Chapter 355 The Great 100 Seconds

At the same time, Ning Chen will also provide them with some additional subsidies so that everyone can enjoy the best treatment and willingly invest in the research of the project.

After the base was built, Ning Chen personally came to the controllable nuclear fusion base and organized a meeting for everyone.

"First of all, thank you very much for your willingness to join the controllable nuclear fusion project team. This is a scientific research project full of challenges and risks. Everyone here is a warrior in the scientific research community of Xia State..."

Ning Chen's words were very sincere, which made everyone feel very moved. Some people's eyes were even filled with tears.

Admittedly, Ning Chen has provided relatively generous treatment conditions for every employee of Xingchen Technology. This is one of the main reasons why everyone is willing to work at Xingchen Technology.

But money is never the only condition that determines a job. Which one of them doesn't want to make a difference at Xingchen Technology?

Xingchen Technology has the best scientific research environment and resources in the world, and under Ning Chen's management, the scientific research space here is very sufficient.

Every scientific researcher at Star Technology is free to explore within the scope of their research, and even beyond their own research scope is often allowed.

As for this controllable nuclear fusion project, they all voluntarily joined it. Even if the working conditions of this project may be a bit difficult, this will not stop them from participating.

After all, controllable nuclear fusion is an energy revolution-level research. If they can really help the project team complete their research work smoothly, they may even leave their names in history.

Seeing that everyone's emotions had been completely aroused, Ning Chen stopped sensationalizing and chatted with everyone about technical issues.

"Our first goal now is to complete the experiment of a small controllable nuclear fusion reactor. Although the actual performance of a small reactor will be very different from that of a large reactor, the core principles are still the same. If we can successfully implement it For experiments on small-scale controllable nuclear fusion reactors, the final success rate of the project can reach more than 90%..."

Listening to what Ning Chen said about the research strategic direction, everyone nodded along.

Even though there is no big problem with scientific research funds now, Ning Chen still will not choose to go all-in. Instead, he will divide the project into several parts to make the entire project's research and development process more stable.

After Ning Chen completed the short-term plan, the controllable nuclear fusion project was officially launched soon.

Although this is the first time that Xingchen Technology has carried out controllable nuclear fusion project work, in fact, Xingchen Technology's research on this is not just a blank, and it even has its own unique advantages.

Among them, one of the biggest advantages of Xingchen Technology is its powerful superconducting technology.

There is a very close connection between superconductivity and controllable nuclear fusion, because controllable nuclear fusion requires a very strong magnetic field to achieve, and superconductors can create very huge magnetic fields because of their own special properties.

Simply put, in a controllable nuclear fusion reaction, the plasma needs to be heated to extremely high temperatures and maintained to operate stably.

Superconducting magnets can confine plasma within a certain area to achieve stable nuclear fusion reactions.

The application of superconducting technology helps improve the stability and efficiency of nuclear fusion reactions, thereby reducing energy consumption and saving the cost of the entire controllable nuclear fusion project.

Xingchen Technology has many patents related to superconductor technology, and among these patents, it can freely choose the most suitable superconductor for application.

If there is any scientific research institution in the world that is more likely to realize the net energy gain of controllable nuclear fusion reactions the fastest, then Xingchen Technology is definitely the one at the top.

After the project started to be researched, Ning Chen devoted a lot of time to the project, and even prepared his own dormitory in the research base. He often worked in the research base until night, and did not fall asleep tiredly until night.

Because he was worried about possible safety issues in the project, Ning Chen directly asked Xiaozhi to focus on monitoring various data in the scientific research base. Once any data anomaly was found, he needed to report it to him immediately, even if he was taking a rest.

Because Ning Chen had set the security level of this area to the highest level, Xiaozhi often woke Ning Chen up at night. This also made Ning Chen often unable to rest well, and his mental state was always in high tension.

Fortunately, after Ning Chen's verification, these possible data anomalies that Xiaozhi reminded would not really have a substantial impact, which made Ning Chen feel relieved.

This state lasted for about a month. Ning Chen felt that his mental state was close to collapse, so he decided to lower Xiaozhi's safety protection level.

"It's not okay to continue like this... Although my physical fitness is far better than that of ordinary people, it's not to the point where I don't need to rest. At this stage of the project's development, I shouldn't need to worry too much anymore."

Of course, Ning Chen would not completely relax his vigilance. He would just appropriately lower Xiaozhi's security protection level when he was resting. For some anomalies that were not that risky, Ning Chen would directly let Xiaozhi handle them on his own.

Such changes really made Ning Chen feel that his mental state had recovered a lot, and he was not as tense as before.

Several months later, the controllable nuclear fusion project team finally completed the construction of the first small nuclear reactor.

This is a relatively simple, experimental nuclear fusion reactor, but it reveals Ning Chen's core design ideas, which is enough to prove whether Ning Chen's idea is correct.

Even though previous simulations have proven that Ning Chen's idea is feasible, after all, simulations are just simulations. To truly determine whether the project plan is feasible, real experiments are still needed to verify it.

The current progress of the project has greatly exceeded the project team's plan. Among them, Ning Chen's long-term stay in the project team and personally leading everyone's work played a very important role.

After gathering everyone together, Ning Chen explained his next plan to everyone.

"Tomorrow at eight o'clock in the morning, we can conduct the first ignition experiment of a controllable nuclear fusion reaction. We don't have any baggage for this experiment. The biggest requirement is to ensure the safety of the experiment..."

This is the first time that Ning Chen has been so "Buddhist" about an experiment. Under such circumstances, Ning Chen will definitely not broadcast the experiment live like he did in previous aerospace projects.

Of course, this does not mean that Ning Chen has no confidence in the success of this experiment. In fact, Ning Chen's confidence in the success of ignition is at least 90%.

Ning Chen even vaguely felt that with this first experiment, they were very hopeful that they could achieve a net energy gain from the nuclear fusion reaction.

But in front of other people, Ning Chen didn't want to talk too much at once. Everything still needed to be confirmed through experimental data.

Everyone has already made preparations for this experiment, so Ning Chen does not need to postpone the experiment anymore. It is better to conduct verification as soon as possible.

No matter what the final result was, Ning Chen could accept it calmly and continue to optimize the plan based on the experimental results.

After hearing Ning Chen's arrangement, no one had any objections.

After the meeting, the members of the project team immediately returned to their respective jobs to prepare for tomorrow's experiment.

Early the next morning, everyone arrived at the experimental site early and carried out final debugging work on the experimental equipment.

At this moment, a reporter also came to the controllable nuclear fusion site of Xingchen Technology.

This reporter is from CCTV. The reason why he can come to the scene is naturally something Xingchen Technology is willing to accept.

Once this experiment is successful, the relevant experimental information will be released to the outside world, and such authoritative media is naturally indispensable.

But if the experiment is not successful, then this experiment will definitely not be announced to the public, and all recorded videos will be kept confidential.

CCTV reporters were very reassuring to Ning Chen. If too many reporters came, Ning Chen would be worried that the relevant information would not be kept confidential.

Unknowingly, the time came to eight o'clock in the morning, and under an order from the project commander, the experiment officially began.

Ning Chen was still the same as before. He did not directly participate in the experiment. Instead, he stayed quietly and watched the experimental process.

Although Ning Chen didn't seem to do anything on the surface, in fact, Ning Chen's energy was in a state of high concentration.

At this moment, all the data in the experimental base appeared in Ning Chen's brain.

Ning Chen's brain was like a computer, processing and analyzing various data in real time to evaluate the situation at the experimental site and decide whether to temporarily terminate the experiment.

The reporters at the scene also felt very nervous and did not dare to disturb the work of the scientific researchers. They just quietly watched everyone's operations.

To everyone's excitement, the ignition of the controllable nuclear fusion device was successful, which marked the success of this experiment.

At this time, some on-site staff could no longer suppress their excitement, and their faces became rosy.

Ning Chen was not excited by the short-term success, because in Ning Chen's eyes, successful ignition was only the initial success of the experiment.

In addition to the success of ignition, Ning Chen is more concerned about the energy conversion efficiency and the duration of ignition.

The energy conversion efficiency determines that the controllable nuclear fusion reaction can output energy in a positive direction.

If the output energy is less than the input energy, even if the nuclear fusion device ignites successfully, such success will only have theoretical significance and not much practical significance.

However, the calculated output energy is greater than the input energy, which does not mean that the entire nuclear fusion device can be commercialized.

Because the cost of a nuclear fusion device is not just a single reactant. In addition, various other costs, including labor costs, maintenance of superconducting states, etc., are also factors that must be considered.

It is generally believed in the industry that only when the output energy reaches ten times the input energy can the entire nuclear fusion device be qualified to enter the commercial stage.

Of course, this is only the most basic condition. If you want to truly use a nuclear fusion device for commercial use, the ratio of output energy to input energy must be bigger and better.

In addition to the energy conversion efficiency, the duration of ignition is also a factor that Ning Chen cares about very much.

If the nuclear fusion device can only ignite briefly, even if the energy conversion efficiency is very high, the device will not have much application value.

A nuclear fusion device is like an artificial sun. Even if its light is very dazzling, if it can only appear briefly, the actual energy released will be very limited.

Only nuclear fusion devices can continuously and stably release energy. This is Ning Chen's ultimate goal.

Ning Chen quickly calculated based on the data he received, and was quite satisfied with the calculated results.

Although the energy output-to-input ratio of this nuclear fusion device is far from reaching ten, it has at least achieved positive energy output, which has created a new milestone in the industry.

This actual energy conversion ratio is very close to 2, and this value is slightly higher than Ning Chen's previous estimate.

At this time, Ning Chen suddenly remembered something, quickly came to the control center, and said to the project commander:

"Continue to maintain the nuclear fusion reaction, and the goal is to continue ignition for 100 seconds."

Hearing Ning Chen's words, people in the control center felt a little unbelievable.

Originally, this experiment has been considered a great success to the present level.

Because according to Ning Chen's previous goal, there was no requirement for the duration of the reaction.

Theoretically, as long as the reaction can proceed for one second, it is enough to be considered a very significant breakthrough.

However, Ning Chen suddenly set the reaction duration target at one hundred seconds, which would be a very challenging behavior for a device that conducts nuclear fusion experiments for the first time.

But since Ning Chen has issued such an order, they will naturally carry it out unconditionally.

"Okay, Mr. Ning, received."

Naturally, Ning Chen would not risk this experiment casually, but according to his own analysis results just now, Xingchen Technology's controllable nuclear fusion device is still running very stably, and there is no signal that it has reached the limit.

Under such circumstances, Ning Chen certainly hopes to continue the experiment, and while inspecting the experimental device in more detail, he can also obtain more comprehensive and sufficient data.