From University Lecturer to Chief Academician

"Now is the time of greatest danger."

"Emergency system testing is the most risky. The test requires cutting off the power supply, and the power of the light pressure engine will be greatly reduced in an instant."

"If there is a problem, the engine is likely to hit the support rod, which will damage the fixing device of the support rod, and may even hit the ground directly..."

Xiang Qiansheng's explanation scared Teacher Zhu so much that he broke into a cold sweat.

He started to worry again.

Although the light pressure engine is close to landing and will not cause major damage to other locations and will not cause large-scale accidents, damage to the light pressure engine itself will also be a major loss.

This big thing cost more than 100 billion, and it also contains the efforts of many scientific workers and countless people.

Teacher Zhu knew that he couldn't stop it, so he could only silently pray that the test would go smoothly, "Don't let anything go wrong!"

"There will definitely be no problem!"

"Everything will go smoothly, Academician Wang is not worried, but... of course he is not worried, and the blame cannot be traced to him anyway."

Teacher Zhu was so depressed that he almost wanted to cry. Why would problems in research that had almost nothing to do with him be blamed on him?

This is not fair!

"It seems that I should consider retiring early. There are still space tests down there. At my age, I can't help being so frightened!"

At this moment, the live broadcasts of various TV stations were pointed at the light pressure engine. They were about thirty kilometers away. From the perspective of the hillside, half of the sphere could be seen, and the engine was landing.

Now the engine circuit is running very slowly, almost motionless under the camera lens.

But everyone knows that landing is dangerous.

Landing is often more dangerous than taking off, because taking off is just flying, and the air will not cause any collision to the aircraft, but landing is likely to cause a collision. Many aviation disasters occur during the landing process, especially for aircraft. The moment you land, the risk factor becomes even higher.

Not to mention, the big guy in front of me.

If this big thing weighs over 10,000 tons, a slight collision during landing will cause huge losses, and may even cause a huge accident.

Meanwhile, the engine is being prepared for emergency testing.

The engine is suspended about 30 meters above the support pole, just like explaining to Qian Sheng that the light energy magnetization power supply system will be disconnected inside the engine, and the emergency system will deploy superconducting batteries to support power supply.

Changes in power supply will cause momentary instability in the power supply, resulting in a momentary power drop.

This is where the danger lies.

If a problem occurs during the test, the engine is thirty meters away from the support rod. If it falls to the support position, it may hit the ground due to inertia and huge weight, but it will not cause too much disaster. Of course, the support rod includes the outer layer of the concave reflector. Where there is a collision, equipment damage is inevitable.

control room.

Zhu Qiqiang received the data and later reported, "The engine is 32 meters away from the support rod and is currently running smoothly."

Wang Hao asked, "How is Zhang Wei?"

"Connect to the cabin!" Zhu Qiqiang shouted, and then the voice line was connected to the cabin above the engine.

Zhang Wei immediately said loudly, "Report, everything is normal! Zhang Wei is ready!"

He knew what the next test would be.

This moment is also very dangerous for him, and the risk of emergency problems is not great, because even if a crash occurs, the cabin is at the top of the engine, which can still ensure safety.

The biggest fear is a big accident, such as an explosion.

If an explosion occurs and the cabin above is also affected, then he will not even have a chance to escape. Even the ejection seat is meaningless. The high-pressure engine is too big, and the ground is full of high temperatures. He will be ejected. If you go out, you will definitely be affected by the high temperature. It is better to stay in the cabin. Maybe you will be lucky and escape.

Of course, that is also an extremely special situation.

After Wang Hao heard Zhang Wei's answer, he nodded and said, "Let's start!"

The operator was ready, and he immediately pulled the emergency test lever. After the lever was pulled, the engine received the control information, the functional magnetized power generation equipment was instantly cut off from the light source, and the power supply of the power generation equipment was instantly reset to zero.

This is not a step-by-step process, but the simulation is destroyed or a major failure occurs, directly cutting off the power supply.

When the power supply returns to zero, the emergency system is instantly turned on, and the superconducting battery is assigned to increase output power.

At the moment when the power supply is switched, there is a fault in the internal power supply. The fault does not mean that there is no power supply at all, but a process in which the power supply is greatly reduced and then returns to normal.

At that moment, the engine obviously vibrated, and then it even tended to fall directly.

If it was a small thing, it wouldn't matter if it trembled, but when such a huge light pressure engine trembled, everyone's heart suddenly started to tremble.

Those watching the live broadcast on TV were stunned for a moment.

"what happened?"

"There seemed to be something wrong just now. I saw the engine suddenly dropped?"

"It shook. Was it an accident?"

"Isn't it an accident? From this angle, you can't see what's going on below, but it shouldn't have landed yet, right?"

Many people were shocked.

Some TV hosts didn't know what happened. What they saw was that the big ball trembled, then seemed to drop a little, and then returned to calm after shaking several times.

The domestic TV host had direct information channels. He immediately received the prompt and explained, "It was not an accident just now. It was a test of the internal emergency system. The test will cut off the internal power supply, causing a momentary drop in power."

“The engine is now smooth again, so we can confirm that the test was successful!”

Soon, other hosts also knew the news, and more viewers in front of the TV knew the reason.

"It turns out it wasn't an accident, it was a test!"

"I thought I saw some big accident, but it turned out to be a success, but luckily it didn't happen."

"It seems there is no problem, the test is over."

"Depending on the situation, it has dropped a short distance, and the emergency system guarantee is still very good."

"The next step is to actually land. It should be over."

The next step is indeed landing.

However, before the landing begins, each department must report the data after the emergency system is turned on, including the temperature inside the concave reflector, the output of the neutron channel, the power and operation status of the superconducting battery, etc.

They need to compare emergency data with routine data.

After everything was confirmed, the next step was to land. This was not the first time they landed, but the third time they had conducted a takeoff and landing test midway through the research.

After two experiences, the operator became very calm when performing landing tasks.

At this time, Teacher Zhu finally regained his composure. He covered his chest with a smile on his face.

He turned his head to look at Xiang Qiansheng, and suddenly frowned, thinking of a strange question, "Why is this guy so calm the whole time? He doesn't seem to be worried at all, something is wrong!"

Teacher Zhu couldn't help but ask, "Professor Xiang, didn't you say it's dangerous? Why aren't you worried?"

Xiang Qiansheng said, "I'm really not worried."

"ah?"

"There was indeed a danger just now, but the possibility of an accident is very low." Xiang Qiansheng explained, "Didn't Academician Wang say that? The success rate of this test is very high, more than 95%."

"Let's assume it's 95%. There is only a 5% probability of a problem occurring, and 5% is the probability of problems occurring in all tests. When it comes to emergency testing, the probability of occurrence is less than 1%."

He continued, "This is still an overestimated figure. I think the probability of a problem occurring is less than 0.1%, a probability of one in a thousand. Why should you worry?"

"..."

After hearing this, Teacher Zhu pursed his lips vigorously. He wanted to say something to refute, but found that what the other party said was very reasonable and he could not refute it at all.

In other words, he was worried for nothing!

…

Landed, successful.

Test, over!

The high-altitude test was successful, which was indeed very exciting. Many people in the control room cheered.

After the light pressure engine completes the high-altitude test, the next step is to prepare for space testing. Completing the high-altitude test also means entering a new stage. The space carrier can even start demonstration.

Whether it's a successful test, a new phase of research, or a vision for the future, they have plenty of reasons to be happy.

Wang Hao was also very happy. He shook hands and hugged several people, and enjoyed the joy of success with everyone.

However, the work is not over yet.

After the high-altitude test is over, they will conduct detailed inspections of the inside and outside of the light pressure engine. The inspection process will last one to two weeks, and any problems discovered during the process must be solved.

Now is the time to wrap things up. Wang Hao celebrated with everyone for a while, looked at the time and walked out of the control room, and asked Zhu Qiqiang, "Zhang Wei, how are you? Have you received the call?"

"It's not down yet, but it's almost time."

Zhu Qiqiang said.

After the light pressure engine landed, Zhang Wei could not leave the cabin immediately because the temperature outside was too high and the air was very stuffy. The temperature on the outer ladder of the engine exceeded 100 degrees, and the ground below even exceeded 200 degrees.

In order to ensure absolute safety, he did not open the upper hatch until he received the message half an hour later.

At this time, a helicopter was hovering in the sky and dropped the ladder directly towards the hatch. Zhang Wei tied the rope to his body. After confirming that there was no problem, he signaled that the helicopter could leave.

He was lifted by a helicopter about five kilometers before landing on a hillside, where a car was already waiting.

Soon Zhang Wei met Teacher Xu and his party.

Teacher Xu patted Zhang Wei on the shoulder and asked, "How do you feel about this mission?"

"Easy."

Zhang Wei's answer was very calm. He looked relaxed and said with a smile, "The oxygen supply system in the cabin is very stable. I didn't wear a mask at all."

This time it was really easy for him.

Because the oxygen supply system in the cabin is very stable, he doesn't even need to wear an oxygen mask. When flying a fighter jet, he has to wear an oxygen mask most of the time.

In addition, the acceleration of the light pressure engine was very slow, with an acceleration of several meters per second, which could not even keep up with a car on the road. He was sitting on a very stable seat and didn't even feel anything.

In comparison, the acceleration of a fighter jet is too fast.

If the fighter jet is performing a performance mission, it will also need to perform various tense actions, including but not limited to vertical flight, inverted flight, extreme speed falling, etc.

During the test of the light pressure engine, the only thing that felt was the rapid fall, but the rapid fall was not a free fall, it was just accelerating and decelerating. It can be said that there was still no feeling.

This mission was too easy for Zhang Wei. He just sat in his position for two hours and was even in the mood to interact with the animals during the process.

Then, it's over.

…

After the high-pressure engine test is over, there is no celebration, but a targeted work meeting.

The follow-up inspection work in the general direction has been assigned.

Wang Hao discussed with Zhu Qiqiang, Cao Dongming and others. Based on the data fluctuations during the testing process, they identified several key testing locations and specifically explained several groups at the meeting.

After the meeting ended, Wang Hao and the leadership team discussed the next step of work.

“The top priority is to raise funds.”

"Our next step is to raise 150 billion yuan, including the design, preliminary construction, and research and development of key technologies for the space carrier, as well as the installation of weapon systems for the engines. This work is very important and is also a necessary preparation for space testing. .”

Teacher Xu asked, "Do we need to install the weapon system now? I heard it is a laser weapon."

"right!"

Wang Hao said, "Laser weapons are the most suitable for light source engines. We have reserved more than 100 active ports on the concave reflector to ensure that more than ten strikes can be carried out in the same direction and at the same position instantly, with a minimum coverage distance of more than Three thousand kilometers.”

"That's the basics."

"In space, three thousand kilometers is not that far. Laser weapons can only be most effective in space."

The most suitable environment for laser weapons is vacuum. If laser weapons are used on the ground, the strike distance and power will be greatly reduced, because dense air and dust will greatly reduce the power of lasers.

Wang Hao continued, "When the engine is tested near the earth, we have enough ground weapon support for protection, but it is different in space."

"Even a small satellite may pose a serious threat to the engine."

"Space satellites are so fast that even if they are detected in advance, the response may not be in time."

"So there must be protective weapons to ensure safety."

"We plan to install enough laser weapons before the next test to ensure that all possible dangers are nipped in the bud!"