The northern space city of Madagascar - within the attached 12th area.
Baisha, who is responsible for the design of the airship, is working at the airship manufacturing factory in the district.
In order to support the Dandelion project, not only hundreds of airship design engineers and researchers were gathered, but also an airship manufacturing plant was built directly locally.
Many large-scale scientific research projects often bring about some derivatives.
For example, the Dandelion project in front of us.
Baisha's initial airship design plan was a helium airship, but as they improved, they turned to the cutting-edge technology of vacuum airships.
They used a new material called "super-soccerene", which is a by-product of another laboratory's research on carbon nanotubes.
Although there is no way to study ultra-long pure carbon nanotubes in an ideal state, it is possible to synthesize a two-dimensional carbon material, namely super-soccerene material.
0.018 at 30,000 meters, 36,000 tons of buoyancy.
Since future low-Earth orbit enterprises will most likely become a space battlefield for all forces, the stratosphere has become another special space.
Because the Dandelion Airship is not one, but a series.
The price was acceptable to him.
Although the cost of the Starlink satellite itself is not high, the problem is that it requires a launch vehicle to be launched.
Among the weight of various components of the entire airship, the carbon fiber frame is 1,074 tons, the solar film is 54 tons, the auxiliary thruster is 32 tons, the battery is 40 tons, the vacuum carbon sphere is 24.5 tons, the vacuum equipment is 47 tons, and the electronic equipment and other auxiliary equipment are 181 tons.
A carbon sphere of about one cubic meter can withstand 17.375 tons of pressure, while a one cubic meter vacuum container at sea level needs to withstand about 10 tons of pressure.
By promoting such large-scale projects, it promotes the research and development of various materials and technologies, and also provides a large number of jobs for internal employees.
Of course, since the molecules of the carbon spheres have a honeycomb structure, air can pass through the gaps between the atoms.
0.004 at 40,000 meters, buoyancy of 8,000 tons.
After the material is made into a sphere, it will form a special mechanical structure - an eggshell-like structure, which shows super resistance and rigidity when resisting uniform external pressure.
Zhang Wei and several technicians from the Communications Department discussed quietly for a while.
"How safe is this airship?"
Today, Baisha took Zhang Wei, the head of the Communications Department, to inspect the performance of the vacuum airship.
This is the approximate buoyancy of the Dandelion airship at various altitudes.
Baisha calculated for a while: "Well... we probably need an airship with a capacity of 1.2 million cubic meters. If we simply provide the airship, excluding other equipment, the cost will be around 350,000 to 400,000."
Once vacuumed, these carbon balls with a volume of 2 billion cubic meters will be able to generate 2.58 million tons of buoyancy. This buoyancy is only available at a height near sea level.
Improving the communication system is something that benefits all Homo sapiens, and Baisha has no reason to refuse.
0.04 at 25,000 meters, buoyancy of 80,000 tons.
This means the carbon spheres can be used on the ground.
Zhang Wei nodded: "On behalf of the Ministry of Communications, I will launch this cooperation with your base to build 100 high-altitude communication airships."
"350,000 to 400,000?" Zhang Wei turned around and started talking to the people from the Ministry of Communications.
After discussions between Zhang Wei and a group of communications department personnel, they all believed that this type of airship was good and could effectively supplement the communication system of Homo sapiens.
How can this weight support several thousand tons of hose?
The reason is very simple.
Plus the cost of the satellite itself.
As long as 12 layers are stacked and the honeycomb structure is arranged in a staggered manner, it can not only ensure air tightness, but also further improve the rigidity and strength of the carbon spheres.
At this time, the carbon sphere has not been evacuated, so the airship can still stay on the ground.
20,000 meters 0.088, buoyancy 176,000 tons.
For example, if you fly to an altitude of 50,000 meters, the air density there is only 0.001 kilograms per cubic meter, and the vacuum of 200 million cubic meters can only provide 2,000 tons of buoyancy.
After all, airships have a relatively large load capacity, relatively low cost, relatively long service life, easy maintenance, can stay in fixed airspace for a long time, relatively large communication link capacity, and relatively short communication distance.
Although this kind of cooperation has no direct benefit to him personally, it is also a common situation within Homo sapiens.
This time, the Ministry of Communications saw the potential of vacuum airships and planned to build a batch of communication airships, which were derivatives of the Dandelion project.
0.001 at 50,000 meters, buoyancy of 2,000 tons.
The weight of carbon spheres is very light because carbon spheres are two-dimensional structures with only one layer of atoms.
Because as a communication airship, it can cover a large area of the earth at an altitude of 30,000 meters.
This cost is not friendly at all.
Based on the Falcon launch vehicle's single launch price of US$57 million, it can launch 60 Starlink satellites at one time. The launch fee for a single Starlink satellite is US$960,000. Even if Musk gives himself a 50% discount, it will still cost him US$960,000.
It requires $480,000.
In the assembly yard in front of you.
Carbon spheres with a radius of 30 meters have been installed in the carbon fiber skeleton, forming a ring-shaped airship with a radius of 3 kilometers.
What's more, if there are orders, the airship factory can maintain production. After the Dandelion project is completed in the future, there will be no need to arrange for employees to change jobs, which will reduce some troubles.
In order to increase its air tightness, Baisha cooperated with that laboratory to study dislocated composite carbon spheres.
15,000 meters 0.194, buoyancy 388,000 tons.
Communication airships can float in fixed airspace for a long time and serve as communication base stations, monitoring radars, and remote sensing monitoring.
However, Zhang Wei still hopes to lower the cost: "Team Leader Bai, how much cost can be reduced if the payload is reduced to about 1 ton?"
"No problem." Baisha said with a smile on his face.
Baisha smiled and explained: "Due to the use of new materials, there are not many safety issues. The carbon spheres are strong enough to withstand large-caliber cannons or small missiles, but they are not resistant to high-temperature combustion."
"Is this?..." Bai Sha estimated: "It can probably be reduced to about 100,000 per ship."
Based on the air density at different heights, the buoyancy of the Dandelion airship at various heights can be calculated.
Communication airships have more advantages than Starlink satellite systems in terms of cost and safety.
After a few minutes, Zhang Wei asked again: "With an altitude of 30,000 meters and a payload of 5 tons, how big of an airship is needed? How much does it cost?"
This material allows certain atomic-level defects to exist, and can make a spherical film with a radius of tens of meters, and the entire sphere is a molecule.
There is only about 570 tons of payload left.
The Dandelion airship has a dead weight of 1,430 tons. This is because the total weight of the carbon sphere is only 2.45 tons, coupled with the use of a lightweight and high-strength carbon fiber skeleton.
In fact, this is also one of Li Qingye's purposes for promoting big projects.
Especially in the area with an altitude of 30,000 to 50,000 meters, it is difficult for even high-altitude fighter jets to reach, while ordinary civilian aircraft fly in the airspace below 15,000 meters.
Although taking into account the air currents in the troposphere, part of the buoyancy force must be used on the counterweight, but as the airship gets closer to the sea level, its buoyancy force is also rising rapidly.
10,000 meters 0.41, buoyancy 820,000 tons.
Moreover, the service life of Starlink satellites is worrying, the communication density is relatively low, they are relatively far from the earth's surface, and they cannot be fixed in one airspace. These are all problems.
The vacuum airship that solves the problem of safety and buoyancy maintenance can achieve a communication density of about 20T if it carries a payload of 1 ton, and can cover an area with a radius of hundreds of kilometers.
This price/performance ratio is really great.
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