North America, Washington.

In a spacious conference room, there are important figures from the country, from the White House, from the Department of Defense, from the CIA, and from NASA and major laboratories.

Musk was also among these people and was in a relatively important position. He seemed to be bored and played with the atomic pen in his hand. He stroked it lightly with his thumb, and the black atomic pen immediately rotated rapidly in his palm.

"Musk, what do you think about the space elevator?" asked the old man in general's uniform curiously. He seemed to be attending the meeting on behalf of the Ministry of Defense.

Musk frowned, then stood up, walked to the front of the conference room, where the big screen was located, pointing to the Space Station Zero in the picture and said: "My opinion is very simple. Those Chinese people have succeeded. So far, Xingchen Technology's space elevator plan has overcome all resistance and steadily advanced."

"Someone mentioned the issue of tension just now, believing that each nanotube weighs 360 tons, which completely exceeds the tension of Station Zero. As the construction progresses, more and more nanotubes will eventually pull the space station from the synchronous orbit into the atmosphere, causing a crash."

"I disagree with this kind of speculation. The elevator's self-weight is indeed very large, but Station Zero is like the counterweight of a space elevator, always constantly building and expanding, providing stronger and stronger pulling force."

Swish swish swish swish ~

Musk pulled a whiteboard over and began to write quickly, bringing all the parameters such as the weight of Station Zero, the speed of the earth's rotation, the length and weight of the nanotubes, and finally getting a number like 1.6679.

"You see, the tension provided by Station Zero has always been maintained at 1.6 times the weight of the nanopipe. Star Technology has left enough safety redundancy. In my opinion, they are not radical, even very conservative, and always put safety first in the space elevator."

Mathematics can't lie. Musk's calculations undoubtedly formalize the safety of space elevators. At the same time, this well-known North American genius also showed his strong mathematical skills. He did not use tools and calculated the tension redundancy of space elevators.

There was a sigh in the conference room, and everyone was speechless for a long time. At this point, they still couldn't believe that a space elevator that created miracles was on their heads. The Chinese who built the elevator were so poor that they couldn't get enough food a few decades ago.

However, in a blink of an eye, the loser counterattacked. The Chinese actually crushed the arrogant North American and Western civilizations with a devastating momentum in the space field. How could this make people feel sorry for?

Presidential envoy Mitterrand nodded slightly and said, "The White House does not want to investigate the fact that it has been established, but Mr. President wants to know that the elevator of Star Technology will be completed in February next year. What can we do to surpass those Chinese?"

Overtake?

The conference room was even more silent. The elites from the scientific community secretly complained that the president was indeed a layman who didn't know anything. According to the current situation, it would be good to be able to maintain the advantages of Starlink in low-Earth orbit. As for synchronous orbit and outer space, North America has no strength to compete for it.

Seeing that everyone was not talking, a sad mood surged from Mitterrand's heart. I remember that when NASA was the only one in the world, Armstrong successfully landed on the moon, shocked the world and attracted worldwide attention. What a glory and courage it was.

In a blink of an eye, the smoke disappeared and the news was heard that the space elevator was about to be completed. Many countries, including some of North America's allies, lined up to visit China, hoping to get a share of the pie in future space development.

Compared to the small earth, fools also know that the future of mankind can only be in the distant sea of ​​stars, and China is the only existence that can provide tickets to the sea of ​​stars.

"We still have a chance to be in the field of controlled fusion," Dr. Shurakel said in a deep voice: "At present, we have multiple laboratories that are investing in the research on controlled fusion at any cost. Once we succeed, both Star Technology's Carmen vortex power generation technology and their space elevators will be overtaken by our Jedi."

Everyone nodded slightly. North America has invested heavily in controlled fusion research. The famous Los Laboratory, Oak Ridge Laboratory, Argonne Laboratory, etc. all have fusion research teams.

Musk smiled and said, "Nuclear fusion is indeed an opportunity. Although Star Technology's Carmen vortex power generation array is strong, it cannot be applied outside the earth. Spacecraft that installs fusion reactors and superion thrusters can theoretically take off and land vertically between the earth and space. In this way, the significance of China having a space elevator is offset."

"The liquid oxygen methane engine used by spacecraft is very bulky and consumes a lot of energy. If we want to develop Mars without fusion technology, we have to establish a permanent space station in the outer orbit of Mars, and then use Mars spacecraft to perform landing and disengagement operations. Sixty percent of the mass of the spacecraft must be used to load fuel, such as a ten tons of self-weight, of which six tons are used to load fuel, otherwise we will not be able to return to Mars."

"Of course, we can also be extravagant, and make the Mars spacecraft into two levels, and then the landing stage sends the spacecraft to the surface of Mars and abandons it. When we come back, we only drive up and upgrade. Due to the weight loss, we can carry one ton or half a ton of supplies."

"At the same time, we have to build a large number of transport spacecraft, traveling between the Earth Space Station and the Mars Space Station. Even if the best window period occurs every two years, the distance between Mars and Earth is 78 million kilometers, and the standard flight time is 609 days. Considering that we cannot always send spacecraft during the window period, the average time to and from Mars will take four to five years."

"We have to build at least 12 transport spacecraft, because people who stay on Mars consume materials every moment, and the journey from Earth to Mars is so long. Assuming that we do not have enough transportation power, the construction teams stationed in the Mars area will be exhausted. After all, we are not like Xingchen Technology and do not master robot technology. We have to send a large number of human engineers to develop Mars."

"If there is controllable fusion, the situation will be completely different. A single super-large spacecraft equipped with controllable fusion can weigh thousands of tons or even tens of thousands of tons, and has decades of self-sustaining ability. Not to mention Mars, it is definitely not impossible to fly out of the solar system through the Ebola belt."

"So everyone, do you understand? The spacecraft equipped with controllable fusion will be as powerful as the star destroyers we have seen in Star Wars, and is not the same species as the small broken ships using liquid oxygen methane fuel!"

Musk talked freely that colonizing Mars was his lifelong dream. Various designs and concepts have long been very mature. The long starry sky and countless risks and difficulties are presented to everyone through Musk's description, which makes people sigh.

After a pause, Musk continued: "According to information, Star Technology has started a fusion experiment in southwest China. Fortunately, they chose the imitation device solution, like the group of arduous Germans, and are expected to be subject to huge resistance."

Hahaha~

Everyone showed a knowing smile on their faces. If the imitation device could succeed, it would be a real ghost. Except for the stubborn Germans, no one has played with this thing now.

Mr. Mitterrand snorted coldly and said in a deep voice: "It is rare that Xingchen Technology will also have strategic misjudgment. Since they are seeking death by themselves, we should seize the opportunity to send them a funeral."

In the end, these big figures from North American authorities unanimously decided to increase their investment in controlled fusion research and invest more money in this field, as well as all other areas that may fight against Star Technology.

As we all know, North American finance has long been underpaid, and the deficits caused by increasing investment will be raised through issuing government bonds.

...

Chengdu, Southwest Branch of Xingchen Technology Fusion Research Institute.

On the eve of the fusion experiment, there were many more people coming than I thought. In addition to the bosses of the two academies, the military also sent a delegation, and Lu Junlin, the general's most trusted secretary, was also among them.

"The general has a special identity and is not convenient to appear here, but he asked me to tell you to do it boldly and don't have any worries. No matter when, the army will be your solid backing." Lu Junlin said to Luo Jia.

Luo Jia has heard of this many times. Anyone with a discerning eye can see that the relationship between Xingchen Technology and the military is absolutely extraordinary. This is probably a mutual appreciation between tough guys. Anyway, the two groups of people are just about to be angry and please the eyes no matter how they look at it.

The two walked into a room similar to a classroom. Due to the large number of people, they could not sit in the conference room, so the administrative department arranged another large room for Luo Jia, and Luo Jia wanted to respond to the questions of the bigwigs from all sides on behalf of Xingchen Technology.

"Mr. Luo, when will the fusion experiment start?" An old man wearing glasses asked.

Luo Jia raised his wrist and glanced at the smart watch, "Specifically, there are still three hours and forty-five minutes, that is, at 1 a.m. tonight, we will perform the first ignition of the double-helix star-like fusion device on time. At present, my colleague Dr. Xie Tian is conducting the final inspection and preparation."

"I heard that this time you not only abandoned the traditional tokamak on the fusion device and chose a star imitator, but also had a unique fusion substance, so you chose a deuterium-deuterium reaction?" asked an old man with a thick beard in the engineering institute.

After hearing this, I was immediately in an uproar. Most of the experts present were experts and understood that it was too difficult to react with deuterium (knife) and deuterium (knife). Everyone usually reacts with deuterium (knife) and tritium (storage).

"React with deuterium and deuterium? So awesome!"

"I heard it right, Star Technology has mastered the deuterium-deuterium reaction technology?"

"It's a bit incredible, don't worry, let me sort it out..."

Seeing the surprised expressions of everyone in the audience, Luo Jia hurriedly explained: "Senior, your source of information may be misunderstood. First of all, I am indeed optimistic about deuterium and deuterium fusion because deuterium is really cheap."

"Deuterium is the isotope of hydrogen. The deuterium content in seawater is very high. On average, there is one deuterium atom in every 6,420 hydrogen atoms. The total tonnage of the earth's water in Shanghai is about 1.4 times 10 to the power of 18, which is 40 trillion tons of deuterium. Without considering the energy conversion efficiency, so many deuterium can theoretically generate 9 times 10 to the power of 24 kilowatt-hours, which is enough for the entire earth to use for 90 billion years."

"According to the current market price, each kilogram of deuterium monoxide is sold for 7,000 yuan. After fusion, it can generate 80 million kilowatt-hours of electricity, and the cost is almost negligible. More importantly, traditional space probes often carry tons of liquid oxygen methane as propulsion fuel. After controlling fusion, we just need to bring one kilogram to go back and forth in the solar system and bring a few tons of fuel. We dare to rush out of the solar system and rush into the Milky Way!"

After hearing Luo Jia's words, everyone nodded. The reason why even the two hospitals had nearly twenty bigwigs came at the scene was because of their emphasis on controllable fusion. If the experiment was successful tonight, scientists would wake up in a dream. Controllable fusion is one of the most critical keys to the road to the sea of ​​stars, which is really amazing.

"In other words, deuterium and deuterium fusion is the future goal of Xingchen Technology, not the present one?" An academician understood Luo Jia's words and tried to ask.

Luo Jia said: "That's right. In the early morning's experiment, the reactants we used were traditional deuterium and tritium, but tritium is too expensive. Since the half-life of tritium is only more than ten years, tritium almost does not exist in nature. It is extremely difficult to prepare manually. It is converted into the price of more than 1.5 billion US dollars per kilogram, and we can't afford it, so we added a proliferation system to the reaction."

"Simply put, the proliferation system uses neutrons and lithium generated by fusion to react to generate and proliferate tritium, which means to consume and reproduce. However, the efficiency of using neutron reaction to generate tritium is not high, so we have developed a second system, recycling and utilization system."

"First of all, we reduce the retention of tritium outside the recycling circuit, maintain the total amount of tritium not to decrease, and then use the plasma material that directly encapsulates deuterium and tritium in fusion, mainly tungsten, to create a tritium capture and recovery system."

"Anyway, our double helix satellite imitator fusion device only needs to consume extremely tiny tritium as fuel, and continuously add deuterium and lithium during the reaction process is enough to maintain its normal operation, because we have two auxiliary systems for proliferation and cyclic capture to protect tritium, which are our original systems."

Luo Jia talked about her design ideas. Energy civilization is worthy of being a top player in star fusion technology. How advanced the double-spiral star imitator fusion device is? Just look at the expressions of the experts present.
Chapter completed!