As an important substance that carries the future energy needs of human beings, helium-3 fusion is mainly divided into two types:

Helium-3 and deuterium fusion, and helium-3 and helium-3 fusion.

The former is known as the second-generation nuclear fusion technology, and the latter is known as the third-generation nuclear fusion technology.

Deuterium and tritium are both isotopes of hydrogen and have only one proton, while helium-3 has two protons, so the more advanced the fusion technology in the future, the greater the mass of the reactants.

Don't underestimate the difference in the mass of just one proton, the conditions required for ignition are completely different, and the difference is huge.

The lighter the nucleus, the easier it is to react, and vice versa.

The outside media often deliberately emphasize the ignition temperature of the controllable nuclear fusion test reactor, which is actually only a one-sided factor, not an absolute condition for successful ignition.

To put it bluntly, nuclear fusion is the squeezing of two independent atomic nuclei together, mainly at high temperature and high pressure.

The high temperature makes their energy level rise unstable and more easily ignited, while the high pressure presses them tightly together, and there are no particularly strict boundaries between the two.

For example, the core of the sun is only 15 million degrees Celsius, which is not as high as the temperature of the center of the hydrogen bomb explosion, but relying on the terrible mass of the sun itself accounting for 99.86% of the solar system, it uses strong gravity to create terrifying high pressure and continuously maintain the fusion chain reaction.

For the time being, human beings can't create high pressure like the sun, so they can only increase the temperature, as long as the temperature is high enough, it can be ignited.

However, it is quite difficult to ignite helium-3 and react with helium-3 with existing technology, and a considerable amount of helium-3 will be produced when the hydrogen bomb explodes, but they almost do not carry out fusion reactions, which shows the difficulty of the conditions.

Helium-3 and deuterium are easier and release more energy, but there is still no precedent for success, even if it is uncontrollable.

Of course, it is not absolutely impossible, if helium-3 is liquefied, increasing the density of the reaction can greatly improve the success rate, the world's first hydrogen bomb used a similar method of liquid deuterium, in order to provide enough low temperature, the entire hydrogen bomb weight is as high as 82 tons.

It is not troublesome to obtain helium-3, and after the tritium decay of the third-generation hydrogen bomb, it becomes helium-3, which generally flows into the medical market for use in lung CT by nuclear magnetic resonance instruments, and the annual demand is as high as tens of thousands of liters (about 1 kg).

So naturally, the country that produces the most helium-3 in the world is Aramco, which is much less in China, but it has also saved some over the years.

As for why helium-3 is not extracted from the moon because of the cost-effectiveness ratio, although there is evidence that there is considerable abundance of helium-3 on the surface of the moon, the cost of extracting it and refining and liquefiing it is too high, and it is not much to do a single test.

The two nuclear science research teams that have gradually merged hope to find a way to promote a successful fusion of helium-3 and deuterium, or helium-3 and helium-3, so as to develop the desired miniaturization technology of the fourth and fifth generation hydrogen bombs, so that the hydrogen bombs with tens of millions of tons or even hundreds of millions of tons of equivalent can be practical.

And the only way to achieve them is to use the hydrogen bomb as a trigger, and only the terrifying high temperature and high pressure when the hydrogen bomb explodes, coupled with various optimized arrangements carried out in advance, can be successful.

With one success and data collection, researchers can begin designing a super-hydrogen bomb.

But this is still an extremely difficult process, after all, there is no shortage of talented nuclear scientists all over the world in the last century, and everyone has tried some of them to a greater or lesser extent, but obviously they have not succeeded.

There is not much time left for them, the limit is only two months, as early as a month ago, everyone began the theoretical configuration design work, and then Fu Mingdong and Yu Min led the development of two main directions, a total of 7 schemes after refinement.

China plans to take out all the helium-3 in the inventory for experiments, but the stock can only support 4 schemes, and in the next time they have to design the scheme and develop the test device at the same time.

……

Moon, Rabbit Space Station.

Nine days after the end of the Tianmu-3 mission, the refueled Jiuzhang spacecraft, which was parked on the space station, disconnected its electrical system and prepared to detach from the landing mission again.

The four astronauts have all been fixed to their chairs, and the commander Deng Lei is carefully tapping the list of items in the electronic catalog to see if there is anything else to bring down.

Each of the nine payload specialists completed their mission in just a few days, but the four astronauts are tentatively scheduled for their next return to lunar orbit on March 6, which means that they will spend at least 30 days on the moon after this landing.

But in fact, Deng Lei was ready to stay for 50 or even 60 days, until the first hydrogen bomb was tested.

This is the only major project that is likely to be carried out in the near future, and the other plans will require more time to adjust their preparations, and most will also need to avoid the point where the hydrogen bomb will explode.

And this time, in addition to almost all the drinking water, fast food and other materials in the space station, the most important thing is the two habitation modules and the updated 3 lunar rovers.

The three lunar rovers in this batch are completely different from all previous types, and two of them are equipped with cargo bodies similar to light trucks and robotic arms to facilitate construction.

The third one is very special because it has an enclosed cockpit – the kind where you can take off your helmet.

The three lunar rovers are no longer named separately, but more standardized letters + numbers, T3 and T7, respectively, and the numbers basically represent the weight and complexity.

Other serial numbers of lunar rovers are still being studied, such as the motorcycle that was strongly proposed after experiencing it firsthand, and its code name is T1.

The official name of the T7 lunar rover is "Multifunctional Mobile Exploration Base", the overall mass is as high as 7.8 tons, a total of six 32-inch wheels, with low-pressure pneumatic tires with an outer diameter of 60 inches, a maximum speed of up to 45 kilometers per hour, and the off-road ability is also unprecedented.

The all-important enclosed cockpit is not actually a new research and development, but gives full play to the spirit of waste utilization, dismantling a ground-tested "Full Moon" lander command module, dismantling all the components and redesigning, directly as the front of the car.

The rest of the stuff was also pieced together, and the closed cargo compartment, which was no less sizable, actually contained a reactor, transplanted directly from an off-the-shelf nuclear power vehicle, with additional protective measures after limiting power.

Although the chassis is newly developed, it is basically designed for the future ore transporter towing head, and it was moved to the T7 lunar rover.

The T series lunar rover was originally just an organization of the Aviation Development Commission, in order to better plan the delimitation of the uniformity of lunar equipment, the T7 is only one of the simple ideas, but who knows that Xinyuan and the five institutes, which are in close contact, are looking for parts everywhere, and they have to piece together such a thing, which is at least half a year ahead of the expected plan.

However, people did not despise T7 because of this, but discovered a fact: China's aerospace industry chain and various projects are too rich, covering too wide a range of technologies.

So that when a certain equipment is needed, you can directly find a variety of mature parts and pieces for rapid production, rather than making a technological breakthrough for each part separately, which is important.

(End of chapter)