Chapter 260 Big Mac

Chapter 260 Big Mac

Chapter 260 Big Mac

at the same time.

The Minqin Airship Factory, which had detonated seven experimental airships in succession, finally collected various experimental data.

They also knew the critical points at which the airship would explode, burn, and leak.

During nearly 200 tests, the probability of an explosion caused by a leak in the airship's hydrogen balloon was very small, especially during high-altitude flight, where a leak in the airship's hydrogen balloon would not cause an explosion.

Or it leaks directly into the air and then drifts to higher levels of the atmosphere.

Or it will continue to spray and burn during the leakage process.

The reason why it is not easy to explode is that hydrogen explosion requires a specific concentration and a certain mixing ratio after mixing with oxygen.

This special ratio is difficult to form while flying in the air.

After all, when flying in the air, the air flows very fast, and it is difficult for hydrogen to form a specific concentration in one area.

On the contrary, combustion is the biggest risk after a hydrogen airbag leaks.

In order to deal with the possibility of hydrogen leakage during the flight of the airship, as well as combustion after leakage, the airship company has made technical improvements and also formulated its own emergency plans.

For example, between the airbag and the skin, there is a large annular airbag, which is filled with carbon dioxide to isolate hydrogen and oxygen from contact.

Even if hydrogen leaks and unfortunately ignites, it will burn through the carbon dioxide airbag immediately, and then cause carbon dioxide to overflow from the burnt position, thereby offsetting the burning hydrogen.

Moreover, the carbon dioxide airbag has another use, which is to adjust the buoyancy of the airbag through liquefaction and gasification, making it easier for the airship to adjust its overall buoyancy.

At the same time, once the liquid carbon dioxide storage tank of the carbon dioxide airbag receives a signal of burning of the internal hydrogen airbag or the carbon dioxide airbag ruptures, it will begin to spray out a large amount of carbon dioxide, thereby maintaining the carbon dioxide concentration inside the airship. It can also squeeze the oxygen in the surrounding air closer, providing the pilot with time for emergency response.

Of course, these hydrogen airships are unmanned, so the pilots control the airships remotely, and if they encounter emergencies, they need time to deal with them.

As each improvement plan is completed.

The first transport airship capable of experimental flight, Blue Whale 1 No. 1001, was finally completed at the end of November.

The airship is just over two hundred meters long and over fifty meters high.

There are 27 cubic meters of hydrogen airbags inside it, which can achieve a payload of 3000 tons in airspace below 200 meters above sea level.

The maximum take-off weight is 320 tons and the maximum payload is 200 tons.

The maximum flight altitude is 1.2 meters above sea level, and the cruising altitude is below 3000 meters above sea level.

The maximum flight speed is 150 kilometers per hour, and the cruising speed is 60 kilometers per hour to 120 kilometers per hour.

The maximum range is 13500 kilometers, and the maximum range under maximum load is 4500 kilometers.

Inside the airship dock of the airship factory, as hydrogen balloons were filled with hydrogen one by one, just in case, there was no one inside the dock at the time, and it was also filled with a large amount of carbon dioxide to isolate the oxygen.

Hou Xin, chief designer of the Blue Whale airship, and Wan Gaofeng, general manager of the airship company, are both in a nearby underground bunker base.

"Report, the airship's hydrogen airbags have been inflated."

"The report shows that the mooring cable is under a tension of 308 tons, which does not meet the take-off buoyancy requirements."

"Report: The hydrogen concentration in the outer layer of the airship is zero, which meets the takeoff criteria."

"Report…"

Wan Gaofeng glanced at the time on his watch and immediately ordered, "Begin recycling the carbon dioxide inside the dock."

"Roger that!"

A large amount of air is sucked into the lightweight dome built with silicon filament structure, and at the same time, the air intake channel at the bottom of the dock is opened to extract the carbon dioxide inside.

"Report, the tension of the airship's mooring cable has decreased..."

As the carbon dioxide concentration inside the dock decreases, the buoyancy of the airship also decreases. This is because the density of carbon dioxide near the ground is relatively high, about 54% heavier than air, which will cause the buoyancy of the airship to increase by 54%.

Soon the carbon dioxide inside the dock was replaced by normal air, and the buoyancy of the airship dropped to 200 tons.

"The airship's buoyancy meets takeoff specifications."

Wan Gaofeng gave the order again: "Open the dome."

"receive."

The airtight locks on the top of the dome opened automatically, and then the bottom of the dome began to move slowly along the tracks on both sides. It looked like a huge monster with a length of hundreds of meters and a height of hundreds of meters, but in fact, due to the large amount of lightweight silicon bean silk composite materials used, its overall weight is only about 15% of that of steel.

It can be pulled slowly through the track.

As the dome structure moves to both sides, the dock in the middle reveals its true appearance.

A huge airship with its upper half covered with black silicon carbide photovoltaic panels and its lower half painted blue-gray appeared in the camera.

Remote sensing satellites passing by in outer space can also see this giant.

"Report, the dome has been fully opened."

"Remove the mooring lines."

"receive."

"The dock mooring lines have been released."

Wan Gaofeng looked at the data on the console. Only the airship's four built-in mooring cables were left. Each of these cables could independently withstand a pulling force of about 70 tons, ensuring that the airship was firmly fixed.

"Remove the airship's mooring cables."

"receive."

As the airship's own mooring cables were released, the airship slowly floated upward until the airship adjusted its buoyancy through its internal buoyancy adjustment system, and then it floated stably at a height of 50 meters from the ground.

Soon, the airship, under the remote control of the pilot, flew to Minqin Airport in the south of Minqin High-tech Industrial Park. The staff of Minqin Airport detected the approach of the airship through radar.

The airship itself carries communication systems, positioning systems, etc. Due to its large size and payload, it can carry more equipment and is relatively easy to control.

In addition, the airship does not fly very fast, which makes it easy for the pilot to control it remotely.

Although the northwest wind in Minqin was very strong at that time, the strong wind could not cause the airship to deviate greatly due to its huge size and amazing weight.

Moreover, today's automated equipment and wind regulation systems are no longer what they were decades ago. Various interferences caused by wind can be corrected through automated equipment.

"This is Minqin Airport. Airship No. 1001 received. Please return."

"Received. This is airship No. 1001. We are requesting to dock."

"1001, you request to pass, please anchor at berth No. 5..."

Compared with the fussy airplanes, the airship is more densely equipped with various control devices and positioning devices. Soon the airship was accurately moored 5 meters above berth No. 50 of Minqin Airport.

A fast rack tractor pulling six 6-foot containers moved the racks directly under the airship.

Then several staff members quickly pulled up the cargo cable dropped by the airship and fixed it on the shelf.

"1001 airship, the shelf cables are secured."

"Received. Please evacuate as soon as possible."

"receive."

Three minutes later.

The tractor and crew were evacuated to a safe area.

"1001 airship, our personnel and equipment have been evacuated and can be lifted."

"receive."

The airship's motor started, pulling the shelves and containers up.

Soon the containers and shelves were pulled into the cargo hold in the belly of the airship and secured.

After a while, the airship released the mooring cables and flew quickly towards Weicheng in Qin Province.

Since the airship was flying from northwest to southeast, it happened to be flying with the wind, and its speed quickly increased to 120 kilometers per hour.

To facilitate this test, the airship company set up several communication relay stations along the flight route and dispatched a tracking fleet.

However, the ground fleet will not intervene in control until the driver's remote control fails.

Fly directly from Minqin to Weicheng, the total distance is about 750 kilometers.

First pass through the southwest of the Tengger Desert.

The uninhabited southwestern part of the Tengger Desert has now been transformed into soybean farms. However, when viewed from the air in winter, the soybean farms are just large cubes dotted with farm factories and dormitory areas.

It was not until we passed the river channel near Heishan Gorge of the Yellow River that we began to see obvious human habitation on the ground.

When entering densely populated urban areas, the airship had to maneuver in order to avoid entering the airspace above the city, and specifically chose the wilderness as its route.

Gonghe Town near Pingchuan District.

Wang Dali, who was hibernating, had just gotten out of the car and looked at his own fields: "Wow, it's so cold!"

Suddenly his eyes widened.

I saw a huge blue-black monster flying quickly from the northwest.

"What is this?" Wang Dali wiped his eyes and looked again, muttering to himself: "What is this?"

Although it was unclear, he still picked up his phone and took a video.

Soon the surrounding residents also discovered this huge monster.

After passing the nearby Quwu Mountain, we arrived above Fuxing Town.

Along the way, the airship attracted a lot of attention.

Because the flight had to bypass cities and mountains, the flight distance increased by about 70 kilometers.

The total flight distance was 820 kilometers, with an average flight speed of 116 kilometers per hour. It took only 7 hours to successfully arrive at Weicheng Airport near Weicheng.

People in Weicheng city can easily see the huge creature floating in the air.

"Shit! What is that?"

"airship?"

"so big."

Especially for residents living near the airport, they can see the airship just by looking up, and watching it from below is truly shocking.

Full of oppression.

However, the airship did not stay for too long. It unloaded 6 containers of artificial silk and picked up 6 containers of tropical fruits. Then it flew back to Minqin without stopping.

During the entire process of navigation, anchoring, unloading and loading, the ground fleet did not provide any guidance or assisted control, and all driving was done by remote-controlled pilots near Minqin Airport.

Although this low-altitude route was applied for temporarily, all the regions it passes through are very respectful.

This test flight quickly sparked heated discussions on the Internet.

(End of this chapter)