Homo sapiens.

Chapter 382 Conception and Discussion

Le Gong introduced to everyone: "This is Major General Ponte of the Defense Department, in charge of the Weapons and Equipment Department."

Reeves and Pent apparently knew each other.

He smiled and asked, "Pent, are you satisfied with the cobalt bomb?"

"Very satisfied, but the power is too great. Even the experiment can only be done in a closed underground facility, and it is basically impossible to apply it to actual combat." Ponte was both happy and helpless.

Levi shook his head: "I also hope that I will never use this kind of thing."

Seeing that the atmosphere was a bit heavy, Ponte quickly changed the subject: "Let me tell you the purpose of coming this time. First, on behalf of Mr. Chairman, I would like to express my congratulations on your achievements; second..."

"It's for gamma ray power generation."

Du Hai asked at a loss: "Didn't our Institute of Nuclear Power submit a research and development project for an ultra-small power core? This should be the best application of this technology at present, right?"

"No!" Ponte waved his index finger: "After our assessment, we believe that gamma rays have the potential to be further weaponized. The purpose of coming here today is to discuss with professionals whether it can be realized."

The ticking clock ticked slowly.

But Du Hai calculated the data, and a wry smile appeared on his face involuntarily:
"To generate an ultra-dense lightning storm, at least 3 tons of cobalt-60 is needed as a radioactive source. This weight plus supporting facilities requires at least 500 tons. Now our launch vehicle can't carry 500 tons at one time, right?"

After several days of discussions, the Ministry of Defense finally made up its mind to prepare to develop gamma ray turrets and gamma ray satellites.

Du Hai explained: "Use excess charge, then design the radioactive source into a number of fuel rods, wait until the middle of 2.6 years, start replacing brand new fuel rods, just calculate the half-life, cobalt 60 production date, and set the replacement frequency , the power generation and radiation power can be stabilized within a certain range.”

Du Hai himself proposed two solutions: "There are only two ways. One is to overcharge the fuel to ensure that it can still meet the weapon standard within four years, and the other is to mix the core."

This means that a cobalt-60 nuclear battery, its power generation will drop a little bit over time.

"Dr. Du, you overlooked another possibility." Levi said with a smile.

As for defense against gamma rays.

Because gamma ray cannons can intercept hypersonic missiles, as long as hypersonic missiles enter the high altitude area, gamma rays can accurately clear these missiles unimpeded.

lightning! ?Du Hai's eyes widened: "You want to use gamma rays to artificially create lightning in the atmosphere? Is this feasible?"

On the contrary, because Levi's has been engaged in the research and development of nuclear weapons, he quickly thought of some ideas: "Gamma rays deplete very slowly in the sub-vacuum environment of outer space. If they can be placed in low-earth orbit, they can indeed strike targets in the atmosphere. .”

Levi's thought for a while: "Considering that the gamma ray energy of cobalt 60 is continuously released, I think it is necessary to integrate the gamma ray power generation system, which can generate electricity when it is not in use, and use it as a weapon in wartime."

Du Hai was stunned for a moment, and quickly calculated in his mind for a while: "There should be no problem. The stability of the stratosphere is higher than that of the troposphere. It is relatively easy to find out its resonance frequency."

Their solution to this is to lower the direct attack range of gamma rays, and use gamma ray frequencies that do not resonate with the stratosphere and the ozone layer to directly attack aircraft in this range.

Cobalt-60 has a half-life of only 5.27 years, which is really a big problem.

Ponte's eyes lit up: "If the entire device weighs 500 tons, that part of the warship can also be used."

Regarding this point, everyone also fell into deep thought.

"That's true." Du Hai knew that he was preconceived.

Levi's, Du Hai and others hurriedly browsed carefully.

"Uh... the 500 tons is just my rough estimate. There are still many details that need to be paid attention to. I can't guarantee whether the final product will exceed the standard." Du Hai quickly added.

Burnt was a little helpless: "This solution is only suitable for use inside the earth. It seems that gamma-ray satellites in outer space can only use excess charge."

"Above 5.5 meters, you can directly use gamma rays to attack the target, and below 5.5 meters, you can use gamma rays to stimulate dense lightning and attack targets in a large area."

As for the aircraft in the troposphere, using gamma rays to stimulate lightning storms is actually a helpless choice.

"But there is still a problem, how to solve the service life of cobalt-60?" Du Hai reminded.

Levi shook his head: "Dr. Du, in fact, the tropospheric lightning storm device can be installed on the ground. There is no need to mount satellites. Satellites can focus on high-altitude strikes and interceptions."

"Mixed core? How to operate?" Ponte asked quickly.

"Gamma ray satellite battery?" Du Hai put down the tablet, rubbed his temples and thought.

Once the cobalt 60 has finished decaying, it will become a stable nickel 60, which no longer emits gamma rays and beta rays.

Levi's squinted his eyes: "It should be possible. First of all, the resonant frequencies of gamma rays are different between the various layers of the atmosphere. Among them, the troposphere and the ozone layer are the strongest, while the stratosphere is average. The thermosphere has basically no weakening effect due to the thin air. .”

After all, gamma rays are too terrifying. If a frequency that can penetrate the troposphere is used, it may harm innocent people and directly wipe out the creatures on the ground.

For example, planes and missiles can be equipped with Faraday cages to protect against lightning storms.

It's not that it can't be done, but it's not allowed by the aircraft. You must know that gamma rays can not only kill the pilot, but also cause serious damage to the electronic components inside the aircraft.

Can't the whole plane or missile be wrapped with heavy lead plates?The consequence of doing this is that the dead weight of the aircraft will become extremely large.

In this level of lightning storm, even if a Faraday cage is installed, the aircraft cannot 100% avoid electric shocks.

Then he called up the holographic projection and projected the situation of the earth's atmosphere.

After speaking, he sent the weapon plan envisioned by the Weapons and Equipment Division to everyone.

"It makes sense." Ponte quickly recorded it.

That's why the Department of Defense is trying to develop gamma-ray weapons.

Penter reminded, "It's lightning."

What's more, based on supercomputer simulation calculations, they found that as long as the gamma rays are dense enough, under the condition of high resonance, dense lightning storms can be formed in local areas, even reaching the level close to plasma.

Others also raised some questions one after another.

But Du Hai has a different opinion: "Doctor, the atmosphere's weakening of gamma rays is too strong, and our artificial gamma rays can't reach the level of gamma ray bursts at all."

Peng Te nodded: "This is the plan of our Weapons and Equipment Department. In addition, can the stratosphere use gamma rays of a specific frequency to enhance its resonance excitation effect?"

But Pente didn't pay much attention to it: "The fixed turrets on the ground don't need to care too much about the weight, and warships of the 10-ton class also have a relatively high tolerance for equipment weight."

The so-called half-life period does not mean that cobalt-60 has been decaying continuously during this period, but that it will suddenly decay at a certain moment within the half-life period, which is full of randomness.

Although the Ministry of Defense will definitely study various corresponding frequencies, and will inevitably use gamma rays to clear ground targets if it is forced to, but it can only be used as a trump card.

Du Hai's eyeballs rolled, thinking quickly about what he had overlooked.

The half-life of cobalt 60 is relatively short, and there are not many problems in using it on ground turrets and warships.

As for the radioactive source of gamma-ray satellites, radioactive isotopes that can replace cobalt-60 can only be found among radioactive isotopes.

Fortunately, there are quite a lot of radioactive isotopes that can release gamma rays. At present, there are thousands of isotopes discovered by humans, and there is always a suitable one.

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(End of this chapter)