It took 59 minutes to complete the journey around the earth along the preset space orbit of the aircraft carrying Chen Wenhao, Dai Yuqian and other six people.

Having reached 500 kilometers into space, the six of them have already joined the ranks of astronauts according to any standard of judgment in the aerospace community. Before that, only more than 300 people had the privilege of crossing this threshold.

All those involved in this test flight are beginning to realize that a new space age is coming.

The twin-engine powertrain, which has attracted the most attention, also delivered an excellent answer, which is consistent with the stable performance of the ground simulation test. Before the aircraft is ready to enter orbit, the power module automatically switches to the electric engine. When perfectly entering orbit and starting the round-the-world flight, the attitude change and afterburner of the spacecraft also depend on this power system.

The high-energy battery module specially optimized by the group's intelligent workshop has more than ten times the performance of the shrunken version of the new battery authorized by Chen Wenhao to the battery industry alliance. After saving enough energy for take-off and landing, it is enough to support the aircraft to cruise around the earth at such a speed in a near-vacuum environment.

Basically, the traditional battery architecture using positive and negative electrode materials plus electrolytes has reached its limit in Chen Wenhao's intelligent workshop. Without the intervention of alien black technology, under this framework, what can be done is to use various new materials. It may take more than ten years to develop a product with similar performance, but that's the end of it.

Because of this, Chen Wenhao is not satisfied with this power system. In the take-off stage, the electrical energy part can only supply the aircraft to rise to an altitude of about 3,000 meters, and it still relies on traditional and backward rocket engines to break out of the atmosphere.

The anti-gravity engine he used on the Kunpeng has a huge technological span, and in terms of the current scientific and technological progress of the earth, the anti-gravity of the aircraft scale is simply a pseudo-proposition and belongs to the category of pseudoscience. Strictly speaking, the tech tree has different directions. You can't make it public unless you switch talents, because you can't explain it at all.

Chen Wenhao thought that it was necessary to introduce a new energy source as soon as possible, which would have a breakthrough high energy efficiency ratio and be in line with the earth's technology. If this progress is carried out in a step-by-step manner, it will be the efforts of several generations of scientists to be promising, but for him...... The difficulty lies mainly in how to make the implementation process more natural.

"Fifteen minutes to go, we are about to return home, please return to your seats and wear safety gear." The electronic sound in the cabin begins to prompt.

Several others had unfastened their seats and were experiencing the effects of weightlessness with gusto. Dai Yuqian floated in mid-air, and finally grabbed the back of the chair and fixed herself in place, "Why don't you play?" She gently brushed her bangs and wiped a handful of sweat that didn't exist, "The scenery is so beautiful, it's a pity that I didn't bring a camera, otherwise I would have taken a few photos for my parents, and they would have been shocked." ”

Chen Wenhao shook his head with a smile, "The photo is no problem, there is high-definition monitoring equipment in the cabin, and when you go back, someone will take a screenshot of you to take a photo." But your parents are more leisurely, I'm really afraid that they will settle accounts with me. ”

Dai Yuqian gave him a good-looking look and changed the subject, "This time it was successful, is it about to be officially operated?" I estimate that as long as the test flight situation is made public, it will soon be in short supply. ”

Chen Wenhao nodded, "Since there is no problem in all aspects, the sooner we start, the better, we have to take the road of small profits and quick turnover, how can we do it if we don't solicit customers earlier." ”

Dai Yuqian almost choked on one breath, "Please, don't talk about a lofty thing so down-to-earth." ”

"Grounding is the main theme. Okay, okay, I'm serious, don't you think that in the past 50 years, the world's space exploration has been a bit old-fashioned, and the technology has improved, but whether it is at the government level or the general public, the attention and enthusiasm have been going down. Chen Wenhao waved his hand, "Don't worry, I know you want to talk about our country's aerospace, this can only be regarded as an example." This is like the poor boy back then had a developed career and wanted to do bigger, but the resources were so little, the original boss would definitely stop doing it, and he tried his best to stumble and make a trick to isolate. There are too many related industries in the aerospace sector, which is related to the lifeblood, and China can only concentrate resources to grit its teeth and do it itself. If you look at those countries in Europe, without this sense of crisis, the enthusiasm for aerospace is very weak. ”

Chen Wenhao continued, "The country can gather the strength of the whole country to do space projects, but for ordinary people, except for rocket launches and the like, they will pay attention to and talk about it, and it will take less than two days to be led away by gossip news." It's hard to pay attention to it. The reason is simple, too far from ordinary people. "For ordinary people, in today's entertainment-oriented society, isn't it funny to have variety shows in your spare time? Or is it not pretty? Or is it not exciting? If you still want people to care about aerospace, why don't you go to heaven?

"I understand, that's why you insist on setting the price so low, 50,000 yuan, several foreign private aerospace companies have been having a hard time recently, and when the news of this test flight is released, they probably have to cry and faint in the office." Dai Yuqian nodded.

"Yes, that's what it means, lower the barrier to entry so that more people have the opportunity to participate in person. It's 50,000 now, maybe 5,000 or 500 in the future, and I believe that one day, going to space will be like going to the suburbs for a road trip. ”

Dai Yuqian's beautiful eyes were bright as if she could seep water, "I believe in you!" I wish that day would come sooner! "If it weren't for the wrong occasion now, I'm afraid she would have pounced. Therefore, people with lofty ideals will shine, and people with lofty ideals and the ability to achieve them will shine and be charming.

The two people in the front were chatting quietly, while the people in the back two rows were hurrying to watch the scenery outside the window or record the experience of this test flight. All the testing and recording of the test flight is done automatically by the instruments on both aircraft, and as a passenger, you can feel the whole process and see what needs to be improved in terms of ride comfort. Therefore, the candidates are basically technical personnel, without professional training, and their physical fitness is average, so they can better simulate the situation of ordinary passengers.

After a while, the electronic tone sounded again, "30 seconds countdown to return, please make sure that you have worn the safety device correctly." ”

The aircraft began to adjust its flight attitude and switch engine systems.

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"It's coming! Here it comes! In the outdoor observation area of the Yidong base, after more than an hour of waiting, everyone was still interested. In the past, through the real-time images transmitted by the aircraft, the people present seemed to participate in the circumnavigation of the earth in space hundreds of kilometers away. Everyone understands that what is being witnessed today is a milestone event that is enough to be recorded in China's space history, nay, the world's space history.

"Our spacecraft has switched to the rocket engine system, and after completing the angle matching, the spacecraft will re-enter the atmosphere at high speed. Oh, it's already started! ”

On the projection screen, a dazzling tail flame appeared from the tail of the manned aircraft and began to accelerate in the direction of the earth. This footage is from another unmanned aerial vehicle, which will also fly in orbit for several days to collect data for scientific research needs, and is currently working as a long-range shot.

In the picture, the manned vehicle keeps moving away, becoming smaller, until it is impossible to distinguish, and then switches to the external video signal on the manned vehicle: there is basically no formed picture, and a bright halo flashes in the dynamic haze. This is a high-temperature phenomenon caused by the friction of the aircraft entering the atmosphere at high speed.

Suddenly, the light screen went completely black and the signal was interrupted.

"Now the aircraft is about 90 kilometers above the ground and has entered the black barrier area, and all signals cannot be transmitted for the time being." The narrator began to explain how the Black Barrier was formed, but everyone's attention was still focused on the light screen, even though there was nothing on it.

At this time, the three minutes seemed to be very long, and the voices in the field were much quieter.

Suddenly, the dimmed light screen reappeared, and the halo of the fuselage and the shock wave of the nose were gone. The data showed that the aircraft was forty kilometers above the ground.

After this friction buffer, the speed of the aircraft is significantly reduced. But this deceleration is relative, and even if it slows down, it still quickly reaches an altitude of 10 kilometers above the ground.

If it is a mainstream spacecraft, it is already necessary to release the parachute and start artificial deceleration. The rocket engine began to output surging power, and under the control of intelligent programs, it was pushed back to slow down.

Several experts from the army and the space agency have long been sitting together and have begun a lively discussion:

"The payload of this spacecraft is definitely more than the data on paper."

"It's almost certain that we came back with so much fuel, it's amazing."

"And their spacesuits, which are light and thin, but the physiological monitoring data of the passengers is very stable throughout the whole process, which shows that it has played a role."

"None of them are called spacesuits, they are called anti-load suits internally."

"What are you kidding, this can only be regarded as anti-load clothing, so is it called casual wear?"

"I don't just see the progress of clothes, the main thing is the advantages of the body, look at the information here, the maximum overload 3G! Our spacecraft is going to exceed 6G. ”

"In short, this is a big treasure, and I will mention to the leaders in a moment that we must strengthen cooperation with them."

"That's what I'm going to do!"

"So do we!"

The aircraft in the air has been pushed by the rocket engine in the opposite direction, and the high-speed kinetic energy has been basically dissolved.

5 km!

3 km! The electric engine began to switch to work, and the aircraft corrected its direction in the air and landed towards the runway area of Yidong Park.

The original silver-white body has a little black surface due to high-speed friction with the atmosphere, but it does not affect its beautiful water drop shape and is still handsome, quietly landing vertically in the preset runway area.

In the field of vision of everyone in the observation area, a large number of vehicles rushed up.

Successful return!