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However, at the speed of the Tibetan Antelope, even if you want to deliver express to the space station, you are not qualified.

Because the space station flies in low-Earth orbit at a speed of about 7.8 kilometers per second, about 28,000 kilometers per hour.

On the other hand, the Tibetan Antelope, even the original nuclear-powered version of the Black Antelope, cannot reach this terrifying speed in the atmosphere.

This is due to the difference between rockets and plasma propulsion.

Rocket launch means extremely abundant power in a short period of time, so it is necessary to accelerate the object to orbital speed during this period and maintain this speed afterwards, otherwise the payload launched into space will eventually fall back slowly due to gravity ground.

Plasma propulsion is continuous power, and it can enter space without reaching orbital speed at all.

If you want to compare the two, rocket power is a car that can only be refueled once, and plasma propulsion is a bicycle.

Cars are fast, but they can only stay where they are after running out of gasoline, while plasma power is slow, but as long as you bring enough supplies, it is possible to travel around the world.

Therefore, if the Tibetan Antelope and the space station want to achieve docking in space, then the Tibetan Antelope needs to be accelerated to at least the orbiting speed to be possible.

And after accelerating, the problem of deceleration must also be considered, otherwise it will be very difficult for the Tibetan Antelope to re-enter the atmosphere, and decelerating in space is more difficult than accelerating, and consumes more energy...

From this perspective, the plasma version of the Tibetan Antelope is extremely inconsistent with the current space exploration system. Even if it can go into space after it is built, it will not play a big role under the current system.

It cannot perform satellite maintenance tasks, and cannot directly deliver supplies to the space station. Even launching a satellite requires an additional thrust engine for the satellite to allow the detached satellite to reach orbital speed.

So I think it would be better for us to change the aerodynamic shape.

Tang Huacong didn't just say it casually. He decided to put forward this opinion after careful consideration in the base these days.

Because in his opinion, the aerodynamic shape of the Tibetan Antelope is very unreasonable, seriously dragging down its speed.

The only advantage is probably that the driver inside will be very comfortable. The square space like a small house is very rare in spaceships and space stations.

Such an integrated large space is narrower than usual, separated by cabin sections, like a spaceship and a space station in a large cylinder, it is simply not too comfortable.

But this advantage is not necessary.

The current space navigation is the same as the previous era of great voyages. The comfort experience of the astronauts is not the first priority. As long as there is a sleeping place in the cabin and a little privacy, it can be passable.

After all, every point of space and load in space is calculated in tens of thousands of dollars.

If we change it into a streamlined shape, not only the speed of the aircraft in the atmosphere can be increased, but also the thrust and energy can be used more. Its thrust ratio will be higher, and the payload will also increase, so the energy consumed will be reduced. will reduce...

Tang Huacong actively talked about the benefits of changing the aerodynamic shape, and listed many calculation results on the paper, indicating that his plan was supported by data.

These calculations are the result of his thinking these days.

Chen Shen also thought about this proposal for a while, and finally shook his head and decided not to change it.

Indeed, it was just as Tang Huacong said.

Changing the aerodynamic shape can effectively increase the thrust utilization of the Tibetan Antelope. The horizontal take-off can allow the aircraft's thrust to lift off smoothly when it is lower than the load, and then rely on the buoyancy of the atmosphere to slowly enter space.

Compared with the Tibetan Antelope, this scheme can save a lot of energy during the atmospheric flight phase, and the load that can be carried will also increase. Even when performing accelerated docking in near-Earth space, the acceleration efficiency is much higher than the current shape. many.

But Tang Huacong didn't know the possibility of micro-nuclear reactors, so he didn't consider that the energy of Tibetan Antelope would be the least valuable thing in the future, and he was too obsessed with the atmosphere.

The nuclear-powered Tibetan Antelope's voyage of nearly seven million kilometers is in the atmosphere.

If it leaves the atmosphere, when the atmospheric resistance disappears, its acceleration efficiency will be greatly improved, and at the same time, the energy consumption will be reduced, and the voyage will also be greatly improved.

In space, the engine that can provide ninety tons of thrust per second can accelerate the Black Antelope to a terrifying speed in a short period of time.

Looking at it for a long time, ordinary aerospace planes may be able to compare with the Tibetan Antelope when they first come out of space, but as long as they are given a certain period of acceleration, those aerospace planes that rely on inertial speed and rocket engines to fly in space will even be able to hide. The tail of the Antelope could not be touched.

So although the plasma version of the Tibetan Antelope is not as good as the aerospace plane, it is actually exploring the way for the future nuclear-powered version of the Tibetan Antelope.

In this way, as long as the micro-nuclear reactor is completed in the future, they can immediately change the shotgun of the Tibetan Antelope after they have obtained enough data, and go straight from the line of food and clothing to a well-off life!

But that's the way it is said, but what Tang Huacong said is not unreasonable, so Chen Shen has to think of a suitable reason just like he did with Ding Zhiyi before.

In this case...

Chen Shen thought for a while, The current aerodynamic shape is set in consideration of the development of future models, and if the streamlined shape is changed, it may be necessary to blow a hypersonic wind tunnel, which will take too much time, so I I don’t think it’s convenient to make changes.”

Compared with the shape of the current Tibetan Antelope, the streamlined shape is not a little bit worse in the requirements of the wind tunnel.

The current shape is considered as long as it can fly, and it will not fall down when encountering strong winds.

The streamlined shape must consider the airflow disturbance and flight resistance outside the body...

Considering the high-speed performance it may have, maybe you have to blow the legendary super wind tunnel with a speed of up to Mach 25.

Maybe that thing hasn't been built yet, and by the time it's built, maybe five years have passed, and his miniature nuclear reactors may all come out.

At that time, blow a hammer wind tunnel, install more sets of propulsion units on the fuselage, and directly force the big brick to fly even more fragrant!

Without waiting for Tang Huacong to speak, Chen Shen said again: However, what Team Leader Tang said is also reasonable. This can be used as a research direction. After we realize the prototype of the Tibetan Antelope, we will start research in this area.

This direction is still very promising, and the plasma reactor is indeed more suitable for this kind of aerospace aircraft.