Chapter 879 Aerospace planes, suborbital vehicles and personal airborne suits

Back in Xi'an, Ye Zishu began to study the space shuttle. Compared with ordinary spaceships, the space shuttle does have many advantages. Not only can it be reused, but its load capacity is much higher than that of spaceships.

As long as the safety issues of the space shuttle and the cost of use are solved, it can be used as the most suitable space shuttle tool, and it is more in line with human imagination of space shuttle tools.

The existing space shuttle still needs to use rockets or carrier planes to accelerate, which in his opinion is more troublesome. The space shuttle he imagined should fly directly into space.

Compared with the need for vehicle acceleration, the frequency of such launches is much higher, and the mission of going back and forth between heaven and earth can be carried out at any time, which is the result he wants.

To achieve this, a stronger power system is needed. The power improvement system he imagined at the launch center just now may be able to play a role.

The combination of chemical energy and electric ion propulsion technology can save a lot of fuel, and there is no need to use oxidant in the atmosphere, so the chemical energy carried will be more.

During the take-off phase of the space shuttle, it can cooperate with microwave power transmission technology and use ion propulsion to allow the space shuttle to obtain a huge initial velocity at a relatively small cost.

Then enter the ionosphere, and start to enter the chemical energy mixed ion propulsion technology. Compared with the direct use of chemical energy, the energy conversion rate is much higher.

After the power system is determined, Ye Zishu considers the fuselage material of the space shuttle. The fuselage material is the key to the success or failure of the space shuttle. The reason why the space shuttle is prone to accidents is that the fuselage material is too complicated.

The more complex the system, the more unpredictable problems are likely to occur. If there is a flaw in one link, the risk will expand rapidly and cause irreparable losses.

He had to make the fuselage of the space shuttle as simple as possible, or a simple shell that could withstand a high temperature of several thousand degrees, and at the same time withstand direct bombardment of various particles to protect the internal system.

Therefore, the material of the fuselage is particularly critical. Ye Zishu did not choose to develop it himself. Although it is not impossible to do it yourself, if there are better materials, wouldn’t it be better.

He also went directly to the material technology area of ​​the virtual library and began to check various materials. Here, he flipped through the book very quickly, only looking at the part of the material characteristics, and just let it go if it didn't meet the requirements.

After a day of searching, he finally found a material that met his requirements. This material can withstand a high temperature of 8,000 degrees, and can ensure a stable structure, basically without damage.

What satisfies him most is that it even has a thermoelectric effect. This feature can convert the high-temperature heat energy on the material into electrical energy in a timely manner. It can not only reduce the surface temperature of the material, but the converted electrical energy can also be used by the space shuttle.

Other aspects such as strength, stress, toughness, etc., all meet his requirements for the space shuttle fuselage material. He is very excited to be able to find such a material within a day.

If he was asked to study similar materials by himself, even with the assistance of a super quantum computer, it would take a relatively long time. Now that he has found it directly, it has saved him a lot of trouble.

The key fuselage materials have been found, and the rest of the work will be much easier. After he had the idea of ​​building a space shuttle, he has been thinking about these issues and has a relatively clear plan.

But even so, it still took him a month to design the space shuttle, no matter how complicated the space shuttle is, he has designed systems more complicated than this one.

The main reason is that the space shuttle is to carry people to the sky. He dare not be sloppy in the slightest. He must ensure that the people who are sent to the sky can be followed by people, and there must be no mistakes.

The entire design process was extremely painful, and the design scheme was changed countless times. Each design scheme underwent tens of thousands of simulation experiments, and any flaws found had to be improved.

In this kind of revision and modification, he continued to improve, and it took him a month, but the result was very satisfactory to him. The finalized space shuttle plan was simulated and tested 1 million times.

Haven't had any accidents.

Although there is no guarantee that there will be no problems in 1.01 million times, the probability of one in a million is completely within the permitted range. There is no absolute security in the world, and such security is enough.

Uploaded all technical and design materials to the technical database of Baihu Technology Company, and then held a small meeting with the management, which was considered to have started the space shuttle development project.

There are many key technologies in it to avoid leakage. He deliberately explained that only general-purpose robots are responsible for R\u0026D and production work, because some of the technologies in it are too advanced.

After solving the technical and design issues of the space shuttle, Ye Zishu did not stop working, but planned to develop the space shuttle, because the technology and the space shuttle are in the same line.

It's just that the purpose is different. The space shuttle is dedicated to space missions and has a much wider orbital coverage, while the aerospace plane is mainly used for military purposes to achieve global strike missions.

The orbit of the aerospace plane does not need to be too high, as long as it can enter low-Earth orbit, it does not matter whether it can reach the second cosmic speed.

Although the space shuttle mainly performs earth orbit space missions, if necessary, it can still accelerate to the second cosmic speed to carry out extraterrestrial space missions.

In the future, it may be used on manned missions to the moon, directly flying the space shuttle to the low-earth orbit of the moon, and then using landing vehicles to achieve the mission to the moon.

If the auxiliary facilities are repaired on the moon, the space shuttle can even land on the moon, and then it can easily take off from the surface of the moon and enter space.

With the experience in designing space shuttles and related technologies, the design of aerospace planes is even easier. It only took four days to complete the design of aerospace planes.

Compared with the space shuttle, the aerospace plane needs more flexible take-off and landing methods. It can take off and land at ordinary airports without special supporting facilities.

The reason is also very simple, that is, the aerospace aircraft is a tool of war after all, and various situations may happen. If the requirements for take-off are very strict, it means that it is easy to be targeted.

If the aerospace plane needs microwave power transmission facilities to take off, the enemy only needs to attack the microwave power transmission facilities to prevent the aerospace plane from taking off, even if it takes off, it will not be able to enter low-Earth orbit.

The best way is to allow aerospace aircraft to take off safely at any ordinary airport in the country, and then quickly enter low-earth orbit to perform military missions.

Therefore, the aerodynamic layout between the two is completely different, using a more advanced wing design and technology than the variable wing used on the Huanyu Group civil aviation airliner.

In the initial stage of aerospace aircraft, the wings are unfolded, so that lift can be obtained in a more labor-saving way. When the speed reaches a threshold, if the wings are extended again, it will bring more air resistance, which is not conducive to further increasing the speed.

At this time, the wings will be completely retracted, allowing the aerospace aircraft to form a new aerodynamic layout, further reducing air resistance and reducing overall energy consumption.

The whole flight process is like this. At first, the aerospace plane takes off with its wings spread out like an ordinary plane. At this time, it does not want to be very fast, but only wants to be able to fly as high as possible.

After reaching the sub-space orbit, the aerospace plane will start to retract its wings and enter the final acceleration stage. After gaining sufficient speed, it will enter the sub-orbit.

The process is very simple to say, but the whole process, whether it is the engine or the wings, will be in a state of change to achieve the best flight effect.

When returning, the wings also play a huge role. They will be larger than when they took off, increasing the drag area of ​​the entire aerospace aircraft, and playing a similar effect to a traditional parachute.

Compared with the parachute, the biggest advantage of the variable wing is that it can adjust the size of the resistance surface according to the situation, and not only the vertical deceleration, but also the horizontal deceleration in the air.

In this way, enough deceleration distance can be left for the aerospace plane, so that the aerospace plane can easily land on the runway of an ordinary airport horizontally, which is impossible for a parachute.

Such a powerful aerospace plane has a very sci-fi appearance design, so that Ye Zishu, the designer, wants to fly such an aerospace plane at high altitudes.

After uploading the completed design and technical information to the company's technical database, Ye Zishu did not stop, but continued to design a suborbital vehicle.

For him, since the most difficult design has been done, naturally he will not easily let go of the less difficult design, anyway, it is a incidental thing.

If Baihu Technology is allowed to design a suborbital vehicle on the basis of an aerospace plane, it can be successful, but it will take a long time.

Now the international situation is in a state of stalemate. Although it is unlikely that a hot war will break out, diplomatic actions are taking place frequently, and he feels a little depressed when he sees it.

Although my country's economic volume is already the largest, the international community has not yet adapted to it due to its rapid rise, and is still operating according to the traditional model.

This makes our external environment not as good as imagined, especially our country currently only shows a huge economic advantage, but it is not convincing in the military.

At present, the main display is the strength of the air force. Also because the time is too short, even if there is advanced air force equipment, it will take a certain amount of time to equip and adapt to form combat effectiveness.

In order to help more countries see the world situation clearly, he felt that it is necessary to further promote the development of our military power and reduce the pressure brought by the external environment.

Although he doesn't want to participate in some things and abides by his duty as a businessman, it doesn't mean that he can't do something. He is not a pure businessman, but also a scientific researcher.

In fact, the advent of aerospace aircraft can definitely shock the world, but the price of aerospace aircraft is too high to be deployed on a large scale, and it can only be used as a strategic means.

Strategic means can only ensure deterrence, and there are not many opportunities for real use. This makes suborbital vehicles useful and makes them part of conventional forces.

Compared with aerospace aircraft, the cost of suborbital vehicles is undoubtedly much lower. There is no problem in equipping dozens of them, not to mention hundreds of them.

So it took a few more days to design the suborbital vehicle, which is naturally very powerful and can achieve routine cruise at an altitude of 50,000 meters.

If necessary, the height can be further increased, even close to the suborbital limit, which is 100,000 meters, but it exceeds 50,000 meters. The higher the altitude, the greater the energy consumption.

Even at the cruising altitude, it is still difficult for existing aircraft to compare, and the range is still very long. It can fly around the earth two or three times at an altitude of 50,000 meters.

The suborbital vehicle is extremely flat as a whole. The purpose of this is to obtain a large amount of air lift at an altitude of 50,000 meters. The maximum payload is 50 tons, which is enough to transport strategic delivery materials.

After Ye Zishu’s design was finished, he still had a lot of ideas. He felt that just delivering materials was a little bit of a waste of time. If suborbital personnel delivery could be realized, would it also have strategic significance?

Even if it doesn't have much practical significance, it can be used as a technical reserve. Now that he finally remembered it, he did it easily, otherwise he might not be able to remember it in the future.

Personal airborne equipment has two main difficulties. The first is how to protect the safety of personnel. Not to mention the safety of landing, even the process of landing at high altitude is extremely thrilling.

The high air pressure is very low, the temperature is also very low, and it has to bear the huge resistance brought by high-speed landing, as well as the loss of sense of direction. If there is a problem with one of them, there will be a problem with personnel safety.

The second is how to achieve a safe landing, that is, the personal deceleration system. Compared with the aircraft, the weight carried by the individual is very limited and the difficulty is very high.

It would be great if there is a small controllable nuclear fusion device at this time, which can have a continuous supply of energy, and then ionize the air as the reverse propulsion working material of the ion engine.

Without a small controllable nuclear fusion device, Ye Zishu designed several personal space equipment, but they were all unsatisfactory.

The reason is that the altitude is too high. When it lands on the ground, the speed is too high. The air resistance alone can fracture a person, and the faster the speed, the higher the air density.

This path was blocked for the time being, and he didn't want to come up with technology far ahead of the times, so he changed the research direction, no longer focusing on the airborne equipment worn by individuals, but on small landing devices.

In this way, the aerospace plane is similar to the space carrier, which contains many personal landing devices, and the landing personnel can not only sit in it, but also carry a large amount of personal equipment.

However, the personal landing equipment is too heavy and relatively large. With the payload and available space of the aerospace plane, it is actually not possible to carry several such personal landing equipment.

Moreover, after the landing device landed, how to take it away is also a problem. If you can't just give up, you will be really prodigal. A such a landing device will cost tens of millions of yuan even if it is cheap.

So after thinking about it, he thinks that it is possible to combine personal wearable space equipment with a small landing device, use variable flexible materials, and integrate landing and combat, and the functions will become diversified.

This technology is reflected in the personal battle suit he developed. The variable flexible material will change its properties under the action of a weak current, and this feature is very effective.

This makes people wear flexible performances on the body, which is no different from ordinary clothes, but when performing landing tasks, making the flexible material harden can block huge resistance and at the same time provide people with extra strength.

If combined with the personal bionic flight suit technology he developed not long ago, the personal airborne equipment can meet his requirements, and he feels very excited that he can think of this.

This is not only a set of airborne clothing, but also a set of super battle suits. After the airborne landing, it can immediately enter the combat alert state, and can even be put into the battlefield immediately. It is simply a heavenly soldier.

If it is equipped with variable flexible wings, it can also achieve low-altitude and fast flight and quickly transfer sites, which is very important for engaging in latent combat missions.

The only regret is that after the mission is completed, the personnel can be returned directly to the suborbital vehicle, and other methods must be used to meet them, which is a bit troublesome.

But this is not something he should worry about, his task is to solve what can be solved, and such defects are actually harmless, and will not hinder the excellent performance of this set of equipment.