Chapter 89: Resource Crisis
A brand new nuclear fission power station had been completed by Tom, who directed his Clones to build it.
However, unlike other nuclear fission power stations, this one was not divided into many structures such as a reaction chamber, cooling chamber, exchange chamber, and motor room.
It was a single, integrated unit.
All the components that make up a nuclear fission power station were integrated by Tom into one holistic structure.
Within the massive factory building, this nuclear power station was operating smoothly.
It stood about 16 meters tall, was over 40 meters long, and 25 meters wide, with a total volume exceeding 14,000 cubic meters and a total mass of over 4,000 tons.
Its surface was not smooth; instead, it was covered in dense pipes and numerous somewhat chaotic protrusions and indentations, making it look like an enlarged version of a vehicle’s engine.
Despite its immense size, when compared to the nuclear power stations he had built previously, the total mass of all their components combined would likely be more than ten times that of this single power station.
It also possessed an advantage that other nuclear power stations could not match.
It was mobile!
As long as there was sufficient lifting capacity, it could be directly hoisted and, no matter where it was placed, it could perform nuclear fission operations, continuously converting nuclear energy into electrical or thermal energy as needed!
Looking at this extremely massive, yet comparatively tiny, power station compared to its "peers," Tom knew that he had overcome the first hurdle in the miniaturization of nuclear fission power stations.
At this moment, it was capable of being placed into a spaceship to supply energy and electricity to that spaceship.
Of course, that spaceship would have to be extremely large, with a mass of at least 20,000 tons.
However, if the spaceship’s mass was indeed over 20,000 tons, then the current nuclear fission power station’s power output was a bit low.
Its maximum power could only reach 10,000 kilowatts, which was still a bit insufficient for such a massive spaceship.
"Hmm... to be practical, its mass and volume still need to be reduced by more than half, and at the same time, its power needs to be doubled.
This way, its volume could be reduced to around 7,000 cubic meters, its mass to about 2,000 tons, and its power to 20,000 kilowatts... then it could truly be applied."
But...
Recalling the research and manufacturing process of this nuclear fission power station, Tom sighed softly: "It’s difficult."
To fit an entire nuclear power station into such a small iron shell while ensuring its stability and reliability, tens of thousands of Clones had worked tirelessly day and night over the past few years.
To conduct various experiments, seek better materials and structures, and achieve higher processing precision, even hundreds of Clones died due to engineering or experimental accidents.
Only with a vast amount of resources and immense effort could it be successfully built. To suddenly shrink it by half and double its power at the same time, the difficulty was such that even Tom felt unsure how to proceed.
All conceivable and optimizable areas had already been optimized; how else could it be modified?
The Deep Space Spaceship certainly contained samples of ship-borne small nuclear fission power stations, but...
Reverse engineering, while useful, has an uncertain ultimate utility.
For example, take a car from Earth’s era. Theoretically, if one disassembles it into individual parts, then reproduces them one-to-one, and reassembles them, could one learn to manufacture cars without understanding their underlying principles?
The answer is clearly no.
Because this ignores two extremely important factors.
First, materials. Second, tolerances.
Reverse engineering cannot decipher material formulas. If you cannot produce materials that meet the requirements, how can performance be guaranteed?
And in terms of tolerances.
The casting of any part inherently involves errors, but as long as these errors can be controlled within a certain range, they will not affect the overall structure.
Simple measurement can indeed confirm the dimensions of a certain part, but how does one know its tolerance?
If the tolerance is unknown, and there are also tolerances during the reproduction and manufacturing process, then when a pile of parts is finally assembled, the cumulative tolerance will become too large to ignore, making it impossible to compare with the original.
Not to mention the various torques, connection forms of various connectors, cable laying principles, and so on and so forth—a myriad of complex issues that reverse engineering cannot solve.
For this very reason, even with the Deep Space Spaceship right in front of him, Tom still couldn’t build a sufficiently small and efficient nuclear fission power station. Similarly, even with the Blueprint Civilization’s mothership, he couldn’t acquire much technology.
However...
Tom looked anxiously in the direction of God-Enemy Star.
"Under my large-scale mining, the resources on God-Enemy Star probably won’t last much longer.
Once the resources on God-Enemy Star are depleted, and there are no other planets nearby, where will I get energy and resources from?
I must reach the Inner Solar System before the resources are exhausted.
But such a large-scale migration is inseparable from nuclear fission power station miniaturization technology and secondary pressurized propulsion technology.
Without these two technologies, large-scale interstellar migration would be impossible.
Furthermore, secondary pressurized propulsion technology is also developed based on nuclear fission power station miniaturization technology; its root still lies in nuclear fission power station miniaturization."
Looking at the massive behemoth in front of him, Tom felt a headache.
If he could, Tom truly wished he could just use his hands to shrink it to a size small enough to fit into a spaceship.
It’s just a pity he wasn’t a Superman and couldn’t squeeze it.
"Sigh, no choice, keep researching."
Tom directed numerous Clones to continue their research related to miniaturization. In this process, he even brought in the Lantu Ke involved in engineering, making these Lantu Ke groan in misery.
Thus, after a full year of high-intensity research, the Lantu Ke engineer participating in the research couldn’t take it anymore.
He disregarded possible punishment and found one of Tom’s Clones.
"Respected Sir Bluetook."
He cautiously looked at this Clone.
This Bluetook’s attire was slightly different from other Bluetooks, which seemed to indicate a higher status.
There was no other way; every Bluetook looked identical—at least to him they looked identical—and besides their clothes, he really couldn’t tell who was who.
He didn’t dare to ask, because being unable to distinguish the Bluetook’s appearances seemed to be an offense to them, and asking would lead to punishment.
"I request that you convey some of our thoughts to the engineering commander.
Our view on this project is that it cannot be solved through some clever structure or a sudden inspiration.
It requires progress in fundamental technology. It’s fundamental technology, do you understand?"