A twofold increase in unit efficiency means that the speed previously requiring two portions of fuel to achieve now only requires one portion.

If calculated with nuclear fission fuel, namely uranium-235 or plutonium-239, this improvement is not much; it is merely a reduction from 200 kg to 100 kg, a difference of a mere 100 kg, which is not significant.

However, for chemical fuels, the improvement is enormous.

This means a reduction from 10 tons to 5 tons, or even from 20 tons to 10 tons!

A full 5 tons or even 10 tons of fuel saved—how much more ammunition can be carried? Or, even if not reduced, if the original amount of fuel is still carried, how much will the cruising range increase?

However, even with such a massive improvement, Tom was still somewhat dissatisfied.

The reason is simple: the mass of the existing miniaturized nuclear fission propulsion module is still too great.

Over two hundred tons of mass!

It can barely be used on a Venus-class battleship; a Mercury-class battleship cannot use it.

In Tom's vision, for a propulsion module used on a Mercury-class battleship, the total mass of the nuclear fission reactor, internal combustion engine, and secondary pressurization system combined should ideally not exceed 15 tons; only then would it be considered practical.

This means that Tom needs to reduce its mass by another 245 tons from the current basis, a weight reduction of up to 94%!

This seems like an impossible task.

It's just that...

If the human world can do it, why can't I?

Tom clearly remembered that the small spaceships manufactured in the human world used that kind of propulsion technology!

Before their disappearance, the total population of the human world was approximately 10 billion. Among these 10 billion people, how many were research personnel?

It is estimated to be around 90 million.

This was also a result of the human world's extreme emphasis on scientific research.

And now, the total number of clones under his command specifically engaged in scientific research is about 30 million. In addition, even the brainpower of those clones engaged in industrial production can be temporarily called upon by him.

Furthermore, how many communication and interaction barriers existed among the human world's research scholars? How many academic barriers and interest disputes existed?

The combined research strength of his 30 million research clones is at least ten times that of the entire human world's 90 million research workers.

Yes, that's right, ever since Tom's maximum consciousness connection count surged from 10 million to 100 million, Tom's research and industrial capabilities have already far surpassed the human world with its 10 billion population.

His only disadvantage currently is merely that the time is too short and the accumulation is insufficient.

But it doesn't matter; insufficient accumulation can be compensated for with higher quality and quantity.

Any technology the human world can master, he can certainly master too!

Thus, with ample resource supply from such a vast industrial system, Tom manipulated his clones to once again launch a scientific research campaign that was almost cost-unrestricted and involved almost every discipline.

Expensive experiments were conducted one after another without hesitation. After all, the Jupiter system's resources are extremely abundant. Even if the Jupiter system cannot supply enough, there is still the entire solar system.

Need numerical simulations? Need scientific calculations? Need supercomputers?

Just build 100 of them first!

After all, the "human society" now composed of clones has no other consumption besides their very limited survival needs, perfectly allowing the vast surplus resources from the industrial society to be invested in scientific research.

Under these circumstances, Tom only spent ten years to achieve another breakthrough.

A nuclear fission thruster suitable for a Mercury-class battleship was finally built!

With a total mass of only 14 tons, the overall fuel utilization rate increased by another 20% compared to the previous generation!

In Tom's memory, the most advanced small fission thrusters in the human world, and even the thrusters used in the original Deep Space Spaceship, had similar technological content and overall performance, or were even slightly inferior.

This means that, at least in terms of thrusters, he has caught up with or slightly surpassed the human world.

But this is still not the end; Tom still intends to push towards even greater heights.

He hopes to miniaturize the fission thruster enough for interstellar missiles to use it!

An interstellar missile has a total mass of only a few hundred kilograms, with the largest being a mere two or three tons at most.

It is too small, so it can only use chemical fuel.

And... once an interstellar missile uses a fission thruster, to what extent will its acceleration and penetration capabilities surge? And how high will its maneuverability become?

Overall, how strong will its combat power become?

To shrink the entire fission thruster to only a few hundred kilograms, or even less than a hundred kilograms, truly sounds like a fantasy.

Tom doesn't know if such a thing is even possible. After all, he no longer has a sample to reference, just as there was huge controversy in the human world back then over whether it was possible to build an atomic bomb.

But it doesn't matter; he'll research it first. What if it works?

The great development of thruster technology and the significant improvement in overall efficiency greatly changed Tom's existing space transportation landscape.

Amidst immense industrial productivity, the most advanced fission thrusters rapidly developed into multiple different models, suitable for various sizes of spaceships, and quickly achieved widespread application.

As a result, Tom's chemical fuel consumption showed a visible decrease.

Last year, Tom consumed a total of approximately 1.06 billion tons of chemical fuel.

With fission power plants serving as the main source of energy for electricity generation, these chemical fuels were primarily consumed by spaceship transportation.

But this year, with the widespread application of fission thrusters, chemical fuel consumption rapidly decreased to only 620 million tons.

By next year, it is estimated to decrease by more than 50% further, falling to less than 300 million tons.

This means that a large amount of industrial power and transportation capacity are saved. Conversely, Tom's industrial strength has been further enhanced.

At this moment, Mercury-class battleships and Venus-class battleships using the new fission thrusters have also been built. But Tom has not yet used the Goku AI to conduct large-scale combat drills again.

The reason is simple: at this moment, the battleships have only reached the human world's top level in terms of propulsion, but all other aspects are still far behind.

Drills with such a deformed battleship cannot accurately reflect the battlefield situation. The data they generate would not only be useless but harmful to the Goku AI.

As one of the AIs Tom values most, besides the Hestia AI, he cannot tolerate such a thing happening.

"It's time to develop battleships where all systems can reach or even surpass the human world's top level!"

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