Chapter Forty-Five: The Aircraft

Even to this day, Li Qingsong still possessed only those sole two landing spacecraft capable of traveling back and forth between the planet Luoshen and the Deep Space vessel.

Originally there had been only one. However, in the later stages of development, when the spare parts of the first disassembled landing craft were no longer needed, it was reassembled, bringing the total to two.

To ensure he did not lose these only two spacecraft capable of space travel, Li Qingsong had minimized their flight frequency as much as possible, using them only when absolutely necessary in order to extend their lifespans.

Even so, by now they had grown old and decrepit, barely capable of flying.

Li Qingsong had long planned to develop his own spaceflight capabilities, but due to limited fundamental technologies and insufficient industrial strength, he had never been able to realize it. At this moment, however, the base's scale and technological foundation had developed immensely, and he could finally begin to work on it.

On a pre-selected open plot of land, a large number of clones were deployed, and before long, an aerospace technology research base had been constructed.

The first propulsion test commenced soon after.

Because of Luoshen's environment, which was vastly different from Earth's, the aerospace technology developed on Luoshen was destined to be different from Earth's.

On Earth, sending a spacecraft or satellite into space was impossible without rockets.

Because rockets could not be made very large, spacecraft or satellites could not be very large either.

Here, however, Li Qingsong could directly bypass the rocket stage, going straight to building flight vehicles capable of taking off directly from the planet's surface into space, and then returning directly from space.

Furthermore, on Earth, airplanes and spacecraft were two completely different entities: one could only fly within the atmosphere, while the other could only fly in space.

On Luoshen, however, airplanes and spacecraft could not be so distinctly categorized.

These two things could roughly be considered the same kind—both relied on burning fuel to generate high-pressure gas for ejection, thereby obtaining forward thrust.

With higher thrust capable of breaking free from Luoshen's gravitational field, it was a spacecraft. With lower thrust unable to break free, it was an airplane.

In essence, they were identical.

Thus, inside a huge workshop at the aerospace base, large amounts of methane and liquid oxygen were pumped into the engine. Upon ignition, searing hot gas spewed from the tail, and the immense kinetic energy immediately acted upon the test bench.

The technology for this type of engine originated from the internal combustion engine technology that Li Qingsong had long since mastered. The only difference was that internal combustion engines burned methane and liquid oxygen to push pistons, whereas here, the high-pressure gas generated by their combustion was directly expelled.

Although the method of performing work differed, the combustion process remained the same.

The vigorous thrust lasted for a few minutes. Looking at the readings on the screen, Li Qingsong frowned.

The thrust was too low; this kind of power was insufficient to propel a spacecraft out of the planetary gravitational field, nor could it even lift an airplane into flight.

"We must improve the combustion efficiency and scale," Li Qingsong thought to himself. "Yet if we do that, the temperature will become too high. The performance of my current heat-resistant materials probably won't hold up."

This was a rather tricky problem.

Human society naturally possessed formulas for advanced heat-resistant materials, but the knowledge base of the Deep Space vessel did not have them.

The Deep Space vessel did contain high-performance heat-resistant materials, but Li Qingsong had checked them; the technological threshold was too high, and he could not manufacture them himself.

"I still need to find a material with a lower technological threshold that I can manufacture right now, yet one that can still meet current demands."

At a thought from Li Qingsong, one thousand clones were immediately assigned to the material building of the scientific research base.

Without any prior training or study, these newly added one thousand clones instantly adapted to the work rhythm of the research base, integrating seamlessly into the existing R&D work without any obstacles.

In addition to these one thousand hands-on clones, Li Qingsong had also mobilized an extra amount of "brainpower" equivalent to about three thousand people, throwing them into the analysis of existing test data and the contemplation of future attempts.

Many tasks could not be done without humans, but in truth, they did not consume much brainpower.

Just like a clone operating an excavator, how much brainpower could operating an excavator possibly consume?

Consequently, a massive amount of brainpower was left idle.

Idle was idle; it was better to put it to use pondering problems in materials science.

Thus, a bizarre spectacle could be seen within Li Qingsong's base:

Even though a clone was operating an excavator, at the very same time, he was pondering the most cutting-edge and advanced problems in materials science;

Even though a clone was feeding pigs, he was simultaneously pondering problems in materials science;

Even a clone driving a train, who appeared completely absorbed in operating the locomotive, was actually pondering materials science problems just the same.

Furthermore, if an emergency arose requiring his full attention, he could instantly cease pondering the materials science problem, and his corresponding share of thought might be transferred in a split second to the brain of another construction clone tying steel bars a thousand kilometers away.

By adopting this model, Li Qingsong achieved complete utilization of the brainpower of all controllable clones without a single shred of waste.

Li Qingsong had already grown quite proficient with this model beforehand. However, suddenly mobilizing one thousand clones for hands-on operation and an extra three thousand shares of brainpower for contemplation on such a massive scale was a first.

The reason was simply that this problem was of great importance and had to be resolved at the fastest possible speed.

When thousands of brains, each possessing reserves of knowledge across nearly every academic discipline, contemplated a single problem simultaneously, a breakthrough appeared very quickly.

By adding a specific proportion of nickel and tungsten metals, and then adopting a certain special metal processing technique, a heat-resistant metal meeting Li Qingsong's requirements was finally manufactured and quickly installed on the testing equipment.

The propulsion test began once more.

This time, the flames spewing from the tail of the engine were brighter and more ferocious, and it was evident that their temperature and pressure were both higher.

Looking at the data on the screen, Li Qingsong nodded in satisfaction.

This time, the thrust finally met the standard.

The biggest problem in manufacturing a flying vehicle lay in the engine. Once the engine technology was broken through, fabricating the iron hull was even less difficult.

Soon enough, a bizarre flying vehicle appeared before Li Qingsong; overall it was hemispherical in shape, equipped with a flat underside and two thruster nozzles at the rear.

"Ignite!"

Accompanied by Li Qingsong's command, the clone responsible for operating the craft immediately pressed the corresponding button.

The next moment, searing flames jetted from the bottom of the craft, propelling the hemispherical vehicle—which stood four meters tall and eight meters in diameter—into a slow ascent, ultimately hovering at a height of more than a dozen meters above the ground.