A big country of aerospace with black technology

“It’s great to see everyone here.”

Zhang Xingyang smiled and spoke very kindly to everyone who passed the astronaut selection.

Three months of various trainings made everyone lose a lot of weight.

The body shape has returned to the state of youth.

"This means that you have passed a series of difficult tests."

"You are also qualified to know the reason why we summoned everyone here."

Among the dozens of people present, some suddenly became energetic.

Some people still looked calm.

Nothing seemed to pique his interest.

Zhang Xingyang did not directly explain the reason, "I know you still have many questions in your mind."

"Now you can start asking questions freely. As long as they don't involve confidentiality issues, I will answer them."

As soon as Zhang Xingyang finished speaking, someone raised his right hand.

After getting Zhang Xingyang's nod, Xu Ying stood up and asked:

"Are we really going to be astronauts? Can we really go into space?"

Zhang Xingyang affirmed without hesitation, "Of course!"

"Each of you has now completed basic training. If nothing else happens, you will all become astronauts."

"And go to space."

Zhang Xingyang paused and continued:

"According to the plan, you will be on the list of the next batch to board the Tiangong Space Station."

"The stationing time of each batch is basically half a year, which means you will board the Tiangong Space Station in one year!"

Zhang Xingyang's words undoubtedly caused an uproar among the crowd.

Even those who were relatively calm at first looked a little surprised now.

They originally thought that they could become astronauts and go into space.

At least it will be several years later.

I never thought it would be so fast!

It only takes one year!

Xu Ying did not look surprised, but frowned:

"Why are you so pressed for time?"

"Doesn't it normally take several years to undergo various trainings?"

Zhang Xingyang saw that everyone had many questions, so he simply walked to them and said:

"Because you are not different from the previous astronauts."

"You must have heard about the selection of astronauts."

Everyone sitting here couldn't help but nodded.

"The astronauts before you were actually trained according to commander standards."

"They are all the best of the best, selected from among the best pilots in the military."

"Of course, you are also excellent in your respective fields."

"But in terms of physical fitness, mental fitness, etc., they are far inferior to them."

When compared to professional astronauts, no one said anything.

After all, in these aspects, they are indeed only at the level of ordinary people.

"Your positioning is different from theirs, so naturally you won't meet the same standards."

"What we need more is your brains and your work experience over so many years."

At this point, many people have already sensed that what Zhang Xingyang is going to say next will be very important.

Zhang Xingyang half-leaned on the edge of the table without caring about his appearance, "You must have been curious before why astronauts should be selected from among you."

"After all, your job seems to have nothing to do with aerospace."

"Now I can tell you why."

Zhang Xingyang returned to the podium, turned on the projection equipment and played a huge rendering.

It was a huge wheel, floating quietly in the sky in geosynchronous orbit.

Through the gaps between its wheels, the outline of the Earth can be clearly seen.

In front of it, the earth seems much smaller.

"This is a space project we're doing!"

"A roller-type space platform with a diameter of ten kilometers!"

Although what is displayed is just a poster, look at the complex space platform above.

Everyone was shocked.

Such a huge space creation can shock everyone's hearts just by looking at it.

"Can we really create such a thing?"

Lao Yang, who has been working in the shipyard all year round, couldn't help but say with shock in his eyes.

Having built many ships, he is more aware than others of such a creation made entirely of steel.

How difficult it is to make.

Not to mention anything else, it is just the processing and molding of oversized new materials.

It can make a group of researchers lose their hair in handfuls and worry about baldness.

And judging from the renderings, this building is huge.

The center is also reinforced with several crisscrossing structural members.

Every structural member here is at least several hundred meters long.

"We have initially completed the design work of the star port."

Zhang Xingyang looked at the people in the audience with different expressions and said with a smile.

"Yes, I prefer to call it Starport."

"Because it will carry us to space and open a new era for us to explore the stars!"

Zhang Xingyang has always believed that civilization staying on the ground will not have a future.

If we want civilization to grow healthily, we must leave the gentle homeland of the earth and go into the cruel environment of space.

The birthplace of civilization is a gentle town that can corrode the enterprising spirit of civilization.

This principle is subject to technical and other reasons.

Even if someone realizes it, it's difficult to make any changes.

But now, they finally have the opportunity to change.

“We have now completed fabrication of the initial structural parts.”

Zhang Xingyang switched to a slide. The picture showed titanium alloy keels that exuded cold silvery white light.

"These titanium alloy keels will serve as the skeleton of the entire star port, supporting a nuclear-powered star port weighing tens of thousands of tons!"

Many people present have come into contact with metals like titanium alloy.

Very clear about its various performance parameters.

At this time, their brains began to run wildly, thinking about the feasibility of this material as a skeleton.

"Tens of thousands of tons!"

Anyone who hears such numbers for the first time is invariably shocked.

But before that, they had been shocked by the size of Xinggang.

This time there was basically no reaction.

The weight of tens of thousands of tons was in an era when recyclable rockets had not yet been put into use.

The launch cost alone is an astronomical figure.

However, after the development of recyclable rockets matured, the launch cost per kilogram of payload has been reduced by less than 2,000 yuan.

The total launch cost per ton of payload is between 1.6 million and 1.8 million yuan.

The launch cost of a mass of 10,000 tons is less than 20 billion.

For today's researchers, it is a lot of money.

But considering that the construction period is close to ten years, this number is already very small.

"However, with such a large-scale construction project, we have also encountered some difficulties that we have never encountered before."

Zhang Xingyang continued to change the slide, which was a more detailed structural diagram of the star port.

"According to our original idea, different rings and arcs of the star port will be divided into different functional areas."

"For example, there is a port area for parking spacecrafts, a food production area for growing vegetables and meat, a manufacturing area for parts processing and maintenance, a living area for people to rest and eat, and a scientific research area for space observation and experiments."

A star port with a diameter of ten kilometers is actually equivalent to a small city.

All aspects of design, for an institute that has never done this kind of work.

It's an unprecedented challenge.

This is equivalent to building a city on a restricted terrain.

"Although we have carried out experimental construction on the ground, the vacuum and radiation environment in space will still be slightly different."

Zhang Xingyang looked at everyone seriously.

"So we need your experience to play a role and rely on your wisdom to build in this environment."

Only then did everyone finally understand why they were asked to select astronauts.

Because they have rich experience in large-scale project construction.

"So we are actually going to build a city in space?"

Xu Ying said with some surprise.

For him, this was an unexpected professional counterpart.

It is a very different kind of re-employment.

"That's pretty much it, but there are actually quite a few differences in various aspects."

Zhang Xingyang explained, "We will build the various components on the ground in advance, and you just need to assemble them in space."

"Then why not use automatic docking technology?"

Someone who knew a lot about aerospace asked a question with some confusion.

Dragon Kingdom's space station technology is very advanced, especially in terms of automatic docking.

It has the most number of dockings in the world and a 100% success rate.

Automatic docking technology is safer and more efficient than having people build it.

Of course these are the thoughts of people who don’t understand.

In fact, automatic docking technology is not so omnipotent.

"Automatic docking technology seems to work well, but there are conditions."

Zhang Xingyang was not dissatisfied and continued:

"First of all, the shapes of the two that are automatically connected cannot be too strange."

There is no air resistance in space.

The shape of the cabin can actually be very strange.

But everyone still chooses the cylindrical type just for convenience.

With a circle, you don’t have to worry about angles.

It can save a lot of trouble.

"There are many special components in our star port structure, which are difficult to assemble through automatic docking technology."

"The second point is that automatic docking must be powered. Most of our star port structural parts are not powered."

When automatically docking, the two need to continuously accelerate and decelerate to maintain the same speed.

This requires both the docking object and the docked object.

There must be motivation.

Most components of the star port are unpowered.

"So we can only use manual assembly to build the star port bit by bit."

Zhang Xingyang looked around and said:

"Everyone, this is going to be a very difficult task."

"The environment in space is much more difficult than on the ground. There is a high possibility of various accidents during the construction process."

"Maybe it's a meteorite or satellite fragment that comes from nowhere and will penetrate your space suit directly at an extremely high speed."

There are a large number of tiny meteorites in space, and these meteorites will not have any impact on humans living on the ground.

Because they will burn up due to friction as they pass through the Earth's atmosphere.

But in space, they will be extremely deadly killers.

"Or maybe a sudden solar burst of radiation will directly break through the protection of the space suit and burn you into a mummy."

The Earth's atmosphere not only isolates the impact of tiny meteorites.

What's more, it is difficult for various high-energy radiation from the sun to directly affect organisms on the ground.

This is why the earth will be a gentle place for mankind.

Because it really gives too much shelter to the creatures living on the ground.

"After you die, it is very likely that you will float directly in space, and even the body will be difficult to recover."

Zhang Xingyang stared straight at everyone present.

"After knowing these consequences, are you still determined to join?"

Xu Ying was the first to stand up and said loudly:

"I'm willing to join, even if I have to die in space!"

"Also, I think dying in space is quite romantic."

After setting an example, everyone present stood up and spoke loudly.

"I'm willing to join, even if I have to die in space!"

Zhang Xingyang waited for their excitement to calm down before continuing:

"Of course, what I just mentioned are only small-probability events."

"Actually, you are not working directly in space."

"We are not that big-hearted yet."

Zhang Xingyang switched to a new PPT, which showed a small spaceship.

"This is our latest development of an engineering ship. It has multiple high-degree-of-freedom robotic arms on top, which can complete multiple tasks at the same time."

The power of machinery is far greater than that of human power.

So from the beginning, Zhang Xingyang didn't really want these people to directly carry out construction with various tools.

"Inside the engineering ship is actually a small living cabin, which can meet everyone's living needs for three months."

"Including necessary food, entertainment, etc."

In fact, the engineering ship was modified from the previously designed Shenzhou series spacecraft.

The most important thing is to improve the propulsion system and external robotic arm.

Allow it to undertake a variety of different processing tasks.

"So our actual job is to drive these engineering ships to carry out star port construction operations?"

Xuying asked, looking at the spaceship on the slide.

"That's the thing. You will also be the first batch of space builders in our country and even the world."

Zhang Xingyang nodded and said.

Xu Ying said that she was a professional counterpart and did not find it difficult.

However, some people are more interested in the star port itself.

Lao Yang raised his hand and asked: "What is the source of power for Star Port?"

"It's impossible for such a big thing to use solar power, right?"

Before this, almost all spacecraft used solar power panels.

"Initially, it will be powered by four fixed-position power generation satellites."

"In the later stage, we will use several fourth-generation molten salt reactors to generate electricity!" (End of this chapter)