Chapter 603: Prosperous Aerospace and Scientific Research and Exploration
For people living in this land, recognizing one's ancestors is undoubtedly a big event.
Compiling genealogy may be relatively rare in the north and cities, but in the south and clan villages, it is undoubtedly one of the most important things.
Based on Xu Chuan's achievements, if you put it in some southern areas, I am afraid that when he was elected as an academician of the two academies, some people in the village would bring up the topic of rebuilding the genealogy.
The traditional customs in Xujia Village are not that serious. This year's revision of the genealogy actually has little to do with Xu Chuan. It's just that the age is up and it's time to record it again.
However, in the past two years, a great scientist like him, a national treasure academician, has appeared in the village, so it is naturally impossible for the village to renovate the family tree and bypass it.
Because in the past, the elderly organizations in the village united to do something, this year they paid a lot of attention to it.
Some elders feel that some of Xu Chuan's honors and achievements should be recorded in the family tree, while others feel it is inappropriate.
After all, genealogies generally only record names, relationships and other things for living people. Recording life events is usually written by the deceased.
Therefore, some elders in the village feel that this is the glory of the village and should be written about, while others feel that it is taboo and cannot be written about.
For Xu Chuan, he actually doesn't care much about these things.
However, his roots are in this village, and he is still willing to do things that can bring some honor and pride to the village.
On the other hand, since he himself had no objections, the elders in the village were naturally happy too.
After all, such a great man came out of the village, and he is definitely something the whole village should be proud of. He is also worthy of being recorded in the family tree for future generations to learn from and admire.
As for violating taboos, in fact, it is not a big deal to record the lives of outstanding strangers in some clan ancestral halls in the south. It can even be said to be a matter of pride.
After all, only those who have made great contributions or careers and are famous are qualified to be included in this kind of "lineage record". Ordinary people are not qualified to be included.
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After resting at home for two days and spending time with his parents, Xu Chuan got on the high-speed train again and returned to Jinling.
Now that the small controllable nuclear fusion reactor and aerospace engine have been completed, their optimization and testing are undoubtedly the focus.
However, the Energy Research Institute and the Aerospace Research Institute are responsible for these two major areas, and there are not many things that Xu Chuan needs to deal with personally.
On the other hand, after Academician Chang Huaxiang took over the space shuttle-related projects and projects, this series of developments has also entered the right track.
Although he has never had any experience in building a space shuttle in China, what this old man has learned throughout his life is related to the aerospace industry. He knows very well what conditions a space shuttle needs to meet to complete a space mission.
Especially after the power system is solved, the design, construction and assembly of the space shuttle are far less complex than the traditional direction. Extremely demanding equipment and parts such as the heat insulation tiles of the traditional space shuttle and the orbiter cannot be put on the new space shuttle.
It can reduce a lot of requirements, which also makes its design much easier.
When the manned spaceflight project was progressing smoothly, Xu Chuan finally had some free time and returned to campus, thinking of the few students he had left behind.
Because of Cai Peng's graduation, the four new students he recruited last year are now basically in a "semi-free" state.
The reason why it is said to be half-free but not fully free is that Gu Bing and Cai Peng, who graduated before, are both professors of mathematics at NTU and can take his place to provide guidance on some learning matters.
After returning to campus, Xu Chuan's life became much easier.
I go to class every day, and then give guidance to a few primary school students. The rest of the time is basically free to spend, either paying attention to some cutting-edge developments in academia, or studying the unification of the three forces of strong and weak electricity.
The days passed like this, and in the blink of an eye, it was mid-November.
On the weekend before the light snow solar term in China, NASA held a press conference and disclosed a lot of things.
The first item is the first image taken by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)!
The James Webb Space Telescope is an infrared observation space telescope jointly developed by NASA, the European Space Agency and the Canadian National Space Agency. It is the successor of the Hubble Space Telescope.
When the Webb Telescope was launched on December 25, 2021, Xu Chuan was still paying attention to this matter.
Because this is the most powerful space telescope ever built by mankind, its launch carries the mission of revealing the origin and evolution of the universe, searching for clues to life, and exploring unknown mysteries.
However, after this scientific research equipment was put into space, it has been in a state of debugging.
It was not until the second year, that is, in mid-July this year, that it officially started working and took the first batch of photos for scientific research.
Now that the first batch of photos has finally been released, even as a competitor, Xu Chuan is equally impressed by its success.
Especially the scientists and engineers who participated in this project, they used their wisdom and creativity to overcome numerous difficulties and challenges, and contributed a time machine and life detector to mankind.
The only regret is that the lifespan of this most powerful telescope in history may not be too long.
Because it is located at the Lagrange point L2, about 1.5 million kilometers away from the earth, it has no protection from the earth, is exposed to strong radiation from the sun and cosmic rays, and needs to face the impact of various tiny meteors and interstellar dust. Its working environment
It is undoubtedly extremely bad and dangerous.
In May of this year, the James Webb Space Telescope was struck by micrometeorites approximately six times.
Although the damage caused by five of the impacts was negligible, the sixth impact caused relatively serious damage to a piece of the telescope.
Although the researchers have minimized the impact by adjusting the mirror angle, the error cannot be fully compensated.
The damaged mirror cannot be replaced because it is too far away, which also leads to errors.
In addition, in order to ensure the low-temperature working condition of the telescope, it needs to use a huge heat shield to block sunlight, and use refrigerants such as liquid helium to reduce the temperature.
These heat shields and refrigerants are limited resources, and once they are exhausted or damaged, they cannot be replenished or repaired.
It can be said that its lifespan is theoretically not too long, which is a pity.
But it has to be said that it is more powerful than Hubble, the images of the universe captured are clearer, and it can also help humans understand more mysteries of the universe.
For example, by monitoring and observing the "cosmic cliff" in the Carina Nebula, the Webb Telescope revealed the stages of star formation.
Or the exploration of the exoplanet WASP-96 b has made it clear to us that there is significant water vapor and other features in its atmosphere.
In addition, speaking of this, we have to mention the expanded application of the Xu-Weyl-Berry theorem he created a few years ago.
NASA scientists used the data of the exoplanet WASP-96b collected by Webb and extended the application of the Xu-Weyl-Berry theorem to calculate that not only water exists on this gaseous planet, but also calculated and deduced its main atmospheric components.
By coordinating data collection with space telescopes with Xu-Weyl-Berry theorem calculations, it is very likely to become a means for humans to find exoplanets suitable for human habitation.
The release of the first cosmic photo from the Webb Telescope was the first thing NASA released at this press conference.
The second thing is a scientific research project called "DART Double Asteroid Redirection Test".
To put it simply, NASA launched a refrigerator-sized spacecraft to hit the asteroid Dimorphos to test whether the impact could change the asteroid's orbit.
In October this year, the spacecraft successfully hit an asteroid at a speed of 6,000 meters per second. Subsequently, at this press conference, NASA announced the calculation results:
[The impact shortened the orbit time of the asteroid ‘Demovers’ by 32 minutes compared with the past.]
Although the original intention of this operation was to protect the Earth by impacting an asteroid and changing its orbit, anyone with a discerning eye can see some other meanings behind this experiment.
For example, in a certain domestic science fiction movie, the idea of using a planetary engine to drive the earth to wander has been indirectly verified and theoretically proven to be feasible.
In addition, this research result has also attracted a certain amount of attention from some countries in the military field.
If you add an 'engine' to the meteorite and push it towards the earth, and calculate the trajectory and power, the impact on the enemy country will probably be devastating.
Of course, these are just some expectations. With the current science and technology, if you want to achieve this step, the success is almost zero. It is better to throw away the tungsten rod.
However, judging from this press conference, these two pieces of news announced by NASA undoubtedly confirm the fact that the United States is still the world's top power, especially in aerospace, scientific research and other fields. It can also be regarded as a follow-up complement to the Artemis program.
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After all, the Artemis program has a long cycle. Before the spacecraft is launched, the United States and NASA must find some news to keep the people and the world's confidence in American aerospace.
For Xu Chuan, these two reports are the only ones worth noting about NASA's press conference. Other plans and breakthroughs in the Artemis program are not of much interest.
Compared with other mediocre news, these two reports made him think of something else.
For example, Betelgeuse is more than 600 light years away from the earth.
In calculations in previous years, Betelgeuse seems to have developed to the point of core carbon fusion. In addition, there is a star in its hydrogen envelope, which seems to cause the core to tear at any time and form a supernova explosion.
The past few years have passed, and I don’t know how Betelgeuse has developed.
If it can form a supernova explosion in our lifetime, at such a close distance of more than 600 light-years, it will definitely bring great advancement to the fields of physics, astrophysics, astronomy and other fields.
Even some things that humans didn't understand before may be seen in this supernova explosion.
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