Chapter 565 General Production
The far side of the moon.
Doppler Crater, Doppler Base.
Due to its unique location, this place became the first choice for Sapiens Company to build a mass projector on the back of the moon.
This base is larger than the large bases on the front of the moon. The Space Business Department has invested almost 80% of the resources of the Moon Branch here.
After more than a year of continuous construction, the Doppler Mass Projector project has completed 55% of the work.
In particular, the construction of the core circular acceleration track has been basically completed.
The Doppler Mass Projector project is not the same as Earth's Dandelion project.
The Dandelion project requires the construction of a ring-shaped pipeline, vacuum extraction, and the assistance of large floating hoses to ensure safety.
However, the Doppler mass projector does not require such trouble. The reason lies in the environment of the moon. After all, the earth has a dense atmosphere, while the surface of the moon is in a nearly vacuum state.
Therefore, the Doppler mass projector project's circular orbit does not require the construction of a sealed pipeline, but only requires the construction of a magnetic confinement system.
Considering the shape of the spacecraft, it is best to have a long strip, preferably similar to the shape of a train.
The professional team responsible for designing the Doppler mass projector referred to some plans for overhead railways and stratospheric railways, and used a series of ring-shaped superconducting coils placed on the electromagnetic acceleration track. These superconducting coils can generate a series of strong magnetic fields to firmly bind the spacecraft to the orbit.
Thousands of synchronized robots responsible for the construction project, plus a large number of engineering equipment, are rapidly perfecting the circular orbit of the Doppler mass projector.
The chief engineer is Su Changli, who was previously in charge of the Dandelion project, and Baisha, his deputy who assisted him before.
The two were now in the industrial area of the Doppler base.
Of course, both of them came here using synchronized robots, and I am still on Earth.
"Bai Sha, your progress is a bit slow!"
Baisha was also very helpless: "There is no other way. We have only recently achieved self-production of building materials. Before that, we had been relying on the material support from the Earth Headquarters."
Su Changli asked: "Now the industrial zone can produce low-temperature superconductors on its own. The next step is to place the superconducting coils on the track. When do you think it can be completed?"
"The industrial zone can only produce 300 coils per month, and the production capacity is still insufficient!" There was still uncertainty in Baisha's words.
After all, each of these large superconducting coils weighs about 137 tons, and the production capacity of the industrial zone of the Doppler base is obviously insufficient.
The length of the entire circular track is 300 kilometers, with an average of 40 coils per kilometer. 300 kilometers require 12,000 coils. The industrial zone can only produce 300 coils per month, which takes 40 months.
“Can we increase production capacity?”
Marquez Fernando, the head of the industrial zone, shook his head and said, "I'm sorry, the production capacity can only be increased by 50% at most. We can't expand the capacity blindly. After all, this is a one-time investment project."
Fortunately, the biomaterial synthesis technology of Sapiens Company is different from the traditional industrial model, otherwise the Doppler Base would not dare to expand such a huge production capacity.
The core reason why modern industry has not seen an instant increase in production capacity is that expanding production lines requires money.
If it is daily necessities or fast-moving consumer goods, it is fine because the production capacity can be absorbed by stable demand.
However, blindly expanding production capacity for other non-fast-moving consumer goods and daily necessities products will often lead to very serious consequences.
For example, shipyards. Why do many shipyards prefer to wait for orders to be placed for several years rather than expand their shipbuilding docks? The reason is that they do not want to go bankrupt.
Suppose there is an order for 100 container ships. If you are the owner of a shipyard, would you rather build 100 ships in 10 years or 100 ships in one year?
It seems that building 100 ships a year is a very good option, and money can be made in a short period of time.
But the problem is that building 100 ships a year means that the shipyard must have the docks, supporting facilities and workers to build 100 ships at the same time.
If the economy is bad next year, or if shipping demand is saturated, the docks and equipment invested in the early stage will be idle, and a large number of workers will have to be laid off.
Therefore, the best option is actually to build 100 ships in 10 years, which can be a long-term plan and reduce the one-time investment risk.
This is an embarrassing problem that modern industry must face.
Why do cars, ships, computers, mobile phones and household appliances need to be scrapped on a planned basis?
This is because the production capacity of the factory production line is forced to expand disorderly due to market competition, but the market demand is not unlimited. Once the market is saturated, it means that the factory will have problems.
Giant companies like Sapiens can plan a quota when building product production lines based on demand, so it is less likely to have overcapacity.
However, the fundamental solution to this problem is actually the large-scale application of biomaterial synthesis technology.
Why can biomaterial synthesis technology solve this problem?
The reason is very simple, because the parts culture chambers and parts culture pools derived from biomaterial synthesis technology are, to a certain extent, very versatile.
In other words, this production line can be used for the production of televisions today, and seamlessly switch to the production of mobile phones tomorrow.
At the same time, the production cost of this production line is very low, and the cost of production line transformation is not high either. It is only necessary to replace special parts and materials to synthesize microorganisms.
This universal production line means that the Sapiens company's factory can mass-produce a certain product in a short period of time.
If the internal demand for this product is saturated, it will be transformed into a production line for other products.
In this way, factories will not shut down due to market saturation, and the temporal and spatial imbalance between production capacity and demand will be greatly improved.
This is the case with the superconducting coil production line at the Doppler Base.
If following the traditional industrial model, this production line would have to stop operating after 40 months of production due to the depletion of demand.
No matter how strong a company is, it cannot afford to scrap a large production line every three or four years.
Marquez Fernando thought for a moment and said, "I can try to apply to the headquarters to see if we can increase ."
Su Changli nodded: "You guys decide!"
Baisha thought for a moment and said, "Oh, by the way, we are going to build a large number of solar panels next. You can apply for it with this reason."
"Thanks for the reminder ." Marquez Fernando also thought of this reason.
Although the core power supply system of the Doppler mass projector is a nuclear power plant, solar panels are still essential.
The reason for laying solar panels is not to generate electricity, but to provide heat insulation.
That's right, it's for heat insulation.
The raw material of the superconducting coil of the Doppler mass projector is not the more expensive silver-based superconductor, but an iron-aluminum-copper alloy. This material can remain superconducting below minus 143 degrees Celsius and can be obtained locally on the moon, so the production cost is very low.
The temperature difference between day and night on the moon is very large. The surface temperature at night is below minus 200 degrees Celsius, while it can reach more than 100 degrees Celsius during the day.
Therefore, in order to maintain the normal operation of the superconducting coil, it is necessary to block the sunlight.
After much deliberation, the design team decided to lay a large area of solar panels to cover the tracks and coils underneath.
By doing this, you can kill two birds with one stone.
It can not only ensure that the bottom of the solar panel is not exposed to sunlight, but also maintain an ultra-low temperature of minus 200 degrees Celsius.
Solar power generation can also be used to supply some energy to industrial areas and bases.
