'3 Body Problem' Episode 6 Takeaway: Thomas Wade and Jin Cheng join hands to save humanity from San-Ti
Contains spoilers for '3 Body Problem' Episode 6
LONDON, ENGLAND: The latest sci-fi series on Netflix, '3 Body Problem', is built on the interesting premise of communicating with extraterrestrial creatures.
The series, which premiered on the streaming service on March 21, 2024, is based on Liu Cixin's Chinese novel 'The Three-Body Problem'.
The series sets its sights on five scientific pals, also known as Oxford 5, as they attempt to uncover the truth behind a mysterious phenomenon.
In the most recent episode, the world is in chaos mode when an eye appears in the sky, hinting that San-Ti is actually keeping an eye on the world's movements.
Furthermore, the news that the alien race is on its way to Earth has thrown the globe into panic, but Thomas Wade (Liam Cunningham) has not given up hope.
Thomas Wade considers deploying a probe to intercept San-Ti in '3 Body Problem' Episode 6
Thomas Wade seeks to solicit the services of several great brains who can assist him with his strategy.
In the meeting, he says that San-Ti's all-seeing and all-hearing Sophon supercomputers were built over millions of years, indicating a slower pace of technological advancement than humans.
He deduces that San-Ti is attempting to disrupt human technical advancements in order to prevent them from progressing, so that when they arrive on Earth, humans will lack any technology that may potentially rival theirs.
He advises sending a probe to intercept the opposing fleet and determine its flaws.
However, the challenge is significantly greater than it appears; even if the probe is launched tomorrow, it would take exactly 398 years to intercept the San-Ti Fleet.
Thomas Wade enlists Jin Cheng's cooperation in '3 Body Problem' Episode 6
A ray of optimism emerges when Wade advocates achieving 1% of light speed for travel and believes that it should be the objective. So, to make his notion a reality, he asks Jin Cheng (Jess Hong) for aid.
Wade directs every accelerator on Earth to be triggered to keep two Sophon supercomputers busy. Further, he asks Jin to devise a plan to attain 1% light speed or faster with existing technology.
Jin seeks help from Stanislaw Ulam's plan called 'Nuclear Pulse Propulsion', proposing the use of thousands of nuclear devices spaced evenly from Earth towards the extraterrestrial fleet, as well as a probe with a mass of fewer than 1,000 kilograms propelled by a radiation sail.
She recommends that once the probe reaches the first bomb, it will detonate, accelerating it to the second, and so on, allowing them to achieve 1.12% light speed after 1,000 explosions.
The scientists are skeptical of Jin's concept, but Wade is immediately on board and decides to go with her plan.
'3 Body Problem' is now streaming on Netflix