Dragon's Lair Space Factory.

With the asteroid being smelted into steel and having a large monolithic casting, scientists and engineers are excited because it means they can directly use the casting to machine large parts.

The huge ball of steel was towed by the Qinglong spaceship, and the huge dock is here, where the mechanical arms are constantly busy, and scientists are preparing to use it to build a more powerful spaceship.

Because of the first second-generation anti-gravity spacecraft, the construction technology of the 'Qinglong' spacecraft was not mature, and more importantly, there was no way to directly transport large monolithic castings into space at that time.

Therefore, whether it is the core second-generation anti-gravity engine of the Qinglong spacecraft or the overall structure of the spacecraft, it is composed of countless parts.

Such a structure naturally has no problems when the power is not too strong, but the second-generation anti-gravity technology, which uses the strong gravitational pull of the star, is extremely powerful.

Without a sufficiently strong structure, there is no way to unleash the power of the second-generation anti-gravity engine, and if the force is too strong, it will tear the entire spaceship apart.

Although the Qinglong universe is very powerful, it can only exert less than 2% of the power of the second-generation anti-gravity engine, and it only dares to haul 150 million tons of asteroids.

Now with a monolithic casting, scientists can use this monolithic casting to directly process it into the most important and core supporting parts.

Especially the second-generation anti-gravity engine, its power is too huge, it must have a strong support, the stronger the support, the greater the power that can be exerted, and the more powerful the spacecraft will be.

"Tsk, the Snow Dragon spaceship, its engine is good, if it is equipped with a powerful keel, the Snow Dragon universe should be able to drag an asteroid with a mass of more than 500 million tons."

Yang Hongyan looked at the huge second-generation anti-gravity engine in front of him, and the whole person looked very excited.

The second-generation anti-gravity engine built from a single cast has been able to exert 50% of the power of the second-generation anti-gravity engine, which is enough to drag an asteroid with a mass of 500 million tons.

"There are still too few asteroids mined, and asteroid smelting technology should continue to be studied in depth, so as not to make a large iron ball, which is too troublesome to process and a waste of materials."

Zhang Jian on the side also nodded and said, space smelting technology has just emerged, and it is not mature enough in many aspects, because there is no gravity, in space, the liquid is a ball, so this asteroid is smelted into steel, and it directly becomes a big iron ball.

"Take your time, it always takes some time to research and improve."

Qin Yi smiled, whether it is space smelting technology or the manufacture of this spaceship, it has just begun, and with the progress of technology and technology, the future will really shine.

"How's our second-generation anti-gravity technology going?"

"The research on the miniaturization of this second-generation anti-gravity technology cannot be relaxed, and this spacecraft is often trillions, and only real big capital can operate."

"The general public can't enjoy the real benefits of interstellar mining, and we need to develop a small spaceship that doesn't require much power, and can pull a megaton asteroid at one time."

"We can sell such spaceships to individuals, small companies, as a way to stimulate their enthusiasm for interstellar space."

Then Qin Yi thought about it and asked Yang Hongyan.

The second-generation anti-gravity engine is too large in size and extremely expensive in cost, just like an aircraft carrier in the ocean, and it is best to build space warships and large spaceships.

But because it is too expensive to build, and it is also too big, there are very few people who can afford to play, and only real big capital and big consortia can be played, or it can be bought by the power of the state.

Qin Yi is very clear that when an era comes, it is definitely not just a superstructure, what it needs most is the substructure.

If we want to turn the solar system into the backyard of the Chinese nation, we need not only large spaceships like the Qinglong, but also countless small spaceships.

Only by allowing more people to participate and let more people benefit from the interstellar space age can we greatly stimulate the development of the entire country towards the interstellar space age, and also allow more people to share the dividends brought by the development of science and technology.

In fact, from the very beginning, Qin Yi wanted to study a small second-generation anti-gravity engine, but because the second-generation anti-gravity technology was not mature, it was easier to make it bigger than small, and this made a behemoth like the Qinglong.

However, the second generation of anti-gravity technology has only just begun, and its prospects are also very broad.

One direction is to develop in the direction of greater and more powerful power, and create a larger second-generation anti-gravity engine with a powerful thrust of 10 billion tons, even 100 billion tons, and trillion tons.

Once it can be studied, then the space warships and spaceships that sail in the interstellar universe will be truly created, and the era of interstellar colonization will follow.

The current Qinglong spaceship, it is still too small, the power is too weak, it belongs to the small ship and small sail, and it can only dominate in the small river and ditch like the solar system, and there is no way to gallop in the sea of the interstellar universe.

If you want interstellar colonization and interstellar migration, it must have a more powerful engine, because the interstellar universe is too vast, the distance is calculated in light years, and without a powerful engine, sailing alone is enough to make you sail to old age.

The Centauri Galaxy, the closest to the solar system, is also 4.2 light-years away, which means that it takes more than 4 years to travel at the speed of light.

Without a powerful spaceship and fast enough speed, you don't even want to gallop through the interstellar universe, because you may not even be able to reach the galaxy next door.

Another direction of development is the opposite, if you want to develop in a smaller, more flexible direction, and build a small spaceship, maybe just a small spaceship of 10000 tons or 100 tons.

There are many small spaceships everywhere, as the saying goes, it is better to make a U-turn when the ship is small, and the small spaceship not only allows more people to participate in interstellar space, but more importantly, it can also develop towards military power.

A large spaceship is like an aircraft carrier, and this small spaceship is a fighter plane that protects the aircraft carrier and attacks the enemy.

Colonizing in the interstellar universe requires not only powerful space warships, but also a large number of small space fighters and combat spaceships.

Interstellar warfare is not only a confrontation between giant swords and cannons, but also a fight between small fighter groups, both of which are indispensable.

Without a small fleet, large space warships are also very dangerous, and without the power of protection and attack, the two complement each other to form a powerful force.

"The progress is very good, it is estimated that by next year, we will almost be able to develop a small second-generation anti-gravity engine, and then we will be able to build a small spaceship, a small spaceship that can sail in the solar system."

Hearing Qin Yi's words, Yang Hongliang smiled and nodded and said, he is an expert in this area, and he has always been responsible for this matter, and he naturally takes it to heart what Qin Yi has focused on.

"It's okay next year, we will build more and more spaceships, and the types will become more and more diverse, and we must come up with a classification plan as soon as possible."

Qin Yi nodded with satisfaction, then thought about it and said.

"I think this classification scheme is very simple, just refer to the classification of ships on the ground, and the classification of ships on the ground is distinguished by displacement, such as aircraft carriers are divided into 10,000-ton Langley-class aircraft carriers, 30,000-ton Lexington-class aircraft carriers, and 100,000-ton Nimitz-class aircraft carriers."

"Our spaceship can also refer to this design, such as a spaceship of the same level as the Qinglong, its mass is in the megaton level, and in the future, we will call the megaton spaceship the Qinglong-class spaceship."

"Or we can divide it by the maximum thrust, for example, this Qinglong spacecraft, the second-generation anti-gravity engine it uses has a theoretical maximum thrust of 1 billion tons, and in the future, we can classify spaceships with a thrust of 100 million to 1 billion tons as a Qinglong-class spacecraft."

When Zhang Jian on the side heard this, his eyes rolled, and he said with a smile.

"This scheme can be used, but whether it is classified according to the mass of the spacecraft itself, or according to the thrust of the spacecraft, it is a more reasonable and accurate classification method."

Qin Yi thought about it and nodded and said.

"Our next task is to build more Qinglong-class spaceships, and at the same time develop small spaceships with a thrust of less than 100 million tons, this kind of spaceship I think is called a Milon-class spaceship."

"Spacecraft with more than 1 billion tons of thrust is still a bit too reluctant for us, we can put it aside for the time being, and seize the time to occupy the resources in the solar system first."

"People from other countries are busy now, desperately trying to build big spaceships."

"Haha~ Their spaceship can also be called a spaceship, using traditional rocket thrust, and the fuel carried is not known to be enough to burn."