Chapter 117 116: Materials Science Alchemy
Compared to offensive Laser Cannons, defensive Laser Cannons have much lower power, mass, and volume.
The overall structure of a Laser Cannon is similar to a telescope, consisting of an outer barrel containing precision optical components.
A precision Laser Cannon's barrel can have a diameter of up to 10 centimeters and a length of several meters. A defensive Laser Cannon, however, has a barrel that is at most 1.5 centimeters in diameter and only about 30 centimeters long.
Its specialty is also completely different from that of an offensive Laser Cannon.
Offensive Laser Cannons have an extremely small divergence angle, allowing them to attack distant targets. Defensive Laser Cannons, however, don't have such stringent requirements for their divergence angle. This is because their targets are typically much closer, having already breached the defensive perimeter of the Electromagnetic Cannons and closing to within tens of kilometers or even a few hundred meters of the ship.
Its maximum effective range is only a few hundred kilometers. Beyond that, the beam diverges and loses its lethality.
Their power and lethality are also relatively low. After all, their targets are merely small projectiles, so immense power isn't necessary.
In contrast to its lower performance in other areas, its activation speed and firing duration far exceed those of offensive Laser Cannons.
They don't even require a charging period and can be activated instantly. Furthermore, due to their low overall power, they don't require extensive heat dissipation. This allows them to be used for extended periods, remaining active for up to several hours at a time—far more efficient than offensive Laser Cannons, which need to cool down for dozens of seconds after just a few dozen seconds of firing.
This design is also tailored to its specific tactical requirements.
After all, on an interstellar battlefield, the number of Electromagnetic Cannon Projectiles can be immense, presenting a massive number of targets that must be intercepted.
If activation is too slow, a high-speed Electromagnetic Cannon Projectile could strike the hull before the weapon is even ready. If the firing duration is too short, how could it possibly stop a sky full of projectiles?
Taking all these requirements into account resulted in the completely different designs and performance characteristics of offensive and defensive Laser Cannons.
After a long period of continuous iteration and research, the defensive Laser Cannon had finally been refined to a point where it was ready for practical combat use.
And so, Li Qingsong had now mastered all four weapon types: offensive Electromagnetic Cannons, defensive Electromagnetic Cannons, offensive Laser Cannons, and defensive Laser Cannons.
Moreover, the high-speed radar system had undergone another three rounds of optimization, vastly improving its reliability and stability while significantly reducing its size and mass. It seemed that Li Qingsong now possessed everything needed to build a truly "modern" Warship.
But Li Qingsong knew it wasn't enough.
One crucial component was still missing.
The high-speed gimbal.
On an interstellar battlefield, both offensive and defensive weapons demand extremely high precision and reaction speed.
A hostile ship might speed past, leaving an attack window of only a few tenths of a second, or even just a few milliseconds.
A projectile might suddenly appear, hurtling toward your ship at high speed, leaving an interception window of only a few milliseconds.
The radar has detected it, and the defensive weapon is capable of hitting it. So what's missing?
Aiming precision and reaction speed.
The muzzle of the weapon, whether offensive or defensive, must be able to pivot from one direction to lock onto the target in an incredibly short amount of time, and then fire immediately.
The reaction speed must be lightning-fast; the weapon must begin to turn the instant a target is detected. The aiming precision must be exceptionally high, as the slightest deviation will result in a miss.
Take a projectile 50 kilometers away—which is extremely close in the context of an interstellar battlefield and projectile velocities. If the aiming angle of a defensive Electromagnetic Cannon or Laser Cannon is off by just one ten-thousandth of a degree, the margin of error will expand to approximately 8.7 centimeters over that 50-kilometer distance.
And an Electromagnetic Cannon Projectile, even a heavy 5-gram variant, is typically no larger than 1 centimeter in size.
An 8.7-centimeter error is a world of difference.
After a quick calculation, Li Qingsong confirmed that to accurately hit a target 50 kilometers away, the aiming precision of the Electromagnetic or Laser Cannon needed to be one hundred-thousandth of a degree.
It was a given that on an interstellar battlefield, Laser Cannons and Electromagnetic Cannons would be in constant motion. They would need to continuously adjust their aim, potentially changing their orientation ten or even dozens of times per second.
The Warship itself might be undergoing intense maneuvers, repositioning, or experiencing vibrations and shaking. Under these conditions, moving the weapon's muzzle ten to dozens of times per second, with each movement requiring a precision of one hundred-thousandth of a degree—the demands on both precision and speed were simply astronomical.
Even Li Qingsong wasn't confident he could achieve this yet.
He had begun tackling this particular technology decades ago.
In the beginning, using the most advanced materials and precise equipment he could find, Li Qingsong could only manage to move the muzzle once per second, achieving a precision of one-hundredth of a degree—and that was only under completely stationary conditions.
This level of performance was actually quite high. But it was still a far cry from what was required for practical combat application.
Li Qingsong had no choice but to do as he had with the other key technologies: mobilize vast amounts of manpower, resources, energy, and brainpower to continuously iterate and tackle the problem.
After a long time, even after pushing the technological level to its absolute limit, Li Qingsong had only managed to increase the precision by about a hundredfold. It was still not enough for combat.
After reviewing the entire research process, Li Qingsong finally concluded there was only one way left to break through the current precision limit.
Develop tougher, more wear-resistant materials, and simultaneously, further improve metalworking processes.
There was nothing special about improving the metalworking processes; it was just a matter of slow, patient grinding. The development of new materials, however, was fraught with uncertainty.
Having been involved in materials research for so long, Li Qingsong increasingly felt that developing new materials was fundamentally no different from what ancient humans called alchemy.
'You throw a bunch of inexplicable things into an Alchemy Furnace, and only heaven knows what you'll end up with.'
'Materials science research is just like that.'
'You use all sorts of raw materials and put them through all sorts of processes—heating, freezing, stirring, letting them sit, chemical treatments, and so on. In the end, what material you'll create and what properties it will have, only heaven knows.'
'Our current theories in chemistry, physics, and materials science are still too primitive. It's simply impossible to develop the right material through theoretical calculation alone.'
'Since that's the case… I have no choice but to use my ultimate move.'
Following the rough guidance provided by theory, Li Qingsong directly established five hundred thousand materials research teams. Each team consisted of two Clones, and each was assigned to test a new formula, launching a brute-force approach to this new phase of materials science research.