Hand rubbing nuclear fusion live in the wilderness

Chapter 420 One Third the Speed ​​of Light

Launch a satellite to explore the way outside the solar system and see what is outside the solar system.

In the processing workshop, Han Yuan was thinking about the feasibility of this method, and even forgot that he was still testing magnetic bearing balls.

For him, it is not difficult to launch a satellite into the sky now, even if it is to send the satellite to the sun, or send it to Pluto.

But sending a satellite out of the solar system is completely different from the first two concepts.

There are several definitions of the boundaries of the solar system.

Some are close, some are far.

If the orbit of Neptune is used as the boundary of the solar system, the diameter of the solar system is also a full 60 astronomical units.

And an astronomical unit refers to the distance from the sun to the earth, about 1.5 million kilometers.

With the orbit of Neptune as the boundary of the solar system, this is a solar system bounded by eight planets.

As for Pluto?
Pluto had long since hid in a corner and cried.

Taking the orbit of Neptune as the boundary of the solar system, its diameter is almost 90 billion kilometers, and its radius is 45 billion kilometers.

If a space shuttle is launched from the earth and flies towards the orbit of Neptune at the speed of Voyager 17 at [-] km/s, it will take about eight years to fly to Neptune.

This was the closest definition of the solar system boundary, but clearly not what he needed.

The boundary he needs should be the Oort cloud.

But if the Oort cloud is used as the scientific boundary of the solar system, the diameter of the solar system can reach 20 astronomical units, which is a full 30 trillion kilometers.

At the speed of Voyager, it would take more than 3000 years to fly out from launch to beyond.

In the face of the behemoth of the universe, not to mention the extreme speed created by human beings, even the speed of light seems extremely small.

With the Oort cloud as the boundary of the solar system, it takes almost a whole year for the light from the sun to escape.

This is an embarrassing distance.

You know, humans have been launched since 1977, and Voyager 50, which has been close to 200 years so far, has only flown more than [-] billion kilometers.

Compared with 30 trillion kilometers, more than 200 kilometers are really not even a fraction.

Of course, for Won, Voyager 17's flight speed of [-] kilometers per second is not the limit of the speed of the aircraft he can create.

Han Yuan calculated in his mind that if he did not hesitate to pay the price, he could boost the speed of the satellite or spaceship launched into the sky in the vacuum of space to [-] kilometers per second, which is about one third of the speed of light.

After all, he has enough means to modify the satellite and let it carry enough fuel.

And he has thrusters in his hands that can reach this speed.

If this speed is placed on the earth, it can be said to be quite amazing.

One-third the speed of light, this is a speed that countries do not even think about at present, and it is only set in some science fiction movies.

Won can do it because it can be said to integrate the results of various top-level technologies currently used in his hands, including intermediate knowledge information, alternative intelligent control systems, and ultra-high-speed ion jet technology, etc.

If it is inside a planet with an atmosphere, South Korea won't be able to do this.

But in the vacuum of the universe, as long as the speed of the ions you eject is strong enough, the speed can be increased without limit below the speed of light.

This is very different from the technology currently used by humans, just like electric propulsion-no propellant engine and ordinary fossil fuel engine.

Of course, if it is done with the current human engine propulsion technology, it is impossible to achieve one-third of the speed of light.

For the propulsion methods and engines currently mastered by countries all over the world, these propulsion technologies have serious self-limitations.

The energy required to approach the speed of light in a vacuum by ordinary acceleration is too large.

In fact, in the history of mankind, it is not that no one has had this crazy idea of ​​increasing the speed of the spaceship to within the concept of the speed of light.

In the 70s, when the empire on which the sun never sets was about to end, the country on which the sun never sets led a plan called 'Daedalus'.

This is almost a research plan proposed by the Interstellar Society, where the sun never sets. These crazy scientists consider using unmanned spacecraft to quickly detect another star system, and then reproduce the glory of the empire on which the sun never sets.

In this project theory, using nuclear fusion rockets and only 50 years, within a person's lifetime, it is possible to reach another star.

A planet called 'Barnard's Star' 6 light-years from Earth was chosen as one of the main targets.

The name of the project comes from the craftsman who built the Minoan labyrinth in ancient Greek mythology, 'Daedalus'.

It means that human beings can also build a power supply extending in all directions in the super large maze of the vast universe.

This is a pretty crazy plan, and it is feasible to achieve 20.00% of the vacuum speed of light in the nuclear fusion propulsion of the Daedalus project.

It's just that the efficiency of the speed increase of the spacecraft is not high, and it also needs nuclear fuel more than 18.105 times the dry weight of the aircraft to accelerate.

This plan seemed crazy at the time, but there is some rationality in the madness.

Aside from difficulties such as spacecraft construction, at least in theory it has been recognized by the scientific community. It seems that its operating principles and planned voyage can be satisfied with existing technologies, and it is not entirely based on fantasy.

It is a pity that in this plan, the most critical technology is the controllable nuclear fusion technology that has not yet been realized.

However, the greatest success of the Daedalus project is to point out the direction for interstellar exploration.

Compared with the sci-fi vision of the warp speed engine, the pulse thermonuclear rocket engine is much more realistic, and it is currently one of the most suitable engines for human interstellar travel.

If one day in the future humans establish a long-term survival base on the moon, it may become a reality.

At least if this plan is used, the time required for humans to go to the Proxima Centauri star 4 light-years away can be shortened to an acceptable range.

This plan allowed countries to see the hope of interstellar immigration in the 70s, but then the controlled nuclear fusion that failed to break through drove it into the abyss.

It was not until two years ago, when South Korea saw the hope of controllable nuclear fusion, that this type of plan woke up from the dust.

Star travel is still a long way off for Won, but sending a satellite outside our solar system isn't out of the question.

What he needs to consider is whether it is worth it, the waiting time, and how to communicate.

It is true that he can accelerate satellites or spacecraft to one-third the speed of light, but he did not have this speed from the beginning.

This is a slow and gradual process of improvement.

Han Won roughly calculated in his mind that it would take about six years from launching to breaking through the Alter Nebula.

It takes six years to leave the solar system. If this is put into the real world, countries will start this project without hesitation
But six years is still a long time for the Korean won.

It hasn't taken him six years from getting this system to today. Although it is close, it is actually a little short of six years.

Novice missions are one month, first-level, second-level, and third-level missions are all one year, and Starlink missions are three years, adding up to exactly six years and one month.

But now he is still in the Starlink mission. Although it is already the third stage, that is, the third year, it has not been completed after all.

So taking six years to launch a satellite to look outside the solar system is quite a long time for Won.

Six years later, he might have left the solar system.

In addition to time, there is another very important point that is the issue of communication.

Ultra-long-distance communication is a flaw in the current technology for the Korean won.

In the face of the space distance in units of light years, both electromagnetic wave communication and neutrino communication are extremely small.

The essence of light is electromagnetic waves, and the speed of the two propagating in a vacuum is the same.

If it takes light a year to leave the solar system, it will also take a year to transmit information from the Alter Nebula.

Such a long time for information transmission is unbearable for Won.

For information, the most important thing is real-time.

Without real-time information, meaning is less important.

In addition to these two items, there is another point that makes Won a little hesitant is whether he launched a satellite and left the solar system, whether it means or means that he has left the solar system.

The former host's message to him still left a deep impact on his mind.

Apart from other things, only the source of these giant insects, Han Yuan knows that they come from outside the solar system.

If the satellite really discovers something important outside the solar system, and it takes a year to transmit it, the news may be outdated, and it may even scare the snake and so on.

After pondering for a while, Han Yuan finally made a decision.

He decided to get a few satellites to the Otter Nebula.

The Otter Nebula is the boundary of the solar system, but it still belongs to the solar system.

Launching the satellite into the Alter Nebula did not leave the solar system, nor did it conflict with the "last words" of the previous host.

But maybe he could find something somewhere.

It's a hack, but it might work.

Won is really curious about what is there outside the solar system.

Giant insects?Relics left by the previous host?Or an alien civilization?
These unsolved mysteries are like feathers on the soles of the feet, scratching from time to time.

In the laboratory, Han Yuan finally recovered from the emanation of his thoughts.

From the perspective of the outside world, he has stood there in a daze for several minutes without any movement.

This made the audience in the live broadcast room full of righteous indignation, and at the same time they were curious about what he was thinking, how serious and distracted he was thinking.

When he came back to his senses, Han Yuan looked at the barrage and smiled embarrassedly, and said, "I was distracted just now, but the test of the magnetic bearing ball is over."

"The experiment proves that the newly manufactured thing meets the requirements. As for what kind of limit can be achieved, it needs subsequent overall data to determine."

With that said, Han Yuan stopped the magnetic field controller, opened the valve, took out the magnetic bearing ball inside and put it in another box for storage.

The 'magnetic bearing ball', one of the cores of the magnetic bearing joint, has been completed, and the rest is naturally another part.

Compared with the magnetic bearing ball, although the other part is divided into upper and lower joints, the manufacturing method of the upper joint and the lower joint is actually the same.

It's just that some details of the two, such as the winding of the β-sensitive magnetic wire, are completely opposite.

This is easy to understand, because the upper and lower joints serve the magnetic bearing balls, and they provide magnetic fields of different angles and intensities for the rotation and rotation of the magnetic field joints, just like the magnetic field controller.

As for the difficulty of manufacturing, it is nothing in the hands of Han Yuan, at most it is more cumbersome.

It took a few days for Han Yuan to successfully complete the manufacture of the upper and lower joints, as well as the assembly of the legs of some X-1 industrial robots.

The preliminarily assembled ankle joints and calf parts have been formed, and their image does not look much different from the size of human legs.

The audience in the live broadcast room were very curious about this mechanical leg with a silver-white metallic luster and a sci-fi look, and urged Won to test it out for them.

Han Yuan saw these barrages, and after thinking for a while, he fixed the mechanical legs with a composite resin material after the initial assembly.

Originally, he planned to test it after the overall manufacturing was completed.

Won is very confident in the things he manufactures, and the magnetic bearing balls and magnetic bearing joints have been tested and fully meet the standards.

The magnetic bearing knuckles and balls are all standard, and assembly is basically problem-free.

But everyone wants to see it, so it doesn't matter if he tests it again, it doesn't take much time anyway, and he can also verify whether the assembled mechanical legs meet the requirements.

Of course, because the whole has not been completed, and there is only one mechanical leg, it is a bit difficult to verify.

After all, the overall control system has not been installed yet, and it is impossible to let one leg bounce around on the ground.

Although the performance of the assembled mechanical legs can be achieved, the picture is a bit weird when you think about it.

So Han Yuan used a special method. He used a high-strength composite resin material to lift the entire mechanical leg and fixed it in mid-air.

The suspended mechanical legs looked a little drooping overall.

The magnetic bearing joints at the ankles and knee joints seem to be interrupted when there is no power supply, and only a layer of fleshy skin is left hanging down.

Of course, this is just a description, in fact, this kind of softness is exactly what Korean won needs.

The suspended mechanical arm is fixed in mid-air, and a large number of various connection lines and connection ports are exposed on the thigh, which looks very messy.

Won rummaged through the processing plant, found some power cables and signal transmission cables, and connected them to the power supply and computer respectively.

At present, only one leg of the X-1 industrial robot has been formed, and there is no control system inside. If it is to be tested and controlled, it must rely on the ability of the central computer.

Fortunately, the corresponding control program is available in the hands of Won, so it is not necessary to write it temporarily on site.

(End of this chapter)