In this way, it took the Skyhook several days to drag all the containers into space. After the last container was hoisted away, Ouyang Ping breathed a long sigh of relief: "It's finally done."
"Is it done?" Ye Han's voice suddenly rose, "What you think is quite beautiful."
"Ah? There's more?" Ouyang Ping exclaimed.
"Where are we now? It's still too early!" Ye Han looked melancholy.
Ouyang Ping was very discouraged and asked unwillingly: "How many more are there?"
"How do I know when it's enough and when it's enough?" Ye Han said irresponsibly.
Ye Han was indeed right. Early the next morning, a large group of aliens rushed to the base with giant insects. Each giant insect was piled high on its back.
Everyone continues to receive and pack them all into boxes before notifying the Skyhook to lift them away.
Just like this, he has to repeat it every few days. Ye Han is so numb that he can't even remember how many carbon fiber plants the Skyhook took away. Anyway, he will collect them when the aliens send them. If there are not enough containers, he will ask for them from the top.
, to put it nicely, it feels more fulfilling every day, but to put it more honestly, it means that I am exhausted every day.
Finally one day, Ouyang Ping couldn't help but ask: "Boss, isn't that enough?"
Ye Han said: "It's more than 24,000 kilometers, do you think it's enough?"
The gravity of Io is only 80% of that of the Earth, and its rotation speed is much faster than that of the Earth. Therefore, the synchronous orbit of Io is much lower than that of the Earth, only 24,000 kilometers, which is two-thirds of the Earth's.
In other words, the cable length required by Europa must be more than 24,000 kilometers!
Huh? Why not 24,000 kilometers?
Because what is placed in the synchronous orbit is the center of gravity of the cable plus the space station, the position of the space station must be a little higher than the synchronous orbit, so that it will not deviate.
Ouyang Ping's eyes widened: "Does this have to be the year of the monkey and the month of the horse?"
Ye Han sighed helplessly: "It's up to you when it's enough!"
Ye Han's balls were extremely painful, and other aspects were not easy either.
The current main function of Tianhe is no longer a space station, but a primary processing center for alien vines!
The Skyhook sent the container to the Tianhe. After receiving it, the Tianhe temporarily placed the container outside the space station. It retrieved the container in order, took out the vines inside for preliminary processing, and removed the outer skin, unnecessary tissue and excess water.
A lot of carbon nanofibers are left behind.
The conditions aboard the Tianhe are limited and can only be processed to this point. After processing, they have to be repacked and shipped back to Beiyuezhou, where the entire bundle of carbon nanofibers is broken up, the nanoscale carbon nanotubes are extracted, and rewoven into
Suitable carbon nanofiber cables.
This process is not as easy as imagined. In order to disperse the fiber bundles, Beidu and Washington worked together to create a batch of professional equipment. All carbon fibers shipped back to Beiyuezhou are processed by automated machinery.
However, even the most advanced equipment in mankind can only separate carbon nanotubes manually. Industrial production is not so precise at all, and it can be broken down to dozens of carbon nanotubes in a day.
However, this level is enough. Dozens of entangled carbon nanotubes are woven into a rope, and with the help of appropriate processing, the strength can fully meet the needs of orbital elevators.
The weaving of the cable is not always smooth sailing. It is more than 24,000 kilometers long. On the earth, it can go half a circle around the equator with many twists and turns. Moreover, in order to ensure the strength, there cannot be joints in the middle. How can it be woven by weaving?
Both Beijing and Washington are worried about this matter. After all, this is the first time humans have built an orbital elevator. They want to test all the theoretical things - if the resistance organization knows that humans are using them as experimental subjects, who knows what they will do.
What do you think?
What's even more troublesome is that the weaving speed is too slow. At the beginning, we can only weave a few kilometers per day. At this speed, we won't be able to finish it in ten or twenty years.
Beidou and Washington held a very efficient emergency consultation. After the consultation, dozens of sets of processing equipment were immediately added, and the weaving equipment was also improved accordingly. After a lot of efforts, the daily output was finally increased by a large margin, reaching 100% per day.
Thirty kilometers level.
But at 30 kilometers per day, it would take more than 800 days to accumulate more than 24,000 kilometers, which is a full two and a half years. The Earth and the resistance organization are willing to wait, but can Jupiter stay calm for that long?
And there is no point in continuing to add equipment, because thirty kilometers per day is the limit, and no matter how much raw materials are added, it will not be able to keep up. In order to keep up with the schedule, even the carbon fiber produced by the earth is added.
Fortunately, this thing is not a rope in the usual sense, nor is it the same thickness from beginning to end. The force on each position of the cable is different. The closer to the synchronous orbit, the stronger the force, so the newly woven cable is the widest and heaviest.
, and then can gradually shrink and become thinner.
In order to obtain accurate data, Beidu and Washington used supercomputers to calculate several times, and then compared the data together. It took a lot of effort to obtain the most accurate mechanical model.
The first part of Beiyuezhou weaving is the cable connecting the ground end in the atmosphere. This part is no worse than the space station part, so the weaving difficulty is relatively high. After this section is weaved, the difficulty will gradually decrease.
The speed will also gradually increase.
In this way, there was an endless stream of transport ships traveling between the Earth and Europa, and the high-density transportation continued until early June 2029 before it finally breathed a sigh of relief.
The weaving task of Beiyuezhou continued until early July. In the early stage of weaving, the completed cables were coiled layer by layer in the crater on the ground of Beiyuezhou. However, as the project progressed, more and more cables were accumulated.
Once they become entangled and cannot be untangled, all the work will be in vain.
Later, Beidou simply used a spacecraft to pull the cable into space, pulling it all the way out from the moon. At the beginning, it was only a few hundred kilometers, weaving one section after another, and finally it stretched out for more than 20,000 kilometers, dragging it like a strip behind the moon's butt.
Ice white tail - after strict surface treatment, a thin layer of insect shell is glued on the outer layer of the cable, so it looks light ice white.
Beidu and the base group also issued a joint statement, declaring the area near the cable as a no-fly zone. Aircraft from any country are not allowed to approach, otherwise they will be shot down without negotiation. Even the warships of the Beiyuezhou Fleet and the International Fleet must be protected.
Only with permission from the joint command can we approach.
On July 11, 2029, the last section of the cable was completed. Following the order from the joint command, the spacecraft that had been holding the cable immediately flew to Jupiter.
At this point, the orbital elevator plan that lasted nearly ten months has finally come to fruition and is about to bear its first fruit.
