Technological power starts with upgrading lenses

What made Kang Chi very satisfied was that after completing the routine 'mobilization' talk, Academician Fu quickly began to show his strong professional ability and overall coordination ability, and began to make major adjustments to the space shuttle based on his understanding. Structural and modular analysis.

"...Thousands of modules and systems may seem complicated, but overall they are mainly two modules."

"The first is the core orbiter module, which is the most representative part of the space shuttle, including the astronaut cabin in the front section, the cargo bay in the middle section, and the engine and tail section in the rear section."

"Here is the first major divergence in direction. The M country's space shuttle mainly installed the main engine directly on the orbiter. The advantage of their design at that time was that the engine could be recycled together with the orbiter. Although the fuel tanks carried on their backs cannot be recycled, the cost of the fuel tanks is low, so theoretically the cost of use is lower. However, it is precisely because of this design that their space shuttles often have problems and are less safe. "

"Da Mao installed the main engine on the rocket. The thrust of the orbiter itself is relatively small and it mainly works outside the atmosphere. The advantage of this is high safety, but because their rocket cannot be reused, the design uses The cost is relatively higher.”

"If Qingtian is designed according to Mr. Kang's 100% recyclable requirements, it actually doesn't make much difference where the main engine is placed. However, I personally think we should take the route of Da Mao and use rockets to send the orbiter up."

"The rocket recovery technology SpaceX has become very mature. Domestically, companies such as Blue Arrow Aerospace, Huaguo Aerospace Technology, and Deep Blue Aerospace are working hard to catch up, and the progress is not bad, especially the Suzaku series rockets of Blue Arrow Aerospace. In addition to thrust, It’s a bit different from Starship. The performance of the entire recovery system is still very stable. Taking a step back, even if the technology of recyclable rockets is slow to keep up, our technology of traditional rockets is still very mature. Even if we use traditional rockets, The launch plan will not delay the development of the orbiter. "

As Academician Fu spoke, he turned his attention to Kang Chi and continued: "If this route is adopted, I suggest that we discuss cooperation plans with Blue Arrow Aerospace."

Kang Chi thought for a moment and nodded, finally agreeing with this direction.

"I'll try to arrange for someone to handle it."

However, his answer was rather tactful, and he did not clearly state that he would definitely cooperate with Lan Jian.

The main reason is that although their technology is good and there is a basic technology that can be used for upgrading, Kangchi has made it clear that it will continue to upgrade through cheating. There is no need to cooperate in research and development, so for Kangchi, it is the best choice. Just buy out their technology directly.

But you don’t have to think about it to know that it is extremely difficult to buy out.

After all, Blue Arrow is also a commercial private aerospace company. How could it possibly sell its expertise to others?

After excluding the buyout, what is left is patent technology licensing, but the licensing laws are also very different. Out of self-interest, of course Kang Chi wants to pay them a sum of money for every rocket built. But what if someone proposes to share the shares according to the actual rate of return of the Rockets?

The problem is that Kangchi has made it clear that it wants to upgrade its technology, so how to calculate the rate of return on the technology after the upgrade? If the other party insists that its technology is the core and requires a relatively high rate of return, then Kangchi will be working for others in vain, which he cannot accept anyway.

Therefore, Kang Chi was not sure whether the cooperation could be settled, so he could only ask this question to Zhuo Zhuowen, which was also a test for the new general manager.

Next, Academician Fu organized a technical demonstration on the frame structure design, main parameter indicators, communication and computing systems of the orbiter.

Based on the technology currently mastered by the group, Qingtian will eventually make very big changes from traditional aircraft in terms of communication and computing. First of all, it goes without saying that all communications will use quantum communication technology, and the benefits that quantum communication technology brings are, In fact, there is no need for a spacecraft to carry a huge computing system.

In order to improve computing power and reduce size, current chips are still at the nanometer level and have poor stability. They are prone to problems especially when severe vibrations occur. Therefore, whether in the military, vehicle or aerospace fields, the computers used The chip manufacturing process is generally not too low, and the computing power may even be lower than the mobile phone chips used by ordinary people.

However, even if the stability of the computing system is improved by reducing the manufacturing process, spacecraft are still prone to various electronic failures during launch. For the sake of safety, either reduce the computing power requirements or design some backup systems just in case.

And if all computing tasks are transferred to the ground, these problems will be solved immediately.

Relying on the low latency and interference-free characteristics of quantum communication, Qingtian can place almost all computing tasks on the ground. This not only greatly simplifies the structure of the space shuttle, improves the payload ratio of the aircraft, but also provides emergency response. The ability to handle situations is also stronger.

The most important thing is that the ground can provide whatever computing power the spacecraft needs.

When faced with complex real-time power distribution adjustment calculations, the importance of computing power is self-evident!

…

The first half of the meeting was generally relatively harmonious. Although everyone expressed their opinions, they easily reached an agreement in the end. It was not until the discussion of engine and fuel types began that major conflicts began to arise.

"Methane has huge advantages in terms of acquisition method, cost, storage and transportation. At the same time, the combustion products are clean and have less carbon deposits. It is the best choice for recyclable rockets. China Aerospace's 80-ton and 200-ton rockets The ton-level liquid oxygen methane engine has begun to take shape, and Blue Arrow’s Tianque series has great development prospects..."

Academician Fu probably took the position that Longteng and Lanjian might cooperate. At the same time, he was also coerced by the current international aerospace development trend and believed that a liquid oxygen methane engine should be developed.

"But the specific impulse of methane is too low." Yan Hui expressed a completely different point of view from Academician Fu. "I don't think we can use the current situation to determine the future direction."

"Although liquid oxygen methane is now the development trend of international aerospace, it does not mean that methane is necessarily the best. The popularity of liquid oxygen methane was brought about by SpaceX, and the main reasons why they engage in liquid oxygen methane are two. First, What Academician Fu just said is really good in terms of recycling and reuse. Another reason is that their entire plan is aimed at Mars. According to current data, methane is relatively easy to obtain on Mars, but the problem is that we are currently targeting the moon. Is it really necessary to follow this trend?”

"Let me make a hypothesis here..."

"Suppose we brought helium-3 back from the moon and developed second-generation controllable nuclear fusion, and the cost of electricity was reduced tenfold. Then, would the production cost of liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen be significantly reduced?"

"In terms of how to obtain it, liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen are obtained by electrolyzing water, and the most indispensable thing on the earth is water."

"To talk about clean combustion, the combustion of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen produces water. Is there anything cleaner than this?"

"The advantage of methane you mentioned may be a disadvantage in the future?"