Homo Sapiens

After listening to the presentations from Lin Xiaolun and Dr. Nefsky, Li Qingye turned to the technical lead of the final project, Dr. Martin Don Quixote.

Martin explained with some embarrassment, ”Chairman, my project isn’t complete yet.”

”It’s the problem of being unable to passivate the metallic hydrogen, isn’t it?”

Martin nodded. ”Yes, that’s the issue. I’ve tried various approaches, but I just can’t slow down the explosive reaction of the metallic hydrogen.”

Li Qingye had clearly anticipated this problem.

After all, the semi-finished metallic hydrogen produced by Homo Sapiens Company was extremely unstable. Even with additives, it would turn into a big bomb as soon as the temperature rose above –175 degrees Celsius.

But the allure of metallic hydrogen’s specific impulse and thrust was incredibly strong.

If the metallic hydrogen’s reaction rate could be made comparable to that of conventional solid fuel, a launch vehicle using it could easily deliver payloads of several hundred tons into outer space.

As for why they didn’t just use the method of the Longge Lang Giant Cannon, it was because the cannon couldn’t send astronauts into outer space. At the same time, it placed severe limitations on the equipment.

After all, the launch from the Longge Lang Giant Cannon generated a force of tens of thousands of Gs. Never mind astronauts; even ordinary electronic components would be crushed to dust under such pressure.

The bio-chips and biological components Homo Sapiens Company used inside the cannon shells were all manufactured through a special process.

The core technology was a nutrient-rich liquid. Encased in this liquid, the bio-chips and cellular components were able to withstand the instantaneous force of tens of thousands of Gs.

This was also why the internal components of the cannon shells could still be controlled after launch.

After all, liquids are incompressible. With the bio-chips and cellular components filled with this liquid both inside and out, they could withstand such an extreme load.

As for the engine inside the cannon shells, the missile version was equipped only with a specially made solid-fuel rocket engine.

In the satellite version of the warhead, the first stage was a solid-fuel rocket engine, and the second stage was a liquid oxygen–methane engine.

Li Qingye rubbed the stubble on his chin. ”Since it can’t be passivated for now, what’s your idea?”

Dr. Martin thought for a moment. ”A large-scale launch vehicle powered by metallic hydrogen is one of the few ways for us to catch up to the world powers in a short amount of time. If we succeed, we can quickly leapfrog the competition.”

Of course, it could also crash and burn.

”So you want to continue with this project?” Li Qingye understood.

Martin grew nervous. After all, if Li Qingye didn’t agree to continue, the metallic hydrogen launch vehicle project would certainly be dead in the water.

He said quickly, ”Chairman, I’ll do my best to bring the metallic hydrogen launch vehicle to practical use as soon as possible.”

Li Qingye waved his hand. ”Let’s do this. Since we can’t passivate it for now, let’s change our approach. We’ll use an explosive propulsion method directly.”

”Uh...” Dr. Martin looked completely baffled.

Lin Xiaolun reminded him in a low voice, ”Chairman, isn’t the Longge Lang Giant Cannon project for explosive propulsion?”

”You’re completely off track.” Li Qingye raised an eyebrow. ”I’m talking about using metallic hydrogen in a launch vehicle.”

”But we can’t passivate metallic hydrogen. The launch vehicle wouldn’t be able to withstand the shockwaves from its explosion,” Dr. Martin said, awkwardly scratching his head.

Li Qingye slapped his forehead. ”Why do you only learn from the American playbook? Can’t you learn from our northern neighbors?”

What? Everyone was completely baffled.

Li Qingye reminded them impatiently, ”If you can’t improve the material, why not try to find a breakthrough in the design?”

The reason he said Martin and the others were stuck in an American-style conceptual dead end was because the American Navy had once ordered a batch of Independence-class and Freedom-class littoral combat ships. These ships were ”wonders” made of aluminum alloy, and to combat seawater corrosion, each one required over seventy million US Dollars in annual maintenance fees.

A certain Eastern power’s solution, however, was to build small, several-hundred-ton aluminum alloy boats. When the boats weren’t in use, they were simply hoisted ashore, which solved the problem of the aluminum hulls being corroded by constant immersion in seawater.

When the materials fall short, make up for it with engineering.

This was, in fact, another valid approach.

Hearing Li Qingye’s suggestion, it finally clicked for everyone.

Lin Xiaolun was the first to get it. ”That’s right. With design modifications, it might still be possible to use metallic hydrogen in a launch vehicle.”

Dr. Nefsky also snapped out of it. He took out his tablet and projected a hologram.

”We can design it like this,” he began. ”Isn’t Qingye Aviation developing a pulse detonation engine? We can collaborate with them directly and use that.

Then, we can form the metallic hydrogen into small fuel pellets and design a feed mechanism similar to a magazine. We can surround it with liquid oxygen tanks, which would also help cool the metallic hydrogen.

In operation, we would inject liquid oxygen and the metallic hydrogen fuel pellets into the engine’s combustion chamber. This would provide a continuous fuel supply, allowing the launch vehicle to accelerate steadily toward outer space.”

An embarrassed Dr. Martin watched Dr. Nefsky, a crestfallen look on his face. ’This guy said everything, what’s left for me to say? How humiliating...’

But Dr. Nefsky didn’t notice his expression and continued to detail his proposal.

Li Qingye was quite satisfied with Dr. Nefsky’s plan after hearing it. The only difficulty it presented was the cryogenic containment system for the metallic hydrogen fuel pellets.

In this regard, Dr. Nefsky had no qualms about simply appropriating existing technology. Since patent issues were a non-starter in the aerospace field, he directly proposed using France’s cryogenic containment technology.

As for design issues with the fuel pellets, storage magazine, and engine, Dr. Nefsky was confident Martin could solve them.

Although Martin’s R&D skills were indeed rather mediocre, that was only in terms of creativity. His other abilities were still perfectly adequate.

Now that the core design concept was laid out, if Martin still couldn’t get it right, he might as well just go home and sell sweet potatoes.

Li Qingye looked at Martin. ”Dr. Martin, following Dr. Nefsky’s line of thinking, you can complete this design, correct?”

”Uh... yes. Rest assured, Chairman. I can complete the design quickly.” Martin hastily affirmed he could handle the task.

With the final project’s problem solved, everyone finally relaxed a little.

The conceptual hurdle for the metallic hydrogen launch vehicle technology had been cleared. The subsequent development process should be mostly free of major problems.

And the significance of a metallic hydrogen launch vehicle was absolutely monumental.

Everyone was dreaming about the future of spaceflight. If the metallic hydrogen launch vehicle succeeded, it would mean Homo Sapiens Company would leapfrog the competition in the aerospace industry.

It was somewhat regrettable that the difficulties in storing and passivating metallic hydrogen made it hard to apply in the military sphere.

But Li Qingye was already quite satisfied. Technological progress, after all, had to be made one step at a time. While his presence had accelerated Homo Sapiens Company’s technological development, it had also led to deficiencies in the company’s basic research.

During his inspections over the past few days, he had discovered that Homo Sapiens Company was lagging in the field of basic science.

Li Qingye felt a sense of resignation about this. Research in the basic sciences required immense talent and resources, yet it was very difficult to translate into applied technology.

He had already resolved to establish a department within Homo Sapiens Company dedicated to investing in and managing basic science research, in order to drive the company’s progress in this area.