The military-industrial scientific research system of the academic master

The moment he heard Ren Bingda's proposal, Bodi couldn't hold it back and rolled his eyes. He said in his heart that your plan is really good. You are also planning to let us buy one and get one free. That's right.

But after his eyes returned to the full-size model of the Turbofan 20 not far away, he quickly realized a problem.

My own thinking habits seem to be unable to keep up with the development of the situation——

In the past, the cooperation between Rolls-Royce and Huaxia, whether it was Spey, Ciro Group or Trent 900, the status of the two parties was always unequal.

However, unknowingly, by this time, the two sides were already standing in roughly the same position.

Of course, from a group level, Rolls-Royce's technical foundation is undoubtedly deeper, and its brand image in the industry is undoubtedly more valuable.

But if we talk about the NGME project alone, it is already in a situation where "it can't function at all without China."

It doesn’t even have an escape route like the Trent 900.

Rather, from the very beginning of the project, the other party's participation is required to form the bureau.

From this perspective, the other party's proposal to add a cooperative project is really not a request to buy one, get one free.

At least, it's a serious suggestion worth reporting...

For a while, the two of them bowed their heads in thought, and no one took the lead to break the silence again.

A few minutes later, I don’t know what kind of opportunity it was, but a group of visitors suddenly gathered around the model booth, which I thought no one would pay attention to.

Bodi obviously didn't want to make a big deal here, so he quietly got out of the crowd and quickly left the Chinese exhibition area with a group of delegation members.

…

The public appearance of the A380 at the Singapore Air Show indeed attracted a lot of public attention.

But the air show itself lasts only three days, so the excitement comes and goes quickly.

Moreover, there are some media outlets such as Peninsula and RT that are not too concerned about the excitement and continue to add fuel to the flames.

In short, it didn’t take long for the threats facing the International Space Station to be put on the table again.

And according to the current situation, every time the Russians launch a Soyuz or Progress spacecraft in the future, they may have to mention "Due to the threat of space junk No. 40396, additional avoidance procedures need to be set up during the docking process, and each payload must be A portion of the fuel is reserved in the space to prepare for the orbit change of the International Space Station."

In other words, this matter may not be as easy to pass as previously estimated.

Even Director Michael Griffin can't help but feel a little headache.

Logically speaking, through this unexpected incident, he revitalized the nascent commercial aerospace industry and secured a large budget for the next few years from Congress. It was a big win no matter how you look at it.

However, the good times did not last long.

Not long ago, at the end of March, the Falcon 1 rocket that SpaceX had invested huge expectations in caught fire during its first launch mission, and the problem happened to be the most critical reusable first-stage rocket in the plan.

Although the causes of the accident were summarized afterwards, the failure was entirely due to negligence during the final assembly and launch preparations, and was not directly related to the rocket engine. Even the funds provided by NASA have not yet been received. This launch was a purely commercial act, but opponents in Congress didn't care about that and immediately began to question the legitimacy of Griffin's promotion of the commercial space program.

Now public opinion has begun to give him some eye candy on the threat of space debris.

Griffin felt he had to do something.

However, it can be said that the U.S. aerospace industry has had a bad time recently, and he really does not have the confidence to suddenly carry out such eye-catching projects.

So after more than two months, NASA was in a state of being silent and scolded.

Fortunately, it didn't leave any fatal clues, so apart from being annoying, it didn't affect Griffin's status and follow-up plans.

And at this critical timing, an investigation report was delivered to his desk.

"Your Excellency, Director."

Assistant Meyer tried his best to control his expression, but the excitement in his heart could still be glimpsed from his slightly rapid speaking speed:

"We have found out through special channels that China has recently officially placed a high-value order with Hengxing Company. In addition to some apparently make-up structural parts and conventional satellite functions, it also includes an aerospace-grade image acquisition module. group, and four things called a 'distributed node flexible grabbing system.'

Although this habit of naming a project with a long string of ambiguous nouns is a bad start created by the Americans themselves, Director Griffin couldn't help but frown when he actually heard this long list of inappropriate nouns. frowned.

"distributed……"

Because Meyer spoke so fast just now, he couldn't even fully keep up with the other person's rhythm.

"Distributed node flexible grabbing system..."

Meyer repeated, then went on to explain:

"Our sources didn't figure out what this was at first, but later based on the order sent by Stellar to the secondary contractor, it was probably a very large sheet made of polymer. The big net.”

At first glance, Griffin thought he had made a mistake, so he opened the thick report from back to front. After spending a few minutes, he finally saw a schematic diagram drawn based on speculation.

Then he was sure that his understanding was indeed correct.

It's really a web.

"So their plan is called 'Space Fishing Ship', is it really not just a random name?"

Griffin was a little nervous.

But as a former NASA leader who was an engineer, he quickly shifted his attention to specific technical issues:

"But how are they going to solve the mesh control and winding and tumbling problems?"

Griffin flipped through a few pages to make sure that such professional details were not mentioned in the report.

NASA also considered the idea of ​​using space nets to capture spacecraft in the 1990s.

But at the political level, using a spacecraft that can be in orbit for a long time to intercept another spacecraft can easily be classified as a space weapon, and it is far less likely to be a side shot than a direct-ascent anti-satellite missile.

On a technical level, the deployment and flight of the flying net on the space orbit, as well as the impact on the entire flexible system after the collision with the target are very complex, and the capture success rate is far from as optimistic as imagined.

Of course, these can actually be overcome.

What’s even more troublesome is that the co-orbital capture process for the purpose of non-direct killing lasts for a long time, and the opponent’s aerospace measurement and control system will soon discover this uninvited guest, and then perform orbital maneuvers and other defensive actions, resulting in similar technologies that are almost useless. Totally useless.

Therefore, after launching several projects with no results, they quickly gave up further investment and then turned to other more effective "hard kill" methods.

The X37B, known as the "air and space fighter", is one of the results.

However, no one would have thought at the time that there would actually be a piece of space junk endowed with additional value, worthy of a dedicated space launch mission for humans to dispose of.

After some thought, even Griffin had to admit that even though he still faced many specific problems, in the face of a high-speed rotating large-sized space debris, the rope net solution was indeed more realistic than the robotic arm solution, and more importantly, it was safer. Much more.

Even if the capture fails, due to the flexible characteristics of the rope net, its carrier will not be subject to any fatal threats, and a second attempt can even be made.

"Is it possible to obtain more specific information about their... uh... distributed node flexible grabbing system?"

Meyer thought for a moment:

"You may need to consult the intelligence department for specific details... But since Europe is responsible for production instead of China, I think as long as it is not too core, it should only be a matter of time."

After getting such an answer, Griffin's mind suddenly became active:

"China can only carry out about ten space launches each year, and I have seen their mission schedule before, and the launch window until the end of this year is already full, indicating that there are no relevant plans in the short term..."

"If we can obtain relevant information about this capture system, then the Chinese people will definitely not be our opponents in terms of space launch efficiency..."

Thinking of this, he raised his head, ready to give Meyer new instructions.

However, before the words were spoken, a rapid ringing of the phone suddenly rang.

Griffin picked up the phone and heard the voice of the NASA press officer from the other side:

"Director, the China Space Administration suddenly issued a new statement, saying that the solar storm expected in two months will cause the orbital altitude of space debris 40396 to drop dramatically, and the International Space Station is facing a serious collision threat... Considering that we at NASA are still No actual solution was given, so..."

"So they are forced to think that our solution has failed..."

The sudden news immediately confused Griffin——

? ? ?

My plan failed?

But why didn't I know?

etc……

When do I have plans?