Original subtitles

is Earth's atmosphere and weather.

So we launch a telescope into space and find Why-Man on the moon?

Yeah.

We're launching into this sky

an artificial satellite that'll peer directly at the moon.

Challengers of Science

An artificial...

...satellite?

Launch? You mean like a plane?

It won't stop flying until we find Why-Man?

It'll run out of fuel right away, then.

To be precise, satellites don't fly.

They're constantly falling toward the planet.

I'm falling to Earth!

Now I'm falling from the other side!

It's just falling 'round and 'round?

Which means...

Satellites are just freaks that don't need fuel!

Awesome!

That's the idea, but it can't have zero energy, either.

We do need electricity to send images of the moon

back to us and to adjust its course.

Why not just put batteries in it, then?

Nah, I think batteries would run out pretty quick, too.

Yeah.

What we need is endless energy that won't run out in space.

Happily for us, we've got our great savior, the sun,

showering us with practically infinite energy.

The sun's...

...energy?

Solar panels!

Research Lab

The new material you guys dug up in Kagoshima, selenium,

is gonna be putting in good work again.

We stick these thin-ass films together

and convert the power of the sun into electricity.

Seawater

Fluorite

Sulfuric Acid

Magnesium

It's old-school as hell and will be super inefficient,

Magnesium Fluoride

Anti-reflective coating

Glass

Gold

Selenium

but with enough size, it should work out.

Copper

It moved!

Solar panels acquired!!

Damn, all on the power of the sun!

How does this work when it's rainy or cloudy?

There's no weather out in space.

It's way above the clouds, after all.

We're keeping this giant thing out in space where the sun's always shining?

It's an infinite battery satellite! Holy crap!

Launch pad acquired!!

Unmanned rocket acquired!!

Level 99 rocket engine acquired!!

Oh, Senku...

What an elegant hull this is.

I'm amazed you managed to build an engine in just three years, Xeno.

I thought you'd have lost your edge after thousands of years just rotting away.

We're here at Treasure Island,

where the first ever rocket in the new world

will be launching a satellite into space!

Not that any broadcast signal is going to get as far as mainland Japan, even.

Shush! I've always wanted to do this!

The world's foremost rocket engineer, Dr. Xeno of NASA,

and the only high schooler

to have ever launched a homemade rocket into space, Senku.

We're playing the best cards the world has to offer.

For this master-apprentice duo, launching an unmanned rocket...

is as simple as twisting a baby's arm!

The thermal insulator was attacked by the gas.

There's a hole in the nozzle.

It should have been fine in theory...

But we're talking about made-in-Stone World products here.

It just isn't precise enough.

New Year's Eve Launch Date

It was a simple wiring mistake.

That happens?!

What a waste.

It's incredibly complicated.

It actually happened in the 21st century, too.

I heard one launch was ruined by a missing hyphen in the code.

This time, an air bubble in the vaporized fuel...

...wrecked the internal fins.

SEPTEMBER

OCTOBER

Damn, dude...

I'm starting to feel hopeless.

How many years has it been since we started on this rocket?

Research Lab

What the hell is going on with those two?

Space is nuts.

Senku and Xeno, the top rocket builders on Earth,

have been going on trial and error and failing for years.

We have to watch all of it and learn the tech, too.

How they failed, how we fix it...

Man, this freaking world of science users...

I learned this the first time I met Senku, but...

The more you know, the more you know that you don't know.

Finally, our first successful launch!

So we can use this to peer at the moon and find Why-Man?

Nope.

We're starting off with a simple but elegant reconnaissance orbiter.

Satellites acquired!!

Space is all about taking it one step at a time just the same.

Rocket

Of course...

Artificial Satellites

Space Telescope

We can't just go straight

to manned missions.

Manned Spacecraft

How many people have died in explosions?

Right...

We're testing a ton of launches and making a ton of rockets.

And there's no way to do that unless they're miniature rockets.

But the rocket we want to make together...

We had Sai do the calculations the other day.

He said it'd have to be about five times bigger.

Satellite photos!

Is this us, Earth, as seen from this so-called space?

Just as we saw from our tour around the world,

the terrain itself has changed over 3,700 years.

Does this give you some idea?

Totally! Holy crap, you freaks!

The Panama Canal's completely closed!

Lawl!

We're so lucky we didn't go through.

The African deserts have vanished and turned into forests and grasslands.

In other words, it'll make for vast farmland.

Changing geology isn't all bad, is it?

We'll need all the manpower we can get

for our space development going forward.

Yeah. We're gonna need you to write up a proper plan

for reviving all seven billion people using our new and improved globe,

Ryusui-sensei, master of empire building,

and our resident geographer, Dr. Chelsea.

Space telescopes acquired!!

We can see the surface of the moon with this!

Now we just need my vision, and Why-Man will...

Unfortunately, those images are being sent down as data.

Your eyesight won't matter.

You'd be surprised.

She proved herself when she discovered

an oil field from an aerial photo.

Concentration and observation.

Kohaku is as keen-eyed as they come.

I see.

It figures, given that

she's a descendant of Byakuya and the other astronauts.

They may prove to be capable in matters of space.

Now we can find Why-Man.

That's great news.

But if Kohaku finds Why-Man, the one-way rocket mission is going to leave Earth.

We've found you, Why-Man!

Attack!

Charge!

Hey, in that case, now we have a clear time limit.

We just have to finish the round-trip rocket project by then.

But how do we make a five-times-bigger rocket to test the heck out of?

That's going to take decades, damn it!

Crap...

What do we do?

Senku! Xeno!

Look at this!

To my eyes, it appears to be changing shape ever so slightly over time.

It's hard to tell what it is...

But as a NASA scientist, I can confirm...

This isn't a natural lunar feature.

It's elegant indeed.

We've finally found you...

Yo, Why-Man!

So this is the mastermind behind the secret of humanity's petrification!

Why, why, why? Why?!

Just you wait, Why-Man!

Now we can launch a preemptive strike against Why-Man!

We can pull off a swift attack!

If we're using a one-way rocket and assuming we're getting petrified, that is.

Thank goodness...

They found Why-Man.

Now they're going to leave on a one-way rocket.

We didn't make it in time.

Our round-trip rocket project wasn't completed in time, Chrome.

Research Lab

The time's come for us to build a manned rocket!

We'll need global cooperation using our new globe.

No.

We're literally

bringing the might of all humanity together on an astronomical scale!

It's the culmination of the Kingdom of Science's work.

Bringing us together on an astronomical scale...

I have an idea!

An idea for a rocket that'll bring everyone back to Earth alive!

Grand Science Meeting

What the hell is this?

Listen up!

We aren't making a one-way suicide rocket!

We're making a round-trip rocket that'll bring us to a happy ending!

Oh, Chrome-chan, Suika-chan...

We'd all love to do it that way, but...

You two get it, don't you?

A two-way rocket would have to be ridiculously huge.

We'd be redoing all our launch tests.

Five times the risk and time.

It'd take at least several decades.

That's why Chrome's been thinking so hard for the past year!

So we can get to the moon and back with a small rocket!

Check this out.

Our rookie science team came up with this insane hack!

We make a ginormous rocket that can get to the moon and back...

We split it into five parts, launch them,

and slam 'em together on the freaking moon!

That sounds like a bit much, doesn't it?

I don't know what this "space" thing is like,

but I can tell that this is just another one of Chrome's insane ideas.

Right, Senku-chan, Xeno-chan?

The space station that Byakuya's team was on...

was actually launched in parts and assembled in space, too.

What?! You knew, didn't you?!

Damn it!

It wasn't a hack or anything.

It isn't about whether we knew or not.

Xeno and I never even considered such a bonkers plan.

Launching a spaceship in parts is an idea that existed at NASA.

The fatal difficulty was in designing it.

Round-trip rockets are complex enough as it is.

To make one in segments so that it can be assembled later...

The total number of parts would be in the millions.

On the other hand...

That means that if all of humanity comes together for real

and designs those several million parts together, we could have it.

Am I right?

Here we go with Ryusui-chan wanting everything again.

I did do the math on the launch.

Yeah, in theory.

It's an elegant idea, but it's difficult to call it realistic.

But if we all work together...

Yup, yup! We're all friends!

Why don't you ask everyone, then?

Grand Science Meeting

Ask them which plan to go with!

We'd be leaking all the secrets around the petrification device.

Then we vote on it here and now, in this meeting!

We're a rookie science team!

Damn!

I don't know all the details.

If you tell me it's ten billion percent impossible...

That we're certain it can only go one way and that it can't come back...

Then I've got nothing to say.

But if we have even the slightest shot, then let's decide together

whether we're doing the one-way trip or the round trip!

Isn't that what it means for the whole Kingdom of Science

to work together to build something?

So this is the Stone World's first democratic vote!

I made a voting program.

Already?!

This is the voting system.

The one-way rocket or the two-way round-trip rocket.

Press one or the other, and you've cast your vote anonymously.

There'd better not be any shenanigans.

No need to worry.

Senku, just as you'd never lie in science,

Sai would never lie in his code.

Grand Science Meeting

Here come the results!

Will the spaceship we build be a one-way rocket or a two-way, round-trip rocket?

The two-way rocket wins!

See that? We won.

You'd better not go back on your word.

Yeah, I won't.

Things are about to get real tough.

We're going to do everything we can to be useful, too!

Oh, of course.

It had to be anonymous,

but there's nothing saying it couldn't display the vote counts.

You know...

I could totally hear you guys talking.

So you were eavesdropping with your crazy hearing, huh, Ukyo-sensei?

There's only one way we could pull off getting all of humanity

to design a rocket to be assembled in space.

You aren't seriously...

Yup.

Here, in this Stone World...

We're building the Internet!

Yep, here we go. It's happening!

Wanting Everything

Next Episode

Wanting Everything

This is a work of fiction, but the plants, animals, and production methods described are based on reality. Foraging and making things on your own accord is extremely dangerous and, in some cases, illegal. Please do not imitate without expertise.