Chapter 40: Helium-3 Nuclear Bombs (2)

The crowd suddenly clamored, let helium-3 nuclear bombs instead of hydrogen bombs, this proposal is fine, everyone has already agreed, but how come there is another billion ton level nuclear bomb?

The step was too big, and many people could not accept it for a while.

It's too crazy, too perverted, how can you come up with such a thing? The thought of a nuclear bomb, with its earth-destroying destructive power, being used to propel a spaceship, made many people's scalps tingle, not knowing whether it was because they were frightened or excited, or perhaps both.

Professor Ding Yidong, however, was not moved. He resisted the pressure and continued to explain his proposal, and after people listened carefully, it made some sense.

Many scientists, hearing about it for the first time, jumped out from their positions, agreeing with the former proposal but not the latter. One billion tons is too much, the more mature "Big Ivan" is only 50 million tons. One billion tons, that's a new level of volume!

But many engineers, from the initial shock, suddenly cheered up, the original frenzy of mind was Oliver poured a pot of cold water, and then magically burned up.

More than one person had such a mentality, in their minds, the design of course to the authoritative experts in charge, the specific construction must also be handed over to their own ah, such a thought is a hot.

More and more people are infected by this emotion, a billion tons level nuclear weapons, sounds cool, sounds awesome, build, must be built!

Ding Yidong's heart was beating wildly, this arms expert felt that his lifelong ideal was coming true. Surprisingly, so many people supported him, his forehead began to precipitate a fine sweat, and his language began to hurry up.

"According to my plan, a billion-ton super nuclear bomb, relying on an incomparably powerful shockwave, will directly blast the ship up! At that time, we will then fine-tune the direction and go straight to Mars!" Ding Yidong spoke with excitement and slapped the table fiercely.

Building nuclear bombs and flying spaceships, that's it!

The people at the bottom began to cheer and started to support this very bold-sounding plan.

Oliver, however, felt a little strange. He felt that people nowadays seemed to have a Soviet-like wild style, obviously just solved the problem of food and clothing, but have a passion to engage in those big projects, big construction.

This is certainly a good thing, provided that these big projects and constructions are reliable only.

However ... he seems to see many scientists are actually opposed? But the opposition was quickly drowned out by the cacophony of the crowd. Since scientists are opposed, of course, we must also listen to their opinions.

"Quiet, quiet! Everyone, please be quiet, Mr. Felix, what do you have to say?" Oliver's words still carried a lot of weight, and everyone began to quiet down.

Mr. Felix, the chief physicist, stood up from his position and clearly expressed his opposition.

"Professor Ding, you should know that there is almost a vacuum on the moon, and there is no way for a nuclear explosion to produce a shock wave! Usually, the nuclear explosion is very small in scope. The equivalent amount is even larger, but only so expand the range a little bit! Your scenario makes no sense!"

"According to the previous design, we are going to let the spacecraft carry a large number of nuclear bombs, and when the ship needs power, release one from the stern, followed by some solid discs made of hydrogen-containing plastic.

To put it simply, it is to let the nukes push the discs first, and then let the discs push the ship."

"So, Professor Ding Yidong, please explain why you want to use one billion-ton equivalent nuclear weapon directly? Why not use ten 100-million-ton ones, or say a hundred 10-million-ton ones? I think the finer the division, the higher the utilization of energy ah."

Professor Ding Yidong froze, knowing that if he did not satisfy these scientists, his proposal would definitely not take. These top scientists had always been the most sensible people, and it was impossible to be fooled by just a few words of the mouth.

Of course, he proposed this program, not because of handsome, or because of other, but has its own considerations, otherwise the light Oliver is not so easy to be moved by him.

He organized his language and said: "My program is different from yours, my program is the use of shock waves. There is no shock wave, then artificially create a shock wave!"

"Although the moon is a vacuum environment. But as long as there is air, dust and other media, shock waves will be there naturally."

"In my plan, we first build a thick metal shield on the bottom of the ship. Then dig a sealed cavern under the ship and fill it with a lot of air or something else, solid, liquid, whatever."

"Finally, we place the nuclear bomb in the cave**. When detonated, because the cave is medium, it will instantly produce a huge shock wave that will directly bombard the ship and lift it up!"

Felix pondered, pondered for a long time, and finally nodded, admitting that this plan did have some feasibility. According to Ding Yidong, it was also true that a large-yield nuclear weapon was needed for this to work, and with a small-yield nuclear weapon, the shock wave would not be strong enough.

Of course, there are more details to make up for in terms of energy consumption, safety, engineering volume, and other aspects.

Compared with the previous program, the two programs can be said to have their own advantages and disadvantages.

Scientists naturally divided into two factions, discussing the two options, and arguing about them.

"A big nuclear bomb, what if it fails? We've never had the technology to do that!"

"Thermonuclear weapons are not that difficult for us!"

"With a hundred nuclear bombs, it doesn't matter if one fails, but now with only one, the success rate is greatly reduced ..."

"The probability of failure should be very low, about the same as being smashed by an asteroid."

"From the point of view of energy consumption ..."

The two factions who can not convince anyone, arguing with each other's face, and even a disagreement, signs of a big fight ...

Oliver also does not know what to say, they argue, discuss, is responsible for life, for the entire human race. But both programs are theoretical things, neither has been practiced, and can not point to who is good and who is bad.

In the case of a referendum, Ding Yidong's proposal would have been chosen, and now these engineers can't get their minds off the idea of building a big nuclear bomb!

But more scientists preferred the small bomb proposal, after all, it was something that had been discussed for so long, and the safety was guaranteed, so it was impossible to be defeated by Ding Yidong's few words.

Oliver's head hurts, the final decision is still in his hands. But it was hard for him to make up his mind for a while, this is the life of all mankind!

Suddenly he gritted his teeth and said, "If we can't make up our mind, let's do both options together! It's just a waste of helium-3 and steel, what a big deal. The energy consumption for building this kind of nuclear bomb is very small, so a few more won't hurt.

"So, everyone be quiet and I will announce the results of today's discussion!"

Oliver said, and everyone quieted down, feeling a little strange, not yet discussed, how to suddenly announce the results?

"First, from now on, the hydrogen bomb program is cancelled and officially changed to the helium-3 nuclear bomb program! The freed up energy targets, we will allocate next." Hearing these words, the minds of some project leaders began to come alive; this time, it was definitely time to fight for more energy, and we couldn't let the project progress lag behind again.

"Two programs for nuclear bomb propulsion, implemented at the same time, first with a billion tons of helium-3 nuclear bomb propulsion program, and the other program changed to a backup program, under Felix's responsibility."

Hearing this, some people began to cheer, especially some Maoists who were also somehow excited and could not contain themselves, but even hysterically shouted wildly.