Rebirth of the 1980s: The Military Industry Empire

In this day and age, if you were to ask how to choose, many people would definitely say that the space shuttle is the trend.

The Americans have already developed the space shuttle, the Soviets are developing it, and Europe and Japan are planning it. Almost everyone agrees that the space shuttle is the trend of the future.

Even the East was almost misled.

In the mid-1980s, there was a famous 863 Program, which involved seven fields. The second field was space technology, and this field mainly had two projects: a large carrier rocket and a space transportation system, and a manned space station system and its applications.

Among them, the former was code-named 204, and the latter was code-named 205. Under the organization of relevant national departments, many domestic units participated in this large-scale demonstration meeting. Four research institutes from the aerospace system participated. Anyway, it was a demonstration meeting, and everyone could let their imaginations run wild and consider many ideas. By the end of the meeting, five plans had emerged.

The First Academy of Aerospace proposed the Tianjiao-1 small space shuttle, a plan similar to that of the Soviets. It would be launched into orbit using a rocket, without its own engine, and would glide back to Earth.

The feasibility of this plan was very high. Even the Hermes small space shuttle, jointly developed by the European Space Agency led by France, was like this.

The second plan was the Great Wall-1 space shuttle, proposed by the 805 Institute of China Aerospace. It would take off vertically and land horizontally, with the orbiter carrying the main power, similar to the American space shuttle.

The 11th Institute of the Capital proposed a two-stage rocket space shuttle. This technical plan was the most advanced, using a hydrogen-oxygen rocket engine. Because the technical difficulty was too great, experts also proposed a vision: to complete the research and development around 2015. Spending twenty years to develop such a large project, I don't know if anyone can wait.

The fourth type is the H2 spaceplane proposed by the 601 Institute. This step is even bigger than the previous ones. The spaceplane needs to take off horizontally like an airplane, and it has to land horizontally when it comes back. It needs an advanced variable cycle engine: turbojet for low speed, ramjet for high speed, and rocket for outer space. If this thing is made, it will be a leap to the sky. Unfortunately, the technical difficulty is too great.

The fourth type is a Great Leap Forward, and the fifth type is super conservative. This is to directly build the European "Hermes" version of the space shuttle, proposed by the 611 Institute. Since the first plan is similar to the European one, then simply don't develop it and directly import technology from abroad and start cooperation.

The five plans have their own advantages, but they also have one thing in common: they are all space shuttles, even high-end spaceplanes, and none of them are spacecraft!

In the eyes of aerospace experts in the 1980s, spacecraft were outdated, and space shuttles were the way to go!

"The idea of a space shuttle is very good, reducing life cycle costs through repeated use. However, who said that rockets and spacecraft are disposable? Our rockets and spacecraft can also be reused." Knowing that everyone didn't believe it, Qin Yang decided to use his decades of experience to show off.

The cost of entering space is high because everything is disposable. Take the Shenzhou spacecraft as an example. When it takes off, the overall weight is close to 500 tons. But what about when it comes back? Only the return capsule weighing more than two tons is left. What about the others? They are all burned in the atmosphere.

This is of course a great waste.

"Rockets and spacecraft can also be reused?" Old Qian asked curiously, "How to reuse them?"

"The boosters and the first-stage rocket are easy to solve," Qin Yang said. "After all, after the work is completed, they have not completely left the atmosphere. It is entirely possible to leave some more fuel, detach, and then fly back, or fly to a certain place and land vertically. After inspection, they can continue to be used."

"President Qin, you probably don't know that the reason why rockets are disposable is not only because rockets have to fly into the sky and cannot fly back, but also because the rocket engine will coke inside after working, so it can only be a disposable product," an engine expert said. "Only hydrogen-oxygen engines can be ignited multiple times."

The American space shuttle uses hydrogen-oxygen engines as the main engine, which is to reduce costs through repeated use. Only hydrogen-oxygen engines can avoid coking problems, because the products of the two fuels are only water.

The Americans also developed liquid oxygen kerosene, but later they could not overcome some technical problems, so they focused on hydrogen-oxygen engines, while the Soviets were the masters of liquid oxygen kerosene engines and developed many models.

As for the liquid oxygen methane engine, it was first developed by Starship. The reason for choosing methane as fuel is of course for the dream of landing on Mars. This fuel can be synthesized using the Martian atmosphere.

However, the liquid oxygen methane engine has another advantage, which is also necessary for flying to Mars: this engine does not coke and can be used multiple times!

If you want to enter space at a low cost, you have to reuse the rocket. Everything else is easy to say, the engine is the key. This engine must be able to be used multiple times! The liquid oxygen methane engine is clean after use and can be used again next time.

The others are just hehehe.

The Eastern aerospace technology is developing step by step. After entering the 1990s, it began to dabble in liquid oxygen kerosene engines. After the new century, the Long March 5 was finally completed, but there is still a certain gap from the world's advanced level. The development of methane engines has also lagged behind.

Now, if possible, directly choosing the liquid oxygen methane engine track can accumulate technical advantages for the future. This is the advantage of Qin Yang, the time traveler. He knows which technology is better after practical testing!

"In the future, our spacecraft can also be developed into a two-stage type. The front is the living cabin, and the back is the equipment cabin. The front will return to the ground together, so that more things can be reused. Each time, only the heat shield tiles need to be replaced. Compared to the space shuttle, this spacecraft should be simpler," Qin Yang continued to introduce. "If our technology is strong enough, we can also hang rockets outside and use rockets to land."