The progress of the meeting will not be suspended with Xu Chuan's research, and the planning of the outer space carrier is still under intense discussion.

It has to be said that this is a plan with huge investment risks and returns.

At least before there is a breakthrough in space technology, it is undoubtedly quite difficult to build such a giant mothership in outer space, not only in terms of capital investment, but also in the process of solving some technical problems.

For example, some problems in defense.

Although the altitude of the mothership is planned to be at least 400 kilometers above low earth orbit, and few weapons can attack equipment at this altitude, the defense aspect does need to be considered.

Not only for offensive weapons considerations, but also for protection against some 'impurities' that may exist in outer space itself.

Space is not a pure vacuum, and although low-earth orbit is relatively 'empty', it is also full of all kinds of dust, fine meteorites, space junk and other garbage.

In the ultra-high-speed orbit operation, these impurities and garbage are a great hidden danger to the safety of the space carrier.

Just like the Webb telescope, not long after liftoff, it was hit by a micrometeor in outer space, and at least one of the mirrored parts suffered irreparable damage and needed to be repaired or replaced.

For the space carrier, the probability of encountering fine garbage is much greater than that of a normal satellite or space station, because it often needs to change orbit to perform various tasks.

Running on a non-fixed track is naturally more dangerous.

These are troubles and problems that need to be addressed.

However, if it can really be done, such an aerospace carrier is enough to form an extremely deep strategic deterrent to the whole world.

This is something that no amount of nuclear weapons, no amount of aircraft carriers, and no amount of large aircraft can bring.

Based on this alone, if it were a United States, I am afraid that it would not hesitate to pass this plan.

After all, they don't have any complaints, after all, in the cycle of declining days, if there is a plan to restore the glory of the country, they don't care about the international situation or anything.

The planning of the outer space carrier was discussed for a long time.

The old man sitting at the head of the conference table listened to many opinions and exchanges, and then knocked lightly on the table, interrupting everyone's argument.

"I agree with Member Song's viewpoint that the strategic planning of outer space weapons is already a necessary military force in today's era."

"It's not just us that's doing this, many countries are also developing relevant programs. Therefore, we must also keep up with the pace, and even if we do not develop non-defensive weapons in outer space, we must follow up on defensive weapons in outer space to ensure the security of our country. ”

"Of course, we also need to consider and abide by the relevant international situation and international treaties."

After a pause, the old man said with a smile: "The purpose of the space carrier is not necessarily the nature of weapons and equipment, it can also be used for scientific research, material transportation, etc. ”

"Considering the changes in the international situation, I think that if it is necessary to disclose this plan in the future, the international sensitivity can be reduced to a greater extent in the name of scientific research or transportation."

This statement was immediately recognized by almost all the participants present.

Only Xu Chuan, who had just been woken up by knocking on the table, came back to his senses, twitched the corners of his mouth.

Is scientific research back again?

Well, it's not the first time anyway.

They are not the only ones who do other things in the name of scientific research.

In particular, a nasty island nation slaughters whales and other animals in the ocean in the name of scientific research, but in fact it is only to satisfy its own appetite.

In comparison, they are nothing at all, after all, strategic deterrence is nothing more than deterrence, and it is not a real war.

After receiving everyone's support, the old man continued: "In addition, the development and prospects of aerospace science and technology have been underestimated by us before, and it should not only be used as a strategic planning goal to contain the adversary, but also one of the key cores of modern warfare in the future. ”

"In addition, the development of aerospace science and technology is also a very valuable scientific research work, even if there is no above focus, we should think more about the next generation and the future, rather than only looking at the immediate development and interests."

"If you have any doubts about this, you can look at pages 41 to 45 of the report of the meeting."

Hearing this, Xu Chuan looked at the meeting report with some curiosity.

Compared with others, he belonged to the participants who were temporarily brought in, and most of the other participants had read the conference report in advance, but he did not.

In the conference report, the first to be listed is the abundant helium-3 resources on the moon, as well as the second-generation deuterium-helium-3 controllable nuclear fusion technology being studied by the Xinghai Research Institute.

Some of his previous speeches on scientific research planning at the Xinghai Research Institute were also included in this report, which should have been sorted out and reported by Wen Yuanhang.

The second-generation deuterium-helium three-controlled nuclear fusion has greater advantages than the first-generation deuterium-tritium fusion, and has the advantages of miniaturization.

Not only that, the tritium element from the fusion of deuterium and tritium is extremely rare on Earth, and can only be recycled by tritium self-sustaining.

The lithium resources used in tritium propagation are also limited on the earth, and the world's proven lithium resource reserves are less than 40 million tons.

Although it cannot be ruled out that there are lithium deposits in the unexplored underground, the demand for lithium resources is not limited to controlled nuclear fusion.

Batteries, alloys, electronics, polymer materials, catalysts, and a wide variety of other uses require lithium, and these industries are the largest consumers of lithium compared to controlled nuclear fusion.

It is foreseeable that with the development of time, lithium resources will undoubtedly become more tight.

More critically, the energy efficiency of second-generation fusion technology is more than an order of magnitude higher than that of first-generation fusion.

After all, most of the energy produced by deuterium-tritium fusion is on high-energy neutrons, and although some of it can be recovered through the tritium self-sustaining system, most of it is actually wasted.

If the 'usable' energy level produced by the first-generation deuterium-tritium fusion is one, then the usable energy level of the second-generation deuterium-helium three-controlled nuclear fusion can reach more than ten.

This is more valuable and important for traditional power generation, aerospace activities, and other aspects of research.

The only drawback lies in the preciousness of helium-3 resources.

Because of the existence of the atmosphere on Earth, helium-3 from the sun cannot be deposited, but on the moon is different, when the solar wind "blows" the moon, the helium-3 in the wind is deposited on the surface of the moon, after a long period of accumulation, the moon's helium-3 reserves are extremely amazing, and 'relatively easy' to mine.

This is undoubtedly a huge treasure for the second-generation deuterium-helium-III controlled nuclear fusion technology.

The only problem is that to develop this huge treasure, superb space technology is required.

As the Great Elder said, they should not only focus on the immediate development and interests, but should also think more about the next generation and the future.

PS: The second is to ask for a monthly pass.

(End of chapter)