Super technology leader

An article by Interstellar Pathfinder Corporation has caused a worldwide sensation.

A big, big, BIG wave!

The article was quite well-written. To the average person, it seemed full of explosive separation, inseparable parts, and collisions after separation—blah, blah, blah—so thrilling.

Relatively speaking, the more parts and steps there are, the more likely problems will occur. That's an immutable truth.

But for aerospace enthusiasts who know a thing or two, it made them think.

"Is this… is Pathfinder Corporation shooting itself in the foot?"

After all, Pathfinder's rockets are also multi-stage rockets, and even the super-heavy rockets they are developing are multi-stage. Criticizing multi-stage rockets as utterly useless at this time, and stirring up people's fear of them, doesn't benefit them at all.

If this isn't self-sabotage, what is?

There's a reason multi-stage rockets exist. They have many advantages and are the guarantee that humans have landed on the moon.

First, they can shed unnecessary mass after each stage is completed, thereby achieving good acceleration performance during the rocket's flight and gradually reaching the intended flight speed.

Just look at the Peacock Federation's Mark III rocket. It stubbornly dragged two empty boosters, weighing a total of 50 tons, for 19 seconds during flight, which not only wasted fuel but also severely weakened its carrying capacity.

Second, the engines of multi-stage rockets work independently, and different engines can be designed according to the flight conditions of each stage, allowing the engines to operate at their best, thereby improving the rocket's flight performance.

After all, the performance of the same engine varies at different altitudes and atmospheric pressures.

A good combination now is to use liquid oxygen kerosene fuel for the rocket's launch stage, which is simple, crude, cheap, and easy to use. When it reaches high altitude, switch to liquid hydrogen liquid oxygen fuel, where the thin air and minimal pressure can fully exploit its high specific impulse characteristics.

This allows for a good balance between cost, efficiency, payload, and other factors.

Otherwise, all-kerosene rockets would be simple and cheap to build, but their payload would be appalling.

And all-hydrogen-oxygen rockets have excellent payload capacity, but they are very expensive and difficult to manufacture.

Although it is said that the aerospace industry "doesn't consider costs," in reality, aerospace costs are calculated most precisely.

Third, multi-stage rockets can flexibly choose the size and duration of the thrust of each stage to adapt to the launch orbit, orbital measurements, and the requirements of manned spacecraft for flight overload.

These are all advantages of multi-stage rockets, but to some extent, these advantages also become their disadvantages.

For example, when the rocket separates and discards dead weight, it may fail to separate, separate early or late, or even collide with other engines that have just started working after separation.

This has happened many times in history. Sometimes the boosters hit the core stage, sometimes the first stage hits the second stage, or the second stage hits the third stage.

It's like bumper cars.

And that's how danger arises.

The more stages there are, the more complex the structure becomes, and the rocket will produce huge vibrations during launch, which can sometimes be fatal.

Also, there are more engines, and they are more varied, which is also a problem.

Moreover, rockets have slender structures with poor bending stiffness, making it difficult to achieve aerodynamic stability.

There are many other complex problems, just like rockets are complex aggregates, everything is a problem.

Professional aerospace companies and aerospace departments have similar ideas to enthusiasts. After all, they are all experts. They don't understand the meaning of Pathfinder Corporation publishing this article.

It's definitely not self-sabotage. An individual might inadvertently say something explosive, but writing an article requires checking a lot of information, and that's enough time to calm down. This article may not even be written by one person.

If the article was completed by a team and published after being reviewed by the company, it must have a deeper meaning.

They can't ask, but someone will ask for them.

The media!

Interstellar Pathfinder Corporation is not a small company. It is an internationally renowned private aerospace company.

In terms of the company's rocket launch capacity, it can definitely rank in the top three among currently active private aerospace companies.

As for other private aerospace companies that build rockets, either their large rockets are about to make their first flight, or their carrying capacity is only a few tons or even a few hundred kilograms, which doesn't pose a threat to Pathfinder's "Pioneer" rocket.

Even if all institutions with aerospace rockets are included, it still ranks highly.

At least the "Pioneer" rocket's carrying capacity is stronger than the Peacock Federation's "Mark III" rocket, which has been making a lot of noise recently.

More than ten tons versus ten tons, there's no suspense.

At this time, with Pathfinder Corporation's own multi-stage super-heavy rocket under development, the sudden publication of such an article is incredibly impactful.

All the media want to know the inside story.

And whether this wave is aimed at the Peacock Federation.

After all, Peacock Aerospace Agency didn't hold back from stepping on Pathfinder Corporation when promoting itself before.

But if it's just to counter Peacock Aerospace Agency, isn't this wave of "self-sabotage" a bit too costly?

With various purposes, the world's media gathered in Jiangkou City, Tianxia.

At first, some media wanted to conduct telephone interviews first, but Pathfinder Corporation's meaning was very clear: if you want an interview, come to the site, and we guarantee you a big news story!

With these words, the media got even more excited!

"Oh, ho, there really is big news!"

With just this information, they could write a report, which could be titled "Big News! Pathfinder Corporation Angrily Confronts the World!"

When the reporters arrived in Jiangkou City and surrounded Pathfinder Corporation to prepare for interviews, they realized that there were quite a few colleagues, and they immediately understood that this was both big news and a tough battle.

Pathfinder Corporation didn't keep them waiting and soon invited them into the company.

This was the first time Pathfinder Corporation had opened to the public for interviews since the completion of its first phase.

The reporters sat on electric shuttle buses, looking around under the guise of admiring the scenery and architectural design, intending to find out something.

Unfortunately, all the advanced equipment was in the factory buildings, and they couldn't see anything.

Moreover, the route of the electric shuttle buses was fixed, and they didn't intend to take them around the entire factory, heading straight towards their destination.

But to their surprise, the electric shuttle buses didn't take them to the press center but to the entrance of a huge factory building.

The huge factory building blocked the scorching sun from the south, and the shade was filled with seats and long tables. With a little breeze, it was quite cool.

But… is the press conference going to be held here?

Yes, the press conference will be held here because Pathfinder Corporation's press center hasn't been built yet.

In their construction plan, it is a secondary building.

Without much nonsense, after all the reporters were seated, Tang Chao and others also sat behind the table, and two meters behind them was the factory door.

The reporters talked a lot, wondering what Pathfinder Corporation was going to do. So far, there was no theme.

Usually, when holding a press conference, there would at least be a large background of "XXX Press Conference," but this time there was nothing behind them, just the white door of the factory building.

Tang Chao saw all the reporters looking at the door behind him and naturally knew what they were thinking because this was his arrangement.

So he smiled, stood up, and said, "Okay, the press conference will begin shortly, and everyone will have the opportunity to ask questions, but first, let's confirm the theme of today's press conference…"

Speaking here, Tang Chao paused slightly, and after everyone's attention was focused on him, he said, "The Terminator of Manned Rockets!"

"Open the door!"

"Ka la la la ~"

With Tang Chao's order, the factory door behind him retracted to both sides section by section.

"哗——"

The whole place was in an uproar!

Except for Tang Chao and others sitting behind the table, the reporters suddenly widened their eyes and stood up!

The photographers in the back moved faster, complaining about the garbage in front blocking their view, while looking for new angles, aiming their cameras and video cameras at the inside of the factory building and taking a lot of pictures.

"Ka cha ka cha ka cha ~"

"What is that? A space shuttle?"

"No, the shape is much sharper than a space shuttle. Wait, abolish multi-stage manned rockets, multi-stage rockets are dangerous, self-sabotage… Ah, I know, this must be a single-stage-to-orbit vehicle, like the original VentureStar!"

"No, it won't be VentureStar. This aircraft isn't that big, at most it's similar to the VentureStar's technology demonstrator 'X-33' aircraft!"

"That's right, no wonder they dared to publish that article. It turns out they have this kind of aircraft."

"Big news, absolutely big news!"

Chapter Two, 11:30.