How the Zergs were Made

Chapter 558 Nuclear Impulse Engine

Two years passed in a hurry, and the space construction project was speeding up. A large number of Carters boarded the transport ship and traveled thousands of miles from Soli to the asteroid belt.

Myron, who was directing the deployment of resources, suddenly received a message from an engineering ship manager.

"Mr. Myron, the current construction plan is going very smoothly. There are a total of one million large engineering ships that have been completed. When will we build our first space battleship?"

"Some key factors have not been resolved yet, so wait for a while."

"Mr. Myron, we are short on time. The amoeba only gave us dozens of revolving wheels. If we don't start building warships now, I'm afraid it will be too late."

The captain of the engineering ship stated his anxiety, and it wasn't just him personally, he was just a representative, representing the whole Carter of the entire engineering ship, and a million other engineering ships, who had been waiting for Myron They who gave the order watched the time go by, but they were unable to receive the construction task for a long time, and they couldn't help feeling anxious.

"Then you should design and manufacture the keel of the battleship first. Remember, it can only be the keel. Don't think about it too much. It will take a lot of time to modify the battleship that has already been finalized."

Myron emphasized that only the design and layout of the keel of the battleship can be started, and the captain of the engineering ship is a little unclear.

"By the time?"

"The technical team led by Dops is intensively developing nuclear pulse engines and new weapons that can be used in space operations." Myron explained.

The nuclear pulse engine, which used to only exist in the concept of science fiction, was going to be manufactured. The captain of the engineering ship almost thought he had heard it wrong, but he also realized the purpose of Myron's waiting. Relying on chemical propulsion to fight space warfare is courting death. , the specific impulse will be the death spot of chemically propelled warships, so nuclear propulsion engines are needed.

With good psychological quality, the captain of the engineering ship quickly accepted the reality and asked.

"How long do we have to wait?"

Myron shook his head, "It won't take long, it will be soon."

At this moment, in a scientific research institute on Soli's side, a group of scientific workers were arguing. The tables and the floor in the conference room were covered with papers, all kinds of messy formulas were written on them, and the walls and doors were also covered with paper are various formulas.

The air in the room was very turbid. Apart from defecation, these people never left the room at all. Those boxed lunches piled up in a corner of the room are a good proof.

Everyone couldn't hide their exhaustion, but their eyes were still so radiant.

"I repeat, we need to use nuclear energy as the propulsion power of warships, relying on chemical propulsion to fight space battles, that is courting death!"

"But what should we do? As mentioned last time, relying on the continuous blasting of small nuclear bombs as a propulsion has proved unfeasible. The utilization rate of nuclear energy is very low. Most of the explosion energy of nuclear bombs is not projected on the hull and converted into power. At the same time, a large amount of waste heat will be accumulated on the buffer plate, and the continuous blasting will not cool down, and no material can withstand such a high temperature.”

"Then we can use another way to inject nuclear energy into other substances, and use other substances to efficiently convert nuclear energy into kinetic energy."

"How to bet?"

"We can try to use nuclear energy to heat the matter to a plasma state, then use an electric field to confine the plasma, and finally rely on the electric field to emit the ions in the plasma. After calculation, assuming that the load mass is 4 kilotons, the speed of the spacecraft It can be increased to one-eighth of the speed of light."

All focus on him because of this academic member's conception.

At this time, someone raised a question.

"But what about the temperature? The temperature of the plasma must be extremely high, which will require a large amount of cooling agent."

"There is no need for a large amount of cooling agent. The vacuum environment of the universe itself is a natural insulation layer. If the plasma wants to transfer heat energy to the inner wall of the reaction chamber, it needs to have material contact with the inner wall. However, under the control of a strong electric field, That's impossible," explained the proponent of the proposal.

But skeptics still feel wronged.

"However, the scattered ions will still take heat out, and there is still heat accumulation on the inner wall. Although the temperature rise will not be very fast, it does not mean that there is no."

"That's right, so I don't deny that cooling agents are still needed. I think only a small amount is enough. We can set up another project to discuss the issue of cooling. The top priority is to solve the nuclear space engine."

The final decision on the plan was handed over to Dopps, who was highly respected in the civilized and scientific circles of the Carters and was also selected as the commander-in-chief.

Dopps pondered for a while, then said slowly, "It's a very interesting plan, but the question is... what's the matter?"

Before he finished speaking, someone rushed in from outside the room. He leaned against the door panting, holding a stack of papers in his hand. He looked tired, but his eyes didn't look tired at all, only excited .

"Huh...huh, it exploded, it exploded!" the man shouted excitedly.

"What exploded?"

The other academic members in the room looked at the excited person at the door strangely.

"Hydrogen bomb! Mr. Dopps, your nuclear fusion theory has been confirmed!"

The man quickly went to Dops and handed out the stack of papers in his hand. Dops took the paper and scanned the data on the paper with a serious face, and at the same time took a disk sandwiched in it from the paper.

Fortunately, there is a projector in the room, and the images on the disk are projected. From the slightly curved horizon, a very strong and dazzling light is released. After the light is a huge shock wave and a mushroom cloud. Above the atomic bomb that the members know.

That is a hydrogen bomb, and this hydrogen bomb represents more than just a simple high power, which means that nuclear fusion is a feasible theory!

The room was silent for a while before Dops broke the silence.

"What about the production of deuterium?"

"The deuterium reserves in the Soli Ocean are extremely rich, accounting for one-eighth of the total ocean mass, and a large amount of deuterium can be produced through simple centrifugation." The person who came to the report answered truthfully.

"I see, thank you for your hard work."

After the person who reported it left, the academic member who had just proposed using ions as a propulsion medium spoke.

"Mr. Dops, may I ask the question you just said..."

Dops stopped the other party's words, he was smiling, and anyone could see how happy he was at the moment.

"No, it's not a problem anymore. Just now, the problem I want to say has been solved."

"Everyone, nuclear fission is not suitable as the main energy source of a nuclear engine. The reactants are scarce and the conditions for energy release are harsh. I decided to add nuclear fusion to the design." Dopps solemnly announced.