There are a total of 21,400 such small nuclear fusion engines in the "Kunlun Mountains", and they are distributed in various locations in all directions of the Kunlun Mountains. Such a design not only brings advantages in mechanical construction, but also brings another benefit - the ability to take risks is very strong.

Even if some of the small engines in Kunlun Mountain are damaged, as long as the rest can be started, the spacecraft will still be able to sail normally and will not lose its mobility.

These small nuclear fusion devices are a ready-made technology for Earth's civilization, and they are now quite mature. It is more efficient than the previous large engines to use nuclear fuel and can convert more mass into energy.

The huge energy generated by the nuclear reaction will be transformed into a high-energy microblog through a special device in the engine room to propel the spacecraft, and the other part will be a traditional ion engine that sprays out a stream of hot plasma.

Only the dual methods of microwave propulsion and plasma propulsion can give this billion-ton mothership enough forward momentum.

"Are the last of the people back?" After carefully checking the parameters of each key part, Zhang Yuan asked the assistant beside him.

The young assistant in the secretary's office is named Li Cheng, 43 years old, proficient in physics and mathematics, 43 years old is still the standard of young people in the current era, but he is already one of the candidates for the deputy captain of the Kunlun Mountain. I have to say that the entire civilization has been full of talents and elites for so many years, and many geniuses have been born.

"Report to the captain, they're all back."

Now that all the matters of the Gliese people have come to an end, Zhang Yuan also breathed a sigh of relief, "Then, six hours later, the first test flight of the Kunlun Mountain will officially begin!" ”

The captain's order was quickly communicated, and the various crews on the ship were busy.

Of course, this voyage was just a test flight, and the mothership was not loaded with a large number of people and cargo. For the first test flight, a large number of defects will inevitably be exposed during the flight, and unified improvements will be needed at that time.

Six hours passed quickly, and the beautiful female reporter on the TV station was riding in a small spaceship, conducting a live broadcast with great emotion.

"The Wandering Project guides us to touch all kinds of civilizations...... Even though the road may be bumpy, it may be full of thorns, and it may encounter powerful enemies that will put us at risk of total annihilation......"

"But we won't regret it......"

More than 10 million people are witnessing the first sea trials of this mothership on the surface. The sound of lively discussion and the voice of the TV station mingled together.

As the last second passed, suddenly, a milky white glow bloomed in the sky, muffling out all the noise. It's as if more than 20,000 little suns suddenly appeared, completely illuminating the whole earth!

Viewed from the surface, powerful plasma pulses mark fluorescent lamps that are visible to the naked eye and stretch for tens of thousands of kilometers.

The power of the 21,400 small engines was so strong that the camera was already filled with a white glow. Even the young lady of the reporter who was broadcasting was stunned for a few seconds, and then she remembered her business, adjusted the aperture of the camera, and began to popularize common sense in microwave propulsion.

"Ah, after all this distance, the temperature of our spacesuit has risen to 300 degrees Celsius...... It's just a powerful little sun...... They are our latest engine technology, the microwave engine. ”

"The specific impulse of this energy engine is very high, and it may have reached the extreme of conventional propulsion......"

"Let's compare the two modes of propulsion."

"Conventional fusion engines can theoretically reach jet speeds of up to 20,000 km/s. The thrust speed of a microwave is the speed of light, roughly 300,000 km/s. It seems that the latter is more than 15 times higher than the impulse, but unfortunately, this type of pure energy engine consumes a lot of energy. ”

"The propulsion consumption of a microwave engine is about 100 megawatts/newton, and the fusion propulsion is about 10 megawatts/newton at a jet speed of 20,000 km/s. With the same driving force in the summer, the energy consumption of the microwave engine is 100 times that of the ion engine! ”

In fact, it is a simple sentence, the total energy, the total mass ratio is a certain number, the specific impulse has an optimal value, and the material utilization efficiency is the highest...... Therefore, the combination of the two engines can make the spacecraft maneuverable to the maximum. ”

"Of course, these two types of propulsion are just an aid to ultra-long-distance interstellar voyages, because we have discovered a new kind of cosmic string propulsion that exploits the universe itself...... New technology from the Golden Sun's human branch! ”

However, no one paid any attention to the popular science of the TV station, and the engineers, scientists, and students on the surface were all cheering feverishly, cheering for the first long-distance trial of the "Kunlun Mountain".

"When I graduate from college, I'll be on a spaceship! Ha ha! ”

"I can't wait!"

A middle-aged man in his 100s said: "No, no, no, you must know that interstellar voyages are actually very boring. The vast majority of logarithmic time is spent in the void...... Sometimes I have to hibernate, but it's not that happy. ”

The young man shook his head, "But don't you think this kind of interstellar travel is very romantic?" And we now have a new way to move forward...... It doesn't take a lifetime to get to another planet. ”

"Thanks to the humans of the Golden Sun, when will we send a message to them, our development is also very good!"

……

Inside the main control room of "Kunlun Mountain", Zhang Yuan and others were also nervously observing the changes in various parameters in the spacecraft. To be honest, because the tonnage of this spacecraft is too large, very high requirements are placed on the properties of the materials as well as the mechanical structure of the spacecraft itself.

Therefore, the vast majority of the spaceship's area is composed of distributed structures. Because it is impossible for a single keel to withstand such a huge tonnage, it is not so much that Kunlun Mountain is a super mothership, but that it is a combination of 36 large spaceships!

The complexity of its voyage and the cooperation between each other far surpass the former "Earth Age"!

"Fortunately, with the productivity of 13 universal factories, it would not have been possible to produce so many new materials in just a few decades." Zhang Yuan looked nervously at the various data on the screen, at this time, most of the commands were executed by artificial intelligence, and the part that humans could operate was very small.

"Kunlun Mountain" also uses biomaterials similar to those of the universal factory in some parts, especially the sensor location.