Homo sapiens.

Chapter 407 Derivatives ([-])

8 month 22 day.

The northern space city of Madagascar - in the 12th subsidiary area.

Baisha, who is in charge of the design of the airship, is working in the airship manufacturing factory in this area.

In order to support the Dandelion project, not only hundreds of airship design engineers and researchers were gathered, but also an airship manufacturing plant was directly built locally.

Many huge scientific research projects often bring some derivatives.

For example, the Dandelion project in front of you.

Baisha's initial airship design was a helium airship, but as they improved, they even pointed out the cutting-edge technology of vacuum airship.

They used a new material called super-footballene, a by-product of another lab's work on carbon nanotubes.

Although there is no way to study ultra-long pure carbon nanotubes in an ideal state, it is possible to synthesize a two-dimensional carbon material, that is, a super-footballene material.

This material allows certain atomic-level defects to exist, and can make a spherical film with a radius of tens of meters, and the entire sphere is a molecule.

As long as 12 layers are superimposed and the honeycomb structure is misplaced, not only the airtightness can be guaranteed, but also the rigidity of the carbon sphere can be further improved.

Today, Baisha brought Zhang Wei, the person in charge of the communications department, to inspect the performance of the vacuum airship.

Zhang Wei discussed in a low voice with several technicians from the communications department.

The communication airship has advantages over the Starlink satellite system in terms of cost and security.

This means the carbon spheres can be used on the ground.

However, the self-weight of the dandelion airship reaches 1430 tons. This is because the total weight of the carbon sphere is only 2.45 tons, and the lightweight high-strength carbon fiber skeleton is used.

At this time, the carbon sphere has not been evacuated, so the airship can still stay on the ground.

This time the Ministry of Communications saw the potential of the vacuum airship and planned to build a batch of communication airships, which are derivatives of the Dandelion project.

"This?..." Bai Sha estimated, "It can be reduced to about 10 for a single ship."

By promoting this large-scale project, it will drive the research and development of various materials and technologies, and also provide a large number of jobs for internal employees.

A carbon sphere of about one cubic meter can withstand a pressure of 17.375 tons, while a vacuum container of one cubic meter at sea level needs to withstand a pressure of about 10 tons.

Improving the communication system is something that benefits the entire Homo sapiens, and Baisha has no reason to refuse.

Zhang Wei nodded: "On behalf of the Ministry of Communications, I will start this cooperation with your base to manufacture 100 high-altitude communication airships."

"35 to 40?" Zhang Wei turned his head and started talking with the staff of the communications department.

He is acceptable for this price.

"How safe is this airship?"

Although this kind of cooperation does not have any direct benefits for him personally, it is also a common situation within Homo sapiens.

Although considering the air flow in the troposphere, it is definitely necessary to use part of the buoyancy on the counterweight, but as the airship gets closer to the sea level, its buoyancy is also rapidly increasing.

Carbon spheres with a radius of 30 meters have been installed in the carbon fiber skeleton to form a ring-shaped airship with a radius of 3 kilometers.

5 at 0.001 meters, buoyancy of 2000 tons.

After the material is made into a sphere, it will form a special mechanical structure—an eggshell structure, which exhibits super resistance and rigidity when resisting uniform external pressure.

Plus the cost of the satellite itself.

整艘飞艇各个部件的重量中，碳纤维骨架1074吨、太阳能薄膜54吨、辅助推进器32吨、蓄电池40吨、真空碳球体24.5吨、抽真空设备47吨、电子设备和其他辅助设备181吨。

2 at 0.088 meters, with a buoyancy of 17.6 tons.

The communication airship can float in a fixed airspace for a long time and serve as a communication base station, monitoring radar, and monitoring remote sensing.

After discussing with a group of communication department personnel, Zhang Wei agreed that this kind of airship is good and can effectively supplement the communication system of Homo sapiens.

Because as a communication airship, at an altitude of 3 meters, it can cover a large area of ​​land.

What's more, if there is an order, the airship factory can maintain production. After the Dandelion project is completed in the future, there will be no need to arrange for employees to change jobs, which will reduce some troubles.

For example, when flying to a height of 5 meters, the air density there is only 0.001 kilogram per cubic meter, and a vacuum of 2 million cubic meters can only provide 2000 tons of buoyancy.

1 at 0.41 meters, with a buoyancy of 82 tons.

Especially in the area at an altitude of 3 to 5 meters, it is difficult for even high-altitude fighter jets to touch it, while ordinary civilian aircraft fly in the airspace below 1.5 meters.

In order to increase its airtightness, Baisha cooperated with that laboratory to study dislocation composite carbon spheres.

Once vacuumed, these carbon spheres with a volume of 20 billion cubic meters can generate 258 million tons of buoyancy, which is only available at a height near sea level.

Only around 570 tons of payload remain.

This cost is not friendly at all.

Baisha made some calculations: "Well... about 120 million cubic meters of airship is needed. If we only provide the airship, excluding other equipment, the cost will be around 35 to 40."

After all, the airship has a relatively large load, relatively low cost, a relatively long service life, easy maintenance, and can stay in a fixed airspace for a long time. The capacity of the communication link is relatively large, and the communication distance is relatively short.

After a few minutes, Zhang Wei asked again: "At a height of 3 meters, with a payload of 5 tons, what size airship would be needed? How much would it cost?"

Because the dandelion airship is not one, but a series.

"No problem." Bai Sha had a smile on his face.

In the assembly field in front of you.

Based on the Falcon launch vehicle's single launch quotation of 5700 million US dollars, 60 Starlink satellites can be launched at one time, and the launch freight for a single Starlink satellite is 96 US dollars. It costs $5.

2.5 at 0.04 meters, with a buoyancy of 8 tons.

Bai Sha smiled and explained: "Because of the use of new materials, there are not many problems with safety. The carbon sphere is strong enough to resist large-caliber machine guns or small missiles, but it cannot withstand high-temperature combustion."

In fact, this is also one of Li Qingye's goals in promoting the big project.

1.5 at 0.194 meters, with a buoyancy of 38.8 tons.

Carbon spheres are very light, because carbon spheres are two-dimensional structures with only one layer of atoms.

Since future low-Earth orbit enterprises are very likely to become a space battlefield for all forces, the stratosphere has become another special space.

Of course, since the molecules of carbon spheres present a honeycomb structure, air can pass through the gaps between the atoms.

Although the cost of the Starlink satellite itself is not high, the problem is that this thing needs a carrier rocket to launch it.

According to the air density at different heights, the buoyancy of the dandelion airship at each height can be calculated.

However, Zhang Wei still hopes to reduce the cost: "Group leader Bai, if the payload is reduced to about 1 ton, how much can the cost be reduced?"

This is the approximate buoyancy of the Dandelion Airship at various altitudes.

So how does this weight support thousands of tons of hose?
The reason is very simple.

3 at 0.018 meters, with a buoyancy of 3.6 tons.

4 at 0.004 meters, buoyancy of 8000 tons.

Moreover, the service life of Starlink satellites is worrying, the communication density is relatively small, the distance from the surface is relatively long, and they cannot be fixed in an airspace. These are all problems.

A vacuum airship that solves the problem of safety and buoyancy maintenance. If it carries a payload of 1 ton, it can achieve a communication density of about 20 tons and can cover an area with a radius of hundreds of kilometers.

This price/performance ratio is really too high.

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(End of this chapter)