Qianyan finished upgrading in the early morning, and an hour later, Xiaotang came to the medical area, and ignored Xiao Huan, who was huddled in Xia Ming's arms, and shook Xia Ming awake with a small snoring.

"Okay, let's start", after enjoying an early breakfast, Xia Ming cheered up and connected to Qianyan, Qianyan's virtual image appeared in front of him, and smiled softly: "Hello, Xia Ming, please command." ”

Xia Ming asked, "How do you feel?" ”

"The world has become bigger, I have seen farther, and my thinking has become sharper", Qianyan said softly, Xia Ming gave Xiaotang a thumbs up, Xiaotang tilted his chin and accepted the praise unceremoniously.

For Qianyan, the "world" is the problems and knowledge that her thinking can touch, and when she becomes stronger, she can understand more problems and think faster, and for her, the world expands. And to exert such an ability is the meaning of her life, if she really has life.

"You should already have a few directions", Xiaotang didn't leave, and wanted to help Xia Ming complete the "gesture".

Xia Ming does have some directions, there are conventional batteries, there are fuel cells, solar energy is also an alternative, nuclear batteries and even small nuclear reactors are on the list. If all other roads don't work, no matter how risky it is, he will have to choose the nuclear route.

"Is there hope for graphene batteries?" Xia Ming talked about the conventional direction first.

Xiaotang gave him a roll of his eyes: "You are still a scientist, do you believe in this kind of civil science thing?" ”

The concept of graphene has been hot for several years, and it is a crystal made of a single layer of carbon atoms in graphite, because it is only as thick as a layer of atoms, and macroscopically it is a two-dimensional structure.

The discovery process of graphene is still talked about by scientists, and the two Britons completely glued the graphite layer by layer with adhesive tape, and finally glued out the two-dimensional graphene.

Because of the single-layer grid structure of carbon crystals, graphene has excellent properties in terms of strength, light transmission and electrical conductivity. It is called a new generation of "universal materials" by humans.

Not strong enough material? Add a little graphene. Insufficient conductivity? Add a little graphene. Poor thermal conductivity? Add a little graphene.

That's nothing, and graphene is also being touted as a core cornerstone to replace silicon as the next generation of computers. The conductive properties of graphene have also made many people have high hopes for its application in the energy field, such as batteries, which are touted as energy stars that can run 1,000 kilometers in 10 minutes.

Graphene, at least in the graphene industry in recent years. It's more of a bubble hyped up by public opinion. The biggest problem is that graphene is a two-dimensional crystal, and its large-scale commercial production is still a technical insurmountable hurdle.

The hype of graphene by public opinion lies in confusing graphene as a different application in the micro and macro fields. Not only graphene, but also all nanomaterials, there is such a problem.

Graphene as an additive can be strengthened in many directions to other materials, but this change is not revolutionary. Speculative capital is more willing to show how many new applications graphene will create and how many fields it will have a revolutionary impact.

But they render those directions. It is the application of graphene when it exists as a macroscopic alone.

Graphene as an additive can be obtained by simple processing of graphite powder. But if graphene can be applied alone, it is not the small structure that can be dissociated from the graphite powder, let alone a small piece of graphene that can be put together into a large piece of graphene, remember, it is a two-dimensional crystal.

The media serving speculative capital has been touting how far the price of graphene has fallen, indicating how mature the graphene industry is. These media will never tell the public that there is another dimension to the price of graphene: area.

1 gram of 1 yuan of graphene. That is, a structure with an area of less than 1 square micron. And graphene, which can reach an area of one square meter, has not yet been made. Only companies like Samsung, IBM, etc. At present, hundreds of square centimeters of graphene have been made, but the price of a single piece is calculated at 100 US dollars per square centimeter, and the larger the area, the higher the average price.

It is the application of this graphene that is promoted by speculative capital and the media, and in reality everyone is still looking for various applications of graphene as an additive. But the shareholders don't know, so in the country. "Graphene concept stocks" have also been booming for several years, and it was not until a few years later that these companies had not tossed anything, and this graphene fever gradually cooled down. As for leaving a big hole similar to the photovoltaic industry, speculative capital doesn't care about this kind of thing, they have enough in the stock market and the government.

"Wronged". Xia Ming argued: "Of course I know this, but haven't you made a breakthrough?" ”

That's right, Xiaotang has been making little progress in researching the outer packaging of anchor components, but it has unexpectedly lit up another branch of the graphene manufacturing process technology tree.

By editing the DNA of cloned neurons, she created a special protein that can adsorb graphene in an electric field, similar to the CVD production method, but the matrix is replaced by a protein. In her materials lab, twenty square centimeters of graphene have been produced. If it weren't for the fact that she was busy with Xiaoping's surgery during this time, as well as Qianyan's upgrade, she would have almost broken the records of Samsung and IBM.

Xiaotang gave Xia Ming another blow: "Then do you know that the so-called graphene battery is a lie at all?" ”

"Hmm...... Yes? Xia Ming hurriedly asked Xia Xiaoyan to find information, and after a while, he also smiled bitterly.

It's really a lie, there is a problem with the concept of "graphene battery", graphene as an additive for cathodes, can improve the charging speed, which is true, but there are also some side effects, good or bad are difficult to evaluate, and no battery company has burned money for that charging efficiency. As for graphene as an anode, it seems to greatly improve the capacity of the battery in theory, but the large specific surface area brought by the single-layer carbon atomic structure deviates from the process principle of the existing battery.

"The prospect of graphene materials can be expected at present is flexible electronic screens, flexible electronic components and hybrid with silicon crystals to manufacture a new generation of computer chips, etc., graphene batteries need to overturn the existing battery industry system to achieve, and the efficiency is still in the same order of magnitude as the existing batteries."

In the few minutes that Xiaotang and Xia Ming were nagging, Qianyan had already given an assessment report.

Xiaotang sighed: "I see, it's still a little safer in the direction of nuclear batteries, of course." There are real risks associated with this. ”

Nuclear batteries are indeed feasible, at least in the field of astronautics. Huaxia's "Tiangong-3" space station uses nuclear batteries, and the American Curiosity rover that landed on Mars seven years ago is also equipped with nuclear batteries, so there are no solar panels, which really made many people very curious at that time.

Nuclear batteries are also not so scary. In the past, the old pacemaker also used nuclear batteries.

However, there are two types of nuclear batteries, one that provides electricity by radiation, and the other that converts electricity from heat. The power of the former is pitifully small, and to be used as power, only the latter can be used. The latter material is generally plutonium-238, which needs to convert thermal energy into electrical energy.

"1 kilogram of plutonium-238 thermal power is equal to 570 watts of electric furnace, and the nuclear battery unit of the Curiosity rover weighs 45 kilograms and generates 140 watts of electricity. The nuclear battery of the Cassini-Huygens Saturn spacecraft generates 880 watts of electricity. If the existing foundation is improved, a 500-kilogram nuclear battery pack can achieve 3 kilowatts of power generation. ”

"But to promote 10 megawatt VASIMR to achieve an average speed of 104,000 kilometers per hour in two months, it is far from enough, the total design weight of the entire detector is 1.2 tons, if the detection equipment is 200 kilograms, the design weight of 10 megawatt VASIMR cannot exceed 500 kilograms, analyze the structure and weight of 200 kilowatt VASIMR. There is less than a 20 per cent chance that this goal will be achieved within fifteen months. ”

"Also, in the public information. Only the United States has the large-scale production capacity of plutonium-238, with an annual output of less than 1 kilogram, which is a national core strategic resource. The isotope plutonium-239 is used in the manufacture of nuclear weapons at a production cost of $5,000 per gram, and plutonium-238 is at least twice as expensive as 239. ”

"Even if the United States is willing to sell plutonium-238, it will not be allowed to leave the country. Only the engine and the probe can be handed over to the United States, which will assemble and launch them. ”

Qianyan's analysis cut off Xia Ming's idea of using nuclear batteries, and while looking at the various battery technologies listed by Qianyan in the AR field of vision, Qianyan said: "If the weight of the probe is limited to 500 kilograms, and the rocket is sent to a high orbit of 40,000 kilometers." Given enough muzzle velocity for the probe, a 200-kilogram solar pack could power 300 kilograms of 1 megawatt VASIMR with improved solar cell technology, allowing the probe to fly to Homo sapiens in 90 days. According to the analysis of the academic materials I searched, the probability is more than 70%. ”

Qianyan really deserves to be a powerful GEI, after understanding Xia Ming's overall concept, he used his thinking ability to be close to a person but faster and more accurate, and found a barely feasible plan, but it was just ......

Xiaotang asked: "What about the detection equipment and the control system?" ”

Xia Ming's eyes flashed, and he saw hope: "Squeeze out a margin of 100 kilograms from the battery and engine, the neuron chip is the control system, the weight is very small, and the detection equipment is ...... All you need is a camera and a searchlight. ”

"Chiyan MINI!?" Xiaotang also understood: "It's a good way, but it's not good to explain to the people you recruited." And what if it's not like collecting all three components, just looking at them? ”

Xia Ming said: "This is the first step, the sooner the better, when the first step is out, we will immediately prepare the second step." If we just need to look at it, it's our luck, if not, the second probe can go up to the sky, and we even have to prepare the third step to send people over. ”

Solar cells are only an emergency, which does not mean that they can let go in terms of energy, Xia Ming still has to make a breakthrough in energy technology as soon as possible, otherwise he will not be able to support the second step plan.

"That's a lot of money, I hope our companies can hold it", Xiaotang sighed faintly.

Xia Ming said indifferently: "You have to do it if you smash the pot and sell iron." ”

The next day, the members of the springboard project team happily connected to Qianyan, and then received a voicemail from Xia Ming.

Xia Ming's voice was a little hoarse, but what he said made everyone happy.

The plan is changed, first start to develop a 1 MW VASIMR, this difficulty is not high, there is a super GEI in, the equipment and materials are complete, only need to do feasibility verification for a maximum of half a month, if everything goes well, the feasibility verification will be directly transferred to the actual machine manufacturing, optimistic estimate of up to two months.

The next instruction left them dumbfounded, and they got 1 megawatt, and then 10 megawatts!

"Xiao Xia is really crazy", Dongfang Sheng muttered, but he, like everyone else, smiled brighter than just now on his face after a while.

It's no longer a crazy gamble, but a little more serious, and the cycle is longer, which is certainly a great thing for scientists.

However, the person in charge of the rocket assembly was muttering, Xia Ming only gave the control and detection system a mass index of 100 kg, what can this do? (To be continued.) )