Great Country Academician

What is the most important technology in the new generation of space shuttle?

There is no doubt that it is a miniaturized controllable nuclear fusion reactor and aerospace engine.

It is precisely because of the perfect combination of the two that it has superior performance that is comparable to traditional rocket engines.

But compared with traditional chemical rocket engines, aerospace engines still have considerable shortcomings.

Such as thrust, short-term acceleration, explosion, etc.

None of these are comparable to current electric propulsion aerospace engines.

The Long March 5 launch vehicle has a take-off weight of 1,100 tons, and the Falcon Heavy launch vehicle has a thrust of more than 5,000 tons.

Although the duration is relatively short compared to electric propulsion engines, the thrust and speed that can be generated during this time are unmatched by electric propulsion.

So Xu Chuan has been thinking about how to improve the 'explosive power' of the aerospace engine.

After carefully studying various forms of magnetic fields, he finally found a research direction on a star he had studied and made some theories.

Xu Chuan found a stack of documents from the backpack he carried with him and handed them over.

Opposite the sofa, Academician Chang Huaxiang's eyes were full of curiosity and interest. He reached out and took the document and started to read it.

Looking at the title on the document, there was a hint of surprise in his eyes. He looked at Xu Chuan and asked, "Magnetic reconnection propulsion technology?"

"Um."

Xu Chuan nodded and explained: "Magnetic reconnection is a basic process in plasma, and its reaction is caused by magnetic lines of force with opposite components approaching each other. It can quickly convert magnetic energy into thermal energy, kinetic energy and high energy of matter The non-thermal energy of particles.”

"Due to the jump of the tangential magnetic field component between the magnetic field lines, a current sheet will be generated in a thin layer area. The closer the opposite magnetic field lines are, the stronger the current will be, and the greater the magnetic energy stored in the current sheet area. powerful."

"When the current or magnetic energy reaches a certain level, plasma instability will be triggered, resulting in current dissipation and magnetic field reconnection. After reconnection, the configuration of the current sheet is destroyed, the current density in it is reduced, and the magnetic field of the system is Energy also falls, transforms into other energy forms, and explodes."

Seeing the confusion on Academician Chang Huaxiang's face, Xu Chuan shook his head and briefly introduced: "Actually, this process is very common in the evolution of the universe, especially it plays a crucial role in the development of stars. role.”

"For example, processes such as solar explosions, corona heating, Earth's magnetosphere explosions, and some other celestial phenomena are all related to it."

"To put it simply, it is a bit similar to a game played by rural children, the 'pull button' game where a rope is threaded through a button."

"The magnetic field is our hands, the rope is the wire that controls and transmits energy, and the button is the device for storing energy."

"When the rope is twisted to the limit, the button will rotate at high speed, bursting out with powerful rotation. When you continue to pull, it will repeatedly rotate at extremely high speeds."

"Magnetic reconnection propulsion is based on such a theoretical basis. It can throttle the plasma by fine-tuning the magnetic field and at the same time eject plasma clusters to form a thrust that is far higher than conventional plasma injection."

"In other words, in a short period of time, it can form a stronger explosive thrust."

Academician Chang Huaxiang flipped over the documents in his hand, pushed up his glasses on the bridge of his nose, and asked in confusion, "I don't think I've heard of this theory before?"

He must know about solar explosion phenomena, corona heating, and earth's magnetosphere explosions, but he has never heard of the theory of magnetic reconnection.

Xu Chuan smiled and said: "Normally, magnetic reconnection is a relatively cutting-edge theory in the field of astrophysics. It was only in the 1990s that someone proposed the relevant structure."

"And due to limitations of observation technology, it was not until one or three years ago that we began to have an in-depth understanding of this theory."

"Magnetic reconnection is now one of the mysterious areas of physics that is poorly understood."

Hearing this, Academician Chang Huaxiang frowned slightly, looked over, and said: "If this is the case, then what is the research direction?"

"I'm not doubting whether your research is correct. Even if it is a wrong theory, it still has the value of trying."

"It's just a set of theories that the physics community has not yet fully understood. Isn't it too difficult to apply?"

Again, the distance between theoretical physics and applied physics cannot be described as far enough as the sky or the earth.

Especially in this cutting-edge field of theoretical knowledge, who knows how long it will take to transform it into application.

Xu Chuan smiled and said: "It's okay, don't worry, I will study this paper first. The optimization of the aerospace engine cannot be completed in a short while, so don't worry."

"In addition, for the optimization of the aerospace engine, I will also seek help from researchers at the Energy Research Institute who are good at magnetic field research and development. I will also spend some time paying attention to this later."

Chang Huaxiang nodded, did not ask any more questions, and responded with a smile: "Okay, let me study it first. If I have any questions, I will come to you again."

Xu Chuan smiled and said: "Then it will be troublesome for Chang Lao."

After a pause, he continued: "I have made a simple calculation. If this technology can be used, based on the average distance between the Earth and Mars of 225 million kilometers, the travel time can be shortened by more than one-third. Even more than half.”

Hearing this number, Chang Huaxiang looked up in surprise and looked over: "Are you sure?"

Saving more than one-third or even more than half of the time is a huge amount for space travel.

If it takes a month for a space shuttle to go to Mars, then saving half of it can compress the time to fifteen days.

Going to Mars in two weeks, this speed is almost comparable to the spacecraft landing on the moon in the last century.

And you know, the distance between the earth and Mars is more than a hundred times that between the earth and the moon. According to the average distance, the difference is nearly six hundred times.

If it really works, then going to Mars in the future may be as convenient as going to the moon now.

Xu Chuan nodded and said: "Magnetic reconnection propulsion technology has this foundation. Theoretically, in space, it can even propel spacecraft to one-tenth the speed of light."

One-tenth the speed of light, even Chang Huaxiang, who has seen a lot of big things, was shocked when he heard this number.

He swallowed his saliva and said with emotion: "If that's the case, then this technology is amazing."

If someone else said that the speed of the spacecraft could be increased by one tenth, he would just treat it as bragging and disdain it.

He wouldn't dare to do it even in his dreams.

But the person in front of him, even if it was such an outrageous thing, he more or less believed it.

If it can really achieve one tenth of the speed of light, space immigration is just around the corner.

Not to mention the solar system, they all hope to touch the Proxima Galaxy, which is several light years away, in their lifetime.

Xu Chuan smiled and shook his head, saying, "It's just a guess that it has such potential."

"One tenth of the speed of light, not to mention that it is impossible to achieve with current technology, even in theory, I haven't completed it completely."

"This is just part of the magnetic entanglement and fracture release theory in the magnetic reconnection theory. I don't know how far we are from fully understanding the magnetic reconnection burst theory."

"But."

After a pause, his eyes fell on the theoretical document in Chang Huaxiang's hand, and then he said, "But based on the original aerospace engine, using this theory to improve the performance again should not be a big problem."

"So this is the key research direction of the Institute of Aerospace Research."

"In the future, it is very likely that it will be our most important means of developing resources within the solar system!"

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