Chapter 145 Space Battleship Design I_1

Two years later, the 30th year of the Crisis Era.

The lunar farside Earth-Moon Lagrange space elevator base.

This place had been transformed into an ultra-large industrial base, having developed the most advanced and complete industrial system, with considerable scale.

Lin Sen and Feng Zi came here to also listen to the Moon Base Science Advisory Board's design proposals for space battleships.

Over these two years, Lin Sen had taken Feng Zi to familiarize himself with all the affairs of the Moon Base, and Rey Diaz had also transferred many powers to Feng Zi, they were all earnestly training this new Wallfacer's Assistant.

By the time Lin Sen and Rey Diaz entered hibernation, Feng Zi had become the highest leader of the Moon Base.

People of this era had an advanced understanding of warfare; in all the battleship plans there was absolutely no occurrence of blood-ridden designs conforming to fluid dynamics, instead, the battleship designs first considered structural stress.

Even Lin Sen understood this issue, so they were even less likely to make such a basic mistake.

They had a more thorough understanding of space warfare, knowing exactly what kind of weapons they needed, even before the weapons appeared, various tactical permutations had long been simulated.

If conventional rocket propulsion was used, its speed had a limit. To achieve greater speeds, more fuel was needed, and the fuel itself represented a huge mass, requiring greater propulsion and consuming more raw materials.

Using this propulsion method, the theoretical maximum speed of a battleship would be 6000 kilometers per second (2% of the speed of light), which was meaningless.

That would be using all raw materials for a one-time acceleration and deceleration, dumping each raw material store after use to reduce weight, akin to a rocket's acceleration.

Under this propellant propulsion mode, the maximum speed in conventional combat would not exceed 600 kilometers per second, and its survivability was also extremely poor.

The only way out was a propellant-less propulsion method, which greatly reduced the fuel requirement and allowed survivability to meet the demands of space combat.

In the navy, a battleship was a perfect combination of firepower, defense, and speed, but in space, it was a combination of firepower, power, and survivability.

In space, the resistance faced by a battleship was almost zero, and theoretically, as long as there was thrust and continuous acceleration over time, the speed could keep increasing until relativistic effects became significant at 90% the speed of light.

At that point, the acceleration produced by the same thrust would noticeably decrease, and consuming huge energy would only add a little speed, an inefficiency not worth pursuing. Considering the energy utilization balance, 70% the speed of light was the most reasonable and also the comprehensive theoretical maximum speed from all aspects.

However, in reality, it was impossible; the space environment was extremely complex, and at such high speeds, there would be virtually no survivability in space; even space dust could shatter a battleship to pieces.

Adding a high-energy particle spray shield in front of the battleship was also unfeasible.

Firstly, stealth was most important in space combat; a one-sided pursuit of high speed made no sense, as the saying goes, to be spotted is to be destroyed.

The stealth of a space battleship differed from what we usually understand; although we can observe distant objects in visible light, even asteroids in the Kuiper Belt, those are results of long-term focused observations.

On the battlefield, it is clearly impossible to observe in all directions, and choosing the direction of search is critical, with the ability to detect the enemy in advance being of utmost importance.

Secondly, the energy consumption of a space battleship's high-energy particle shield was also very high, again not worth the costs.

Moreover, the protective capability of a high-energy particle shield was not strong; it could defend against high-speed meteorites, but enemy attacks were far stronger than this defense.

A high-energy particle shield could not protect against directed energy weapon attacks, so it was of no value in actual combat.

The most important aspect of a space battleship was its survivability, which included the ship's environmental control and life support system, the battleship's defensive system, maintenance and repair systems, and even some industrial production capabilities.

In combat, a space battleship must be able to change directions quickly, which is to say, maneuverability. It must be able to dodge various attacks, space meteorites… etc.

At the same time, the battleship's survivability also reflects the relationship between the ship's maneuverability and its structural stress and reliability.

Taking all factors together, survivability can be measured by a single simplest performance index, which is the maximum speed of the battleship.

The maximum speed of a battleship is not the limit speed it can accelerate to, but it refers to the highest speed that can be achieved while ensuring the battleship's survivability.

Beyond this limit, the battleship's survivability could not be guaranteed, such as the ability to detect and evade obstacles ahead being insufficient, the battleship's reaction capability in the face of unknown situations being limited, and the battleship's defenses facing significant challenges; even interstellar dust and tiny meteorites could damage the battleship.

In the original work, the speed of human warships reached 15% of the speed of light, which is also a kind of comprehensive capability; as long as there are enough resources and other factors are not considered, increasing the battleship speed to 15% the speed of light is not difficult.

Simply considering maximum speed is meaningless, which is different from the navy. In naval combat, the maximum speed symbolizes the ship's power, and the greater the speed, the greater the resistance from seawater.

In space warfare, maneuverability is the true symbol of a battleship's power; there is no resistance in space, and maximum speeds are essentially unrestricted.

This is also true for the Trisolaran Interstellar Fleet; their battleships, like ours, have extremely poor defenses, and they also lack resources.

...

Lin Sen first looked at a design blueprint of a battleship. Its design was simple and clear, ingeniously embedding a disk into a cylinder.

Lin Sen, "Its shape is quite beautiful. Can you introduce your design plan?"

Chief Battleship Designer, "Certainly, Mr. Lin Sen. As you mentioned, it is very beautiful.

"The battleship is 617 meters in length and 253 meters in width (the diameter of the disk), houses a crew of 900, has a fully-loaded displacement of about 500,000 tons, and is powered by two controllable nuclear fusion engines that can provide a thrust acceleration of 8G at full power.

"Since space battleships use fusion engines, we have completely abandoned the concept of specific impulse. Propellant utilization efficiency is not a key indicator, and endurance capabilities are sufficient at this stage.

"The outermost layer of the battleship is coated with the latest nanofilm material, which can even render it invisible to all existing radar systems. Moreover, it absorbs visible light effectively, approaching a black body, and its outer shell is smooth as a mirror.

"Its maximum speed is 1500 kilometers per second (one-thousandth of the speed of light), theoretically capable of reaching maximum velocity in five and a half hours. In practice, it's not possible; it might even take 10 hours or longer, taking into account whether the crew can endure such acceleration for extended periods.

"Only in the future, when we have developed deep-sea acceleration fluid, will higher battleship acceleration speeds become meaningful.

"The maximum speed of a battleship is essentially meaningless, but we often use maximum speed to refer to the overall performance of a battleship.

"The survival ability of a battleship depends largely on its ability to detect and evade attacks or space objects.

"In space, despite seeming wide open, there are actually many other materials and potential threats.

"Without appropriate protective measures, excessive speeds could result in severe damage to the battleship or even lead to the tragic loss of both ship and crew.

"The most sophisticated part of the battleship is its long-range information detection system. This can be roughly understood as a 'telescope' or 'radar', equipped with adaptive optical systems and multi-polarization radar capabilities.

"However, it is not like the telescopes we are familiar with, its appearance is that of a large panel, attached to the upper and lower faces of the battleship's 'disk'. It does not resemble a large caliber tube or a 'big pot.'

"As the battleship moves forward, it can change its orientation at will, and the 'telescopes' on the 'disk surface' can monitor everything around them, including the direction of advance.

"Combined with the intelligence gathering and processing system, they work in coordination and cooperation, providing comprehensive support and security for the navigation, combat, and survival of the battleship, and are also an important part of the battleship's intelligence system.

"Therefore, for a battleship, having a powerful detection system and flexible maneuvering capabilities are crucial to ensure its safety in the complex space environment."

Lin Sen, "I see, I've always thought that space battleships, like naval ships, reflect their power through their maximum speed, but it actually refers to their comprehensive survival capabilities.

"It makes sense. With no resistance in space, as long as there's sufficient energy for acceleration, the speed can keep increasing without any limitation, unless it is near the speed of light, which is clearly impossible."

Chief Battleship Designer, "Yes, that's a common misunderstanding. The maximum speed of a space battleship is not the same concept as the maximum speed of a naval battleship.

"This is our first test ship; its design goal is to be able to navigate freely within Martian orbit to help us collect data on the inner Solar System's space environment.

"The battleship's weapon systems and information processing systems are of a testing nature and do not possess real combat capabilities."

To be continued...

PS: In the movie 'Avatar 2', there's a large mirror at the front of the spacecraft; some people think it's a light sail, but the author believes it's a 'telescope', used for observation and navigation.

'Telescopes' can not only look like "tubes" or "pots," but also like "large panels."

As for the misconception that space battleships can't detect objects in front of them while moving forward, that's incorrect. Space battleships (during inertial flight, not in acceleration mode) can change orientation quickly at any time to detect in any direction.

In fact, space battleships use acceleration and deceleration less often, mostly inertial navigation with occasional directional changes.

Furthermore, there seems to be a misunderstanding in the original work about the maximum speed of space battleships, which the author has corrected here. After all, space battleships are different from naval battleships.

The concept of space battleship combat is detection, analysis, and attack. The battleship's largest component is the "large panel," analysis is the command system, and the next chapter will analyze the attack.