Chapter 1096 RD170 engine as mortgage
It turns out that we really came here for cooperation!
Da Mao has always liked to rest on his laurels, and this is also true in the aerospace field. For a long time, they could only rely on the Proton launch vehicles and Soyuz rockets from the Red Empire era to perform launch missions. Although these spacecraft are old, they are safe. It is reliable. It is not only used by itself, but also undertakes many international launch missions. Since the American space shuttle is unreliable, they can only rely on the Soyuz spacecraft to enter and exit the International Space Station. I can continue to live a comfortable life by continuing to rest on my laurels. Their space agency It's possible to make money.
However, resting on one's laurels is not enough. Therefore, in 1994, the Khrunichev National Space Research and Production Center in Damascus proposed the "Angara" rocket project using clean energy. This series of rockets includes "light" and "medium" rockets. There are three levels of "heavy". Among various projects, the "Angara-100" rocket has the largest thrust. Its low-Earth orbit transportation capacity exceeds 100 tons, which is enough to meet the mission of flying to the moon.
However, without external investment, it would be difficult to carry out the research and development of this kind of rocket. After all, it is not very useful. For Damao, the research and development of the "Angara-A5" large rocket is the most important, because this kind of rocket is not very useful. Rockets will be the main force in carrying out manned space missions in the future.
Now, seeing the craze for lunar exploration around the world, they have finally targeted Starship Company. Starship Company has received so much money, and it is also very good for us to spend some of it.
“Okay.” Max nodded.
Currently, Starship Company only has one rocket, the Starship MK1. They are developing a new liquid oxygen methane engine to be installed on this rocket to greatly increase its thrust. At the same time, the new rocket needed to go to Mars is also Under preliminary research. However, it takes a long time to develop a new rocket, and it may not be put into use by the time the lunar base is built.
So, if Da Mao has qualified rockets, they are still willing to use them.
“That’s great.” A smile appeared on Perminov’s face: “We can sign the contract now. Please provide us with a start-up capital.”
Max frowned: "Start-up capital?"
“Yes, with your funds, we can start the development of the Angara-100 heavy rocket.”
Qin Tao on the side shook his head helplessly. It seemed that this project was about to fail, and Lao Maozi was trying to draw water from a bamboo basket in vain.
Sure enough, Max immediately shook his head: "That's impossible."
“We will discuss this matter later. Dear guests, do you want to make a speech before we go to the conference room together?”
This is still at the celebration meeting. There are not only people from Starship Company, people from the Eastern National Team, but also reporters. It is not good to have conflicts at the moment.
Perminov also reacted, walked up to the rostrum, stood at the speaking position, picked up the speech, and began to babble.
There were warm applause from time to time.
No matter what, Da Mao personally came to support him and gave the Eastern Aerospace System enough face. Therefore, he did not slap the smiling man. After arriving in the conference room, Qin Tao said with a smile: "Everyone, if there are any differences between us, you can Slowly speaking, we can always find common interests."
"Yes, we at Damao have rich experience in the rocket field. Our Angara-100 rocket has the world's largest launch weight and can completely help you launch. We just lack funds, so we would like to ask you to provide Use some funds for research and development, and when the research and development is successful, they can be used for the construction of your lunar base. Moreover, the research and development funds you provide can be completely offset against the subsequent launch costs, which is the most suitable for you." Erminov was a little confused. Why wouldn't you be willing to do a project that seems to be beneficial to both parties?
Max sneered: "We can use your rockets to launch, but we will never fund your research and development. This is a bottomless pit."
The word "bottomless pit" made the atmosphere at the scene awkward.
Max is wise. Capitalists have the most accurate vision. He can tell at a glance that if Da Mao has ready-made rockets, he can use them. If Da Mao wants to develop them, he must stay as far away as possible. This is definitely a What a pit.
The big hairy people had complicated expressions.
"As far as I know, in the Red Empire era, you had the Energy rocket, with a near-earth carrying capacity of more than one hundred tons. If you use this rocket, wouldn't it be ready?" Qin Tao said.
The zero success rate of the N1 rocket launch made Lao Maozi very embarrassed. They learned from the painful experience and decided to develop a bundled super-heavy launch vehicle. They bundled 2, 4, 6, and 8 boosters respectively to form Tempest, Energy, and Vulcan. No. 1 and the Hercules series of launch vehicles have achieved a gradient in carrying capacity. Later generations only know the No. Energy No. and not the others. Of course, this is because only the No. 1 No. Energy has carried out a few test flights, and the other rockets have not been built. Came out.
Energy used four booster rockets, each using an RD170 engine powered by liquid oxygen and kerosene, with a thrust of 800 tons. Later, after the Energy project was discontinued, this booster was used to improve the Zenith. The rocket has been in use, and the booster of a heavy-lift rocket can be used as a launch vehicle, which shows how powerful this rocket is.
The core stage of Energy is 8.5 meters in diameter. It looks similar to the fuel tank of the American space shuttle, but it is a real rocket. It uses four RD-0120 engines powered by liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. The rated thrust is 190 tons. Although the thrust is not as large as that of the RD170, it uses staged combustion technology and has a vacuum specific impulse of 455S, giving it powerful performance.
The completed Energy rocket is 58.765 meters high, 17.65 meters in diameter, has a take-off mass of 2,400 tons, and a take-off thrust of up to 3,550 tons. It can send 105 tons of cargo into low-Earth orbit and 32 tons of cargo into the Earth-Moon Transfer Orbit.
As for the largest model, it has a height of 110 meters and is surrounded by eight boosters. It can send 270 tons of payload to low-Earth orbit and 100 tons of payload to the moon. It has absolutely powerful performance.
Super rockets are very expensive, so these rockets have the ability to be reused when they are designed. For example, there is a parachute on the top of the booster. After being separated, it will land and be reused. However, the two initial test flights These mechanisms were not installed this time. When it comes to reuse, Lao Maozi was much earlier than Max.
If this kind of rocket can be used, then just use it directly. Why continue to bother with new launch vehicles?
Hearing Qin Tao's words, Perminov had a wry smile on his face.
"Yes, Mr. Qin, you are right. If the Energy rocket is still there, or even the entire Zhu Rongxing project is successful, then our rocket can indeed be used directly, and our aerospace technology will be the strongest in the world. However, The Energy rocket at that time was not mature. Even after two launches, there were still some problems that could not be solved. Moreover, the core stage of the Energy rocket used a high-thrust liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen engine, which we no longer have in our country. The production technology of the engine has been improved."
Lao Maozi now mainly uses liquid oxygen and kerosene engines, or poisonous fuels. Liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen engines are rarely used. At most, they are used on the upper stages of rockets. There is no production technology for such high-thrust liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen engines, and the fuel The manufacturing technology such as tanks has also been abandoned. Now it is difficult for them to pick up this engine again. Their Ankara rocket mainly uses a liquid oxygen kerosene engine.
The legacy of the past has not been completely inherited. Many technologies have been lost and many talents have been lost. They can only use the current technology to fiddle with it.
In addition to the Ankara-100, Lao Maozi has also proposed a Yenisei heavy rocket design plan, which bundles six boosters and uses an RD-180 rocket engine with liquid oxygen kerosene in the core stage. The technology of this rocket is very mature and it will be able to complete its first launch within ten years. It also has a lunar orbit carrying capacity of 25 tons.
However, no matter what kind of rocket, it must be researched and developed, and huge investments must be made. What the old man lacks most now is funds!
In short, Lao Maozi needs money to do things, but Max will not provide them with funds, and this contradiction arises.
Of course Max will not provide funds. This is a bottomless pit. Who knows how many times he will extend his hand in the future? With this money, I can develop it myself.
How to reconcile this contradiction?
An idea came into Qin Tao's mind.
“What engine production technology do you have in your country now?” Qin Tao asked: “At present, our Starship Company’s Raptor engine has been developed, with a thrust of more than two hundred tons. Your Da Mao level should be much better than ours, right?”
“Of course, we have an advanced RD-180 engine on hand with a thrust of four hundred tons, which is twice that of your Raptor engine.” Speaking of this, Perminov was very proud.
“Is there anything bigger than this?”
“Of course, we also have the RD-170 engine, which has a thrust of more than 800 tons.”
Snapped! Qin Tao slapped the table, which startled Perminov.
“Yes!”
What’s left? "You guys want to develop advanced heavy-lift rockets, but you don't have the funds, right?"
Perminov nodded.
“Our starship company does not have enough carrying capacity now, but we are worried that Da Mao will delay the construction period and increase the budget, leading to a bottomless pit, right?”
Max nodded.
"That's it." Qin Tao said: "We obtained a batch of RD170 engines from Damao as collateral! How much funds Damao needs, we have to send us the corresponding engines. When the rocket is developed, we will send the engines to us. How about we go back and offset the launch costs?"
The big guys were stunned for a moment, collateral?
This is just like borrowing money from a bank. You must have collateral. The bank will never make a loss-making transaction.
DaMao Space Agency wants to obtain funds to develop advanced rockets, of course there is no problem, just send your engines over as collateral! We don’t want it either, just to be on the safe side, and we will still have to pay it back to you later.
Max was stunned for a moment, then realized what he was doing, and was overjoyed.
The current Raptor engine is based on the NK-33 engine and improved. The fuel is changed from kerosene to methane. I also have a lot of technicians under my command to make this engine more and more mature.
However, the thrust of this engine is still too low.
They had no choice but to choose to connect so many engines in parallel. After all, if the power was not enough, they would have to make up the numbers! If there is this RD170 engine, then one can be equivalent to four Raptors, which means that the number of engines needed for the rocket will be greatly reduced!
The existing Raptor engine will not be wasted and can be used in subsequent launches. Related technologies can also be used in the modification of the RD170 engine. We will definitely change the fuel to methane, because in the atmosphere of Mars, methane It's something that's easy to get.
One has a thrust of 800 tons, and four units have a thrust of more than 3,000 tons. If four more boosters are bundled around it, the thrust will be absolutely incredible!
Thinking of this, Max was extremely excited, but he didn't show it. As a successful capitalist, he had long learned to disguise himself.
He frowned: "Mr. Qin, this kind of engine is no longer produced by Da Mao. If we get some stock ones to fool us, and they are useless products that can't even ignite, then our investment may be in vain."
Qin Tao nodded: "Yes, this is indeed the case, but I believe in the credibility of our friends."
"No, just credibility is not enough. I think that the delivered batch of mortgage engines must be put on our test bench for ignition testing. We must ensure that they can ignite and start normally before we will accept it. Otherwise, we will not accept it." will recognize its value.”
“Okay.” Qin Tao looked to the other side: “Mr. Perminov, what do you think?”
Perminov's mind was still in a state of confusion. He was confused for a moment and did not react. However, his companions beside him had already reacted.
“No, absolutely not, we will not let you get this kind of engine. With your copycat capabilities in the East, it won’t take long for you to copy our engine!”
"Copycat? How is it possible?" Qin Tao had a daze on his face: "What do we copy your engine for? We have our own engine, and we are on the liquid oxygen and methane route, and you are on the liquid oxygen and kerosene route. Engine technology It’s not universal at all.”
"Hmph, how could we copy a village? If we were a national team, we might do something like this. Our Starship Company is the strongest aerospace company in the world. We don't bother to do this kind of thing. How dare you slander us as a copycat? Forget it. , let’s not talk about it in this meeting!” Max said and stood up angrily: “Huh, we don’t need you at all. We have our own starships. Although the carrying capacity is lower, we can’t afford to launch a few more launches. This time, there is no need to use yours. We just sat down and talked with you out of friendship. I didn’t expect you to look at us in this way!"
Seeing that Max was about to leave, Perminov became anxious: "Mr. Max, Mr. Max, please don't get angry. Let's sit down and continue talking. The conditions are not suitable, so we can continue talking about the conditions."
“Max, don’t worry, sit down first.” Qin Tao also said.
So Max sat down again.
"I also understand that your concern is that we are afraid of obtaining the above technology." Qin Tao said: "This is also easy to solve. You only need to transport the collateral and after it passes the inspection, we will put it in the warehouse and put a seal on it. At the same time, how about using your people to guard the outside?"
After finishing speaking, Qin Tao smiled: "It's a pity that this thing is too big. Otherwise, we can put it in the bank's vault. It will be absolutely safe and no one will touch it."
Perminov was moved.
This kind of engine is indeed their most proud thing. The technology can never be obtained by the East, but it is still possible if it is only used as collateral.
“One engine costs 50 million U.S. dollars, we will mortgage two of them to you, and you will give us 100 million U.S. dollars in research and development funds. How about that?”
"Fifty million dollars? Do you think we are fools?" Max stood up again: "The price of the RD180 you sold to the United States is ten million dollars per unit, and the RD170 is twice that, and is only worth twenty million at most. U.S. dollars! Since you are so insincere, then forget it! Our Starship Company is not short of money, but we will never be taken advantage of!"
Max is leaving again!
“Okay, okay, then it’s 20 million units, but we only have four units on hand in stock.”
“Then I’ll give you a loan of 80 million US dollars, or you can send us two more RD180s.”
“What if the money is not enough?” asked Perminov.
Aerospace research and development costs money. This US$100 million sounds like a lot, but in fact it is really not enough.
"If it's not enough, then you can continue to send collateral." Max said: "We have a saying in the East that friends are friends and business is business."
Qin Tao sighed on the sidelines, Max already regarded himself as an out-and-out Easterner, good, good, good!
“I hope you will pay for the costs of the guards.”
“It’s good that we don’t want your loan interest, but you still ask us to pay wages? What a joke!”
“We, the Mingzhou Group, will pay this salary!” Qin Tao said, “This conflict should be resolved, right? Everyone, do we want to discuss the details of the contract?”
"Just leave the details to my men to discuss. I don't have the time." Max stood up: "When your heavy-lift rocket is developed, we will discuss in detail the use of rockets to launch the moon base."
(End of this chapter)