Humanity is missing, luckily I have billions of clones.

Chapter 125 Separate Nuclear Explosion Engine
It is obviously impossible to give an interstellar missile sufficiently high maneuverability and acceleration by relying on chemical fuel.

The only feasible solution is to install a secondary booster inside the missile to propel the missile forward.

However, an interstellar missile weighs only about five or six tons at its largest, and only a few hundred kilograms at its smallest. Installing a secondary booster into such a small rocket body is almost impossible.

After previously miniaturizing the secondary booster to a size large enough to be installed on a Mercury-class spacecraft, Li Qingsong is still tirelessly conducting research on its miniaturization.

During this period, Li Qingsong did make some progress, further optimizing its performance and reducing its mass and volume, but it was still far from being able to be installed in a missile.

Perhaps with the advancement of technology, this may be possible in the future, but it is obvious that it is impossible to do so in the short term.

"Then don't do it! Try another way!"

Li Qingsong gritted his teeth and decided to take a risk.

He planned to adopt a completely new propulsion structure.

Separate nuclear explosion thruster!

Nuclear fission power plants and engines all use controlled nuclear fission, allowing them to release energy in a controlled and relatively gentle manner.

Uncontrolled nuclear fission is a nuclear explosion, similar to an atomic bomb.

Now, Li Qingsong plans to make a compromise between the two.

A key point in controlling the fission rate of uranium 235 or plutonium 239 is the neutron moderator.

By controlling neutrons, we can control the rate of nuclear fission.

In that case...then just place the weapons-grade uranium or plutonium that has reached critical mass into the missile engine and use a large amount of neutron moderator to slow down their fission rate.

But doing so can only slow down the fission reaction, but it cannot completely stop it. In other words, once fission begins, it will get faster and faster until it finally explodes in the form of an atomic bomb.

But even just slowing it down would be enough.

It just so happened that Li Qingsong had no intention of doing any secondary pressurization process. He directly used the corresponding working fluid as a coolant. While taking away the energy of the nuclear fission reactor and dissipating the heat for it, he directly pressurized himself to a pressure and temperature far beyond the reach of ordinary chemical combustion, and then ejected it directly from the nozzle.

The missile that Li Qingsong envisioned doesn't even need a warhead.

Because its engine itself is a nuclear bomb, but it is a nuclear bomb with a weakened fission speed. Part of the fission energy is taken away and used to accelerate itself.

When it reaches the end of acceleration, the working fluid and neutron moderator are exhausted, it can only explode like a nuclear bomb.

Given this structure, it is obvious that fission fuel cannot be stored in the missile engine under normal circumstances, and the fuel must be temporarily replenished during launch.

This is the so-called split structure.

In addition, it will inevitably end with a violent nuclear explosion. All together, it is the separated nuclear explosion engine envisioned by Li Qingsong!

This type of interstellar missile had never been conceived before. Li Qingsong believed that even alien civilizations with more advanced technology than his own would not have such a missile.

The reason is simple. It is a temporary emergency product developed under the existing technological level due to overly urgent strategic needs.

A more advanced civilization would have more advanced technology, and wouldn't need to use such flawed structures like his own. At this moment, following Li Qingsong's concept, the first interstellar missile powered by a split-type nuclear explosion engine appeared before Li Qingsong and was then taken into space.

This thing could turn into an atomic bomb if not handled properly, so we dare not conduct experiments on the ground.

The overall shape of this interstellar missile looks like a hemisphere, which has nothing to do with the appearance of traditional missiles.

However, there is no air in space, so there is no need for aerodynamic optimization. It doesn't matter what shape it is, as long as it is easy to propel.

The critical mass was reached, but the uranium 235, which was divided into three parts, was taken out by robots and carefully installed in the engine.

Afterwards, the experimental equipment was immediately evacuated.

Looking at it from a distance, Li Qingsong began the countdown.

He knew that even with the neutron moderator, the number of neutrons in the engine was still slowly increasing. Soon, it would begin to accelerate.

After a countdown of fifty seconds, blue flames indeed spurted out from the nozzle at the bottom of the hemisphere.

At first, the flame was relatively weak, only able to propel it forward slowly. But as the fission reaction speed continued to increase, the energy released became increasingly huge, and the flame turned from blue to red-white, and the spray became more and more violent.

The speed of the hemispherical missile was getting faster and faster, increasing rapidly. In less than a minute, its acceleration soared to 10 meters per square second, and it was still increasing rapidly!
At this time, even if Li Qingsong wanted it to slow down or stop accelerating, he couldn't do it.

Because the chain reaction had already started, Li Qingsong had no way to stop it.

The most Li Qingsong could do was to change the direction of the jet and slightly change its trajectory.

This hemispherical missile flew in space for about half an hour, covering a distance of more than 10 kilometers. Then, when the speed reached its peak, the rate of the chain reaction finally got completely out of control. Almost all the fission fuel participated in the fission reaction under the impact of a large number of neutrons. The huge amount of energy was released in an instant, exploded, and turned into a huge fireball.

At this time, its speed can even reach 80 kilometers per second!

It has far exceeded the bottom line of 40 kilometers per second set by Li Qingsong!
"This thing is good, but it has a few shortcomings."

Li Qingsong sighed: "First, once the acceleration is started, there is no way to stop it.

Second, one missile consumes more than 20 kg of precious fission fuel.

Third, the initial speed is slow, and it takes a period of time to accelerate to reach a sufficient speed. This period of time is the most dangerous and easy to be destroyed.

Fourth, this thing is a bit too dangerous. If it explodes before it is launched, it will be a big joke..."

If an atomic bomb explodes at close range, even an Earth-class battleship will not be able to withstand it and will be vaporized immediately.

but……

After thinking about his own war system, Li Qingsong really couldn't find any alternative weapons in the ecological niche of "long-range, high-power" weapons, so he had no choice but to accept this weapon.

"At worst, I can just iterate and optimize it to improve security and reliability as much as possible..."

(End of this chapter)