<h4>Chapter 498: First Step Toward The Sun</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Even though “checking” the status of theponents sounded simple, it actually took all of the STAR engineers three days toplete all of the necessary examinations.


    At theboratory inside the mountain, all of the STAR project team members were standing in their respective positions, just like they did three days ago.


    Lu Zhou stood next to theputer inside the control room, and through the floor-to-ceiling windows, he overlooked the giant steel behemoth that was densely surrounded by coils. His heart was beating out of his chest.


    Soon, this reborn STAR Sterator would perform its first experimental run.


    He waited half a year for this moment...


    Sheng Xianfu walked toward Lu Zhou. As he stood next to him, he took a deep breath. He restrained the excitement in his voice as he said, “The water-cooled divertor is operating normally... We can begin the experiment.”


    When Lu Zhou heard Sheng Xianfu’s report on the situation, he nodded.


    “Then let’s begin.”


    Sheng Xianfu stood up straight and replied energetically.


    “Ok!”


    The first experiment wasn’t going to be too cumbersome; they weren’t going to ignite, nor would they use hydrogen isotopes.


    There were only two simple goals for their experiment.


    One was to confirm that the maximum maic field of the coil could exceed the theoretical limit of 50T while the other was to ensure that the temperature of the sma could reach 100 million Celsius.


    The timing for the experimental run wasn’t long; one second was enough.


    After receiving orders to begin the experiment, theboratory staff immediately began to start working.


    The liquid helium valve opened, and as expected, the SG-1 wires quickly reached its superconductivity transition temperature.


    The loud rumbling sound hurt the staff’s eardrums. The current through the superconducting coil began to gradually increase the external field strength, causing them to approach the critical current of the SG-1 wires.


    The feedback data of the maic field strength was sent to theputer. Lu Zhou looked at it carefully as it moved on theputer screen. When it stopped at the maximum value of 51.14T, a smirk appeared on his face.


    <i>51.14T!</i>


    <i>Wendelstein 7-X.</i>


    The maic field strength of the bounded sma was the key to solve controble nuclear fusion. They were able to achieve maic confinement of more than 50T; there was no doubt that they had solved this piece of the puzzle.


    The first experimental goal was sessfully achieved!


    When Lu Zhou saw the same kind of joy on Sheng Xianfu’s face, he nodded toward him.


    “Begin the next phase of the experiment!”


    Sheng Xianfu immediately said, “Okay!”


    In the wounded coil on the streamlined track, other than the superconducting coils attached by the irregrly shaped blue insting bracket, around 20% of the non-superconducting coils were attached using the red insting brackets. They were mainly used to fine-tune the shape of the maic field in the sterator.


    As the experiment progressed to the next stage, the current in the blue coil began to drop while the current in the red coils began to rise. This would then mold the shape of the maic field inside the sterator into the desired shape.


    Lu Zhou looked at the non-stop jumping parameter measurements on theputer screen and said, “Inject the helium!”


    “Ok!”


    The conduit connected to the sterator began to inject 1mg of helium into the sterator.


    The helium that was injected quickly dispersed inside the vacuum chamber and quickly thinned out.


    However, after the microwave heating device was turned on, the temperature inside the sterator began to continuously rise. The sma gradually began to shape and the maic field bounded by it was continuously under pressure. Finally, a light blue membrane appeared in the fusion chamber, trembling at a frequency invisible to the naked eye.


    Everyone was in their respective seats, and whether it was the engineers or the researchers, they all subconsciously clenched their fists.


    At that moment, the sterator in front of them was like a monster, brewing the most terrifying energy on the.


    Actually, even nuclear cores were only at 6,800 degrees.


    But right now, the helium flowing inside the sterator fusion chamber was hundreds of millions of degrees.


    Even though it only weighed 1mg...


    This short second felt like itsted a century.


    Sheng Xianfu’s fists were tightly clenched when he suddenly looked excited and began to shout, “We did it! We did it!”


    When Lu Zhou heard him shouting, a smile appeared on his face as well.


    “Yeah, we did it!”


    Even though this was only in-progress results, the achievement was still satisfying.


    The next project would be to solve the damage on the first wall done by sma irradiation.


    Structural and functional materials in fusion reactors could experience severe swelling and embrittlement due to the high concentrations of radiation defects and the umtion of nuclear reaction products. This resulted in an overall decline of the coreponent and joint structural material properties.


    The high-speed neutrons were hitting the closely arranged first wall atoms like pool balls. However, the atoms that were hit did not disappear. Instead, they traveled to other ces inside the first wall. Eventually, the atoms in the center of first wall moved to the surface of the first wall, causing the material to swell like a hollow foam.


    So far, the academicmunity hadn’t found a suitable way to solve this problem.


    Lu Zhou wasn’t confident he could solve this problem, but he had some ideas in his mind.


    Of course, other than the wall materials, there was also the vital control system, which was the “brain” of the controble nuclear fusion device.


    However,pared to the material-rted problems, this was actually rtively easy to fix.


    After all, the demands of a supeputer could be solved with money.


    Still, it seemed that they would have to spend money from the research fund again...


    The microwave heating unit was turned off.


    The current in the superconducting coil gradually weakened.


    The sma temperature began to decrease...


    This “metal behemoth” stopped rumbling, and this experiment was finallypleted.


    After all of this was over, the cheers that were previously suppressed were finally heard in theboratory.


    Many people were so excited that they began to tear up.


    In order to celebrate this hard-won sess and to thank everyone for their countless days and nights of hard work, Lu Zhou announced in front of everyone that he would host a celebratory dinner at the Purple Mountain Hotel in the evening.


    Obviously, this wasing out of his own pocket; it had nothing to do with the research fund.


    After the experiment ended, the engineers began to overhaul the equipment for maintenance. After Lu Zhou asked Sheng Xianfu to be in charge, he took off his white coat and left thisboratory that was under a mountain.


    The moment he stepped out of the tunnel, he was hit by the bright rays of sunlight that pierced through the leaves of the trees.


    Even though Lu Zhou was blinded by the rays of the sunlight, he was faintly aware of what he was seeing.


    Suddenly, the light blue dialog box floated into his sight without any warning.


    [Fusion Light mission chain.


    [Optional branch mission: 50T superconducting ma. plete)


    [Optional branch mission: First ignition. plete)]


    As Lu Zhou looked at the two dialog boxes, he paused for a second. After that, a look of excitement appeared on his face.


    Hepleted two missions at the same time.


    This was his first time ever doing so.