The rise of nanometers

Moon.

The front view of Guanghan Palace City.

In Area B 15, a huge building is standing quietly here, on the silent sub-vacuum lunar surface.

The building looks like a cannon soaring into the sky.

In fact, it is a sky cannon, with layers of superconducting coils wrapped around the middle pipe, and power supply facilities buried underground.

This is a mass projector, also known as an electromagnetic catapult.

The Academy of Sciences, the Academy of Engineering, and the Department of Sui Humanity jointly built this experimental mass projector, which is code-named "Yuegui 1."

Two months ago, the first experimental nuclear fusion power station on the moon was finally completed, and power generation tests began immediately.

The electricity currently used by Laurel 1 is supplied by the nuclear power plant. Before the nuclear power plant existed, the testing work of Laurel 1 was not going smoothly.

After all, the total power generation capacity of the lunar area is limited, and it must be supplied to industrial areas and living areas first. As for an electric tiger like Laurel 1, one experiment can use enough electricity for other scientific research projects for several months.

Therefore, the testing work of the Laurel 1 project has only been tested a total of 13 times since its completion in July last year.

It was not until the experimental nuclear fusion power station on the moon was completed and put into use that the power problem of Laurel 1 was greatly alleviated.

However, this experimental nuclear fusion power station is unlikely to last for long. After all, the power is only about 5,000 megawatts, which is the total power of 12 Ford aircraft carriers.

The current maximum power consumption of Laurel 1 has reached 60,000 megawatts. This refers to the instantaneous power consumption, because the power consumption pattern of the mass projector is to explode in a short period of time.

In order to solve this problem, researchers have to prepare various energy storage technologies, now using hybrid types, that is, supercapacitors, flywheels, and direct power generation hybrids.

As for batteries, although power storage can rely on stacking, there is no way to release tens of thousands of megawatts of electrical energy at once.

This is also one of the problems faced by current mass projectors.

The maximum projected mass of Laurel 1 is about 20 to 30 tons, and the initial deorbiting speed can reach 2.4 kilometers per second.

However, this level can only be regarded as a medium-sized mass projector. Large-scale mass projectors must reach the level of projecting thousands of tons at a time before they can meet the preliminary practical standards.

Now we can only project some transport capsules to supply supplies to the Toad Palace Space Station. As for projecting spacecraft, there is no need to think about it.

If we want to launch a spacecraft to Mars through the moon's mass projector in the future, the mass projected at one time will not reach thousands of tons, and the deorbiting initial velocity will not be 8 to 9 kilometers per second, so it will not be very practical.

If the Federation wants to colonize Mars, it does not mean launching unmanned spacecrafts and probes. Because of these tasks, the Federation has already done a lot in recent years.

Currently, in the low-Earth orbit of Mars, the Federation has deployed a total of 17 artificial satellites of various types, 1 small unmanned space station (three modules), and a total of 29 probes that have landed on the surface of Mars.

The data for this research has been studied to the fullest, and astronauts must be dispatched before the next work can continue.

The biggest disadvantage of unmanned spacecraft on Mars is that the communication delay is too long. Even during the Mars opposition, there is a communication delay of at least three minutes in the one-way communication between Mars and the Blue Star.

If Mars is the farthest away from Blue Star, the communication delay will reach more than 25 minutes.

Such a huge communication delay cannot be solved by current technology. After all, the upper limit of the speed of light determines the communication speed of light waves and electromagnetic waves. This is a physical rule.

Either send astronauts to station on Mars, or point out the so-called "quantum communication".

Unfortunately, in terms of quantum communication technology, humans have indeed successfully achieved quantum entanglement, but the fatal flaw of quantum itself is that it cannot store information, and even Huang Xiuyuan is helpless.

Many researchers studying quantum communications have reported to the Federal Ministry of Science that quantum communications are unlikely to be realized within 50 years.

Unless the current quantum physics achieves a breakthrough and someone cracks the fatal flaw that quantum entanglement does not carry information, then quantum communication will be possible.

Now it is better to be more down-to-earth and obediently send astronauts to station on Mars. It is more realistic.

After all, with the successful development of internal pressure suits, the safe life period of astronauts in outer space has increased from the previous 6 to 10 months to 24 to 36 months.

If a large-scale rotating space city is built regardless of cost, and centrifugal force is used to simulate the gravity of a blue star, coupled with the assistance of internal pressure suits, then human beings may achieve further breakthroughs in the safe life span of outer space.

According to the current aerospace technology, when traveling to Mars, if a suitable window period is found, the fastest can be about 80 days. Flying from Blue Star to Mars is more troublesome, but it may take 120 to 150 days to return.

Calculated in this way, the working period of astronauts on Mars is about 10 to 160 days, which is a relatively feasible range.

If a large mass projector is put into use, then within a suitable window period, the flight time to Mars can be compressed again to about 25 to 35 days.

Just for the mass projector, the problem the Federation encountered was the problem of instantaneous discharge. The other problems were entirely engineering problems, without too many technical difficulties.

In fact, the technology of the nuclear fusion power station on the moon is not very mature. The main reason is that the steam turbine cannot use water vapor and must be replaced by a molten salt steam turbine. In addition, multiple waste heat recovery is also very complicated.

For things like machinery, once the system becomes complicated, problems will easily occur. On the contrary, the silly, black and thick Mao Xiongfeng machinery is more durable.

However, in the special environment of the moon, if multiple waste heat recovery systems are not used, the waste heat generated by nuclear fusion will continue to accumulate inside the power station, and problems such as overheating explosions and parts melting will soon occur.

The experimental nuclear fusion power plant has been in operation for more than two months, during which time it was overhauled three times. Minor adjustments and minor problems occurred almost every day.

It's gotten better in the past week.

This is also the reason why the Lunar Mass Projection Institute decided to conduct several projection experiments.

A 26-ton space capsule was inserted into the starting point of the rail. This space capsule was specially modified for use as a mass projector.

A magnetic levitation board is placed on the space capsule body. Once the mass projector is activated, the space capsule will be suspended in the middle of the guide rail to reduce friction caused by direct contact.

The 26-ton space capsule weighs about 8.7 tons, has about 3 tons of fuel, and has a payload of about 14.3 tons.

This is the advantage of the mass projector. The load ratio of the spacecraft is relatively high, because the starting power of the spacecraft is provided by the mass projector, which is equivalent to the spacecraft saving core-level fuel.

If the atmosphere of Blue Star is not too dense, the mass projector can also be used on Blue Star. Because of the existence of the atmosphere, Blue Star is currently not suitable for building mass projectors.

If it is to be built, a vacuum pipe may need to be stretched from the ground to the upper troposphere before it can be used.

It would be better to directly build a space elevator, use the nanotechnology currently mastered by the Federation, pull a cable to outer space, and then build a large space city. It is still barely possible, but the amount of work is a bit large.

Anyway, the federal scientific community is still debating endlessly on plans such as mass projectors, space elevators, traditional launch vehicles, and space shuttles.