Chapter 46 New Year Summary_1

Lin Sen and Logic busied themselves at the Wallfacer Research Base for half a year, and the time had come for the Spring Festival of the 8th year of the Crisis Era.

In the past half year, every department under the Wallfacers had achieved pleasing results.

The first was the achievement that Ding Yi had made in controlled nuclear fusion. The latest demonstration report on the controlled nuclear fusion approach had been submitted to the PDC, which provided the most up-to-date and detailed data demonstration for every detail of the new fusion method. The Science Advisory Board of PDC had audited and approved this demonstration report, deeming it the most theoretically close-to-success plan in recent years.

After the New Year, the PDC was about to conduct experimental verification for this controlled nuclear fusion approach. Since the original fusion devices were incapable of being modified, new ones needed to be built from scratch. Also, they were waiting for Wang Miao's new type of nano-alloy material. The completion of everything was expected to take another half a year.

This was the first generation of controlled nuclear fusion, utilizing deuterium-tritium fusion. Its disadvantage was the difficulty and high cost of producing tritium. Natural tritium is almost nonexistent and must be artificially produced. It could help humanity break through energy limitations but wasn't truly accessible to all of mankind.

The second generation of controlled nuclear fusion involved the fusion of deuterium with helium-3. Deuterium was much easier to obtain than tritium, and the quantity of deuterium in seawater was relatively substantial. This was our ideal method of fusion; the resulting neutron pollution, although present, was minimal.

The third generation of controlled nuclear fusion was helium-3 with helium-3 fusion. It wouldn't even produce neutron pollution, and with the Moon rich in helium-3, it formed the foundation for us to step off the Earth.

The fourth generation... up to the sixth would achieve hydrogen-hydrogen fusion, a technology we dreamed of but one even the Trisolarans had not mastered.

If the Trisolarans had this technology, they could probably reach Earth in just a few decades, and the human world wouldn't stand any chance of defeating them. The raw material for hydrogen-hydrogen fusion was simply water that had been electrolyzed. The Trisolaran world was definitely rich in water resources, meaning the Trisolarans would have access to virtually unlimited resources as well.

As for the existence of a seventh or eighth generation or even more advanced fusion, the answer is affirmative. Theoretically, elements like carbon and silicon could undergo heavy fusion, which means 'burning rocks' (the heavy fusion engine in "The Wandering Earth"). Elements preceding iron in the periodic table could undergo fusion to release energy, but the required technology was far beyond what we could currently contemplate.

In the original timeline, after developing the first generation of controlled nuclear fusion, Ding Yi turned to theoretical physics, searching for a way to rid high-energy particle experiments of Sophon interference, but without any success. In utter despair, at the age of 76, he contemplated hibernating to see the Trisolarans' technology in the future.

Now, the new fusion approach proposed by Ding Yi even had the potential to achieve the second generation of controlled nuclear fusion. New materials and techniques were crucial for controlled nuclear fusion, but this was not Ding Yi's strong suit.

Once the technological verification was successful, Ding Yi's focus would naturally shift to high-energy particle research and quantum tunneling models. Should he make another breakthrough in the quantum tunneling model and the third generation of controlled nuclear fusion, human development would advance significantly.

Ding Yi had made a breakthrough in the first generation of controlled nuclear fusion nearly 4 years ahead of schedule compared to the original timeline. The original third generation of controlled nuclear fusion didn't appear until the late stages of the Great Ravine, and it was this technology that helped human civilization emerge from that period. Now, it seemed that this timeline could be significantly moved forward, which also gave Lin Sen more confidence when facing the upcoming Great Ravine.

Speaking of Wang Miao's achievements, his research in nanotechnology had also made breakthrough progress. Using a process similar to biological extraction and new catalysts, he increased the production speed of nanomaterials by 20 times, which was an incredible accomplishment.

According to Wang Miao, "The efficiency of the biological extraction process is just too high. Both the new process and the new catalysts have tremendous potential that can be further explored, and it's possible to achieve even greater results. Speed increases of 50 to 100 times are within reach."

In the past, molecular assembly was achieved with molecular probes, but now these have been replaced with "ribosome-like" entities. These act as mobile "assembly factories" that contain a transcription ring, assembling surrounding molecules into carbon nanotubes with structures and sequences, and at a considerable speed. If the process is refined, it might not be much slower than actual ribosomes transcribing peptide chains.

Wang Miao's talent was astonishing. He wasn't even a strong person; compared to Zhang Beihai or Wade, he appeared too weak. He was merely a frail human being who, in the original timeline, could only cry alone on the streets in despair. Yet, it was this very feebleness of character that he overcame to successfully build the space elevator. Now, with someone giving him confidence, direction, and goals, he was determined to seize them and display his value in life, no longer bound by his weakness.

Every day Wang Miao's side was making improvements to the process. New catalytic processes were being created daily for trials, and the various theoretical proofs for nanomanufacturing were also being updated every day. In a few more months, once the process matured, construction of the space elevator could begin.

Upon receiving the news, Commander Chang Weisi had already arranged for people to go to a small country in Africa to discuss the location of the space elevator.

The collaboration between Marcus and Wu Yue was also very pleasant, as both were earnest people who did not beat around the bush. The progress with the brain-machine interface was not very significant, as most of the leading brain scientists were now with Hines. Simple applications of the brain-machine interface had matured, but to achieve the desired effects, computing power proved to be an insurmountable challenge.

However, the AI models involved in the brain-machine interfaces had made significant progress, showing startling efficiency in handling complex problems. If similar progress could be achieved in the neural interfaces, such technology would be valuable. Massive construction projects were underway globally, and this technology could significantly increase the speed of many engineering projects.

In any case, the arrival of the New Year called for a few days of relaxation. Lin Sen decided to grant everyone a 7-day holiday. Since the Crisis Era, international laws stipulated one day off every half month and one day off for New Year's or New Year's Day, with all other holidays cancelled.

The 7-day holiday made everyone cheer. In that moment, they forgot everything else; they just cheered, not only for the holiday but for their achievements, their triumph over despair!

Logic and Lin Sen also returned to that tranquil manor, the only place of peace left on the planet. The PDC had approved that this manor would forever belong to Logic, named the Wallfacers' Manor, and no one was allowed to disturb it without permission.

Logic went back to reunite with his wife and daughter, after all, he had been away for more than half a year, and Lin Sen didn't wish to intrude on their family time.

Lin Sen headed to a side building in the manor, which now housed two other Wallfacers, Tyler and Rey Diaz. The side building where Tyler and Rey Diaz stayed was about 2 kilometers away from Logic's main building. They generally didn't disturb Zhuang Yan and the children, although Tyler sometimes liked to tease the kids, perhaps only the innocence of children could console his seeking heart.

The security of the Wallfacers' Manor was of utmost importance. Not only were the perimeter defenses strict, with the military deployed at various levels, but the interior was also fully monitored. Even insects were regularly caught and inspected for the possibility of carrying toxins. The nannies, cleaning, and security staff arranged inside were all carefully selected, as there were three Wallfacers here.