Galaxy Technology Empire

The supercomputing center has used a large part of its computing power to calculate the motion of the mesosphere atmosphere.

Although the atmospheric density of the mesosphere is very small, the force of convective weather is much weaker than that of the troposphere, but this does not mean that the atmospheric motion of the mesosphere can be ignored.

The mesosphere does not produce high or low air pressure, but because the density of the atmosphere in the mesosphere is very small, long-period fluctuations such as planetary waves will be transmitted up from the bottom with a large amplitude.

According to such a wave phenomenon, mechanically unstable parts will be formed in places with extremely large amplitudes. This wave phenomenon also has a great impact on the atmospheric circulation nearby.

If these issues are not considered, the use of vacuum pipelines in the atmosphere will cause big problems.

Although the first phase of the plan for the mass projector system does not intend to erect an intermediate vacuum pipeline, it will definitely be erected in the second phase in the future.

Therefore, these issues have to be considered. Since the mass projector system is a system, any variable can cause a terrible butterfly effect.

In addition to the problem of atmospheric movement in the mesosphere, there is another problem, the space station problem.

In the second phase, Huang Haojie plans to build a space station near the Karmen Line, which is 100 kilometers above sea level and is generally called ultra-low low-Earth orbit.

Why are man-made celestial bodies such as satellites or space stations on one side above 300 kilometers above sea level, and generally operating at an altitude of 500 to 600 kilometers?

That's because the area with an altitude of 100 to 300 kilometers, although it is a space area according to the definition of the aerospace industry, the atmospheric content here is still very high (compared to outer space).

In this way, artificial celestial bodies operating in this area will inevitably be affected by air resistance. Although this air resistance seems to be very small, as time goes by, the height of artificial celestial bodies will definitely continue to decrease.

As the height of artificial celestial bodies continues to decrease, they will get closer and closer to the ground. The closer to the ground, the denser the atmosphere, which can only create a vicious cycle and finally fall to the ground.

Of course, it is not that no one has tried to use this area. For example, the space agency of the Sun Country launched the "Swallow" ultra-low orbit experimental satellite last year (2017). The operating altitude of the Yanzi satellite is between 180 and 250 kilometers. .

In order to offset atmospheric drag, Sunman uses an ion engine.

The working principle of this engine is to ionize the gas first, then use electromagnetic force to accelerate the charged ions and eject them, using the reaction force as power for propulsion.

Ion engines have always been a popular power source that major aerospace countries are keen on researching and developing. They are known as the main force of future aerospace power. All major aerospace countries are constantly developing them.

The primary purpose of Sunman's launch of this ultra-low orbit satellite is to test the efficiency of the ion engine and the durability of the materials.

However, the overall weight of this Yanzi satellite, including fuel, is only a few dozen kilograms.

The reason why it is so small is mainly because of a weakness of the ion engine, which is high specific impulse and low thrust. If you want to achieve large thrust, the only way is to install a nuclear battery.

Otherwise, Galaxy Technology's Karman Line space station would not be able to use the ion engine as vector correction power. After all, in addition to the several hundred tons of mass of the space station, it also needs to withstand the mass of the cable up to 40 kilometers long.

How does a space station with a mass of several hundred tons use an ion engine? Unless Huang Junjie points out the nuclear fusion generator now, he should just stick to chemical propulsion!

However, chemical energy propulsion is not beyond consideration.

There are two types of fuels for chemical energy propulsion: one is liquid material, the other is solid material, and there is also a liquid-solid mixture.

Liquid fuel: According to theoretical calculations, the best liquid fuel is liquid hydrogen. Mixed combustion of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen can produce a specific impulse of approximately 350.

Specific impulse is the ratio of the thrust (kilogram force) of the chemical energy engine to the mass flow rate of the ejected particles per second (kg/s).

If liquid ozone or liquid fluorine is used instead of liquid oxygen, the specific impulse can be increased to about 370. Mao Xiong has a hydrofluorine generator. The problem is that the products after burning this thing are highly toxic.

Engines in which the combustible agent and oxidizer are both in liquid form are called liquid fuel engines.

In addition to liquid hydrogen, methanol, ethanol, high-concentration hydrazine hydrate, dimethylhydrazine, nitromethane and other substances can be used as liquid fuels.

Solid fuels such as sodium borohydride, dimer acid diisocyanate, ferrocene and its derivatives can be used as composite solid fuels.

Some low-density metals or non-metals, such as lithium, beryllium, magnesium, aluminum, boron, etc., especially beryllium, can release huge amounts of energy during the combustion process. The heat released by complete combustion of beryllium per kilogram is as high as 15,000 kJ. A superior chemical fuel that emits more heat than hydrogen.

These metals are usually made into fuel agents with nanometer-sized particles.

For example, adding nanoscale aluminum or nickel particles with a mass fraction of 1 to the solid fuel propellant for rocket launch can increase the combustion heat per gram of fuel by about 1 times.

However, the disadvantages of these fuels are that some of the elements are rare and involve technical difficulties when burning - smoke, oxide deposition, etc.

If one of the two fuels is solid and the other is liquid, it is called a solid-liquid chemical energy engine or an engine directly referring to its material name; such as a hydrogen-oxygen engine.

Since the energy generated by solid combustion agents is higher than that of liquid oxidants, most of the rocket engines developed are solid-liquid rocket engines. The two fuels meet and burn to form high-temperature and high-pressure gas. The gas is ejected from the nozzle, generating huge thrust and Send the launch vehicle into space.

Huang Junjie was thinking about this problem, and suddenly he realized: "Maybe that thing can be used."

He immediately called up the database of [Hydrogen Curing Catalyst], and then calculated and thought about it.

The hydrogen solidified by the hydrogen-curing catalyst will appear in the state of metallic hydrogen. However, this solidified metallic hydrogen loses its room-temperature superconducting and explosive properties due to the doping of the catalyst.

It can be said that there are gains and losses. The Institute of Materials Science named this metallic hydrogen substance submetallic hydrogen.

Submetallic hydrogen is very stable under normal circumstances. Only when stimulated by specific conditions will it release the metallic hydrogen state and release the previously solidified metallic hydrogen.

The density of submetallic hydrogen is about seven times that of liquid hydrogen, 94% of which is hydrogen atoms, and the remaining 6% is a curing catalyst.

1 cubic meter of submetallic hydrogen can produce 6.58 cubic meters of liquid hydrogen.

We can see the difference by looking at the densities of the three states of hydrogen: gaseous hydrogen 0.089 kilograms per cubic meter, liquid hydrogen 70.8 kilograms per cubic meter, and submetallic hydrogen 497.2 kilograms per cubic meter.

Among space rockets, the most troublesome thing may be the storage of liquid hydrogen. Although the preparation of hydrogen is very simple, it can be obtained by directly electrolyzing water.

Liquid hydrogen requires minimal space, but it needs to be stored at minus 225 degrees Celsius, which requires a lot of energy to maintain this temperature.

Hydrogen is the gas with the smallest molecular weight and is lighter than helium, so it escapes very easily.

Therefore, liquid hydrogen is not easy to store, because it is not only flammable and explosive, but also requires sealing and low-temperature storage. Even if it is sealed and stored at low temperature, if it is not used for a long time, the liquid hydrogen will slowly leak out.

Submetallic hydrogen successfully solved this problem.

Huang Haojie sat in a chair and looked at the information on submetallic hydrogen. It seemed that it would be too late to cooperate with Dongtang Aerospace System. Galaxy Technology alone might not have enough time.