A big country of aerospace with black technology

Beidu, in a small reception room.

"Mr. Sun, what's the matter with calling me here so suddenly?"

Zhang Xingyang looked at the gray-haired Sun Hongtao with a deep look.

Zhang Xingyang's tone was not kind.

Yesterday, he was still at the Bishan Wireless Power Transmission Base, preparing to conduct a long-term wireless power transmission experiment.

However, near midnight.

Yang Yi suddenly told him that Mr. Sun wanted to meet him as soon as possible.

The sooner the better.

There were no flights back to Beidu that day.

Zhang Xingyang took the earliest flight and returned to Beidu in the early morning.

Sun Hongtao smiled kindly and said:

"I know you are resentful for calling you back so suddenly."

"But this matter is indeed very important to you and the institute."

After Sun Hongtao finished speaking, he stretched out his hand to introduce Zhang Xingyang to a middle-aged man who sat aside and remained silent.

"This is Lu Zhenghe, the head of the Energy Bureau."

Only then did Zhang Xingyang take a look at this unattractive middle-aged man.

He looks like just an ordinary middle-aged man.

However, Mr. Sun just said that he is from the Energy Bureau.

Zhang Xingyang was keenly aware of Mr. Sun's intention of coming to him.

I'm afraid it has a lot to do with the Energy Bureau.

Combined with its own ongoing power satellite project.

the other party’s purpose.

Almost ready to come out.

However, Zhang Xingyang is not sure what his goal is.

He shook hands with the other party calmly:

"Hello, Director Lu."

As his name suggests, Lu Zhenghe is very kind and authentic:

“Dean Zhang, I’ve heard of you for a long time!”

"How much older am I than you? Just call me Lao Lu."

After the two said hello.

Sun Hongtao finally began to talk about the reason why he was so anxious to find Zhang Xingyang back.

"Xiao Zhang, I heard that your power satellite wireless power transmission project has achieved considerable success?"

Zhang Xingyang was not surprised at all that Sun Hongtao knew about this.

"Several experiments were just conducted yesterday, and the current experimental conditions are good."

Zhang Xingyang revealed their current progress.

"The experiment has been carried out for several hours, and the satellite power supply is stable."

"If operated at full power, it can currently generate 140,000 kilowatt hours a day."

When Zhang Xingyang talked about the specific power supply data.

Lu Zhenghe's eyes sparkled next to him.

Make a mental note of all these detailed data.

“Is satellite power transmission greatly affected by time?”

After Zhang Xingyang finished speaking, Lu Zhenghe asked quickly.

At present, domestic power generation, whether it is solar power, hydropower, or wind power, is unstable.

It is greatly affected by various factors.

"The power of the power generation satellite is stable throughout the entire period, and the impact is not very big."

Zhang Xingyang glanced at the other party and then said.

Lu Zhenghe obviously wanted to continue asking about some specific information about power satellites.

However, he was stopped by Sun Hongtao on the side.

"Don't be so anxious. You can understand the data later."

Mr. Sun glared at Lu Zhenghe and said.

"I called you here today because I still want to talk to you about future energy matters."

"You also know that our country has been lacking all kinds of energy for so many years."

"In the past there was a lack of oil, now there is a lack of electricity."

“Last year’s power generation was about 2.2 trillion kilowatt-hours.

This number seems huge, but the gap is also huge.

We have at least hundreds of billions of kilowatt hours of power shortage. "

Sun Hongtao has been in charge of specific industrial work.

Almost all of these overall data are readily available.

In addition, he was able to cite numerous examples to support his data.

“This summer, more than 10 major cities had to implement power rationing due to power shortages.

This has had a great impact on our production and life. "

After decades of development.

At this time, many families have installed air conditioners.

Especially in some southern cities, the demand for air conditioners has always been strong.

In summer when the weather is over 40 degrees, there is nothing more comfortable than staying in an air-conditioned room.

But because of power restrictions.

Factories had to start operations at staggered peak times or even stop operations.

People in office buildings and residential buildings can only endure the scorching heat in the reinforced concrete jungle.

Because of the heat island effect, the temperature in cities is inherently higher.

Under such circumstances, electricity is particularly valuable.

"So if your satellite transmits power wirelessly, it can really be developed successfully."

"For the country, it can alleviate part of the electricity shortage problem."

At this time, Mr. Sun finally revealed the purpose of this conversation.

"The key issue now is your power generation cost and production capacity."

For Zhang Xingyang, these data have always been in his heart.

Telling Mr. Sun is not a problem at all.

"The current power generation satellite project mainly consists of two parts: satellite construction cost and ground receiving end cost."

Zhang Xingyang talked about this part.

Both Mr. Sun and Lu Zhenghe listened very carefully.

It's like a primary school student listening to a teacher's lecture.

"Satellite construction costs include the cost of the satellite itself, as well as launch costs."

Power-generating satellites themselves are actually very expensive.

One satellite alone is worth more than one billion!

The launch cost is slightly lower, about 100 million.

"Totaling all the satellites together will cost about 1.2 billion."

Zhang Xingyang said with a normal expression:

“Currently, this satellite is a bit more expensive as an experimental model.

The cost of subsequent launches can probably be reduced. "

"How much can it be reduced specifically?"

Lu Zhenghe asked impatiently.

Sun Hongtao glanced at Lu Zhenghe with some dissatisfaction and criticized:

"Wait until Xiao Zhang finishes speaking, and don't keep interrupting."

Lu Zhenghe smiled sheepishly before sitting back down.

"Xiao Zhang, tell me how much you can reduce the cost."

Zhang Xingyang narrowed his beautiful eyes slightly and said:

"It can probably be reduced to about 900 million."

"These are expenses that cannot be saved."

"The investment in the fixed receiving end is slightly lower, about 300 million."

"Totaling it all together, the initial investment is about 1.5 billion."

In fact, the biggest investment among them is the microwave-to-electrical energy converter.

Gallium nitride as a third generation semiconductor.

Limited by the current level of technology, prices remain high.

If you exclude this part, the other costs are actually only about half of what they are now.

Probably less than 800 million.

"How long will it take to get back the money?"

Lu Zhenghe was still frowning and thinking in his mind, when Sun Hongtao asked directly.

Mr. Sun knew that Zhang Xingyang must have calculated it.

"Based on current electricity prices, it will take about ten years for a complete power satellite to pay back its investment."

Zhang Xingyang did a little mental calculation and reported a number.

ten years.

For other industries, it may be a relatively long investment cycle.

But in the field of new energy.

This time even feels a bit short.

Taking wind power as an example, the payback time of a wind turbine with an installed capacity of 700 kilowatts.

Over twenty years!

The average payback time for solar power plants is shorter.

But it is generally around ten years.

Nowadays, it seems that there is obviously more investment in space power generation projects.

It actually only takes ten years to get the money back.

This is for Sun Hongtao and Lu Zhenghe.

That's huge good news.

And this is only the payback time of the current power satellite.

If the cost of subsequent satellites can be reduced.

The payback time may even be compressed to about seven or eight years.

This is for two people.

Totally worth the wait.

“You just mentioned that the power limit of a single satellite is probably more than 30,000 kilowatts.

Can this number still be improved? "

After thinking for a while, Mr. Sun asked a question that Zhang Xingyang expected.

"Currently we are still conducting research and development work on higher-power power generation satellites."

Zhang Xingyang nodded and said:

"Actually, it's just about solar panels and satellite structures. It's very simple to continue to grow."

"The problem actually lies in the core technology of the satellite, the microwave-to-electrical energy converter."

The low gravity environment in space makes the requirements for satellite structural strength much lower.

Want to continue to expand the size of satellites.

Structurally it's not difficult.

They can even hang more than a hundred large solar power panels around the satellite.

"Why do you say that?"

Neither of them knew much about electronic technology and were a little confused.

"The current operating power of converters has almost reached its limit."

"Unless we replace all the internal wiring tubes with superconducting wiring, the heating problem alone will be extremely difficult to solve."

The thermal circulation system of a power generation satellite is an extremely important part of it.

If the heat cannot escape, the consequences can be catastrophic.

Heat accumulation.

It doesn't look impressive at all.

But over a long period of time, it will heat the satellite's core temperature to an unacceptable level.

Therefore, the thermal circulation system of the power generation satellite adopts a very special structure.

Coolant flows between the massive solar panels.

By increasing the heat radiation area.

to speed up cooling.

Not only that, a large amount of coolant is also used to ensure that the core temperature is maintained within a reasonable range.

"Are our current superconductors just for applications?"

Although there are currently no room temperature superconductors, there are still many low-temperature superconductors.

This is also the reason why Sun Hongtao asked.

"The cooling temperatures of those superconductors are too low to be of practical use."

Zhang Xingyang lowered his head and glanced at the plain floor tiles on the ground:

"Unless we can have room-temperature superconductors, it's not going to work."

Sun Hongtao also looked embarrassed at this time.

Even though he didn't do much research on technical aspects.

We also know how difficult room temperature superconductivity is.

It is already remarkable to be able to achieve high-temperature superconductivity at present.

These high-temperature superconductors also have operating temperatures above minus 100 degrees.

"Room temperature superconductivity is still too difficult. Apart from being a little expensive, it's actually pretty good."

Lu Zhenghe saw that the situation was a little cold, so he quickly came out to smooth things over.

"If you are allowed to produce at full capacity, how much additional installed power generation can you add in a year?"

After the in-depth exchange just now, Lu Zhenghe already has enough understanding of space power generation.

"Currently our production cycle is still relatively long."

Zhang Xingyang thought for a moment and found out the key to this.

In fact, the main production problems are still focused on gallium nitride components.

Because gallium nitride components are used in addition to microwave-to-electrical energy converters.

It is also an important material in radar components.

The current new active phased array radar also needs to use it.

"We can produce two satellite cores in about a month."

"The rocket is very generous and can meet the launch needs."

Since the successful development of recyclable rocket technology.

In fact, I rarely worry about rocket capacity.

"About 24 satellites can be launched a year, with a total installed capacity of 1 million kilowatts."

This figure compares with the current domestic power generation gap of tens of millions of kilowatts.

Not very big.

But it can also play some unexpected roles.

"This can have some effect, but it's still too slow."

After listening to this, Sun Hongtao said thoughtfully.

This power generation capacity is already comparable to the installed capacity of large thermal power stations.

However, compared to Sun Hongtao's expectations, they were still much smaller.

"The advantage of space power transmission is that its power generation is extremely stable and power regulation is very convenient."

Lu Zhenghe on the side didn't take it seriously.

In his view, the convenience of power adjustment is crucial.

An installed capacity of one million kilowatts can at least meet the needs of an urban area with a population of more than one million.

"We still have to find ways to increase production capacity as soon as possible."

Sun Hongtao thought for a while and then said:

"If you are lacking anything, just tell me."

"As long as I, old man, can satisfy you, I will do my best."

Zhang Xingyang did not appear as happy as Mr. Sun expected.

Instead, he frowned:

"Mr. Sun, are we going to vigorously develop space solar energy?"

"Don't you think that space solar energy is the future direction of the energy industry?"

After Lu Zhenghe listened, he said with interest.

"Space solar energy is the future, but we may be a little anxious now."

"This will touch the interests of many parties."

Zhang Xingyang is not afraid of these interest groups, and they can't do anything to him.

But he had to consider the consequences of doing so.

"Currently, most of our power stations are still thermal power stations."

Sun Hongtao said somewhat plainly:

"Most of these power stations are coal-fired power stations."

"The pollution is just too serious."

"We are determined for the sake of our children and grandchildren."

"We are going to start a big change in the energy industry!"

Although Mr. Sun's words were very calm.

It seemed like they were just discussing what they had for breakfast today.

But Zhang Xingyang could feel extremely firm determination from it.

No one can stop this from happening!

"As long as you are determined, we will build a super-large space power station that attracts world attention as soon as possible."

Zhang Xingyang smiled and said.

Since Mr. Sun is not afraid, then he has nothing to be afraid of.

The general trend of the world is vast and powerful.

Those who follow it will prosper, those who go against it will perish!

It is clear at a glance who is the trend. (End of chapter)