Chapter 398: New Possibilities
“Unbelievable! When I was a kid, I watched sci-fi movies and thought this kind of technology would take centuries to realize. China has brought the future to the present.”
“As a physics PhD student, I can tell you that the design of this superconducting coil is revolutionary. Using the permanently shadowed regions is simply a genius idea, but heat dissipation is a big problem. I hope to see more technical details.”
“What is America doing? We plant a flag on the Moon, but China is building a highway. Is this still called a space race? It feels like we’ve already been left behind.”
“Awesome! This is real space exploration! I hope to see more countries join in, instead of just arguing on Earth.”
“Technology is a double-edged sword. I am proud of humanity’s progress, but also worried about the risks this technology might bring.”
“I feel like I’ve seen the future. In the future, will traveling to the Moon be like taking high-speed rail?”
“Awesome, my country! This is what a true major power should do! But I want to say that in future space exploration, India will not be absent!”
“I think this is very likely. We must find a way to contain China; their progress is a bit too fast.”
There are a huge number of comments below.
Japan and Korea generally dare not even breathe.
China and America joining forces to kill the chicken to scare the monkey is one aspect, and China’s exaggerated technological progress is another aspect.
In the past, everyone has been emphasizing land-based nuclear deterrence and sea-based nuclear deterrence, but China is actually insufficient in the latter.
Because China’s technology in the nuclear submarine field is still relatively weak, it is easy to expose its position, plus the dense satellites in the sky, making sea-based deterrence quite ineffective.
But the lunar electromagnetic rail has made the world realize a new possibility: space nuclear deterrence.
Although China has not done so, such an option has appeared for the first time in China’s list.
They can at least choose it, while other countries can’t even if they want to.
Lin Ran really knows how to choose, and he really treats this as a routine consideration.
“Hello everyone, people in my backend have been asking me to start a live broadcast, to do a live broadcast and talk about it.
Including my colleagues around me who say to me, Professor, you haven’t done a live broadcast for a long time. This is the big day of the formal test, so you still have to do a live broadcast and talk about it.
If you do the live broadcast, the number of viewers will skyrocket.
I said okay, I thought I’d still come do a live broadcast and chat properly with everyone, and by the way, take everyone to see our control center before launch.”
Test time, Apollo Technology announced it early, at 5 p.m. on August 29th, as an advance tribute.
Lin Ran started the live broadcast quietly two hours in advance.
No notification was sent, it was indeed quiet, but in reality, as soon as he started the live broadcast, the entry was immediately arranged at the top of the hot search lists on Weibo, Douyin, and Bilibili, making it impossible to be truly quiet.
“This time, the most important thing is actually the test.
The formal orbit is a full 20 kilometers, but this time it’s only 5 kilometers, and what’s being launched is not a real spaceship in the true sense; it’s a scaled-down prototype.
Mainly it’s a test to see if there are any problems with the lunar electromagnetic rail, and whether we need to make adjustments.
Everyone knows that at the moment of launch, there will be huge heat, and this huge heat needs to be dissipated.
After all, the Moon is a vacuum, so heat can only be dissipated through radiation.
Although you can’t see it, we have actually built huge black wings on both sides of the track; those black wings are radiation heat sinks with carefully designed angles!
They can dissipate heat into space to the maximum extent.
Including heat pipes inserted into the moon soil below.
But we can’t be sure whether the theoretically feasible proposal is actually feasible in practice.
At the same time, we can’t be sure whether such a launch will allow the low-temperature superconducting materials of the track to operate smoothly as expected.
In short, this time it’s a test.
I know everyone is very excited, and I am equally excited, after all, this time is of great significance.
Many self-media have interpreted the significance for everyone, I’m just a rocket builder, what do I know about significance.
I won’t go into too much detail here.
Today, I’m mainly here for casual chat.
It’s an unmanned test anyway, and Apollo Technology’s official live broadcast room will show footage to the astronauts.
Success or failure isn’t a big issue; if it fails, collect data and see what needs adjustment. If successful, we will complete the track in the remaining time this year, accelerate infrastructure, and complete the test of the new spaceship in the first half of next year.
What is the new spaceship called? Can’t you stop being so uncreative? Every time there’s no name. Can’t you properly let Huawei’s marketing team name it for you? Even though everyone complains about a Huawei car being half a Classic of Mountains and Seas, it’s still better than Apollo Technology having no name or directly naming it Burning No. 1 or Burning Two.”
After reading the bullet screen, Lin Ran felt a bit awkward: “We don’t do ToC business, so the name isn’t important.
Okay, from now on, I’ll properly let the colleagues in the marketing department handle this work, and definitely come up with a resounding name, okay.
Our new spaceship adopts a very, very aggressive design proposal. It has no traditional fossil fuel engines, only Hall thrusters.
It relies on Burning One Modified for launch from Earth, uses Hall thrusters for orbit change, and relies on the electromagnetic rail for initial thrust on the Moon.
Then there’s its heat shield. Everyone knows that when spacecraft return to Earth, because of the high speed, they produce intense friction with the atmosphere, generating heat from friction, so a heat shield is needed to prevent the spacecraft from burning up.
Any aircraft needs heat insulation design, because high flight speed produces friction with air, and your surface temperature will start to soar.
Especially for spacecraft that need to leave and return to Earth, it’s even more so.
Therefore, spacecraft often have a dedicated thermal protection system. The thermal protection system consists not only of the heat insulation layer, but also internal parts that need good heat insulation effects, because there is a large amount of fossil fuel inside. If heat transfers from the surface to the inside, it will go boom and explode.
On the Moon, we will use automated devices and the ultra-low temperature environment of the lunar South Pole to reapply a heat insulation layer to the new spaceship.”
Using automated devices to apply a heat insulation layer to the surface of the spacecraft is easy to imagine; America and Russia have both tried it before.
NASA even succeeded.
They designed an automatic spraying system called PAR Systems, but what they sprayed wasn’t a heat insulation layer on the surface, but a heat insulation layer on the rocket’s fuel tanks.
(Liquid hydrogen tank just sprayed via PAR system)
NASA used this automatic spraying system to significantly shorten the process that previously took months to just days.
More precisely, they shortened 12 weeks to 1 week.
But NASA’s automatic spraying system sprays fuel tanks, and most fuel tanks are cylindrical.
From a geometry perspective, the structure is simple.
Even if the volume is huge, the structure is still very simple.
The rocket liquid hydrogen tank that PAR was mainly used for in the past is a huge cylinder with a diameter of over 27 feet and length over 200 feet.
What they spray is a special foam material, mainly consisting of two different types of foam materials, and PAR’s internal automation system precisely measures these components to mix the thermal protection material in exact proportions.
While Apollo Technology is spraying an irregularly structured spaceship, the spraying device can adapt to spacecraft of any volume; the principle is the same.
“A very important point here is the choice of heat insulation materials. We chose composite materials for the heat insulation materials.
Mainly using high-temperature resistant resin combined with inorganic fillers like silica and mica powder, as well as sublimating substances like selenium oxide and mercury sulfide, to make the heat insulation coating together.
But during the launch process, the sublimating substances will volatilize due to heat, and the remaining resin will form a microporous carbonized layer.
In other words, after the new spaceship returns to Earth, there will be an unsightly black substance on the surface, which is the trace left after the heat insulation layer is consumed.
These can all be cleaned off.
The reason for this design is that many of the substances inside can be obtained on the Moon.
In other words, the spaceship’s heat insulation materials don’t need to be obtained from Earth; they can be directly mined and processed from raw materials on the lunar surface, and applied directly to the new spaceship as heat insulation coating.
This way, we can further reduce the single cost to the level of millions of RMB.
The most critical breakthrough here is our new Hall thruster.
Traditional Hall thrusters have low thrust and high efficiency, but are usually only used for satellite orbit changes.
Our new thruster has achieved two major breakthroughs technically.
First is thrust amplification. By optimizing the anode structure and magnetic field layout, we have nearly doubled the ion beam acceleration efficiency, meaning that under the same electrical power, our thrust is twice that of traditional Hall thrusters.
Second is lifespan extension. The key wear in Hall thrusters is erosion of the ceramic channel.
We adopted a completely new erosion-resistant ceramic material and optimized the ion beam focusing, greatly reducing the impact on the channel. This allows our thruster to maintain high thrust output for much longer.
So, with initial velocity provided by fossil fuel rockets and orbit change by Hall thrusters, how long does it take from Earth to the Moon? Traditional Hall thrusters might take two or three months.
But our new thruster can shorten this time to 10 to 14 days.
Sounds long, right? But don’t forget, it consumes very little fuel, almost all xenon gas. This allows us to carry more payload.
Returning from the Moon to Earth takes even less time.
Because the Moon’s escape velocity is only 2.4 km/s, and the electromagnetic rail provides initial thrust.
Then, only minor adjustments with the Hall thruster are needed to enter the Earth return orbit.
We expect this process to be completed in 3-5 days.
Of course, there are many technical difficulties here. First is the precision of orbit change.
Although the Hall thruster’s thrust is more stable than traditional chemical rockets, its thrust is small.
This requires our orbit change calculations to be extremely precise; any slight deviation could cause the spaceship to deviate from orbit.
Second is the power system.
Hall thrusters need stable high voltage electricity, which requires the nuclear batteries on the ship to have extremely high reliability.
Fortunately, these are all our strengths.”
In Lin Ran’s live broadcast room, the bullet screen went crazy again, and everyone was immersed in this future world full of imagination.
Or rather, it’s not the future; maybe we can see it next year.
The audience watching the live broadcast thought, 10 to 14 days isn’t long at all? Going to the Moon sounds like just taking a long trip.
But now, going to the Moon does seem not much different from taking a long trip; a round trip to the Moon for one million RMB, affluent families can already afford this travel expense.
“I see some knowledgeable people in the bullet screen already brushing about new Hall thrusters creating aerial logistics drones and personal aircraft. I can only say that the cost can’t come down in the short term; we have to wait for the cost to drop.
Personal aircraft costing tens of millions probably have no cost-effectiveness or market compared to private jets.
Aerial logistics aircraft have even lower cost-effectiveness in front of unmanned trucks.
Reality is still a material world; everyone is thinking a bit too far.
What is the new spaceship called? Don’t know, currently the internal code is BY-2, Moon-bound No. 2 spacecraft.”
Bullet screen in the live broadcast room:
“Sounds awful, with such an awful name, I won’t buy it!”
“You all think it sounds awful, then I won’t buy it either.”
“If Ran Shen is this name, I’ve thought about it, and I still won’t go for moon tourism.”
“Actually, thinking carefully, it’s not that awful, just very uncreative. Ran Shen, do you get it? It’s like the lunar South Pole ultra-low temperature laboratory; it could clearly be called Guanghan Palace or some other cooler name, but you insist on calling it lunar South Pole ultra-low temperature laboratory, which doesn’t let everyone daydream.”
“Yeah, we just naively call it lunar electromagnetic rail. I saw YouTubers calling this project the Steel Dragon on the Moon; isn’t that a million times better sounding than lunar electromagnetic rail!”
The bullet screen is all complaining.
Lin Ran couldn’t help but smile bitterly.
Time passed in an instant.
“Track in position, data link normal.” Wei Xuhang’s voice sounded in the official live broadcast room.
His tone was calm, but Chinese viewers could all feel the excitement in his tone.
Actually, it might be that they are excited, so they feel Wei Xuhang is excited too.
The wind moves the banner, the benevolent heart moves.
Outside the base, partners Qian Fei, Li Cong, and Zhao Jianguo were doing the final checks.
At this time, there were four astronauts on the moon base: Wei Xuhang, Qian Fei, Zhao Jianguo, and Li Cong. For this test to go smoothly, Apollo Technology arranged the most elite astronauts with the most mission experience on the Moon.
Ground control center, engineers and expert teams from Apollo Technology and China Aerospace were holding their breath.
Everyone knew that if today’s test succeeded, it would completely rewrite the history of humanity entering space.
Ground control center, Lin Ran said: “The live broadcast ends here for now; I need to check the data situation before this test. These all need to be kept secret and can’t be shown to you.”
“I won’t look!”
“Don’t show it to me no matter what, I don’t understand it, don’t let the Americans see it!”
“Shut it off quick!”
None of the netizens wanted to see it, afraid of letting foreigners see it; these are our treasures.
Just like in the past when China bought technology from abroad, and foreigners wouldn’t let Chinese people see their operations.
Lin Ran stood in front of the screen, his eyes fixed on the huge display screen on the wall, which showed dense real-time data streams.
At this moment, there were no extra movements on his body.
The entire control center also quieted down, with decibels dropping to the minimum. Everyone knew very well that Lin Ran was the soul of the entire project, and the success or failure of every link depended on him alone.
Before this unmanned test, Lin Ran had already mentally rehearsed all possible risk points countless times, but the real confirmation had to be completed at this moment.
His voice was transmitted to every corner through the internal communication system.
No passionate tone, only nearly cold instructions.
“All departments, please note, final confirmation begins now. Countdown, 60 minutes.”
“Energy group, nuclear reactor output power, please confirm.”
“Professor, nuclear reactor output power stable, at 200 megawatts, and ready for peak power output at ignition.”
This is the core of the entire test; the thrust of the electromagnetic rail completely depends on the huge electrical energy released instantly.
“Heat dissipation group, radiation heat sink temperature, please confirm.”
“Professor, all radiation heat sink temperatures are within design range, heat pipes working normally, no abnormal fluctuations in moon soil temperature.”
Lin Ran’s gaze fell on the screen, which showed the temperature curve graphs on both sides of the track.
In the extreme low-temperature environment, the efficiency of the heat dissipation fins is crucial; even tiny temperature fluctuations could affect the performance of the superconducting coils.
This is a precision check at the physics level, with no room for the slightest error.
“Orbital calibration group, 5 km track straightness and flatness, please confirm again.”
“Professor, laser calibration system shows everything normal.”
Lin Ran nodded.
He knew that maintaining such precision in the Moon’s gravity environment was a huge challenge, relying on their independently developed moon soil 3D printed foundation, high-precision automatic laying robots, and the superconducting track laying implemented in a one-person operation, one-person calibration mode.
“Payload group, BY-2 mass, center of gravity, sensor status, please confirm.”
“Chief engineer, BY-2 mass 1000 kg, center of gravity at design point, all attitude control sensors and communication system working normally.”
Although this test mainly verifies the electromagnetic rail, other key systems on BY-2 also need to confirm their initial status; they need to ensure the ship will return to Earth smoothly in three days.
“Orbit change propulsion group, Hall thruster xenon reserve, thrust chamber status, please confirm.”
“Chief engineer, Hall thruster xenon reserve 100%, thrust chamber preheating completed.”
“Thermal protection group, heat insulation coating thickness and uniformity, please confirm.”
“Professor, robot spraying system has completed secondary spraying of BY-2, heat insulation coating thickness and uniformity both meet design requirements.”
Lin Ran mentally reviewed the entire process.
In the Moon’s permanently shadowed region, they used an automated spraying system to add a heat insulation layer to the ship.
Lin Ran nodded.
“Astronauts, please confirm all systems ready.”
“Energy system ready.”
“BY-2 connected.”
“Orbital calibration complete, no deviations.”
“Received, countdown begins.”
As the countdown reached zero, there was no huge roar like a rocket launch, nor earth-shaking flames.
The superconducting coils on the track instantly energized, and the powerful electromagnetic force pushed BY-2 forward fiercely.
At the bottom of BY-2, the powerful magnetic field interacted with the track coils to produce a traveling wave, like an invisible hand pushing BY-2 into the sky.
It accelerated rapidly on the track, speed from dozens of km/h to hundreds of km/h, ultimately reaching the Moon’s escape velocity.
“Speed 2.38 km/s, departing track!”
The astronauts all returned to the moon base, watching the data on the display.
Everyone’s voices were filled with excitement.
The ship drew a beautiful arc at the end of the track and rushed into the dark universe.
The astronauts stared at the screen until BY-2’s signal entered the predetermined lunar orbit.
“Success! We succeeded!”
In the live broadcast footage, the four astronauts paired up, holding hands in celebration.
Although it hasn’t successfully returned to Earth yet, just successfully entering lunar orbit is already a big step.
Qian Fei was very emotional; from being selected to today, he never imagined he could personally participate in such a grand project.
That night, international media front-page headlines were all occupied by China’s lunar electromagnetic rail launch test.
The New York Times commented: “This is not just a simple technological breakthrough, but a strategic victory. China is turning the Moon into humanity’s springboard into deep space.”
The Guardian commented: “Against the backdrop of tense international relations, this successful test sends a clear signal to the world: China has become the world’s number one space power.”
And on China’s social media, it was like an explosion.
Lunar orbit test indeed has nothing to do with a salary of three thousand, but every progress in China technology makes RMB more valuable.
