Technology Bigshot Chapter 557: ：Mars Express]
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Earth, Space Center Houston, USA.
June 22, 2028, 17:22 New York time.
"The latest news from 'Noah'... here! Here! They are here! They have arrived safely on Mars..." The female staff staring at the screen was first a silent reader, and when she read the text clearly, she The whole person was very excited, and the news spread quickly.
When the Houston Space Center received the latest newsletter from the "Noah", the entire NASA headquarters was boiling, and even Charles Boll was inexplicably excited. The news was spreading at an alarming speed, and NASA spread the news for the first time. Almost all the news reports on the world's front pages were about the successful arrival of Noah on Mars.
The media in the U.S. has covered it all over the place.
This is undoubtedly a staged victory. The five astronauts carried by "Noah" deservedly further refreshed the "horizon" of mankind. The last time they went farthest was the moon, and this time it was even further away. Mars, in which the meaning is extraordinary.
The Washington capital, the White House also sent a spokesperson to congratulate the staged victory.
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On June 22, when the American "Noah" successfully and safely arrived in the orbit of Mars, and the news of its return to Earth caused a sensation in the world, the "Mars Express" that had set off as early as mid-May "No." has been sailing long distances for more than a month now, and the voyage has exceeded 2.9 billion kilometers.
The propulsion system of "Mars Express" is very special. Compared with the conventional ion engine, which ejects argon atoms backward at super high speed to obtain thrust, the propulsion system of "Mars Express" is a bit opposite. Its propulsion engine is not only a rear conventional fuel thruster, but a front engine, which uses thousands of lasers to irradiate hundreds of thousands of lasers and uses light sails to propel Mars Express and its "Firefly".
Although the thousand sets of lasers will generate a reverse thrust when they are activated, the thrust kinetic energy generated by the light sail is completely acceptable. Only a small amount of thrust is needed to offset the reverse thrust, and the light sail pushes the entire The acceleration of the object is indeed fast, but it does not seem too shocking. On the one hand, it is an energy problem, and on the other hand, it is also the factor of having astronauts on the spacecraft.
Nevertheless, during the long voyage phase, the acceleration of more than ten times respectively, the continuous acceleration of the entire spacecraft in batches along the way, after a long period of accumulation, can also bring quite fast acceleration to the spacecraft . In theory, in an ideal state with sufficient material strength and energy output, continuous acceleration can make the entire spacecraft infinitely close to the speed of light, and it only takes 8 months to continuously accelerate for infinitely close to the speed of light. Of course, this is an ideal state. .
But none of these issues are what makes Mars Express a front-engined factor that is the size of the entire vehicle, Mars Express, Firefly, and their accompanying outposts to be established on the surface of Mars The base and a surface crystal cutting laboratory, plus two landing vehicles, and other miscellaneous materials.
The total volume of the entire aircraft is quite amazing. The "Firefly" running on Mars orbit alone has reached a volume of nearly 1,500 tons. Adding other parts, the entire aircraft is almost close to The volume of 4,000 tons is equivalent to half of the "Tiangong Ring Orbit Star Harbor".
The actual situation of such a huge volume can only safely take this big guy to shuttle between the stars with the front engine...
Imagine a conventional propulsion system, such as a rocket-like aircraft with a rear-mounted engine. The hull structure and material properties must be strong enough to handle the thrust of the engine. In other words, the structure of the entire aircraft must be built like a skyscraper with a solid middle and bottom-like structure to ensure that such a huge spaceship will not collapse and fall apart in the face of strong thrust.
This is also the reason why the outline of the rocket is like a spire, and the upper end is small and the middle and lower layers are huge. For example, the American "Saturn 5" and the current American "Noah" are designed in this way.
But the front engine is very different. The hull does not need to be designed as thick and strong as a super-heavy rocket or a building. The biggest requirement is to be as durable as a rope. This is why the "Mars Express" and The total length of its "Firefly" once exceeded 1,000 meters, and the biggest reason for its slender structure.
The design of the front engine can greatly reduce the weight of the hull structure, making it possible for super-large spaceships to travel across long distances. It is not an unattainable fantasy to go to the asteroid belt for mining operations and transportation. Undoubtedly, this is significant for interstellar travel.
Otherwise, why is the American "Noah" so "small"? Why is it a tower-shaped gyro? Moreover, due to the carrying capacity of the Americans, the "Mars Plan" will be divided into three parts, and a one-way journey will take nearly half a year, and a round-trip between Earth and Mars plus the mission time will take almost a year. Waiting for the golden voyage stage of relative distance, how precious time is under the current rapid technological change.
It's not that Americans don't have that kind of financial resources. It's not just that the giant companies involved in the "Mars mission" are not without money, and the United States is not without money.
The real reason is that the field of laser technology is not as good as that of China. The fields of light sail technology and solar panels are also far ahead of China. The vast ocean of solar panels in Qinghai alone is enough to explain some problems.
Not to mention the issue of energy supply, for Americans who do not have Amethyst Crystal, this is a dead knot that cannot be solved. Not to mention the problem of mature laser technology, it is necessary to obtain sufficient thrust. More fuel supplies the energy output of the laser column, and carrying more fuel means that the volume of the spacecraft increases, which in turn requires stronger thrust. Obviously, this is an infinite loop.
But Amethyst Crystal helped cmsx unravel the biggest dead loop, which is to reduce the size of the spacecraft without falling off the energy supply.
At this moment, in the "Firefly" space.
Ren Hong is sitting on his desk in the centrifuge chamber and staring at the dizzying data on the screen without saying a word. This time, he spent hundreds of millions of kilometers to go to Mars. The purpose is to get the above Amethyst spar.
But obviously, getting these deadly attractive crystal ores on Mars is not an easy thing to do. Ren Hong is most worried and concerned about how to get a small one out of such a large purple stone. It was cut into small pieces, and according to the current understanding of the characteristics of Purple Origin Crystal, it was estimated that the idea of collecting scattered spar fragments at the point of fall was a bit unrealistic.
Even a nuclear bomb can't decompose this kind of stone. This time the huge "Terminator" fell into the surface of Mars, and maybe even a piece of **** will not fall off, which means that a piece of **** will be removed from this big guy The plots are manually cut.
Ren Hong did invent the technology of cutting amethyst crystal, namely "condensation cutting method", but that is the advantage of the favorable external environment on earth and the size of the object to be cut. The "Terminator" is really annoying.
This is Mars, not Earth. The environment is harsh. It is also a relatively difficult problem to create an ultra-low temperature environment with infinitely close to absolute zero. The unavoidable harsh practical environment requires a mobile cryogenic laboratory. to be satisfied.
Fortunately, he currently has a large amount of amethyst crystals full of energy, and a series of activities to be carried out on Mars will require massive amounts of energy as support, whether it is an outpost base, a mobile cutting experiment The laboratory, especially the mobile laboratory that manufactures ultra-low temperature environments, is driven by a large consumer who devours energy. Fortunately, Amethyst with high energy storage can support the huge energy consumption of a series of equipment.
"Old... uh no, Professor Wang. There was news from the Earth Command Center 7 minutes ago." At this moment, Xiao Kerry, who played the role of his assistant, came to him.
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…(To be continued.)
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