"Core temperature: 570 degrees, orbital altitude 181.7 kilometers, inclination 72 degrees."

"The B1, B2, and B3 sensors are normal, and the heat sink can be deployed normally."

"This is the 'Storm', the command center, requesting to unfold the heat sink to increase the power."

Hu Dong compared the parameters of the space shuttle one by one, and at this time, the three A100s were still in a low-temperature operation state, and they needed to be warmed up before they could be started.

He is the commander of the Storm, and has a deep understanding of the A100's infrastructure and parameters, and it is no exaggeration to say that he has reached a level where he can enter the Academy of Nuclear Sciences.

Today, when space has begun to sink into the common world, he proves that professional astronauts are still precious and extremely important.

"Storm, allow to increase the power, pay attention to whether the external temperature of the insulation and the swing angle of the nozzle are normal...... Also, the first test drive was carried out over the Atlantic Ocean. ”

"Storm received!"

Hu Dong stared at the remaining amount of liquid hydrogen, which was still within the normal escape range, and after some inspection, he unfolded the heat dissipation plate at the tail.

The two hatches under the tall tail opened, the folding brown heat sink unfolded in an X shape, and the cores of the three engines began to heat up under control, and the power increased little by little.

When the core temperature rises to 1400 degrees, the throttle valve will be opened, and the liquid hydrogen will first cool the nozzle through a dense pipeline around the nozzle, and then it will be heated into ultra-high temperature plasma through the core and ejected at high speed.

Compared with the nozzle of conventional engines, the nozzle of the A100 is thicker, which is to resist the corrosion of plasma burning, especially the corrosion of hydrogen atom plasma.

The Storm orbited around 180 kilometers for about 15 minutes before starting the engine, and the throttle valve opened from 15%, increasing the thrust little by little.

Because the thrust was not large and the acceleration was slow, the crew of the Storm did not feel much overload, and their attention was partly on the camera on the shuttle's tail.

In many sci-fi movies, the ship's engines glow blue or orange when they start, but Storm is neither.

In the camera's field of view, nothing could be seen at the first three engine vents, and the pink color in the air could not be seen until the throttle valve output exceeded 30 percent.

Pink, and a very heavy pink, which is the color of high-temperature hydrogen plasma.

The pink color gets darker and deeper as the throttle valve grows, making it both eerie and beautiful in the dark background of outer space, and because there is no atmospheric confinement, it spreads out to all sides after leaving the nozzle, almost filling the camera with pink.

Everyone in the ground command center was shocked to admire this extremely unique tail flame, almost no one here had ever seen the image of the A100 ground test, and it was the first time to see what a real nuclear engine would look like.

But it's a pity that the live broadcast has ended at this time, and the world can't know about this scene for the time being.

The three A100 engines have to work continuously for dozens of minutes, which may consume hundreds of tons of fuel for traditional engines, but it is almost negligible for the Storm, and the abundant fuel allows it to merge with the Advance as fast as possible, even if the "wasted" fuel is less than 100 kilograms, which can be splurged.

According to the data sent back by the Storm, all three engines are working quite well at this time, and the heat sink perfectly dissipates the excess heat in time, and they are bringing stable and long-term thrust.

Lin Ju turned around and took the lead in applauding, and soon the command center was filled with applause, and the cameraman in the venue hurriedly filmed this scene.

He turned to look at Academician She next to him and said the words that had been planned for a long time:

"Now, we've half a foot in the solar system."

Academician She: "The other half of the foot is much more difficult than this half of the foot. ”

"It's man-made."

Lin Ju still smiled, the other half of his foot was obviously controllable nuclear fusion, although the base is basically not ready at present, but I believe it will not be far away.

[A nuclear-powered vehicle has been built and sent into space.] 】

The voice of the system suddenly sounded in his head, and Lin Ju's heart immediately became excited, obviously this was another achievement.

[Power: A100 nuclear thermodynamic thruster, aircraft mass 125 tons, orbit mode: load into orbit.

Compared to chemical power, nuclear power is a qualitative leap, even the original fission reactor can still bring considerable improvement, the host has done its best to build a comprehensive B-class nuclear research base, and send nuclear-powered vehicles into space, excellent performance, the system will provide rewards to support:

"Introduction to Radiation Propulsion Technology (Revised Edition)" Author: Zhao Zongyao, this book was written in? The 2039 Space Race of the World Line contains the bold and forward-looking ideas of famous nuclear physicists and high-energy physicists in nuclear fusion propulsion technology, which has certain practical value and will be declassified in 2059.

This book is an in-house distribution work, containing unproven theories of the current world line, and its value rating: extremely high.

Note: "Introduction to Radiation Propulsion Technology (Revised Edition)" is not a specific technical scheme, but mostly a theoretical idea, please independently develop the technology according to the theory in the book, and carry out preliminary demonstration research on fusion propulsion technology. 】

Academician She saw the sudden change in Lin Ju's face and hurriedly stepped forward to care, the latter lowered his head and coughed, and the muscles on his face continued to twitch.

Immediately, several people came over and formed a circle, and Lin Ju lowered his head and coughed for half a minute before raising his head, embarrassed and unable to hide his excitement, saying that he was too excited and choked on saliva, and then left in a hurry to go to the toilet.

Cheng Nankai, who noticed that the boss's eyes were wrong, hesitated and followed, and then saw Lin Ju jumping up with his fists clenched in the toilet.

Seeing Cheng Nankai follow-up, the latter rushed forward directly and pinched his shoulder, until Cheng Nankai couldn't stand the pain before letting go disapprovingly.

"What's wrong, what's going on, boss?"

Lin Ju pointed to his head and spit out three words softly.

Cheng Nankai's expression immediately became extremely exciting.

……

Never before has AAF ever cared so much about a spacecraft.

NACA launched an infrared remote sensing satellite into orbit on April 27, closely monitoring the Storm as it was sent into low orbit by the rocket, and then firmly locked the sensor onto it.

Whether it was the three heat sources that could be distinguished from the tail of the Storm, or the hydrogen ions in the thousands of degrees behind the nozzle, it was an accurate indication that the Storm's three fission engines were operating at high power.

There were no nuclear leaks, no accidents, and the Storm continued to change orbit at an accelerated rate during the time it was watched, and there were no anomalies at all.

According to NACA's careful arrangement, X37B, which is still secretly deployed in space ten minutes later, will have a "close" rendezvous with Storm at a distance of more than 2,000 kilometers, and it will attempt to measure the radiation level of the Storm engine.

Major General Carey, the originator of the FATS program, sat in the Air Force intelligence room for three hours, and then immediately arranged a plane to Nevada.

(End of chapter)