Marian has agreed to handle Rollins at the appropriate time.
Very good. Afterward, remember to spread the fire to their family; that's a lot of positions.
Upon receiving the message from Hurley, Harry knew the Rollins Family was in for a miserable time.
The Rollins Family could not absolve themselves of responsibility in the matter of seconding soldiers. When William Rollins was on field duty, he was just an ordinary field Agent; where would he get the power and prestige to second elite Marines?
He didn't have the power, but the Rollins Family did. This family's influence permeated the political arena. Using this method to pave the way for William Rollins showed that the Rollins Family was already very familiar with this routine—the methods of family politics.
Taking advantage of this to wipe out most of the Rollins Family's influence would leave positions open for Norman to utilize freely.
Through money, active enhancers, and various political weapons, once Norman took office, his power would be unprecedentedly strong.
Harry asked about another matter: "How is the situation regarding the mine I told you to buy in Tanzania?"
"It's not very optimistic. Quinn International has monopolized most of the mineral resources there. The authorities have released the mining rights for one mine, named the Daisy Vein, but Quinn International has also set its sights on it."
Harry rubbed his chin. If he remembered correctly, The Group—Quinn—had dug up this thing somewhere in Africa, and it was highly likely to be this very mine.
Competing with them for the mine would cost a significant amount of money, and Quinn International was backed by HYDRA.
If they could win it, the cost wouldn't matter, but the problem was that it was likely they couldn't. Not to mention whether they could outlast the forces behind HYDRA, Ian Quinn had been a naturalized citizen of Malta for some time, and the Maltese authorities would be inclined to sell the mine to him.
"Fine, then just symbolically drive up the price. It's best to drag this out. Another thing: how is the acquisition of the Exploration Aerospace Company going?"
"Everything is proceeding smoothly."
Very good. A gentleman does not let a grudge go unavenged. After two years, Osborn had turned around and acquired this company.
Besides revenge, acquiring them was also to prepare for expansion in the aerospace field. These engines were also well-suited for civilian aircraft. Relying on nuclear fusion energy, Osborn could market purely electric aircraft.
Hanging up the phone, Harry looked toward the test site. Today, the focus was on asteroid mining technology.
The engineering ships had already returned scanning data for a near-Earth asteroid. This asteroid had an astronomical albedo of 277, classified as a dense asteroid, with a flight speed of 19 km/s.
Its closest distance to Earth was 1.97 million kilometers, equivalent to 5 times the Earth-Moon distance, and a round trip would take a month and a half.
Some might say, with the energy to study asteroid mining, why not go to the Moon first to dig up soil and upgrade nuclear fusion technology?
But what others didn't know, Harry did: the Moon in the Marvel Universe could contain anything. It wasn't that he didn't want to go up immediately, but he still needed some extra preparations.
Back to this asteroid: it was about 1170 meters in diameter, had a high density, and was a stony asteroid mainly composed of silicates of metallic elements like iron and magnesium.
From the scanning data, it was clear that choosing this asteroid for the first test mining was the right decision; the asteroid was also rich in precious metal elements such as gold, silver, and platinum.
Now, Harry was determining the method for mining this asteroid.
"After the engineering ships reach the asteroid, they will attach to it to perform operations, and construction robots will complete autonomous construction based on preset instructions."
"Once a fully automated mining and smelting integrated facility is built, it will extract the internal metal elements and then package them; the engineering ships will be responsible for transporting them away."
Harry turned on the holographic projection.
As expected, the equipment would drill into the asteroid, then start drilling on the surface until it reached the designated location. Collectors would replace the drill bits, autonomously mining resources from inside the planet, and then transport them to the smelting furnace at the top.
Through this process, the metal elements would be separated and packaged, then transported by the engineering ships.
If everything went smoothly, each engineering ship could bring back 5 billion USD worth of metal—and that was just the minimum expectation. The interior of the asteroid was very likely to contain a considerable weight of Californium; that stuff was extremely expensive.
If there really was such a thing inside the asteroid, Osborn would strike it rich this time.
As a stable neutron source, measuring it by price was thinking too small. This stuff had great utility in the scientific research field; Dr. Otto would love it.
And these were just "conventional" items. This Universe had its own unique materials science; if they could get some Alien materials, it would be even more profitable.
"Rock-breaking and excavation mainly use two methods: one is laser rock-breaking, and the other is plasma."
Philip raised his hand: "I can understand testing the technology, but aren't the parameters for these two rock-breaking methods a bit too high? I mean..."
Harry smiled and interrupted Philip: "Alien technology."
Philip's mouth opened slightly, and he nodded silently.
This mining operation had more of a testing nature, and both technologies would be tried.
The technology used for the laser equipment and plasma cannons was improved from Chitauri equipment. This part of the work was completed by the Vulture and his Tinkerer team.
Testing mining efficiency was actually also testing weapon efficiency. If everything was normal, Frank and his team would soon have new equipment to use.
"The entire facility is controlled by an artificial intelligence developed by the Grady-Fruhl Company."
"Any other questions?"
An astronaut raised his hand.
"Besides docking with the asteroid, what do we need to do on it? It sounds like there's nothing for us to do?"
Harry smiled: "If everything is normal, indeed there isn't. You just need to wait—it's best to study the mining technology and the structure of the smelting equipment. If an anomaly occurs, follow the instructions from the ground control center."
"Alright, understood."
In fact, once computing technology advanced and this operational process became industrialized, the engineering ships could even run entirely on programs.
Equipping them with an artificial intelligence would be much more convenient than sending people up to operate them.
Harry clapped his hands: "Very good, then everyone, start working. The modification of the operational ships and the overwriting of the construction robot programs have already been completed."
Three engineering ships were obviously not enough. With the resources brought back this time, Harry intended to expand the team of deep-space engineers.
Everyone soon left the conference room and headed to their respective workstations.
Today, he also had to meet someone—a NASA official, Vincent Kapoor.
This supervisor was a Black man, wearing glasses and a suit, a rare highly educated talent in their group.
"I am very glad you agreed to speak with me, Mr. Osborn."
"That should be my line. I like exploration and discovery, Mr. Kapoor; you are exactly that kind of organization."
The two exchanged some pleasantries and shook hands.
"Then let's get to the point, Mr. Osborn. I think you know why we approached you."
"Of course, the Mars mission; you need Osborn's propulsion technology."
Kapoor nodded.
Harry was definitely going to Mars, perhaps even earlier than to the Moon.
But regarding the development of Mars, Harry believed it was an excellent opportunity—
An opportunity to promote global unification.
After a moment of thought, Harry looked up and said: "Mr. Kapoor, to tell you the truth, I have been researching spacecraft designs for the Mars program."
Harry waved his hands, and a super-huge spacecraft appeared in the center of the conference room.
Kapoor was so shocked he couldn't speak. He looked at Harry, his eyes seemingly saying: I came here to discuss aerospace, not film production!
How could such a large spacecraft take off from Earth?
Even the size of Osborn's engineering ships was far smaller than this thing.
"Mars development should be a matter for the entire Earth—think about those Aliens. This ship is called a Colonial Ship; it can carry a large population and resources. Preliminary estimates suggest it can carry 30-40 people with enough supplies for a year. After the hull lands, it can be used as a permanent command center, including plant cultivation areas, research areas, and living areas."
"As for what you're worried about—I plan to complete the assembly of this ship in space."
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