Reborn in 2011, I am the chief designer of aerospace.

Author Space Pioneer personally recommends: I hope you enjoy the story of "Reborn in 2011, I am the Chief Designer of Aerospace" on Cola Novels.

Captain Sheng Long shifted his gaze from the visitor opposite him to the large screen on the wall. The screen was divided into several video windows, the size of which would automatically adjust as the speaker changed.

These connected individuals are located all over the world, and they are all top-notch technicians.

They meticulously crafted a complex system in an attempt to launch the space station 1.5 billion kilometers into space to rendezvous at some unknown destination.

However, they are very unhappy now.

Their focus was on the man before them, a petite woman from the team arranged by the "secretary," who had previously instructed Sheng Long:

This guy named Minan is definitely a world-class expert in thermal and energy flow management systems.

Sheng Long was still observing the female engineer. She possessed both the gentle grace of a well-bred lady and the slightly stiff demeanor typical of an engineer, a wonderful combination of the two.

She is calm and friendly, but her words are always incisive.

Mi Nan was summarizing her argument: "The crux of the problem is this: if conventional cryogenic thermal radiators are used, their volume will be so enormous that they will stretch for several kilometers. The resulting massive mass will be a fatal flaw, and may even exceed the mass budget of the entire spacecraft."

We must switch to a high-temperature radiator. According to my estimate, the operating temperature should be maintained at around 600 degrees Celsius, and it should be equipped with a molten metal heat exchanger. This way, heat can be quickly extracted from the reactor and then rapidly transferred to the radiator.

Ultimately, we can release all waste heat into space using only a fraction of the volume of the original solution.

An engineer on Earth was about to interject when Mi Nan interrupted him, saying, "The reactor is perfectly fine. Don't give me that technical barrier nonsense. A one-ton core is enough to produce far more than one gigawatt of electricity. I can use pressurized liquid sodium at around 2,000 degrees Celsius for heat conduction."

You can heat it directly, or start a two-stage boiling sodium circulation system to drive the main turbine at a high temperature of 1900 degrees Celsius, and then use a downstream supercritical steam turbine to reduce the temperature to 650 degrees Celsius. At that temperature range, I can handle the waste heat with my eyes closed.

On the screen, the engineer's face was flushed red. He waved his hands and shouted angrily:

"Are we really going to discuss this kind of plan? It's utterly absurd and completely impossible!"

Sheng Long caught a glimpse of Mi Nan out of the corner of his eye, who was about to retort. Her gaze did not leave the big screen; she simply raised a hand and gestured to the blonde woman, indicating that she should remain calm and that she was the decision-maker and that he should handle the situation.

Sheng Long said, "You mean, this is simply impossible at the physical level? If that's the case, if this is just a serious common-sense mistake made by Mi Nan, then I'd be happy to fire this new engineer on the spot and ask the higher-ups to replace him with someone more competent for the job."

The blonde woman opened her mouth to argue, but Sheng Long waved his hand again, so she had no choice but to shut her mouth again.

The engineer on the other end of the screen paused, clearly taken aback by Sheng Long's blunt words, while Sheng Long patiently waited for what he would say next.

"Perhaps my wording wasn't quite accurate," the other party admitted. "It's not that it's absolutely impossible physically; it doesn't violate any known laws of physics, nor does it rely on any uninvented cutting-edge materials. But frankly, it's completely impractical from an engineering perspective."

"So you mean that although this is fraught with difficulties, it is indeed a feasible solution, but you lack the ability to complete this part of the design, is that right?" Sheng Long asked rhetorically.

"I didn't say that..."

Sheng Long pointed at Mi Nan, who immediately replied, "I agree with you. The timeline for this entire mission is indeed absurd and practically impossible, but that's just how it is."

"You can design the reactors however you like, but if they melt down, we'll never get to Mars. We must solve the heat dissipation problem; this is a hard and fast rule with no room for error. Go back and do the calculations yourselves. If you can come up with a better solution, I'm all ears."

Sheng Long interjected at the opportune moment: "Moreover, I completely agree with Mi Nan's point of view; the heat dissipation problem must be solved. At the same time, I understand your predicament; this plan does indeed seem too radical and impractical. Therefore, please come up with a better alternative as soon as possible, and you must immediately reduce the quality and cost budget."

The other party was clearly unwilling to compromise easily: "Dr. Minan's plan will consume an extremely large amount of energy, which means that we must increase the scale of the entire power system by 50% to make up for the shortfall, while also keeping it strictly within the weight budget limit. I think this is simply impossible."

"Then I'll give you two clear paths," Sheng Long said bluntly. "Either you find another way and come up with a completely new thermal management solution, or you put more thought into upgrading the power system. Call me back when you've figured it out. I need to hear your answer by tomorrow at the latest."

Sheng Long decisively closed the video conference window and turned to look at his visitor.

"Minan, do you think they can come up with a better solution? If not, can we build the powertrain you want ourselves?"

Mi Nan chewed on her pen for a few seconds, then turned her gaze to Sheng Long. "I don't think there's a better solution. Those experts are indeed top-notch. Perhaps I really overlooked something, but my intuition tells me otherwise."

First of all, I am not arrogant enough to believe that my solution is perfect, but given the need to adhere to the fundamental laws of thermodynamics and the tight timeframe, this is currently the optimal solution.

I'm 100% confident I can handle the engineering module I'm responsible for, but as for their side, it's hard to say. I've seen a demonstration of a refractory ceramic composite turbine before, and it's theoretically feasible, but it's definitely beyond my area of ​​expertise.

Even they themselves might find, after evaluation, that it's simply impossible to build. Besides that, I really can't think of any other way to break this deadlock, so my conclusion is that they can't come up with a better solution.

"Understood, Minan." Sheng Long sighed deeply.

The entire mission was teetering on the edge of madness.

"I will arrange for someone to take you to the engineering department so you can experience our current working environment firsthand."

……

The communicator on the secretary's wrist suddenly emitted a piercing emergency alarm: "You have an urgent voice message..."

"Alright, alright, I'm awake, stop calling me." He mumbled, rubbing his sleepy eyes. "Who is it? What time is it?"

"It's 5 a.m. on March 26th. I received an urgent call from Song Xingye, marked as 'Extremely Urgent, No Details Required'..."

Calculating the time difference, it should be 2 a.m. for Song Xingye. No matter what happened, Song Xingye clearly believed that this matter could not be delayed for even a second.

"Connected."

Song Xingye's voice came through the communicator: "Is this 'Secretary'?"

"This matter had better be important enough," the secretary said irritably.

"I'm so sorry to bother you so early, but I guess you probably haven't heard yet. Anyway, the whole world will know in the next few hours. But since I have your private line..."

"Stop talking nonsense, what exactly happened?"

"The spaceship has left."

"Damn it!" the secretary cursed, fumbling for the bottle of potent stimulant on the bedside table.

"You mean it suddenly disappeared?"

"No, it's moving away. About twenty minutes ago, its engines ignited, and it has now gained enough speed to leave its orbit. Judging from its trajectory, it's heading at full speed away from the ecliptic plane of the solar system. Those brilliant scientists assess that it's leaving completely and will never return."

"So now even the cats and dogs on the street can see this damn thing?" The secretary swallowed three stimulant pills in one gulp, one more than the safe limit.

"That's true, but it's not entirely accurate. Experts say that at the distance of Mars, the spacecraft's current brightness is at best like a faint star of magnitude 20. Ordinary people can't see it at all; you'd need a large astronomical telescope with a diameter of several meters to barely observe it."

"So, would you say we got incredibly lucky this time?" The secretary had never really believed in luck, at least not in the idea that something for nothing would fall from the sky.

"No, listen to me, I only have a superficial understanding of these technical details, but the observation data shows that its engine temperature is now far higher than its initial state, and it is frantically emitting 511 kiloelectron volts of gamma rays. I specifically consulted another graduate student in the physics department, and he said this means..."

"Shut up, let me sort out my thoughts."

"But that 511 kiloelectron volts..."

"I told you to shut up!" The secretary took a deep breath. Extreme sleep deprivation, coupled with the stimulant he had just swallowed, was making his brain a mess and seriously affecting his thinking. He had to force himself to calm down.

Song Xingye obediently shut his mouth on the other end of the phone.

After a moment, the secretary finally recovered and said, "I'm sorry for getting angry with you earlier. We have deployed gamma-ray satellites and detectors all over the sky to keep a close watch on any trace of anyone secretly tinkering with dangerous weapons."

Several other major powers are also doing the same thing. With such strong radiation, the early warning system must have detected it. At first, the monitoring personnel might have thought it was a gamma-ray burst from a distant galaxy and that it was just a false alarm.

But they quickly realized that this wasn't a natural celestial phenomenon at all; it was the absolute characteristic signal of electron-positron annihilation. No one would be foolish enough to miss such an obvious clue. If anyone dared to create such a commotion of antimatter near Earth, we would absolutely not stand idly by.

"So, what does this mean?"

"This means our primary task remains unchanged: we still need to thoroughly investigate what those little green aliens did on Mars, who they contacted, and what mess they left behind in that godforsaken place."

"And it is quite obvious that they have mastered a great deal of technology for producing antimatter."

"That's right, we still need to find out exactly how they safely store these things. Listen, thanks for letting me know in time. Stay alert over there, I need to call Sun Liancheng and the others right away."

The secretary abruptly hung up the call. He frowned, pondered for less than ten seconds, and then immediately dialed an emergency hotline to Shenglong.

When Sheng Long's slightly sleepy eyes appeared on the screen, the secretary got straight to the point: "I'm sorry to wake you so early, Captain, the situation has changed. That starship has left Mars."

Even if the whole world hasn't received the news yet, this matter will definitely be exposed before dawn. Therefore, I must immediately upgrade the security level of the "Xihe" space station in all aspects.

As he spoke, he began rapidly typing a series of authorization commands on the device with his thumb.

Sheng Long was instantly wide awake, completely alert: "I knew this day would come, Secretary. What exactly are you plotting?"

"In the next few minutes, we will immediately lock down all computer systems and ground communication links on your space station. All personnel except you will be required to log in using a new key, which will be issued after we have completed a background check on each person."

To ensure the continued operation of the space station's core functions, currently logged-in users will not be forcibly logged out for the time being. However, this is only a buffer period, and all unauthorized sessions will be automatically terminated after thirty minutes.

I will grant you the highest level of administrator privileges, allowing you to personally assign new temporary keys to those vetted and absolutely reliable key personnel to ensure the basic operation of the space station.

Please remember that the number of people with access to classified information must be kept to a minimum, and all temporary keys must be updated every 24 hours until all personnel on the site have been thoroughly investigated and new permanent keys have been issued.

"Secretary, you're not using this as an excuse to carry out some kind of purge, are you?" Sheng Long tapped the edge of the control panel lightly with his fingers. "I've already started gathering my security personnel, although I don't have many available right now."

"I swear, I have not received any intelligence that anyone is planning to cause trouble on the space station," the secretary said firmly. "I'm serious. I know nothing about it at the moment, which is precisely why I'm conducting such a thorough investigation."

Listen carefully: Absolutely no one is allowed to access the computer system, not even for personal matters. If their workstations contain personal data or important research data, please reassure them. Once they are safely evacuated to the ground, I will personally pack them up and ensure that all documents are returned to them intact.

There are currently no individuals at the station who have been explicitly identified as high-risk suspects. Several suspects with prior convictions were transferred by me several weeks ago under various pretexts. Therefore, please consider this a purely extreme precautionary measure.

Sheng Long stared intently at him through the screen with a scrutinizing gaze.

After a long pause, he finally spoke: "Secretary, I'll take your word for it for now. I'm very grateful that you took the time to notify me before you unilaterally cut off my communications."