Space Agency, Anti-Gravity Spacecraft R&D Center.

As one of the top five senior executives of the Space Agency, the first person in the direction of technology research and development, and the person in charge of the anti-gravity spacecraft project, Chen Jiahe is also worried about the research and development of anti-gravity spacecraft.

The research and development of anti-gravity spacecraft has been progressing in an orderly manner, and all kinds of equipment components and electronic systems are constantly being inspected, debugged and corrected, and everyone in the research center is very enthusiastic about their work.

However, the speed of work is still unsatisfactory.

In fact, their work as a whole seems to be quite simple, as the technology is well established, including lateral anti-gravity technology, superconducting battery technology, Hall thrusters, and so on.

Their job is to bring together all kinds of technologies.

Even if it's just an integration, there's a lot of work to be done, for example, exterior coating material research.

Anti-gravity ships are spaceships that are used in space, and they must also keep up with the progress of technological developments.

The research team wanted to use the first-order material to create a new coating with better radiation protection and anti-radar technology, so it was necessary to study the layer of the first-order material and add a special brown gold material.

Another example, Hall thrusters.

Hall Thrusters are not a new technology, they have several Hall Thruster manufacturing schemes, but to integrate Hall Thrusters into an anti-gravity spacecraft, the manufacturing scheme needs to be modified, and once manufactured, it needs to be re-commissioned.

Also, electronic systems.

The electronic system contains too much content, and it is the most important soft technology for anti-gravity spacecraft, which allows each part to exert maximum efficiency and ensure the stability of the ship's performance.

The improvement of electronic systems will be a long-term task.

The current research is to be able to build a basic prototype of an anti-gravity spaceship, and with a basic prototype, it is possible to design and manufacture spaceships with various functions.

The research team also knows that in the future, it will cooperate with the Spaceship Industry Company, and the anti-gravity spacecraft they build will definitely be loaded on the aerospace carrier, and the relationship between the two is like an aircraft carrier, a fighter plane, and a helicopter, the difference is that the aerospace carrier itself has powerful functions, and the purpose of the 'fighter and helicopter' needed is only to complete some work tasks.

In the past year, Chen Jiahe has devoted most of his energy to the research of anti-gravity spacecraft.

After being promoted to the head of anti-gravity spacecraft research and truly becoming a high-level figure in the space agency, Chen Jiahe also hopes that he can make a career instead of just living in his position.

He hopes to keep up with the development of the times and lead the space agency to achieve certain development, first of all, to enable the space agency to keep up with the 'train' of the spacecraft industry company and achieve a certain amount of independent income generation in the space field, rather than relying on state funding for all operations.

That's a big step forward.

Therefore, the anti-gravity research team led by Chen Jiahe has drawn up a lot of follow-up plans early.

For example, based on anti-gravity spacecraft, it has built transport ships, transport ships, manned landing ships, space junk removal ships, and even small meteorite towing ships, and is also considering cooperating with the military to create small combat ships with the function of single-shot space weapons.

Wait a minute.

A small combat ship is a type of spaceship that resembles a fighter jet, and the spaceship will be miniaturized to make it very flexible and can carry some kind of single-shot space weapon.

If it can be made larger, it is to exchange flexibility for the power of weapons, which can realize multiple space weapons, and can also have the ability to hang bombs, so as to be able to launch missiles in space to attack the ground.

The difficulty is very high, but with the aerospace carrier as the main body, it is still possible to achieve it.

Of course, it's all about building a good anti-gravity spaceship.

The prototype made by the research team has not yet been assembled, and they are testing various parts, many of which have various minor problems, but in fact, they can be overcome, and the biggest problems are still from the whole.

That's the conflict between Hall thrusters and the ship's cooling system.

This contradiction made the research team very helpless.

In fact, it is normal for research to encounter problems, if there is no light pressure engine research group to make comparisons, Chen Jiahe thinks that he will not worry at all, a study lasts for a few years is not long, and it is aimed at anti-gravity spacecraft, even if the technology has a certain foundation, it is great to be able to manufacture it in five years.

For the world's space technology, the creation of an anti-gravity spaceship can definitely be described as 'far ahead'.

It's just a pity that the contrast exists.

The light-pressure engine is a larger research, and it can even be said that it is ten times or dozens of times larger, and it is still a new technology that is used, without any reference equipment, experiments, and data, and it is completely researched by relying on new technologies, from basic theory to manufacturing, all are new.

The first prototype of such a super-large research is already about to be tested in space.

In the past tests, the flight altitude exceeded 80 km, which is already very close to space of 100 km.

In contrast, the anti-gravity ship did not even assemble the first prototype.

The gap between the two sides is too great.

The problem is that the research of anti-gravity spacecraft is much easier, to put it bluntly, it is just a replacement of the air-ship series of flying saucers with Hall thrusters, and from a technical point of view, there is no difficulty that cannot be broken.

Whenever he thought of this, Chen Jiahe couldn't help but rub his forehead vigorously, "The gap is really too big, and their progress is too fast, worthy of Academician Wang!" ”

"Alas~~~"

"How the hell did they do it? It's so complicated, and there is even gravitational field technology, no wonder Mr. Zhu is always dissatisfied. ”

"It's so hard!"

Chen Jiahe feels that research is like running a marathon, he can easily run by himself, and no matter how long it takes, he can always reach the finish line.

As a result, there is a world champion opponent, which makes people feel very helpless, or even powerless.

In the end, I could only let out a long sigh.

Soon.

Chen Jiahe's feeling turned into nervousness, because he learned that Wang Hao was going to visit the anti-gravity spacecraft research and development base.

It is said to be a visit, but in fact it is an investigation.

Spaceship Industries may become the 'big customer' of the space agency, and the two sides will sign a series of spacecraft contracts in the future, so that the space agency can sell many types of spacecraft to generate its own revenue.

Now it feels like a big customer looking at the product, and they haven't even made the product, it's just a scattered part.

However, there is no way.

Chen Jiahe could only wait at the door of the base with the others.

Wang Hao came to the anti-gravity spacecraft R&D base very solemnly to investigate, he came to see the progress of spacecraft research, and to urge the research and development of spacecraft, after all, the space carrier should carry a small spaceship.

If it takes several years, or even more than ten years, for a small spacecraft to be delivered, they will have to consider developing it themselves.

This time cannot wait.

Wang Hao not only came by himself, he also brought Zhu Qiqiang, Zang Chunlai, and of course, Zhou Changyuan, the representative of the Space Agency, and there were more than a dozen people in the entire delegation, each of whom was a heavyweight.

Chen Jiahe, Jia Shumin, and Duan Jiacong stood together, and the latter two were the deputy chief designers of the anti-gravity spacecraft, that is, the second and third people in the research group.

Jia Shumin and Duan Jiacong are more qualified than Chen Jiahe.

With the realized 'moon landing program' and contributions to the aerospace field, they not only became academicians of the Academy of Sciences, but also won the heavyweight contribution award in the auditorium, of course, they are not young, Jia Shumin is relatively young and is 58 years old, and Duan Jiacong is simply 64 years old.

At this age of retirement, participating in the research and development of anti-gravity spacecraft, Jia Shumin and Duan Jiacong's enthusiasm is still very high.

Several people waited at the door for the delegation.

They took Wang Hao and his entourage to visit the base, and entered various laboratories and assembly rooms to introduce the design and research of the anti-gravity spacecraft in detail.

Chen Jiahe certainly had good things to say about the research, "Our next step is to prepare to assemble the first prototype." ”

"There are still a few issues to deal with, but we believe there are no ...... problems"

"The technology is already very mature, and we have better materials to design a more suitable Hall propulsion method......"

"Ula Ula ~~"

Chen Jiahe said a lot in a row, all of which were praiseworthy points in the research, Wang Hao listened expressionlessly, and just asked, "When will the first prototype be built?" When will space tests be available? ”

“……”

Chen Jiahe pursed his lips and did not speak.

When he felt the awkward atmosphere around him, Academician Duan Jiacong spoke, "Academician Wang, research should come little by little, and you can't be in a hurry, because it is easy to make mistakes if you are in a hurry. Work in the field of aerospace must ensure that there are no problems as much as possible. ”

"Every problem in the aerospace field will be a big accident and bring a lot of losses, so we must be more rigorous."

“……”

This time it was Wang Hao's turn to be silent.

In the face of an old academician in his 60s, he can't directly scold him like a young man, after all, the other party has made great contributions to the aerospace industry and actively participated in the research of anti-gravity spacecraft.

He pursed his lips, simply ignored Old Academician Duan, and asked Chen Jiahe, "Look at your design, right?" What is the problem with the research? ”

Chen Jiahe hurriedly asked someone to bring the design drawings.

The design drawings are still very complicated, a large number of drawings are put together, which makes people dazzled, and each part has a dozen, or even hundreds of contents.

Wang Hao roughly flipped through it, and also listened to Chen Jiahe's introduction, "In fact, the biggest problem is the conflict between the Hall thruster and the cooling system. ”

"A lot of energy has been put into this area, and a series of changes have been made, but they are not very satisfied."

Chen Jiahe said, "Academician Wang, just now you should have seen that half of the assembly room revolves around this problem, the spacecraft needs to carry coolant, and it needs to carry propellant, and it must leave enough space, which will crowd out the space of other parts." ”

"We started with a design similar to an empty ship flying saucer, but then we found that there was not enough space at all, so we had to expand the size of the spacecraft."

"However, there are still problems with the design."

Wang Hao looked at the overall design drawing, thought about it silently, and understood what Chen Jiahe said.

The flying saucer of the air ship uses simple electric propulsion, which is simply an electric motor, which drives the fan blades inside the motor to rotate and push the air to create thrust.

The principle of the Hall thruster is much more complicated.

Hall thrusters are the propulsion technology used in space, and naturally it is impossible to push air.

Hall thrusters usually use hydrogen, xenon, and argon as propellants, but these propellants do not generate power through combustion, but through the Hall effect, the propellant is hit by electrons and becomes an ionic state.

The ions are accelerated by an electric field and then neutralized in the plume, eventually accelerating the ejected gas to more than 10 km/s, and as fast as 80 km/s.

This technology requires carrying high-pressure propellant, which takes up a certain amount of space, and if you want to achieve more thrust, you need to consume more propellant, and it takes up more space.

At the same time, the Hall Thruster needs to be integrated with the rest of the anti-gravity spacecraft.

Just the power integration of propulsion power and anti-gravity and superconducting batteries is a very complex work, because the transverse anti-gravity and superconducting batteries are integrated, and the Hall thruster is a separate device, and it is not easy to integrate the separate device with other devices, and the electronic control coordination is very difficult.

Wang Hao nodded thoughtfully, he continued to look at the overall design, and suddenly said suspiciously, "You haven't thought of other solutions?" ”

"What's the solution?"

Academician Duan asked, "We've all thought about it, it's just to keep testing and constantly revising the design." ”

"Now I feel that the design is perfect, but because of the influence of Hall thrusters, a lot of space must be left for the propulsion part, which will reduce the overall performance of the spacecraft, but there is no way."

He shook his head depressedly.

Wang Hao tugged at the corners of his mouth, he felt that he should give face to the old academician, but the other party's direct denial made people feel very depressed.

He simply said bluntly, "Just because you can't think of a solution doesn't mean that there is no solution. ”

"Isn't that right?"

"Research should be flexible, not so rigid." He simply added, "Give young people more opportunities!" ”

This sentence is obviously talking about the old academician.

Duan Jiacong also heard it, and he suddenly felt a little angry, but it was still difficult to say anything in the face of Wang Hao.

He is indeed an old academician, but when it comes to his contribution to science and technology, his status, and his importance to the country, he is 108,000 miles away from Wang Hao.

Duan Jiacong still felt very angry, and he immediately said, "Academician Wang, if you tell me what is the method, I can't think of it anyway." ”

Wang Hao said flatly, "Academician Duan, I'm not targeting you. Since you've asked, I'll give you my thoughts. ”

"The main problem you're having is the conflict between the Hall thrusters and the rest of the body, right? Including space collisions, detection and electronic control can also become complex, integration issues, right? ”

"Have you ever wondered if you could integrate Hall thrusters into an anti-gravity, superconducting battery system, and make them a whole, then the space required would be smaller, and it would be easier to detect and control."

Duan Jiacong wanted to speak again.

Chen Jiahe hurriedly interrupted and asked, "How can this be achieved?" Of course we want to do that......"

"Coolant!"

Wang Hao said, "The coolant used in the cooling system and the propellant used in Hall propulsion are the same thing, isn't the problem solved?" ”

"Anti-gravity, superconducting batteries, using the same cooling system, the coolant must be discharged after use, if the discharged coolant enters the Hall thruster ionization, and then discharges the manufacturing thrust, isn't it integrated?"

Others were about to speak.

Wang Hao waved his hand and continued, "The coolant used in other systems is still liquid nitrogen, which can actually be completely changed, such as liquid argon. ”

"Liquid nitrogen is certainly a better coolant, but argon can also act as a propellant for Hall thrusters."

"The boiling point of liquid argon is around minus 195 degrees Celsius, which is enough to be used as a coolant."

"Now the superconducting materials used in transverse antigravity are very good, the superconducting critical temperature is as high as 198K, and liquid argon is sufficient."

After Wang Hao finished speaking, Chen Jiahe, Duan Jiacong and others were stunned.

They didn't think about it at all.

From the beginning of the research to the present, they have not even considered changing the coolant, and they have been quite certain that liquid nitrogen must be used as a coolant, and of course liquid nitrogen cannot be used as a propellant for Hall thrusters.

The two have nothing to do with each other at all.

The Hall thruster is a separate component that must also leave a large space for carrying the propellant.

Now hearing Wang Hao's words, Chen Jiahe's eyes lit up, and he immediately reacted, "It's really possible!" ”

"In this way, the Hall thruster can be integrated with anti-gravity and superconductivity, the coolant and propellant are the same, the space requirement is greatly reduced, and the control is also integrated, and the detection control will become easy to ......."

"To be honest, we didn't even dare to change the coolant!"

Chen Jiahe shook his head excitedly, and his mood was also very complicated.

Wang Hao was not talking about a high-tech problem, just replacing the coolant, but none of their research groups thought of it.

The main thing is not to think!

Horizontal anti-gravity, superconducting batteries, how can such a high-end technology be changed?

"This is inflexible thinking, rigidity, right?"

"I can't even think about it......"

Duan Jiacong was silent.

He didn't know what to say, Wang Hao's idea was something they didn't expect, and the feasibility was also very high, which was of great significance to the research.

Considering the statement he just confirmed, as well as Wang Hao's 'sarcasm'......

It's embarrassing!