Chapter 144 Cable Selection: Carbon Nanotubes
"Hello."
Just as the three of them were looking at each other, an extremely mechanical electronic synthesized voice sounded in their helmets.
"Fuck!"*3
Bai Yixuan was the first to react: "Are you... Yi?"
"Yes." The mechanical electronic synthesized voice sounded again, "Do you want to start the Moon Palace construction plan?"
Unlike Zero, Yi's voice was extremely rigid.
After Bai Yixuan and his teammates looked at each other, he said in a deep voice: "Yi, start immediately!"
The moment the order was issued, the entire Moon Palace base came alive again.
But...
Everything seemed to be fast-forwarded.
The speed of the surface rock collection vehicle suddenly increased several times.
Looking at the scene where the collection vehicle was crashing into the moon rock in front of it, Xia Wanyi's eyes widened slightly and she couldn't help but exclaimed.
But the next second, the collection vehicle just drew a beautiful arc and bypassed the moon rock in front of it!
Not only the collection vehicle, but also the transportation efficiency of the tracked device was instantly increased several times.
At the beginning, in order to subdivide the types of ore, the crawler tracks were transported in a pause.
But now...
Several crawlers are running quickly without any pause. The seemingly messy ore sorting process reveals an indescribable sense of order.
"Fuck..." Hong Fan stared at the scene in front of him blankly, "This is too exaggerated..."
Bai Yixuan's eyes were full of amazement.
This is just weak artificial intelligence!
If it is Zero...
He shuddered slightly.
He finally knew why Xiaguo has developed so rapidly during this period!
...
Earth.
"Professor, Yi has started working normally."
Zero's voice sounded in the office.
Lv Yongchang's tightly frowned brows eased a little.
"Okay, I know."
"By the way, Zero, help me contact Academician Wei Rong."
"Tell him that I will go to the carbon nanoparticle laboratory right away."
"Yes, professor."
...
Carbon nanoparticle laboratory.
"Hello, Professor Lu."
As soon as Lu Yongchang entered the laboratory, a middle-aged man with gray hair came up to him: "Let me introduce myself, I am..."
"Academician Wei, I recognize you!" Lu Yongchang smiled and held Wei Rong's right hand. After shaking it vigorously, he said in a deep voice, "The situation is urgent, I won't talk nonsense."
Wei Rong's expression suddenly became serious: "Professor Lu, you say."
"The problem of the cable material of the space elevator has not been solved yet."
Hearing Lu Yongchang's words, Wei Rong's expression moved slightly: "Professor Lu means... to prepare to use carbon nanotubes to make the cable of the space elevator?"
Lu Yongchang nodded with satisfaction.
It's easy to talk to smart people, and you can understand what he means with just one sentence.
"How about it? Is it possible?"
Wei Rong frowned in some confusion.
After pondering for a moment, he nodded, and then shook his head quickly.
"In theory, this possibility exists."
"Professor Lu, you also know that the tensile strength of carbon nanotubes reaches 200Gpa, which is about 100 times that of steel, but the density is only one-sixth of that of steel."
"In theory, this is indeed an ideal material for a space elevator."
"But... there are big problems with the current carbon nanotube preparation process. Most carbon nanotubes cannot even reach the centimeter level."
"Moreover, the current strength of carbon nanotubes is mainly reflected at the microscopic level."
"At the macroscopic level, due to various reasons, its tensile strength is greatly reduced in value."
Lv Yongchang nodded gently.
He was naturally very clear about these mechanical properties of carbon nanotubes.
After all, among the room-temperature superconducting materials, he chose carbon nanotubes.
It's just that at that time, he used the excellent electrical properties of carbon nanotubes.
After thinking for a moment, he chuckled: "It's normal to have problems, as long as we solve them."
"The point is that at present, carbon nanotubes are the most likely material for the space elevator cable, and that's enough."
Wei Rong was stunned for a moment, then nodded vigorously, with a bit of admiration in his eyes: "Well said, professor."
...
In front of the laboratory table, Lv Yongchang silently looked at the carbon nanotube sample prepared for the first time in front of him.
The carbon nanotube is about one meter long and has a tensile strength of 80Gpa.
In theory, this is already an extremely excellent carbon nanotube.
But this is obviously not enough to meet the requirements of the space elevator.
As a necessary technology for planetary civilization to move towards the universe, the space elevator contains extremely high technical content.
One end of the elevator is on the ground, and the other end is in the geostationary orbit 36,000 kilometers away. In the middle, it is connected only by a cable.
As for why it doesn't fall down... the principle is very simple.
It only needs the centrifugal force generated by the rotation of the earth to offset or exceed the downward gravity to keep the cable taut.
Of course, while maintaining the above conditions, the overall center of mass of the elevator should be equal to or higher than the geostationary orbit.
Considering the weight of the cable itself and the various transportation equipment built on the cable, in order to keep the overall center of mass of the elevator in the geostationary orbit, in addition to increasing the mass of the counterweight at the other end, the only way is to lengthen the cable.
When the counterweight is exactly in the geostationary orbit of 36,000 kilometers, in order to ensure that it does not fall, the mass of the counterweight must be infinite, which is obviously unrealistic.
Therefore, under normal circumstances, the highest point of the space elevator is generally about 90,000 kilometers from the surface of the earth.
Under these prerequisites, as the most important material of the space elevator, the cable connecting the two ends needs to withstand extremely terrifying tension!
Of course, in addition to tensile strength, there are many other conditions that the cable must meet, such as stable materials and not easy to damage.
"This is already the strongest carbon nanotube currently made in the laboratory." Wei Rong's voice came from the side, interrupting Lu Yongchang's thoughts.
He shook his head slowly: "Not enough, far from enough."
Wei Rong smiled bitterly.
Of course he knew it was not enough.
For the space elevator, the tensile strength of 80Gpa is obviously far from enough.
You know, even the most basic space elevator requires the cable to have a tensile strength of at least 100Gpa!
"At least 1000Gpa..." Lu Yongchang muttered to himself.
Hearing this, Wei Rong's eyes widened suddenly.
1000Gpa? !
This is just like a fool's dream!
"Professor Lu, this may be a little..." Wei Rong's face showed some difficulty.
It's not that he was pouring cold water, as a material academician specializing in carbon nanotubes, he is very familiar with the performance of carbon nanotubes.
1000Gpa, it can't be said that it is impossible, but the possibility of achieving this strength...
Wei Rong shook his head helplessly and tried to persuade Lu Yongchang.
