cosmic hegemony

Chapter 185, "Hercules" Second Generation

The outer space of the earth is already quite lively and prosperous. Looking around, there are space farmlands and space solar power plants under intense construction everywhere. Surrounding the earth, there are now more than 300 pieces of space farmland and more than 50 solar power plants. Field is under construction.

An overhead space plane continuously takes off from the ground and breaks through the atmosphere into space. They are loaded with materials and astronauts for building space farmlands and space solar fields, and slowly head to space farmlands and space solar farms.

After the materials are unloaded, they have to go to the space farms to transport the food, vegetables, fruits, etc. produced in the space farms back to the earth. The business is very busy.

Huge space buildings, countless aerospace planes like hardworking bees, and some old rocket-launched spaceships can be seen from time to time, etc. The entire space has already taken the prototype of the interstellar era.

In the "Sky City" space city of Fuyun Group, Li Fu was wearing a space suit, and he was discussing something with Chen Bin and others looking at a huge aerospace plane in space.

This time Li Fu came to space in person, the purpose is to see the construction of Fuyun Group's new aerospace plane "Hercules" II.

The "Hercules" second-generation aerospace plane, to be precise, can no longer be called an aerospace plane, because it is not used to go back and forth between space and the ground, but a spacecraft that is only used for flying in space. The "Hercules" second-generation spacecraft may be more appropriate.

The second generation of "Hercules" was built to adapt to the environment in space from the very beginning. It does not have any aerodynamic design, nor does it have the ability to enter the atmosphere. Designed for longer lasting, safer, faster and stronger.

Therefore, although all its components are produced and designed on the ground, they must be assembled in space. Once assembled, it will always serve in space from the beginning to the end. The most important function is Used to mine asteroids here in the asteroid belt.

"Brother Fu, for the second generation of 'Hercules' we designed and installed 2 super-powerful plasma engines as the main power, and installed 2 medium-sized plasma engines for reverse deceleration at the front and rear, and 2 small-sized plasma engines on the wings. Plasma motors for turning."

"Theoretically, it is enough to drag an asteroid with a mass of 1000 million tons, and in terms of endurance, it is enough to reach 2 years. It is absolutely guaranteed to go back and forth to the small belt."

Chen Bin pointed to the second-generation "Hercules" outside the cabin and said that this second-generation "Hercules" is not as graceful and vigorous as the first-generation "Hercules". It looks more like a big fat man with a very large body. It is more than 200 meters long, 50 meters wide and 50 meters high.

It can be clearly seen that two large plasma engines are installed on both sides of it, like the two big ears of an elephant. The overall appearance is very huge. Compared with it, the "Hercules" generation on the side It's like a little one.

"It takes too long to go to an asteroid. Even the closest one takes more than 1 astronomical unit, and the farther one is nearly 3 astronomical units. Counting the round trip, it takes 3 astronomical units to start, at least The long journey of 5 million kilometers, such a long distance, takes a long time to go back and forth."

"So in terms of materials, it must be sufficient. In terms of energy, I think we can add a pair of wings to it, and use solar energy as much as possible to obtain more energy and provide more protection."

Li Fu looked at the huge second-generation "Hercules" in front of him, and thought carefully in his mind. The asteroid belt is not the moon, and it is a long journey calculated by hundreds of millions of kilometers. Energy consumption, material consumption, etc. all have strict requirements.

It is also necessary to carefully calculate every link and calculate carefully to ensure that there will be no problems with energy and materials. Only when the problems of materials and energy are guaranteed can the astronauts who are going to mine asteroids be able to feel at ease. No one will want to work for you.

"I didn't think about it carefully. Fortunately, it is just adding solar panels, and the workload is not enough."

Chen Bin nodded after listening. Although space vehicles cannot go back and forth between space and the ground, they have many advantages that aerospace aircraft do not have. First of all, there is no need to consider aerodynamics in design, and the shape can be designed at will. It is very convenient to add some things. Easy stuff, and definitely not going to have much of an impact.

"In addition, astronauts who fly in space for a long time must consider physical exercise. There must be a variety of fitness equipment for physical exercise. It is also best to have a crop planting area. You can grow some crops yourself and add to the spacecraft. Some green life, in this way, the anxiety caused by the astronauts' long-term separation from the ground can be greatly relieved."

Because it was the first time to take such a long flight, everyone crossed the river by feeling the stones and had no experience. However, Li Fu analyzed the early development history of the super-civilized Han technological empire and learned some experience from it.

"Crop growing area?"

Chen Bin naturally didn't understand why Li Fu suddenly said that he wanted to add this, so he was full of doubts.

"Well, according to research, long-term space travel can cause restless and negative emotions. Once these emotions accumulate, astronauts can easily become impulsive, anxious, and even change their temperament. In the past, the International Space Station There have been similar periods."

"Astronauts who have been in space for a long time fight with each other because of some small things, and almost lead to disasters in the end. The problem."

"So a plant planting area is built, and astronauts who are anxious can go to the plant planting area to relax and relieve their emotions."

Li Fu explained with a smile, in fact, this kind of symptom is called void syndrome in the technical terms of the seeds of civilization, but the earth has just entered space not long ago, and has not encountered this kind of problem at all, and no one has gone deep into it. research and understanding.

"I mean, when I stay in space for a long time, I always feel that I will be more irritable and anxious. Only when I go back to the ground and sleep for a night will I feel comfortable physically and mentally. It turns out that it is such a thing."

After listening to Li Fu's words, Luo Xiaoyao who was on the side suddenly realized what he said.

"Well, I'm going to have someone modify the interior design."

After hearing this, Chen Bin nodded solemnly. In fact, the most important thing in space is people, scientists, engineers, astronauts, etc., and only after ensuring everything about them can we talk about other things.

The huge second-generation "Hercules" is quietly moored in the space port of "Space City", and the mechanical arms are constantly busy.

On both sides of its huge and fat body, the mechanical arms are constantly busy, installing solar wings on it to increase its battery life and replenish energy during the long journey.

Flying in space, although the basic time is to rely on inertial flight, which basically does not consume energy, but the energy consumed in the acceleration and deceleration stages is enough to account for more than 90% of the total energy consumption, and at least several hours must be maintained. The needs of astronauts on a long journey, so the energy problem is also a very important problem.

A pair of huge wings with a length of more than 200 meters and a width of more than 50 meters were installed. At this time, they were still in a folded state. Once the installation was completed, the wings slowly unfolded.

"It looks more like Dumbo, Dumbo with wings, fat and big."

Zhanfei looked at its overall shape and couldn't help laughing. The design of the second generation of "Hercules" didn't consider aesthetics at all, so it looked really fat and fat, and now it has a pair of wings , Proper Dumbo.

"Dumbo? This name is very appropriate."

Chen Bin stroked his chin, looked at the huge second generation of "Hercules", and nodded in agreement.

The interior of Dumbo adopts a honeycomb structure. There is a room in the center that can lead to independent rooms. Each room has its own independent life support system. Of course, the functions of each room are completely different. the same.

There is a cockpit for driving and controlling the aircraft, which is located at the front; there is a food storage room, which will store enough food for astronauts to eat for more than a year, and it is also the most important cabin; there are also energy cabins, which are located on both sides. Used to provide enough energy for the spacecraft...

In addition to these conventional ones, the second generation of "Hercules" also carries two small spaceships, which can be used for emergency escape on the one hand. Once a major accident occurs, astronauts can take two small spaceships to escape ; Another function is to assist in the mining of asteroids, to explore the situation of asteroids, to help release the ropes that drag asteroids, and so on.

Of course, Li Fu also applied to the higher authorities. After obtaining permission, he equipped it with some weapon systems. A few missiles can destroy large colliding asteroids. The railgun can destroy small and medium-sized asteroids with its brutal impact. , it also has great destructive power for large asteroids.

To go to the asteroid belt to mine asteroids, its power system, communication system, life support system, circulatory system, etc. have to go through a lot of tempering, which almost represents the most advanced technology of Fuyun Group. Although it looks ugly, However, its technical content is definitely the highest among all the aircraft in space today, and it can represent the crystallization of the peak technology of human beings.

(End of this chapter)