Live Stream 1980: Netizens Teach Me How to Make a Rocket by Hand

Although Lao Zheng was full of doubts, the motor with a speed of 12,000 RPM was still on his office desk.

Without wasting any words, he directly allocated the oldest laboratory in the factory.

For the next three days, the lights were on day and night in this most remote red brick building in Factory 702.

Lin Xi barely slept.

This is indeed "folk alchemy".

There will be no air jet mills in 2025, and no highly automated isostatic presses.

Even the most basic inert gas for environmental protection is hard to come by.

The first batch was a failure.

When the furnace was opened, the magnet that should have formed turned into a pile of black powder that crumbled at the slightest touch.

It's oxidized.

Lao Zheng looked at the plate of waste and shook his head.

His tone carried a hint of regret, as if he had known this would happen.

"Manager Lin, rare earth elements are too reactive; under these rudimentary conditions, sintering is simply impossible."

"If there are no conditions, create them."

Lin Xi stared at the pile of powder, her eyes red.

In the live stream, the expert panel was spamming the chat with messages.

[Materials Expert: Oxygen content exceeds the standard! Vacuuming is necessary! Or argon gas purging is required!]

[Physics class representative: We can't get high-purity argon gas right now, so let's use a vacuum pump! Let's modify that diffusion pump!]

Lin Xi rolled up his sleeves to his elbows and grabbed a wrench:

"Director Lao, bring over that scrapped vacuum tube pump from our factory. I want to modify it into a bipolar vacuum pump."

Lao Zheng paused for a moment: "That thing is leaking air..."

"If it leaks, plug it with sealant! Seal it with asphalt!"

Lin Xi gritted her teeth, like a gambler who had lost everything.

"If I can't burn anything today, I'm living in this stove!"

That kind of madness even startled Lao Zheng, an old man who had spent his whole life working in technology.

Another 24 hours have passed.

That is, the seventh day after Lin Xi went into seclusion.

Three o'clock in the morning.

The laboratory was eerily quiet, with only the tired "putt-putt-putt" noise of the vacuum pump.

The thermometer needle was stuck at 1050 degrees Celsius.

"The temperature has dropped." Wang Yu reported in a hoarse voice, his hair a mess.

Lin Xi took a deep breath and placed her hand on the handle of the furnace door.

It was a heavy cast iron door.

"open!"

With a muffled thud, the furnace door opened.

A wave of scorching heat, mixed with the smell of metal, rushed towards us.

The tray was carefully pushed out.

No powder, no cracks.

Twelve silver-gray, brick-like rectangular blocks lay quietly inside the graphite boat.

Their surfaces are not smooth; in fact, they are somewhat rough.

It is neither the black of iron nor the bright of silver.

It was a deep, dark gray.

Lao Zheng leaned closer, adjusted his glasses which were thicker than the bottom of a beer bottle, and looked somewhat curious:

"This is the... baby you wanted?"

"It looks no different from a cast iron ball."

As he spoke, he casually picked up a large pair of iron pliers from the workbench, intending to pick out a piece to check its quality.

"Don't move!"

Lin Xi's roar hadn't even landed yet.

"when!!!"

A loud bang shook the glass in the laboratory windows, making them rattle.

That pair of large iron pliers weighed at least two kilograms.

When we were still a dozen centimeters away from the magnet, it felt as if we were being suddenly pulled over by an invisible giant hand.

The speed was so fast that it was impossible to see with the naked eye.

It crashed heavily onto the silver-gray magnet.

"Ouch--!!"

Immediately following was Lao Zheng's scream of agony.

The pliers were firmly attached to the magnet, and unfortunately, Lao Zheng's thumb tip became a buffer between the pliers and the magnet.

That kind of attraction is not the lukewarm "adhesion" of ordinary magnets.

That was biting.

It is the predator's fatal blow to its prey.

"Quick! Open it up!"

Lao Zheng's face contorted in pain, and cold sweat instantly poured down his forehead as he desperately tried to pull his hand back.

But the pliers seemed to be stuck to the rock, not moving an inch.

Wang Dapao and Wang Yu were startled and rushed over to help.

The two men, along with Lao Zheng himself, worked together to pull him out.

"one two three!"

"Bang!"

The pliers were finally forcibly pulled open, and the huge reaction force caused the three people to fall to the ground, landing on their backsides.

Ignoring his sore bottom, Lao Zheng quickly blew on his fingers.

A bruise quickly appeared under the fingernail.

But he didn't swear.

He didn't care about the pain.

His eyes widened as he stared intently at the silver-gray cube that still lay quietly in the tray.

Despite such a powerful impact, it didn't even break off a single corner.

"What the hell is that force?"

Lao Zheng shakily got up, ignoring the pain in his hands, grabbed a screwdriver, and threw it from a distance.

"when!"

The screwdriver drew a strange arc in the air, was instantly captured, and pinned firmly to the surface of the magnet.

Next came nails, washers, and even iron filings from the edge of the worktable.

The tiny iron filings automatically arranged themselves around the magnet, standing upright.

It outlines the invisible, violent magnetic field lines.

nice.

An industrial miracle imbued with violent aesthetics.

The live stream room fell silent for a moment, then the chat exploded with comments.

[Physics whiz: Neodymium iron boron! This is the first generation of neodymium iron boron! Its magnetic energy product is ten times that of ferrite!]

[Military Industry Rabbit: Looking at the old factory director's fingers, I feel the pain even through the screen, but this thing is so cool!]

[Historical Witness: Sumitomo Special Metals only announced its formula in 1982, and the streamer has moved the timeline forward by two years! This is hijacking!]

Lin Xi walked over, found a thick wooden board, and painstakingly pried the pliers off.

He picked up the heavy magnet and handed it to Lao Zheng.

"Director Lao, this piece is called neodymium iron boron."

"He is currently the... Magneto of this planet."

Ignoring the excruciating pain in his fingers, Lao Zheng shakily accepted the "Magnet King" with his remaining few good fingers.

He sensed it.

That terrifying power contained within such a small volume.

If this thing is used as the rotor, the size of the motor can be reduced by half, while the power can be doubled!

"Manager Lin..." Lao Zheng's voice was trembling.

"This thing...is it really only used as a razor?"

Lin Xi smiled.

He pointed out the window, towards the direction of the Northwest Base, and also towards certain classified units deep in the mountains.

"Director Lao, you come from a military industry background."

"If this were used on the servo mechanism of a missile, how much faster would the missile's reaction speed be?"

"If used in a submarine's propulsion motor, how much could the size be reduced?"

"If used on fighter jet radar, how much would the scanning range increase?"

With each question Lin Xi asked, Lao Zheng's face flushed more.

In the end, the little old man who had spent his whole life working with electric motors began to breathe rapidly.

He suddenly raised his head, the disdain he once held for nouveau riche vanished from his eyes.

Instead, there was an almost fanatical worship, and even a hint of fear.