Chapter 960: Projects Beyond Saturn V
“Mr. Qin is here!”
“Mr. Max is here!”
Just when everyone was looking at the spacecraft, someone shouted, and they turned their attention to the upper and lower passages of the rostrum. Sure enough, two people came over!
“Mr. Qin!”
“Max!”
Both of them raised their right hands and waved to the people below. The people below were even more excited. If there were not security guards blocking them outside, they would have rushed up to surround them.
"Hello everyone." When he came to the microphone, Qin Tao first spoke to the people below: "Welcome to the press conference of our Starship Company. First of all, as the person in charge of Mingzhou Group, I am here to announce , the first manned flight of our Dragon spacecraft was a complete success!"
There was a round of applause below. Although this news has been announced to the outside world through the news, it has not yet been Mingzhou Group’s turn to issue this statement. This is the first time.
“For us, this is just a small step on the way forward. Our future is the stars and the sea. Next, we will carry out a series of manned space activities. The Dragon spacecraft behind us will continue to travel in space.”
As Qin Tao spoke, the staff behind him took off the protective cover, revealing the somewhat black Dragon spacecraft inside.
When it was launched, the surface of the Dragon spacecraft was painted white, but when it returned, it was roasted by thousands of degrees of high temperature, and the surface would naturally undergo some changes. I just don’t know if Max will save money next time. When going up to the sky, there was no need to paint, and the dark spacecraft was directly launched up.
Click, click! The camera rang again, taking pictures of the two people on the stage and the spaceship behind them.
“Wow!” Many people also shouted, which brought the atmosphere at the scene to a new climax.
After all these people had enjoyed taking pictures and watching, Qin Tao continued: "Next, we will announce the next phase of our Starship Company's plan. Now, let's ask Mr. Max to introduce it to you."
Max walked over with brisk steps and looked at everyone at the scene: "Everyone, flying into space is just the first step. Next, we will start planning our moon landing."
To the moon!
Many people are excited.
Although everyone is guessing that with the success of manned spaceflight, Starship Company's next step is to land on the moon, but everyone is just guessing after all, and there is no concrete evidence yet. Now, these words come from Max's mouth Say it and it's official.
"We are based on the existing Starship MK1." Marks said: "Because our near-Earth carrying capacity is only 60 tons, which is only half of the original Apollo moon landing rocket, our action plan is different from the Apollo plan. We will launch two rockets and fly together to the lunar orbit. One of them will transport the astronauts and the other will transport the lunar module. After docking in the lunar orbit, the astronauts will step on the lunar module and then fly to the moon. After completing the mission, we will come up in the lunar module, rendezvous with our orbital module, and then return to Earth."
Starship Company is serious. They not only want to land on the moon, but also formulate a technical route for landing on the moon. This shows that they are doing this work down-to-earth.
“Excuse me, how long do you plan to land on the moon?”
“Within five years.”
Five years!
Starship Company is so awesome. It can achieve manned spaceflight within the first five years and land on the moon within the second five years. So, will it be able to fly to Mars within the third five years?
The people present were extremely excited, but they had no chance to continue asking questions. Qin Tao said from the side: "I know you are very excited, but please let our Mr. Max introduce the entire plan first, and it is not too late for you to ask questions."
The people below could only remain silent and looked at the rostrum with excited eyes.
"In the next five years, we will sell some tickets for the Dragon spacecraft. It may be more expensive at the beginning. In the future, we will definitely achieve the goal of one hundred thousand US dollars per ticket. At the same time, we will also sell some tickets in the next five years. , selling tickets to the moon. Such tickets will definitely be more expensive in the initial stage, but in the later stages, they will be reduced to US$500,000 per ticket."
Starship companies have many ways to make money, but the most important thing is selling tickets to fly to the sky! Who said aerospace can only cost money? We can achieve profitability through this model!
Landing on the moon within five years is a matter for astronauts. If we land on the moon after five years, tourists can land on the moon!
"In the later stage, in order to further reduce the spacecraft's ticket price, we will put the newly developed super-heavy launch vehicle and the new spacecraft into commercial operation. Next, I will introduce this new spacecraft in detail and the process of developing them. The goal is not to go to the moon, but to go to Mars!”
Pictures began to appear on the projection screen nearby, and Max introduced his brand-new project.
"Our system consists of two parts: the SuperHeavy launch vehicle and the Starship spacecraft. SuperHeavy, as the first stage of the rocket, is mainly responsible for sending the entire system from the earth's surface into space. You should have seen that this is the first-stage rocket, which uses The advanced liquid oxygen methane engine has high energy density and is also environmentally friendly. We are currently developing this kind of engine. In the future, when we go to Mars, we can also use local materials to make fuel. The outer shell of the entire rocket is made of stainless steel. This is repeated The key to use is that after completing the launch mission, the rocket will be recovered and continue to perform the next mission, which is a must for low-cost access to space."
"Let's look at the Starship above. It is the second stage of the rocket and is mainly responsible for performing various tasks in space, such as carrying people, cargo, satellites, etc. It has a height of fifty meters and is a huge aircraft in itself. After detaching from the lower stage, relying on its own energy, it can fly directly to the moon, land on the lunar surface, take off again, and then return to the earth's orbit. After this spacecraft is developed, it will become a real deep-sea spacecraft. A space tool. It also gives us the ability to fly to Mars."
"The lower stage is 70 meters, and uses 33 engines on the upper stage. The upper stage has six engines. The entire starship will become the largest spacecraft in the history of the earth, and its capabilities will far exceed the previous Saturn V. We know that Saturn V is only 110 meters high, while our spacecraft will be 120 meters high. After our new project is completed, it will create a miracle in the history of human spaceflight!"
Everyone opened their eyes wide and looked at the projection screen. The big guy from Starship Company has finally arrived. This big guy will become a tool for landing on Mars and a shuttle bus for traveling to the moon!
The news of this press conference quickly spread throughout the world and to the other side of the ocean.
NASA.
Everyone in the conference room was speechless for a long time.
Ruders sighed: "Can their new project be successful? The first-stage rocket actually requires 33 engines. Their existing starship MK1 only uses 18 engines, and it was already used when it was launched. It may happen that one of them doesn’t work.”
It is very dangerous to use multiple engines working in parallel. For specific reference, you can refer to the N1 rocket in the Soviet era. Thirty NK-15 engines were used in the first stage. As a result, it exploded every time it was launched, and it ended in hatred.
18 units were used on Starship MK1. It is said that one or two units will not work every time it is launched and will be temporarily shut down. What about now? Now is Max going to go further and further down this crooked path?
"Yes, the existing starship MK1 is unstable, so the actual weight of cargo they carry each time is far lower than the theoretical maximum carrying weight." One person said: "But, as far as we know, this brand-new Starship, let’s call it MK2 for the time being, this starship will use a brand new liquid oxygen methane engine.”
“So what, is this engine more reliable? Can it guarantee that the chain will not drop during launch? What’s more, their rocket needs to be reused many times.”
“This should not be guaranteed. It is estimated that one or two rocket engines will accidentally fail to ignite every launch. However, they used a swing nozzle on this engine.”
Swinging nozzle?
People present reacted: "In other words, if an engine fails, it can be shut down directly. There is no need to shut down other engines for thrust symmetry?"
The thrust of the rocket engine must be balanced, otherwise the rocket will veer in the direction when it goes up. Therefore, once one of the Starship MK1 launches was found to be unable to start, the symmetrical engines had to be shut down simultaneously to maintain balance, but there was a swing. The nozzle of other engines can be slightly deviated to correct the thrust deviation, thereby reducing the decrease in rocket thrust.
"It's no longer necessary to discuss this. Let's discuss our next response. Everyone, we are the only one who has successfully landed on the moon. We absolutely cannot tolerate the emergence of another competitor." Ruders said: "So, we must Re-examining our project plan, should we propose a plan to return to the moon? They took five years, so we will also take five years, or even shorter!"
"Mr. Luders, do you still remember how you left after taking office?" Casey's voice was cold.
There are very few women engaged in aerospace, and even fewer can climb to high positions. Casey is an exception. She is now the person in charge of NASA's manned spaceflight. This is of course also a reflection of last time. The last time the space shuttle exploded, many people suffered misfortune. Her boss also stepped down, so she came up.
Unlike others, she must ensure a safe route.
Now, Ruders actually wants to return to the moon within five years. Has he forgotten how O'Keefe left in despair? Now O'Keefe is still considered a disgrace to the U.S. aerospace industry, a typical example of a layman leading an expert.
Luders can't say anything anymore. With NASA's current technical strength, even if Congress has sufficient funding, it may not be able to guarantee that they will complete the massive work in five years!
“The worst we can do is continue to build Saturn V.” A voice sounded.
"We can no longer build the Saturn V. Many parts on it require special technical personnel to process. Those technical personnel have retired long ago. It is impossible to invite them back to continue working. In order to carry out the Apollo program, we almost mobilized the whole country. That kind of environment is long gone now.”
The mass base is gone. It doesn’t matter if they don’t do it. If they do it and fail, there will be big trouble.
“Then we just watch helplessly?”
"Now is not the time to consider these issues. Everyone, our International Space Station has not been completed yet, but our space shuttle can no longer be used. How should we send the next Node 2 and Node 3 test modules? Go up? How to carry out the next astronaut exchanges, these are the things that need our most attention." Although the space shuttle exploded last time, they had completed their mission after all, and it exploded when they were returning and entering the atmosphere. . But what about the next transportation mission?
The International Space Station is a huge thing. There are many cabins docked together to form a big thing with a weight of 420 tons. It has just started construction. The first phase of the project has come to an end. What about the second and third phases of the project? What are you using to launch those large cabins of tens of tons?
What about transporting astronauts in the future? Although new spacecraft projects have begun in China, the progress of these projects is quite slow. After all, a group of the best domestic experts in manned spaceflight have already gone to the East.
They must consider the following issues, which are the most troublesome.
After hearing what Casey said, everyone fell silent, yes, what should we do next?
"How about we reconcile with Starship Company and ask Starship Company for help? After all, those dirty things were done by the previous leader and have nothing to do with us."
Everyone raised their heads and looked in the direction of the speaker, their eyes full of surprise.
“Everyone, our space shuttle cannot be used. The sky can only rely on Da Mao’s Soyuz spacecraft. The fare Da Mao wants will definitely be very high. We can even just use the Starship Company as a bargaining chip to lower the price.”
Da Mao doesn’t know anything about international ethics, and the ticket price for them will definitely be ridiculously high. Now, apart from Da Mao, only the Starship Company in the world can send people aboard.
It is beneficial for NASA to have a good relationship with Starship. As long as they give up their confrontational mindset, cooperation will be possible. Moreover, many of the people there are former NASA employees, so they can work together more harmoniously.
Luders frowned. This proposal seemed to be a good one. Do they want to change their policy and strategy? Anyway, Starship Company is a private aerospace company and has nothing to do with the Eastern national team. The Eastern people's claims like that are just to put gold on their own faces.
But will those in Congress agree?
“Everyone, I just received news that the European Space Agency has issued a statement.”
European Space Agency also joins in the fun? The big guy was stunned again.
"what did they say?"
“ESA has decided to develop a brand new cargo spacecraft in order to transport cargo to the International Space Station. The carrying capacity of this cargo spacecraft will reach eight tons. Once it is successfully developed, it will greatly ease the pressure on the International Space Station. Material transportation needs problem.”
After the International Space Station is built, it will also need a lot of supplies. The astronauts will have to eat, drink, and carry out various scientific research activities in orbit. The height of the International Space Station in the thin outer space will gradually decrease, and the engines will need to be turned on in time to increase the altitude. All these require Transport supplies up there.
If the space shuttle cannot be used, then only Lao Maozi's spacecraft will be left. Lao Maozi has the Soyuz manned spacecraft, which can only transport three people a time, and Lao Maozi has the Progress cargo spacecraft, which can only transport two people at a time. Three tons of supplies, this transportation capacity is just drizzle for the International Space Station.
At this time, ESA finally began to make efforts to develop cargo spacecraft.
East.
After the press conference, Qin Tao, Max and others finally made their way back. On the plane, they received news from the European Space Agency.
"ESA's development of cargo spacecraft is only the first step. After all, cargo spacecraft are very simple. They want to use their experience in developing cargo spacecraft to further develop manned spacecraft. They also want to step into the manned space club." Max analyzed .
The cargo spacecraft is very simple. It only needs to transport materials and complete the docking with the space station. The manned spacecraft requires more technical support, including dynamic deceleration configuration, heat-proof materials, regenerative life support system, landing system, escape system, etc. many important technologies.
Starship Company has so many experts, and they first built the cargo Dragon spacecraft, and then the manned Dragon spacecraft. What about ESA? Of course, we can only take this route.
But I have to say that if they succeed, this kind of spacecraft will be very good. After all, it is tailor-made for the Ariane-5 rocket they have on hand. This rocket has a near-earth carrying capacity of up to 20 tons. Moreover, there is only one main engine on the rocket, which is enough to show how powerful they are in the aerospace field.
Relying on this powerful rocket, their ATV cargo spacecraft has a total weight of 20 tons, an uplink carrying capacity of 8 tons, and a dedicated service module. After docking with the space station, the service module can also be used for other purposes.
“It seems that ESA has been stimulated by us.” Qin Tao said: “However, we don’t need to worry too much. After all, compared with us, ESA still has many disadvantages.”
“What are the disadvantages?”
“They are made up of many countries, so there will inevitably be disputes. If the French want to engage in manned spaceflight, they will need high investment. Other countries may not be willing to buy it. They are just soy sauce at best.”
Having been in the East for many years, Max is of course familiar with the language here. When he heard Qin Tao talking about soy sauce, Max nodded: "Yes, except for us, everyone else is soy sauce, even NASA is soy sauce."
Max is confident, the flag has been set, and the next step is to work hard to achieve the goal!
In 2020, land on Mars!
It is cold in the north, but Qiongzhou is still warm. When I come back from the north, I take off my thick clothes and look at the people swimming on the beach, it feels like the season has changed.
Next, enjoy the warmth here and enjoy the happiness of the annual vacation.
Two children were playing on the beach. Qin Tao and Zhao Ling were sitting on deck chairs on the beach and basking in the sun. Life was really good. Some people like to bring gifts in large and small packages back to their hometowns during the New Year, while others like to take the family on a trip to celebrate the New Year. , different choices, different feelings.
In this way, it was not until the second day of the Lunar New Year that Qin Tao returned to the capital with his family. Some traditions still had to be observed. The meal on the second day of the Lunar New Year had to be eaten at his father-in-law's house.
It was exactly 12 noon when we entered the house. The steaming meals were already placed on the table. Zhao Xiu'e greeted everyone warmly, while Wu Shengli took out a bottle of aged wine from the wine cabinet.
“Come, let’s have a few drinks today. Even though we often ate together in the past, we didn’t dare to drink openly.”
Qin Tao glanced at Zhao Xiu'e, and this sentence was clearly meant for Zhao Xiu'e. Hearing what Wu Shengli said, Zhao Xiu'e smiled: "Today is special, you can have three drinks."
“Then I’ll bring you another cup.”
“No, just this four-money cup.”
Snapped! Wu Shengli slammed the table, and Zhao Xiu'e's face darkened: "What are you doing? Don't bring your work-style style to your home. Look, it will scare Xiaoxue to tears!"
A smile quickly appeared on Wu Shengli's face: "Xiaoxue, don't cry. Grandpa was unconscious just now. Come, grandpa hugs you."
“Dad, no need, Xiaoxue is fine.” Zhao Ling sat down and put a piece of egg into Xiaoxue’s bowl. Xiaoxue immediately smiled again.
“Mom, Dad is happy today, how about letting him use the eight-coin cup?”
"All right."
Wu Shengli picked up the eight-coin cup, took a sip, and drank half of the cup. He looked at Zhao Xiu'e and didn't pay attention, and quickly filled it up again.
“Oh, it’s all **** doctors who give me physical examinations, saying that I have this problem and that problem. I’m not allowed to smoke cigarettes or drink alcohol. What’s the point of that?” Wu Shengli complained.
Today was a happy day, and I really didn’t talk about work. Wu Shengli and Qin Tao chatted about some household matters. After dinner, with a blush on his face, he sat on the sofa and read the newspaper.
Wu Shengli is also very busy. During the New Year, it is rare for him to be quiet and leisurely.
“Hey, the content of this newspaper is very interesting.” Wu Shengli said: “Taozi, your Mingzhou Group has been vigorously promoting electric vehicles, but some people are against you and want to develop hydrogen energy vehicles.”
"Really? It should be Richui. He brags to the Japanese. Look at what newspaper it is and who wrote the article. Write it down and make him look bad this year."
Qin Tao doesn't know the same as these people. Whenever he meets such a person, he can just find a way to make him bad. If he goes too far, huh, traitors have to eat peanuts. There will be no good for this kind of person. The end.
“No, it’s our domestic technology.” Wu Shengli said: “This is a brand-new technology called water hydrogen technology, which turns water into hydrogen.”
(End of this chapter)