Chapter 380: The Weight of the Tibetan Antelope

For this flight test, Chen Shen and the others designed several sets of flight routes.

From short, low-altitude, low-speed routes to long, high-altitude, high-speed routes.

The short-distance low-speed route was tested quickly, and the spacecraft did not experience any abnormalities during the whole process, and it entered the long-distance high-speed high-altitude route smoothly.

In the control center, the small dot representing the Tibetan antelope signal on the radar screen has been steady.

"Test the limit speed with no load." Chen Shen said.

The operator nodded, resisting his excitement, and pressed the command on the keyboard.

The Tibetan Antelope outside immediately accelerated on the original flight path. From the camera mounted on the rear of the fuselage, it can be seen that the blue light emitted from its tail quickly broke through from tens of centimeters to the meter level, leaving a long track in the air.

And in the flight control room, the flight speed displayed on the instrument is also gradually increasing, from the previous two hundred kilometers, slowly rising to three hundred, four hundred...

After breaking through 1,300 kilometers, the ascent speed slowed down, until the back was no longer moving, and the alarm was even turned on.

When Chen Shen saw this, he knew that he had reached the limit speed of no-load, and told the staff in the control room to slow down, and at the same time keep an eye on the flight data, and report any abnormalities as soon as possible.

The ideal take-off weight of the nuclear-powered version of the Tibetan Antelope is 56 tons. Within this weight range, the flying speed and flexibility of the Tibetan Antelope in the atmosphere can be guaranteed, which is a must for a fighter.

The spacecraft weighs 13 tons except the weapon system, and the weight of the main body is 35 tons, which includes 16 tons of micro-nuclear reactors, plus one ton of propellant, and the spacecraft has 8 tons of spare load.

However, the Tibetan antelope, which uses a plasma reactor as its main power source, is different. After removing the miniature nuclear reactor, the structure of the spacecraft and the weight of most of the equipment should theoretically only be 19 tons.

But after all, the times are different, and the weight of some small parts will also be different due to different craftsmanship. What's more, Chen Shen and the others have also carried out localized transformation of this technology, using modern technology where it can be used. So after removing the reactor and stinging to restrain the weight of the propellant, the weight of the spacecraft body became 23 tons.

This has not included the weight of the plasma reactor. If the plasma reactor is included, the weight of the spacecraft will increase by leaps and bounds to 60 tons. The equipment is still heavy, and at the same time, the weight of the spacecraft is almost reaching the limit of 70.58 tons of thrust.

This thrust-to-weight ratio is very good if it is placed on a fighter jet, but it is a bit embarrassing to put it on the Tibetan Antelope.

Because the Tibetan Antelope itself is going to take off and land vertically, and it only consumes less than a ton of propellant in the airframe, it will not fly in the air like an airplane, and the fuel will be reduced, and the weight of the airframe will also be reduced. stage, the thrust of the Tibetan Antelope must be much greater than its own weight to ensure safety.

This is also the reason why Tang Huacong wanted to change the Tibetan Antelope to a horizontal take-off and landing mode, so that the load can be greatly increased during take-off.

The change in the weight of the airframe will first bring about changes in speed and flexibility, which is also the main reason why the Tibetan Antelope is not flying fast.

And under the premise of ensuring a safety margin, the payload of the Tibetan Antelope is only two tons, that is to say, together with the driver and other space suits and other equipment, the weight cannot exceed two tons.

Chen Shen has nothing to do with this, he is not a god.

However, considering that this Tibetan Antelope is only a verification machine, and it is also used for scientific research, it is not satisfactory.

Chen Shen thought of this, and secretly made up his mind to hold another meeting with those old grandpas at twelve o'clock tonight, and then he relaxed his brows.

"Today's flight is over here, let's land the plane first and do an inspection."

Seeing that the Tibetan Antelope had been flying for an hour, and the cumulative flight mileage had reached 1,000 kilometers, Chen Shen felt that it was time to end today.

Watching the Tibetan Antelope slowly and steadily parked on the traction platform outside, the people in the room applauded and cheered before the surrounding dust settled.

"Comrades! We made it!"

People in the room kept standing up and cheering, and others stomped their feet or hugged each other in excitement.

They wanted to cheer since the Tibetan Antelope took off successfully, but Chen Shen's face was too calm, suppressing the atmosphere, and now they finally couldn't suppress it.

Chen Shen felt that the performance of the Tibetan Antelope was still reluctant, and that was because his pre-set goals were set too high.

But other people in the flight control room are very satisfied with this result!

You know, this is the world's first plasma-propelled aircraft that can take off and land in the atmosphere!

It can take off and land in the atmosphere today, which means that it is only a matter of time before it goes to space in the future.

The excitement at the scene can be felt from people's expressions and actions. Some people even brought the happy water next to them and shook it twice as if it was champagne.

With a bang, the room smelled of happiness.

The three astronauts in the flight control room were the most excited. They knew the significance of the successful flight test of the Tibetan Antelope, which means that there is one more way for human beings to explore space in the future, and this way can allow humans to go further in space. .

After the traction platform pulled the Tibetan Antelope back to the workshop, the engineering team immediately inspected it.

The inspection results came out the next day, and yesterday's flight was all normal, except that the dust on the air intake grille was a bit heavy.

They warned that if you fly in such a windy and dusty environment for a long time, it may cause the air intake and heat dissipation channels to be blocked, causing flight hazards.

But there is no need to worry about this problem, at least not for a short time.

In the next few days, the Tibetan Antelope will conduct flight tests every day, and after each flight test, a full-body inspection will be carried out to confirm that there is no problem with the spacecraft.

It was not until the end of June that a Jingwei helicopter arrived and hoisted it to the only manned space launch site in China for its "first flight".

Although logically speaking, the Tibetan Antelope could fly directly into the sky from the previous test flight site and go straight into space, but the test flight site is only a test site after all, and many monitoring equipment are not as good as a special space launch site.

Moreover, this is the first flight of the Tibetan Antelope, so it must be more formal. What is it to fly to the sky in the mud-eating place on the test flight field?

Following the Tibetan Antelope, Chen Shen also came to the space launch site, but the Tibetan Antelope was brought over by a Jingwei helicopter in a three-color cloth, and he came by car.