Chapter 92: Hundreds of Explosion
Even though Loshen Star had a vacuum environment and no shockwaves, the earthquake caused by this explosion and the debris blown out still caused heavy damage to the buildings surrounding the laboratory.
Even twenty-odd Clones died.
Not only that, but the modular nuclear fission reactor was also completely destroyed, and the nuclear fuel inside was scattered, causing the radiation in the surrounding area to rise to a terrifying level.
Tom felt a bit helpless.
It was expected that the first test was unlikely to succeed. But he didn’t expect it to fail so completely.
"It just exploded... Where did something go wrong? The strength of the magnetic field constraint should have been sufficient, it shouldn’t have exploded..."
Tom thought to himself, immediately organizing the Clones to collect the debris and conduct technical analysis, while rapidly repairing the buildings on site.
All rocks, building materials, debris, etc. that suffered nuclear contamination were hauled away, and a new layer of flooring was laid, which solved the nuclear contamination issue.
Anyway, there is no atmosphere on Loshen Star, so there is no need to worry about nuclear contaminants spreading with the atmosphere.
On Earth, an experiment that killed more than twenty people and even caused serious nuclear contamination would undoubtedly be a world-shattering event, and the entire project might even be shelved because of it.
But for Tom, twenty-odd Clones were of no consequence.
This failure did not affect the research of the entire project in the slightest. In fact, not far from here, the second test was still underway.
After collecting the debris and conducting analysis, Tom finally confirmed through research that the cause of this explosion was not insufficient magnetic field constraint strength, but excessive pressure that exceeded expectations.
The reason for the excessive pressure was that the heating rate of the nuclear fission reactor was not well controlled.
Those plasma bodies were heated to too high a temperature, and the confinement force was insufficient, so they diffused like explosives with extremely high internal energy, and the huge shockwave directly destroyed the entire facility.
"That is a problem."
Tom thought silently: "Perhaps a temperature control device needs to be added."
While solving this problem, another experimental base once again experienced an earth-shattering explosion.
It failed again.
"Where did something go wrong this time? Hmm... The magnetic confinement device is unstable? No, it still needs to be adjusted."
It was still because the high-temperature and high-pressure plasma was not well controlled, and they once again turned into bombs, directly destroying their containment.
To obtain higher thrust, one must control higher energy. And things with higher energy, if controlled well, can output stably and contribute efficiency far beyond the past.
If not controlled well, it is a bomb that can destroy everything.
Fortunately, this is on the surface of Loshen Star. If it were in space and a spaceship’s engine directly exploded, it would truly be a situation where no help could be found.
Tom was not discouraged and continued to repeat the repair process, then conducted the test again.
For a time, the various experimental bases on Loshen Star were like conducting weapon tests, with explosions occurring one after another.
Often, a base would just be repaired, and then it would explode again within a few days. It would explode, then be repaired, and soon after being repaired, it would be blown up again.
This method of research is intolerable in the Human world. But it is undeniable that this research method, which spares no cost and no investment, and exposes all shortcomings through practice, has the highest efficiency.
Thus, after being blown up more than a hundred times, the secondary pressurized thruster newly built by Tom finally stopped exploding.
To solve the explosion problem, Tom, amidst these continuous explosions, summarized, optimized, and improved more than ten thousand detailed issues in total, comprehensively improving material performance, enhancing device stability, and even overhauling the overall structure three times.
However, although they no longer exploded, they still could not work normally.
Various inexplicable shutdowns, vibrations, unstable voltage, overload, and overheating problems occurred one after another, leaving Tom overwhelmed.
There was no other way but to deal with problems as they arose.
Often, an engine would inexplicably shut down after just a few minutes of operation, and then a group of Clones would swarm around it, directly dismantling it, carefully inspecting every component and every structure, determining the type of failure, reassembling it after resolving the issue, and then it would shut down again after running for a short time, and then be inspected again, repeating this process.
Furthermore, Tom built not one, but 100 such test sites!
100 test machines ran and shut down day and night, and 100 research teams were on duty day and night, not daring to slack off in the slightest.
Under these circumstances, three years slowly passed.
Laboratory No. 67.
In the vacuum test field, bright blue flames continuously sprayed out from the huge nozzle.
Numerous pipes and lines extended from the even larger engine module, which was a combination of three sets of equipment: a fission reactor, a chemical engine, and a secondary pressurization device.
One of these lines was connected to a display, showing numbers constantly jumping.
One of them was time. At this moment, it had increased from zero hours, zero minutes, and zero seconds, little by little, to the current 23 hours, 58 minutes, and 55 seconds.
Another number displayed its thrust power.
As the thrust power continuously changed, it drew a continuously changing curve. This curve had very small fluctuations, close to a straight line.
When the time finally reached 24 hours, 0 minutes, and 0 seconds, the slight vibration of the ground slowly disappeared. The bright blue flame also gradually disappeared.
It stopped thrusting smoothly.
Looking at the extremely stable thrust power curve before him—its stability meant that the thrust output of the secondary pressurized thruster was always stable—Tom’s heart was filled with joy.
Three years!
Three years of working day and night, exhausting his mind and body, researching with all his might, and now, he has finally built the first secondary pressurized engine that can work stably for 24 hours!
At this stage, although it cannot yet be called mature, it at least has the qualification for the next stage, large-scale practical application testing.
"Then build a batch of freighters powered by secondary pressurized engines to perform cargo flight missions from God-Enemy Star to Loshen Star!
Whatever hidden dangers or defects this engine still has, as long as the total thrust duration is long enough, they will always be exposed."
Tom was too lazy to test, optimize, and adjust them little by little like the Human world until the risk was reduced to the lowest before putting them on the market.
As the saying goes, practical application is the best way to test an engine.
As for hidden dangers... what hidden dangers? Isn’t it just a spaceship? If it explodes, it explodes, I can afford to build more!