Chapter 695: Auspicious Number

Borrowing two pilots from relevant departments is currently the most trouble-free way.

But the trouble is that he is not familiar with the Air Force system, and he doesn't know who to ask for a loan. Just when he was thinking about whether to write a letter for such a trivial matter, the pillow was delivered by himself. Come to the door.

In the second week of the moon landing project bidding conference, when Lu Zhou had already written the letter, the space shuttle assembly center welcomed several special guests.

In the reception room of the Aerospace Assembly Center.

Under the introduction of the Secretary of the Minister's Office of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Lu Zhou met the head of the Air Force Equipment Department and Academician Wu Kang, the chief engineer of the Air Force Equipment Research Institute.

Just when Lu Zhou was not sure whether he should salute or shake hands, Minister Qin took the initiative to extend his right hand.

"Nice to meet you, Professor Lu."

After shaking hands with several experts from the Air Force Equipment Research Institute behind Minister Qin, Lu Zhou turned his attention to Minister Qin. When he was thinking about how to speak better, Minister Qin said straight to the point.

"Professor Lu is also a busy person, so I won't be too polite here. If there is something more straightforward in my words, I hope you can forgive me."

Lu Zhou smiled and nodded.

"It's the best, and I'm not a person who likes to be polite."

Minister Qin nodded and continued with a serious expression.

"I believe that the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology should have contacted you before we came here. I only have one question now. Can your electric propulsion engine really generate a thrust of 200KN stably?"

Lu Zhou thought for a while, and said with strict words: "I don't know much about the standard of stability... But if it is used to send the space shuttle into low-earth orbit, it probably has no problem."

Several experts standing behind Minister Qin showed shocked expressions on their faces.

Although I have seen the relevant data on the PPT sent by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the feeling I saw on the screen is far less than the shock of this person admitting it in person.

Especially Academician Wu, after the shocked expression, he was even more excited.

By the standards of aerospace engines, the thrust of 200KN is not very large, even if it is the Trent-800 on the Boeing 777, the thrust is twice as high.

However, if endurance is considered, few conventional fuel engines can compare with electric propulsion systems equipped with small nuclear fusion devices. Even with a thrust of 200KN, it will be left behind by traditional jet aircraft in terms of acceleration, but the super endurance of this aerospace aircraft, as well as the ability to stay on standby for a long time in low-earth orbit, are beyond any What Traditional Jets Can't Do...

In an instant, a word popped out of his mind.

Aerospace strategic bomber!

If this electric propulsion system is as magical as Lu Zhou described, then it is simply tailor-made for aerospace strategic bombers!

It wasn't just him who had such an idea.

Obviously, Minister Qin, who was standing next to him, also wanted to go with him.

After hearing Lu Zhou's confession, Minister Qin's serious expression instantly became a little excited, and he stared at Lu Zhou sincerely and said.

"I wonder if it's convenient to show us your electric propulsion system now?"

Seeing the eager expression on Minister Qin's face, Lu Zhou smiled and said.

"It's not inconvenient, but it just so happened that you came at the right time. About the day before yesterday, we just completed the assembly of a Hall thruster, and now that thing is lying on the rocket engine test bench waiting for testing. If If you are interested, just follow me."

Before Lu Zhou could finish speaking, Academician Wu who was standing next to Minister Qin couldn't wait to speak.

"Please be sure to show us!"

"Then please come here."

With that said, Lu Zhou made a gesture of invitation, and led a group of people to the rocket engine test stand at the edge of the assembly center.

In the center of the test platform, I saw a cone that was about as long as three people lying flat, and was lying on a steel alloy support. At one end of its bowl-shaped opening, densely packed fist-sized propulsion units are installed inside, roughly counting at least a hundred or more. And at the position facing the bowl-shaped opening, there is a high wall made of concrete.

"The temperature of the jet plume of the Hall thruster is very high. In order to avoid accidents, we can only deal with it in this way." Seeing that Academician Wu was very interested in the concrete wall, Lu Zhou explained briefly, and then Looking at the staff who was debugging the equipment standing on the high platform, he nodded and continued, "There will be an experiment in about half an hour, about the test of thrust and jet plume stability, I believe you should be very interested in the former."

Half an hour passed quickly.

The experiment officially begins.

The maintenance personnel located under the overhead began to evacuate, and as the staff completed the final adjustments and pulled down the energized switch blade, a huge amount of electrical energy began to pour into the ionization chamber inside the engine. I saw that as the temperature counter on the screen began to climb, the air near the engine port gradually distorted, condensing into a blue cone out of thin air, and pushing out a layer of orange-red shell.

As the plasma continued to be thrown out, the thrust value displayed on the screen began to gradually increase until it reached 198.68KN, and then began to fluctuate up and down in units of 10KN.

"Plasma output is stable!"

"The temperature of the ionization chamber is normal!"

"..."

Listening to the voice of the staff nearby reporting the situation, Academician Wu glanced at the jet velocity on the screen, his eyelids twitched suddenly, and couldn't help asking.

"What material is your engine made of? Can it withstand such a high temperature?"

"It's not the material that's resistant to high temperatures, it's the magnetic field...but that concrete wall wasn't so lucky."

Looking in the direction where Lu Zhou's chin was pointing, he saw that the concrete wall behind the thruster had melted a depression about one meter in diameter.

Although the total amount of sprayed working fluid is not large, even so, this level of high temperature is not enough for a mere concrete wall to fully withstand.

The experiment lasted about an hour.

In addition to the maximum thrust, Lu Zhou ordered the staff here to conduct experiments on the orbit change speed at 15% power and the outer space cruising speed at the lowest 3% power.

After the whole set of experiments is completed, the power consumption alone is close to one hundred thousand degrees.

Standing on the elevated bridge made of fake steel bars, overlooking the engine, the shock in Minister Qin's heart could not be subsided for a long time.

After a while, he looked at Lu Zhou, took a deep breath and said.

"This electric propulsion system... how long will it take to complete?"

Lu Zhou replied: "The electric propulsion system has been completed, but it is still lying on the rocket engine test stand. Before the entire space shuttle completes the test flight, I can't guarantee that it will work the same in the sky as it does on the ground. reliable."

Minister Qin looked at Lu Zhou and said seriously: "If you encounter any difficulties in your research, as long as we can help you, feel free to tell us!"

Lu Zhou smiled and said, "Speaking of requests, I do have something I would like to ask you for. It happens that we are still short of two pilots, so I will trouble Minister Li."

Minister Qin was stunned for a moment: "Is it enough to only have two pilots?"

Lu Zhou: "Yes."

It didn't match the script in his mind, Minister Qin coughed dryly and said: "I heard before that you are short of funds."

Lu Zhou: "Oh, the problem of funding, we have already figured out a way to solve it."

"Oh, it's been resolved, that's good, that's good..." Nodding his head in relief, Minister Qin also heaved a sigh of relief.

The equipment department's funds were not brought by strong winds. Of course, he could guess the careful thinking of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. They just wanted to share some funds from him and let the Air Force Equipment Department pay for the research and development of this electric propulsion system.

If it weren't for the fact that the paper data of this electric propulsion system is ridiculously strong, and the academic leader is the winner of the Nobel Prize and the Lingyun Medal, he would not be able to bring so many experts from the Air Force Equipment Research Institute. Come here, it is even more impossible to grit your teeth at this moment and make up your mind to shed some blood to support this project.

But now it's easy to say, the most critical funding problem has been solved, and it will be enough for them to buy ready-made ones.

As for borrowing two pilots...

Compared to this kind of artifact that is destined to change the future air combat pattern, is that a thing?

Looking at Lu Zhou, Minister Qin solemnly promised: "I will arrange the matter of the pilot as soon as possible, and the research on the Hall thruster... I will leave it to you!"

Lu Zhou smiled lightly.

"Don't worry about this, I'm still very sure about research matters."

Although the expression on his face was indifferent, Lu Zhou was still quite comfortable in his heart.

Some people are not optimistic about a technical route, but naturally some are also optimistic about it.

It's just a pity that the experts from the Aerospace Group are not here...

Thinking of this, Lu Zhou looked forward to it more and more. After his plane took off, those who doubted him at the meeting would have no idea what kind of expression they would have on their faces.

Suddenly thought of something, Minister Qin asked: "By the way, this space shuttle...does it have a name?"

name?

This Lu Zhou has not thought about it carefully, and the plan is just a code name.

but……

It seems too late to think of one now.

Suddenly, Lu Zhou's heart moved slightly, and a name that couldn't be more suitable came out of his mind.

Looking down at the huge silver engine sitting under the steel support, he spoke.

"...The maximum temperature of the jet plume of the Hall thruster is close to hundreds of millions. When it takes off, it will pull out a red and blue glow under the clouds. In classical mythology, the glow means auspiciousness."

After a pause, Lu Zhou smiled.

"It happens to be Chinese New Year in a few months, so let's call it Ruixiang!"