The development of the light-pressure engine has entered a new phase - the first take-off and landing tests are about to take place.

Zang Chunlai is the general manager of the Aviation Spacecraft Industry Company, he is not a professional R&D personnel, but he has been following the design and manufacturing, and now, about to enter the take-off and landing test, he still feels that the speed is too fast.

Whether it is a researcher or an engineer, they all have the same feeling as Zang Chunlai.

The design of the light-pressure engine was completed by the research group, and a large number of engineers were involved in the manufacturing stage, and they assembled it step by step according to the requirements of the design, and completed the entire device in nine months.

The engine was built by their own hands, and they should have more confidence and expectation, but when they looked at the big man with a diameter of more than 100 meters up close, they felt a little unreal, and the thought of imminent take-off and landing tests always caused them to feel worried.

Worries are mainly reflected in three points.

Some researchers are worried about the theory, and the theory of the light-pressure engine was put forward in the sixties of the last century.

So, is the theory necessarily correct?

If the theory of the light-pressure engine was problematic, everything they had done up to now would have become meaningless.

The second is the design.

Even if Wang Hao leads the project of the light-pressure engine, is the design really perfect enough to make such a large man lift off at the light pressure?

Finally, there are the problems that may arise during the manufacturing process.

Even a very small mechanism can fail when it is manufactured, let alone such a large one.

Although they have done a lot of testing and fixed a lot of problems in the middle, what kind of major failures will occur when the take-off and landing tests are carried out?

It's not a breakdown, it's likely to be a big accident.

A lot of people are worried about this.

All they can do is put their work seriously into the work, constantly testing every part to prevent any unexpected things that may happen.

This concern is also normal.

In just nine months, a lot of materials, money and manpower have been invested in the light pressure engine project, and if the test fails, and the engine is smashed from the air to the ground, it is simply unimaginable, or even unimaginable.

"There is an oversized safety umbrella on it that opens instantly if it fails...... But I don't think it's very useful, I can only say that it can reduce the impact to the ground a little bit. ”

"If this happens, the concave mirror will definitely be greatly damaged."

"The core of the current engine is the concave mirror, which occupies most of the mass and space, and the other equipment is secondary......"

A lot of people talk privately about what might happen, and the more they discuss, the more nervous they become, "Who has specific news?" When do take-off and landing tests start? ”

"According to what I know about Academician Wang, it should be carried out according to the plan."

"Isn't that the end of this round of testing?"

"Yes~~~"

"So fast? I think it's prudent to wait a few more months......"

"This kind of large-scale project, it feels like it should be tested for a few years, and then risky testing, and now it's just too fast."

"yes, I see it that way, too."

Of course, their views are meaningless, and the final decision is made by Wang Hao.

After Wang Hao made a decision, he finalized the test time as soon as possible, and then wrote a report and submitted it to the higher authorities.

This test is no ordinary experiment.

The light-pressure engine has received international attention and is also the largest project in China, and the first lifting test is very important, and there will definitely be a leading group to come and watch.

Of course, every experiment in the future is important.

The first time is always different, and the success of the light-pressure engine in the air shows that there is no problem with their theory and design direction, and it can also break some doubts in public opinion.

For example, some people think that the theory of the light-pressure engine is wrong, and some people think that the light-pressure engine is impossible to complete, and it is just an imaginary technology.

More people in public opinion question the issues of theory and design.

The theory of the light pressure engine is that it is necessary to produce a high temperature of more than 50,000 degrees Celsius to ensure that the light pressure is strong enough.

If the temperature is below 50,000 degrees Celsius, the light pressure created will drop exponentially, and the thrust on the spacecraft will not even catch up with the thruster effect, not to mention that the light pressure engine is so large that it may not even be able to push itself.

Of course, there are worries and doubts, but there are also trust and expectations.

The latter account for a very small proportion.

Paul Phil-Jones is one of them, and when he learned that the take-off and landing tests were about to take place, he became much more enthusiastic about his work, and when he met people, he talked about his expectations for the take-off and landing tests, "It's finally time to start experimenting, and I've been waiting for a long time." ”

"The first step is about to be tested, which is very critical."

"Although the light pressure measurement experiment has been completed, and the measured light pressure has reached the established value, it is only a small experiment after all."

"Now it's engine testing, and once this step is completed, it's not far from being able to fly into space......"

Zang Chunlai didn't understand Paul Phil-Jones's mood, and he couldn't help asking, "Paul, aren't you worried?" ”

"Worried about what?"

"Of course, I'm worried that there will be problems in the upcoming test, but this behemoth is going to fly......" Zang Chun added after speaking, "It's a little unimaginable." ”

He shook his head.

Paul Phil-Jones also shook his head and said, "Why worry? ”

He said seriously, "This project is led by Wang Hao, and he is not worried, so why should I worry?" Whether the experiment will succeed or not is not something I should consider, I want to make sure that there is no problem with the design, and you need to make sure that there is no major failure of the equipment. ”

"We just need to do our job."

Zang Chunlai was stunned for a moment, and suddenly felt that what Paul said was very reasonable, and it was better to do his job than to keep worrying here.

Although it was like this, he still couldn't keep his calm.

Think about it......

I'm still worried!

……

At the same time, the international focus is still on the nuclear organization's strong annihilation force field equipment.

After the initial test of the strong annihilation force field equipment was completed, the nuclear organization carried out a series of measurements around the equipment.

These basic measurements will release a lot of data, and they will always occupy the position of the focus of public opinion, and the limelight has changed from the anti-gravity center that has not been heard from for a long time.

Bill Bryan was depressed about it.

There are only three international institutions in the field of strong annihilation, including the Anti-Gravity Center, the Lake Groom Project, and the Annihilation Organization.

This cooperation with the science and technology departments, including the nuclear organization and the annihilation organization, the strong annihilation force field equipment is provided to the nuclear organization, but the related work is the responsibility of the annihilation organization.

Now that the nuclear organization has taken advantage of the opportunity of testing equipment to release so many basic experimental results, it feels like throwing the annihilation organization aside, and they themselves are doing particle collision experiments and particle Standard Model research, and they are not in the same field as the annihilation field.

"Anyway, the experiments and data they released are not completely new, they are just validations. ”

"Those have already been released by the Anti-Gravity Center."

Brian shook his head and sighed, "Verification is also important......

Verification, indeed, is important.

The experiments and data released by the NNU are attracting attention because they have done the work of 'verifying the results'.

The Anti-Gravity Center has already released a lot of results, but the problem is that it can't get any verification, because no other team has mastered the regional strong annihilation force field technology, and the successful content they released can only be seen by others, and it is not known whether it is really or not.

Now that the nuclear organization has completed the verification, it is equivalent to an affirmation of the experimental results.

Brian said, "If we knew that we would have fought more when we were negotiating, we should have transported the equipment to the experimental base first and conducted experiments separately from them." ”

Novotini shook his head and said, "It's going to take another month according to plan." ”

"And you can't get it. It is the nuclear organization that the science and technology sector wants to work with, not us, and we must admit that we are only incidental ......"

"Okay."

Bill Bryan also knew this, and he could only let out a long sigh in the end.

Another frustrating organization is the Grum Lake Project team, who can only watch the nuclear organization release results one by one, and do not even have the opportunity to participate.

At the same time, their funding was cut off.

The new No. 1 decision-makers temporarily allocated $3 billion to the project team, but the $3 billion was allocated in three batches, and they thought that they would no longer worry about funding, but the second batch of funds was delayed, resulting in some high-cost research having to be temporarily suspended.

They are even considering dismantling the original anti-gravity equipment and using the underlying materials to support regional strong annihilation force field research.

It was stopped.

On the one hand, the original equipment is still useful.

On the other hand, the decision-makers are considering obtaining the equipment technology that the science and technology department and the nuclear organization have cooperated, so that they can directly carry out reverse engineering for research.

This made Cooper even more depressed.

"I went to the Department of Energy last week, and they meant to get the technology first, and then do the theoretical research."

"But ......"

"What does that have to do with us? We're not good at that! ”

Krot James said unconcernedly, "I told you a long time ago, don't think too well about the situation. Our comparison is against gravity centers, but it is simply impossible to catch up, and they only take some edge technology, which is enough to make us desperate. ”

"But it's okay, I'll definitely stay, I'm just an experimental physicist, as for you......"

He shook his head and put on a disapproving look.

Cooper was so angry that he was about to vomit blood, and he gritted his teeth and said, "You can't think about it!" ”

James said, "It's because you didn't think about me." Remember a year ago? At that time, we had enough funds, and I said a long time ago that you should take out some of them and give me a personal bonus, even if it is only 100 million US dollars, and when the time comes, it doesn't matter what research is done or not. ”

"You did that, and now you don't have to worry about it."

"If you lose your job, I'm definitely going to give you some of it to retire with peace of mind, you can go to Indonesia, Thailand, these countries are very good, and the young girls there will love to be with you...... Think about it, what could be better than living like this? ”

“…… I have a family! ”

"I know."

"And you're still talking about that?"

"But do you dare to say that you are not impressed?"

“……”

Cooper found himself with nothing to say, and James said that retirement life would be heartwarming as long as it was a normal man.

He sighed and said, "Well, you're right. ”

"It's useless for you to think I'm right now. The Department of Energy is getting stricter and stricter on our funding, and the opportunity is gone, I just want $100 million......"

James kept sighing at missed opportunities.

Cooper kind of wanted to punch someone.

A hundred million dollars? Nothing more? What an international joke!

If he does this, James will indeed live a very chic life, and it is likely that he will live a good retirement life in advance, while he will have to bear a major legal risk, as for what pension......

In prison?

……

The International Focus on the Nuclear Organization, a week passed unconsciously, and the light-pressure engine project ushered in the established tests.

The leadership group has arrived.

Two days before the take-off and landing tests, the top decision-makers appeared at the experimental base and encouraged all those involved in the experimental project.

After that, the next level of leadership arrived.

Mr. Zhao, Mr. Xu, and Mr. Zhu appeared at the experimental base together, and the leaders of the three decision-making levels came to the base together, which also represented the attention of the senior management to the light-pressure engine project.

Mr. Zhu is the person in charge of the space agency, and his feelings are the most complicated.

The space agency's 'space flying saucer' research and development project has been on the right track, and they have cooperated with the military's air-ship team to obtain lateral annihilation force field technology, superconducting battery technology, and combined with aerospace technology for space flying saucer research and development.

In just one year, the space UFO project has almost completed the design demonstration.

Compared with the use of new technology for the use of the new technology of the flying saucer, the speed of digesting the technical foundation and completing the design demonstration of the flying saucer in one year is already very fast.

However, it is often the contrast that is most feared.

It has only been a little more than a year since the start of the project, including the stage of applying for design, but now it has been manufactured, and even the first take-off and landing test is coming.

Teacher Zhu wanted to scold the country.

He would definitely not do this, so he could only smile and shake hands with Wang Hao, wishing the success of the light-pressure engine's take-off and landing test in advance.

But I couldn't help but ask, "After you have completed the take-off and landing tests, there are still a lot of tests to be done next, right?" All the way up to space, or, to build a real spaceship...... How long will it take? ”

Wang Hao was about to answer, but he heard Teacher Zhu continue, "One year is definitely not good, why should it take two or three years, right?" ”

"This ......"

Wang Hao hesitated for a moment and said, "It shouldn't be needed, I think that in the next few months, I will continue to test and design spacecraft at the same time." ”

"When the tests of the light-pressure engine are over, the spacecraft can be built."

Teacher Zhu tugged at the corners of his mouth vigorously, and said depressedly after a long time, "I wish you all the best ......"

Teacher Zhao and Teacher Xu both laughed.

They still have an understanding of Mr. Zhu's feelings, Mr. Zhu is the direct person in charge of the space agency, of course, I hope that the space agency will master the most high-end space technology during his tenure, otherwise the situation will be a little embarrassing for the space agency.

In addition, Mr. Zhu will retire in more than a year, and he probably hopes that the spacecraft project will proceed at a slower pace.

Outcome......

The project is progressing incredibly fast.

Teacher Xu opened his mouth and asked, "Academician Wang, are you confident in this test?" ”

Wang Hao shook his head and said, "There must be confidence." But that's not something to consider, we value experimentation and results. ”

"If a problem is found during the take-off and landing test phase, it needs to be identified and corrected."

In fact, Wang Hao is not 100% sure, what he does is to personally lead the team to test each department.

He has been busy with work for the past three months.

What Wang Hao needs to ensure is that there are no problems with key devices, and there will be no major failures in the light-pressure engine, so there will be no high risk in the take-off and landing test.

In the absence of 100% certainty, of course, some safety precautions should be taken.

One of the emergency safety measures for the light-pressure engine is a large-scale safe landing site, that is, a field of more than three kilometers in diameter and filled with fine sand more than 10 meters thick.

If there is a problem after the engine is lifted off, but the control system is not completely damaged, the engine can be controlled to land at a safe landing point, and the safety of the engine can be ensured to the greatest extent.

The second is the hundreds of large parachutes carried by the engine.

The ground can control all the parachutes on the engine to open instantaneously, and in the event of a serious failure in the middle, the parachute brings upward force, which can reduce the strength of the engine hitting the ground as much as possible, and to a certain extent, it can also protect the engine.

The day before the take-off and landing test, Wang Hao also organized a safety response meeting, talking about the effect of only opening the parachute for protection, "Hundreds of parachutes can provide a certain amount of force, but falling from the highest place, the engine will still hit the ground." ”

"From a calculation point of view, the concave surface will be damaged anyway by six main supports, and at the same time, more than one-sixth of the material plates, the lower and center-around laser ports and excitation balance thrusters will also be damaged."

He added, "This level of damage is acceptable." ”

After this sentence was spoken, the teachers of the three leading groups couldn't help but pull the corners of their mouths, and they also had an understanding of the project.

So far, more than 100 billion yuan has been invested in the light-pressure engine project.

According to the data given by Wang Hao, the degree of damage will be one-fifth, that is, the loss of 20 billion will be lost after a 'fall'.

The result is...... Acceptable?

Wang Hao didn't have so many ideas, it was normal for the engine to have a big failure and a loss, and after three months of continuous testing work, he was still confident in the operation of the main device, and did not think that there would be a big problem.

This is just a safety meeting, of course, with an explanation of the safety device.

After the safety meeting was over, Wang Hao still led the team to check the main equipment, including two strong annihilation force field equipment, excitation propulsion devices, etc., and did not go to rest until twelve o'clock in the evening.

At six o'clock the next morning, he got up early and went inside the engine again, and asked about the operation of the nuclear reactor.

At eight o'clock, the leading group arrived.

At nine o'clock, the engineers began to dismantle the fixtures under the engine and carefully cleaned the site to ensure that there would be no combustibles underneath.

At twelve o'clock, the inside of the light-pressure engine was preheated, that is, the two strong annihilation force fields were turned on, the heat source device was turned on, and a small amount of neutron heat was released.

At one o'clock in the afternoon, the excitation propulsion unit did its final opening test.

At two o'clock, everyone left the light-pressure engine base.

Some of the researchers went to the control center ten kilometers away; Others went to a small hill 20 kilometers away from the project site, where there was a passage into the air-raid shelter inside the mountain.

Everything is going on in an orderly manner.

Experiments, about to begin.

(End of chapter)