Remotely controlled by numerous Clones, one thousand spherical detectors, each about five meters in radius and resembling a submarine, were transported by Jupiter Planes and dropped into the gas giant designated Number 2.
Buffeted by supersonic gales, near-constant mega-thunderstorms, and countless hailstorms, the submarine-like detectors navigated through numerous obstacles, plunging deeper into the gas giant's atmosphere than ever before. The next moment, they lost contact with Li Qingsong.
It was unavoidable. The atmosphere was too dense, the magnetic field too powerful, and the interference was simply overwhelming. None of the communication methods Li Qingsong had mastered could possibly maintain a link with the submarine-like detectors under these conditions.
The only hope lay with the intelligent programs installed inside the detectors.
If all went according to plan, they would descend tens of thousands of kilometers into the atmosphere, reach the gas giant's metallic hydrogen layer, and then ascend again to bring back the data they collected.
Of course, this was only a test. They didn't need to descend that deep yet.
Time passed quietly. According to their pre-set programming, the detectors should have now reached a depth of about 5,000 kilometers.
After remaining there for an hour, they would begin their ascent. If everything went smoothly, they would complete the journey back to the surface in three days.
Li Qingsong, controlling his numerous Clones, waited at the edge of the massive gas giant.
「A few days passed in the blink of an eye.」
Numerous Jupiter Planes and Profound Bird Platforms converged on the designated ascent point, scouring the planet's surface amidst the violent winds and storms.
'Even in such a harsh environment, with detectors built using the peak technology of an Electroweak Civilization, at least one in ten should survive, right? I'm not even asking for a hundred of the thousand probes to make it back—just ten would be enough.'
Li Qingsong thought to himself.
The scheduled return time arrived. But as far as he could see, there was nothing but the gas giant's supersonic gales and thunderstorms.
Not a single submarine-like detector was in sight.
Li Qingsong waited for another three days. Finally, he spotted one.
It ascended with extreme difficulty. Its hard metal shell was covered in a dense web of scars, looking as if it might disintegrate at any moment.
Fortunately, all its internal equipment was still intact.
Li Qingsong brought it back to the lab and quickly began his analysis.
After reviewing the data, Li Qingsong sighed and completely abandoned the plan to probe the gas giant's metallic hydrogen layer.
The pressure was far too immense; even his purpose-built detectors couldn't withstand it. The atmospheric conditions were also too extreme. The incessant, turbulent currents could easily tear apart the very detectors he had so carefully designed.
For even one out of a thousand submarine-like detectors to return safely was a stroke of incredible luck.
And that was only after a descent of 5,000 kilometers into the gas giant's atmosphere.
The metallic hydrogen layer, by contrast, was at a depth of roughly 20,000 kilometers.
The environment there was countless times more hostile than at the depth the detector had reached.
'I'm afraid that even if I did manage to unify the Strong Core Force, it would still be nearly impossible to build a detector capable of reaching the gas giant's metallic hydrogen layer.'
'If the plan to explore the gas giant is unfeasible, then I'll have to try another path.
The most critical part of this whole endeavor is detecting the "vibration" caused by the sudden decay of a proton.
This vibration is bound to be minuscule. Sufficient pressure is a prerequisite for amplifying it.
The reason is obvious: the greater the pressure, the more violent the collision of matter when a proton suddenly decays and vanishes.
At the same time, I need a sufficient amount of matter. More matter means more protons, which in turn means a higher probability of a decay event occurring.
Considering all these factors, maybe... I can imitate the internal environment of a gas giant and build a new type of detector?'
An idea began to form in Li Qingsong's mind.
'This detector must have sufficient volume and mass. Its internal medium must be subjected to enormous external pressure. Only then will the "vibration" from a proton decay be strong enough to detect.
Furthermore, the internal medium must be hydrogen, not any other element. The nuclei of other elements contain multiple protons. Even if they lose one, they simply decay into a different element, maintaining their structural integrity.
But a hydrogen nucleus has only a single proton. If it decays, the entire atom vanishes, creating a "cavity" that can trigger a detectable vibration.
This detector must be situated in a zero-gravity environment, as any external Gravity could interfere with its precision, causing it to miss the faint vibrations from proton decay.
Once built, no machinery can be allowed to operate inside the detector itself, as any mechanical movement would cause vibrations and interference, compromising its accuracy.
Therefore, the main detection apparatus and the power supply must be separate. I'll need to build a dedicated nuclear fusion power plant nearby...'
As he slowly worked through the concept, the design for this unprecedented new detector gradually took shape in his mind.
With the theoretical design complete, the next step was engineering and implementation.
The primary engineering challenge was clear: how to subject approximately 160 million tons of hydrogen to a stable pressure of around 200,000 atmospheres?
A pressure of 200,000 atmospheres was an almost unimaginable figure.
For comparison, the pressure at the deepest point in Earth's oceans, the Mariana Trench, is only about 1,100 atmospheres.
This new figure was more than 180 times the pressure at the bottom of the Mariana Trench!
That's roughly equivalent to the pressure of more than 180 elephants pressing down on an area the size of a human fingernail.
In a laboratory setting, Li Qingsong had indeed used Laser impact and magnetic compression techniques to generate pressures far exceeding this, reaching hundreds of millions of times Earth's atmospheric pressure.
But that was in a lab, and only on an extremely small scale.
Now, however, he needed to pressurize a mass of 160 million tons.
The two were on completely different scales.
Moreover, even if Li Qingsong managed to stably apply 200,000 atmospheres of pressure to 160 million tons of hydrogen, that would only meet the minimum threshold for detecting the vibrations from proton decay.
160 million tons of hydrogen contains approximately 10^38 protons. Assuming a proton half-life of 10^37 years, that means an average of only ten protons would decay per year.
A pressure of 200,000 atmospheres would only amplify the vibration to the bare minimum required for observation. For greater sensitivity, it would be best to increase the mass of hydrogen inside the detector tenfold and double the pressure.
That meant 400,000 atmospheres of pressure and 1.6 billion tons of hydrogen.
Faced with these performance specifications, even Li Qingsong felt the weight of the task.
'Building this detector is going to be incredibly difficult...'
But it was still easier than trying to descend into a gas giant's metallic hydrogen layer to distinguish a tiny "planetquake."
At the same time, Li Qingsong was certain this was a potentially viable path toward detecting proton decay.
Theoretically, although building this detector would be difficult, it was still within the realm of possibility for a standard Electroweak Civilization.
'In that case... there's nothing more to be said.'
'Build it!'