Technology's opening live broadcast to build rockets

The construction of the tower has extremely high requirements on the building structure, materials and construction methods. In addition, it requires facilities to prevent typhoons and lightning hazards. Du Xingyu spent nearly one million energy points to initially complete the simulation.

"The most important thing about the ground station is the artificial island and tower. Once these two points are completed, it's almost done." Du Xingyu once again pushed forward the simulation progress of the space elevator. Next is the most difficult point in the entire space elevator - the cable!

Just think about it, what kind of material can guarantee that the cable will not deform or break when it is more than 36,000 kilometers long, maintain its own physical properties, and will not be damaged by wind, rain, lightning?

Currently, no such material can be found in the world!

So the cable, a seemingly simple thing, is actually the most difficult part of the space elevator!

Fortunately, Du Xingyu is not fighting alone. The expert team has already given the most suitable alternative, which is carbon nanotubes!

Carbon nanotubes are tubular nanoscale graphite crystals that have extremely high strength, theoretically one hundred times stronger than steel! It is also very soft and can be regarded as a "super fiber".

Its electromagnetic properties, adsorption capacity and other properties are excellent. If there is a material that can be used as a cable for a space elevator, it must be carbon nanotubes!

What troubles materials scientists from all over the world is that humans are still unable to produce synthetic high-purity carbon nanotubes. At the same time, carbon nanotubes have excellent mechanical, electrical, thermal and other properties in the microscopic field. When made into tools and utensils, the macroscopic properties of carbon nanotubes are Some of them cannot be expressed.

These factors have led to the fact that scientists from various countries have so far failed to find a suitable carbon nanotube as a material for space elevators.

In Du Xingyu's database, there are dozens of alternative carbon nanotube plans, including single-walled carbon nanotubes, multi-walled carbon nanotubes, various carbon nanotube synthesis plans of different lengths and thicknesses, metals and non-metals. He started One simulation test.

"Invest 100,000 energy points to conduct C1 carbon nanotube experiments." Du Xingyu used C1 carbon nanotubes to synthesize cable materials in the simulator, extending 36,000 kilometers. Its lower section is fixed with ground stations and towers, and the upper end is connected with counterweights. and Tiangong Space Station.

Technology simulator: "Cracks appeared in the carbon nanotubes, irreversible damage occurred to the material, and the test failed!"

Du Xingyu began to check the damage status, saved the material data, and started the next test.

"C2-type carbon nanotubes have suitable strength but poor electrical conductivity at a macro level, so they are not suitable for transporting cars."

"F92 type carbon nanotubes have barely adequate performance and are difficult to manufacture, so they are an alternative."

…

Du Xingyu simulated all the carbon nanotubes from experts from various countries on the technology simulator, and basically none of them could meet the demand.

But he also obtained a lot of data, allowing him to conduct further experiments.

"Invest 100,000 energy points to develop A1 type carbon nanotube materials." Du Xingyu combined the data and began to try out his own ideas.

A few days later, the technology simulator finally gave him the good news: "The A21 carbon nanotube test was successful."

"Very good!" Du Xingyu failed the simulation twenty times in total, and finally obtained a carbon nanotube material with excellent mechanical, electrical and thermal properties.

Most importantly, its synthesis technology is relatively simple and can be used for large-scale manufacturing.

During this period, countries were arguing over the location of the space elevator.

The reason behind this is that all parties want to control this transportation hub from the ground to space - even if this super project may not be successfully completed.

"Everyone!" The core committee of the Human Guardian Alliance is holding a meeting. A European member said: "We don't have time to delay it any longer. This meeting must decide on the location of the space elevator. I think the Indian Ocean and the equator south of the Maldives Building a space elevator nearby is a good option."

"The equatorial waters of the South Pacific are the best places to build artificial islands and space elevators!" members from the Americas and Australia spoke.

"The waters of southern China are the most suitable location." Du Xingyu said, "Regardless of other factors, this location is the place where the construction task can be completed the fastest."

"But we not only need to build artificial islands, but also build cars and the most critical cables!" said the European Commissioner.

Island member Yusuke Akiyama said: "The cable is crucial. If the cable cannot be manufactured, everything will be empty talk! Commander Du, I wonder how your demonstration of the carbon nanotube plan we sent is going?"

Du Xingyu said: "We have already demonstrated that you have indeed made great achievements in carbon nanotube manufacturing technology. But the material strength is still not enough."

Akiyama Yusuke nodded and said: "That's true, so we must find a suitable carbon nanotube material as soon as possible."

"We have found it!" Du Xingyu said, taking out a small piece of A21 carbon nanotube material. This is a sample he synthesized in the materials laboratory.

"This A21 carbon nanotube material perfectly meets our needs, these are its performance parameters."

Du Xingyu showed the laboratory test results, which fully met expectations in terms of toughness, strength, electrical conductivity and heat resistance.

When Akiyama Yusuke saw it, his eyes suddenly lit up and he said, "That's it! This is the effect we envisioned. How difficult is it to make?"

"The synthesis in the laboratory is going smoothly at present," Du Xingyu said truthfully, "but if we want to manufacture it on a large scale, we must cooperate with chemical companies in various countries."

"Everyone," Du Xingyu said, "China has the conditions to build and manufacture the main body of the space elevator, including the ground station, cables, cars, synchronous orbit stations and counterweights. It is currently the only place most suitable for building a space elevator. , there should be no objections to the address selection now, right?"

Everyone in the core committee looked at each other. Although they were reluctant to bear it, this was a fact. Therefore, the location of mankind's first space elevator is set in the waters of southern China!

This space elevator project is called the "Ladder Project". The ground station will be built into a large artificial island called "Penglai Island". The island will then have towers with an overall height of more than 15 kilometers, seaports and airports, etc. facility.

In order to achieve higher efficiency and resource utilization, the Ladder Project still needs to allocate tasks to all parties.

China is mainly responsible for the construction of the artificial island. On the day the plan was approved, the offshore exploration team had already set off, the design institute began to produce drawings overnight, and the construction team was also mobilizing undersea dredgers and island-building artifacts to go to the target sea area.

At the seminar on the Tiangong project, Du Xingyu said: "The Chinese construction team will complete the ground station part within the deadline, and the space station part will be handled by our Tiangong Space Station."

"The other three main parts still require the cooperation of all member states, namely the car, cables and counterweights."

"Our European team will be responsible for designing and manufacturing the car!" said a senior German engineer. In fact, their design work has already begun.

"Chemical companies in our island countries and South Korea will be responsible for manufacturing the A21 carbon nanotube cable and complete it on time!" Yusuke Akiyama said.

Thank you for the reward of being independent, never, and abandon.