From University Lecturer to Chief Academician

control room.

Zhu Qiqiang reported, "The altitude is 10,300 meters, the speed is 207 meters per second, and the acceleration is close to 0, which is very stable."

Wang Hao nodded after hearing this, "Two hundred meters is about the same."

The light pressure engine's speed of two hundred meters per second is already very fast. Their test maximum speed is 300 meters per second, but it is only the speed of horizontal flight. The maximum speed in the vertical ascent stage is 210 meters.

This speed is not fast, it is only comparable to that of a civil aviation aircraft, but considering that it is in the process of vertical ascent, it is already very impressive.

The light pressure engine is already at an altitude of 10,000 meters.

From normal takeoff until now, in fact, it has only taken less than five minutes. Five minutes is neither too much nor too little, but the light pressure engine is so big that it can rise more than 10,000 meters in five minutes. High altitude can also give people a shocking feeling.

People who watched the test live broadcast were still talking about the "big bright spot" issue. From the perspective of the ground live broadcast, the light pressure engine had become a big bright spot. It was like there was an extra sun in the sky, which was very shocking. .

The people in the control room were not in the mood to sigh about any big highlights, or to compare the light pressure engine with the sun. Each of them was tense and carefully checked the data and pictures in the computer, fearing that something would happen during the ascent. question.

When the engine rose above 12,000 meters, the monitoring personnel reported that it was necessary to start decelerating.

Slow down, that is, reduce power.

Reducing the power means reducing the light pressure thrust. Then under the pull of the earth's gravity, the speed of the light pressure engine's rise will be reduced.

Under the power allocation of the control system, the internal program is constantly doing calculations. The factors involved in power control include air density changes caused by speed and altitude, gravity that changes all the time, etc.

With so many factors involved, there will naturally be very complex calculations. The control system needs to calculate the results quickly and fine-tune the width of the neutron channel in a timely manner.

This can ensure stable acceleration or deceleration of the engine.

In the process of continuous deceleration, the light pressure engine rose to an altitude of 20,000 meters in one breath, and its speed slowly returned to zero, and it was suspended smoothly in the high air.

At this time, the bright spot can still be clearly seen on the ground, but it has become smaller due to the change in engine height.

"Now it looks smaller than the sun."

"It should be related to the height. The height was low during the rising stage. How high is it now?"

The host also introduced appropriately, "The test data published by the Aerospace Industry Company shows that the light pressure engine will rise to more than 10,000 meters, but there is no detailed introduction to how high it will rise."

"However, our satellite calculations show that the current height of the light pressure engine is about 20,000 meters..."

In the main control.

When Teacher Zhu learned that the ascent stage was over and the light pressure engine was suspended at high altitude, he also breathed a sigh of relief. He immediately asked Xiang Qiansheng, "What is the next test?"

"Fly sideways!"

Xiang Qiansheng said immediately.

"Is there any risk?" Teacher Zhu asked worriedly.

Xiang Qiansheng didn't know how to answer for a while. Since it was a test, there must be dangers. He couldn't guarantee 100% success. In the end, he could only say, "There will be a lot of tests in the next step. We are still very confident." confidence."

The next step is to fly sideways.

The light pressure engine's flight at high altitude is different from that in the universe. There is no strong gravity in the universe, so the engine can directly rotate 90 degrees, so that the main nozzle is opposite the driving direction, which can maximize the acceleration flight capability.

The current environment is only high altitude, not space. High altitude will be affected by the earth's gravity.

In order to ensure that the light pressure engine runs smoothly, its main nozzle must face the ground to ensure that the engine flies smoothly and horizontally at the same height. Then, the acceleration is used by several small excitation thrusters in the center of the sides.

Small propellers have relatively low power.

The one-way small thruster can only accelerate the light pressure engine up to eight meters per second. It is impossible to turn on high power in the current test. When the engine flies horizontally, the acceleration is only three meters per second.

At the same time, the faster the engine speeds, the greater the air resistance it will encounter and the smaller the acceleration will be, until the small excitation nozzle thrust and air resistance reach a balance.

"At this time, the engine speed is about 140 to 160 meters per second."

"After the speed stabilizes, we will increase the thrust and then accelerate, so that the engine speed can reach a maximum of 300 meters per second."

"This is already the highest speed at this stage."

"If it's any higher, it creates a sonic boom that could have a big impact on the engine."

Teacher Zhu nodded and said, "Indeed, safety is the most important thing. A sonic boom is too dangerous."

This is mainly because the light pressure engine is a big guy.

For example, some fast fighter jets will not have much impact if a sonic boom occurs, but the light pressure engine is too large, and the tremor caused by the sonic boom may cause unknown risks.

On live TV footage.

When many people were still discussing the issue of the second sun, they discovered that the second sun began to move sideways.

The vertical ascent just now just made the light spot smaller, but now the horizontal flight can clearly see the light spot moving, and the moving speed is getting faster and faster, and the light spot becomes smaller and smaller.

After a while, the light spots were completely invisible.

The host of the live broadcast said, "What we just carried out was an accelerated flight, and the light pressure engine is getting farther and farther away from us."

"The information says that the test will fly more than 1,000 kilometers, which normally takes about two hours..."

There are no more lights visible at the scene.

Those watching the live broadcast can only turn the engine back and continue to watch the subsequent test footage.

…

When the light pressure engine flies horizontally, various tests in the high altitude begin.

After the engine flew for about a hundred kilometers, the test content changed from horizontal flight to diagonal acceleration and turning. The balance system was also tested during the process. At the same time, the operating balance system was tested, that is, the power was continuously increased and reduced. , testing whether the internal energy supply and output can maintain balance.

This involves very complex control system deployment and control. If the control system error is larger, the output power will be too large or too small, causing the system to control the engine inaccurately, which may become a big problem.

The most difficult part of this part is the internal calculation.

When many variables are involved, in order to keep the output value within the error range, a more sophisticated approximate calculation method is necessary. The systematic calculation is completed by the theoretical team led by Paul Phil-Jones and the mathematical team. .

Because the calculation problem is very critical, Wang Hao also participated in the work, and the current test is also a test of the calculation system within the system.

Wang Hao, Paul Phil-Jones and others have also become very serious.

at the same time.

During the various high-altitude tests of the engine, most of the live TV broadcasts had no images, because they were all filmed around a small town 30 kilometers away from the project base, and the light pressure engine had already flown hundreds of kilometers.

Some live TV broadcasts still have pictures.

They used satellite observation methods. From the satellite's perspective, they still saw a bright spot, but the picture was very blurry, and the bright spot only served to mark the position of the engine.

Of course, there are organizations that can see clearly because they use high-end military satellites and can use several satellite images in a timely manner to perform very precise calculations and output images.

At this time, in an office in the Hexagon Building, there were more than a dozen high-level officials looking at the satellite view. Compared with the live TV satellite picture, the picture they were watching had a very high resolution, so it appeared very clear. The only problem Yes, the pictures are not continuous, but you can see the jump of one image after another.

These images were taken from different angles by several military satellites and then output through complex computer calculations.

Everyone is serious.

The people here are high-level figures, and they know very well how important the light pressure engine is.

The light pressure engine is not just an aerospace propulsion technology, but a very strategic military technology. If an aerospace mothership can be built with it, it will allow the flower growers to have space hegemony.

Space supremacy is a new term in the past decade.

Before the rise of cutting-edge technology, American's aerospace technology was dominant. They had the largest number of military satellites, the most complete space monitoring system, and the most advanced satellite tracking technology, etc.

Even so, they dare not claim to have space hegemony.

Compared with the ground, space is too huge, and all technologies involved in aerospace are very complex and very expensive. Each research will cost a lot of money.

They have always hoped to win the competition for space, thereby gaining space hegemony and thus taking the initiative in the future.

The significance of space supremacy is too great.

When we have space hegemony, it means having an absolute dominant position in space. Space hegemony can bring a series of deterrent forces and a steady stream of benefits, and can directly hinder the development of other competitors.

But it is too difficult to have space hegemony. At least it must have unique space attack and defense capabilities, otherwise hegemony is impossible to talk about.

The space carrier can achieve this.

The light pressure engine supports the manufacturing of an aerospace carrier. Although the hull is very large, it can also be self-sufficient in energy and provide a large amount of energy to other devices. In other words, it can support the installation of weapon systems.

Although humans have not yet mastered perfect space weapon technology, with energy support, there is already a foundation for conducting research in corresponding fields, and it is achievable in the future.

The light pressure engine made people intuitively feel the 'space threat'. The senior officials of the Hexagon were very shocked and at the same time felt helpless because they had no way to research and manufacture it.

So, naturally they want the research to fail.

If a major accident occurs during testing, research will definitely be suspended for many years, which is really good news for them.

If the research goes well, they must also understand the specifics.

Now they learn about it by watching the test process. "It looks like they were conducting a lateral flight test. The engine altitude dropped rapidly just now, and other flight tests were also conducted."

"It looks stable, no problem."

"During the flight, the engine kept the main nozzle downward. It seems that horizontal flight is the weakness of this big guy. It needs to keep an attitude facing the ground to maintain balance."

"Also, there are propulsion nozzles on both sides of this big guy, but the power is not high and the acceleration is very small..."

"That means it's bulky?"

"right."

"From a technical point of view, this big thing can only be very flexible when placed in space. When flying on the surface of the earth, the impact of the air is too great."

"Can you beat it down?"

"If it is below 30,000 meters, you can try using large missiles. It also depends on their interception system. If it rises above 100,000 meters, there will be no chance. It will become more flexible, and it is too high..."

"So, it has two weaknesses. One is that it has no protection ability, and the other is that it is too big and bulky."

"Perhaps it would be easier in space, for example, using satellites to impact? Even if this big guy is very flexible, it would not be easy to dodge in space, right?"

"That's a good idea."

"Of course, just think about it. I don't say whether it can be done. The only consequence of doing that is to trigger a war that will cause the extinction of mankind..."

…

In more than two hours, the light pressure engine completed a series of high-altitude tests and returned to the top of the base.

The ratings of those live test programs finally increased again, because from the ground perspective, two suns could be seen again, one of which was still the noon sun. The dazzling sunlight, coupled with the continuous falling of the engine, the two suns. The sun seemed brighter.

The project team didn't care about the picture effects at all. They only focused on the next tests, one was the rapid drop test and the other was the emergency system test.

Then, it’s the second drop test.

The rapid drop test was completed very quickly. The engine dropped vertically from a height of 10,000 meters to 5,000 meters. Then it slowly became stable and the height had dropped to about 2,000 meters.

At this time, it was slowly landing.

The emergency system test was conducted during the landing process, and the engine was only tens of meters away from the ground during the test.

Teacher Zhu can finally take a long breath. At this stage, there is no need to worry about major accidents. At most, there will be minor problems that damage the engine. As long as there are no major accidents, there will be no major accountability. question.

He could finally feel at ease.

"Of course, it's best if there are no problems and everything goes well..."

"Hopefully!"

"It seems that there was indeed no problem during the process, and there should be no problem with this emergency test. You still have to trust Academician Wang!"

He thought carefully and said to Xiang Qiansheng with a smile, "It seems there is no problem."

"Sure enough, it's just as I thought!"

"I said yesterday that there would be no problems. Teacher Xu and Teacher Zhao, those two guys are still worried..."

Xiang Qiansheng suddenly said, "It's not over yet. Emergency testing will be conducted soon, and the power generation device will be shut down. That is when the risk is greatest."

Teacher Zhu was stunned when he heard this, "What will happen?"

"If something goes wrong, might it fall directly?" Xiang Qiansheng said thoughtfully, "Of course, don't worry too much."

"..."

Teacher Zhu suddenly thought that there was a pilot on the engine, and if it crashed, there would definitely be casualties.

He started to worry again.