Scholar’s Advanced Technological System

Regarding the contest between China and the United States in the aerospace field, there has been a lot of discussion on the domestic network. In particular, the discussion on the Mars colony and the lunar orbital space station is particularly fierce.

Putting aside some purely because of the fart. The issue of the stock is black and black, or for powder and powder, there are still many people who are evaluated from a rational perspective.

For example, the view that the United States has the upper hand is that the bfr rocket uses the world's most advanced liquid oxygen methane engine, with a maximum vacuum thrust of 138 megatons and a near-Earth orbit carrying capacity of 4.6 times that of Saturn V. All kinds of data have exploded.

What's more, the Martian colony is far away from tens of millions of kilometers. It is difficult to transport and the space station of the lunar orbit is not on a level. Naturally, the United States is better.

The view of those who think that China is better at the top is from a pragmatic perspective. No matter what you think, an enclave that is tens of millions of kilometers away from the mainland and can wait for a launch window in two years is far less than the moon that is close at hand.

Objectively speaking, which side of the point of view is valid.

However, for the discussion around the lunar orbital project, Lu Zhou did not pay much attention.

At least in his eyes, these discussions are actually meaningless.

In the short term, whether it is the development of lunar resources in China or the exploration of distant Mars, the loss of money is certain. Whether it is the ternary and titanium ore in the lunar soil, or the rich iron ore and methane reserves on Mars, it is still a distant pie.

Just as centuries ago, before the pattern of the Great Navigation Age was finalized, no one knew whether the future of the colonial era was in the Caribbean Sea or on the farther Spice Coast...

Even the moon is indeed closer.

Of course, although from the perspective of economics, the entire space program is determined to lose money, but sometimes it is not possible to consider the issue from the perspective of economics.

At least in terms of China, the gains in the fields of politics, scientific research, and culture acquired through the space program cannot be simply measured by money.

Take the Moon Palace project as an example. As the world's first country to deploy space stations on the lunar orbit, other countries that want to participate in lunar-related research projects can only sign cooperation agreements with China in this field.

For example, Germany, as the first country to reach an agreement with China on the controllable fusion technology, naturally started a cooperation negotiation with the Chinese government on the moon palace plan.

According to the results of the negotiations, the Chinese side promised to reserve a research position for the Max Planck Institute for Solar System after the completion of the first phase of the Moon Palace, allowing Germany to send a national scientific researcher to serve in the Moon Palace.

In exchange, the Max Planck Institute for Solar System will cooperate with domestic research institutions in China on projects related to lunar resources development.

Also in the diplomatic relations with the Chinese side on the moon palace plan, there are also countries including Britain, France, the European Union, Russia, Japan and so on.

For other countries' cooperation requests, Huaguo also showed a gesture of open cooperation. Even in the United States, where the opponent is in the relationship, the Moon Palace has reserved a position for their astronauts.

At any time, the competitive relationship between countries is always relative, not absolute.

Although the country often has a "clear position" in the direction of public opinion, in fact, the issue of international relations is far from being black and white as the average person imagines.

Even in the most tense moments of the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union have reached many mutually beneficial and win-win cooperation in the study of space projects and controllable fusion projects.

Now the competition between China and the United States is far from the one in the Cold War. The Chinese nation that has followed the path of peaceful development has never taken the initiative to provoke the fight for world hegemony. If the United States is willing to work with the Moon Space Station project. If the Chinese side cooperates, the country of China certainly has no reason to refuse.

Of course, the premise of all this is that the United States is willing to open the outposts of the Martian colonies to China, or to exchange the equivalent chips in exchange...

At present, the specific steps of the negotiations between the diplomatic department and the countries have been carried out. Lu Zhou is not very familiar and not very concerned.

Of course, the diplomatic affairs are responsible for the diplomatic affairs.

These trivial things have little to do with the Lunar Track Construction Committee.

It is more urgent to ask him to worry now...

Jinling City.

Aerospace Science and Technology Research Institute.

A meeting on the lunar orbital construction plan is being held in the conference room within the institute.

The attendance of the meeting was the amnesty of the domestic aerospace industry.

Including the chief engineer of the Hangke Group, Academician Yuan Huanmin, including the director of the Moon Palace core cabin project, Zhang, almost all the cattle in the industry gathered here.

Announced the beginning of the meeting with a brief opening statement. Lu Zhou walked to the stage and looked at the conference room with a serious look, saying the simple and concise opening.

"I believe that you have all heard of it, and the US Ares program has completed the first phase."

"According to the relevant details disclosed by Nasa, the bfr rocket did not use the traditional Hohmann transfer orbit, but instead used the direct orbital approach to directly enter the Mars gravity system."

The voice on the road just fell, and a loud and noisy voice was heard in the conference room.

In fact, many people have already heard of it before the start of the meeting, but it is still inevitable that it will be shocked.

All along, the spacecraft that traveled to Mars used the Hohmann transfer orbit, and this is the route to Mars that theoretically consumes the least fuel.

However, this track is not perfect, it can only wait for a window every two years, and it needs to fly in the air for 180 days.

If it is used to launch a detector, 260 days is not unacceptable. But if it is to send passengers to Mars, it is somewhat unacceptable.

Therefore, as the main means of transportation for the Ares project, the bfr rocket targeting Mars colonization chose a faster flight orbit. Compared to the Hörmann transfer orbit, the bfr rocket using this orbit takes only 30 days to 120 days, which is enough to complete the journey from Earth to Mars and has a longer launch than the Hohmann transfer orbit. Window period, and there is no need to wait for two years for the next launch.

As for the cost, it is necessary to consume more fuel.

Although the bfr rocket seems to push up the cost of launching to Mars on the surface, on the other hand, shortening the flight time means reducing the load on the bfs spacecraft and carrying less fresh water, oxygen, and food resources. From this point of view, using this more fuel-consuming launch route can reduce transportation costs...

Getting rid of the launch route of Hörmann's transfer orbit can turn this seemingly crazy plan into reality. In a sense, the technology of space-x is really terrible!

Looking at the meeting room in the discussion, Lu Zhou did not speak, quietly waiting for the discussion to calm down.

In this way, about five minutes or so, a professor sitting in the conference room raised his hand and said.

"I have something to say."

Nodded to the professor who raised his hand, Lu Zhou said.

"please say."

Pushing the glasses on the bridge of the nose, the middle-aged professor said a thank you to Lu Zhou, slowly stood up and said his point of view in a solicitation.

"I think the success of the bfr rocket's launch can prove to some extent that the chemical rocket has not reached the bottleneck as we imagined."

"Maybe we should re-examine our development path. I don't deny the importance of the electric propulsion system, but it is still too early to give up the chemical rocket."

Looking at the professor who got up and spoke, Lu Zhou pondered for a while and suddenly said.

"If I give you 50 years of funding and $1 billion a year, are you sure you can make the big thrust rockets bfr?"

It seems that I did not expect that Lu Zhou would suddenly throw this problem. The expert squatted slightly and the expression on his face became a little dignified.

After a brief hesitation, he finally shook his head and replied honestly.

"...very difficult."

The bfr rocket has almost marked the pinnacle of the liquid oxygen methane engine. Standing on the shoulders of giants, it is difficult to find an opponent that rivals it.

It is almost impossible to surpass the United States in chemical propulsion systems, in the current state of the domestic aerospace industry.

Even if he is bragging, he can't cross this seaport.

Lu Zhou did not say anything more, nodded to him and motioned for him to sit down.

"Yes, as you said, we are very difficult to do."

“Perhaps there is room for improvement in the chemical propulsion system. By improving our engine technology, we can make bigger and farther rockets, but we want to rely on this technology to gain an advantage in the aerospace competition, even beyond us. The opponent is almost impossible."

“Therefore, it is our only choice to concentrate all our strength, develop an electric propulsion system, and maintain our own advantages.”

After a pause, Lu Zhou looked around the conference room and continued.

"Although the bfr rocket has achieved great success, we don't have to be arrogant."

"We may not be their opponents on the thrust, but we also have our own advantages! The advantages of the electric propulsion system are on a huge ratio, which is why chemical rockets cannot catch up anyway."

"I have revealed some time ago that based on the propulsion system on the Xiangrui, Star Technology is developing a spacecraft that is more flexible and more adaptable to the round-trip between the Earth's orbit and the surface. The relevant research has come to an end and it is now It was time to reveal this mystery."

After all, Lu Zhou looked at the big screen behind him and pressed the laser pointer in his hand.

Soon, a three-dimensional composition of the Xiaguang concept map, presented in front of everyone.

Looking at the picture on the image, Yuan Academician's pupil narrowed slightly and couldn't help but stand up from the seat.

"this is?!"

It’s not just the academician Yuan who is shocked.

Looking at the space plane that is unique in shape and different from the traditional spacecraft, the strange sound suddenly spread throughout the conference room.

Looking at the strange Yuan Academician, Lu Zhou smiled and nodded and said.

"It's called Xiaguang! We are a new generation of spacecraft designed for the round-trip atmosphere."

Sitting next to Yuan’s academician, he also stared at the spacecraft on the screen, and Sun Yuanpei couldn’t help but say.

"This design... can you do it?"

Disperse four engines on four twin-axis fixed wings, leaving only one main engine at the rear...

This design is too messy!

"The technical feasibility argument has been done long ago. In theory, it is absolutely feasible. As for actually..." Here, Lu Zhou paused for a moment and said with a firm voice, "Let's try it." Just know!"