Chapter 1041： nuclear powered rocket

The fission and fusion of atoms will bring about a loss of mass, and in this loss of mass, there is a huge amount of energy. Einstein's mass-energy conversion equation indicates that this is almost inexhaustible energy!

The disaster of World War II is also an era of rapid development for science and technology. The atomic bomb was rapidly developed during World War II, and then the nuclear reactor was invented. Humans can peacefully use nuclear energy to serve human production and life.

At the same time, nuclear energy is also considered by space agencies. If nuclear energy can be used in space, it will greatly improve the source of energy!

The first to be used, of course, is the nuclear battery! Many Soviet reconnaissance satellites use nuclear batteries. The power provided by such nuclear batteries is much higher than that of solar panels. At the same time, the durability of nuclear batteries is also very strong. The Voyager probe launched by the United States It has been out of the solar system for a long time, and it is still working because of its powerful performance.

However, how to use nuclear power in rockets is a question worth considering. After all, nuclear explosion is simple, and nuclear batteries are also simple, but how to directly use nuclear power to propel rockets?

In this regard, the Americans are very open-minded, and they have come up with a simple solution. A small-yield atomic bomb is used to explode one after another at the tail of the rocket. The propelling disk installed behind the rocket can absorb the shock wave generated by the explosion and obtain power from it! This is the Orion scheme.

It is conceivable that the process of this thing being lifted into the air is like a jellyfish in the ocean, jumping up and down, and every time an atomic bomb is thrown, the rocket jumps up a certain distance. The process is scary enough!

During the take-off stage, a small atomic bomb with an equivalent of 100 tons of tnt is detonated every second. When the rocket reaches a certain speed and height, the detonation rate drops to one every 10 seconds. Since it is far away from the ground, it is detonated at this time. The equivalent of 20,000 tons the nuclear bomb.

The Americans at that time had already experimented with conventional bombs, which was feasible. However, this thing was stillborn in the end. After all, it was too frustrating to directly detonate a nuclear bomb!

So, in the end, they all turned to nuclear-powered rocket engines similar to liquid rockets. The United States designed the nerva nuclear energy rocket engine. Its fuel is mainly uranium 235 or plutonium 239. It generates heat with nuclear fission fuel, and heats the working fluid in the combustion chamber to eject it. Generally, hydrogen with the lowest molecular weight is used to obtain the reaction force. Working fluid for the highest jet velocity.

Why can't you use a normal chemical rocket? Because these ordinary rockets can only work for a few hundred seconds, but consume tons of fuel! If a chemical rocket is used to fly to Mars, the rocket will be ignited for hundreds of seconds, and after accelerating the spacecraft, the remaining long voyage is the process of flying by inertia, which is quite long!

In this regard, the original "Big Mac Saturn 5" is a typical representative. Its first stage is equipped with 2075 tons of liquid oxygen kerosene propellant. Once the engine is fired, it can "drink" all of these in 2 minutes and 34 seconds" Beverage". However, it is only enough to put 47 tons of payload on the moon. Of the 3,500 tons of take-off thrust, a large part is used to "tow" the rocket itself and more than 2,000 tons of fuel. The propulsive efficiency of this rocket low.

The advantage of using a nuclear reactor to heat the working fluid is that it does not need to carry a very large mass of oxidant, but only needs to carry liquid hydrogen with a relatively very small mass. The specific impulse is very large compared to chemical rockets, and the overall velocity can be very high. And, it lasts a long time.

In 1972, the power of the nerva-2 engine designed by the United States reached 5000mw and the continuous thrust was 90 tons. Although the thrust is not large, in outer space, as long as there is thrust, the spacecraft can continue to accelerate!

The design of the United States only stopped at the sketches, and at most, the prototype experiments were carried out. The Soviet Union has actually developed it, this is the rd-0410 nuclear rocket engine!

Like nuclear-powered rockets in the United States, the principle of this engine is to use the fission heat generated by the reactor to heat the working medium, that is, the propellant, to a very high temperature, and then eject the high-temperature and high-pressure working medium from the nozzle at high speed. resulting in a huge impetus.

The Soviet Union, which has always been at the forefront of space technology, has never given up on the development of this rocket engine! So far, this engine has finally matured and has been installed on the rocket!

At the same time, this engine has been further modified to provide not only thrust, but also electricity! After all, when the spacecraft is flying, it still needs a certain amount of power supply! Especially after entering deep space and getting farther and farther from the sun, the efficiency of solar panels will become lower and lower.

Andrei is not yet the general secretary of the Soviet, but, as his successor, he has taken full charge of all the work of the Soviet! Before Putin's arrival, Andrei was reading this document, and now, after communicating with Putin, Andrei said: "I have spent the past few months in the Kremlin , now, it's time to go out. We want to go to the launch site to see our rocket launch."

For the past few months, Andre has not gone out, and of course he has other concerns. How serious is the infiltration of the Soviet Union by that secretive Freemasonry? Although Andre was not afraid of retaliation by any force, Andre knew that now, his personal safety was related to the future of the entire Soviet Union, so he had to be careful. It would be foolish to go out casually and be shot down by someone.

And now, a few months are enough to clean up those conspirators. At this time, Andre should show up to the outside world, and Andre really wants to see it! Moreover, when he became the successor of the general secretary, Andrei came into contact with more secrets, and these secrets were not only related to the Soviet Union, but also related to the entire human race.

"Marshal Andrei, Varissy is a very competent guard captain. He can protect your well-being. At the same time, our KGB department will do its best to ensure your travel safety." Putin said.

Varisi, the captain of Andrei's guard before Putin became Andre's sidekick, also came from the Far East Military Region. Varissy's loyalty is completely reliable.

"Well, the special plane will also be checked." Andre said: "At the same time, make a backup plan."

The last time Andrei came back, the supersonic commercial airliner was tampered with. After that, after Putin took over as the chairman of the KGB, he immediately launched an investigation and found two or three people who served Freemasonry. . Speaking of Boris alone, he didn't have that much energy at all. He stretched his hand to Andre's side. At the same time, on the Soviet aircraft carrier, a traitor was also removed, and it was the traitor who leaked Andre. 's whereabouts.