Kunshan, Jiangsu, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Star Technology, Star Optics.
Guo Shouyu came here with Luo Jia, met the person in charge Zhang Yuechuan and Lu Chengfeng, the two exchanged pleasantries, and then led by Zhang Yuechuan to the fourth workshop.
“This matter is troublesome, since you have a space telescope plan, why didn’t you say it earlier?”
“I don’t know how technically the mirror you designed is compared with the latest Webb telescope launched in North America?”
Walking on the road, Guo Shouyu asked many questions, but both Zhang Yuechuan and Luo Jia felt embarrassed and did not answer immediately.
Luo Jia frowned and said, “Well… our space telescope is quite special. There are reasons why we didn’t notify everyone in advance. In short, it’s hard to explain. You’ll find out when you take a look.”
“It’s hard to explain?” Guo Shouyu was suspicious, “Then I want to see it, can your space telescope still go against the sky? For so many years, the telescopes all over the world have almost the same design, because the optical principle is not fixed. There.”
Luo Jia and Zhang Yuechuan looked at each other, and continued walking forward without saying anything.
The fourth workshop is independent from the factory area, connected by a narrow and long corridor, and the access control is also very strict. Everyone has to pass the iris test, and then pass through the huge metal reinforced door before finally entering the workshop.
“Robot!”
After entering the workshop, Guo Shouyu’s eyes lit up and he exclaimed.
I saw that this is a futuristic factory with a very advanced concept. The main productivity comes from human engineers, hardcover mechanical arms, and general-purpose working robots headed by star wings.
Among them, humans are more responsible for supervision and management, and the ultra-fine work of processing optical lenses is handed over to robots and robotic arms to ensure the final assembly accuracy.
“This is your lens!?”
Guo Shouyu suddenly stopped and looked at the huge optical lens in the clean room with an incredulous expression, as if he saw some kind of frightening monster.
“Yes, what you see is the main mirror of our space telescope.” Zhang Yuechuan replied slightly.
Guo Shouyu was completely stunned, because this lens had surpassed his imagination. It was roughly estimated that the diameter was at least twenty-five meters, equivalent to the height of an eight-story building.
You know, the well-known Hubble Space Telescope has an aperture of only 2.4 meters, and the super space telescope Webb, which cost tens of billions, has an aperture of 6.5 meters. The diameter is more than an astonishing twenty-five meters. What kind of madness is this?
“You…you didn’t use the splitting technique!?” Guo Shouyu was stunned for a full minute before asking in surprise.
Luo Jia pouted, “Indeed, the Webb Space Telescope in North America uses 18 hexagonal mirrors, each with a diameter of 1.3 meters and a weight of 40 kilograms. Simply put, it is a combined mirror. Weber’s lens is spliced with eighteen hexagons.”
“However, the question is, does the hexagonal splicing lens really represent advanced technology?”
“I don’t think so. The reason why North America adopts the combined design is not from an optical point of view, but more because of the stability of the mechanical mechanism, the flexibility of the motor control system, the limited volume inside the rocket, and the total cost. control and other related reasons.”
“That is to say, North America wants to use a one-piece round mirror like us, but unfortunately they can’t make it, and the strength of the mechanical structure can’t support this super large mirror, with a total weight of several hundred tons. Telescope, the West does not have such a powerful launch vehicle.”
Although Xingchen Optics is a rising star in the industry, it has already been in the blue. Inside the ultra-ultraviolet laser hybrid lithography machine, the incomparably complex lens system, Xingchen Optics can successfully develop it, which shows the high level of this team.
In terms of auxiliary systems, the main mechanical structure of the Xingchen Space Telescope uses more advanced graphene materials and more powerful ultrasonic motors. The transportation does not rely on rocket launches, but on the space elevators located on Weigu Island. These prerequisites Conditions are not available in the West.
Its own conditions are different, and it is destined to play differently, so Xingchen Technology chose a simple and crude route and built a giant with a weight of several hundred tons.
“Not necessarily?” Guo Shouyu said after thinking for a moment: “After Weber is divided into small mirrors, each small mirror is actually controlled by a motor independently, so that if there is any optical aberration that needs to be adjusted, it can be controlled more flexibly. .”
“I think back then, after the Hubble Telescope was sent to the sky, some optical aberrations were discovered. It was polished very precisely into an incorrect shape, and they spent a lot of money and a lot of effort to correct the error, and the split mirror system exists to correct the error.”
After listening to these words, Luo Jia smiled and said lightly: “Only when there is an error, the mirror system needs to be corrected, and the precision of our lens is 0.1 nanometer, there is no error, so there is no need for mirror. “
“How much!?”
“You just said, what is the error of this lens!?”
Guo Shouyu grabbed his hair with his right hand, almost jumped up on the spot in excitement, and his voice was obviously an octave higher.
“0.1 nanometer.” Luo Jia replied frankly.
Guo Shouyu gasped, he was shocked at first, and then showed an expression of ecstasy.
It is difficult for people who have not done astronomical observation to understand what the precision of 0.1 nanometer means. The cost exceeds 10 billion U.S. dollars. It is known as the most powerful space telescope in the 21st century. North American Webb, its lens error How much is it?
Ten nanometers.
The Xingchen Technology has achieved 0.1 nanometer, and the error is only one percent of that of the Weber.
What is even more incredible is that the diameter of the lens of the Weber is 1.3 meters, while the diameter of the lens of Star Technology is 25.537 meters, which is 19.63 times that of the Weber!
I really don’t know how Xingchen Technology achieves a nearly zero error on such a huge lens. Such a feat will definitely rewrite the history of the earth’s astronomical observation field.
“We didn’t use traditional grinding, but we used robots plus laser grinding technology.” Luo Jia said lightly: “You may have forgotten that when we were researching lithography machines, we took out high-energy physics and designed them separately. The director of the research institute is Xu Guangling, and the chief advisor is Wen Chengling.”
“Currently, Wen Chengling’s main energy is still in the Department of Life Sciences, but it also plays a key role in the work of the Institute of High Energy Physics. Anyway, we have invested heavily in the field of lasers. We don’t have laser rapid-fire guns, but Laser Seiko Machinery, we have developed a few.”
Guo Shouyu doesn’t know what to say. This is Xingchen Technology, a super-human aggregate. Before Xu Guangling came to Xingchen Technology, he was a rising star of the Institute of High Energy, Chinese Academy of Sciences. His strength should not be underestimated, and Wen Chengling is even more legendary. , From a top laser expert to life science, the span of disciplines is unprecedented, not to mention, he succeeded, and he has really become a wonderful scientist spanning high-energy physics and life science.
“Let’s not stay here, shall we?” Zhang Yuechuan looked at his wristwatch and said, “Everyone is waiting, what we really want to show you is yet to come.”
Hey~
Guo Shouyu suddenly had a sense of seeing Grandma Liu entering the Grand View Garden. He thought that he was also the director of the National Astronomical Observatory, an expert in the field of astronomical observation who had seen the world, but after coming to Xingchen Technology, he felt that his eyes were not enough. Everything feels fresh.
As the saying goes, people are more popular than people, and this is probably the reason.
Passing through the busy production workshop, a group of people entered the test assembly area, where various parts will be assembled and produced into final products.
“My God, these are all space telescopes!?” Guo Shouyu stopped and asked, looking at the huge monsters in front of him, his legs felt a little weak, and he couldn’t walk.
“Yes.” Luo Jia said in a deep voice: “In addition to optical mirrors, we have also prepared X-ray mirrors, infrared mirrors, ultraviolet mirrors, and radio mirrors.”
“Let’s put it this way~Soverse.com~The full name of our project is called the Eye of the Stars. It is not composed of a certain astronomical telescope, but a complete set of astronomical observation arrays.”
Eye of the stars!
A complete array of astronomical observations!
Not a single space telescope, but an array of many telescopes!
Understanding the meaning of Luo Jia’s words, Guo Shouyu felt that his whole body was going to explode. This is probably Luo Jia’s favorite corner overtaking. Observation array!
“Are you asking An Ran to rearrange the plan because you plan to place the Eye of the Star on Space Station Zero?” Guo Shouyu asked.
Luo Jia smiled and shook his head, “Of course there will be a telescope installed on Space Station Zero, but the Eye of the Stars will not be placed there.”
There happened to be a star map of the solar system beside him, Luo Jia observed it, then pointed lightly and said: “The eye of the stars will be placed here, five special solutions to the restricted three-body problem, Lagrangian points! “