Reborn Before the Apocalypse: My Backing is the Nation

Chapter 111 PYDD-6
The meeting ended. Jiang Yang sat in his seat, rubbing his forehead wearily, then resolutely stood up.

He knew that things were not over yet, and it was not time for him to rest.

Beside him, Gu Changshan also stood up.

Jiang Yang looked at him: "Let's go, get ready for my training."

This had been the case in previous cycles. After the meeting, Jiang Yang would begin preparations for the moon landing.

This time, Gu Changshan shook his head.

"No, there was no training."

"Oh?"

Gu Changshan looked at Jiang Yang seriously: "In the previous cycles, thanks to your efforts and sacrifices, we have obtained enough intelligence. In this life, you don't need to go to the moon anymore. You can take a good rest now."

Jiang Yang said anxiously, "But only I know about the situation in that passage and the floating city; only I have seen it in person. Without my guidance, how can the astronauts get there?"

“They are all top-notch soldiers. With the intelligence you provided, I believe they will definitely complete this mission. And…”

Gu Changshan paused, his expression growing increasingly serious: "In this life, you cannot take any risks."

Jiang Yang was slightly taken aback, but then he immediately understood.

Indeed, I cannot take the risk.

If I ultimately die on the moon, then even if the astronauts eventually succeed in destroying the floating city, the cycle will still start, and their sacrifice and the efforts of everyone on Earth will be in vain.

I can't go to the moon this time.

"Get some rest."

Gu Changshan gently patted Jiang Yang's shoulder and turned to leave.

……

The Toyoyama Superconducting Laboratory building was brightly lit.

In the conference room, experts from various disciplines such as superconductivity, refrigeration, and mechanics from all over the country gathered together.

Lu Zhaoming sat upright at the conference table, his expression solemn.

He participated in this meeting not as a theoretical physicist, but as the chief scientific advisor of the Doomsday Project Command.

"...The above is the background and specific requirements of our mission."

Everyone here is an expert in their respective fields; please feel free to express your opinions.

A slight commotion broke out in the conference room, but it subsided after a moment.

Under Lu Zhaoming's guidance, the group discussions began. Finally, one expert raised their hand as a representative.

"The core of this mission actually consists of two parts: first, superconducting materials, and second, refrigeration equipment."

Of these two parts, the refrigeration equipment is the most critical.

Since the refrigeration equipment is subject to the 'corrosion' of an unknown entity that appears to be a negative matter field, the structure of this entire device must be as follows:

The outermost layer must be completely covered by superconducting material; it is the armor of this entire device.
The interior of a superconducting material is a cooling device, and its outer layer must be kept at an extremely low temperature to ensure that the superconducting material is at the 'superconducting' temperature and does not lose its superconductivity.

Further inside are the crew compartment and the power source. Even without electricity, this process can be accomplished using other forms of energy, based on the working principle of a refrigeration unit.

The three alternatives are heat engines, human power, and gravitational potential energy.

Heat engines include diesel engines, gasoline engines, kerosene engines, etc. Any equipment that obtains power through fuel combustion falls into the category of heat engines.

However, thermals can cause a serious problem: they release a lot of heat, which contradicts the extremely low temperatures that superconducting materials must maintain.

I think we can rule out a hot engine.

Secondly, there's the issue of manpower for the astronauts.

They can manually drive the compressor and refrigerant inside the refrigerator to create a sufficiently low temperature for the entire device, ensuring that the outermost superconducting material does not lose its superconductivity, ultimately achieving the effect of armor.

Furthermore, according to existing intelligence, the lunar underground passage has a downward slope, and this entire device must have a high mass, thus possessing a certain amount of gravitational potential energy, which can also be utilized.

Of course, the exact amount and how to integrate the astronauts' human and gravitational potential energy still require specific calculations.

Lu Zhaoming paused for a moment, then asked, "Using human power and gravitational potential energy instead of electricity, in a vacuum environment with an average temperature of -30 degrees Celsius, can the temperature of this device be controlled at at least -180 degrees Celsius?"

He knew that the working principle of a refrigeration machine was actually very simple. It simply used external energy to apply pressure to the refrigerant, forcibly causing it to vaporize or liquefy, and used the heat absorption and release during the vaporization and liquefaction process to control the temperature.

Whether it's the refrigeration unit we're discussing right now or a regular household air conditioner, they're all based on this principle.

However, a refrigeration unit that can reach such low temperatures is clearly different from an ordinary air conditioner; it belongs to the category of a genuine scientific device.

It is extremely precise and complex, with both its size and mass being enormous.

Relying solely on human effort and gravitational potential energy to make it work smoothly is probably more difficult than ascending to heaven.

The expert representing the company lowered his voice slightly: "This is just the overall design concept. Whether it can be implemented in practice..."

He paused, then his voice became firm: "It can definitely be done."

"Okay. Let's leave the cooling system as is for now. Next up is the superconducting material."

Lu Zhaoming looked at the group of materials experts: "It must meet the following characteristics."

First, the production capacity must be high enough to produce enough quantity to cover the entire refrigeration unit in a short period of time. At the same time, we must also consider the potential damage to the superconducting materials.

Second, it should possess sufficient toughness and ideally have a certain degree of wear resistance. Because no matter how we design it, this refrigeration unit will ultimately have a point of direct contact with the floor of that passageway.

Third, it is convenient to store, convenient to retrieve, and convenient for astronauts to operate.

Fourth, the upper temperature limit should be as high as possible. The higher the quench temperature, the lower the requirements for the refrigeration device, and the easier it is to achieve from an engineering perspective.

Based on these four characteristics, and considering existing production capacity and the properties of superconducting materials, which material do you think is most suitable?

After a brief but heated discussion, one of the experts stood up as a representative.

"There is only one superconducting material that meets these characteristics: PYDD-6."

The expert said, "This is a compound based on bismuth-strontium alloy, with a supercritical temperature of -190 degrees Celsius under vacuum."

However, the problem is that this material is on the verge of being phased out due to its insufficient overall performance, and a large number of production lines have been dismantled, resulting in low global production capacity.

Currently, only six manufacturers in my country have the production capacity. To produce a sufficient quantity within just four or five days, our production capacity would need to increase at least fivefold.

(End of this chapter)