Infinite Life: Trapped in a lifetime

If we talk about the era of deuterium and tritium fusion,

It is the first era that Qiusuo Research Institute has traversed in pursuit of the distant goal of voyage.

So in the era of room temperature superconductivity,

This is probably the second era when the Search Institute arrived.

For most people in the world at this moment,

The past and present of the Search Institute are almost a legendary epic.

The birth of Qiusuo Research Institute seems to be bringing round after round of technological changes to the world.

…

48 years.

When the Suigu plan was proposed,

The theoretical design of the helium-3 fusion demonstration reactor continues.

Another work also involving Mo Dao,

A breakthrough was also achieved in the same year.

This work is to explore the electric propulsion system in the aerospace field research of the Institute.

The entire electric propulsion system uses superconducting material batteries as the energy source.

Carry some working fluids,

An electric propulsion engine in the form of a Hall thruster that is improved based on the third material.

As the power of the entire electric propulsion system.

Through the cooperation of various cooperative units and the efforts of various technical personnel and researchers in the institute,

More than two years after the birth of room temperature superconducting materials,

Qiusuo Research Institute has manufactured this electric propulsion system that is also time-honored.

…

In the test site, the electric propulsion engine has just completed its first test run.

A test bench that is sufficient for the testing of Yuanhang series rocket engines.

After a simple modification, during the test run, the electric propulsion engine that sprayed plasma was firmly restrained.

The test bench was motionless.

But this did not affect the turbulent emotions of everyone present at this moment.

Looking at the electric propulsion engine that gradually calmed down after the test run was over.

All the researchers present were somewhat silent.

Mo Dao didn't say anything either.

I just took another look at the electric propulsion engine.

As the main body of the entire electric propulsion system,

The electric propulsion engine is now in the shape of a column, with a base diameter of approximately three meters and a height of about five meters.

Compared with the real behemoth of the Yuanhang-6 rocket engine, it appears to be much smaller.

But in his own right, he's still a big guy.

This big guy is a complete laboratory product.

In terms of manufacturing and R\u0026D costs, they are outrageously high.

But judging from the experimental results, all these costs are obviously worth it.

"In addition to its own weight, the working fluid expected to be carried, the entire electric propulsion system, and the No. 12 electric propulsion engine have been tested and confirmed to have an additional 100 kilograms of carrying capacity."

"This electric propulsion engine test run was successful."

After Mo Dao paused, he took the data obtained after the test drive and

The results of the experiment were announced to all researchers present.

After another moment of silence,

People who were still holding back their emotions could no longer suppress it.

Cheers sounded at this moment.

Although the carrying capacity of one hundred kilograms has developed to a considerable extent at this moment, the carrying capacity of the Yuanhang-6 rocket engine's hundreds of meters is still thousands of times different.

But the breakthrough of electric propulsion engines at this moment is still of great significance.

Its significance does not lie in the carrying capacity of one hundred kilograms,

What's more, the thrust-to-weight ratio of the electric propulsion engine finally exceeded one.

The electric propulsion system, at this moment, finally has practical significance.

Compared with the Yuanhang series of rockets, the electric propulsion system has an obvious advantage.

No matter how rocket power studies rocket recovery,

It is naturally inferior to the repeated use and long-term operation of the electric propulsion system.

These are essentially two completely different ways of propulsion.

An inappropriate metaphor,

If the electric propulsion system is similar to the way many people expected to provide lift,

The engine continuously provides power to lift the spacecraft or other flying objects off the ground and into space.

The rocket was more like being 'thrown' out of the earth,

Several stages of the rocket were "thrown" in succession, and it got rid of the gravity of the earth.

Therefore, the former's electric propulsion does not have such high requirements on lift-off speed, because it has continuous thrust and can always push the aircraft towards the destination at a certain speed.

The latter is different, quite different from the former.

This essential difference leads to a natural disadvantage of rocket engines compared to electric propulsion systems.

The electric propulsion system can lift off at a relatively uniform speed and land at a uniform speed, but the rocket power has to face the problem of overload.

certainly,

The biggest significance of the electric propulsion system at this moment is that,

It still has considerable room for development,

Since the carrying capacity of one hundred kilograms can be achieved at this moment, then it may not be possible to reach one density or even higher in the future.

"Commander Mo, do you want to give the electric propulsion system another series name?"

After the cheers,

A core researcher and Mo Dao smiled and said something,

"Let's keep it as the Yuan Voyage series. Just after Yuan Voyage 6, let's continue to move down the list."

Mo Dao looked at the electric propulsion engine with a calm expression and answered.

Although, electric propulsion and the previous voyage series of chemical rockets are completely different in terms of propulsion methods.

However, in terms of achieving the ultimate goal of a long voyage,

The electric propulsion system is still in the same line as the previous chemical rockets.

at last,

The new electric propulsion system will continue to be named Yuanhang 7.

…

Late 1948.

Qiusuo Research Institute is powered by Yuanhang 7.

A satellite weighing only about fifty kilograms was launched.

Compared with the densely packed satellites in the earth's orbit at this moment,

This satellite doesn't seem to be that eye-catching either.

But for the development of electric propulsion systems, this satellite is undoubtedly a symbol and a starting point.

…

49 years.

On the basis of the already considerable lunar surface base,

Qiusuo Research Institute began more frequent development of the lunar surface.

Even with the support of the Yuanhang-6 rocket,

At this moment, the number of permanent residents in the lunar base alone exceeds 800.

But there is obviously still a big gap between what Mo Dao wants to achieve on the lunar surface.

March,

The Yuanfang-6 rockets launched from the ground are becoming more frequent.

The number of people working at the lunar base at the same time exceeded 1,000 for the first time.

April, May...the number of people at the lunar surface base continued to increase.

Qiusuo Research Institute has expanded its mining of lunar surface minerals, including helium-3.

Also in this year,

Another important thing happened.

The helium 3 fusion demonstration reactor has completed the theoretical design work.

The actual construction phase begins.

Although the scale of the demonstration reactor is definitely much larger than the experimental reactor.

But once the construction phase has passed,

The productivity of this era is still functioning.

Qiusu Research Institute’s cooperative units’ needs for Qiusu Research Institute,

It was originally given the highest priority.

As long as it is not too technically difficult to find what the institute needs,

All cooperative units will come up with it as soon as possible.

As a result, the construction speed of the demonstration reactor is also quite fast.

…

January 1950,

Mo Dao led a group of researchers on the basis of Yuanhang 7,

The electric propulsion system has been further improved.

A total of six sets of Yuanhang 7B with improved electric propulsion systems were installed, and the first manned lunar landing and return with an electric propulsion system was carried out.

Limited by a carrying capacity of less than two densities,

Yuanhang 7b only carried one astronaut except for a small amount of supplies in transit.

Starting from the ground,

After breaking away from the ground for the first time, it did not orbit the earth.

Instead, it flew directly according to the lunar coordinates calculated in advance.

It took less than two days to send the only astronaut to the space platform in lunar orbit.

The astronaut was sent to the lunar surface base by the space platform's lander.

Yuanhang 7b, after adding working fluid to the space platform, successfully returned to the scheduled landing site on the ground from outside the earth.

At this point, Earth-moon space exchanges have entered a new stage.