I ask you to build tractors, but you build rockets?

As an important substance that carries the future energy needs of mankind, helium-3 fusion is mainly divided into two types:

Helium-3 and deuterium fusion, and helium-3 and helium-3 fusion.

The former is called second-generation nuclear fusion technology, and the latter is called third-generation nuclear fusion technology.

Deuterium and tritium are both isotopes of hydrogen and have only one proton, while helium-3 has two protons. Therefore, the more advanced fusion technology becomes in the future, the greater the mass of the reactants.

Don't underestimate the difference in mass of just one proton. The conditions required for ignition are completely different, and the difference is huge.

The lighter the nucleus, the easier the reaction, and vice versa, the difficulty increases dramatically.

External media often deliberately emphasize the ignition temperature of the controllable nuclear fusion test reactor. This is actually only a one-sided factor and not an absolute condition for successful ignition.

To put it bluntly, nuclear fusion means squeezing two independent atomic nuclei together, mainly due to high temperature and pressure.

The high temperature makes their energy levels rise, making them unstable and more likely to ignite, while the high pressure presses them tightly together, with no particularly strict boundaries for either.

For example, the core of the sun is only 15 million degrees Celsius, which is not as hot as the explosion center of a hydrogen bomb. However, relying on the terrifying mass of the sun itself, which accounts for 99.86% of the solar system, it uses powerful gravity to create terrifying high pressure and continuously maintain the fusion chain reaction.

Human beings are not yet able to create high pressure like the sun, so they can only raise the temperature. As long as the temperature is high enough, it can be ignited.

It is very difficult to ignite the reaction between helium-3 and helium-3 with existing technology. When a hydrogen bomb explodes, a considerable amount of helium-3 will be produced, but they almost do not undergo fusion reaction, which shows the difficulty of the conditions.

Helium-3 and deuterium are easier, and the energy released is still higher, but there is still no successful precedent, even if it is uncontrollable.

Of course, it is not absolutely impossible. If helium-3 is liquefied and the density of the reaction is increased, the success rate can be greatly improved. The world's first hydrogen bomb used liquid deuterium in a similar way. In order to provide a sufficiently low temperature, the entire hydrogen bomb weighed as much as 82 tons. .

Obtaining helium-3 is not troublesome. After the tritium of the third-generation hydrogen bomb decays, it becomes helium-3. It is generally used in the medical market for use in nuclear magnetic resonance equipment for lung CT. The annual demand is as high as tens of thousands of liters (about 1 kilogram).

Therefore, it is natural that the country that produces the most helium-3 in the world is Aramco. Compared with China, there is much less, but it has saved some over the years.

As for why helium-3 is not extracted from the moon, it is because the cost-efficiency ratio is not good. Although there is evidence that helium-3 is quite abundant on the surface of the moon, the cost of extracting it and refining it to liquefy it is too high, and it also takes a long time to conduct an experiment. Not much.

The two nuclear science research teams that have gradually merged are hoping to find a way to promote a successful fusion of helium-3 and deuterium, or helium-3 and helium-3, so as to develop the expected fourth- and fifth-generation hydrogen bombs. Miniaturization technology makes hydrogen bombs with an equivalent of tens of millions of tons or even hundreds of millions of tons practical.

The only way to achieve them is to use a hydrogen bomb as a trigger. Only the terrifying high temperature and pressure when the hydrogen bomb explodes, coupled with various optimized arrangements in advance, can it be successful.

As long as they succeed once and collect relevant data, researchers will be confident that they can start designing a super hydrogen bomb.

But this is still an extremely difficult process. After all, there was no shortage of capable nuclear scientists all over the world in the last century. Everyone has tried more or less, but obviously they have not succeeded.

There was not much time left for them, and the limit was only two months. Everyone started the theoretical configuration design work as early as a month ago, and then developed two main directions led by Fu Mingdong and Yu Min. After refinement, the total 7 options.

The country plans to use all the helium-3 in stock for experiments, but the stock can only support 4 solutions. In the next time, they will have to design solutions and develop test devices at the same time.

…

Moon, Utu Space Station.

Nine days after the Tianmu-3 mission ended, the Jiuzhang, which was parked on the space station and fully fueled, disconnected its electrical system and prepared to leave again for the landing mission.

All four astronauts have been fixed on the chairs, and Commander Deng Lei is carefully tapping the list of items in the electronic catalog to see what else needs to be taken.

Each of the nine payload experts only took a few days to complete the mission, but the tentative next date for the four astronauts to return to lunar orbit is March 6, which means they will have to stay on the moon for at least 30 days after this landing.

But in fact, Deng Lei was prepared to stay for 50 or even 60 days until the first hydrogen bomb was tested.

This is also the only major project that may be carried out in the near future. Other plans require more time to adjust and prepare, and most of them also need to avoid the node where the hydrogen bomb explodes.

This time, in addition to almost all the drinking water, fast food and other supplies in the space station, the most important supplies they brought with them were two residential modules and three newer lunar rovers.

This batch of three lunar rovers is completely different from all previous types. Two of them are equipped with cargo buckets and robotic arms similar to light trucks to facilitate construction.

The third one is extremely special because it has a closed cockpit - the kind where you can take off your helmet.

The three lunar rovers no longer use separate names, but more standardized letters + numbers, namely T3 and T7. The numbers basically represent the weight and complexity.

Lunar rovers with other serial numbers are still under study. For example, the motorcycle was strongly suggested after personal experience, and its code name is T1.

The official name of the T7 lunar rover is "Multifunctional Mobile Exploration Base". It has an overall mass of 7.8 tons and a total of 6 32-inch wheels. It is equipped with low-pressure pneumatic tires with an outer diameter of 60 inches. The maximum driving speed is up to 45 kilometers per hour. It is off-road. The capabilities are also unprecedented.

And its crucial closed cockpit is not actually a new development. Instead, the spirit of waste utilization was fully utilized. A ground-tested "Full Moon" lander command module was dismantled, and all the components were removed and redesigned. It was used directly as a lander. Make the front of the car.

The other parts are also pieced together. The enclosed cargo hold, which is also quite large, actually contains a reactor, which is directly transplanted from an existing nuclear tram. After limiting the power, protective measures are added.

Although the chassis is newly developed, it is basically designed for future ore transport truck tractors and moved to be used by the T7 lunar rover.

The T-series lunar rover was originally organized by the Aerospace Development Commission. In order to better plan the uniformity of lunar equipment, the T7 was just one of the simple ideas. But who knew that Xinyuan and the Fifth Academy, which had close ties, were looking for parts everywhere, and they just decided After piecing together something like this, it was at least half a year ahead of schedule.

However, people did not despise T7 because of this. Instead, they discovered a fact: China's aerospace industry chain and various projects are too rich and cover a wide range of technologies.

So that when a certain kind of equipment is needed, you can directly find various mature parts and pieces to quickly produce them, instead of making technological breakthroughs for each part individually. This is of great significance.