Super Island Tycoon

From close observation of Saturn, it looks like a ball composed of many rings.

The tan planetary surface paired with Zhou Country’s circle of rings presents an inexplicable beauty.

Due to the fast speed of the Pioneer spacecraft, Jiang Cheng couldn’t spend much time admiring Saturn. Soon, Pioneer bypassed Saturn and continued toward Neptune.

Jiang Cheng wasn’t too upset about not being able to fully observe Saturn.

Anyway, he could visit anytime later; the current test flight was more important.

After viewing Saturn’s scenery, Jiang Cheng finally contentedly returned to his seat.

Exploring the scenery of different planets in the solar system was Jiang Cheng’s main purpose of coming along this time.

Since there was nothing left to see, Jiang Cheng sat back obediently.

The journey ahead was from Saturn to Uranus, but Jiang Cheng wouldn’t be able to see Uranus this time.

Because Uranus was on the other side of its orbit, operating behind the sun, not on the same trajectory side as Neptune.

At such a distance, Pioneer wouldn’t detour, so he would have to wait for next time to see it.

After viewing the spaceship’s external scenery, Jiang Cheng quietly awaited the spaceship’s arrival at its destination.

After several hours of flight, Pioneer finally reached the end of this test flight. The outline of Neptune, the farthest planet in the solar system, slowly appeared to Jiang Cheng, prompting him to get up and walk to the front of the bridge, carefully observing this mysterious planet.

This planet had a pale blue appearance, especially when viewed from a slightly farther distance, making Neptune appear full of seawater.

Maybe this is where Neptune’s name comes from, it looks like a planet filled with seawater.

Neptune, the most distant planet from Earth, now unveiled its mask, revealing its mysterious appearance.

The entire Neptune was a bright pale blue, looking extremely beautiful.

This blue isn’t due to seawater on Neptune; it has nothing to do with water.

Neptune appears this way because its atmosphere is full of methane.

Methane gives Neptune a layer of pale blue, making this planet look full of seawater—having nothing to do with actual seawater.

Neptune was originally named because the planet looked like it was covered with seawater, hence named after the Sea God in Roman mythology.

Actually, there isn’t even liquid water on Neptune, let alone seawater covering the entire planetary surface.

Thus, Neptune’s name doesn’t match its state; it’s not the land of the Sea God, but merely a beautiful human fantasy.

Jiang Cheng still had a significant interest in Neptune, at least he liked the appearance of this planet.

As the pale blue planet in front continued to grow larger, Jiang Cheng’s quest for knowledge grew more intense.

This time, Jiang Cheng traveled on Pioneer to Neptune, not just for a test flight.

Exploring Neptune is also an important objective and the reason Jiang Cheng chose this test flight destination.

A probe had never landed on Neptune before, making it entirely unknown to humanity.

Apart from Voyager 2’s brief pass, human knowledge of Neptune is nonexistent.

What’s on this planet’s surface, what the terrain is like—humans know nothing.

Because of Neptune’s mystery to humanity, Jiang Cheng wanted to explore it.

This time, aboard Pioneer, Jiang Cheng brought a probe specifically to land on Neptune and uncover its secrets.

While Jiang Cheng was still enjoying Neptune’s beautiful scenery, a crew member approached him.

”Captain, the spaceship has now arrived at Neptune’s orbit. Should we start deceleration?”

Now everyone was accustomed to reporting conditions to Jiang Cheng, fully treating him as their captain.

The real captain had been completely disregarded, only watching Jiang Cheng command.

Upon the spaceship’s arrival at Neptune, it must undergo a period of deceleration to approach Neptune’s orbit.

If Pioneer continued at its current speed, it would crash into Neptune.

Such a high-speed collision with Neptune would leave no survivors on the spaceship.

Nobody wants to see this situation, so deceleration must commence immediately.

Decelerating from half the speed of light to stationary isn’t done in an instant; the spacecraft needs to slowly decrease from 150,000 kilometers per second to stationary.

The entire deceleration process takes time, so the crew member sought Jiang Cheng’s opinion.

”Begin deceleration now and gradually dock the spacecraft into Neptune’s orbit.”

”Make sure not to get too close to Neptune to prevent the spacecraft from being captured by Neptune’s gravity.”

Upon hearing the crew member’s inquiry, Jiang Cheng turned to give his commands. As Jiang Cheng issued the deceleration order, the thrusters on Pioneer adjusted direction and began firing flames in the opposite direction, generating counter thrust.

This thrust continually slowed the spacecraft until Pioneer could stably dock in Neptune’s orbit.

Accelerating to the spaceship’s maximum speed took more than ten minutes; deceleration would also take the same amount of time. This is determined by spacecraft propulsion; wanting it faster is impossible.

After more than ten minutes of deceleration, the spaceship slowly approached Neptune.

Now, in Jiang Cheng’s eyes, the entire Neptune was becoming very large.

Observing Neptune from this position presented an entirely different view.

The planet initially appearing as seawater now visibly showed layer movement.

Pale blue clouds were moving across the surface level, a result of storms on Neptune.

Don’t forget the storms on Neptune are the most violent in the solar system, with top speeds exceeding 2,000 kilometers per hour.

The spectacular scenery created by such violent storms still looks magnificent.

Jiang Cheng saw one rapidly moving storm after another, constantly crashing on Neptune.

Once Pioneer finally settled, this test flight’s work was half done.

Next was the exploration of Neptune, and then they could begin the return journey to Earth.

At this time, Jiang Cheng returned to the captain’s exclusive seat and started directing the crew’s probe landing operations.

”Begin probe deployment, monitor the probe’s status.”

”Ensure the probe’s speed isn’t too fast, Neptune’s atmosphere is full of methane; excessive speed will cause the probe to ignite.”

After Jiang Cheng finished stating the precautions, his crew members started taking action.