At the same time, the research team composed of veteran employees of East Galaxy Company showed envy and jealousy when they heard that Shin Incheon had overcome the difficulty of biological machines and received a merit award of 2.5 million yuan.

Still, thinking that they are gradually approaching the ultimate goal of the miniaturization of fusion energy reactors, they are very confident that in a few months, a similar reward will definitely fall on their heads.

The miniaturization of fusion energy reactors is a concern for many people, including the exploration department, the trade department, and then the combat department, all of which have complained that their fusion energy reactors are "stupid and thick", even if they are reduced by 50%, they will become much lighter, and there is a way to popularize them more widely.

So at a very early point in time, the honorary advisor gave an order to the research department, and a large reward was offered for the team that had a solution to the problem.

The miniature reactor is indeed a problem, at least in the first year, the team that was specially formed and attached to the basic science group has made little progress.

Their result was a 5% reduction in the size of fusion energy reactors, which was not enough until the discovery of a material called "heavy sodium" in 2030, which allowed them to find the light of day.

What are the difficulties in miniaturization? To put it simply, in the energy conversion stage, in order to convert the amazing heat energy released by fusion into electricity, this part of the heat energy must first be converted into water vapor in the form of water, and then push a machine like a hydroelectric generator to operate, so as to generate an electric current.

Such a set of conversion processes, even if water is one of the few extremely endothermic substances in the world, because the heat energy released during the operation of the reactor is too large, a large enough pool has to be built inside the reactor to accommodate the circulation of water, and this part of the volume even accounts for 2/3 of the reactor.

The water in the pools must absorb enough heat and ensure that the vapor pressure of the vapor is not too strong to cause an explosion that it is difficult to shrink these pools.

Their research hit a dead end.

What is sodium? It is a newly discovered atomic-level material by human beings, the atomic arrangement is extremely dense, with 1.5 times the heat absorption of water, the melting point of sodium under this special structure arrangement is 1500 degrees Celsius, and electrons will naturally precipitate during the temperature rise, thus generating an electric current.

With the discovery of this new single-crystal material, scientists have discovered a solution to the problem, which is to switch to heavy sodium as a new energy conversion material.

They wrap a small layer of heavy sodium foam around the core of the reactor, and during the fusion process, the high temperature released from the inner wall will be absorbed by the heavy sodium and then converted into electric current, skipping the intermediate step of turning thermal energy into electrical energy.

As a result, the original tank volume was reduced by 80%, leaving room for a generator, and it was not long before the first prototype of a new type of heavy sodium fusion energy reactor was put into trial operation in the laboratory.

The new prototype reactor is less than 40 meters square, and has the same power generation efficiency as the original deuterium-tritium fusion energy reactor, which can be easily installed in the Hengyue-class spacecraft. Therefore, Cao Chuan, who learned of the advent of the new reactor, did not hesitate to throw out a reward of 3 million merits to commend individual researchers who have performed well in the research process, as well as team leaders.

Spurred on by the heavy financial reward, it didn't take long for the researchers to make persistent efforts to build a 20-meter-square reactor, which was enough to fit into a small and medium-sized spaceship.

At this time, with the advancement of technology and the popularization of materials, as well as the cost reduction brought about by mass production, the price of small and medium-sized spacecraft has generally dropped to about 100 million, and the price of the spacecraft will be increased by five or six times with a heavy sodium fusion energy reactor, and the speed is at the level of the second-generation spacecraft, with at least 5000 km / s, so it is not a loss at all, I believe that there will be a lot of rich people interested in buying, and they will be able to travel the solar system without any obstacles.

In addition to spacecraft, the 20-meter fusion energy reactor can also be used in military bases, private estates, large construction machinery, space stations and other space requirements, and also has amazing energy requirements.

Since the end of the Second Battle of Pluto, because of the acceptance of the legacy of the Church of the Old God, as well as the talent reserve, technology accumulation, and wisdom stimulation, higher education has reached a new height, and the East Galaxy has ushered in a new technological explosion, all kinds of technologies are dizzying, in addition to biological machines and miniature reactors, there are many technologies that can be called milestones, which are completely completed without Cao Chuan's personal participation.

Another example is the new generation of xenon difluoride batteries, which increase the energy density by 100% compared with the existing batteries, as a result, the quantitative change produces a qualitative change, which triggers a major change in the weapons and equipment of individual soldiers.

Ordinary soldiers can be equipped with light beam guns, electromagnetic guns, and exoskeleton armor for a long time, while unmanned units can be equipped with light beam guns and electromagnetic guns, which means that human beings can finally get rid of the traditional gun system that has gradually developed and derived from 500 years ago, and enter a new stage of development of energy weapons and kinetic weapons.

There is also a sensation in the scientific community "dark energy observation experiment", also led by Professor Russell himself, to say that the practicality is absolutely nothing, but dark energy as the core of basic science, this is the first time that human beings, inspired by the unknown, directly observed the existence of dark energy, thus adding a corroboration to the theory of accelerated expansion of the universe.

As for the use of dark energy, it must be too early, and human beings can't even use dark matter! Cao Chuan knows that this kind of illusory simulation of the rules of things cannot help, after all, many of the topics of basic scientific research may not be credible theories until thousands of years later, and many of them are completely conceptual assumptions.

It seems that thousands of years ago, human beings studied how to "live forever", and the super technology of "flying to the moon and the moon" may have some results, but most of them are not systematic, and there is no way to build on the existing scientific basis, and it is not until now that this part of the technology has been implemented.

In any case, it is a good thing to have a way to observe dark energy, and it will give rise to a lot of new technology trees, which Cao Chuan is very interested in, first of all, with the help of observing dark energy, they may have a way to see the structure of another cosmic world that cannot be seen by the naked eye and cosmic microwave radiation, and on the other hand, it is to try to capture and interfere with dark energy, so that two branches of the technology tree full of light.

……