would occur for the remaining twenty-five thousand kilometers.

He opened his eyes and looked at the pitch-black night sky outside the window.

Suddenly, he remembered something.

He picked up his phone and dialed Chen Xueming's number.

"Xueming, where is that section of cable now?"

Chen Xueming answered quickly: "At the five-thousand-kilometer mark, below Geostationary Orbit, currently suspended."

"Can you take a sample?"

"Yes. We have Inspection Robots that can perform online cutting for sampling."

Lin Mo nodded: "Take ten samples, one meter each, and send them back to the base. I want to do a full-spectrum analysis."

"Understood."

Hanging up, Lin Mo stood up and walked to the window.

Outside, the base lights were scattered like stars. In the distance over the sea, the lights of the platform were faintly visible, like a star that had fallen into the ocean.

Five thousand kilometers.

Stopping here is for the sake of going further.

Early the next morning, the first batch of cable samples arrived at the base.

Li Xiao took her team and dove into the laboratory. They had much to do—scanning electron microscope observations of surface morphology, energy dispersive spectroscopy to detect chemical composition, mechanical tests to measure strength loss, and microbial cultures to verify the corrosion mechanism.

Every task required time.

Lin Mo stood outside the lab, watching the busy figures through the glass window. Li Xiao, wearing a white lab coat and safety goggles, was operating a piece of precision equipment. Her movements were fast and skillful, a far cry from the clumsy young girl she had been a few years ago.

"Chief Designer Lin."

A voice came from behind. Lin Mo turned and saw Section Chief Wu standing there, looking travel-worn.

"Why are you here?" Lin Mo was a bit surprised.

Section Chief Wu smiled: "I heard there was a problem with the cable, and I couldn't sit still. I've arranged everything at the production line and came over to see if I could help."

Lin Mo looked at him, and a sudden warmth filled his heart.

"Come on, let's wait together."

The two stood outside the lab, watching people bustle in and out.

Time passed minute by minute.

At 3:00 PM, the first batch of results came out.

Li Xiao pushed open the door, holding a stack of data, her face wearing a complex expression—exhaustion, excitement, and a hint of worry.

"Senior Brother, we have the results."

Lin Mo took the data and scanned it quickly.

SEM: Pitting corrosion visible on the cable surface, depth 0.02-0.05 mm, unevenly distributed.

EDS: Silicon content significantly reduced in the pits, carbon structure remains intact.

Mechanical testing: Average strength loss of 3.2% in the sampled sections, 8.7% loss where pits are concentrated.

Microbial culture: Presence of Silicivore Bacteria confirmed, moderate activity.

Lin Mo looked at the data and fell silent for a long time.

A 3.2% loss in strength wasn't fatal. But if left unchecked, the microbes would continue to erode, the salt spray would accelerate the process, and eventually, the cable could snap.

"Can it be repaired?" he asked.

Li Xiao nodded, then shook her head: "Surface repair is possible, but it requires a special coating that can both isolate the microbes and resist salt spray. I checked the literature; there's a biomimetic coating that mimics the micro-nano structure of a lotus leaf, which is theoretically feasible. But..."

"But what?"

"But it needs to be applied in a vacuum environment." Li Xiao pointed at the data. "The cable is already deployed to five thousand kilometers; it's impossible to take it down and put it into a Vacuum Chamber."

Lin Mo frowned.

It was a catch-22—to repair the cable, they needed a vacuum environment; for a vacuum environment, they needed to take the cable down; if they took the cable down, the previous five thousand kilometers of deployment would be for nothing.

"Is there a way... to create a local vacuum in space?" he asked.

Li Xiao was stunned for a moment, then her eyes slowly lit up.

"Senior Brother, do you mean..."

"I mean, can we design a robot that crawls along the cable, creating a local vacuum environment while applying the repair coating?"

Li Xiao's mind began to race: "Theoretically, it's feasible. A local vacuum can be achieved with a sealed chamber, the coating can be applied by spraying, and the robot can rely on the cable itself for power... Senior Brother, this idea might actually work!"

Lin Mo watched her excitement, the corners of his mouth curling up slightly.

"Then do it."

At 8:00 PM, Chen Xueming received a call from Lin Mo.

"Xueming, the problem has been identified, and there's a solution." Lin Mo's voice was calm. "We need to build a Crawler Robot to apply a repair coating on the cable. During this time, cable deployment will remain suspended until the plan is mature."

Chen Xueming was silent for a few seconds before asking, "How long will it take?"

"One month."

Chen Xueming looked at the platform outside the window, at the idle equipment and the waiting workers, and took a deep breath:

"One month, I'll wait. As long as the problem can be solved."

Lin Mo laughed on the other end: "Don't worry, it can be solved."

Hanging up, Chen Xueming walked out of the command room and stood at the edge of the platform.

The sea breeze was light, and the moonlight was beautiful. The silver-white cable hung quietly toward the sea, shimmering with a soft luster under the moon.

He remembered what Lin Mo said: "Stopping here is for the sake of going further."

Yes.

Stopping for a bit doesn't matter.

As long as we can go further.