Great Country Academician

A letter of more than 3,000 words caused quite a stir in this small conference room on Chang'an Road.

After more than ten copies of the original were distributed to everyone in the conference room, the originally bickering meeting gradually turned to support the development of aerospace engineering.

Not just because of breakthroughs in miniaturized, controllable nuclear fusion technology and aerospace engines, but also because of the opinion of the person who wrote the letter.

As a strategic national treasure scholar who led China to complete controllable nuclear fusion technology and completely rewritten the history of energy and the world structure, his opinions have been recognized by everyone, even if they cross fields into aerospace technology.

Not to mention anything else, just the item "on the importance of aerospace technology in the field of national defense" in the letter is enough to make the senior executives sitting in this conference room change their opinions and views.

After all, nothing in this world is more important than a big fist.

The United States' ability to dominate the world after World War II relied not only on its own developed economy and petroleum-dollar system, but also on its powerful military power, as well as its powerful aircraft carrier fleets and military bases that roamed around the world.

No matter how developed the economy is, if we don’t have enough power to protect ourselves, we are still a three-year-old child walking on the chaotic street holding a gold brick, and he may be robbed at any time.

Just like a certain peninsular country, the chaebol may seem majestic, but the shares and profits behind it have been taken away long ago, and most of the country is working for others to develop.

On the other side, Jinling.

After sending his letter to the capital, Xu Chuan modified his work schedule and focused on the research of aerospace engines.

Although Weng Yunzong, the director of the Aerospace Research Institute, is not the original member of the Xinghai Research Institute, he was hired and transferred from outside.

But it has to be said that he, who once held a core position in the R\u0026D department at the Sichuan Aerospace Research Institute, is indeed very capable and has lived up to Xu Chuan's expectations.

After giving the structural ideas and design ideas for the aerospace engine, Weng Yunzong led the members of the Aerospace Research Institute to not only complete the overall detailed design, but also used his original relationship with the Sichuan Aerospace Research Institute to carry out some parts of the engine. Structural optimization.

At this point, Xu Chuan no longer needs to worry about the design and assembly of the aerospace engine.

However, in the subsequent design of the space shuttle, Xinghai Research Institute is still facing a huge problem.

"The design and development of the aerospace engine, based on the perfect theory and direction provided by you, Academician Xu, I can barely lead the team to complete. But the design of the space shuttle... with all due respect, I really can't do this."

In the office, Weng Yunzong smiled bitterly and shook his head.

This person came over to talk to him about the design and manufacturing of the space shuttle. It can be said that he was completely wrong.

It's true that he came out of the Sichuan Aerospace Base, but he specializes in the field of aerospace engines.

The space shuttle and aerospace engine are two completely different fields.

To be precise, the latter is just a part of the former.

A complete space shuttle covers too many areas.

Such as aircraft design, propulsion technology, navigation and control systems, communication systems, sensors and instruments, materials and manufacturing technology, flight safety and research, space exploration, etc.

These are all major categories, and each subcategory can be subdivided into at least a dozen different areas.

For example, the aircraft design of the space shuttle includes size, shape, weight, range, load capacity, as well as the materials and technologies used, etc.

Its complexity is, without exaggeration, much more complex than controllable nuclear fusion technology.

Hearing this answer, Xu Chuan shook his head helplessly.

There was nothing he could do.

Although he can lead people to complete the research and development of controllable nuclear fusion technology, the design and manufacturing of space shuttles is another field that he is completely unfamiliar with.

This is not a matter of losing money and property if the fusion reactor explodes. If there is a problem with the space shuttle, it will be a major threat to the life safety of the astronauts.

Loss of equipment funds or anything like that is nothing to him.

But when it comes to the safety of astronauts’ lives, it must be absolutely foolproof.

Human lives matter.

Sitting opposite the sofa, Weng Yunzong thought for a while and then said: "But when it comes to the research and design of space shuttles, I have a candidate who may be suitable."

"who?"

Xu Chuan looked up at Weng Yunzong and asked in surprise.

To be honest, China does not have much experience in the field of space shuttle research. It can even be said that this branch of development has never been started from the beginning to the end.

This was also the reason why he was worried that he could not find the right person to support this overall situation.

Weng Yunzong: "Academician Chang Huaxiang of Beihang University."

It is not wrong to say that China has no experience in the space shuttle field. In the 1980s, due to competition between Russia and Russia in the space and aviation fields, China also envisaged developing space shuttle technology.

For example, in 1986, under the organization of the former Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense, the "Aerospace Technology Expert Committee" was established in the aerospace field to review two thematic projects: "Large Launch Vehicles and Space-Earth Transportation Systems" and "Manned Space Station Systems and Their Applications" ”, as well as the overall plan and specific approaches of manned space technology were comprehensively demonstrated.

In the early stages of project planning, the industry provided a total of 11 options, and the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense subsequently identified 5 of them as alternatives.

They are multi-purpose spacecraft, small space shuttle without main power, space shuttle with main power, rocket plane and aerospace plane.

Among the five projects, almost all were related to the mainstream at the time, that is, the space shuttle developed during the competition between the United States and Hong Kong.

After all, at that time, whether it was the successful first flight of the American space shuttle Columbia or the successful first flight of the Hongsu space shuttle Buran, it could be said that it was the most dazzling and glorious era of the space shuttle.

But after careful consideration later, I asked Mr. Qian, who was already retired to take care of his old age, to take a look at the relevant plan and check it.

After getting the project plan, Mr. Qian carefully reviewed the relevant plan and finally wrote a sentence on the reply document.

"The spacecraft case should also be reported to the central government."

This sentence refers to the "Challenger" space shuttle that disintegrated after the explosion in the United States.

On January 28, 1986, the entire launch process of the "Challenger" was broadcast live on national television. 73 seconds after the Challenger successfully launched, the space shuttle exploded violently at high altitude and then began to disintegrate.

In this accident, all seven astronauts were killed, and it became a famous "spacecraft case" at the time.

Mr. Qian's words completely changed the development of China's aerospace history at that time.

Subsequently, after taking into account the old man's opinions and the nature of the space shuttle itself, the senior management completely canceled the development of the space shuttle.

I have to say that at that time, Mr. Qian had a very long-term vision.

When the Soviet Union and the United States were competing to build a space shuttle, he had already seen the future of the space shuttle.

Later facts proved that his views were definitely the most profound and sharp at that time.

After entering the 21st century, the once mighty space shuttle gradually came to an end due to accidents one after another.

On July 8, 2011, Atlantis carried out the STS-135 mission. This was the curtain call of the 30-year space shuttle era. This super reusable spacecraft that transcended the times also ushered in its final mission. Time to say goodbye.

After that, the "space shuttle era" officially ended.

In just thirty years, from its glorious development to its end, the space shuttle had the most brilliant moment of glory in human history.

Academician Chang Huaxiang recommended by Weng Yunzong was an expert who participated in the "Aerospace Technology Expert Committee".

Although he initially entered this planning project as an ordinary researcher, he has subsequently accumulated considerable research experience in this field and now serves as a professor at Beihang University.

Through Zheng Hai's channel, Xu Chuan contacted this old academician who was almost 70 years old this year.

When the old academician heard that he planned to build a space shuttle, he immediately agreed to his request and bought a ticket directly to Jinling the next day.

In Xinghai Research Institute, Xu Chuan personally greeted this big shot in the aerospace field. The two chatted for a long time in the office and hit it off immediately.

Taking a sip of the tea in the cup, Academician Chang Huaxiang, who was sitting on the sofa, couldn't help but sigh and said: "I never thought I would see the space shuttle recover one day in my lifetime."

"To be honest, I have always felt that there is nothing wrong with the idea of ​​​​the space shuttle itself. When it was not possible to do it, it was not that this path was wrong. It was just that the limitations of the times and technology limited its development."

Xu Chuan smiled and nodded. Academician Chang's views were basically the same as his.

In his opinion, there is actually only one core reason for the demise of the space shuttle.

That is, the productivity is not strong enough, so that the application scope of these technologies is too narrow, resulting in a series of social resources being occupied.

If you want to reply with the simplest answer, it is two words: "Too expensive!"

If there were a few more words, it would be: "It's too expensive."

On this point, the space shuttle at the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century was actually a failure.

It failed to live up to its original design promise of using reusable features to reduce launch costs.

According to data, taking inflation into account, the space shuttle project cost a total of 196 billion meters of gold in the 30 years from 1981 to 2011, so evenly divided, the cost of each launch is as high as 1.4 billion meters of gold.

Although this includes one-time costs such as design and manufacturing, NASA clearly mentioned in a report that taking 2011 as an example, the direct cost of a single launch of the space shuttle was approximately 450 million yuan, which is still expensive. Ridiculous!

At that time, competition in the aerospace field, the construction of space shuttles and the International Space Station completely occupied the bulk of NASA's budget.

Just as the war on terror, which lasted for a full decade, hindered the United States' layout in the Middle East, these two gold-eating behemoths also hindered NASA at the time.

These two fields made it difficult for NASA, a space agency with strong scientific research capabilities, to spare energy and resources to develop the next generation of new technologies, which indirectly led to the end of the space shuttle and aerospace fields.

However, times are developing, and science and technology are also innovating from generation to generation.

At the time, Mr. Qian probably would not have thought that society and technology would develop so rapidly in the next twenty or thirty years.

The time has come for the space shuttle that had been retired from the military to make another comeback.

Breakthroughs in miniaturized controllable nuclear fusion technology and aerospace engine technology have allowed the space shuttle, which originally required the use of fossil fuels to provide power, to switch to the field of electromagnetic propulsion, which has significantly reduced its cost and weight.

There is absolutely no problem in replacing today’s launch vehicles as a new aerospace development route.

Today, SpaceX's "Falcon" series of rockets and the "Dragon" spacecraft prove this point.

The reason for the failure of the space shuttle in the last century was that the materials, production processes, technology and other aspects in the early years were not up to standard.

On the surface, it does appear to be recyclable.

But in reality, the portion that can actually be recycled is limited.

For example, the external fuel tank cannot be reused, and the solid booster can only be reused in name, but in fact it is basically equivalent to being scrapped because it will fall into the sea.

In addition, the use of fossil fuels is also one of the main reasons for the limitations of the space shuttle.

The nature and energy efficiency of fossil fuels are destined to have a low specific impulse, which means that they need to carry a large amount of fuel themselves, as well as external assistance to complete the launch and take-off process.

This can be referred to the Saturn V launch vehicle. More than 3,000 tons of fossil fuel were all consumed in launching itself into space orbit.

However, this point has been solved after the miniaturization breakthrough of controllable nuclear fusion technology.

Based on the energy utilization efficiency of nuclear fusion, the energy that can be produced by one ton of deuterium and tritium fusion raw materials is enough for the space shuttle to squander.

As for the working fluid, if we use a traditional electric propulsion system, whether it is electrothermal or electromagnetic, to be able to propel a space shuttle into outer space, at least dozens of tons of working fluid are needed.

However, for an aerospace engine that purifies and ionizes nitrogen and oxygen in the air as the main working fluids, in conventional orbits, it does not need to use the working fluids carried by the space shuttle itself, and can obtain them from the outside world.

This means that if you just need to send a space shuttle to the sky, you only need to carry a working fluid that can meet the requirements from the low ionosphere to outer space.

Of course, it is impossible to actually complete a manned spaceflight with only this small amount of working fluid.

For Xu Chuan, accelerating the space shuttle into outer space is only the most basic goal.

What he wants to do is to use the high energy efficiency of controllable nuclear fusion technology to send the space shuttle to the moon and Mars at ultra-high speed!