Chapter 515 - 504 CEPC_1

Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center.

Over a hundred British scientists gathered here to witness the launch of the New Yuan No. 3 rocket, whose exceptionally tall fairing, measuring 50 meters, made the rocket look very imposing against the vast Gobi desert.

The launch center staff following Penrose and others explained:

"This is the ninth module of the Forward Space Station, codenamed ’Shenkippy.’ It is a module designed to provide power and carry scientific equipment, it cannot support astronauts for long-term survival conditions."

The names for the 12 modules, which correspond to the twelve zodiac animals, were only finalized by the Aerospace Development Committee on the eve of the Forward station’s completion; the first six being living modules, and the last six being service modules.

The foreigners spent half a day trying to understand and were still somewhat confused, but they nevertheless expressed their admiration.

After all, such massive modules could only be mass-produced by you at present, even if they were named after pets.

The New Yuan No. 3 rocket’s liquid oxygen kerosene engine was much louder than that of the Saturn V, thoroughly satisfying the scientists there.

By the time the rocket had been reduced to a mere dot in the sky, another deafening sound erupted in the sky.

Hawking: "Roger, is there another rocket?"

Penrose craned his neck for a long while, then identified a white object rapidly approaching against the deep blue sky.

"No, it’s an airplane, and I think it’s a supersonic one."

Some minutes later, Penrose and others being hosted at the launch center saw several people striding towards them.

The man in front, somewhat thin, walked straight up to Penrose and introduced himself by extending a hand:

"Ye Changsi, Deputy President of Xinyuan Company, also engaged in physics research."

The person following closely behind chimed in:

"Cheng Nankai, gentlemen, we share a common goal."

...

Beijing, Capital Center for Positive and Negative Electron Collision.

The positive and negative electron collider (BEPC) was built in 1990. Despite its early construction date, it is still one of the world’s eight major high-energy accelerator centers.

Particle accelerators are also divided into types: linear accelerators and circular cyclotrons, and can be further divided according to the field of research for which they are designed.

However, particle accelerators can generally be modified to accommodate different experimental targets, so the lifespan of a high-energy accelerator is quite long.

The BEPC is a linear accelerator. Since its completion, it has undergone numerous upgrades; the most recent major upgrade began in 2006 and was completed in 2009, increasing the energy level of a specialized field by tenfold.

Wu Yunfeng is the director of the Institute of High Energy as well as the deputy director of BEPC. He spent his prime years after returning to his country with BEPC and produced many advancements through it.

Nevertheless, BEPC has fallen behind the times. It was designed as a limited-potential linear electron accelerator with a length of just over 200 meters.

The LHC, on the other hand, boasts a length of 27 kilometers and is a more expensive and versatile proton accelerator. The total budget for BEPC was only 280 million yuan, not even a fraction of LHC’s cost.

The Institute of High Energy realized early on that domestic accelerators could no longer meet the needs, so they proposed the CEPC (Circular Electron Positron Collider) plan, which was expected to require an investment of approximately 27 billion yuan to build a 100-kilometer circular electron accelerator.

They opted for an electron collider rather than a proton collider considering the cost and prospect issues, but more so the latter.

The LHC, although it made significant achievements in recent years, such as discovering the Higgs boson in 2012, known as "the God particle," could not go any further and conduct more advanced research.

If a new proton collider, larger than the LHC and capable of achieving scientists’ expectations, were to be built, the cost would inevitably skyrocket again. The Institute of High Energy’s final consensus was: without reaching an ultra-high energy level in one step, building a new proton accelerator would be meaningless.

Therefore, they finally chose to plan the CEPC, the largest and most advanced electron accelerator in the world. However, the project had been discussed intermittently for five years without showing any signs of starting.

The main issues were funding and research prospects. The cost of further microscopic research was too high. The country could afford it, but it was hard to convince everyone in the current context.

It was still 2017, only seven years since the GDP surpassed that of the Island Country. Last year it was 59% of America’s, with people’s livelihoods still being the key development area. Putting tens of billions into high-energy physics research with no guaranteed return indeed faced a lot of pressure.

The hope of the Institute of High Energy was to persuade the authorities in 2020 and then build a new accelerator around 2030.

Wu Yunfeng was organizing a scientific exchange with the visiting British scientists. There were many high-energy physicists among the newcomers, even key leaders from the LHC. It would be beneficial to gain some of the latest results from the LHC.

"Old Wu, Old Wu!"

Wu Yunfeng looked in surprise at Li Shi, who was rushing in frantically, shouting his name before even entering the room. Without catching his breath, Li spoke urgently:

"Hurry up, to Union Mining, something big is happening."

"What’s going on?"

"An accelerator. Those British experts are proposing we build a high-energy proton accelerator. The Academy has filed a report, and even Xinyuan Company is planning to invest!"

While still bewildered, Wu Yunfeng promptly followed Li Shi to the Union Mining Headquarters, where the British scientists who had returned from Jiuquan had decided to gather.

On the way by car, Wu Yunfeng learned from Li Shi the full story:

It turned out the suggestion made by Penrose and his companions three days ago had been jointly submitted up the chain by Lin Ju and Academician She, and then some academicians close to the Aerospace Development Committee, along with experts from the Xinyuan Company’s nuclear base and British people, convened.

This significant gathering finally attracted attention from the higher-ups. Yesterday, they requested a meeting with domestic researchers needing the particle accelerator while the foreign scientists were still around.

Yesterday, the leaders flew to Vienna for the Outer Space Treaty conference, hoping to get a more definitive answer before their return.

The Academy immediately held an overnight discussion on the matter, ultimately achieving a collective opinion in overwhelming support: to promote the construction of the super collider as much as possible.

The British experts had limited time to stay, so last night, domestic experts from Anhui Province and Hubei Province started rushing back.

But what surprised everyone was Xinyuan Company’s involvement. Li Shi heard through the grapevine that two of their deputy presidents convinced Lin Ju to allocate 10 billion yuan over three years to support the accelerator’s construction, which was quite significant.

With 10 billion yuan in funding, he was confident in building another LHC within the country; when had a private enterprise ever been willing to be such a generous benefactor?