Chapter 192: First Generation Armed Satellite

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

After chatting with Big Boss Guo for a while, Tang Rui left.

The main issue was that there was nothing to talk about.

He had been quite busy all day.

However, when he came out, he found that the other chief teachers had already left. It seemed that everyone had been called over at the last minute.

Otherwise, they wouldn’t have left in such a hurry after the meeting.

Everyone had left.

Since he didn’t have much to do there, he took a bus back to the airport and then returned to the company.

They had just gotten off the plane when Zhou Tao called to ask him out for dinner.

Good heavens.

Things had all come together at once.

When Li Shuyao came back from work in the evening, Tang Rui planned to bring her to dinner. Zhou Tao would also bring his girlfriend along.

“Have you lost weight recently? You look like you’ve shed quite a bit.”

Upon arriving at the restaurant and seeing Zhou Tao, Tang Rui noticed that his friend had lost at least 20 pounds, as if he had undergone liposuction.

“I’m exercising every day now,” Zhou Tao said with a smile.

Since both men had their girlfriends with them, the way they addressed each other was much more casual than usual. There was none of the parental banter they were used to.

The men introduced their girlfriends and began to eat.

Despite it being the first meeting for the two women, they chatted passionately. It was amazing.

Tang Rui and Zhou Tao were unconcerned.

The two men chatted over drinks.

“How’s your company doing?” Tang Rui asked directly. He wanted his good friends to do well, even if it was just moderately; he didn’t want them to be taken advantage of.

In business, even brothers could become rivals, let alone friends.

“I’ve been thinking about it. 1 talked to a Senior once before, but he wasn’t willing to cooperate. Since he wasn’t, I let it be. However, I still want to run the company myself. Working for others is too exhausting. Even if I fail this time, I have to make a name for myself. Otherwise, I won’t be satisfied,” Zhou Tao said sincerely.

It was more than just business for him; it was a matter of pride.

He could not accept failing, especially now that he had the means to invest, even if it meant relying on his girlfriend’s support.

If he didn’t give it his all, he would be disappointed in himself.

Naturally, there might be other considerations, such as his family’s status, but those weren’t to be discussed openly.

“Don’t worry. With my help, if you have the payment, you can definitely be considered talented,” Tang Rui said with confidence.

He wasn’t boasting. With the technology authorization from the Crimson alone, Zhou Tao’s business was set up for success.

Without that, he would certainly be losing money.

Then he might as well not aim to be a boss but rather work for someone else obediently.

“Alright, 1 won’t stand on ceremony with you this time,” Zhou Tao replied, nodding. He didn’t say thank you or anything. He just picked up his glass and drank.

Tang Rui matched his actions, raising his glass and drinking with him.

After that, the two steered away from discussing business and moved on to other topics, indulging in gossip.

Men could be gossips too.

It’s just that they wouldn’t discuss certain topics with those they weren’t close to.

After the meal, everyone returned to their respective homes.

Upon leaving the hotel, Tang Rui noticed that Zhou Tao had a new car—a Mercedes-Benz G63. He was doing well for himself. This was arguably the peak of his life.

In the following two days, Tang Rui stayed put. He worked with a team of tool researchers at the company, engaged in research and reverse engineering.

Money, materials, and equipment were plentiful, and they had the assistance of the advanced artificial intelligence, Red Lotus.

The armed satellite project was making rapid progress.

Their reverse engineering efforts had yielded many results. Even if the equipment he personally crafted wasn’t as refined as the original, it functioned perfectly—perhaps even surpassing the original in some respects.

The technical hurdle was overcome.

Now, the design challenge was straightforward.

Tang Rui set a goal to utilize the 1 million joules laser weapon first and then consider other weapons later.

This objective was quite achievable.

Even the energy aspect was simple to address. Nuclear power was unnecessary; graphene materials would suffice.

According to Red Lotus’s calculations, a mere 6200 square meters of solar panels were required to power the laser weapon.

Increasing this area tenfold would guarantee that neither the laser weapon nor the entire armed satellite would ever lack energy.

By adding a few more batteries, the solar panel area could be reduced by a third.

Originally, Tang Rui had contemplated using nuclear batteries.

However, it turned out to be entirely unnecessary. Solar power was more than sufficient.

Given this revelation, there was no longer any concern about nuclear batteries. Those would be reserved for the next generation of armed satellites.

His skills were not in question.

The design of the armed satellites progressed swiftly.

With the combined efforts of the tool research team and Red Lotus’s computational power, the design of the first-generation armed satellite was completed in under five days.

Once the design was ready, the next step was construction.

But this time, Tang Rui delegated only the manufacturing of parts to Red Lotus. He assembled everything personally.

Assembling a satellite was more complex than most other tasks.

With a team of over twenty people, Tang Rui worked in the dust-free workshop for three days to complete the armed satellite. It weighed 8.46 tons, measured 9.21 meters in length, and was 3.52 meters in diameter.

A significant portion of the satellite’s weight was comprised of the laser weapon system components.

During the design process, they encountered a challenging issue: temperature control.

Space temperatures can plunge to negative 200 degrees Celsius or soar above 200 degrees Celsius.

When a laser weapon is employed, some of the energy is inevitably converted into heat due to light scattering.

This was an unavoidable problem.

Unless a novel black technology crystal material is developed one day, this challenge remains unsolvable for now.

On Earth, laser weapons are fitted with cooling systems.

However, deploying these systems in space proved problematic.

Upon encountering this issue, Tang Rui had to consult relevant cooling technologies. However, for laser weapons, the cooling intensity was entirely inadequate.

Eventually, he resorted to enhancing the materials used to augment the performance of the cooling equipment.

This solution, however, consumed a significant amount of space and added considerable weight.

After the armed satellite was assembled, testing commenced.

Each functional module’s performance and parameters were scrutinized—a task Tang Rui left to others. He stepped out to contact the space agency and filed an application for a launch.

Was it to launch a satellite? No.

He decided to use the White Emperor Space Combat Jet for the deployment.

While designing, he had ensured the satellite’s weight did not exceed 10 tons, taking into account the White Emperor’s Space Combat Jet’s transportation capacity.

Should he embark on the next generation of armed satellites, he would only be able to perform module designs and assemble them in space.

Integrated units of such magnitude could not be delivered in a single piece.

Unless he developed a space transport plane, neither the White Emperor nor a conventional carrier rocket could handle an object so heavy and large.

“President Tang, the testing is complete. Each functional module is without issues,” someone reported.

“Alright, everyone leave. I’ll take care of the packing,” Tang Rui instructed, asking the team to leave before letting Red Lotus control a robot to package the satellite. It was placed into a special large container and then mounted on top of the White Emperor’s structure.

There was no alternative; it was too large to fit underneath, so it had to be secured on top, reminiscent of the An-225 aircraft carrying the space shuttle Buran..