Homo sapiens.

At this time, Su Changli had brought Li Qingye to the control room.

Baisha saw that the vacuum degree of the pipeline had reached the standard, so he immediately ordered: "Start circular acceleration!"

The power supply system inside the base injects surging electric energy into the electromagnetic acceleration frame.

This electromagnetic acceleration rack is the equipment responsible for acceleration, and the Pyro itself does not have any active parts for electromagnetic acceleration.

The electromagnetic accelerator frame sandwiches the Pyro and starts to accelerate along the circular acceleration pipeline.

From the initial 10 meters per second, the speed has increased to 10 meters per second in less than 500 minutes.

At this time, the electromagnetic accelerator has already run almost half a circle in the ring-shaped pipeline, and the length of this ring-shaped pipeline is 300 kilometers.

The speed of the electromagnetic accelerator is getting faster and faster. After several laps in the ring-shaped pipeline, the speed is finally raised to the limit of 7800 meters per second.

"Start changing tracks."

The staff presses the track change switch, and the control system automatically adjusts the track to connect the inclined and curved pipes of the circular pipe.

7 seconds later.

The electromagnetic acceleration rack slides along the track into the inclined curve pipeline, which is also the last section of the electromagnetic acceleration pipeline.

When the electromagnetic accelerator frame enters the hard pipe of the column-type vacuum pipe, the Pyro will automatically ignite instantly at an altitude of 1500 meters.

Vacuum pipes are silent.

But Li Qingye still saw the ignition moment of the Pyro through the data of the temperature sensor.

At this time, the tail flame and exhaust gas generated by the ignition of the Pyros are sprayed on the bottom plate of the electromagnetic acceleration frame, just to decelerate the electromagnetic acceleration frame.

The Tinder maintained a speed of 7.8 kilometers per second and flew upward along the vacuum hard pipe.

Then break through the hard pipe and get into the vacuum hose area.

The speed of 7.8 kilometers per second was astonishing, and the 26-kilometer-long vacuum hose area was crossed by the Pyro in just over three seconds.

Boo!

The Spark penetrates the insulating membrane above the pipe.

However, the speed of the Tinder, already at an altitude of 3 meters at this time, has not decreased, and the power of burning at a low flow rate is enough to allow it to overcome the gravity of the earth.

After all, the air density at an altitude of 3 meters is very small, and it is almost a vacuum.

And as the Pyro flies higher and higher, the gravity of the earth and the air resistance of the atmosphere will become smaller and smaller, which means that the power required by the Pyro will also become smaller and smaller.

9 seconds after breaking through the barrier film.

Tinder flies over the Karman line.

"Core level separation!"

The core stage of Pyro is separated from Pyro, and Pyro’s space train still has a weight of 6000 tons. Since this mission is in the middle orbit, Pyro’s payload is 3600 tons, and the rest is fuel and auxiliary engines. kind.

The dropped core stage was not scrapped. Instead, it used the remaining 500 tons of fuel, adjusted its descent speed continuously, and finally landed on the northeast coast of Motor Island, where there is a special aerospace landing site.

Compared with other conventional launch vehicles, the core stage of the Tinder can be used at least 50 times.

On the one hand, it is because of the unique integrated manufacturing technology of Homo Sapiens, and on the other hand, it is also because of the vacuum pipeline and electromagnetic acceleration, which itself has relatively little damage to the body of the Pyro.

at the same time.

After the Tinder broke through the Karman line.

The body with a length of 50 meters and a diameter of 10 meters simply scared the world to death.

For comparison, you can know the heavy-duty Falcon launch vehicle. The take-off state of the heavy-duty Falcon launch vehicle is 70 meters in length, the diameter of the rocket body is 3.6 meters, and with two boosters, the take-off weight is about 1400 tons.

When the Pyro flies out of the Karman line, it is roughly equivalent to the take-off weight of a four-engine heavy-duty Falcon.

As long as the size data of the Tinder can be detected, the payload of the Tinder can basically be judged.

Obviously, the world's major aerospace agencies and intelligence agencies that are paying close attention to Homo sapiens are naturally not incapable of analyzing even this kind of data.

The Tinder did not dawdle in the low-Earth orbit, but adjusted the orbit twice through the auxiliary engine, and then flew directly to the middle orbit.

The mission of the Tinder this time is to go to the Homo sapiens space station.

Although it was a test mission, Su Changli, who was full of confidence, obviously did not intend to waste the payload of this launch mission.

The Tinder will stay at the Homo sapiens space station and become the main axis of the Homo sapiens space station.

Chapter 456 It's Hard

NASA headquarters.

Director Bill is looking at an intensified report that has just been reported.

At this time in his office, there are other executives of NASA, and Elon Musk, the chairman of Space Exploration Corporation.

Musk, who just came to NASA headquarters to talk about things today, did not expect to encounter such a thing.

He looked at the report in Bill's hand with a look of surprise: "Oh, Maika... 100 meters in length? 10 meters in diameter? This thing is really big!"

"In terms of volume, it is about 5 to 6 times the size of a heavy-duty Falcon." Rand, the head of NASA's Almita project, scratched his hair while speaking.

Bill put down the document in his hand, with a serious look on his face: "Is this the purpose of the space base in the north of Mada Island?"

Rand is more professional than the half-baked director Bill: "I remember a company in Maple Leaf Country proposed a similar concept, but I didn't expect Homo Sapiens to realize this idea."

"From the data detected by the radar, when the spacecraft left the pipeline, its speed reached the first cosmic speed of 7.8 kilometers per second. Obviously, the power of this spacecraft is very strong!" Another technical director analyzed road.

Musk reminded: "Gentlemen! Shouldn't you be worried that Homo sapiens will usurp orbital resources and land on the moon and Mars first?"

All the NASA management present at once fell silent involuntarily.

Last year, NASA's research funding increased a little.

However, the good times didn't last long. Since Homo sapiens has been doing things non-stop this year, NASA's funding has dropped again.

The reason for this situation is that the landlord's family has no surplus food.

America's economy keeps deteriorating. On the one hand, it needs to replace the old-fashioned plastic products inside, and invest a lot of money in West Asia; on the other hand, it is a new round of economic crisis that just broke out.

Coupled with the serious decline in global trade in America, the US dollar's global currency status is not guaranteed.

In addition, there is another more important reason, that is, at this time, America has projects that require more money, which crowds out investment in the aerospace industry.

That is life sciences and biochips, and the military industry.

The importance of the aerospace industry is obviously not as important as life sciences, biochips, and military industries at this stage.

The gentlemen of the City on the Hill Council no longer have the ambitions of Apollo's moon landing, let alone the strong capital of the past.

With limited funds, they had to make a choice.

The aerospace industry was one of those parts that was left out.

Now the order given to NASA by the City on a Hill Council is to do more theoretical research, write more PPTs, and at the same time spend money on aerospace projects that need the most practicality.

For example, a new type of surveillance satellite that can defend against gamma rays is a recent key project of NASA.

As for returning to the moon, the new International Space Station, Mars colonization, etc., the council did not approve funds for NASA, but only encouraged private companies like space exploration companies to invest in space stations, landing on the moon and Mars, and so on.

Without money, major private companies also find it very difficult.

This is why Musk came to NASA headquarters specifically to discuss the next cooperation issue. Now, with its low cost, the space exploration company will almost take over all NASA's launch missions in the next three years.

NASA, which has financial difficulties, has to be careful. Similar to General Electric, Blue Origin, Boeing and other cheating goods, Bill does not want to give projects to these companies at all.

After thinking for a while, Bill asked Joseph Brooks, the head of the Office of Space Development:

"Joseph, if we want to build a similar device, how much will it cost?"

Joseph Brooks calculated silently in his heart for a while, and said a relatively conservative figure: "At least 2000 billion."

"2000 billion?" Bilton's face was tangled in everything.

"..." Musk on the side was also shocked by this number.

Regardless of the fact that Musk has been the richest man in the world for several years, but that is only based on stock valuation, and he certainly does not have that much cash and fixed assets.

Joseph Brooks explained helplessly: "2000 billion is just a conservative estimate. It takes at least 300 billion to build towers and underground facilities, and about 200 billion is needed to develop and manufacture airships and vacuum hoses..."

"In addition, the development and manufacture of the spacecraft itself, and whether there are other facilities in the entire system, are still unknown..."

After listening to Joseph Brooks' analysis, Bill's face darkened even more.

Fortunately, they don't know that the underground ring pipeline of the Dandelion Project has a length of 300 kilometers. Otherwise, this giant vacuum pipeline with a diameter of 30 meters will make NASA completely desperate.

Taking the 5.8-meter inner diameter tunnel commonly used in North America as an example, the current minimum construction cost is US$5 million per kilometer.

Even if the difference in pipe material is not taken into account, based on the difference in the area of ​​the pipe wall between the two, based on the estimated value of the project in America, the cost per kilometer must reach more than 50 billion US dollars.

300 kilometers will cost at least 1.5 trillion.

This has not yet calculated the electromagnetic acceleration orbit, power supply system and the like.

A hundred times more funding for NASA may not be enough.

Obviously Bill has not realized the huge gap between the two sides.

I thought Homo Sapiens could do it, so could NASA.

However, Homo sapiens has a variety of low-cost production technologies, very cheap raw materials, and an operating system that achieves the ultimate utilization of internal resources.

These are all things NASA does not have.

Bill still didn't give up, he gritted his teeth and ordered: "Let the company with similar technology in Maple Leaf Country study it and see if it can come up with a low-cost solution."

Joseph Brooks could only nod helplessly: "OK, I will contact that company as soon as possible."

Musk is not optimistic about this project. He suggested with some eccentricity: "Bill, 2000 billion can launch thousands of heavy-duty Falcons. Why waste money on this kind of place? The council will not agree to this kind of project. , you should think more about the cooperation with Space Exploration Corporation!"

"Elon, your idea is too wrong. If we can successfully replicate this project, we will be able to enter outer space at a low cost in the future." Bill did not listen to Musk.

"But NASA has no money!" Musk reminded.

"Uh..." Bill felt a little embarrassed.

Now NASA's funds are indeed much less. Without money, such a large-scale project cannot be carried out at all.

The problem of shortage of funds is actually a problem that all space agencies of the current major forces must face.

At this stage, the aerospace industry is a very difficult industry to make a profit. Except for satellite navigation, satellite communication, weather forecast, and telemetry, you can barely make some money, and other projects basically lose money.

For example, the space station project, manned moon landing, Hubble telescope, Mars exploration, etc. These projects cannot make money in a short period of time.

Therefore, the aerospace industry is actually one of the barometers of a regional economy.

Areas with a poor economy definitely have no way to play various cutting-edge scientific research aerospace projects, but to consider more practical projects such as navigation, communication, telemetry and surveillance satellites.

NASA is a typical example.

At this time, the institutions that are having a headache with space funding are not limited to NASA, the space departments of Europa Consortium, Lucia and other forces are all troubled by this.

Seeing Homo sapiens launching several thousand tons of spacecraft into outer space at one time, those space agencies are really envious.

Chapter 457 The Skynet Returns

After the successful launch of Pyro.

There was applause in the launch control room of the base.

Li Qingye also applauded for the Dandelion project: "You have completed an amazing project and set an example for the opening of a new era."

"It's all the company's strong support." Su Changli's voice was trembling, and it was obvious that he was also extremely excited.

Although he is full of confidence in the Dandelion project, it is the first actual test launch after all, and Su Changli is naturally extremely excited that he can successfully complete the launch mission in one go.

Li Qingye patted him on the shoulder: "Changli, next you have to make persistent efforts. The Motor Island Satellite Manufacturing Company is already producing dead light satellites. You need to strengthen mutual communication and strive to deploy dead light satellites in low-earth orbit as soon as possible."

"Understood! I will arrange this as soon as possible!" Su Changli nodded.

Of course he knew the company's huge demand for large payload spacecraft.

Similar to the dead light satellite, which has a net weight of 480 tons, the previously designed ape-eating eagle launch vehicle cannot be transported to low-earth orbit at all.

As for the segmented transportation, the plan of on-orbit assembly was directly rejected by the space business department. The reason is naturally that the risk is very high.

The dead light satellite can only be launched and deployed as a whole. Although some cobalt rods need to be supplemented for later maintenance, it also requires strict management and operation.

In fact, 32 dead light satellites have been deployed in the low-earth orbit of the earth at this time.