Tomorrow, Look Forward to It

An hour later.

Chen Yi fueled the model aircraft with kerosene and liquid oxygen, then drove to a park by the sea.

He unloaded the drone, set up the ground antenna, and turned on the remote control to begin debugging the avionics signals.

"Altitude measurement is fine, the fuselage's temperature sensor module is normal, fuel endurance calculation is normal, speed and distance debugging is normal, navigation function is normal, fuselage attitude sensing is normal, front and rear cameras are normal."

Compared to the ducted fan model aircraft, which only had a simple speed control switch, the avionics system of the turbofan model aircraft was undoubtedly more complex.

Due to the lack of ground radar, altitude measurement could only rely on the altimeter's air pressure and temperature readings.

The speed and distance of the model aircraft while flying in the sky, as well as navigation debugging, were also different from ground-based navigation that mainly relied on base station triangulation. It required reliance on Beidou positioning for calculation and navigation.

He worked busily for over forty minutes.

Night had already fallen. All functions of the model aircraft had been debugged, and the report for the drone's test flight had been filed.

Chen Yi set up the remote signal antenna, sat down in front of the computer, his left hand on the throttle stick and his right hand gripping the control stick.

Beep! A long chime sounded.

The avionics system started up.

Engine ignition.

ROAR!

A deep blue tail flame erupted from the engine nozzle of the model drone.

Chen Yi released the brakes, opened the throttle, and the powerful engine thrust propelled the model drone forward.

A tail flame over half a meter long could be clearly seen in the night sky, with Mach rings appearing one after another.

"Takeoff!"

Chen Yi pulled back on the control stick.

Whoosh! The drone made a sharp ascent in mid-air, like a vertical rocket, surging towards the sky.

"Increase altitude, fly towards the ocean, and test the maximum speed and maximum ascent limit again."

Chen Yi controlled the drone, rapidly climbing to an altitude of 500 meters, then turned and flew towards the ocean.

The custom avionics software on the computer beside him, which had cost Chen Yi a lot of money, continuously emitted beeps indicating normal communication.

On the right side of the software, various parameters such as the drone's speed, fuel endurance, altitude, longitude, latitude, heading, and acceleration were displayed.

The central interface was divided into four sections.

The top two areas displayed the front and rear views from the drone's cameras.

The bottom two sections showed a dynamic map position and a 3D model made of lines, which simulated the real drone's fuselage attitude in real-time.

Soon, the drone entered the ocean for 10 kilometers, completely moving away from areas with human activity.

Chen Yi glanced at the map position, pulled the control stick, and increased the output of the throttle and accelerator. The entire drone began to climb straight up.

In the darkness, a star seemed to twinkle in the direction of the ocean.

On the computer's monitoring screen next to him, the real-time simulated fuselage attitude was pointing straight up.

The first-person view from the drone's front camera also began to show scattered starlight.

The entire aircraft was heading towards the stars!

"1600 meters. 2000 meters. 3000 meters. 5000."

Chen Yi maintained the drone's climbing state, but his attention was focused on the drone's altitude parameters displayed on the computer monitoring screen, watching them intently.

"7900 meters. Speed has broken the sound barrier! Speed is 512 meters per second, the fuselage is shaking!"

At this moment, through the shaking of the camera view, Chen Yi judged that the fuselage was already shaking.

On the real-time simulated 3D model, the engine nozzle had expanded to its maximum diameter due to supersonic speed.

The temperature parameters next to it were also soaring, indicating that the drone was about to enter the thermal barrier caused by the friction between the air and the fuselage due to its ultra-high speed.

Chen Yi controlled the power output to ensure that the shaking drone would not be torn apart by the air.

Ten seconds later, the model drone began to enter the thermal barrier, and the edge of the lens had already captured the fuselage turning red due to the thermal barrier.

In less than a minute, the drone climbed to an altitude of 20,000 meters.

This altitude surpassed the ceiling of most modern fighter jets.

The rear camera was already capturing the lights of Penghai City and the surrounding cities at night.

"At an altitude of 20,000 meters, the thin air in the stratosphere is affecting the combustion efficiency of the turbofan engine."

Chen Yi glanced at the computer, which showed that there was still three-quarters of the fuel left. Without hesitation, he opened the valve of the oxidizer fuel tank and initiated liquid oxygen injection.

Beep!

The drone's nozzle turned into a cone-shaped horn, and its speed and acceleration suddenly increased significantly.

However, thanks to the thin air of the stratosphere at high altitude, although the speed increased dramatically, the fuselage flew even more stably.

Unlike the initial climb, where the fuselage shook due to excessive speed, it did not shake this time.

"30,000 meters, 38,000 meters, 40,000 meters, 55,000 meters. Entering the ozone layer. The camera has captured the sun."

As the drone ascended to an altitude of 50,000 meters, the sun, which had set over two hours ago, reappeared at the edge of the screen.

Chen Yi didn't continue to ascend with the drone. Instead, he adjusted its flight attitude.

Switching from ascent to level flight, he aimed the camera at the sun and took several continuous photos.

After taking the pictures, Chen Yi had a detailed understanding of the drone's performance and had a rough outline for the upcoming live stream promotion. He no longer intended to fly it further.

Controlling the drone, he turned its head and began to decelerate for landing.

A dozen minutes later, two blue trails descended from the horizon, sliding nearly a hundred meters on the park's straight road before coming to a steady stop.

[Item: Fixed-wing model drone]
[Attributes: Energy x7.3, Speed x13.8, Stability x4.9 (-0.6), Strength x9.4, Avionics x10.5, Radar Imaging x6.1, Flight Control x8.7, Aesthetics x2.1]
[Consciousness Wave: 489]
[Adjustable Attributes: 0]

"It seems crossing the sound barrier at low altitude during ascent did have some impact on the drone."

Chen Yi checked the drone's status, looking at the reduced stability attribute of 0.6. "The reduction in stability attribute must mean there's an issue with the drone's internal structure."

Having run his model aircraft business for several years, Chen Yi had a certain understanding of aircraft, even if he wasn't from a professional engineering background.

When an aircraft flies at high speeds, it not only needs to overcome air resistance but also requires its internal parts and structures to withstand the G-forces and torsional stress of high-speed flight.

If the former is not up to par, the aircraft will be torn apart by the air due to insufficient resistance.

If the latter is not up to par, the aircraft will disintegrate due to excessive G-forces.

During the rapid ascent just now, the fuselage vibrated.

This was most likely due to an imperfect structural design and insufficient stability, leading to the problem.

If the speed had been any faster, or if Chen Yi had performed a high-G maneuver, the drone would have surely fallen apart mid-air.

"It seems that when building ultra-high-speed aircraft in the future, stability is just as crucial as speed."

"I have 400 consciousness waves left, so I can adjust two attribute points. I'll reduce aesthetics a bit and communication a bit, and add them all to stability."

A colorful glow bloomed.

Ugh, it's even uglier now.

Chen Yi looked at the adjusted drone, logged into his social media accounts on various platforms, and uploaded the photos he had just taken along with screenshots of the avionics software interface. He posted a unified preview.

[Brand new turbofan, soaring to 50,000 meters, watching the sunset, gazing at the stars. Look forward to tomorrow!]