I ask you to build tractors, but you build rockets?

On May 9, the five crew members of the Steadfast made their official debut in Qiongzhou, and their attire had changed dramatically compared to before.

Including commanders Hu Dong, Chen Jun and three others, the mission is informal in nature. This is China's first manned space orbital flight for purely commercial purposes.

It is also the first time in the world, but there is a prerequisite: private companies dominate.

Originally, it was generally believed that Musk might compete for the first place in private companies' commercial aerospace companies to send people into orbit because of the Dragon spacecraft. Now this title belongs to Xinyuan Aerospace Power.

The two coal bosses and the writer were both too old. After more than 6 months of vocational training, of course, in order to be worthy of the 50 million training fees they paid, they experienced all kinds of projects. There is a market for ground weightlessness experience. Just a few hours.

Chen Jun was different. He only obtained his quota before the Spring Festival. He went for training at the end of March and completed all training on May 4.

First, he is in his forties, younger than the three old men, and in much better physical condition. However, it is only measured by the load standard. In fact, an ordinary person with good physical fitness will have no problem in theory even if he does not train.

The rich people practice more just to be worthy of their status and receive more money. Also, most of these rich people are older and they need to reduce the hidden dangers of diseases first.

For example, system engineer Ke Yun, because he had already obtained the advanced student certification at the flight school, only conducted a closed training camp for one week, and then was sent to space. Isn't he still in space?

The five crew members of China's first commercial manned flight even have different clothes. Many logos have been removed, and the appearance is as simple as possible. Although the spacesuits in the cabin are all the same basic type, they look very different.

This is also to distinguish commercial missions from official missions and try to make aerospace as close to life as possible.

While the four passengers were being interviewed and paying attention, Guo Shen met with Masashi Okada.

"You want to join Xinyuan? But your identity is a problem. You cannot work in China with a tourist visa. Besides, we have no shortage of engineers."

The purpose of Okada Masashi's visit surprised Guo Shen. This veteran who was sneaking close to the B-level base would have been detained by the security department if he had not revealed his identity in time. Then he kept asking to see Xinyuan Company executives. Since Lin Ju was currently in the capital, Guo Shen met him.

But Okada wanted to join Xinyuan Company as soon as he exited, and it seemed that he was not joking:

"Guo Sang, I know that your company's status in China is different. I really want to continue to develop in your country. The island country's aerospace has been locked up. There is actually no progress from the H1 to the H3 rocket. That's just a toy to show off to the people.

I think Xinyuan is the place where we Asians have surpassed humans in space. I have brought H series rocket hydrogen and oxygen engines, solid rockets, electronic engines, and many technologies for space measurement and control. This can prove my loyalty! "

Okada's self-taught Chinese was very good. Guo Shen looked at the USB flash drive he took out and touched his chin to think.

Technology, of course, is insignificant.

Before Xinyuan-3 officially started manufacturing, JAXA's LE-9 expansion cycle hydrogen-oxygen engine was really the first in Asia and it was pretty good. But now that the first Xinyuan-3 is about to roll off the production line, the second stage uses The 240-ton staged combustion cycle hydrogen-oxygen engine has been used countless times, who still likes the LE-9?

There are also solid rockets. The S-700 has a single-stage thrust of 700 tons. This is a black technology that can fly bricks all over the world. It is just that it is too expensive and has not been manufactured for the Xinyuan 4 rocket.

But how can I put it, if the things in the USB flash drive are real, then Okada is indeed ruthless enough to bring over all the technical essence of JAXA without even leaving his pants behind.

After doing such a great job, Okada probably really wants to join.

Betraying JAXA, does Xinyuan already have such a strong appeal?

However, Okada's identity issue will cause unnecessary disputes internationally. Should we accept his surrender?

Guo Shen chose to leave this issue to his boss.

In the capital, Lin Ju was chatting with Androv at the Aviation Development Committee.

The space agency plans to carry out another Chang'e-5 mission next year for unmanned sample return.

This mission has two purposes. One is to once again increase the familiarity with the lunar surface and obtain more data. Moreover, if it is still launched by Xinyuan 5B, it will not cost too much money, and the Fifth Academy will also have the energy to design a detector.

Now the main tasks of the Fifth Academy are quite important. One is the two follow-up test cabins and a space telescope of the Tiangong Space Station, the lander for manned landing on the lunar surface, and the lunar surface scientific research station.

It seems like a lot, but now that the Fifth Academy has expanded its staff, it can fully handle it.

Therefore, the second purpose of Chang'e-5 is to verify the lunar orbit ascending rendezvous and docking technology.

The process of unmanned sampling and return is the same as that of manned return. The lander separates, lands, samples, the ascender takes off and enters orbit, rendezvous and docking, and returns.

Except for the size, there is no difference from the manned moon landing mission. Doing a mission will make people feel at ease.

Therefore, the Aerospace Development Committee discussed this project internally, and the space agency also fell in love with the method of cooperation between the Aerospace Development Committee and private enterprises.

Of course, another reason is that now only Xinyuan Aerospace-powered rockets can complete this task. The transport capacity of Xinyuan 5B is just enough. The overall mass of Chang'e 5 must be controlled at 7980 kilograms, which can be achieved.

Xinyuan Aerospace can provide cheap rockets and expand the payload mass. Other private companies can also save some energy and resources by participating in the project, and can complete more tasks without increasing or even reducing government expenditures.

But Xinyuan raised objections to the Chang'e-5 mission.

Androv believes that unmanned sample return during manned lunar exploration is a waste of resources. A manned returner with such a large mass can bring back 100 kilograms at a time. Can an unmanned returner achieve 10% of this? ?

Of course not. Chang'e 5 is expected to bring back no more than 2 kilograms of lunar soil, and astronauts can get more than this even with a shovelful of force.

Androv believes that Chang'e 5 can be modified and a mobile nuclear tram can be sent up.

It is to make a reactor into a lunar rover, which can provide electrical energy for future lunar scientific research stations, such as charging the lunar rover or living cabin.

This mobile nuclear power plant weighs about 3.4 tons and generates 38KW power. It can operate continuously for 15 years without maintenance. It can move on the lunar surface on wheels and follow the progress, which is also very helpful for lunar surface exploration.

In the future, Xinyuan-2A will launch a larger fixed fission power station to the lunar surface with a landing mass of 23 tons and a power generation of an astonishing 2000KW. It will stay stationary at the landing site and utilize the dry ice and water resources of the moon. Synthesize methane and liquid oxygen to build fuel supply stations.

In fact, the power of this fixed nuclear power plant can reach 3000KW, but the nuclear power plant needs heat dissipation, and vacuum is the enemy of heat dissipation. Therefore, nearly 4 tons of mass have to be used to manufacture a complex heat dissipation system, and the design can replace the fuel every 20 years.

It would be much easier to handle on Mars. Even if the Martian atmosphere is very thin, the heat dissipation problem would be much easier than in a vacuum.

The nuclear power drive to the south can be completed next year, but the fixed nuclear power plant will have to wait until 2018. Therefore, instead of launching a useless Chang'e 5, it is better to make some preparations for the moon base.