Chapter 334 - Chapter 334: Low-Earth Orbit Armed Defense Platform
Chapter 334: Low-Earth Orbit Armed Defense Platform
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
After enhancing the two core components, Tang Rui returned to the laboratory to continue assembling the device and accumulating source points.
As long as he had source points in his hand, he wasn’t worried.
No matter how big the problem, he had the system as a safety net and had nothing to fear.
The next day, heads of space agencies from all over the world and some scientific academies arrived in Mogadishu.
They came to witness the operation of the space elevator.
Many even wanted to be among the first batch of passengers to ride the space elevator.
Unfortunately, they didn’t get the chance.
The first group to ride the space elevator had already been selected: six astronauts from within the country.
Not only were they the first passengers, but they were also future staff of the Konggang Space Station.
After a simple ceremony, the astronauts boarded the space elevator, sitting in the safety seats inside, waiting for the elevator to start.
With the closing of the airtight door and the countdown beginning.
When the countdown reached zero, the person in charge in the control hall pressed the start button.
Four electric propulsion engines started.
The space elevator, fixed to eight cables, took off and climbed upwards.
The astronauts inside only felt a jolt from the seats below at this moment, and then it became stable again.
There was no continuous vibration.
And the acceleration wasn’t very fast, basically within 2Gs, which meant even non-professional astronauts could ride without problems, unless they had high blood pressure or heart disease.
Soon, the space elevator ascended to the Karman line.
Here, the cabin entered a state of weightlessness, and the space elevator began to accelerate a second time.
The previous lack of acceleration was mainly due to air resistance.
A square space elevator trying to ascend supersonically required enormous thrust, and the air resistance was significant.
There was no need for that.
The first too kilometers were basically a sightseeing elevator, and the electric propulsion engines hadn’t really exerted their full power.
After reaching outer space, without air resistance, the electric propulsion engines began to increase power.
However, to ensure the comfort of the passengers inside.
The acceleration wasn’t increased instantly, but gradually, keeping the cabin environment at 2-3GS.
This way, the speed could be increased while ensuring comfort, allowing ordinary people to ride the space elevator to outer space.
Forty minutes later, the space elevator arrived at the location of the Konggang Space Station, docking slowly. The astronauts inside, wearing space suits, walked out of the cabin and into the connecting corridor to the space station. “Report, we have arrived at Konggang, everything is smooth.”
“Good, the space station components have been launched and are expected to arrive in twenty minutes.”
“Understood.”
Below the space elevator, representatives from various countries were very excited.
The trial operation of the space elevator was perfect.
The next step was to accelerate construction and build spacecraft in outer space.
The specifics had already been discussed by the countries.
Even the operation plan for the space elevator, which hadn’t been completed yet, was already in place.
As long as they followed this plan, in ten months, they could completely build a spacecraft to escape Earth.
A while later, representatives from various countries on the ground watched the assembly of the Konggang Space Station and the astronauts’ spacewalk.
Although the space station could dock automatically to form a ring.
Some equipment still needed manual connection.
But these were minor issues.
The key issue of the space nod had
been resolved, and the rest was up to them.
The blueprint for the life support pods had been made public worldwide.
Countries were manufacturing them non-stop, 24 hours a day.
Even so, they were still continuously modifying factories and expanding production lines.
As for the spacecraft, they didn’t need to manufacture the core components, but they did need to produce other parts.
So, during this time, countries focused on industrial upgrades to manufacture parts for the spacecraft, with no nation holding back.
There was no need for outside assistance or supervision.
Providing them with relevant production materials and some equipment they couldn’t manufacture themselves was sufficient. They would then put their full effort into the work.
Over the next month, with global collaboration, eight space elevators were successively put into use.
Materials supplied by various countries were shipped to Mogadishu by cargo ships, then transported to outer space by the space elevators.
Tang Rui didn’t concern himself with these matters.
In this month, he had also tinkered with many things.
Some had been secretly launched, some built but not yet launched, and some were still incomplete.
But among them, one item had just been completed that day.
That was the Earth Orbit Armed Defense Platform.
The previous design submitted by the researchers was rejected by him for insufficient firepower. So half a month ago, they submitted a new design with much improved firepower.
An electromagnetic railgun main cannon, with a caliber of 2560 and a length of
680 meters, could extend the electromagnetic channel through a magnetic control system.
The projectiles fired were specially manufactured nuclear shells.
The weight of a single shell was over 25 tons.
In normal mode, the shell’s muzzle velocity was 3000 kilometers per second.
In special circumstances, it could switch to destruction mode, tripling the speed, but at the cost of damaging the main cannon.
A shell was fired from this cannon.
If it hit Earth, it would be like in the movies, with a city instantly turned to ruins.
But this main cannon was for external defense, so there was no need to worry about its muzzle pointing at Earth.
However, if there were operational errors or system failures, that would be a different story. After all, the more intelligent a device, the more troublesome it is to repair.
Apart from this main cannon, there were over two hundred long-range, medium-range, and close-range weapons.
Including electromagnetic guns, laser guns, plasma cannons, close-in weapons, and more.
Beyond these guns, there were various missiles.
However, missiles were only useful in special situations. In most cases, missiles in outer space were basically just for show.
The entire Armed Defense Platform also had an ammunition production line, capable of producing ammunition for electromagnetic and close-in weapons’.
Although it couldn’t be completely self-sufficient, as long as there were raw material reserves, there was basically no need for ground resupply for weapons and ammunition.
Buzzing sounds filled the air…
The dome of the newly built production workshop opened.
The Armed Defense Platform, dismantled into modules, was loaded onto spacecraft and transported to outer space.
Tang Rui built it at this time, not for fun, but to deal with the upcoming asteroid and meteor showers.
The gravity of the black dwarf star had already affected the solar system.
So far, it hadn’t affected massive planets, but its impact on the asteroid belt was significant.
According to scans from space telescopes.
In the outer asteroid belt of the solar system, countless asteroids had already been knocked off course, currently heading towards the inner solar system.
Some of these asteroids’ trajectories overlapped with Earth’s orbit, with the fastest approaching Earth’s outer space in about twenty days.
So, the next period in outer space would not be peaceful.
This year, everyone could see enough of the meteor showers that were usually only observed a few times a year.
An hour later, the Near-Earth Orbit Armed Defense Platform was assembled in outer space, resembling a giant thumbtack due to its design.
The main cannon’s barrel was extremely long, necessitating such a structure.
The base needed to house the production line, and the outer ring required a pseudo-gravity living area, which resulted in this unique shape..