Research starts with PhD students

Chapter 235: Public information, that is, anti-missile experiment!
Huo Chul's surprised words shocked everyone around him.

Josh Abbott hurried over and asked in surprise, "517 kilometers, are you sure?"

Hochul did not answer, but pointed to a string of numbers on the computer screen, "Data transmitted from the satellite."

He added, "In fact, you don't need data. Just look at the background and you will know."

He said as he enlarged the screen on his computer.

People in the Information Management Bureau office study various satellite data every day. They can estimate the height just by comparing it with the background.

If it is above 2,000 kilometers, the estimated data will not be very accurate, but below 1,000 kilometers, it can be seen clearly as long as the earth is used as the background.

Abbott knew at a glance that it was indeed several hundred kilometers high. He couldn't help but take a deep breath, "If this is an anti-missile experiment, it's too serious!"

What does it mean to have anti-missile defense at an altitude of 500 kilometers?
The United States is the only country in the world that is capable of intercepting missiles at altitudes above 200 kilometers using a land-based mid-range missile interception system.

Many people believe that China also has the relevant technology, but the publicly released high-series Hongqi series has an experimental interception altitude of only about 200 kilometers.

The technical difficulty of missile interception and missile launch is different, and defense is always more difficult than offense.

The technical difficulty of intercepting missiles at an altitude of hundreds of kilometers is not even less than that of manufacturing intercontinental missiles. It mainly involves an overall interception system so that the interception missiles can accurately hit the target in the outer space environment.

When an anti-missile missile is launched to intercept another missile with a speed exceeding several Mach in outer space, the accuracy required can be imagined.

General anti-missile missiles are equipped with automatic calibration and tracking functions, but in reality, there is only one chance for direct interception.

If a head-on collision fails the first time, or if the trajectory is corrected from the side to collide, whether by "turning around" or correcting the trajectory, the result is likely to be that the target missile cannot be caught up, because the interception target with an altitude of more than 500 kilometers is generally an intercontinental missile with a strike range of more than 10,000 kilometers.

The speed of intercontinental missiles is so fast that intercepting missiles cannot catch up at all. The only chance is a head-on collision.

From this, we can imagine how difficult it is to intercept missiles in outer space.

The United States has a land-based mid-course anti-missile interception system, which can theoretically intercept missiles at altitudes of 200 to 2,000 kilometers. However, although experiments have been conducted several times, it is difficult to say how successful the interception is, as there is basically no actual combat experience.

To put it bluntly, having technology does not necessarily mean you can hit actual targets.

The missile interception technology at an altitude of 500 kilometers will definitely be the most advanced anti-missile weapon in the world.

"They can't possibly have this technology!"

"Five hundred kilometers, no kidding, it's a direct threat to intercontinental missiles!"

"It's definitely not a missile interception..."

Several people gathered around and kept discussing, and none of them thought it was a missile interception test.

Huo Chul finally said the good news, "We really didn't capture the intercepted missile, so I said it was the same as last time."

"This time is better than last time because it is high enough and the picture I took is clearer."

Together they watched the images transmitted by the satellite.

At an altitude of 500 kilometers, the images taken by the satellite are indeed very clear. The missiles emitting smoke can be clearly seen in the images, but the specific details are not clear and most of the images are still obscured by smoke.

Abbott sat to one side, zoomed in on the picture and thought, "If it was a warhead explosion or an energy device explosion, it shouldn't be like this."

"Even if the electronic system fails and affects the energy device, it won't emit such a large amount of smoke..."

"Could it be a direct failure of the driving energy?"

“That’s impossible…”

"At this altitude, the first and second stage thrusters have already separated, right?"

At an altitude of 500 kilometers in outer space, the first and second stage thrusters of the missile have already been separated. Only the first and second stage thrusters have so much fossil energy, and it is unlikely that so much smoke will be emitted if something goes wrong with the remaining parts.

"Continue searching for relevant information."

"let's move!"

"We have to fix this, I have a feeling it might be important!"

Abbott immediately stood up and explained.

In fact, there is no need for him to emphasize its importance. Photographing a missile at an altitude of 500 kilometers is already a major discovery. Five hundred kilometers is at least a high-end medium-range missile.

There are so many questions involved, so the matter is naturally very serious.

The whole office was busy.

The monitoring system controlled by the Space Information Center has a very wide coverage. They quickly found several pictures taken by satellites and some data fed back by radar satellites.

They even got pictures and data sent from Europe, which were taken by the International Space Station.

After the missile malfunctioned at an altitude of 517 kilometers, it did not fall directly downwards, but continued to fly upwards under its original power. Then, under the pull of the earth's gravity, it began to fly diagonally downward and fell in a large arc trajectory on the west side of Northern Xinjiang Province.

When the missile was at an altitude of 370 kilometers, the camera on the International Space Station captured its image.

The picture captured is so clear that you can even see the surface of the missile through the smoke.

Judging from the pictures, the black smoke near the missile has become very light, but at the same time the outer shell and interior are completely destroyed. The tragic situation can't even be described as wreckage, it can only be said to be a pile of black waste.

"Are you sure it's a missile?"

"Even if there was a malfunction, it wouldn't be burned like this, right? The outer shell is burnt, but the inside doesn't look like there is any metal. It looks like a lot of burnt plastic."

Abbott stood in front of the screen, looking at the picture that was magnified more than ten times, and said in amazement, "It's hard to imagine what it has been through..."

Others had the same sentiment.

Whether a missile exploded or there was a problem with its energy device, how could it burn like this?

Even if it was blown up into pieces on the spot, it shouldn't have burned into a large lump of material that couldn't be seen clearly, as if the metal had completely melted.

Would a conventional missile malfunction melt the metal? Would the temperature be that high?

The most important thing is that the missile only emitted black smoke and did not explode. Moreover, it is impossible for a missile tested on one's own land to be live ammunition, right?

These are all doubtful points.

A large group of people from the Information Management Bureau analyzed it for a long time but could not get any results. In the end, they could only submit the information. The analysis simply wrote down a few doubts.

"Perhaps they were testing new anti-missile weapons, but no anti-missile missiles were photographed."

"Maybe it was a missile malfunction, but that doesn't explain the smoke."

"The explosion or malfunction melted the metal inside and outside the missile. By the time it was 300 kilometers from the ground, the missile had completely turned into wreckage..."

After receiving the intelligence information, the military decision-makers also attached great importance to it.

Several officials worked together to analyze the intelligence information and reviewed the raw satellite images, but their analysis was also inconclusive.

An official wondered, "With so many unexplained questions, could it be that they are testing some new type of anti-aircraft weapon?"

"What do you mean by new weapons?" others asked immediately.

"Because it's a new weapon, we don't know what it is."

"..."

"..."

It was as if this sentence had not been said, and the group of people fell silent.

If it was the first time they discovered it, they would immediately think it was a malfunction inside the missile, but this was the second time, and the last time was at an altitude of 200 kilometers.

Coincidence?
This certainly cannot be attributed to coincidence. But the problem is that it cannot be explained, and the intelligence is beyond comprehension.

In the end, they could only decide to have satellites focus on monitoring the relevant areas to see if there would be any further discoveries.

……

This time, the military decision-makers did not make the matter public, so the public did not get the news first.

But just a few days later, related news appeared in the media again.

This is mainly because commercial satellites captured relevant images, and the media report used the title: "One month later, another missile failure occurred."

Although the title is somewhat attractive, after reading the content, most people feel that, "How can there be two consecutive failures?"

"If this is just a routine experiment, how can the same failure occur continuously?"

"Also, why are the missile launches so frequent?"

Public opinion began to discuss this.

Some people speculated that it was a missile interception experiment in outer space, some people speculated that it was other experiments, but almost no one thought it was a real failure. As long as you understand some missile-related technology, you will know that the failure cannot reach this extent.

There are still "capable people" in the field of public opinion.

Someone analyzed and sorted out the information and speculated on the 'most likely' reason: "It is possible that they are researching some new type of weapons of mass destruction, or even chemical weapons!"

"This weapon was installed on a missile, but because of unstable control, after the missile was launched into space, the chemical substances and lethal substances inside reacted and detonated prematurely."
"It was the same thing last time, but the missile only rose to an altitude of 200 kilometers before problems arose."

"This time it's higher than last time, which means their technology has improved, but they still failed..."

The so-called weapons of mass destruction cover a very broad range, but chemical weapons are understood by everyone.

Many people think that this is logically perfect when they think about it.

A chemical weapon is installed inside the missile, and a large amount of chemical materials react in space, resulting in so much smoke.

This explanation is simply perfect.

The military decision-makers all felt that the news in the media made a lot of sense.

Regardless of whether it is true or not, the relevant explanation can resolve all doubts and can also become a weapon of public opinion.

Several officials immediately stood up to condemn the research. “They shouldn’t be researching chemical weapons of mass destruction. This is an act against humanity!”

"We must strongly condemn it, they must stop the research!"

"Ula Ula..."

……

When public opinion was in an uproar, domestic decision-makers had actually already thought of a response plan, because the missile interception would be at an altitude of 500 kilometers and would almost certainly be captured by satellites.

This will then raise some public opinion issues.

However, it was unexpected that the media attributed the problem to "chemical weapons", which was also unexpected by the domestic decision-makers.

Chemical weapons on the missiles?

This explanation can really resolve all doubts, including the fact that the anti-missile missile was not photographed and that a large amount of smoke came out of the missile.

Although the direction of public opinion has changed somewhat, they still released the information according to the established plan.

This time, the weapons test information was officially released, and it was announced that an outer space anti-missile experiment was conducted to test new anti-missile technology.

Such information is equivalent to being disclosed to the international community, indicating that anti-missile weapon experiments were indeed carried out.

At the same time, it was also very unexpected.

The general international discussion is that chemical weapons were installed on the missiles, but the public information shows that anti-missile experiments were conducted?

Where are the anti-missile missiles?
This question is too big. No anti-missile missiles were found in the images taken by various satellites. It is impossible for anti-missile missiles to disappear out of thin air.

At the external press conference, professional reporters immediately asked questions.

The press officer responded formally, "The so-called chemical weapons are groundless suspicions."

"We do not need or have any need to research so-called chemical weapons. We are only conducting routine anti-missile technology experiments."

The reporter immediately asked why the problem with the anti-missile missile was not discovered.

The press officer replied in a resounding voice, "How to intercept the incoming target is our own business, and no outsiders are allowed to interfere!"

What this sentence means is that any technology we have mastered will not be made public.

After the press conference, reports from domestic and foreign media brought the matter to a climax.

Many people couldn't help but join in the discussion, and the core of the discussion was what specific anti-missile technology was used in the experiment?
The country was naturally in an uproar, and many people believed that the military had mastered ultra-high-end anti-missile technology, which was even unimaginable.

There have been a lot of discussions abroad, and many people have analyzed the pictures, but of course they found nothing.

Some people think that "they may just be conducting a fraudulent experiment."

"There is no other technology that can intercept missiles in outer space."

"They are just trying to intimidate in this way, announcing that they have mastered the outer space interception technology, but in fact they have nothing..."

……

When public opinion was in an uproar, Zhang Shuo also saw the news.

He did not pay attention to the public's comments, but speculated on the numbers, "500 kilometers in altitude..."

"It should not have reached the high point of the threshold range, and the ion cluster acceleration time is relatively short."

"In theory, 2,000 kilometers is not a big problem. If it exceeds 2,000 kilometers, the preparation time will be longer. The acceleration time of the ion cluster will increase by more than ten times, and the accuracy issue will also be involved."

"It seems the test is still conservative."

He just glanced at some reports, smiled indifferently, and continued to devote himself to his research.

'Task Two' has been completed.

"Task 2" is to analyze the existing experimental data and find the connection between electromagnetic force and strong force.

Through system tasks, he has found several association sets, two of which do not require high "strength".

In theoretical research, the strength of the strong force is just a numerical value.

In fact, there is no concept of "strong force strength" in physics. There are only some calculation formulas related to strong force. However, when studying the "strong force strength" of a large number of particles or substances that require overall reaction, there is no relevant definition.

Therefore, research must be supported by real experiments.

How to conduct a powerful experiment?

In reality, the only experiment related to strong force is nuclear fusion reaction. Nuclear fission reaction involves neutron collisions and also involves a little bit of strong force issues, but nuclear fusion is the most direct.

The splitting of the nuclear force of the atomic nucleus is also directly related to the strong force, but the splitting of the nuclear force is the influence of the electromagnetic force on the strong force, so it is impossible to conduct reverse transformation research.

Zhang Shuo thought about it carefully and finally decided to start with nuclear fusion.

Of course, the theoretical center did not have the experimental conditions for nuclear fusion, so he decided to go to relevant research institutions to see if he could get some information.

At the same time, we will also see if some experimental measurements can be carried out.

(End of this chapter)