Great Country Academician

For Xu Chuan, spending some money to complete scientific research projects is not a big deal.

He doesn’t have much pursuit of material life. Even though the money in his bank card now exceeds ten digits and he has more cash than more than 99% of domestic companies, there are not too many rich people. Feel.

Apart from the things arranged for him above, his food, clothing, housing and transportation are not much different from those of ordinary people. When I'm at work, I eat in the cafeteria. If I'm not at work, the housekeeping aunt will make two random dishes.

For living expenses, he only needs a few dollars throughout the year.

After chatting with Academician Chang Huaxiang about the development and deployment of space shuttles and manned spaceflight, Xu Chuan refocused his time on the improvement and optimization of small fusion reactors.

It is reassuring to have this experienced veteran in charge of technology and engineering.

Incidentally, it is worth mentioning that after NASA announced its plan to return to the moon, although China did not provide a certified response to it, including the answers on some diplomatic channels, the relevant actions were It means that I want to actively participate in the competition in the aerospace field.

For example, after NASA announced the Artemis Project, the two major production groups of Aerospace Science and Technology and Aerospace Science and Industry announced an increase in investment in the aerospace field, with funds reaching tens of billions.

The space agency also released a corresponding report. Its reporter revealed to the media that the construction of the Tiangong space station will be completed within this year, and six astronauts will be able to work and live in orbit at the same time.

This means that the Tiangong Space Station will become the first space station in the world built by a single country in this century.

In addition, there are the "Long March 9" super-heavy rocket, the planning and design of the Long March 5G launch vehicle, and the project to complete a 50-ton low-Earth orbit delivery capability within five years, etc., which all mean that China has followed up in the aerospace field. .

Projects in the aerospace field are advancing bit by bit. In mid-October, after the cold dew solar term of the lunar calendar, the first good news came from the aerospace engine project led by Weng Yunzong at the Aerospace Research Institute.

The assembly work of the aerospace engine is completed!

The first electromagnetic thruster with high power and thrust that is theoretically comparable to a large turbojet engine was officially launched at the Xinghai Research Institute.

After receiving the news, Xu Chuan put down his work and quickly rushed to the Aerospace Research Institute.

In the experimental base near the back of Qixia Mountain, in a pre-divided aerospace engine test area, Xu Chuan saw the assembled aerospace engine.

This is a device that looks somewhat similar to Poseidon's Trident in shape. Its main body is nearly ten meters long, and its tail has dense propulsion structures. Each one is the size of a sea bowl. When assembled, it looks somewhat like a honeycomb from the back.

Many engineers and researchers are doing final inspections around it.

"How's it going?"

Xu Chuan quickly walked to Weng Yunzong, who was in charge of the work, and asked.

Weng Yunzong replied quickly and nervously: "The assembly has been completed and the final inspection before the test is being done. If there are no unexpected situations, the first test can be started in one hour."

Xu Chuan nodded, squinted his eyes and glanced at the aerospace engine that was set up on the test site, and took two deep breaths to calm down.

Although he was not very involved in the development, design and assembly of this aerospace engine, the core idea was provided by him. It can be said that this is an aerospace engine designed by him.

In the coming time, whether this engine can carry his dream to achieve his goal depends on today's test.

If all indicators and parameters can reach the results of the simulation test, there is no doubt that it will completely change the history of aerospace!

If it cannot be done, I am afraid that the space agency will not have such strong support for electric propulsion in the future.

After all, compared to the more mature and stable traditional fossil fuel propulsion, electric propulsion is still an unknown quantity.

One hour is not a long time. After receiving the news, Academician Chang Huaxiang and Wen Yuanhang, who are in charge of aerospace engineering, also rushed over quickly.

Irrelevant personnel have already been cleared away from the test site. As the inspectors below the elevated platform begin to complete their work, the engine that determines the direction of aerospace is also ready to be started for the first time.

"Academician Xu, will you take charge?"

Standing in the temporary outdoor control room, Weng Yunzong asked Xu Chuan who was standing aside.

"No, just come."

Xu Chuan shook his head and refused the invitation.

Professional matters are left to professionals. Although the core idea of ​​the aerospace engine was completed by him, he did not participate much in the research and development, design, and assembly.

What's more, he doesn't know the various performance parameters of the aerospace engine or the projects that need to be completed. It is not his idea for laymen to intervene in the work of experts.

Hearing this, Weng Yunzong took a deep breath, nodded with a serious expression, and said, "Okay, then I'm welcome."

Not only Xu Chuan, he is also looking forward to the moment when the works completed by his own hands will show off.

After taking a look at the time, Weng Yunzong picked up the pager in his hand and said calmly: "Report the situation from each unit and team!"

"The energy group is ready and the grid load can be adjusted stably!"

"The motor unit is ready and the vertical stability test has been completed!"

"The coil group adjustment is completed and the superconducting state is stable!"

"."

After listening to the reports one by one, Weng Yunzong took a deep breath and issued the order: "All units, please pay attention, the first start-up and test of the aerospace engine begins now!"

As the instructions were issued and responsible for various tasks, the personnel in each group of control rooms quickly became busy.

The staff of the energy team closed the switch and started supplying power to the aerial engine from the line opened next door.

The core area inside the engine, which is composed of improved superconductors, strong magnetic regulators, electrode ion generators and other parts, quickly started working.

A powerful magnetic field is rapidly generated internally and then controlled through mathematical models.

Along with the initial start of the engine, a low humming sound came from the aerospace engine not far away.

Standing in the control room, Xu Chuan clearly felt a little uncomfortable after hearing the low buzzing sound.

On the side, Weng Yunzong quickly explained: "This is a high-frequency oscillation produced when the electrode ion generator inside the aerospace engine starts to operate. Because it happens to be on the resonance line of the human body, it can make people feel excited all over. It will be itchy, the teeth will be sore, and it will be uncomfortable. But it will not last long and will not cause harm to the human body."

Just as he explained, this itchy resonance quickly disappeared as soon as the words fell, lasting less than ten seconds.

Xu Chuan nodded and said nothing. Since it was a normal phenomenon and not harmful to the human body, there was no need to worry about it.

On the console, with the influx of huge electric energy, the superconducting coil inside the aerospace engine continuously adjusts the magnetic field inside the engine.

[Steady-state magnetic field strength meets standard! 】

[The fine-tuning magnetic field has been corrected according to the instructions, and the engine magnetic field meets the target requirements! 】

【.】

【Working fluid injection! 】

[The electrode ion generator has been started, and the 'ion probe' has detected the electric field! 】

【.】

Reports one after another continued to sound in the control room. Every successful report would make everyone's faces flash with joy, but then it was quickly replaced by a dignified and tense atmosphere.

Everyone held their breath and looked solemnly at the various indicators on the general monitoring screen.

Standing in front of the console, Xu Chuan focused on the monitoring screen to capture the clarity of the equipment. He could see the vector propulsion unit at the end of the engine.

Standing at the forefront, Weng Yunzong, who was in charge of the testing work, completed all the preparations bit by bit, and then a new order was issued.

【Start the engine! 】

As the order was issued, the temperature monitor data deployed near the vector propulsion unit at the end of the engine began to rise rapidly. The huge tapered tailport that concentrated the three-digit propulsion units distorted the nearby air like a hot flame.

A few seconds later, a flame-like light red cone-shaped tail flame appeared behind each vector propulsion unit.

This is the flame formed by the high-temperature ions ejected by the engine.

As the engine output power increases and the temperature rises, these small light red cone-shaped tail flames gradually become larger, and eventually merge into each other, forming a narrow red-purple flame at the end of the engine.

It is completely different from the blue-white tail flame at the tail of the conventional Hall thruster. Because of the different working fluids used, the color of the tail flame of the aerospace engine is mainly a mixture of dark red and lavender.

This is the high temperature flame color of nitrogen ions and oxygen ions.

After being absorbed and purified, the air is sent into the ionization chamber and its properties are changed by the electrode ion generator, which ionizes it from the molecular structure into an ion state, and then is sent into the propulsion chamber.

The huge spiral magnetic field formed by the improved superconductor will accelerate these high-temperature ions to an extremely exaggerated speed and eject them. The huge reverse thrust formed can carry the space shuttle to complete its mission.

There is no doubt that the thrust it can bring far exceeds that of the Hall thruster.

As the aerospace engine is tested, and as the engine's output power increases, the tail flame at the end of the engine continues to lengthen.

In the control room, on the display screen that records the engine thrust data, the thrust of the aerospace engine is also rising continuously.

The graph stretched across the monitor screen like an arc. The thrust data climbed from 5KN at the beginning to 481.31KN.

The ultimate thrust of close to 500KN has far exceeded Xu Chuan's previous estimate.

I have to say that this aerospace engine is even better than theoretically!

At least, judging from the current thrust data, so.

Although the thrust it can generate is still not comparable to the aerospace engines on launch vehicles, this number is already comparable to the top aerospace engines currently on the market.

The extreme thrust test was completed, and the 500KN data made everyone in the control room clenched their fists.

This is undoubtedly the best news for today’s first round of testing!

However, the relevant tests are not over. For an engine used in the space shuttle, the relevant tests are not limited to the ultimate thrust.

Whether it is the thrust of the propeller under different working conditions, including the measurement of thrust magnitude, direction, time and related parameters;

Whether it is the impact of environmental factors on the thruster, the switching of working fluids during the space shuttle, whether the reset point can be quickly achieved after an emergency shutdown, and the extreme working time, etc., all must undergo detailed and repeated experiments to ensure that the engine is working properly. , be able to do stable and orderly work.

The first round of testing lasted a full hour.

After the aerospace engine was shut down and the hot temperature on the parts dissipated, engineers in protective suits carried or carried various testing equipment and swarmed towards the thruster still on the experimental bench, inspecting the The condition of the engine after operation.

But these have little to do with Xu Chuan. After the initial completion of the aerospace engine testing work, he had already obtained the data he wanted most!

The ultimate thrust of close to 500KN is enough to send the space shuttle into the sky.

His design ideas have been proven once again!

"The electric propulsion with a thrust of 500,000 N can actually reach this figure."

In the control room, standing in front of the monitoring screen, Academician Chang Huaxiang stared at the aerospace engine not far away and chanted over and over again, his face full of shock and disbelief.

As a scholar who has studied in the aerospace field all his life, he never thought that electric propulsion could achieve this level in his lifetime.

Even before that, he already knew the theoretical data of the simulation from Xu Chuan.

But theory is just theory after all, and is far less shocking than reality.

"How on earth is this done?"

Chang Yuanhang, who was in shock for a long time before coming back to his senses, cast a longing look at Xu Chuan.

Turning to look at this veteran in the aerospace field, Xu Chuan smiled and said: "The core actually lies in some of the technologies used in controlled nuclear fusion, such as the improved copper-carbon-silver composite superconducting material, its critical magnetic field After superposition, it can reach nearly 80 Tesla, providing a huge magnetic field for the ionization chamber and acceleration chamber."

"In addition, its consumption of electrical energy is also an extremely huge number."

"In these two hours of test experiments, even if the whole process is not at the limit, it can even be said that it is not running at high power, the power it consumes has exceeded the power generation of a small power station."

"Compared with the power it consumes and the thrust it generates, it can be said that it is exchanging energy for thrust, and the efficiency is not high."

"At present, I am afraid that except for the supporting small controllable nuclear fusion reactor, there is no energy supply device that can provide energy for it."

"Of course, this is how it was designed. A small fusion reactor + aerospace engine is the ultimate form of the space shuttle!"