Traveling Back to the 1960s: The Entire Internet Teaches Me How to Build Missiles

Under the dark gray sky, a group of people were busy at work. The dark clouds, with their flashes of lightning and rumbling thunder, were pressing down low, as if you could reach out and touch them.

After finishing these tasks, Captain Shi, Xu Haifeng, and others gathered around and asked curiously:

"Is this all you need?"

Zhou Yunxiao waved his hand, and then Jiang Weimin, who had been missing for half a day, came with a dozen soldiers carrying the last piece of equipment.

It was a huge iron cage.

The main body is made of steel plates and angle steel welded together, and a layer of copper mesh made from scrap cables is laid around it, making it look like a dog cage from a distance.

Before Captain Shi could even ask, Xu Haifeng had already guessed it:

"This thing... is it a Faraday cage?"

Zhou Yunxiao smiled and nodded. "That's right. Our cables can't be stretched too far, and we can't stand still and get struck by lightning, so we need a protective shield. This Faraday cage is lightning-proof, perfect for welding out and housing the equipment!"

The iron cage was placed in an open area about fifty meters away from the launch pad. Inside it were an old-fashioned cathode ray oscilloscope, a hand-cranked generator, and a detonator.

Zhou Yunxiao checked the grounding of the cage, looked up and felt the light drizzle drifting from the clouds, and then had Jiang Weimin cover the cage with a layer of tarpaulin.

At this moment, rainwater flowed down the corners of the awning, which was lined with wooden planks and rubber mats. Several testing instruments were neatly arranged on the worktable, and the surrounding cage walls and steel plates were welded into a single unit. The grounding wire was buried deep in the damp mud of the Gobi Desert.

Seeing that preparations were almost complete, Zhou Yunxiao glanced at the time and gave the instructions:

"Captain Shi, you should lead the launch team to retreat. Don't linger here. I'll try my best to disperse the thunderstorm clouds and create a launch window for Red Chess No. 1. Be ready to fire at any time."

"Comrade Xu, you and the calculators should get ready too. I'll handle things here!"

Captain Shi and Xu Haifeng both nodded and immediately led their team back to Xinxi Temple.

Jiang Weimin and Fang Xiaotian were left behind. Zhou Yunxiao glanced at the space in the iron cage and thought it was spacious enough, so he took the lead and crawled inside, then called the two of them over as well.

The iron cage was cramped, and raindrops pattered on the tarpaulin used to shield him from the rain. Jiang Weimin looked left and right, feeling uneasy.

Fang Xiaotian was fearless, but his hunched back was a little uncomfortable. "Comrade Zhou, is there anything we can help you with?"

Zhou Yunxiao joked, "Old Jiang will be in charge of cranking the generator, and Representative Fang will take the photos. If the lightning strikes successfully, these photos will be valuable research data and must be preserved. Remember to use long exposures..."

Representative Fang held the Seagull brand camera and carefully began to handle it.

Jiang Weimin asked nervously, "Yunxiao, is this iron cage sturdy? What if it gets struck by lightning? Will we be alright?"

Zhou Yunxiao patted him on the shoulder, "Don't worry, even if a hundred thousand lightning bolts struck, it wouldn't matter. This is called a Faraday cage, absolutely safe and reliable! You have to trust science!"

He offered a casual reassurance and then focused intently on the electric field of the X-ray oscilloscope.

Everything is ready, except for the final push.

The launch site for the lightning-guided rockets has been set up, but we still need to wait for the optimal launch time.

Otherwise, if there is not enough charge or potential difference in the clouds, the air cannot be broken down and a discharge can not be generated.

The rain in the sky grew heavier and heavier, with raindrops the size of soybeans pattering against the tarpaulin inside the cage. Dark gray leaden clouds slowly rolled in from afar, like a giant millipede passing by.

Lightning flashed intermittently deep within the clouds. Jiang Weimin squatted to one side, cranking the generator handle with a heavy sigh.

Although the wind in the Gobi Desert was already chilly, a fine layer of white sweat still appeared on his forehead.

"Yunxiao, this weather's weird today. There's even a strange smell in the air, like something's burnt..."

Jiang Weimin shook his head and muttered to himself.

Zhou Yunxiao also smelled it; it was the smell of ozone.

He would look up at the distance to the cumulonimbus clouds for a moment, then stare at the oscilloscope. "Don't get distracted, keep the voltage output stable."

"Okay!"

On the green screen of the oscilloscope, a curve representing the strength of the electrostatic field on the ground was jumping more and more violently as the clouds approached.

"15 kV/m..."

"18 kV/m..."

Zhou Yunxiao muttered the data, his right hand already resting on the power switch for energizing the lightning-inducing rocket launcher.

Rumbling--

The rumbling thunder in the clouds became more and more frequent, and the oscilloscope curve continued to soar to 25 kV/m.

An invisible sense of oppression seemed to descend upon this riverbank, and the powerful static electric field even caused the wild grass not far away to stand upright.

"30 kV/m, right now!"

Zhou Yunxiao's eyes lit up, and without hesitation, he pulled down the heavy double-bladed electrician's switch.

With a clang, the metal slammed shut.

Jiang Weimin cranked the handle even harder.

In an instant, the current stored in the generator rushed along the thick cable buried underground towards the launch pad 50 meters away.

The electric fuses at the tails of the ten homemade rockets were then ignited.

"laugh--!!!"

Ten orange-red plumes of flame shot out from the bottom of the rocket, instantly tearing through the dense rain.

The solid propellant burst forth with tremendous thrust, propelling the heavy rocket against gravity and lifting it into the air.

The winder spun rapidly, emitting a sharp hissing sound.

The lightning-inducing rocket, trailing thin, silvery metal wires, flew straight into the sky.

The piano silk was pulled away at a speed of nearly 100 meters per second, quickly dragging out ten straight, parallel, shimmering silver lines that plunged into the pitch-black clouds.

One hundred meters...

Three hundred meters...

500 meters...

The rockets flew faster and faster until they shrank into bright dots of light in the field of vision.

Finally, these silver piano strings straightened in the sky and reached the depths of the cumulonimbus clouds.

The hundreds of millions of free charges accumulated in the clouds seemed to have found a new outlet, instantly piercing the air and striking down along the conductor.

"Representative Fang, long exposure photo!"

Zhou Yunxiao shouted.

Immediately afterwards, a devastating apocalyptic scene appeared in the clouds!

The piano strings towed by the lightning-attracting rocket couldn't withstand the terrifying energy the moment they came into contact with the ultra-high voltage lightning. The temperature of thousands of degrees Celsius instantly melted them!

However, the plasma channels left behind by the wires became bridges for releasing charges.

Boom—Crack!

First, an incredibly thick, crimson-white bolt of lightning struck down with earth-shattering force.

Then came the sound of thunder.

A deafening roar, stretching from the sky to the earth, almost tangible, crashed into everyone's eardrums like ocean waves.

Then came the second, the third...

Zhou Yunxiao, Jiang Weimin, and Representative Fang all stared in astonishment at the thunderbolts.

Unlike any lightning they had ever seen before, these were like blazing pillars of light piercing the heavens and the earth!

The immense thunderbolt was forcibly contained within the plasma channel, like a pillar of white light supporting the sky, piercing the earth with overwhelming force and then crashing down the end of the conductor onto the grounding pole in the middle of the river.

For the first ten seconds or so, all the three could see was a white blur of electric light, and they even had to cover their eyes to avoid the bombardment of thousands of flashbangs.

The river water around the grounding pole was heated to boiling point by the lightning, creating a misty, white fog, and even a fountain that shot up more than ten meters high!

At this moment, several thick branches of lightning suddenly twisted strangely, like out-of-control giant pythons, and struck straight at the Faraday cage not far away.

The blue electric arc, as thick as a bowl, lashed hard against the copper mesh at the top of the cage with a loud "crack—boom."

Then, thousands of electric sparks exploded from all around the cage like fireworks.

The intense tremor from the lightning strike tore several holes in the tarpaulin used for sheltering from the rain, startling the three people who were taking shelter inside.

Jiang Weimin fell to the ground, his face turning deathly pale, thinking he was about to be struck by lightning.

However, these fierce lightning bolts only sparked blue and white electric sparks outside the cage and did not continue to penetrate inward.

Then, like flowing mercury, it flows down the outer surface of the Faraday cage and into the muddy earth.

The three people in the cage were completely unharmed, except for noticing that the ozone smell in the air was stronger!

A few seconds later, Zhou Yunxiao excitedly grabbed their arms and shouted:

"The lightning strike was successful!"