The rise of nanometers

Time flew by.

In the blink of an eye, half a year has passed.

The testing work of the three Gonggong-class spacecraft has been fully completed, and a small number of minor problems have been corrected during the process.

There are generally no fatal flaws in the Gonggong grade. After completing comprehensive testing, it means that it can be officially put into use.

More than a dozen Pioneer-class transport ships transported a large amount of supplies to Blue Star's 400,000-kilometer orbit. At this time, three Gonggong-class ships were parked in the orbit.

A large amount of supplies filled the Gonggong-class storage compartment to the brim.

There are also 12 rocket boosters, which are also installed on the Gonggong-class body. These rocket boosters weigh 60,000 tons.

A single rocket booster weighs 5,000 tons and carries 3,700 tons of N30 fuel inside, which is enough to accelerate the Gonggong stage to a flight speed of 16.5 kilometers per second.

The 60 astronauts dispatched this time were half men and women, which was obviously a ratio specially configured for long-term missions.

These astronauts are all couples, aged between 27 and 40 years old, and are expected to work on Jupiter for about 10 years.

Of course, the round trip will also take a long time.

Jupiter is about 630 million to 930 million kilometers away from Blue Star. According to the Gonggong-level starting speed of 16.5 kilometers per second and the maximum speed of 23 kilometers per second, each Blue Star can fly up to 1.987 million kilometers per day.

If you fly at the fastest speed, it will take 317 to 468 Blue Star days for a one-way trip, and 634 to 936 Blue Star days for a round trip.

But this is only an ideal navigation state. After all, the spacecraft needs to accelerate to start and decelerate into orbit, and it also needs to replenish supplies in the asteroid belt along the way.

With the addition of a plasma engine, increasing the speed from 16.5 kilometers per second to 23 kilometers per second also requires a certain amount of acceleration time.

The final revised one-way trip time from Blue Star to Jupiter is about 550 to 840 Blue Star days, and the round-trip journey takes 1100 to 1680 Blue Star days.

This is a time that can only be achieved if there are no unexpected situations along the way.

In other words, it will take 3 to 5 years just to travel, plus 10 years of work.

This means that astronauts need to live in the universe for 13 to 15 years. Without a pseudo-gravity system, there is really no way to conduct such a distant expedition.

The expedition exploration fleet composed of Gonggong-class spacecraft is another bold attempt by the Federation in the aerospace field.

The 60 astronauts are mentally prepared. Some of them may spend the rest of their lives in this vast starry sky, and even at the last moment of their lives, they will not be able to return to their hometown.

The reality is so cruel. The advent of the age of space navigation is not all beautiful fairy tales, but also has helpless technological realities.

If we want to achieve a fast round trip, the speed of human spacecraft needs to be increased to 0.1% of the speed of light to achieve a round trip every few months.

When the Space Ministry selected the expeditionary force, all the circumstances were disclosed openly. The astronauts who chose to join the expeditionary force knew their destiny.

But as pioneers in human exploration of the universe, many astronauts have the consciousness to devote themselves to the aerospace industry.

Being able to go hundreds of millions of kilometers away and see the vaster sea of ​​stars is also the dream of many astronauts. They will embark on a lonely journey with the expectations of human civilization.

February 23, 2028.

Zhang Shuyi, the commander-in-chief of the Jupiter Expeditionary Force, led a group of astronauts to the three Gonggong-class spacecraft.

At this time, all the preparations have been completed.

"Each spaceship reports the situation." Zhang Shuyi picked up the communicator and looked at the display panel in the cockpit.

"Everything is normal with Spaceship 002 and can set sail at any time."

"Everything is normal with Spaceship 003 and can set sail at any time."

Zhang Shuyi looked at the time and loudly ordered: "All units, please pay attention. We will officially set sail in 15 minutes, target Jupiter, and move forward at full speed."

"receive."

"receive."

Fifteen minutes are up.

The rocket boosters of the three spacecrafts ignited instantly and entered a state of acceleration. Driven by the surging reddish flames, the three Gonggong-class ships accelerated towards the orbit of Jupiter.

The flight route was calculated and planned in advance, and it did not seem to fly in a straight line towards Jupiter.

In fact, since Jupiter itself also orbits the sun, it does not appear to be in a straight line now. When the spacecraft arrives near Jupiter's orbit, it will just meet Jupiter.

If there are not too many accidents on the way, it will enter the orbit of Jupiter in about 627 blue star days and begin its 10-year exploration of Jupiter.

During this process, the Aerospace Department will continue to launch other spacecraft to transport some supplies and scientific research equipment for use by the expeditionary force.

After 8.6 hours, all 12 rocket boosters ran out of fuel, the boosters were jettisoned, and the spacecraft started its plasma engine.

The light blue plasma flow was ejected from the nozzle of the engine, and it seemed to provide very weak acceleration.

In fact, because the plasma engine lasts for a very long time, and the first half of the Gonggong stage is equipped with a free stardust collection system, it can collect hydrogen atoms and helium atoms floating in the interstellar vacuum.

These collected particles will be used as heating working fluid for the plasma engine, reducing the working fluid consumption of the spacecraft itself.

In fact, at the current stage of technology, it is impossible to realize a spacecraft without working fluid, because the spacecraft needs to do work during its flight, and this work must be consumed. This is determined by the conservation of energy.

Even by collecting interstellar dust, it can only reduce consumption. Overall, the consumption of working fluid is definitely unavoidable.

Driven by the plasma engines, the three Gonggong-class ships are slowly accelerating, but this acceleration is very slow. It is estimated that it will take about 75 blue star days to increase from 16.5 kilometers per second to 23 kilometers per second.

This is the advantage and disadvantage of the plasma engine. As long as the spacecraft has sufficient energy and sufficient working fluid, it can accelerate infinitely.

But infinite acceleration is only theoretically possible.

In practical applications, it is certainly impossible to achieve infinite acceleration. First, there are certain limits to the energy and working fluid of the spacecraft; second, the spacecraft needs to dock in orbit.

If the Gonggong stage continues to accelerate now, it will reach Jupiter's orbit about 200 days ahead of schedule.

The problem is that the consequence of this is that all the working fluid of the spacecraft will be consumed. At that time, the spacecraft may not be able to decelerate into orbit and can only start the backup rocket engine.

If the backup engine runs out of fuel and fails to brake successfully, the spacecraft will face two possibilities.

The first possibility is to be captured by Jupiter's gravity, then pulled into Jupiter, and finally completely annihilated in Jupiter's terrifying atmosphere.

The second possibility is to miss the window of being captured by Jupiter's gravity, and then float in the vast starry sky, waiting for rescue by the Federation, or become a wandering starship.

The second one is more likely.

This is why, even though the Gonggong class can continue to accelerate, its flight speed is limited to 23 kilometers per second.

It means taking into account the needs of acceleration, deceleration, and emergencies. As a safe and reliable spacecraft, all these aspects need to be fully considered.

After the expeditionary force fleet entered the plasma engine acceleration stage, the rotating wheel well of the spacecraft began to rotate and entered the pseudo-gravity mode.

Lonely black.

Perhaps it is the main color of the Age of Discovery.

Thank you for your support (ω｀)