Chapter 546 Speed and Energy
It stands to reason that after entering the period of explosive growth in productivity in the smart era,
Mo Dao should enter hibernation again and directly reach the peak of productivity in the intelligent era.
Just different from before,
Even if he hibernates again for twenty or thirty years, it actually doesn't mean much.
If there are no new breakthroughs in voyage-related technologies, and if it is not possible to move forward in the intelligent era and enter the next era,
He hibernated again until twenty years later, and still could not provide any new help in achieving the goal of the voyage.
What he needs is newer and key technological breakthroughs based on existing technology.
Even in the era of intelligence, Suiguqiang’s artificial intelligence can provide some assistance to research.
But new, cross-generational technologies cannot be born out of thin air in a short time.
Perhaps after the smart era reaches its peak,
After a relatively long period of time, the world can still slowly give birth to some further cross-era technologies related to long-distance voyages, pushing human civilization to a new peak.
Most of the time, technological breakthroughs are made up of small breakthroughs that eventually lead to a big breakthrough.
The way Mo Dao led Qiusuo Research Institute on the road of scientific and technological development was an accident under certain conditions.
It's just that it takes too long to go on. Even if human hibernation is included, Mo Dao doesn't have that much time.
We can only shorten the birth time of some new, cross-era technologies related to long-distance voyages as much as possible.
…
At present,
For Qiusuo Research Institute, and for Mo Dao,
In order to achieve a long voyage to Proxima Centauri, the most important issue is still the speed of the spacecraft.
Even the electric propulsion system that was at its peak in the previous life has been born in this life.
But for the distance that needs to be covered, the ultimate speed that current electric propulsion engines can push a large spacecraft to is still comparable to a turtle speed.
The farthest distance that the Starship reached in that generation was more than 800 astronomical units.
Calculated, it is about 0.013 light-years. Compared with the total distance of 3.43 light-years to Proxima Centauri, it can be said that it has not scratched the surface.
Taking into account the time required to build a cross-era voyage spacecraft and the time required for technical research,
If Mo Dao wants to achieve the goal of a voyage to Proxima Centauri in this life, it is best to control the entire voyage within fifty years.
Considering that it may take a relatively long time for the spacecraft to accelerate and decelerate.
The peak speed of this long-distance spacecraft may need to reach eight percent of the speed of light.
There is no need to consider how to implement such a propulsion system first.
Even this advancement speed itself will bring countless new problems.
At such an exaggerated speed, the corresponding effects have become quite obvious.
How to ensure the safety of the long-distance spacecraft itself at such a speed is a problem.
At this speed, it is basically impossible for the spacecraft to make any maneuvers.
Although the spacecraft is flying straight towards Proxima Centauri, depending on how empty the universe is, it may not hit anything.
But this is equivalent to running at eight percent the speed of light with your eyes closed.
Risks remain for decades to come.
Even if it is a tiny meteorite, if it comes into close contact with the spacecraft at a relative speed of 8%, we can only pray about what will happen.
This puts forward higher requirements for the long-distance detection system of the spacecraft.
The spacecraft's path planning must be completed in advance through the data collected by the long-range detection system at a sufficient distance in the universe.
It would even be better to have a straight route from the solar system to Proxima Centauri, reducing any changes in direction, additions and subtractions during the voyage.
And back to the implementation of the propulsion system itself,
Even in this era, a truly fluid-free engine still does not exist.
Now the research institute's most advanced electric propulsion system still needs to eject refrigerant when accelerating and decelerating the spacecraft in the universe.
And if you want to accelerate a long-distance spacecraft to eight percent of the speed of light in a relatively short period of time,
How much working fluid needs to be consumed during the entire acceleration process... These working fluids also need to be carried on the spacecraft, and they also have mass.
It can be said that
As long as you want to go deeper, this is still a very complicated problem even for Mo Dao.
…
61 years,
After the peak electric propulsion engine of the previous generation was realized,
Mo Dao has not stopped researching electric propulsion engines.
Just leading the relevant research team of Qiusuo Research Institute,
We are making newer attempts at making breakthroughs in electric propulsion engines.
Until 1965,
Qiusuo Research Institute produced the room-temperature-6 electric propulsion engine.
Compared with the previous electric propulsion engine, the propulsion speed and load capacity of a single electric propulsion engine have increased by about ten percent.
The proportion of working fluid consumption at the same propulsion speed has also been optimized to a certain extent.
for,
For researchers in related fields at Qiusuo Research Institute, this is already a huge breakthrough.
But for Mo Dao, this increase in advancement speed is still a drop in the bucket.
…
In addition, while conducting research on more powerful electric propulsion engines,
Mo Dao has not given up some research in other equally critical areas.
In addition to the propulsion speed,
the second problem in achieving long-distance voyages is the energy problem.
This is a problem tied to the electric propulsion system.
A powerful electric propulsion system must be supported by more powerful energy.
In the case of needing to avoid multiple accelerations and decelerations during the voyage,
it is difficult to obtain energy supplies during the entire voyage.
For most of the production activities of human beings at this moment,
the helium 3 reactor is more than enough,
but for this spacecraft that wants to achieve long-distance voyages in a relatively short period of time,
the energy density of the helium 3 reactor may still be insufficient.
Then,
Mo Dao and the Qiusuo Research Institute must make further breakthroughs in energy technology,
for example, to come up with the next generation of nuclear fusion technology,
for example, heavy nuclear fusion.
However, higher energy density also requires more stringent reaction conditions.
Even if Mo Dao personally participates,
even if Mo Dao's thinking ability is enhanced in every life after life,
it is difficult to compare to what an exaggerated degree it has reached at this moment.
The relevant field teams of the Qiusuo Research Institute are still making slow progress in the research of the third-generation nuclear fusion technology.
Unlike the initial realization of deuterium-tritium fusion by Mo Dao, there was at least some research foundation.
From the second-generation helium-3 fusion to the third-generation heavy nuclear fusion technology, the leap in the middle is still a bit large.
Perhaps there are many pre-technologies, or prerequisites, and material requirements have not been met.
...
Of course, although further technical research is slow, it has not affected the technology that has been born. Strong artificial intelligence Suigu Intelligence continues to promote the implementation of the previous Qiusuo Research Institute's plans for the extraterrestrial solar system.
In 65 years,
under the snowball-like growth of productivity,
the equipment needed for the construction of the Triton Industrial Star, the farthest industrial center from the earth,
began to shift from the lunar industrial center to the Mars industrial cluster.
Under the influence of Suigu, the Mars industrial cluster has been built to a considerable scale.
Relying on the resources of Mars and the asteroid belt, as well as other surrounding planets,
the Mars industrial cluster has begun to be able to complete the independent construction of some intelligent industrial equipment,
and then transport it to Triton.
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