Chapter 154 Space Elevator! "Lin, classmate Lin, are you kidding me?" Zhao Zizhen came back to his senses, swallowed a mouthful of saliva, and spoke with difficulty. Building a space elevator is amazing. "Dean Zhao, I never joke when it comes to serious matters." Lin Yang looked at Zhao Zizhen with a smile, and emphasized at the end: "I am serious." "Seriously? Do you really want to build a space elevator?" Zhao Zizhen and Chu Tiankuo couldn't help but look at each other again, both of them were frightened by Lin Yang's words. Although the concept of a space elevator has been around for many years, it is almost impossible to realize it. You know, over the past decades or hundreds of years, various countries have been able to build spaceships, but space elevators are still an area that is difficult to touch.
It is too difficult to build a space elevator. The so-called space elevator is to build an elevator between the ground and the space station, and then transport materials and even people to and from the ground and space. According to the concept, the space elevator does not need to consume a lot of fuel to operate, so the transportation cost is much less than that of the launch vehicle. The most important thing is that it can operate 24 hours a day, which is extremely convenient. However, the distance from the ground to the space station in Blue Star's synchronous orbit is almost 40,000 kilometers. Nearly 40,000 kilometers of elevator transportation is a huge test for elevator materials. First of all, no material can meet the requirements for the most important part of the cable. Even if the blocking cable on the aircraft carrier can hook a fighter jet, it still cannot meet the standards for being transformed into a space elevator cable. It can even be said that there is still a long way to go. The elevator cable carries the weight and operation safety of the elevator. To keep nearly 40,000 kilometers of elevators running, cables are a top priority. The total distance traveled by ordinary building elevators and cables from service to replacement may not be enough for a round trip of the space elevator. As for the space elevator, from the ground to the space station, there is also the issue of traveling through the atmosphere. Shuttling back and forth between extremely high and extremely low temperatures, any material can easily fail. The cables of the space elevator cannot always be replaced after one use. That would be more expensive and troublesome, and it would also lose the convenience that the space elevator was originally conceived for. Therefore, the problem of cables became the biggest obstacle. In addition to cables, there are also other hardware materials that currently have great difficulties. In addition to hardware and material issues, a series of other issues such as the stability of the space elevator structure and even space radiation must also be considered.
For example, if the solar wind exerts pressure on the space elevator, the gravity from the sun may cause the rope to swing. Once the space elevator starts to swing, it may hit artificial satellites or space junk, and the collision may cause the rope to break and cause the space elevator to crash. If it is an ordinary building, if an accident occurs in the elevator, as long as the first aid method is appropriate, your own safety can be protected to the greatest extent. But if the elevator loses control in space, you don’t need to think about how serious the consequences will be. Therefore, absolute safety must be ensured. Therefore, it is extremely difficult to build a space elevator. Even based on rough estimates, the space elevator may need up to 90,000 kilometers to maintain normal operation to the greatest extent. The distance doubles, and the difficulty doubles several times. Zhao Zizhen had no doubts about Lin Yang's technical ability, but the space elevator involved too many problems in all aspects. There are so many that even if Lin Yang said that he wanted to build a space elevator, he felt that it would be extremely difficult to realize it. Lin Yang looked at the expressions of Zhao Zizhen and Chu Tiankuo, understood what they were thinking, and immediately smiled: "It is certainly difficult to build a space elevator, but the benefits and convenience it will bring once it is successfully built are also huge." "The first thing to save is the huge carrying cost. Compared with launching a launch vehicle once, the cost of a space elevator operation may be only one percent of that of launching a launch vehicle." "Secondly, it goes without saying that it is convenient. It is 18 blocks away from the launch vehicle." "And we are destined to enter the interstellar age, and it is likely that we will be able to mine resources on other nearby planets in the near future. By then, the number of times we need to transport will only become more and more frequent. If we can only rely on launch vehicles, It would be extremely inefficient.” "So a space elevator is almost inevitable." These words made Zhao Zizhen and Chu Tiankuo stunned for a moment, and then they started thinking seriously. After a moment, the two looked at each other, and Zhao Zizhen said: "In the long run, it is indeed necessary to build a space elevator. Since Lin has proposed it, he must have a solution to the issues such as materials for the space elevator, right?" "Yeah." Lin Yang nodded. "Sure enough!" Zhao Zizhen suddenly laughed: "I should have thought that since Mr. Lin proposed the idea, he must have a complete plan. I was just worrying blindly." As he spoke, his tone softened: "It's just that building a space elevator is definitely a huge project and cannot be hidden from the public. I'm worried that Western countries will take the opportunity to cause trouble." Lin Yang also smiled: "If you can't hide it, don't hide it. As for the Western countries, they don't have the energy now, and I'm afraid they don't have the courage." "As soon as the resources exchanged with the moon are in place, it will be officially announced that we have all the resources and technology to build a space carrier. As long as they don't want to be liquidated afterwards, they don't dare to have any ideas about this." Zhao Zizhen was a little stunned, while Chu Tiankuo laughed loudly: "Classmate Lin has a really good idea. With the pressure of the Space Carrier hanging over their heads, as long as they are not stupid, they will not dare to cause damage easily." "Yes, that's what I think." Lin Yang smiled. Chu Tiankuo immediately said: "Hey, classmate Lin, how about you come and work under the guidance of our Armed Forces Department? When the resources come back, it will be the first time for our Armed Forces Department to build an aerospace carrier. How about you come and give guidance then?" " When he finished speaking, Zhao Zizhen reacted immediately, glared at Chu Tiankuo and said, "Classmate Lin has just come to our university, and you are thinking of poaching people. Do you want to show off your old face?" Chu Tiankuo ignored him at all.
I just came here from the Ministry of Armed Forces just to poach people! Otherwise, why would he just come to the National Academy of Sciences for something that can be discussed in a video conference? When Lin Yang saw this, he couldn't laugh or cry and said: "President Chu, I'd better help them with the space elevator at the Academy of Sciences first. If there are problems with the construction of the space carrier, it won't be too late for me to go there." "Then... okay, then it's settled." Although Chu Tiankuo was a little disappointed, he didn't say anything further. "Classmate Lin, take a rest first. Let's go have a meeting with Mr. Ye. If there are no problems above, we will announce that we will build a space elevator." Zhao Zizhen couldn't wait. "it is good." Lin Yang responded. ten minutes later. The official account of the National Academy of Sciences issued a notice. "Our institute will start building Blue Star's first space elevator in the near future. This project will be provided with technical support by fellow classmates, so stay tuned!" As soon as this announcement came out, it immediately detonated the entire network. Netizens looked at the news feeds of major media and were confused. What did they see? Is a space elevator going to be built in China? (End of this chapter)