Chapter 232 Engine Research

On the third day after receiving the plasma engine blueprints, Lin Mo locked himself in his office.

The blueprints were thick. Not just ordinarily thick, but the kind of thick that was daunting—a full four hundred and seventy pages, each page densely packed with complex formulas, structural diagrams, and parameter tables.

He divided the blueprints into four stacks: General Design, Magnetic Field System, Power Matching, and Thermal Management.

Each stack was over a hundred pages long, and each stack represented an independent discipline.

"Senior brother, time to eat," Li Xiao said, pushing the door open while carrying a lunch box.

Lin Mo didn't even look up. "Leave it there."

Li Xiao sighed, placed the lunch box beside his hand, and then leaned in to look at the screen.

On the screen was a complex structural diagram—a cylindrical chamber surrounded by densely packed coils, with an intake at one end and a nozzle at the other.

"Is this the plasma engine?" she asked.

Lin Mo nodded. "The principle isn't actually complex. Nuclear Fusion is used to generate high-power electricity. Then, this electricity is used to ionize the propellant gas, creating plasma. Finally, a magnetic field accelerates the plasma, which is ejected from the nozzle to produce thrust."

Li Xiao blinked. "It sounds... like it's quite simple?"

Lin Mo laughed. "Simple? Take a look at this."

He pulled up another diagram—a magnetic field distribution map. The dense magnetic field lines looked like a tangled mess, but upon closer inspection, they followed strict patterns.

"The plasma temperature is several million degrees; no material can come into direct contact with it. Therefore, a magnetic field must be used to contain it while simultaneously accelerating it. The shape, strength, and gradient of the magnetic field—every single parameter must be calculated precisely. If it's off by even a little, the plasma will touch the chamber walls and destroy the engine."

Li Xiao gasped. "Several million degrees?!"

Lin Mo nodded. "Yes. That's why the plasma engine is also called 'electric propulsion'; the core isn't the thrust, it's the temperature."

In the afternoon, General Manager Liu from the Aerospace Group called.

"Academician, I heard you are researching the plasma engine?"

Lin Mo said, "Yes. I just received the blueprints."

General Manager Liu was somewhat surprised. "Blueprints? Where did you get them?"

Lin Mo paused for a moment and said, "The system provided them."

General Manager Liu was silent for two seconds, then laughed. "Fine, I won't ask. Can you share them?"

Lin Mo said, "I was just about to contact you. These blueprints are too complex; I can't handle them alone. I need experts from the Aerospace Group to research them together."

General Manager Liu said, "No problem. I'll send people over tomorrow, including a few key experts in electric propulsion."

After hanging up, Lin Mo continued to study the blueprints.

He flipped to the "Performance Parameters" page, and a line of numbers caught his eye:

Specific Impulse: 5000-8000 seconds

Chemical Rocket Specific Impulse: 450 seconds

Thrust: 10-100 Newtons

Chemical Rocket Thrust: Millions of Newtons

Power Requirement: 5-50 Megawatts

Equivalent to a small nuclear power plant

Lin Mo frowned.

The thrust was too small.

Chemical rockets have a thrust of millions of Newtons, capable of instantly lifting hundreds of tons of rockets off the ground. But the plasma engine only had a few dozen Newtons; it couldn't even blow away a sheet of paper.

How could this engine be used for launch?

He continued reading and found the answer in the following chapters:

"The plasma engine is suitable for space environments, not for ground launches. It is recommended to be used in conjunction with chemical rockets: chemical rockets are responsible for overcoming Earth's gravity to reach space, while the plasma engine is responsible for interstellar travel."

Lin Mo breathed a sigh of relief.

So that was it.

Chemical rockets are responsible for "leaving home," while the plasma engine is responsible for "the journey." One has great strength, the other has great endurance. Used together, they can travel much further.

In the evening, Chen Xueming initiated a video call.

"Old Lin, I heard you are researching the plasma engine?"

Lin Mo nodded. "Yes."

Chen Xueming's eyes lit up. "Can this thing really shorten the time to reach Mars to three months?"

Lin Mo said, "Theoretically, yes. The specific impulse is more than ten times that of a chemical rocket, which means with the same amount of fuel, it can fly ten times the distance. Or, for the same distance, it only requires one-tenth of the fuel."

Chen Xueming counted on his fingers. "Currently, going to Mars takes half a year one way, and over a year for a round trip. If it's shortened to three months, a round trip would be half a year—that means we could stay on Mars for a few months before coming back!"

Lin Mo nodded. "Yes. And if we can refuel at the lunar base, we could even make several trips."

Chen Xueming slapped his thigh. "Then what are we waiting for? Let's get to it!"

Lin Mo laughed. "What's the rush? I just got the blueprints, and the theoretical verification isn't finished yet. Experts from the Aerospace Group are coming tomorrow to tackle it together."

Chen Xueming said, "Can I participate too? Even though I'm in Guangdong, I can work remotely."

Lin Mo thought for a moment. "Yes. You can be responsible for the orbital calculations. The plasma engine has low thrust but a long continuous operating time; the orbital design is completely different."

Chen Xueming's eyes brightened. "Great! Leave it to me!"

Three days later, the experts from the Aerospace Group arrived.

There were four people in total. The leader was a man in his fifties named Shen, who had spent his whole life working on electric propulsion and was an authority in this field in the country.

As soon as Engineer Shen entered, he went straight to Lin Mo's office. "Academician, where are the blueprints?"

Lin Mo handed him the thick stack of blueprints.

Engineer Shen put on his reading glasses and began flipping through them page by page. When he reached the third page, his hands began to tremble. When he reached the tenth page, he took off his glasses, wiped them, and put them back on.

When he reached the thirtieth page, he looked up at Lin Mo. "Academician, are these blueprints... real?"

Lin Mo nodded. "They are real."

Engineer Shen was silent for a long time, then said, "I've been working on electric propulsion for thirty years and have seen countless design proposals. But this... this isn't just a design; it's the real thing."

He pointed to a detail on the blueprints. "Look here, the winding method for the magnetic field coils—this is a solution we've been trying to figure out for ten years but couldn't. And here, the thermal management design perfectly solves the high-temperature problem. And here, the timing control for propellant injection, precise to the microsecond level..."

The more he spoke, the more excited he became, and his eyes even turned red. "Academician, these blueprints are at least thirty years ahead of us."

Lin Mo looked at him without speaking.

Engineer Shen took a deep breath, calming his emotions. "I have a request."

Lin Mo said, "Please go ahead."

Engineer Shen said, "Let me participate in this project. I don't even need payment. In my life, I just want to see Chinese people fly to Mars using our own engines."

Lin Mo reached out his hand. "Welcome."

Over the next month, Lin Mo and the experts from the Aerospace Group spent their time chewing through those four hundred and seventy pages of blueprints, page by page.

They started at eight in the morning every day and finished at ten in the evening. They only took breaks to eat. Sometimes when a problem got them stuck, they would gather around and discuss it until late at night.

Li Xiao was responsible for logistics, serving tea, pouring water, delivering meals, and recording the meeting minutes.

A month later, the blueprints had been fully digested.

Engineer Shen said at the final meeting, "Academician, we can draw a conclusion now—this plan is completely feasible. We have the necessary technology, or we can achieve breakthroughs within a few years. The required materials can all be produced domestically. Compared to chemical rockets, the funding required is practically peanuts."

He paused and looked at Lin Mo. "If everything goes smoothly, we can build a prototype within five years. Within eight years, we can conduct flight verification. Within ten years, it will be practical."

Lin Mo nodded. "Good. Then it's settled."

In the evening, Lin Mo stood alone in front of the window.

Outside the window, the starry sky over the Gobi Desert was still brilliant. Mars hadn't risen yet, but he knew it was there.

Plasma engine, practical within ten years.

space elevator, built within fifteen years.

Lunar base, initial scale within twenty years.

Mars mission, achieved within thirty years.

Thirty years.

By then, he would be sixty-five.

Perhaps he could go himself.

Perhaps not.

But regardless, this would definitely happen.

He turned back to the desk, picked up the bottle of Mars soil, and shook it in the moonlight.

The dark red sand was like solidified time.

He said softly, "Wait a little longer. We are almost there."