Chapter 212 Ion Engine

A small spacecraft with too much acceleration is very flexible, but it is completely unsuitable for humans and can only be used as a drone.

Xu Yunjin suddenly felt embarrassed. In fact, it was he who asked Professor Luo Meng to study this small space shuttle, but now it seems that it is not of much use.

This space shuttle is small, uses a lot of lightweight metal, and sacrifices some performance to achieve ultra-high maneuverability.

In his concept, combat spaceships should be like fighter jets, and high maneuverability is always better.

But he forgot that high mobility requires high acceleration. Human beings' physical fitness is not up to standard, and they cannot maneuver even if they want to.

Now, it is no longer the era of individual heroes. The power of individual bodies is too small compared with machines.

"...It's not useless."

Yu Yifeng looked at the various parameters on the screen and sighed: "It's actually very good. Its individual combat capabilities are good and the cost is relatively cheap. If it is unmanned, the life support device and other Miscellaneous things can be made at a lower cost and can be manufactured in batches.”

"...In a way, high maneuverability is always good. It's good to use it as a drone."

"Also, if our life sciences can go further and strengthen human bodies, then this kind of spacecraft can be used. Things like titanium skeletons, strengthened blood vessels, strengthened internal organs, etc. After all, drones are easy Being interfered by electronics and controlled by humans would not be a problem. "

Yu Yifeng said softly: "In other words, using a large amount of perfect hormone can also give birth to a group of super soldiers..."

Xu Yunjin was stunned. This was something he didn't expect. Superhumans could withstand 30 times the earth's gravity instantly! The two discussed it privately, and Yu Yifeng revealed a little bit about the progress of Perfection, including the emergence of willpower potions, animal experiments, etc.

Then, he turned back and said, "Mr. Luo Meng, are there any other models?"

Professor Luo Meng nodded quickly: "Of course!"

Their entire team has been researching for so many years, and it is impossible to just come up with this small space shuttle that can only carry two people. He clicked on another document on the screen, and a spectacular large model jumped out.

He pointed with his finger and said, ""This is an enhanced version of the "Victory" spacecraft. I named it Aircraft-001, or A-001 for short. It is both a combat spacecraft and a cargo ship."

"It is about 30 meters long, with a width and height of about 18 meters. It uses a lot of light metal and has a rated load-bearing mass of 640 tons."

"The maximum speed is about three hundred kilometers per second, which is about one thousandth of the speed of light. However, the overall maneuverability is not as good as that of a small space shuttle. To reach this top speed, it will take six hours of push time."

This is a real spaceship. Because it is large in size and carries a lot of energy, its maximum speed is faster than a small shuttle.

It uses the latest ion engines and is much faster than previous "Victory" spacecraft. If this spacecraft were to travel between the earth and the moon, it would only take a few hours or less than half a day.

"A-001 should be the main model in the future. We can also modify it slightly to form various variants." Dr. Luo Meng turned the computer screen towards Yu Yifeng and others!

Yu Yifeng looked at the various parameters on the screen and studied them carefully for a long time. Including the A-002, A-003 and other models at the back, they are all variants of A-001, but he is still not satisfied!

The speed of Green Light Man's drone has reached one-thirtieth of the speed of light. Now humans can only reach one-thousandth of the speed of light. Of course, he is a little dissatisfied.

He asked: "Didn't it use the latest ion engine? How can it only reach this speed? By the way, what technology does the Green Lantern Man's drone have? Does it have controllable nuclear fusion technology? Why does it fly so fast? So fast?"

Dr. Luo Meng was stunned. He explained: "The Green Light Man's drone uses a similar ion engine, but the energy is still nuclear fission energy... Although it is strange, this is the fact..."

"The reason may be that... it is difficult to miniaturize controllable nuclear fusion technology." Speaking of this, Dr. Luo Meng is also very regretful. It is a pity that there is no nuclear fusion.

Yu Yifeng nodded. He already knew this. If there was really controllable nuclear fusion technology, scientists would have been clamoring for it.

However, he has no doubt that Green Light Civilization has achieved controllable nuclear fusion. If an interstellar civilization cannot achieve controllable nuclear fusion, it would be a big joke.

But miniaturizing controllable nuclear fusion and putting it in a small drone may not be an order of magnitude technology...

After all, nuclear fusion is not as simple as nuclear fission. Today, humans have not even touched the threshold. At most... we can only say that we have seen the threshold.

"The green light drone brings a complete set of material technology, small fission energy technology, intelligent operating system, and more efficient ion engine, etc. The most critical one is the ion engine..."

Dr. Luo Meng opened a pile of information from the computer and drew an exquisite model diagram on it. It was also the crystallization of the wisdom of electromechanics experts over the years: an ultra-high-speed ion propulsion engine!

Ion engines, also known as plasma engines, are a type of electric propulsion system that has been quite mature in application. The main medium used is plasma. Satellites on Earth used this type of engine in the past, but their thrust was very small, unlike the current ones.

It uses the Lorentz force to accelerate charged atoms or ions through a magnetic field to reverse drive the spacecraft, the same principle as particle accelerators and rail guns.

Compared with this, traditional chemical propulsion is really outdated, consuming huge amounts of energy but bringing little final kinetic energy.

The first lunar rocket, "Saturn V", is a typical representative of chemical propulsion. Its first stage is equipped with 2,075 tons of liquid oxygen and kerosene propellant.

Once the engine is ignited, it can "drink" all of these "drinks" in 2 minutes and 34 seconds.

The high-temperature gas is ejected at a speed of 2,900 meters per second, but it is only enough to send 47 tons of payload to the moon.

A large part of the total 3,500 tons of thrust that can be generated is used to "drag" the rocket itself and more than 2,000 tons of fuel. Therefore, its "specific impulse" is not high, only more than 300 seconds, and the propulsion efficiency is very low.

"The higher the speed of the ion engine to eject plasma, the higher the specific impulse. The plasma ejected by the latest engine has a maximum speed of 3000 kilometers per second, which is one percent of the speed of light! The specific impulse is about 300,000 seconds, which is one thousand times that of traditional rockets, and the energy conversion rate is as high as 70%!" Luo Meng explained.

"If the engine can work all the time, it can reach a higher speed, but due to energy problems, its speed limit is about 2000 kilometers per second. In order to ensure safety and reliability, we set the rated speed at 300 kilometers per second."

Yu Yifeng nodded silently. This limit speed is actually not bad, reaching one hundred and fifty of the speed of light.

Scientists have calculated that even with powerful nuclear fusion energy, the spacecraft can only be accelerated to 10% of the speed of light, not to mention a small nuclear fission.

The faster the speed, the more kinetic energy is needed later. If the speed is higher, the relativistic effect will also be involved.

Humans cannot become fat in one go.

But he was a little curious: "Why is the Green Light Man's spaceship so fast? Reaching one-thirtieth of the speed of light? It's almost impossible to use nuclear fission energy?!"