From University Lecturer to Chief Academician

The light pressure engine design project was approved, and everyone in the science and technology department, including Teacher Xu, Deng Huaizhen, and Chen Yongshuai, were very surprised.

At the same time, they all felt that the project was a bit too sci-fi.

Chen Yongshuai is the head of the Annihilation Technology Department. After the light pressure engine design project is approved, he will be responsible for allocating researchers. Because of his lack of understanding of the research, he decided to make a special trip to the West China Sea.

On the way, Chen Yongshuai recalled Teacher Xu's advice, "After you arrive at Xihai, take a closer look at their research. I always feel that it is too advanced."

"Based on the current foundation, it would be a bit wasteful to do this kind of research that is too advanced..."

"Look more and give Wang Hao more advice."

"Learn more and look for problems. I always feel that this research is unreliable." Teacher Xu said seriously, and Deng Huaizhen also agreed with his point of view.

Light pressure engine?

That is a technology that can only be used to realize space navigation.

Even with the basis of annihilation particle technology, there are still many technical difficulties that cannot be overcome in order to meet the standards for manufacturing a light pressure engine.

Chen Yongshuai also felt that what Teacher Xu said was reasonable, but he felt that all he could do was to understand it, and the most he could do was to persuade Wang Hao.

That's all.

The light pressure engine project is self-funded.

Wang Hao's research team spends their own money to conduct research. Even if the science and technology department does not approve it, they can continue their research, but they do not have the support of staff deployment.

Chen Yongshuai shook his head in thought.

soon.

He went to Xihai University.

Chen Yongshuai's arrival was very low-key. He only brought his assistant and two other staff members, and went directly to the Mason Number Laboratory without notifying Xihai University.

Wang Hao knew that Chen Yongshuai would come, so he still asked someone to greet him at the door.

After Chen Yongshuai entered the laboratory, he was taken to the temporary workshop of the research team by Paul Phil-Jones and Ding Zhiqiang.

The workshop is a large office on the side of the second floor. There are armed guards guarding the door to prevent people other than members of the research team from entering.

After Chen Yongshuai entered the workshop, he saw a lot of printed drawings on the big table in the middle, and some were drawn by hand. He picked up one and looked at it carefully, and found that he could not understand the content at all. Then When he raised his head, he noticed that there was an oversized drawing on the wall opposite. The drawing showed a large sphere with a standard diameter of one hundred and twenty meters.

"What's this?"

Chen Yongshuai just asked Paul Phil Jones.

"Light pressure engine!"

Paul Phil-Jones said of course, "The light pressure engine is like this. This picture is the main frame structure, and the sphere occupying the largest volume is the concave mirror structure."

"120 meters in diameter?" Chen Yongshuai's expression was a bit exaggerated, "It looks like a large stadium..."

Paul Phil-Jones said, "120 meters is already the minimum design. In fact, we originally thought we should build a concave reflective structure over two hundred meters."

"But then we discussed that we should make a small one first."

"The larger the concave reflective structure is, the higher the light source utilization efficiency will be. With a diameter of 120 meters, the effect will be much worse, but for now it is enough..."

He shook his head helplessly as he spoke, "Energy utilization efficiency is not a problem. Now this design can theoretically propel a spacecraft of more than 10,000 tons into the sky."

"But it's still too small."

Paul Phil-Jones sighed and found a drawing from the big table. After unfolding it, the front end of a large round ball was drawn on it.

The front end is a frame above a large rocket.

"This is the space carrier we designed, which can be understood as a spaceship. In terms of appearance, we have not determined it yet."

The topic suddenly jumped to the spaceship, and Chen Yongshuai felt a little unable to adapt.

From the moment he walked in and was greeted by Paul Phil Jones, his character and tone of voice made him feel very awkward. When he heard about spaceships, he felt like he was dealing with a madman.

He suddenly thought of Teacher Xu's advice.

yes!

Find the problem!

"Tell them to give up before the difficulties? Or dampen their enthusiasm and let them know that light pressure engines and spaceships are just science fiction imagination..."

"Reality is impossible to create!"

Chen Yongshuai made a decision, looked at the drawings carefully, and immediately found the problem and asked, "The design drawing of your spaceship looks pretty good, but is there no design for a horizontal annihilation force field?"

The top of the spacecraft is similar to a large rocket, but the design is much larger, with a cylinder diameter of more than 70 meters.

The design of the cylinder certainly does not include lateral annihilation field technology.

If it is horizontal annihilation force field technology, the final design will definitely have a 'disc', otherwise the field force will not work at all.

Paul Phil-Jones shook his head and said, "So I said, it's not determined yet."

"Wang Hao and I discussed several times whether the ship should use transverse annihilation field technology, but in the end there was no result, because the spacecraft does not need transverse annihilation field technology to sail in the universe, and there is no need to specifically reduce the weight of the ship. "

"The transverse annihilation force field technology is subject to too many limitations. For example, if low-temperature superconducting materials are to be used, a large amount of coolant must be carried in the spacecraft."

"That's a big limitation."

"The biggest role of the lateral annihilation field technology is in ground activation, that is, taking off from the surface of the planet to get rid of gravity."

"If the engine power is sufficient, there is no need for this technology to reduce weight..."

Chen Yongshuai listened blankly and immediately asked, "Does it not need to lose weight to sail in the universe? The light pressure engine can provide enough power to bring the spacecraft close to the speed of light, so acceleration is a problem. After losing weight, the acceleration will be It will get faster..."

"That's the theory."

Paul Phil-Jones agreed with Chen Yongshuai's statement and then continued, "But in fact, one issue must be considered, the endurance capacity of the human body."

"Even if the engine has sufficient power, the design must consider the endurance of the human body."

"If the spacecraft is built, there will definitely be some weak scientists on it, not all specially trained astronauts."

His voice was flat.

Chen Yongshuai looked Paul Phil-Jones up and down, always feeling that the other person was talking about himself. Paul Phil-Jones fully met the criteria of 'scientist whose body wins over the weak'.

Paul Phil-Jones continued, "So the acceleration pressure should not exceed 2G, and the maximum should not exceed 3G."

"This is the limit!"

He lamented, "We can produce sufficient power, but we still have to find ways to limit performance. That's why I initially said that a 120-meter-diameter concave reflector is enough."

The human body's endurance is a big limitation in the aerospace field.

The human body's bearing capacity for acceleration is limited. Generally speaking, the highest bearing capacity the human body can bear is around 10G, which appeared in the early astronauts.

The aerospace equipment at that time was very backward, but the acceleration of the rocket was very high. Within thirty seconds after the rocket took off, the acceleration load would reach 10G (nearly 98 meters/second square).

Today's rocket technology has been relatively perfect. When the rocket takes off, the average carrying capacity of astronauts is about 3G.

This is already very high.

Paul Phil-Jones continued to lament, “When we actually studied the spacecraft, we discovered that there are so many technical limitations.”

"Initially, I thought about relying on the light pressure engine to accelerate the spacecraft to close to the speed of light in a short time..."

"If the acceleration is only 30 meters, it will take nearly one million seconds or more than ten days to reach the speed of light..."

His voice was full of regret.

Chen Yongshuai didn't care about Paul Phil Jones's mood. He looked at the content on the drawing carefully and found that his question was explained perfectly.

"There seems to be no problem..."

he thought.

Then he turned around and continued to look at the light pressure engine, and also asked about the frame design issues of some parts one by one.

Paul Phil-Jones answered very patiently.

This is mainly because he knows that Chen Yongshuai is related to the issue of "deployment of design team personnel".

The research team are all theoretical physicists. They have no problem designing the engine frame, but the details of technology, materials, circuits and other issues involved will definitely require professionals in various fields.

For the sake of research on light pressure engines, Paul Phil-Jones thought it was worth 'sacrifice' himself and explain the technical issues to the visiting official.

…

Chen Yongshuai carefully understood the design of the light pressure engine, and during the chat with Paul Phil-Jones, he expressed every question in his heart.

Later, he met Wang Hao.

Wang Hao is very confident about the research on light pressure engines. He directly talked about the design team formation work, "We need talents in various fields, especially materials and aerospace."

"It is best to be some young cutting-edge talents from the space agency. Materials are also very important, and it is best to be experts in the R\u0026D team in the field of aerospace materials."

"Teacher Chen, is it okay?"

Faced with Wang Hao's direct inquiry, what else could Chen Yongshuai say?

He could only nod affirmatively.

afternoon.

Chen Yongshuai hurried back, and Paul Phil-Jones and Ding Zhiqiang sent him to the gate of Xihai University together, showing rare enthusiasm.

Paul Phil-Jones has few friends. He and Chen Yongshuai had a good chat, and he felt that they could use that friendship and even expressed their thoughts about the future.

"I have already discussed it with Wang Hao."

"When the spaceship is built, I will serve as the deputy captain. When the time comes, you can call me Deputy Captain Paul Phil-Jones!"

"And I……"

Ding Zhiqiang weakly fought for his rights, "Ding Zhiqiang, deputy captain!"

Chen Yongshuai said funnyly, "What about me?"

"you?"

"Theoretically, there can't be more than three deputy captains." Paul Phil-Jones thought about it carefully, "Either you come on board as the deputy captain's assistant, or... as a friend?"

"..."

Chen Yongshuai felt speechless.

As a senior official in the science and technology department, he was surrounded wherever he went, to Paul Phil-Jones...

assistant?

Chen Yongshuai took a plane back to the scientific research department with a strange mood. On the way, he was thinking about the design of light pressure engines and spacecrafts.

He found that he could not find any problems, and he was very much looking forward to the construction of the engine and spacecraft.

"It's really no problem."

"There is already annihilation particle technology, and there are many breakthroughs in materials. The entire design is theoretically feasible."

"This research may be successful!"

Chen Yongshuai suddenly thought of his position as the head of the Annihilation Technology Department, "Perhaps, when the spacecraft is built, I can go up and experience it?"

"That Paul said he wanted to be the deputy captain..."

"Although the project belongs to the Annihilation Force Field Experiment Team, I am in charge of the Annihilation Technology Department. I am also my direct superior. I can also serve as... deputy captain?"

The more he thought about it, the more excited he became and found it very interesting.

The next afternoon, Chen Yongshuai went to the science and technology department and went to Teacher Xu's office.

Teacher Xu immediately asked, "How was it? Have you met Wang Hao? What do you think of their project?"

"I think……"

Chen Yongshuai hesitated for a moment and continued, "I think it's feasible! Their design is very comprehensive and I can't find any problems."

"If you can create a light pressure engine, you can build a spacecraft based on it. That would be a spacecraft that can reach the speed of light."

"If we build this kind of spacecraft, space..."

"It belongs completely to us!"

Chen Yongshuai said it very seriously.

Teacher Xu listened with surprise. He turned his head and glanced at Deng Huaizhen, not knowing what he was feeling.

Chen Yongshuai...

This guy went to the West Sea and was convinced?

…

After the light pressure engine project was confirmed, Chen Yongshuai immediately began to deploy personnel.

According to Wang Hao's request, he found Mr. Xu, contacted the space agency to cooperate with several top aerospace materials experts, and then found the Institute of Aeronautical Materials for explanation.

The space agency is also preparing to launch new plans.

Chen Jiahe learned that experts from the aerospace materials group were assigned to participate in a confidential research and development project, and immediately approached the science and technology department. Firstly, he wanted to know more about the so-called 'confidential project', and secondly, he also hoped to reduce a few places so that the space agency could of materials experts to stay.

He is very confident.

No matter what kind of confidential project, can it be higher than the new plan of the space agency?

They want to make a 'spacecraft flying saucer'!

Chen Jiahe first found Teacher Xu, and Teacher Xu pushed the problem to the Annihilation Technology Department. He still found Chen Yongshuai and said seriously, "Our new plan is to develop aerospace flying saucers, based on airship flying saucers. explore."

"That will be an aircraft with performance that far exceeds that of the space shuttle!"

"We have entered the demonstration stage and are in great need of experts in aerospace materials..."

Chen Jiahe said it very confidently.

Chen Yongshuai showed no interest. After listening carefully, he asked doubtfully, "A spacecraft based on an airship flying saucer, doesn't it mean installing a Hall thruster on an airship flying saucer?"

In one sentence, the style of the spacecraft dropped by N levels.

Chen Jiahe said awkwardly, "That's understandable."

Chen Yongshuai said, "New projects are more important. The reason why we dispatched aerospace material experts is because Academician Wang Hao wants to develop a new aerospace engine."

"Can you understand this situation?"

Chen Jiahe was stunned when he heard this, and immediately asked, "What kind of technology is Academician Wang studying?"

"Light pressure engine."

Chen Yongshuai said frankly, "Think about it, your research is to install several Hall thrusters on an airship flying saucer, while Academician Wang's research is a light pressure engine."

"Which one is high-end?"

"..."

Do you even need to ask?

Chen Jiahe felt his head buzzing, and he kept mumbling the words "light pressure engine".

Chen Yongshuai continued, "We don't transfer people directly from the space agency. They are all voluntary. If you want to participate in Academician Wang Hao's project, just go there. It doesn't matter if you don't want to participate. It's all voluntary and you can apply by yourself."

"You can also tell your material experts not to go."

"It doesn't matter."

Chen Jiahe was immediately speechless.

He hoped to persuade those materials experts not to participate in Wang Hao's project.

But how is that possible?

When he heard about participating in the confidential project led by Academician Wang Hao, almost everyone who was eligible to apply applied. The level of enthusiasm made him feel that the space agency could be disbanded...

Because of this, he came to the technology department!