Beneath Deep Space

Small spacecraft with too high acceleration are very flexible, but they are completely unsuitable for humans and can only be used as drones.

Xu Yunjin was embarrassed. In fact, it was he who asked Professor Luo Meng to study this small space shuttle, but now it seems that it is not very useful.

This space shuttle is small in size, uses a lot of light metal, and sacrifices certain performance to achieve super high maneuverability.

In his opinion, combat spacecraft should be like fighter jets, and high maneuverability is always better.

But he forgot that high maneuverability must be achieved with high acceleration, and human physical fitness is not up to standard, so it can't be maneuvered even if it wants to.

Now, it is no longer the era of individual heroes. The power of individual flesh is too small compared to machines.

"...It's not useless."

Yu Yifeng looked at the various parameters on the screen and sighed: "In fact, it's already very good. Its individual combat capability is good and the cost is relatively cheap. If it is unmanned, the cost can be even lower without the life support device and other miscellaneous things, and it can be mass-produced."

"...In a way, high mobility is always good. It's good to use it as a drone."

"Also, if our life sciences can go further, we can strengthen the human body, and then this kind of spacecraft can be used. Like titanium skeletons, strengthening blood vessels, strengthening internal organs, etc. After all, drones are easily interfered by electronics, but there is no such problem if humans control them."

Yu Yifeng whispered: "In other words, the large-scale use of perfect element can also give birth to a group of super soldiers..."

Xu Yunjin was stunned. This was something he didn't expect. Superhumans can instantly withstand 30 times the gravity of the earth! The two discussed it privately, and Yu Yifeng slightly revealed the relevant progress of perfect element, including the appearance of willpower potions and the start of animal experiments.

Then, he turned back and said, "Mr. Roman, are there any other models?"

Professor Roman nodded quickly: "Of course!"

Their entire team has been researching for so many years, it is impossible to only come up with this small space shuttle that can only carry two people. He clicked on another file on the screen, and a spectacular large model jumped out.

He pointed with his finger and said, ""This is an enhanced version of the 'Victory' spacecraft. I named it Aircraft-001, abbreviated as A-001. It is both a combat spacecraft and a cargo ship."

"It is about 30 meters long, about 18 meters wide and high. It uses a lot of light metal and has a rated load capacity of 640 tons."

"The maximum speed is about 300 kilometers per second, which is about one thousandth of the speed of light. However, the overall maneuverability is not as good as that of a small space shuttle. To reach this maximum speed, it takes six hours of propulsion time."

This is a real spacecraft. Because of its large size and the large amount of energy it carries, its maximum speed is faster than a small shuttle.

It uses the latest ion engine and is much faster than the previous "Victory" spacecraft. If this spacecraft is allowed to travel between the earth and the moon, it will only take a few hours, less than half a day.

"A-001 should be the main model in the future. We can also modify it slightly to form various variants." Dr. Luo Meng turned the computer screen around and faced Yu Yifeng and others!

Yu Yifeng looked at the various parameters on the screen and studied them carefully for a long time. Including the A-002, A-003 and other models at the back, they are all variants of A-001, but he is still not satisfied!

The speed of the Green Light Man's drone reached one-thirtieth of the speed of light. Now humans can only reach one thousandth of the speed of light. Of course, he is a little dissatisfied.

He asked, "Didn't it use the latest ion engine? How come it can only reach this speed? By the way, what technology does the Green Light Man's drone have? Does it have controlled nuclear fusion technology? Why does it fly so fast?"

Dr. Romon was stunned for a moment, and he explained, "The Green Light Man's drone also uses a similar ion engine, but the energy source is still nuclear fission energy... Although it's strange, it's the fact..."

"The reason may be... It's difficult to miniaturize controlled nuclear fusion technology." At this point, Dr. Romon was also very regretful. It's a pity that there is no nuclear fusion.

Yu Yifeng nodded. He actually knew this. If there was really controlled nuclear fusion technology, scientists would have shouted loudly.

However, he had no doubt that the Green Light civilization had achieved controlled nuclear fusion. If an interstellar civilization cannot achieve controlled nuclear fusion, it would be a big joke.

But miniaturizing controlled nuclear fusion and putting it in a small drone may not be a technology of the same order of magnitude... After all, nuclear fusion is not as simple as nuclear fission. Today, humans have not even touched the threshold. At most... they can only say that they have seen the threshold.

"The Green Light UAV brings a complete set of material technology, small fission energy technology, intelligent operating system, and more efficient ion engines, etc. The most critical one is the ion engine..." Dr. Roman flipped through a pile of information on his computer, on which was drawn an exquisite model diagram, which was the crystallization of the wisdom of electrodynamics experts over the years: a super-high-speed ion propulsion engine!

The ion engine, also known as the plasma engine, is a type of electric propulsion system. It is now quite mature in application, and the main medium for its application is plasma. Satellites on Earth used to use this kind of engine, but their propulsion was very small, unlike today's.

It uses the Lorentz force to accelerate charged atoms or ions through a magnetic field to reversely drive the spacecraft. It is the same principle as particle accelerators and rail guns.

Compared with traditional chemical propulsion, it is really outdated, consuming huge energy but bringing little final kinetic energy.

The first moon landing rocket, "Saturn 5", is a typical representative of chemical propulsion. Its first stage contains 2,075 tons of liquid oxygen kerosene propellant.

Once the engine is ignited, it can "drink" all these "drinks" in 2 minutes and 34 seconds.

The high-temperature gas is ejected at a speed of 2900 meters per second, but it is only enough to send a 47-ton payload to the moon.

Of the total 3,500 tons of thrust that can be generated, a large part is used to "drag" the rocket itself and more than 2,000 tons of fuel. Therefore, its "specific impulse" is not high, only more than 300 seconds, and the propulsion efficiency is very low.

"The higher the speed at which the ion engine ejects plasma, the higher the specific impulse. Currently, the maximum speed of plasma ejected by the latest engine is 3,000 kilometers per second, which is one percent of the speed of light! The specific impulse is about 300,000 seconds. It is a thousand times that of traditional rockets, and the energy conversion rate is as high as 70%," Luo Meng explained.

"If the engine can work all the time, it can reach higher speeds, but due to energy issues, its speed limit is about 2,000 kilometers per second. In order to ensure safety and reliability, we set the rated speed at 300 kilometers per second. "

Yu Yifeng nodded silently. This limit speed was actually pretty good, reaching one hundred and fifty times the speed of light.

Scientists have calculated that even with powerful nuclear fusion energy, it can only accelerate the spacecraft to 10% of the speed of light, let alone small nuclear fission.

The faster the speed, the greater the amount of kinetic energy required. If the speed is higher, relativistic effects will also be involved.

It is impossible for a human being to become fat in one go.

But he was a little curious: "Why is the Green Lantern's spaceship so fast? One-thirtieth of the speed of light? It's almost impossible to use nuclear fission energy?!"