Chapter 1070 Atomic Rocket Engine

I think that everyone is a smart person, and they are all talents of the country. Now we have to unite and work together to complete this 'manned spaceflight' program." ”

After Zhao Zhongyao said this, everyone was looking at him. All of them are very serious. After all, everyone knows that only Zhao Zhongyao can lead them to complete the manned space program. No one else can do all of this.

When Zhao Zhongyao said these words to everyone, he let everyone disperse.

This day has passed like this, and for Zhao Zhongyao, he feels that this is a very important day. From today onwards, he will devote himself to his work again.

In order to complete this manned space program, the first thing to do is to develop a high-thrust carrier rocket. This feels like a very important task for Zhao Zhongyao. He had to get it done.

Zhao Zhongyao first thought that in the development of a high-thrust launch vehicle, the first thing to do is to solve the problem of the engine. Although the rocket also uses a jet engine. However, this engine is also different from the engine on ordinary aircraft.

The rocket needs to weigh several tons to send it into space, and the thrust of the engine must be very huge. Because, the weight of the rocket itself, plus the cargo to be carried, is generally tens of tons or even hundreds of tons.

This requires that the rocket's engine must be high-thrust. Ordinary engines simply cannot accomplish this major task.

Zhao Zhongyao had studied such things as engines before. When he was working on the F-117 stealth fighter before, he had studied a jet engine for a large cart.

Now it's time to study high-thrust rocket technology. Zhao Zhongyao wanted to take the turbofan engine he had studied before.

But Zhao Zhongyao studied and studied, and felt that the thrust generated by the previous turbofan engine was still unable to send dozens of tons of rockets into space.

This requires Zhao Zhongyao to study a new type of engine, which is specially used on rockets.

Zhao Zhongyao also knows a little about the rocket technology of his era. You know, the rocket technology of his time was generally based on liquid fuel. That is, a mixture of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen is used as fuel to propel the rocket into flight.

Although liquid fuel is capable of generating a lot of thrust. But this fuel is consumed very quickly. In order to complete the mission of a rocket to send cargo or people into space, the rocket needs to carry a large amount of fuel.

This is the case with high-thrust rockets in the United States, where the space shuttle needs to carry 2,000 tons of fuel in order to send it into space. It can be said that the maximum weight of the entire rocket is the weight of the fuel tank.

Such a rocket is very bulky. Just like the rocket launched by the United States to launch the space shuttle, the rocket plus the space shuttle weighs more than 2,000 tons. Every time it is launched, it consumes a lot of fuel and consumes a huge amount of money.

Zhao Zhongyao also knows this. After all, he was an American-Chinese scientist during his lifetime. Now he has been reborn on another parallel earth, and has come to a parallel world like Huaguo.

Zhao Zhongyao knew that if he wanted to solve the big cart rocket technology now, he first had to think about what kinds of rocket engines there were in the world before his death. He knew that in the world of his lifetime, several rocket engines had been produced. Generally speaking, there are two types of engines: solid and liquid.

Both engines have different characteristics and can be said to have their own benefits. Zhao Zhongyao now wants to study a high-thrust engine, so he can only learn from the engines he knew before his death.

Zhao Zhongyao knew that there were many kinds of engines in the world before his death. Among them, there is a very advanced engine called the plasma engine.

This kind of engine is different from ordinary engines in that it is not propelled by fuel, but by electricity. It is an engine that uses electricity to heat the air, produce plasma, and then propel the rocket into flight.

Plasma engine is a kind of electric propulsion system, and has been applied at home and abroad quite maturely, and the main medium of its application is plasma. It uses the Lorentz force to accelerate charged atoms or ions through a magnetic field to drive a spacecraft in reverse, the same principle as particle accelerators and railguns.

In science fiction, the craft always powers the entire journey of interstellar travel. But in reality, the engine technology of rocket thrusters simply cannot achieve this. The engine of a chemical rocket looks small compared to an exposed propellant tank, but it has a great appetite. "I eat a lot, but I don't work very efficiently. ”

The vast amount of energy devoured by this engine is only effective in providing short-term power – the stored fuel is quickly used up and the thrusters are immediately thrown away as garbage. Most of the fuel for the chemical rocket is used to escape the Earth's gravity, and the remaining bit is used to propel the rocket's "space glide". The rocket flies to its destination, relying solely on inertia. For interstellar flight, this engine is clearly not enough.

"Saturn 5" is a typical example. Its first stage is loaded with 2075 tons of liquid oxygen kerosene propellant. Once the engine is ignited, it can "drink" all of these "drinks" in 2 minutes and 34 seconds. The hot gas is ejected at a speed of 2,900 m/s, but it is only enough to send 47 tons of payload to the moon. Of the total 3,500 tons of thrust that can be generated, a significant part is used to "tow" the rocket itself and more than 2,000 tons of fuel.

So its "specific impulse" is not high, only more than 300 seconds, indicating its low propulsion efficiency. That is why to send a person with a small mass into space, it is necessary to use a huge rocket. Plasma engines, or "ion thrusters" as they are commonly called, take a completely different design approach to chemical rockets. It uses the Lorentz force to accelerate charged atoms or ions through a magnetic field to drive a spacecraft in reverse, the same principle as particle accelerators and railguns.

"Plasma rockets provide relatively little thrust for a certain amount of time, and then once in space, they are like sailboats with a tailwind, gradually accelerating until they outpace chemical rockets. In fact, there have been several space missions to date that have used plasma engines, such as NASA's Dawn to detect asteroids.

One of the objectives of the probe, the European Space Agency's SMART-1 probe that hit the moon, was to verify how ion propulsion technology could be used to put future probes into orbit around Mercury.

Although the plasma engine has many advantages, it also has some disadvantages, that is, it must provide continuous power to maintain its operation. It's just a machine that 'drinks' electricity.

After Zhao Zhongyao pondered the many kinds of engines he knew during his lifetime, he thought that he would now learn from each other's strengths and develop a very advanced rocket engine. Only in this way will we be able to complete this manned space program.

Zhao Zhongyao thought about it, and he felt that the atomic engine he had studied before could be used. After all, if this kind of engine is used in a rocket, it can reduce the weight of the rocket and do not need to carry a lot of fuel.

And with nuclear power to provide energy, only by carrying a small amount of nuclear fuel, it can maintain the rocket's long-term flight needs.

Thinking of this, Zhao Zhongyao hurriedly started to design his new rocket engine. After a month of hard work, he finally designed his new atomic rocket engine.

When Zhao Zhongyao designed this atomic rocket engine, he was very happy. Quickly found Cheng Yu. After all, Cheng Yu is Zhao Zhongyao's best assistant. He is also an expert in aerodynamics.

After Zhao Zhongyao designed the atomic aero engine, he called Cheng Yu to his office. He looked at Cheng Yu, put his design in front of him and said, "Old Cheng, look at it, how about this drawing I designed." ”

As soon as Cheng Yu heard Zhao Zhongyao say this, he quickly got the drawings and looked at them. As soon as he saw that the drawing said atomic rocket engine, he was very surprised, and he didn't know what kind of engine Zhao Zhongyao designed.

"Mr. Zhao, what kind of engine is this kind of engine you designed. How I haven't heard of it, what atomic rocket engines. Cheng Yu looked at Zhao Zhongyao very puzzled and asked.

Zhao Zhongyao listened to Cheng Yu's words, looked at him again and said: "The engine I designed is based on the working principle of the atomic engine I designed before. Then, it was improved and turned into an aviation rocket engine. ”

As soon as he heard Zhao Zhongyao say this, Cheng Yu was very curious, he looked at Zhao Zhongyao again and said, "What are the advantages of your engine, and what is its working principle." ”

Zhao Zhongyao listened to Cheng Yu's words, smiled and said: "The working principle of this engine I designed is similar to the working principle of the atomic engine I designed before. The only difference is that the atomic engine designed this time is to make the engine produce high-temperature gas, and then propel the rocket to fly. The previous atomic engine, although it also produced high-temperature gases. But the previous high-temperature gas only pushes the internal combustion engine to turn. and the current atomic engine, only in terms of thrust.

Of course, the rocket engine developed this time, in terms of thrust, must be dozens of times the thrust of the atomic engine for tanks developed before. It can be said that the rocket engine I am developing now is an upgraded version of the original atomic engine. ”

As soon as he heard Zhao Zhongyao say this, Cheng Yu admired Zhao Zhongyao very much. He looked at Zhao Zhongyao and said, "Mr. Zhao, you are really amazing. If it weren't for you, we wouldn't have been able to accomplish this momentous task. Now that you've designed the core components of a high-thrust rocket, the next step is to start production. ”

"Of course, we are also short on time and have a lot of tasks right now. We must hurry up and develop a rocket engine. Only by developing this core component can we further develop high-thrust rockets. Zhao Zhongyao looked at Cheng Yu again and said.

"Okay, I'll listen to Mr. Zhao, then you have now developed this high-thrust rocket engine, then the next step, let's develop it together!" Cheng Yu looked at Zhao Zhongyao again and said.

"Okay, then the task will be handed over to you. I will also continue to design other systems of the rocket. This core component is now designed. But to design a rocket, you need a lot of parts. I'm going to continue to design other parts.

Now I'll leave this production task to you. You must strictly follow what is drawn on the drawing. This high-thrust atomic rocket engine was produced. Only by producing it first can we continue to work on high-thrust launch vehicles. ”

Zhao Zhongyao knew that his time was very tight. There is a lot to do to accomplish such a big task. It's not enough to design a high-efficiency atomic rocket engine.

"Okay, Mr. Zhao, then you can hand over this arduous task to me! I will definitely produce this advanced atomic rocket engine as soon as possible." When the time comes, you will definitely be satisfied. ”

Cheng Yu knew that he would not be able to design such an advanced rocket engine. But he can help Zhao Zhongyao to produce this advanced atomic rocket engine.

"Okay, then let's split up! I'll continue to design the other parts of the rocket, and you can go and produce this advanced atomic rocket engine!" Zhao Zhongyao looked at Cheng Yu again and said.

"I will, I'll do it soon. Cheng Yu also looked at Zhao Zhongyao with great certainty and said.

After finishing speaking, Cheng Yu walked out of Zhao Zhongyao's office. He took the drawings and went to the laboratory.

"Here, I'll show you something. After Cheng Yu came to the laboratory, he took out the drawings of the atomic engine designed by Zhao Zhongyao, and then asked everyone to take a closer look.

As soon as all the scientific researchers heard Cheng Yu's words, they also came to him. When everyone saw the atomic rocket engine designed by Zhao Zhongyao, they all had surprised expressions. After all, everyone does not yet know what this rocket engine will look like. Now when I look at this rocket engine designed by Zhao Zhongyao, I feel very surprised. None of them could have imagined that Zhao Zhongyao would design an atomic rocket engine.

"This is the atomic rocket engine, doesn't it look very unusual!" said a thin young man looking at the drawings in Cheng Yu's hand.

"That's right, our Mr. Zhao is really very talented! It is impossible for anyone else to design such an advanced atomic rocket engine except him. ”