A big country of aerospace with black technology

"The leaked nuclear fuel has been collected and the pipeline is being replaced."

After Liu Sheng completed his report, he began to use the tools in the spacecraft to disassemble it.

As the temperature drops, the molten salt nuclear fuel inside the pipeline has already completed cooling.

It turned into an extremely hard solid block and was filled with zirconium alloy pipes.

Liu Sheng carefully completed the disassembly work.

Fortunately, he had done these things frequently during the past ten years of work.

It has reached the point where practice makes perfect.

"The broken pipes have been disassembled and are being prepared for packing."

The nuclear fuel in the pipe was first taken out and placed in a lead box.

Pipes that also contain trace amounts of radioactivity are housed in separate specially made lead boxes.

After finishing all this, Liu Sheng breathed a sigh of relief.

Even though I was wearing a nuclear-proof suit, I still felt a bit of panic.

Put the sealed boxes into the warehouse.

Just wait for the next time you return to Earth and bring it back.

“The boxing work has been completed and preparations are being made for pipe replacement work.”

Install a new pipe to the reactor.

This mission is considered complete.

"Prepare to separate and return to the space station."

Liu Sheng, who floated back into the engineering spacecraft from the cargo spacecraft, said to Xue Feng relaxedly.

"Now my work is done, and the rest is up to you."

During this mission, Liu Sheng was mainly responsible for reactor-related content.

For example, Liu Shenglai is basically responsible for completing the experimental tasks of the reactor.

Xue Feng's mission is to build the first section of the star port and install the first reactor.

The first thorium-based molten salt reactor for space has a power of 335 megawatts.

Enough to support a huge space station.

But now, it only supplies power to one section of the star port.

As you can imagine, the scale of the star port far exceeds that of any space station in the world.

Even the Tiangong Space Station, currently the largest, is just a younger brother in front of it.

"The construction materials for the first module have been launched from the ground, and we can start construction tomorrow."

The construction of cabin sections involves a large amount of equipment and is complicated.

The main body of the cabin is processed with materials, various attitude adjustment engines, and the key spin engine.

There are also a large number of electronic equipment inside the cabin, waiting to be launched on the ground.

Returning to the Tiangong Space Station, the two first floated in the cabin to rest.

For others, the Tiangong Space Station is a place of experimentation and living.

The experimental part accounts for a higher proportion.

For Liu Sheng and Xue Feng.

The space station is more of a logistical harbor.

In addition to supplying supplies, you can also communicate with others here.

"A cargo spacecraft just arrived today, with your new equipment on it."

Just after taking a break, Nie Haisheng floated over with a list.

Xue Feng took a look at the list. It mainly contained various small processing equipment.

The star port itself has the ability to form blood.

Although in theory, launching various finished products from the earth is the optimal solution.

After all, processing involves losses.

But consider the issue of launch time.

In the end, it was decided to add some processing equipment to the star port.

Otherwise, if there is an urgent need for certain parts on the star port, they will be temporarily allocated from the ground.

A minimum of twenty hours of flight time is required.

This is an ideal time regardless of the rocket launch window and local weather conditions at the launch site.

The starport is actually more like a large space port and manufacturing complex.

According to Zhang Xingyang’s plan, after the development of space mining in the future.

Various resources collected from the moon, Mars, and asteroid belts will be initially refined at the star port.

It will even directly manufacture some space engineering ships, space battleships, etc.

Xue Feng put away the material list and went to the warehouse to inventory the processing equipment.

After confirming that it is correct, it enters the rest state again.

The next day, the sun rose through their porthole for the twelfth time.

Inside the space station, you can see nearly fifty sunrises and sunsets a day.

"Pay attention to safety on the road and call us for support if you have any problems."

Nie Haisheng warned before the two left.

From the space station to the location of the star port, there is still a distance of more than 30,000 kilometers.

With current technology, it is impossible to fly such a distance with a manned spacecraft.

Almost equivalent to the first circumnavigation of the world.

You may encounter unexpected dangers at any time along the way.

The success last time does not mean that there will be no risks this time.

"We understand and we will promptly report any situations we encounter."

Xue Feng nodded and said.

Liu Sheng played more of a supporting role in the construction of the star port.

It was Xue Feng who actually carried out the construction work.

Two Tiangong engineering spacecraft and several cargo spacecraft formed a combination and flew together to the 36,000-kilometer star port orbit.

Liu Sheng was driving the Tiangong-2 engineering spacecraft that Xu Ying took last time.

Xue Feng is driving the latest Tiangong-3 spacecraft.

The last time Xu Ying returned to the ground, she made many suggestions about engineering spacecraft.

As the first engineer to actually work in space.

His opinions were fully valued.

Finally, before Xue Feng and his crew took to the sky, the development of the new engineering spacecraft was completed.

The first thing the new engineering spacecraft improves is the propulsion system.

After Xu Ying returned to the ground, she asked a question.

That is, the engineering spacecraft is prone to continuous vibration problems during the acceleration process.

Although there was no actual crisis, the passengers felt strong discomfort.

R\u0026D personnel added a large number of shock-absorbing devices inside the spacecraft.

The propulsion system was also adjusted.

Make it smoother during acceleration and reduce the occurrence of vibration.

The more than ten hours of flying was not too difficult for the two of them.

Last time, Xu Ying felt a little lonely alone.

But the two of them chatted casually and it passed quickly.

"Report to the command center, we are about to reach the designated orbit."

After approaching the star port, Xue Feng reported to the ground command center.

The Hall thruster on the huge keel of the star port starts from time to time, spraying out light blue plasma.

Adjust the orbit of the star port.

to prevent it from colliding with other orbiting objects.

Although with the hardness of titanium-nickel alloy, it is difficult for anything to hit it.

"We are preparing to dock with Tiangong-1."

After Xue Feng reported, Liu Sheng began to operate the spacecraft assembly.

Adjust the angle and prepare to complete the docking work.

The heavenly combination they are riding on now.

It has two engineering spacecraft and four cargo spacecraft.

To complete the docking without being affected, the angle must be adjusted.

Otherwise, it is easy to cause various collisions.

After the angle adjustment is completed, the assembly first accelerates and flies to the front of the star port.

Then slowly slow down and complete the docking with the Tiangong-1 spacecraft.

Tiangong-1 is currently responsible for maintaining the orbit of the star port.

It actually became the thruster of the starport.

Xue Feng first released a cargo spacecraft.

The initial construction work of the star port began here.

The ring-shaped cabin of the star port cannot yet be formed in one piece.

there are many reasons.

The first is large-scale processing, which is inherently difficult in the ground environment.

Imagine processing a piece of aluminum alloy that is 200 stories high.

And keep its surface smooth.

At least dozens of such aluminum alloy sheets are needed to form a complete ring.

The processing difficulty itself is very high.

Secondly, the launch of large-sized objects is also a problem.

Currently, the largest rockets can only carry objects no larger than twenty meters in length and width after folding.

Unless the manufacturing of the space elevator is completed immediately.

Master the technology of transporting materials into space in large quantities.

Otherwise this is almost completely unfeasible.

The space elevator technology requires a very large space station as the front-end technology.

Because the space end of the space elevator can itself be regarded as a super giant space station.

For this reason, Longguo's scientific researchers found another way.

Decided to take another approach.

That is to transport raw materials into space, and then process oversized cabin segments in space.

This can solve various problems caused by large-sized components.

The cargo spacecraft separated from the assembly very dexterously.

Then a very small lid on the cargo ship opened.

An interface with a size of only a dozen centimeters appeared.

The cargo craft deftly flew directly in front of the keel.

Then the keel goes right through the interface.

It penetrated directly through the entire cargo spacecraft, just like piercing a candied haws.

After one end is pressed against the central spindle keel, the interface automatically shrinks inward, completely suppressing the original gap.

The cargo craft is fixed directly to the keel.

It is equipped with a smelting furnace for processing aviation aluminum alloys.

Large-size aviation aluminum materials can be processed.

This is also thanks to the vacuum aluminum processing technology developed by the Space Technology Research Institute in a large vacuum laboratory.

Otherwise, the processing and manufacturing of the cabin may be delayed for a longer time.

Xue Feng fixed four cargo spaceships, which were equivalent to industrial aircraft, on the umbrella-shaped keels one by one.

This process lasted more than four hours.

The reason is that the keel itself is relatively slender.

Both the star port and the spacecraft itself are flying at high speed.

If there is a slight deviation, it may not be inserted.

In order for the two to align.

Xue Feng also consumed a small amount of fuel for the star port's temporary propulsion system.

"The trial processing of aluminum materials is about to begin."

Xue Feng reported to the ground.

At the same time, the work progress will be reported to the space station that is also in space.

The smelting furnace begins to smelt the aluminum inside under electrical heating.

Aluminum alloys have actually been smelted on the ground.

Xue Feng's task is just to reshape them.

Under low temperature, aluminum alloy plates with a width of about ten meters are continuously processed.

Then at the other end of the spacecraft, it was rolled into a roll by a plate rolling machine.

The roll of aluminum was then transferred into space by a robotic arm.

Then, it is shaped into a small arc through straightening, curling and other means.

The first high-strength aerospace aluminum alloy plate with an arc length of 600 meters has finally been manufactured.

Put in space, it is also an extremely huge giant.

And an aluminum alloy plate of this size requires four pieces!

Xu Ying, who was on her first space construction mission, only stayed in synchronous orbit for less than a week.

However, it took Xue Feng four days to process the first high-strength aluminum alloy plate.

Although the speed of the subsequent four boards has been accelerated.

But just to process the plates, Xue Feng spent more than half a month.

Not to mention that it took less than half a month to fix the plates on the keel to form a 900-meter-diameter ring.

But after this month of construction.

Starport was finally able to see more than just the original keel frame.

Large-area entities also appeared.

"Let's go back first to replenish supplies and receive a new batch of materials."

After completing the construction of the first ring, Xue Feng said to Liu Sheng.

The ring that has been completed so far is actually a cylinder with a diameter of 900 meters.

It also needs to be sealed on both sides.

And add another small ring inside.

Between the big circle and the small circle is the area where humans can live and conduct production, manufacturing, and scientific research.

The space from the small ring to the main axis is not suitable for long-term human life due to rotation problems.

"Our current spacecraft speed is still a bit slow. It will be great when we can make it faster."

Liu Sheng said with a slight complaint.

At present, each time they go to and from the synchronous orbit, it takes more than ten hours one way.

Many supplies can only be replenished every other month.

If you can compress the time into less than an hour.

Then it is even possible for them to live in a space station and work in a star port.

"The current engine can only achieve this specific impulse, and we want a shorter time unless we don't care about the cost."

Xue Feng was more open-minded.

It’s not like China can’t come up with engines that can reach greater speeds.

But greater thrust means more fuel consumption.

At this stage, cost-effectiveness is still a factor that needs to be considered in the construction of star ports.

If the cost is too high, it will slow down the entire star port construction process.

"That said, I also know it's impossible."

Liu Sheng has been a spaceship pilot during this time, and he is very aware of the spacecraft he is piloting.

If it really runs at full power, how much fuel will it consume.

A new batch of equipment and materials has arrived at the space station with recent launch missions.

Just waiting for Xue Feng to take them away.

This includes several high-precision machine tools and 3D printing equipment.

Used for more detailed processing work.

"A lot of good things have been brought here this time. You are really lucky."

Nie Haisheng warmly greeted the two people who had just returned from thousands of miles away.

"This time, there are a lot of fresh fruits coming up with the cargo ship. You can take some of them away when the time comes."

It is very difficult to eat fresh fruit in space.

Generally, the only supplements are various dried fruits or freeze-dried fruits.

Like fresh fruit, it only appears a few times.

And the quantity is very small each time, each person can only get a few.

Let Xue Feng and the others take away some of it, and the rest may be enough for each of them to take a bite.