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

"Old Xiao, hey, the detector will be launched soon. Why are you so lethargic?"

Xiao Gangtian's distracted look was noticed by Shen Zuozhou, and he came over to ask with concern.

Shen Zuozhou is a space technology expert from the Fifth Academy. He conducted the first batch of space training, and his main field is deep space exploration.

After Xinyuan's Venus project was launched in a hurry, he rushed to the base with his troops and took the space agency's money to stuff equipment into "Taibai" and "Venus 1".

It came quickly and worked quickly. There is no way that mid-April is the latest time to launch the detector, otherwise the launch window will be missed.

"Taibai" is a satellite orbiting detector that runs in the orbit of Venus and can use Hall thrusters to continuously adjust its orbit to facilitate observation; "Venus 1" is a detector that enters the atmosphere of Venus and can even sample and return, of course, not from the ground sample return.

Venus No. 1 was designed hastily but not compromisingly, with a total weight of 4.8 tons.

It is divided into two parts: flyby sampling return and landing part.

The flyby weighs 1 ton. It will separate when the entire Venus-1 enters the atmosphere of Venus and decelerates. It will "bump" on the outer atmosphere of Venus very briefly and load about 0.01 The cubic meter compressed gas sample then starts a one-time solid engine to break away from the gravity of Venus and enter the orbit. At this time, its mass is only about 300 kilograms.

Then it uses the solar panels on the body to power the small Hall thruster, continues to accelerate for about 60 hours, leaves Venus and approaches the sun, uses the sun's gravity to accelerate, and makes a large circle to throw itself back to the earth.

This process takes about 8 months. In order to reach this high speed, it will be extremely close to the sun. The functional parts will be almost destroyed by the active corona and high-energy rays on the surface of the sun. Only the return capsule of less than 10 kilograms is left safe and sound. It will With that 0.01 cubic meter of gas, it was accelerated by the sun to an extremely high speed and flew directly into the earth's atmosphere along the predetermined orbit.

The only way Xinyuan can capture this return capsule is a layer of special alloy on the surface of the return capsule, which can amplify and reflect radio waves in special frequency bands dozens of times. As long as it uses satellites to continuously detect possible routes at predetermined times, , there is a high probability that the return capsule can be found, so that it can confirm its landing point when it returns.

There is no way. It is very difficult for such a small thing to ensure that it will land on the earth after flying back from Venus around the sun. It is really not certain where it will land.

And even after entering the atmosphere, it is difficult to judge, because this 10-kilogram little thing is very easy to be blown away by the wind after releasing the parachute...

But Xinyuan decided to launch it even if it might land on the White House lawn. This is a sample of an Earth-like planet - even if it's just a little gas.

The remaining 3.8-ton lander is a complete gamble. The atmosphere of Venus is extremely thick, and the pressure gradually increases from top to bottom. By the time it reaches the surface, it is almost 90 times that of the Earth.

Part of the surface is full of volcanoes and flowing magma, and a small part is desert and wilderness. It is full of dangerous chemicals, mainly sulfuric acid, and the maximum temperature can even exceed 400 degrees Celsius.

The former Soyuz Venus 8 took a full 50 minutes to pass through the atmosphere of 250 kilometers. After landing, it only sent back a signal for 11 seconds before "died".

The biggest goal of Venus-1 is to land on flat ground and then drill the ground as quickly as possible. By the way, it can quickly take a photo and send it back with a microscope with layers of protection to analyze the presence of organic matter and microorganisms. The whole process is expected to be time-consuming. The duration does not exceed 15 seconds, which means that you are required to survive for at least 15 seconds after landing...

Of course, if it is lucky enough to survive a little longer, Venus 1 will faithfully record and send back the atmospheric composition, natural phenomena and other content collected during the descent.

Although he is full of pessimism about the Venus-1 mission, Shen Zuozhou is still very excited, because this is not only China's first Venus exploration, but also the first Venus sample return mission, and its significance is absolutely remarkable.

The two detectors are currently undergoing final inspections on Venus. Venus-1 was launched with a Xinyuan-5B equipped with a third stage, while Taibai was launched with a Lightning and then used a Xinyuan-5 polished rod. The launched 7-ton propulsion rockets were docked and sent to Venus, and rushed to their destinations one after another. They are expected to arrive at Venus in mid-July.

As the designer of the two detectors, Xiao Gangtian was actually distracted, which made Shen Zuozhou a little dissatisfied with the attention they received.

"Zuo Zhou, do you know about the aerospace cooperation between island countries and us?"

"Ah?" Shen Zuozhou didn't know why he asked, but he still replied:

"Yes, there is another instrument on Tiangong-2 made by the University of Tokyo. What's wrong?"

Xiao Okada: "I wonder if one day astronauts from island countries will also enter space from this land."

"..."

"If that's the case, I'm afraid it would have to be similar to ASEAN."

"ASEAN?"

"Yes, you may not pay much attention to these usually."

The ASEAN that Shen Zuozhou refers to is an organization formed by a group of populated but industrially backward areas in the southeast, basically covering several important countries.

Their international presence is usually not high, mainly because they are weak, but this does not mean they are willing to live in the third world.

ASEAN members are quite active in aerospace. Most of the foreign commercial satellite launch orders China has undertaken come from them, mostly for communication satellites and agricultural and meteorological satellites. After all, with such a large population, the demand for agriculture and fishing is not small.

After the start of the second space race, ASEAN looked at the strong confrontation between the Dawn Project and the Artemis Project, and also saw the ambitious Selene Project in Europe. They were a little jealous, but they calmed down immediately after touching their wallets. Came down.

Maozi has technology but no money. Asia Star in India and island countries lacks technology but has enough money. They have neither technology nor money and cannot afford it. The moon is beyond their reach.

But low-Earth orbit can actually be touched.

A few days ago, the space center of the Annan Institute of Science and Technology approached the Aerospace Development Commission, hoping to rent a Progress or Unity and send 2 to 3 Annan astronauts into space and conduct extravehicular activities. There are still many people leading the team. Interesting, Fan Zun.

Fan Zun, 70, is still in good health and is currently the director of the Annan Defense Science and Technology Agency. He is the first Asian astronaut to enter space on a former alliance rocket.

He bluntly stated that Annan was willing to pool money to send a few more astronauts into space, and hoped to develop more cooperation.

The impact of this incident is not small. It is easy for foreigners to take a space shuttle or spaceship to the sky. They just need to buy a ticket. As long as they do not break the law, there will be no problem. But they are tourists, and Fan Zun represents the Annan Space Center (they do not Establish a space agency).

When it comes to the official fate, what we are talking about goes beyond the scope of aerospace.