Technological Hegemony

The agricultural development plan has been formulated, and then Luo Jia no longer pays attention to this matter, because agriculture, like the East China Sea and Westward Project, is a long-term project to transform the earth, and it cannot see results in the short term. It needs to be gradual and continuous.

As the end of the year is approaching, the company is becoming more and more nervous. The reason is very simple. The No. 0 space station and the No. 1 elevator will be completed by the end of the year. This is definitely the top priority for straight men in science and engineering who have dreams of stars and seas. things.

As the largest technology group on Earth, Star Technology has too many projects going on at the same time, and there are simply too many to count, and the space program is definitely the top priority.

Nearly half of the company's projects revolve around the space program. Even agriculture, which seems to have nothing to do with space, is actually a technical reserve for future space colonization, which is enough to prove the unique importance of the space program to Xingchen Technology .

Not long after Luo Jia left the Ministry of Agriculture, the company's largest secondary research institute, the Institute of Materials Science, received good news that the electric propulsion project that Cao Yuan was in charge of was ready. I hope Luo Jia will participate in the technical verification in the past.

Hearing the news, Luo Jia was overjoyed, and immediately went happily.

The Institute of Materials Science currently has three major projects, Ji Ming's tri-titanium alloy, Chao Anbang's superconductivity, and Cao Yuan's ion propulsion.

Among them, Chaoanbang's superconducting project, because it involves a wide range and is extremely complex, has only advanced to the mid-term stage. Although top-level superconducting materials can be produced, scientific and technological research and development is one thing, and large-scale production of scientific and technological projects is another. As for the matter, it may take a while before the superconducting technology of Xingchen Technology can be truly industrialized. By then, Luo Jia will be able to build suspended cars and trains on the earth.

Ji Ming's research on the tri-titanium alloy is the latest and is still in its infancy, but Luo Jia is not in a hurry because he knows very well that the tri-titanium alloy should be placed after the space mining technology.

Only a large amount of cheap rare minerals can rejuvenate China's smelting industry. Most of the rare ore veins are in the hands of Western giants. my country is a resource-poor country that relies on imports of iron ore. clamping.

At this stage, it is good to mass-produce carbon fiber and graphene materials. Although the price is a bit expensive, it is 100% controlled by Star Technology. First, use these two materials to survive the initial stage of the space program. After the space mining industry has reached a large scale, advanced alloy smelting Naturally, it will be launched on a large scale.

In any case, Cao Yuan's ion propulsion was completed in time, and Luo Jia was relieved.

Ion propulsion is so important to the space program. After all, without ion propulsion technology, the company’s No. 2 plan cannot be completed. The second plan is to build starships. Starships will be used to travel to and from the moon and mine valuable reactor fuel Helium III , but also to launch a preliminary manned exploration of the solar system.

Luo Jia thought while thinking,

When I came to Cao Yuan's laboratory, I saw two sets of electric propulsion samples as soon as I entered the door. They both belong to electrothermal propulsion and adopt a relatively old technical route. The one on the left is called the Resistojet propeller, and the one on the right is called the Arcjet propeller. .

To put it simply, Resistojet generates heat through resistance, the propellant hydrazine expands, and is ejected backward to generate power. Arcjet will continue to break down the arc of the propellant as a heat source, heating the propellant to the limit temperature, so as to reach a higher temperature. s efficiency.

The reason why the company researches the ancient electrothermal propulsion technology is mainly to deal with the stage before ion propulsion goes public. For example, the space telescope array currently launched by Star Technology uses electrothermal propulsion. Although the efficiency is relatively low, it is more stable.

In addition to these, standard ion propulsion, Hall propulsion, magnetic plasma propulsion, pulse plasma propulsion, pulse induction propulsion, and a series of experimental products of electric propulsion engines can be found here in Cao Yuan. Like a science and technology museum.

Although Cao Yuan always looks like he can't wake up, he is still very serious in his work. After Luo Jia handed over the task to him, he has been working very hard, doing detailed and intensive research on the electric push system.

"This guy actually studied all the electric propulsion technical routes. The workload is so exaggerated. No wonder he wears thick dark circles every day. The talent is not terrible, the key is that he has a high talent and works hard. Cao Yuan like this can't succeed. It's all difficult." Luo Jia muttered in his heart, full of admiration for Cao Yuan.

Just as he was thinking about it, he saw Cao Yuan walking towards him lazily with his disheveled hair, laughing haha, with such an image, he was known to be a great scientist in the field of materials science, but he didn't know that he thought it was a fierce battle. What about the young Internet addicts at night?

"Is everything ready?" Roja asked.

"Yes." Cao Yuan nodded slightly.

"What material is used for the working fluid?" Luo Jia began to ask the technical questions he was concerned about.

Cao Yuan explained: "We now have two designs. Traditional ion propulsion uses argon as the working fluid, while direct nuclear fusion uses deuterium."

"The propellant doesn't really matter. It's a temporary strategy anyway. When the lunar base is established, we will definitely use helium-3 uniformly. To go further, we must develop antimatter engines, warp engines, and even space jump engines. "

Luo Jia couldn't help shaking his head, "Space jump engine, you really dare to think about it, don't talk so much, let me see how you plan to send us to Mars."

Cao Yuan smiled and led Luo Jia into the monitoring room next to the testing machine room.

There are many ways to move in space. In addition to those mentioned by Cao Yuan just now, there are also solar sail propulsion, nuclear pulse propulsion, etc. These technical routes have advantages and disadvantages, and the difficulty of realization is also different. At the current stage of earth civilization, As long as the ion propulsion can be done, it is enough.

Ion propulsion is divided into electric propulsion and direct propulsion. The former does not need a fusion reactor and can sail as long as there is electricity. Fusion direct propulsion is powerful. It releases the ultra-high temperature plasma generated by the fusion of the reactor to generate thrust. The effect is extremely amazing. .

Of course, the fusion reactor is fast, but the technical requirements are also high. For example, it is necessary to create a powerful electron beam to neutralize the electric charge released by the engine and avoid serious interference caused by the electric charge.

In terms of speed, the current maximum speed of conventional electric pushers is about 300 kilometers per second.

However, nuclear fusion using deuterium and tritium as reactants has a limit speed of 1,200 kilometers per second.

And when deuterium and helium three react, it can even reach an astonishing speed of 3,100 kilometers per second.

It is not difficult to see that direct push is much, much faster than electric push, but even so, Cao Yuan still developed two sets of solutions, the main reason is to save money.

Regardless of deuterium or helium-III, they are all rare and expensive, and some space probes, such as space telescopes, do not really require much speed. At this time, the benefits of saving money and convenience by conventional electric pushers can be reflected Out.

"No matter what, we have to go to the moon to mine helium-3, because the reaction between helium-3 and deuterium can not only enhance the efficiency of the fusion reactor, but also the fastest." Cao Yuan muttered while preparing: "That's every second 3,100 kilometers, theoretically, starting from the earth, you can reach Mars in the shortest five hours."

"Come on." Luo Jia said disapprovingly: "Theoretical data never represent reality. The closest distance between Mars and us is 55 million kilometers, but the farthest distance is more than 400 million kilometers. Distance is not a measure, so you You can't always count on the shortest distance."

"And the theoretical maximum speed is not reliable. Considering the efficiency of the starship and the reactor, the powertrain of the starship that can reach 70% efficiency is already a very, very good design. In addition, there are acceleration and slow down."

"Considering all factors, if we can control the average voyage to Mars within a week, it will be a very remarkable feat. Of course, before developing Mars, we must first build a lunar base and successfully mine it. to Helium III."

Cao Yuan curled his lips in dissatisfaction. He felt that Luo Jia was too stable. As an optimist, he liked to estimate the most optimistic results. This also meant that although he was a great scientist, he would never be able to lead the tough guys.

Boom~

Following Luo Jia's order, the ion thruster ignited rapidly, emitting a dazzling blue flame, and the argon was rapidly ionized under the action of the electrostatic field, and accelerated the reverse ejection, thus generating a huge thrust.

As expected by Luo Jia, the operation of the system consumed about one-third of the energy, and the final number on the screen was frozen at 200 kilometers per second.

Theoretically, the extreme speed of 200 kilometers per second can already shorten the time from the earth to Mars to about one week. However, considering factors such as acceleration and deceleration, as well as the movement of stars, the actual time may take three weeks.

Immediately afterwards, Luo Jia and Cao Yuan rushed to Sichuan, to the nuclear fusion center, to test how much the limit speed can be achieved if the reactor is directly propelled and deuterium is used as the working medium.

The answer I got this time made everyone feel extremely excited. The test result of the direct push of the fusion reactor was as high as 800 kilometers per second, which is four times that of the conventional electric push!

That is to say, even taking into account loss, acceleration and deceleration, and all factors that are not conducive to navigation, the starship can sail from Earth to Mars within a week.

You know, the most successful Mars lander in human history is NASA's Curiosity rover. Curiosity set off in October 2011 and arrived on Mars in August 2012. It took ten months and the voyage was 56 million kilometers.

But Xingchen Technology uses fusion reactors to push directly, and it only takes a week to get to Mars. The gap is really too big.

When the lunar base is established and the jet is replaced with a more efficient helium III, the voyage time can even be shortened to three days!