The weather conditions on this day were good, and the Pacific Ocean was as far as the eye could see.

The water is clear and blue, and the occasional sea breeze passes by, causing a sparkling wave.

Kokolas Island is still surrounded by white sand, swaying green trees, and blue skies and blue seas on all sides.

However, this uninhabited island, which has always been calm and lonely, has also begun to undercurrent today.

At the Pacific Base of the Interstellar Exploration Alliance, in the No. 3 Super Laboratory of the Science Group Aerospace Research Institute.

A spacecraft with a length of 80 meters and a maximum width of 30 meters is moored in the center of the superlab.

This is the new generation of improved Starship spaceship.

At this time, a large number of staff and scientists are gathering in the super laboratory.

"Everything is ready, let's start shipping." It was none other than Trunik's fellow American, Dr. Lily.

"Okay, activate the conveyor." Another worker presses the start command.

Directly below the Starship spaceship is a platform that can rotate at multiple angles, and the platform is adjusting to the optimal angle.

Once the angle is adjusted, the platform is perfectly connected to a straight track leading to the core area of the Pacific base.

"The Starship spaceship is ready to depart, heading to the launch site in the core area of the base." Staff continue to give instructions.

Immediately afterward, the platform carrying the Starship spacecraft began to move along the orbit towards the launch site in the core area at a slow speed.

Half an hour later, the Starship spacecraft arrived at the launch site in the core area

If you look down at Kokolas Island from the air, you can see a large sandy clearing in the center of the island.

On a normal day, there is nothing wrong with this empty sandy area.

However, since this morning, from time to time there are bursts of low sounds of machinery running from the depths of the earth.

Suddenly, with a strong roar, the entire ground seemed to be gradually torn apart by a huge force.

The cracks between the ground are getting bigger and longer.

However, what is surprising is that the sand and gravel that originally covered the ground did not fall in all directions, but disappeared with the ground intact.

If you look closely, you can see that the sand in the open space is just a rubber model attached to a metal plate.

When the sand is completely hidden, a large layer of dark black metal can be seen, which is completely enclosed.

The roar continued, and in a few moments, the dark black metal layer split apart again, and disappeared in all directions.

At the same time, a huge platform is gradually revealed, which is the launch site hidden in the core area of the IEA's Pacific base.

An unfinished launch tower, a giant launch vehicle, and a starship spacecraft are waiting at the launch site.

One has to admire the design and builders of the IEA underground base, which on the one hand greatly increases the secrecy of the base, and at the same time solves the problem of transporting giant materials such as spaceships and launch vehicles from the underground base to the surface.

In the past, Yuan Haochen even heard a few scientists speculate that the entire IEA Pacific base is actually a giant spaceship that is constantly being built and improved!

Of course, Hara Haochen considered that the earth did not yet have such a powerful carrying capacity to send such a behemoth into space.

So, he didn't believe it.

After a full day of commissioning and installation, with the joint efforts of many staff members at IEA's Pacific base.

The tall launch tower finally towered over the launch site, and the Starship spacecraft was perfectly mounted on a giant launch vehicle.

Taking into account security and stability, environmental protection factors, and the constraints of the international Atmospheric Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty.

In this operation, the Pacific base of the Interstellar Exploration Alliance still plans to use traditional chemical rocket thrusters to transport various components, including the Starship spacecraft, the separable nuclear power thruster, the Martian habitation module, and the Quanyue Mars landing vehicle, to Earth orbit, and then complete the assembly work.

At present, the science and technology of space navigation organized by the IEA is in a period of innovation in which nuclear power alternates with traditional chemical propulsion systems.

Essentially. The technical level of the nuclear propulsion system organized by the IEA is still in a relatively early stage.

In order to develop a nuclear-powered space propulsion system, the Interstellar Exploration Alliance established the Nuclear Power Research Institute at the end of the 20th century.

After nearly 50 years of hard work, the Nuclear Power Research Institute has finally stepped into the threshold of nuclear power space propulsion technology.

The nuclear power system in a spacecraft is not the same as the nuclear power system on the ground.

The use of nuclear propulsion systems in space must consider a range of issues such as volume, energy consumption, cooling, and the threat to astronauts' health from radiation.

NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) began to research nuclear thrust rockets as early as the last century, but the United States has not been able to develop a practical nuclear thrust engine until now, and the only result is a nuclear ion rocket with less thrust, which is only suitable for use on planetary probes, but it is far from enough to be used for manned interstellar travel.

Based on the current state of the art, scientists at the IEA's Nuclear Power Research Institute at the Pacific Base have designed three models for nuclear propulsion systems:

The first model: because there is no medium such as water or air in space, according to Newton's third law of motion (action and reaction), it is not possible to use propellers and must use jets. So, when a large amount of heat energy is generated in a nuclear reactor, a propellant (such as liquid hydrogen) is injected, and the propellant expands rapidly under heat, and then ejects from the tail of the engine at high speed, generating thrust. This method is currently the easiest to use, but the actual speed gain effect is limited, and it does not meet the needs of ultra-long-distance interstellar travel.

The second model is that a nuclear reactor produces a lot of high-speed moving ions, and we use a magnetic field to control the direction of the ejection of these energetic particles, so that the rocket will have a recoil motion. The advantage of this method is that the push ratio is abnormally large, there is no need to carry any media, and it is highly persistent. Unfortunately, it is still difficult to effectively harness these high-energy particles with the current technical capabilities. Therefore, NASA has spent so many years only researching suitable for the use of nuclear ion rockets on planetary probes.

The third model: this is the simple, straightforward and brutal acceleration designed by the IEA's Institute of Nuclear Power – using a controlled "nuclear explosion".

It's a very bold and crazy way. In this model, it is no longer a matter of using controlled nuclear reactions, nor is it a question of fusion or nuclear fission. Because in space, there is no essential difference between the total amount of recoil from stable nuclear fusion and nuclear explosions.

The propulsion system that uses a stable and controllable "nuclear explosion" to propel the spacecraft is called the "Nuclear Pulse Propulsion System" by the IEA's Nuclear Power Research Institute.

In theory, just like the crude metaphor of the director of the Institute of Astrophysics, Watt, "we have to complete one nuclear explosion after another like igniting Chinese firecrackers behind the butt of a spacecraft." ”

However, in the actual operation, it must rely on extremely delicate technical means, and its complexity is unimaginable to ordinary people.

In the [Nuclear Pulse Propulsion System] designed by the IEA Nuclear Power Research Institute, the nuclear fuel loaded in the power system is accurately refined into a large number of microequivalent nuclear fuel individuals, and then combined according to the matrix method, the detonation is released in the propulsion disc at the tail of the spacecraft one by one according to the needs during the actual flight, so as to generate continuous and powerful propulsion energy. This method is simple and crude, but the acceleration effect on the spacecraft is very significant, and the requirements for the controllability of the nuclear reaction are relatively low.

In addition, the IEA Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics has designed a reliable isolation device between the nuclear propulsion system and the spacecraft control center, which greatly increases the weight of the spacecraft, but can ensure that the astronauts will not be affected by radiation and high heat from the [nuclear pulse propulsion system].

IEA Pacific Base Core Area Launch Site.

After the professional engineering and technical personnel did the final inspection and operation before takeoff, they quickly evacuated the launch site.

The first to be launched into Earth orbit is a new-generation Starship spacecraft equipped with both conventional propulsion systems and the latest nuclear power systems.

In this launch mission, except for Keanu Reeves, the pilot of the Quanyue Mars landing vehicle (the Mars habitation module will be sent to Earth orbit without a pilot), all the other astronauts and scientists involved in this Mars exploration operation have entered the Starship spacecraft in turn.

Yuan Haochen and the others had already made the final preparations before the launch in accordance with the posture required during the training.

"God, it's the first time I've been to space, and I'm really a little excited." Durunik said excitedly.

"You'll be comfortable when you launch in a while, keep your mouth shut, and don't speak from now on. You won't want to try the air pressing out of your lungs! Team Leader Frank turned his head to look at Durunik and ordered.

"Understood."

Yuan Haochen on the side also adjusted his posture slightly and tried to calm down his emotions as much as possible

Located in the central command center of the Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, the directors of various research institutes and other key leaders of the Pacific base have long been gathered here.

In the underground launch control center, Gianna, president of the Aerospace Research Institute, who served as the commander of the launch mission, was staring at the countdown time indication system on the electronic screen and carefully listening to every detection value reported by the personnel at various posts.

"Ten Minutes to Prepare" ......

"Five-minute preparation" ......

"One Minute Prep" ......

"Let's go!!"

Gianna had a serious face and issued the activation command in a solemn tone.

As soon as the words fell, there was an endless loud roar from the launch site.

The tail of the most powerful carrier rocket ever spewed brilliant flames, showing earth-shaking might, rising from the ground, breaking through the clouds and fog, and soaring into the sky.

The rocket soared in the blue sky and gradually became a small bright spot, piercing through the atmosphere and disappearing from people's view.

At the same time, dozens of sets of communications equipment are being placed around the world to accurately measure, record, and report the flight speed, altitude, and attitude of the launch vehicle at every instant. "It's working!" Flying normally!"

In the flight control center, the automatic recorder continuously depicts the curve of the flight trajectory of the launch vehicle on the display.

"Successfully entered the scheduled orbit around the Earth!"

As the news of the victory came from the monitoring center, the entire IEA Pacific base suddenly burst into long-lasting applause

(To be continued) (Welcome to join the book friends exchange group: 529839423)

(I'm busy today, so I'll update a chapter, and write as much as I can in this chapter.) ）