Chapter 769 Try It and You'll Know!

Regarding the contest between Huaguo and the United States in the aerospace field, it has also sparked a lot of discussion on the domestic Internet. Especially on the issue of which is more powerful, the Mars colony or the lunar orbital space station, the relevant discussions are particularly intense.

Leaving aside some remarks that are purely because of the ass problem, black for the sake of black, or fans for the sake of fans, there are still many people who evaluate from a rational point of view.

For example, those who think that the United States has the upper hand believe that the BFR rocket uses the most advanced liquid oxygen methane engine in the world, the maximum vacuum thrust can reach 138 meganewtons, and the low-Earth orbit carrying capacity is 4.6 times that of the Saturn V. All kinds of data completely exploded the Xiangrui number.

What's more, the Mars colony is tens of millions of kilometers away, and the difficulty of transportation alone is not on the same level as the lunar orbiting space station. Naturally, the United States is better.

Those who think that Huaguo has the upper hand are from a pragmatic point of view. No matter how you think about it, an enclave that is tens of millions of kilometers away from the mainland and can only wait for a launch window in two years is far inferior to the moon that is "close at hand".

Objectively speaking, either side of the point of view is tenable.

However, Lu Zhou did not pay much attention to the discussions surrounding the lunar orbit project.

At least in his eyes, these discussions are actually meaningless.

In the short term, whether it is Huaguo's development of lunar resources or the exploration of distant Mars, it is certain to lose money. Whether it is the helium and titanium ore in the lunar soil, or the rich iron ore and methane reserves on Mars, it is still a distant pie.

Just like centuries ago, before the pattern of the Age of Discovery was established, no one knew whether the future of the Colonial Age would be in the Caribbean Sea or in the more distant Spice Coast...

Even if the moon is indeed closer.

Of course, although from an economic point of view, the entire space program is bound to lose money, but sometimes it is not possible to fully consider the problem from an economic point of view.

At least as far as China is concerned, the political, scientific, cultural and other benefits obtained through the space program cannot be simply measured by money.

Take the Moon Palace program as an example. As the world's first country to deploy a space station in lunar orbit, other countries that want to participate in moon-related scientific research projects can only sign cooperation agreements with Hua Guo in this field.

For example, Germany, as the first country to reach an agreement with Huaguo on controllable fusion technology, naturally started cooperation negotiations with Huaguo on the Moon Palace project.

According to the results of the negotiations, Hua Guo promised to reserve a scientific research post for the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research after the completion of the first phase of the Moon Palace, and allow Germany to send a national scientific researcher to serve on the Moon Palace.

In exchange, the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research will cooperate with Chinese domestic research institutions on projects related to the development of lunar resources.

Also conducting diplomatic contact with China on the Moon Palace project, there are also countries including Britain, France, the European Union, Russia, Japan and so on.

As for cooperation requests from other countries, Huaguo has also shown an attitude of openness and cooperation. Even for the United States, which is in a rival relationship, the Moon Palace has reserved a place for their astronauts.

No matter at any time, the competitive relationship between countries is always relative, not absolute.

Although China often has a "clear position" in guiding public opinion, in fact international relations issues are far less black and white than most people imagine.

Even at the most tense moment of the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union had reached many mutually beneficial and win-win cooperation in the research of aerospace projects and controllable fusion projects.

Now, the competition between Huaguo and the United States is far from reaching the stage of the Cold War. Huaguo, which adheres to the path of peaceful development, has never taken the initiative to provoke a fight for world hegemony. If the United States is willing to cooperate with the lunar space station project If Hua Guo cooperates, of course Hua Guo has no reason to refuse.

Of course, the premise of all this is that the United States is willing to open the outpost of the Mars colony to China, or offer an equivalent bargaining chip in exchange...

At present, Lu Zhou is not very familiar with the specific progress of the negotiations between the diplomatic department and various countries, nor is he very concerned.

Diplomatic affairs, of course, are still in the charge of the diplomatic department.

These trivial matters have little to do with the Lunar Orbit Construction Committee.

What he needs to worry about now is something more urgent...

Jinling City.

Institute of Aerospace Science and Technology.

A meeting about the lunar orbit construction plan is being held in the conference room of the institute.

Those present at the meeting were all bigwigs in the domestic aerospace industry.

Including academician Yuan Huanmin, the chief engineer of Hangke Group, and Director Zhang, the person in charge of the core module project of the Moon Palace, almost all the top talents in the industry gathered here.

After announcing the start of the meeting with a short opening remark, Lu Zhou walked to the front of the stage, looked around the meeting room with a serious expression, and said concisely.

"I believe you have all heard that the first phase of the American Ares Project has been completed."

"According to the relevant details disclosed by NASA, the BFR rocket did not adopt the Hohmann transfer orbit in the traditional sense, but adopted the method of directly hitting the orbit, directly entering the orbit of Mars' gravitational system."

As soon as the voice on the road fell, there was a noisy discussion in the conference room.

In fact, before the meeting started, many people had already heard of it, but they were still shocked when they heard it again at this time.

For a long time, the spacecraft going to Mars have adopted the Hohmann transfer orbit, and this is also the route to Mars that theoretically consumes the least fuel.

However, this orbit is not perfect. It can only wait for a window period every two years, and it needs to fly in the air for as long as 180 days.

If it is used to launch a probe, 260 days is not unacceptable. But if it is to send tourists to Mars, it is a bit unacceptable.

Therefore, as the main vehicle of the Ares project, the BFR rocket aimed at Mars colonization has chosen a faster flight track. Compared with the Homan transfer orbit, the BFR rocket using this orbit only needs 30 days to 120 days, which is enough to complete the trip from the earth to Mars, and has a longer launch time than the Homann transfer orbit. window period, without having to wait two years for the next launch.

As for the price, it needs to consume more fuel.

Although on the surface, the BFR rocket seems to have pushed up the cost of launching to Mars, on the other hand, shortening the flight time means that the life support load on the BFS spacecraft can be reduced, and it can carry less fresh water, oxygen, and food resources. From this point of view, adopting this launch route that consumes more fuel can actually reduce transportation costs...

Getting rid of the launch route of the Hohmann transfer orbit can turn this seemingly crazy plan into reality. In a sense, Space-X's technology is really powerful and terrifying!

Looking at the conference room that was caught in the discussion, Lu Zhou did not speak, quietly waiting for the discussion to subside.

Just like that, after about five minutes, a professor sitting in the conference room raised his hand and said.

"I have something to say."

Nodding to the professor who raised his hand, Lu Zhou said.

"Speaking."

Pushing the glasses on the bridge of his nose, the middle-aged professor thanked Lu Zhou, stood up slowly, and expressed his opinion in a soliciting tone.

"I think the successful launch of the BFR rocket is a proof to some extent that chemical rockets have not reached the bottleneck as we thought."

"Maybe we should re-examine our development route. I don't deny the importance of electric propulsion systems, but it may be too early to give up chemical rockets now."

Looking at the professor who got up to speak, Lu Zhou pondered for a while, then suddenly said.

"If I give you 50 years and an annual budget of 1 billion U.S. dollars, are you sure you can make the high-thrust rocket reach the level of BFR?"

As if he didn't expect that Lu Zhou would suddenly raise this question, the expert was slightly stunned, and the expression on his face became a little dignified.

After a brief hesitation, he finally shook his head and answered honestly.

"... Difficult."

The BFR rocket has almost marked the pinnacle of the liquid oxygen methane engine. Standing on the shoulders of giants, it is difficult to find an opponent that can match it.

It is almost impossible to surpass the United States in the chemical propulsion system, considering the current situation of the domestic aerospace industry.

Even if it's bragging, he can't cross this estuary.

Lu Zhou didn't say much, nodded to him, and motioned him to sit down.

"Yes, as you said, it's difficult for us to do it."

"Perhaps there is still room for improvement in the chemical propulsion system. By improving our engine technology, we can create larger rockets that fly farther, but we want to rely on this technology to gain an advantage in the space race, or even surpass us. opponents, it is almost impossible."

"Therefore, concentrating all our strengths, developing electric propulsion systems, and maintaining our own advantages is our only choice."

After pausing for a moment, Lu Zhou looked around the conference room and continued.

"Although the BFR rocket has achieved great success, we should not belittle ourselves."

"We may not be their opponents in terms of thrust, but we also have our own advantages! The advantage of the electric propulsion system lies in the huge specific impulse, which cannot be caught up by chemical rockets anyway."

"Some time ago, I disclosed that based on the propulsion system on Xiangrui, Xingkong Technology is developing a spacecraft that is more flexible and more suitable for the round-trip between low-earth orbit and the surface. At present, the relevant research has come to an end, and it is now It's time to unravel the mystery."

After all, Lu Zhou looked at the big screen behind him, and pressed the laser pointer in his hand.

Soon, a concept map of the Xiaguang with a three-dimensional composition was presented in front of everyone.

Looking at the picture on the image, Academician Yuan's pupils shrank slightly, and he couldn't help standing up from his seat.

"This is?!"

It was not only Academician Yuan who was shocked.

Looking at the aerospace plane with a unique shape and very different from traditional spacecraft, the voice of surprise suddenly spread throughout the conference room.

Looking at Academician Yuan with a surprised face, Lu Zhou nodded with a smile and said.

"Its name is Xiaguang! A new generation of spacecraft we have designed for going to and from the atmosphere."

Sitting next to Academician Yuan, also staring at the spacecraft on the screen dumbfounded, Sun Yuanpei couldn't help but said.

"This design... can it work?"

Disperse the four engines on four two-axis fixed wings, and only keep one main engine at the rear...

This design is too messy!

"The technical feasibility demonstration has been done a long time ago, and it is absolutely feasible in theory. As for the actual..." Speaking of this, Lu Zhou paused for a moment, and said in a firm tone, "Let's give it a try Just know!"