Beijing, inside a conference room.
There were a lot of people sitting in this conference room. There were officials from the Ministry of Science and Technology, military officers with epaulets on their shoulders, academicians from the Academy of Engineering, and aerospace experts.
An inch-thick stack of conference materials was placed on the conference table in front of each person.
At the top of the conference materials was a thesis with an eye-catching title.
[Application Prospects and Technical Feasibility Demonstration of Controllable Fusion Miniaturization Technology in the Aerospace Field]
The thesis gave a professional description of the application of miniaturized controllable fusion reactors in the aerospace field, as well as the Hall-effect thruster. It also used rigorous calculations to demonstrate the feasibility of the technology.
However, demonstrating the feasibility of technology that had not yet been realized was subjective in itself.
Not to mention this kind of advanced concept …
"This is ridiculous!"
Academician Wu put down the thesis in his hand and shook his head. He then said, "Looking at the specific impulse, the electric thruster is indeed much stronger than the chemical thruster, but the thrust is a problem!
"Let's not talk about anything else. Take the VX-200SS ion engine that our Fourth Academy of Aeronautics and Astronautics completed its trial run last year. The power can reach 200K, but the total thrust is only 5N! Even if it can be multiplied by a hundred or a thousand times, can it push a spacecraft into low-Earth orbit with this little thrust? It's not even enough to send an egg up there!
"I think the person who wrote this paper must be out of his mind!"
"If this can send satellites from the ground to the sky, then we can shoot satellites with Qigong!"
When Old Wu said this, the atmosphere in the conference room was a bit awkward.
Everyone knew that this was the old scientist's temper.
But Qigong …
Can you not talk about it?
The head of the Ministry of Science and Technology was a bit embarrassed. However, the old man sitting next to him didn't care. He said, "Can't you solve it?"
Academician Wu shook his head and said, "Basically not!"
As for the miniaturization of controllable fusion, he didn't know much about it, so he didn't want to comment.
No one knew what the future technology would be like.
The earliest nuclear fission batteries were the size of a small house. When they were first built, no one was optimistic that they could be used on spacecraft.
However, in just a few short years, around the 1970s, the problem of miniaturization was properly solved. But now, the smallest one could even be the size of a 50 cent coin (1.95 centimeters in diameter, 1.55 millimeters in thickness, and the volume energy density was about a million times that of ordinary chemical batteries).
However, the demonstration reactor at Haizhou had only been successful for a little more than three months, and they were already planning to install the reactor on a spacecraft. Most of them were just bragging.
When Ren Changming heard his old subordinate belittle the thesis, he felt a little awkward, so he tried to smooth things over.
"The ideas proposed in this paper are indeed a bit optimistic. I admit that it is difficult to achieve the level described in this paper, but I don't think this difficulty is completely unsolvable, right?"
"You've been away from the frontline of scientific research for too long, I'm not going to argue with you." Academician Wu waved his hand and pointed at the thesis as he said, "Who wrote this thesis? Call him over, I'll reason with him face to face! "
Upon hearing this, Ren Changming was at his wit's end.
After exchanging glances with the head of the Ministry of Science and Technology and the old man sitting next to him, Xu Yuanming coughed and spoke.
"… Chief Designer Lu wrote it."
The conference room was silent for a moment.
It was eerily silent.
Academician Wu had an awkward expression on his face as he picked up the thesis again.
"… Let me think about it."
After a while, he made a face of realization and used the miniaturization of controllable fusion as a stepping stone. He then lowered his head and muttered to himself.
"Ahem, I think I missed a few points. For ion thruster propulsion, the thrust depends on the power. It's true that traditional nuclear batteries can't do it. The power and battery capacity are both shortcomings, but fusion batteries are really hard to say, really hard to say … "
Xu Yuanming: "…"
Everyone in the conference room: "…"
Every project had to be reviewed by an expert panel, even Nobel Prize winners and Ling Yun Medal winners.
However, for these big names in academia, it wasn't easy to find someone to review their project.
The class boundaries of the Chinese academic community were very obvious. It was taboo to publicly comment on people with higher social status and academic reputation than oneself.
They were worried that this would happen, so they deliberately hid the name of the author of the thesis.
However, no one would have thought that Mr. Wu, who was usually the chief designer of the lunar exploration project, would be so unsure of his position after hearing that the author of the thesis was Professor Lu.
However, judging from his previous reaction, this thing should be very difficult to achieve.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have reacted so strongly.
At this moment, a man with an epaulette on his shoulder, who had been silent all this while, spoke up with a serious expression.
"Can I talk about my opinion?"
Old man: "Please go ahead."
The man paused for a second and said, "I don't know much about aerospace, so I won't comment. However, I think that even without the Hall-effect thruster and ion thruster propulsion rockets, the miniaturization of controllable fusion is quite necessary.
"According to the description in this thesis, if the miniaturization of controllable fusion technology can really be achieved, it might not only be installed on spacecraft, but it might also be installed on submarines or even aircraft carriers."
Upon hearing this, the expressions of many people present turned solemn at the same time.
The old man pondered for a bit and nodded.
"You're right. Regardless of whether or not it can be achieved, even if we ignore the aerospace industry itself, this project is worth a try."
He paused for a second and picked up a pen. He then slowly made some comments on the conference document.
"Project approved."
He thought for a bit and felt like he didn't do enough, so he added another line.
"The relevant departments will fully cooperate."
The old man looked at the two lines of words and nodded with satisfaction.
However, at this moment, he suddenly thought of something and said.
"Oh yeah, consult Professor Lu. If he doesn't have any objections, then find a place to release this thesis."
As he said that, he smiled and continued, "Now that we've released a lot of smoke bombs, we have to at least let them see that we're doing something."
…
Jin Ling University.
Lecture hall number one.
After the bell rang, Lu Zhou closed the book in his hand and left the classroom.
Ever since Lu Zhou's number theory class began, it had been packed to the brim. Not only did many undergraduate students come to his class, but some master's students, PhD students, and even other professors from the mathematics department would occasionally come to his class.
Personally speaking, Lu Zhou really liked to discuss problems with his students.
Occasionally thinking about some simple problems was a unique way for him to relax.
Usually, after class, if he wasn't busy, he would spend 20 minutes to half an hour answering extracurricular questions from his students.
Unfortunately, he still had to attend a conference on the miniaturization of controllable fusion, so he probably wouldn't have the time today.
Lu Zhou walked on the way to the mathematics department's laboratory building. He planned on putting his textbooks and teaching materials in his office before going back to the Institute for Advanced Study. He also planned on giving some pointers to his students.
However, at this moment, the phone in his pocket suddenly rang.
Lu Zhou took out his phone and saw that it was Yang Xu. He picked up the call and placed the phone next to his ear.
"Hello?"
Yang Xu: "An old man who claims to be Academician Yu Jiannan from the Chinese Academy of Sciences is here to visit you … Do you know him?"
He's here already?
When Lu Zhou heard that Academician Yu had arrived, he was a little surprised. The conference would only begin at five o 'clock. He thought that the experts he invited would arrive at 4: 30 pm. He didn't expect Mr. Yu to arrive so early.
It seemed like he couldn't go to the mathematics department's laboratory building.
"I invited him, bring him to the C1 conference room at the Institute of Physics."
Yang Xu: "Okay."
After hanging up the phone, Lu Zhou opened his contacts and called Wang Peng.
"Where are you right now?"
Wang Peng: "At the school gate. Do you need a car? "
Lu Zhou: "Yeah, pick me up at the lecture hall."
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