The rise of nanometers

The power generation equipment research and development company of the Suiren Department developed a power generation solution for floating cities. It is not nuclear fusion or solar energy, but geothermal energy.

That’s right, it’s geothermal energy.

To be precise, it's Venus' air heat.

You know, in the atmosphere on the surface of Venus, the average temperature is between 424 and 462 degrees Celsius.

It just so happens that the temperature of Venus' atmosphere shows a gradual downward trend as the altitude increases.

Among them, at an altitude of 100 kilometers, the average temperature is minus 112 degrees Celsius; while in areas below an altitude of 5 kilometers, the average temperature is between 424 and 462 degrees Celsius.

The huge temperature difference formed by the two provides application conditions for another power generation solution, which is thermoelectric power generation technology.

The design team of this plan plans to use small floating modules to place the heat exchange system on the ground, and then use cables to connect the floating cities.

Then, at an altitude of 55 to 60 kilometers, where the average temperature is 27 degrees Celsius to minus 10 degrees Celsius, a small heat dissipation module is installed at this altitude. During this heat exchange process, temperature difference power generation can be performed.

There is a temperature difference of more than 400 degrees Celsius between the two, which can fully meet the needs of high-power power generation.

In addition, this power generation mode also avoids the embarrassment of solar panels.

After all, solar panels need to be laid over a large area, and the wind speed in the high-altitude areas of Venus' atmosphere is too strong, and large-area solar panels are easy to attract wind.

In addition, the power generation of solar panels needs to face the alternation of day and night due to the rotation of the planet. Don’t forget that the rotation speed of Venus is extremely slow. On average, each rotation takes 243 days.

This means that the night cycle of Venus is 121.5 days.

During the operation of the floating city, if solar panels are used to generate electricity, there are only two options, one is to travel day by day; the other is to build a very large carbon powder energy storage power station.

If you choose the first option, you need to install a high-power engine to keep the floating city in the position where the sun shines.

If you choose the second option, to meet the floating city's 121.5-day night power consumption, the scale of the carbon powder energy storage power station that needs to be built will be very large.

Solar panels can be used on artificial satellites and space stations in low-Earth orbit, but they are obviously a bit acclimatized when used in the upper atmosphere of Venus.

The design team of the Suiren Department naturally saw that solar panels were not suitable for Venus, so they developed an air temperature difference power generation system in a different way.

You should know that in some thermal power stations of Blue Star, the high-temperature and high-pressure boiler water vapor does not necessarily have a pressure of 462 degrees Celsius and 92 times the atmosphere.

The atmosphere of Venus is a natural boiler, perfect for generating electricity.

In addition to utilizing the abundant thermal energy in the lower atmosphere, Venus also has another overlooked energy source: wind.

At the height of the floating city, the average wind speed is 30 to 50 meters per second, and the wind energy resources are better than any wind farm on Blue Star.

If the windmill is hung up, it will probably be able to generate crazy amounts of electricity.

Another wind power company is doing technology research and development in this area, but they have encountered some problems, that is, the mechanical gear-type windmill drive shaft cannot withstand such strong wind force.

The average wind speed is 30 to 50 meters per second, which is equivalent to daily typhoons, and they are all super typhoons.

Blue Star's previous wind turbine equipment would not generate electricity during typhoons. Instead, they would retract the fan blades to prevent the turbine from being damaged by the typhoon.

And in the upper atmosphere of Venus, where the wind is more terrifying than that of the Blue Star, no company's wind turbines can withstand such terrifying strong winds.

Of course, these difficulties are not insurmountable.

The main reason why Blue Star's wind power equipment R\u0026D company did not develop equipment that could withstand typhoons was because it was unnecessary.

Because typhoons don’t happen every day, the cost of equipment may increase by more than ten times just to resist typhoons.

In order to survive typhoon weather for a few days at most, the production cost will be increased more than ten times. Even if the equipment research and development company is willing to spend money, it is estimated that no power generation company will be willing to buy it.

Because there is no demand, Blue Star's wind power generation equipment cannot reach the level of typhoon power generation.

However, the special environment of Venus now requires wind power generation equipment to ensure stable power generation in typhoon-level weather, so technical upgrades must be carried out.

Will the gear drive shaft suffer mechanical wear?

Never mind, use magnetic bearings instead.

The body is not strong enough?

It doesn't matter, use composite silicene-carbon nanotube materials.

Is the power generation unstable?

The minimum power generation is enough, and the carbon powder energy storage power station can absorb unstable power generation.

For the federation, the manufacturing cost of more than ten times is affordable. After all, the price of wind turbines can be offset by the internal circulation system.

In the federation's special internal circulation system, many cost issues in the capital era are actually not a problem.

The federal production costs currently calculated exclude capital costs to a large extent.

The current federal production cost structure is usually material cost + energy cost + processing cost + labor cost + research and development cost.

In this case, the perfectly closed internal circulation system will cause the production cost of the product to drop rapidly.

As long as the federation has enough materials and energy, it can basically generate unlimited capacity.

So what if the cost of the upgraded wind turbine increases by more than ten times? The Federation can afford it.

Therefore, the Venus development plan began to be revised again, adding testing of bottom-atmosphere thermal energy power generation projects and high-altitude wind power generation projects.

As for the previously prepared solar power generation project, it was directly canceled, and only the carbon powder energy storage power station was retained.

The Venus development plan is being gradually improved. The unreasonable parts in the first draft have been eliminated and some projects adapted to local conditions have been added.

This is the advantage of the Federation. Even if part of the plan has been implemented, mistakes can be quickly corrected if they are discovered.

Rather than like in the era of capital, even if the technical route is found to be wrong, capital may push it forward in order not to lose money.

Just like the Silicon Valley department, which was at odds with the Suiren department at the beginning, it was clear that they were struggling with photolithography, but they still would not give up on photolithography because they could not accept the loss.

If they had switched to the nanowire route, they would probably have suffered a more tragic death. This is the cruel reality of capital society.

Once you fail, it's hard to turn around and start over.

The federation is different. After forming a perfect internal circulation system, even if technology research and development goes wrong, it can quickly change routes because the federation can afford the losses.

After half-stepping into the universe, pure capital companies have become increasingly unable to adapt to development.

After all, private companies want to make profits, and in the early stages of space development, it is destined to be difficult to recover the capital.

Among Western commercial companies, the one that has been best commercialized in the aerospace field is Musk's Space Exploration Company.

But many people only see the glorious achievements of Space Exploration Company, but fail to see the company's deep-seated fatal weaknesses.

That is profitability. The Space Exploration Company's profit model is very fragile and can only rely on orders from NASA. Once NASA has funding problems or the U.S. economy declines, the Space Exploration Company will not be able to obtain orders.

A commercial company that cannot get orders is not far from bankruptcy.

This is the fatal problem that commercial companies will face when they enter the primary stage of the universe and cannot make profits in the short term.

Thank you for your support (ω｀)