Chapter 86 - 83 Bi Chong is the Future_1

The first task rewarded a whole bunch of stuff, but the second time, there was just a dry engine.

However, Lin Ju wasn’t surprised; this so-called system obviously possessed high intelligence, and it might have been taking special care of him earlier, but now it seemed unnecessary.

For the third task, he wasn’t surprised either, but it was somewhat unexpected that he needed to produce an NPAE, meaning he had to figure out a way to incorporate atomic energy into the research at New Yuan Aeronautics Propulsion.

As for the NPAE technology, Lin Ju clicked withdraw and suddenly had a stack of hard drives in front of him labeled "Design Drawings," "Technical Parameters," "Experimental Data," "Materials and Processes," and so on, which all seemed much more complex than the previous technologies.

This information was completely incomprehensible to Lin Ju, who promptly called the system engineers together.

Four system engineers, one B+ and three Bs, felt overwhelmed at the sight of the stack of hard drives.

It took them four to five hours just to skim through the catalogs and brief technical explanations, and only then did they have a basic understanding of the NPAE.

Guo Shen rubbed his tired eyes and put his glasses back on, unable to hide his exhaustion.

"Boss, the NPAE... it’s a very powerful, extremely complex, and highly challenging engine. It combines nuclear energy, plasma, aerospike, among other technologies, and requires a considerable amount of new materials and processes. To manufacture it, just the engine team alone would need a thousand members.

And they all have to be at least D+ level, headed by a B+ level nuclear physicist. As for development costs... initial investment might be between 8 to 10 billion yuan."

Guo Shen’s main specialty was engine design, whereas Androff excelled in spacecraft and rocket design. Androff was explaining the performance of the NPAE to Lin Ju:

"The excellence of the NPAE lies in the use of fast neutron sodium-cooled reactors that maximize energy use while minimizing radiation, allowing it to be operated within Earth’s atmosphere without causing pollution, which is very important; and whether within the atmosphere or in a vacuum, the engine thrust is outstanding. Plus, it uses easily stored methane as fuel, which is really rare.

I can design six engines for a lander spacecraft with around 100 tons of takeoff weight, capable of carrying 20 tons and 10 astronauts from the surface to orbit; it can also be used as a Moon Lander.

This means that from now on, space travel won’t be about throwing away part of the craft after each phase; we can return and recover the whole thing."

Androff said this and then began to sketch on the blackboard in the small meeting room:

"Look, in the future, we can have the lander spacecraft take off directly from the surface, fly to low Earth orbit on its own, combine with orbital modules there, and use their fuel to push the combined craft to the Moon. Descend, land on the Moon, then take off again after refueling with methane produced on the lunar surface, combine with the orbital module again, and fly back to Earth.

Then separate and return to the surface, without having to discard anything!"

Using an eraser to simulate a lander equipped with the NPAE, Lin Ju imagined the spacecraft taking off like in a sci-fi movie and returning fully intact, needing only to refuel a few times!

Lin Ju stood up excitedly, pacing back and forth, eagerly watching the simple drawings Androff was making on the blackboard.

He understood why Ma Yilong clung on to his Starship; aside from needing boosters to fly it into space from the ground, its usage program was similar to the NPAE-equipped lander, perfectly aligning with humanity’s vision of future spacecraft!

"We’re doing it! We’re making the NPAE!"

Lin Ju’s voice was resolute as he lifted the hard drive containing the data high in his hand:

"Dependent on current chemical rockets, we use 1300 tons of mass just to send up less than 50 tons of payload. The rockets launched from the ground can only send 3.5% of their weight into space, ensuring humanity will never enter the true space era!

We are an Aerospace Propulsion Company, specific impulse is the future, and we must start the NPAE project as soon as possible. Within 48 months, we will use it to send ships flying to the Moon!"

"Let’s also start A100 simultaneously," added Guo Shen.

"A100?" Lin Ju was somewhat puzzled; the thrust of the NPAE was much greater than the A100.

"NPAE is designed for planetary/satellite space round trips, with high thrust and specific impulse;

The goal of the A100 is deep space vessels. Although it itself weighs over 10 tons, its unrivaled specific impulse of 26,000 seconds means that fuel for 50 tons could only take six NPAE engines to low Earth orbit, but it could enable three A100 engines to ferry a 300-ton spacecraft to and from Mars, implying that specific impulse is the future."

Guo successfully persuaded Lin Ju, who immediately set up a new task in the System Research Institute:

[Research Institute Task: Master the NPAE production process and successfully manufacture a qualified engine according to technical requirements.

Current Progress: 0%

Research Institute Task: Master the A100 production process and successfully manufacture a qualified engine according to technical requirements.

Current Progress: 0%]

With the new tasks from the institute in the system, the System Engineers immediately accepted the mission. Meanwhile, Guo Shen watched Lin Ju eagerly:

"Boss, sodium-cooled fast neutron reactors are very advanced fission reactor technologies internationally. I recommend that it would be best led by a B+ level nuclear physicist, with the assistance of three or more B level nuclear physicists, but with our capacity, we’re unable to recruit such physicists."

"Don’t forget we have skill cards! Do not worry about money; it needs to be spent to make an impact.

Although we can’t recruit senior physicists, we can find junior ones, and there are plenty of them in China. Then, with money, we can change intelligence and with upgrade cards, create masters!"

Lack of talent? With upgrade cards in hand, a nuclear physics undergraduate could be boosted up to B+ level!

As for the funds? The wealthy destined for the heavens can endure a little hardship.

"But to carry out nuclear research, we need..."

"I’ll take care of it."

Following the successful launch of New Yuan-2, space agency big shots had already hinted that they might open up sensitive areas, and Lin Ju naturally wouldn’t miss this opportunity.

Thinking of the space agency, Lin Ju sighed again. Their large business needed time to adjust; even if decisions were made within ten days to two weeks, that’s considered quick, yet the cooperation efficiency had indeed decreased.

...

In 2015, going to space no longer caused the sensation it did decades ago, but astronauts still greatly captured public attention.

The space trio as well as Lin Ju received countless interview invitations. Lin Ju declined all but those from CCAV, while the trio didn’t mind and were free to participate if they wished to earn some extra money.

However, more often they received invitations for commercial endorsements. After all, astronauts endorsing advertisements definitely had influence. National astronaut team members couldn’t do so, but commercial company astronauts surely could, right?

Of course, engaging in commercial endorsements required the company’s involvement; otherwise, it would be a terrible thing if it came back to affect their reputation.

After the mission ended, commander Deng Lei, as a professional astronaut, would continue to execute subsequent flight missions. His life would basically be a continuous cycle of training, flying, and resting.

And since New Yuan only had him as a professional astronaut, his flight experience was likely to become exceptionally rich.

Although four pilots were to be trained into professional astronauts within just over a month, the astronaut squadron prematurely brought them to Haidian District to start astronaut training before their transfer, which could also be seen as a goodwill gesture towards New Yuan.

But even then, Lin Ju was also selecting astronauts, this time not from the pool of pilots, but from among engineers.

Since the mission had come to a pause, it was entirely reasonable to reassign a few of New Yuan’s many engineers for training, with the future space station and Moon Base relying on them.

After all, to comprehensively develop space, professional technical personnel must surely be sent there.

The arrangements for Zhou Rui and Zhao Xiaowen were different. They would stay on reserve, returning to regular life but undergoing training once a month, ready for space missions at any moment.

Zhao Xiaowen, being younger, had already been integrated into the System Research Institute, preparing for a professional skills upgrade as well. Having talents that are dual-purpose, wasn’t that wonderful?

The Southern Machinery Institute was even planning to erect statues and models for both of them and the Progress, to completely fashion themselves into the cradle of the aerospace industry, although the former might not be too keen on having statues erected while still alive...