"It's great to see you all here."

Zhang Xingyang smiled and said very kindly to everyone who passed the astronaut selection.

The three-month training has made everyone lose a lot of weight.

The body shape is back to the state it was in when it was younger.

"This means that you have passed a series of difficult tests."

"And to know why we've brought you all here."

Among the dozens of people present, some of them instantly came to their senses.

There are also people who still look calm.

It didn't seem to pique his interest no matter what.

Zhang Xingyang didn't directly explain the reason, "I know you all still have a lot of questions in your hearts. ”

"Now you can start asking questions freely, and as long as they don't involve confidential questions, I will answer them."

As soon as Zhang Xingyang's words fell, someone raised his right hand.

After getting Zhang Xingyang's nod, Xu Ying stood up and asked:

"Are we really going to be astronauts? Is it really possible to go to space? ”

Zhang Xingyang affirmed without hesitation, "Of course! ”

"Each and every one of you has now completed your basic training, and if nothing else, you will all become astronauts."

"And into space."

Zhang Xingyang paused and continued:

"According to the plan, you will be on the list of the next batch to be on the Tiangong space station."

"The stationing time of each batch is basically half a year, which means that you will be on the Tiangong space station in a year!"

Zhang Xingyang's words undoubtedly caused an uproar in the crowd.

Even those who were relatively calm at the beginning looked a little surprised at the moment.

They thought that even if they could become astronauts and go to space.

At least years from now.

I didn't expect it to be so fast!

It's only a year!

Xu Ying didn't look surprised, but frowned:

"Why is there such a rush?"

"Doesn't it normally take years to do all kinds of training?"

Zhang Xingyang saw that everyone had a lot of questions, so he simply walked up to them and said:

"Because you're not like the astronauts before you."

"I'm sure you've all heard about astronaut selection."

Everyone in the audience couldn't help but nod.

"The astronauts before you were actually trained according to the standards of the commander."

"All of them are the elite of the elite selected from among the outstanding pilots of the whole army."

"Of course, you're also good in your respective fields."

"But in terms of physical fitness, psychological quality, etc., they are far inferior to them."

was compared with professional astronauts, and everyone didn't say anything.

After all, in these aspects, they are indeed just ordinary people.

"Your positioning is different from theirs, so naturally you will not meet the same standards."

"What we need more is your minds and the experience you have had over the years."

At this point, many people have sensitively realized that what Zhang Xingyang is going to say next will be very important.

Zhang Xingyang half-leaned on the edge of the table with some disregard for the image, "You must have been curious about why astronauts were selected from among you. ”

"After all, your work doesn't seem to have anything to do with aerospace."

"Now I can tell you why."

Zhang Xingyang returned to the podium, turned on the projection equipment, and played a huge rendering.

It was a gigantic wheel, suspended silently above geosynchronous orbit.

Through the space between its wheels, you can clearly see the outline of the earth.

In front of it, it seems that the earth is much smaller.

"This is a space project we are working on!"

"A drum space platform with a diameter of up to ten kilometers!"

Although it is only a poster, I look at the complex structure of the space platform above.

Everyone was shocked.

Such a huge space creation can shock everyone's hearts just by looking at it.

"Is it really something like this that we can make?"

Lao Yang, who has worked in the shipyard all year round, was full of shock in his eyes and couldn't help but say.

Having built many ships, he knew better than anyone else that such a thing was made entirely of steel.

How difficult it is to make it.

If nothing else, it is just the processing and molding of super-large new materials.

can make a group of researchers lose their hair one by one and feel bald.

And judging from the renderings, this huge building.

The center also has several intersecting structural reinforcements.

Each of these structural pieces is at least hundreds of meters long.

"We have preliminarily completed the design work of the Star Port."

Zhang Xingyang looked at the people in the audience with different expressions, and said with a slight smile.

"Yes, I prefer to call it Starport."

"Because it will carry us to space, and open a new chapter in our exploration of the stars!"

Zhang Xingyang has always believed that civilization that stays on the ground will not have a future.

If you want civilization to grow up healthily, you must leave the gentle country of the earth and go to the cruel environment of space.

The birthplace of civilization is a gentle township that can corrode the enterprising spirit of civilization.

This kind of reasoning is subject to technology and other reasons.

Even if someone realizes it, it's hard to make any changes.

And now, they're finally getting a chance to change.

"We have now completed the initial fabrication of the structural parts."

Zhang Xingyang switched to a slide, and the picture showed titanium alloy keels emitting a cold silver-white light.

"These titanium alloy keels will exist as the skeleton of the entire starport, supporting a nuclear-powered starport with a weight of tens of thousands of tons!"

Many of the people present have been in contact with the metal titanium alloy.

It is well known its various performance parameters.

At this point, their brains began to run wildly, pondering the feasibility of the material as a skeleton.

"Tens of thousands of tons!"

Anyone who hears such a figure for the first time will be shocked without exception.

But before that, they had been shocked by the size of Starport.

This time there was basically no response.

The weight of tens of thousands of tons, in the era when recyclable rockets were not yet put into service.

The cost of the launch alone is astronomical.

However, after the development of recyclable rockets, the launch cost per kilogram of payload has been reduced by less than 2,000 yuan.

The total launch cost per ton of payload ranges from $1.6 million to $1.8 million.

The launch cost of 10,000 tons of mass is less than 20 billion.

For today's researchers, it's a lot of money.

But considering that the construction period is close to ten years, this number is already small.

"However, with such a large-scale construction project, we have also encountered some difficulties that we have not encountered before."

Zhang Xingyang continued to change a slide, which was a more detailed structure diagram of the star port.

"According to our initial assumptions, different rings and different arcs of the starport will be divided into different functional areas."

"For example, the port area where spacecraft are docked, the food production area where vegetables and meat are grown, the manufacturing area where parts are processed and maintained, the living area where people rest and eat, and the scientific research area where space observation and experiments are conducted."

The star port, which is ten kilometers in diameter, is actually equivalent to a small city.

All aspects of the design, for a research institute that has never done this kind of work.

It's an unprecedented challenge.

It's the equivalent of building a city on a restricted piece of terrain.

"Although we have carried out experimental construction on the ground, there will still be slight differences in the vacuum and radiation environment of space."

Zhang Xingyang looked at everyone earnestly.

"So we need your experience to come into play, and to rely on your wisdom to build in such an environment."

It was only at this time that everyone finally understood why they were asked to select astronauts.

Because they have a wealth of experience in large-scale engineering construction.

"So we're actually going to build a city in space?"

Xu Ying said with some surprise.

This is an unexpected professional counterpart for him.

It is a very alternative type of reemployment.

"That's pretty much it, but it's really different in all aspects."

Zhang Xingyang explained, "We'll build the components on the ground beforehand, and you just need to put them together in space." ”

"Then why not use auto-docking technology?"

Some people who know more about aerospace asked with some incomprehension.

The Dragon Country's space station technology is advanced, especially in terms of automatic docking.

It has the achievement of the largest number of docking times in the world and a 100% success rate.

Automatic docking technology is safer and more efficient than having people build it.

Of course, these are all thoughts that do not understand people.

In fact, automatic docking technology is not so versatile.

"The auto-docking technology looks good, but that's conditional."

Zhang Xingyang was not dissatisfied, and continued:

"First of all, the two that are automatically docked can't be too peculiar in shape."

There is no air resistance in space.

The shape of the cabin, in fact, can be very strange.

But everyone still chooses the cylindrical type, just for convenience.

Circles don't have to worry about angles.

It can save a lot of trouble.

"And there are many special components in our starport structure, which are difficult to assemble through automatic docking technology."

"The second point is that automatic docking is to be motivated. Most of our starport structural parts are not powered. ”

When automating, the two need to keep accelerating and decelerating to maintain the same speed.

This requires both the docking object and the docked object.

There must be momentum.

Most of the components of the star port are non-existent.

"So we can only use manual assembly to build the starport bit by bit."

Zhang Xingyang looked around and said:

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is going to be a very difficult task."

"The environment in space is much more difficult than on the ground, and there is a great possibility of various accidents during the construction process."

"Maybe it's a meteorite or satellite debris from nowhere that will go straight through your spacesuit at a very high speed."

There are a large number of tiny meteorites in space, and these meteorites have no effect on humans living on the ground.

Because they burn as they pass through the Earth's atmosphere, friction burns off.

But in space, they will be deadly killers.

"Or maybe a sudden solar burst of radiation will directly break through the protection of the spacesuit and burn you to a dry corpse."

The Earth's atmosphere is not just insulated from the blows of tiny meteorites.

It is also difficult for all kinds of high-energy radiation from the sun to directly affect the creatures on the ground.

That's why the earth is a gentle place for human beings.

Because it really gives too much shelter to the creatures that live on the ground.

"When you die, you're likely to float directly in space, and it's hard to recover your body."

Zhang Xingyang stared straight at everyone present.

"After knowing what happened to you, are you still determined to join?"

Xu Ying was the first to stand up and said loudly:

"I'm willing to join, even if it's to die in space!"

"By the way, I think it's romantic to die in space."

After setting an example, everyone present also stood up and said loudly.

"I'm willing to join, even if it's to die in space!"

Zhang Xingyang waited for their excited hearts to calm down a little before continuing:

"Of course, what I just said is just a small probability event."

"Actually, you're not working directly in space."

"We haven't had that big heart yet."

Zhang Xingyang switched to a new PPT, which showed a small spaceship.

"This is our latest engineering vessel, with multiple robotic arms with high degrees of freedom on top, capable of completing multiple tasks at the same time."

The power of machinery is far greater than that of manpower.

So from the very beginning, Zhang Xingyang didn't really want these people to directly use various tools to build.

"Inside the engineering ship, there is actually a small living cabin, which can meet everyone's living needs for three months."

"Including the necessities of life, food, entertainment, etc."

In fact, the engineering ship was modified from the previously designed Shenzhou series of spacecraft.

The most important thing is the improvement of the propulsion system and the external robotic arm.

So that it can take on a variety of different processing tasks.

"So our actual job is to drive these engineering ships to carry out the construction of the starport?"

Xu Ying asked, looking at the spaceship on the slide.

"If that's the case, you will also be the first batch of space builders in our country and even in the world."

Zhang Xingyang nodded and said.

Xu Ying said that she was professional and did not feel any difficulty.

However, there are also people who are more interested in the starport itself.

Lao Yang raised his hand and asked, "What is the power source of Xinggang?" ”

"It's impossible to use solar power for something as big as this, right?"

Before that, almost all spacecraft used solar panels.

"Initially, it will be powered by four fixed-location power generation satellites."

"In the future, we will use several Generation 4 molten salt reactors to generate electricity!" (End of chapter)