Chapter 1043: Atomic rocket engine

Chapter 1070 Atomic Rocket Engine
I think everyone is a smart person and a country's talent. Now we just want to unite and work together to complete this'manned spaceflight' program. "
After Zhao Zhongyao said this, everyone was watching him. All are very serious. After all, everyone knows that only Zhao Zhongyao can lead them to complete the manned space program. It is impossible for others to do all this.
After Zhao Zhongyao said these things to everyone, the meeting ended.
This day passed like this. For Zhao Zhongyao, he felt that this was a very important day. Starting today, he has to devote himself to work again.
To complete this manned spaceflight program, the first thing to do is to research out a large-thrust launch vehicle. For Zhao Zhongyao, this felt like a very important task. He has to finish this thing.
Zhao Zhongyao first thought that when developing a high-thrust launch vehicle, the first thing to do was to solve the engine problem. Although the rocket is also a jet engine. But this kind of engine is also different from the engine on an ordinary airplane.
When the rocket requires a few tons to be sent into space, the thrust of the engine must be very large. Because the rocket itself plus the cargo to be carried, the weight is generally tens of tons or even hundreds of tons.
This requires that the rocket engine must have a large thrust. Ordinary engines simply cannot accomplish this important task.
Before Zhao Zhongyao, he had studied such things as engines. Before he studied the F-117 stealth fighter, he had studied a jet engine with a large cart.
Now we have to study the technology of high-thrust rockets. Zhao Zhongyao wanted to take the turbofan engine he studied before and study it again.
But Zhao Zhongyao studied and studied, and felt that the thrust generated by the previous turbofan engine still couldn't send dozens of tons of rockets into space.
This requires Zhao Zhongyao to study a new type of engine, which is specifically used on rockets.
Zhao Zhongyao also knows a little about the rocket technology of his time. I know that the rocket technology of his era generally used liquid fuel. That is, a mixture of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen is used as fuel to propel the rocket.
Although liquid fuel can produce a lot of thrust. But this fuel consumes quickly. To complete the rocket's mission of sending goods or personnel to space, the rocket needs to carry a large amount of fuel.
This is the case with the high-thrust rockets of the United States. To send the space shuttle into space, the rocket needs to carry two thousand tons of fuel. It can be said that the maximum weight of the entire rocket is the weight of the fuel tank.
Such a rocket is very heavy. Just like the space shuttle rocket launched by the United States, the rocket plus the space shuttle weighs more than two thousand tons. Every time it is launched, it consumes a lot of fuel and consumes a huge amount of money.
Zhao Zhongyao knew this too. After all, he was a Chinese-American scientist before his death. Now he was reborn on another parallel earth and came to a parallel world like China.
Zhao Zhongyao knew that if he wanted to solve the big-cart rocket technology now, first of all he had to think about what kind of rocket engines were there in the world before his death. He knew that in the world before his death, several rocket engines had been produced. Generally speaking, it is mainly divided into solid and liquid engines.
These two engines have different characteristics, and it can be said that each has its own advantages. Now that Zhao Zhongyao wants to study a high-thrust engine, he can only learn from those engines he knew before his death.
Zhao Zhongyao knew that there were many kinds of engines in the world before he was alive. Among them, there is a very advanced engine called a plasma engine.
This kind of engine is different from ordinary engines in that it is not propelled by fuel, but by electricity. It is an engine that allows electricity to heat the air, generate plasma, and then propel the rocket to fly.
Plasma engine is a kind of electric propulsion system, and has been quite mature in domestic and foreign applications. The main medium for its application is plasma. It uses the Lorentz force to accelerate charged atoms or ions through a magnetic field to drive the spacecraft in the reverse direction, using the same principle as particle accelerators and orbital guns.
In science fiction, the aircraft can always provide power for the entire journey of interstellar travel. But in reality, the engine technology of rocket thrusters simply cannot achieve this. Compared to the exposed propellant tank, the chemical rocket engine looks small, but it has a big appetite. "Eat a lot, but work is not efficient."
The massive amount of energy consumed by this engine is only effective in providing short-term power-the stored fuel is quickly used up, and the propeller is immediately thrown away as garbage. Most of the fuel of the chemical rocket is used to get rid of the gravity of the earth, and the remaining point is used to propel the rocket's "space glide". The rocket flies to the destination only by inertia. For interstellar flight, this kind of engine is obviously powerless.
"Saturn 5" is a typical representative. 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 hot gas jets at a speed of 2,900 meters per second, but only enough to send a 47-ton payload to the moon. Of the 3,500 tons of thrust that can be generated, a large part is used to "tow" the rocket itself and more than 2,000 tons of fuel.
Therefore, its "specific impulse" is not high, only more than 300 seconds, indicating its low propulsion efficiency. This is the reason why a huge rocket must be used to send a very small person into space. Plasma engines, or so-called "ion thrusters," take a completely different design approach from chemical rockets. It uses the Lorentz force to accelerate charged atoms or ions through a magnetic field to drive the spacecraft in the reverse direction, using the same principle as particle accelerators and orbital guns.
"Plasma rockets provide relatively little thrust for a certain period of time, and then once they enter space, they will be like sailboats with downwinds, and gradually accelerate until they exceed the speed of chemical rockets." In fact, there have been many space explorations so far. The mission uses plasma engines, such as NASA's "Dawn" to detect asteroids.
The probe and Japan’s Hayabusa probe to detect comets, and the SMART-1 probe of the European Space Agency that hit the moon one of the purposes is to verify how to use ion propulsion technology to send future probes to orbit Mercury track.
Although the plasma engine has many advantages, it also has some disadvantages, that is, it must continuously provide electricity to maintain its work. It is a machine that "drinks" electricity.
After Zhao Zhongyao pondered the many kinds of engines he knew before his death, he thought, he now has to learn from each other and develop a very advanced rocket engine. Only in this way can the manned space program be completed this time.
After thinking about it, Zhao Zhongyao felt that the atomic engine he had studied before could be used. After all, if this engine is used on a rocket, it can reduce the weight of the rocket without having to carry a lot of fuel.
Moreover, nuclear power is used to provide energy, and only a small amount of nuclear fuel can be carried to maintain the rocket's long-term flight requirements.
Thinking of this, Zhao Zhongyao quickly started designing his new rocket engine. After a month of hard work, he finally designed his new atomic rocket engine.
When Zhao Zhongyao designed this atomic rocket engine, he was very happy. Cheng Yu was quickly found. After all, Cheng Yu is Zhao Zhongyao's best assistant. He is also an expert in aerodynamics.
After Zhao Zhongyao designed the atomic aircraft engine, he called Cheng Yu to his office. He looked at Cheng Yu, put his design drawing in front of him and said, "Old Cheng, look at the drawing I designed."
When Cheng Yu heard what Zhao Zhongyao said, he quickly got the drawing and looked at it. When he saw that there was an atomic rocket engine written on the drawing, he was very surprised. He didn't know what kind of engine Zhao Zhongyao designed.
"Mr. Zhao, what kind of engine is this kind of engine you designed. Why haven't I heard of an atomic rocket engine?" Cheng Yu looked at Zhao Zhongyao very puzzled and asked.
After hearing Cheng Yu’s words, Zhao Zhongyao looked at him and said:
The engine I designed uses the working principle of the atomic engine I designed before. Then, I improved it and turned it into an aviation engine. Rocket engine."
When Zhao Zhongyao said this, Cheng Yu was very curious. He looked at Zhao Zhongyao and said, "What are the advantages of your engine and how does it work."
After hearing what Cheng Yu said, Zhao Zhongyao smiled and said, "The working principle of the engine I designed is similar to the working principle of the atomic engine I designed before. The only difference is that it was designed this time. The atomic engine is to make the engine produce high-temperature gas and then propel the rocket to fly. While the previous atomic engine, although it also produces high-temperature gas. But the previous high-temperature gas only promotes the rotation of the internal combustion engine. And the current atomic engine, only in terms of thrust the difference.
Of course, the thrust of the rocket engine developed this time must be dozens of times the thrust of the atomic engine developed before for tanks. It can be said that the rocket engine I am developing is an upgraded version of the original atomic engine. "
When Zhao Zhongyao said this, Cheng Yu admired Zhao Zhongyao very much. He looked at Zhao Zhongyao and said, "Mr. Zhao, you are really amazing. If it were not for you, we would not have been able to accomplish this important task. Now, you have designed the core components of the high thrust rocket. Come out, the next step, is it going to start production."
"Of course, we are also very time-critical and task-heavy. We must quickly develop the rocket engine. Only when this core component is developed first can we further develop a high-thrust rocket." Zhao Zhongyao looked at Cheng Yu and said.
"Okay, I listen to Mr. Zhao. Now you have developed this powerful rocket engine. Let's develop it together in the next step!" Cheng Yu looked at Zhao Zhongyao and said.
"Okay, the following tasks will be entrusted to you. I will continue to design other rocket systems. This core component is now designed. But to design a rocket, there are many more components. I still need Continue to design other parts.
Now I leave this production task to you. You must strictly follow the content drawn on the drawing. This large-thrust atomic rocket engine was produced. Only by producing it first can we continue to study high-thrust launch vehicles. "
Zhao Zhongyao knew that his time was very tight. To complete such a major task, there are many things to do. It is far from enough to design a high-efficiency atomic rocket engine.
"Okay, Mr. Zhao, then give me this arduous task! I will definitely produce this advanced atomic rocket engine as soon as possible. Then, I will definitely satisfy you."
Cheng Yu knew that he could not design such an advanced rocket engine. But I can help Zhao Zhongyao to produce this advanced atomic rocket engine.
"Okay, let's split up! I will continue to design other parts of the rocket, and you can go and produce this advanced atomic rocket engine!" Zhao Zhongyao looked at Cheng Yu again and said.
"I will, I will definitely complete this task soon." Cheng Yu also looked at Zhao Zhongyao very positively and said.
After speaking, Cheng Yu walked out of Zhao Zhongyao's office. He took the drawing and came to the laboratory.
"Come on, I will show you something." After Cheng Yu came to the laboratory, he took out the drawing of the atomic engine designed by Zhao Zhongyao, and asked everyone to take a closer look.
As soon as all the scientific researchers heard Cheng Yu's words, they all came to him. When everyone saw the atomic rocket engine designed by Zhao Zhongyao, all of them were surprised. After all, everyone does not know what this rocket engine will look like. Now when I look at this rocket engine designed by Zhao Zhongyao, I feel very surprised. They never thought that Zhao Zhongyao would design an atomic rocket engine.
"This is the atomic rocket engine. Doesn't it look unusual!" said a thin young man looking at the drawing in Cheng Yu's hand.
"Yes, our manager Zhao is really talented! Except for him, it is impossible for anyone to design such an advanced atomic rocket engine."