Two days later, Chen Nian returned to Chengdu.
The foundations of the superconducting industry and fusion industry have been basically established. What will be developed next is a series of downstream industries and derivative technologies.
Regarding this point, Chen Nian was not in a hurry.
In fact, even with China's mature technology accumulation and strong mobilization capabilities, it is impossible to achieve the full rollout of these two new technologies in a short period of time.
His own psychological expectation is 10 years.
Within 10 years, comprehensive replacement in most technical fields will be achieved, and the popularity and coverage rate of primary results will reach 100%.
On this basis, the transformation of the entire social structure will be completed within twenty years. By that time, China as a whole will truly be on the fast track.
Sitting in his office, Chen Nian relaxed and breathed a sigh of relief.
Sure enough, I don't know since when, I have become accustomed to living in this city.
Although his movement track is in the office, home, and laboratory all year round, as soon as he returns here, he feels a sense of security of being "protected."
This feeling of course has nothing to do with "protection" in the true sense, but rather some kind of psychological comfort zone.
It seems like it’s time to take over the parents too? ——
Forget it.
Last time I called them, they were urging me to get married. Living together would be even more troublesome.
The revolution has not yet succeeded, so how can we talk about the love between children?
Thinking of this, he sat up straight again and said to Chen Guo on the sofa:
"Professor Chen, please help arrange Qiu Mai's affairs. She plans to go to Qatar. If necessary, give her some convenience."
"Don't worry, it's been arranged."
Chen Guo nodded in reply.
In fact, in his mind, Qiu Mai was a good way to solve Chen Nian's "personal problem", but after several trials, he also confirmed that Chen Nian did not have this idea for the time being, so even if it was mentioned in the conversation, he would not Will extend the topic without knowledge.
"That's fine. Qiu Mai is quite talented in the field of hydraulics. I estimate that in another ten years, she may become a technical leader in the field."
"She must be given more exercise while she is still young, and the resources must be given to her."
Hearing Chen Nian's words, Chen Guo couldn't help but laugh.
"What you said is so old-fashioned!"
"Seriously, when you met at AH, wouldn't you talk to her like this?"
"That's not the case."
Chen Nian waved his hands quickly.
Although in the prejudice of many people, they always like to describe academic masters, scientific researchers, science and engineering geniuses, etc. as some kind of image of "high IQ and low EQ", in fact, this is not the case at all.
What is emotional intelligence?
In fact, it is nothing more than the understanding of the logic of "human feelings", which itself is traceable and supported by theory.
Would someone with a high IQ be unable to understand this kind of thing?
At least Chen Nian himself can understand it.
Therefore, even if he had no experience in his previous life, he would not be able to do anything that would appear official in front of others.
"That's good. After all, you are friends first and then comrades. There is no need to be too distant in our relationship."
"I know - let's not talk about this anymore. I received news on the way back that the United States is preparing to restart the lunar exploration program?"
Chen Guo nodded immediately and replied:
"Yes, the rumor has just been released, but the official plan has not been officially announced yet."
"But there is a high probability that they are serious this time, and their goal is very clear, which is to go for helium 3."
Chen Nian's brows wrinkled slightly.
Replacing deuterium with helium 3 as a fusion reactant is not a bizarre idea in itself. In fact, after the birth of fusion theory, the academic community generally believed that helium 3 was a more suitable reactant than deuterium.
The reason is simple. The fusion reaction between helium-3 and helium-3 is a more efficient fusion process, and the energy released by the reaction is much higher than that of deuterium-deuterium fusion.
At the same time, the number of neutrons produced by helium-3 fusion is small and the relative energy loss is also low, which has great advantages in controlling radiation losses and material damage in the reactor.
There is actually only one reason why it has not become a mainstream research direction:
The stock of this thing on the earth is too low, but it is abundant on the moon.
In the current technological environment, it is difficult for humans to maintain the operation of a near-Earth space station, let alone achieve commercial transportation for landing on the moon.
Of course, for China, this is an inevitable step.
In the future, whether it is to use a space elevator or use a large-scale aerial platform as a springboard for multi-stage launches, they are all feasible solutions.
But the old beauty? ?
Without room-temperature superconducting materials as a base, it seems a bit too much of a dream for them to launch a large-scale moon landing.
"Do you think they can make it?"
Chen Nian asked.
"It's hard to say. After all, they have done the moon landing decades ago. Now, whether it is in the fields of aerospace, electronics or machinery, technology has greatly improved. If they want to replicate it again, I'm afraid they won't be able to do it again." It would be too difficult.”
"The only problem is that moon landing is a highly proprietary technology - or what we call specific technology."
"Specific technology itself is very easy to be lost, and their complete system for manned lunar landing did not meet the standards of 'mass production' at all."
"Not to mention that more than 40 years have passed now. Even in the 1980s, when all their technicians were still alive, the moon landing technology was actually on the verge of being lost."
"If they want to do it again now, in one sentence: there is no homework to copy, and they have to start all over again."
After Chen Guo finished speaking her judgment, Chen Nian opposite him also nodded in agreement.
"Same as I think."
"Using a cannon to go to the moon and using a rocket to go to the moon, the technical paths are still different after all."
"But having said that, what was the result of their moon landing?"
"We believe they achieved good results."
Chen Guo answered ambiguously.
".All right."
Chen Nian did not continue to ask, but he clearly remembered that in his previous life, the Yutu-1 lunar exploration rover, which was designed according to old and American standards, suffered a lot of losses on the lunar surface.
Until it was replaced with domestic technology, Yutu 2 could go on smoothly.
At least from this perspective, copying their experience is not appropriate.
"No matter what, their decision to launch their own moon landing plan means that our previous plan to use part of the nuclear fusion technology in exchange for the other party's full set of aerospace industry achievements has gone bankrupt, right?"
"They only have so few chips left in their hands, and they plan to gamble to the end. They really show their national character to the fullest."
Chen Guo shook her head in amusement and replied:
"It's not that exaggerated. According to their current level, a moon landing and return would only take two to three years at most."
"Not only are they not gambling, but they are quite cautious."
"After all, within two to three years, our aerospace industry will not be able to reach their level. If they fail by then, they will still have room to regret it."
"there is none left."
Chen Nian interrupted Chen Guo.
"It is indeed impossible for us to achieve comprehensive transcendence in aerospace technology in two to three years, but it is not difficult to come up with one or two typical projects."
"After all, it's just the moon, so it's not that difficult."
After seeing Chen Guo off, Chen Nian did not leave the office immediately. Instead, following the topic just discussed, he immediately started sorting out the technologies needed for the lunar exploration plan.
In fact, he was really not bragging when he said, "Last moon is not difficult." Not to mention that there is a big killer system now, so what if there isn't one?
In the last life, China launched the Chang'e-1 lunar exploration satellite for the first time in 2007. Then, in just 6 years, it launched Chang'e-2 and Chang'e-3, and successfully achieved the first soft landing on the moon.
That was in 2013, only 6 years after the launch of the first lunar exploration satellite!
In this life, the progress of China's lunar exploration project is faster than in the previous life. The launch time of Chang'e 2 has been advanced to the end of 2009, and the main construction and preparation work of the Chang'e 3 project has been completed more than half.
If all goes well, the moon landing will be possible by the end of this year to the first half of 2013.
So, in this case, "getting to the moon" isn't really a problem at all.
The problem is how to go to the moon and bring back enough samples to prepare for subsequent large-scale mining.
In this process, the core actually consists of two parts:
The first is the implementation issue: what kind of technology should be used to send heavy exploration and mining equipment to the moon and ensure its smooth return.
The second is the cost issue. What kind of equipment form should be used to reduce the ground-to-month round trip cost as much as possible.
Regarding the former question, Chen Nian actually didn't plan to spend too much time and energy.
After all, great efforts can produce miracles. Metallic hydrogen is not only a superconductor, but also an extremely terrifying energetic material.
Coupled with the previous technological accumulation of TBCC engines, new engines + new fuels, it is not a big problem to send a small excavator up.
The key lies in the cost part.
The purpose of going to the moon is to dig helium 3, and the purpose of digging helium 3 is to improve the efficiency of fusion reactors.
And if the cost of extraction is higher than the benefits of increased efficiency, then the gain is simply not worth the loss.
Chen Nian knocked on the table gently, thinking about possible technical routes.
According to his experience, there are only a few technologies that can be realized in the short term to reduce aerospace costs on a large scale, mainly in the following directions: rocket recovery, space shuttles, high-altitude auxiliary launches, magnetic ejections, and high-altitude aircraft capture.
Among them, rocket recycling was the most mature in the previous life and was the most consistent with the existing technical route. There is no doubt that Chen Nian put it at the highest priority.
As for the space shuttle, after the rocket recovery technology became available, it should be said to be relatively useless. However, by coincidence, China introduced TBCC technology in advance, which suddenly made the space shuttle's prospects brighter.
As for the high-altitude auxiliary launch, the original route of this thing was to use high-altitude balloons to assist the launch. The stability was ridiculously poor. It should have been the first to be eliminated, but by coincidence, China was working on an aerial platform project, which made it one of the first to be eliminated. It has become the technology with the largest imagination space.
Next is magnetic ejection, and superconductor + electromagnetic orbit technology gives it room to realize.
High-altitude aircraft capture - large transport aircraft and TBCC engines have laid the technical foundation.
Looking around, every direction is a good direction!
Chen Nian couldn't help but help his forehead.
It was okay not to sort it out. After sorting it out, he discovered that the foundation China had laid in less than 10 years was indeed stronger than he thought.
I have a phobia of choice, who knows?
I'm afraid Americans don't have this kind of worry at all.
After hesitating for a long time, Chen Nian did not finalize the direction. What is even more ridiculous is that the number of source points required for analysis in the system for the core equipment corresponding to these directions are almost the same, and they all fluctuate around 500 points.
Totally unable to decide.
He sighed, leaned back on the chair, and thought to himself:
Why not just build a space shuttle? It can also open space routes in advance. In the future, I can also go to space to see it.
But I still want to engage in high-altitude auxiliary launches.
Big is good, and the floating island is a man's romance, okay?
Can the Nantianmen project be speeded up?
Just as he was struggling silently in his mind, there was a sudden knock on the office door, and then Li Xiang opened the door and walked in.
Seeing his sad face, Li Xiang asked curiously:
"What problem did you encounter?"
Chen Nian shook his head and replied:
“There’s no problem, there are so many choices, I can’t choose.”
He briefly explained his considerations to Li Xiang, who was also dumbfounded.
"You are really cheap and good at it. But seriously, since other technical routes have been accumulated, why don't you just open a new route?"
"New route?"
"Yes, if we work on different things and the technologies don't overlap, it might be able to stimulate development in other directions."
After hearing Li Xiang's words, Chen Nian came back to his senses.
Indeed, it is a good idea.
But the question is, what to do? !
"Then what do you mean?"
Chen Nian looked at Li Xiang with bright eyes.
He is not afraid that the other party will come up with wild ideas, but he is afraid that he has no imagination.
After Li Xiang pondered for a moment, he said:
"Actually, I have been wondering why the initial velocity of rocket launch must be so high."
"Intuitively, as long as the downward thrust is greater than gravity, I can fly into space if I hang myself with a drone, right?"
"That's right."
Chen Nian nodded and replied:
"Theoretically, as long as the thrust is enough, you can climb to the moon even at the speed of an ant."
"The reason for high speed is that it must break through the first cosmic speed - you can think of a rocket as a cannonball. It doesn't matter what kind of rocket it is when it is fired. It's easy to understand."
"However, today's rocket launch is not a one-time deal. It has to go through multiple stages of acceleration in the middle?"
Chen Nian's eyes lit up and he suddenly understood what Li Xiang was thinking.
And Li Xiang also took advantage of the situation and said:
"So if this acceleration process is changed to a constant speed, it is also feasible?"
"Isn't Chengdu Aircraft already planning to engage in an electric aviation power project? Is this thing feasible?"
Chen Nian nodded sharply and replied:
"Got it!"
At this time, a picture that he had never imagined before appeared in his mind:
An aircraft carrying solar panels and metal hydrogen batteries slowly lifted off from the roof of a residential building, then slowly climbed into space at a speed of one meter per second. After entering outer space, it ignited a small firework rocket and sent itself into space. space
This screen can be further optimized.
After helium 3 is collected on a large scale, miniaturization of fusion reactors will no longer be difficult.
If a working medium-free engine could be developed, it would truly be a new era.
(End of chapter)
