Scholar’s Advanced Technological System

The comparison between China and the United States in the field of space has also given rise to considerable discussion on domestic networks. Especially with regard to the question of which Mars colony and moon orbit space station was more powerful.

Throw away something purely because of butt. Whether the stock problem is black or black, or powdered speech, many people are judging it from a rational point of view.

For example, the view of those who believe that the United States is more upwind is that the BFR rocket employs the world's most advanced liquid methane engine, with a maximum thrust of 138 trillion cows in vacuum, 4.6 times the near-Earth orbit capacity of Saturn V, and all kinds of data are out of Xiangrui.

Not to mention the fact that the Mars colonies are tens of millions of kilometres away, and the difficulty of transport alone and the Moon orbit space station are not in a hierarchy, which naturally prevails over the United States.

The views of those who believe that China is more upbeat are from a pragmatic perspective. Whatever you think, an enclave tens of millions of kilometres away from the mainland, two years away from waiting for a launch window period, is far less than a "close by” moon.

Objectively, the views on either side are solid.

However, the ark did not pay much attention to the arguments surrounding the Moon orbit.

At least in his eyes, these discussions are meaningless.

In the short term, both the exploitation of the Moon's resources by the Chinese State and the exploration of distant Mars are certain to compensate. Whether it's the three helium and titanium mines in the moon soil, or the abundant iron and methane reserves on Mars, it's a distant cake.

Just as centuries ago, until the pattern of the great nautical age was determined, no one knew whether the future of the colonial era would be in the Caribbean Sea or on the farther spice coast…

Even if the moon is really closer.

Of course, while the entire space programme must be financially compensable from an economical point of view, sometimes it is not entirely economical to think about it.

At least in the case of China, the gains from space programmes in the political, scientific, cultural and other fields cannot be measured simply in monetary terms.

In the case of the Lunar Palace programme, for example, as the world's first country to deploy a space station in lunar orbit, other countries could only enter into cooperation agreements with the Chinese State in that area if they wished to participate in lunar-related scientific research projects.

Germany, for example, as the first country to reach agreement with the Chinese State on controllable fusion technology, naturally initiated cooperation negotiations with the Chinese State on the Lunar Palace plan.

As a result of the negotiations, the Chinese side undertook to reserve a scientific position at the Max Planck Solar System Institute after the completion of the first phase of the Lunar Palace project, allowing Germany to send a national researcher to serve on the Lunar Palace.

In exchange, the Max Planck Solar System Institute will cooperate with domestic research institutes in China on projects related to the development of the moon's resources.

Diplomatic contacts are also under way with the Chinese side on the Lunar Palace programme, including British, French, European Union, Russian and Japanese countries.

In response to requests for cooperation from other countries, China has also shown an open cooperation stance. Even in the United States, where the opponent is in a rival relationship, the Lunar Palace reserves a place for their astronauts.

Competitive relations between States are always relative, not absolute, at all times.

While domestic positions are often “clear” in terms of public opinion guidance, the issue of international relations is, in fact, far less black or white than one might imagine.

Even at the height of the cold war, the United States and the Soviet Union had entered into many mutually beneficial win-win cooperation in research on space projects as well as on controllable fusion projects.

Now that the competition between China and the United States is far from reaching the Cold War stage, China, which follows the path of peaceful development, has never intended to provoke competition for world hegemony. If the United States is willing to cooperate with China on the Moon Space Station project, there is certainly no reason for China to refuse.

Of course, all this presupposes the willingness of the United States to open Mars colonial outposts to China, or to offer equivalent chips in exchange for them…

The Ark is not well aware of, or concerned about, the concrete steps that have been taken in the current negotiations between the diplomatic service and States.

Diplomatic matters are, of course, the responsibility of the diplomatic service.

These trivial things don't have much to do with the Moon Orbit Construction Committee.

What he needs to worry about now is more urgent...

Jinling City.

Institute of Space Science and Technology.

A meeting on the construction plan for the Moon orbit is being held in a conference room within the Institute.

The meeting was attended by all the big players in the domestic space industry.

Including Yuan Huanmin, chief engineer of Aeronautical Science Group, including Director Zhang, who is in charge of the Yue Palace core cabin project, the cattle from almost the entire industry gathered here.

The meeting was opened with a brief opening remark. The ark went to the stage and looked around the meeting room with a serious expression, saying it concisely.

“I'm sure you've all heard that the US Ares program has completed its first phase. ”

“According to the relevant details disclosed by NASA, the BFR rocket did not use a Horman transfer orbit in the traditional sense, but was directly orbited into the Mars gravitational system using a direct strike orbit. ”

Just as the tone of the road dropped, there was a noisy voice of discussion in the conference room.

In fact, a number of people had already heard it before the beginning of the meeting, but it was still a shock to hear it again at this time.

Spacecraft destined for Mars have always been in the Homan transfer orbit, which is theoretically the least fuel-consuming route to Mars.

However, this orbit is not perfect, waiting every two years for a window period, and takes up to 180 days to fly in the air.

The 260-day period is also unacceptable if used to launch the probe. But it would be unacceptable if travelers were sent to Mars.

Thus, as the main vehicle of the Ares programme, the BFR rocket targeting the colonization of Mars chose a faster flight orbit. A BFR rocket using this orbit would take only 30 to 120 days to complete its journey from Earth to Mars and would have a longer launch window than a Homan transfer orbit, without having to wait two years for the next launch.

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

While on the surface BFR rockets appear to have pushed up the cost of launching to Mars, on the other hand, shortening flight times means reducing the subsistence load on BFS ships, carrying less freshwater, oxygen and food resources. From this perspective, using this more fuel-consuming launch route would reduce transport costs…

Escaping the launch route of Holman's transfer orbit can make this seemingly crazy plan a reality, and in a sense, Space-X technology is really powerful and terrifying!

Watching the chamber caught in discussion, the ark did not speak and waited quietly for the voice of the discussion to calm down.

So, about five minutes later, a professor sitting in the conference room raised his hand.

“I have something to say. ”

nodded to the professor, raising his hand, and said openly.

“Go ahead. ”

The middle-aged professor said thank you to the ark by pushing the glasses on the nose beam and stood up slowly to express his views in a solicited tone.

“I think the success of the launch of the BFR rocket proves to some extent that the chemical rocket has not reached its bottleneck as we thought it would. ”

“Perhaps we should revisit our course of development. I do not deny the importance of electric propulsion systems, but it is perhaps too early to abandon chemical rockets. ”

Looking at the professor who stood up to speak, the ark pondered for a while and suddenly spoke.

“If I give you 50 years to spend a billion dollars a year, are you sure you're going to do the BFR on a big thrust rocket? ”

It seemed unexpected that the ship would suddenly throw the issue, and the expert was slightly stunned and the expression on his face became a little heavy.

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

“… difficult. ”

The BFR rocket has almost marked the pinnacle of a liquid methane engine, standing on the shoulders of giants, making it difficult to find a rival.

It is almost impossible to transcend the United States in chemical propulsion systems, given the current state of the domestic space industry.

Even if he brags, he can't cross this mouth.

The ark nodded to him, indicating that he would sit down.

“Yes, as you said, it's hard for us to do it. ”

“Perhaps there is room for chemical propulsion systems to rise, and by improving our engine processes we can build bigger, farther away rockets, but it is almost impossible to rely on this technology to gain an advantage in the space race, even beyond our adversaries. ”

“Therefore, it is our only option to concentrate all our efforts, develop electrical propulsion systems and maintain our own advantages. ”

After a moment of pause, the ark looked around the conference room and continued.

“While the BFR rocket has been a great success, we do not have to be complacent about it. ”

“We may not be their opponents in thrust, but we also have our own strengths! The advantages of an electric propulsion system are in large proportions, which cannot be traced by chemical rockets in any case. ”

“As I have revealed some time ago, based on the propulsion system on the Xiangrui, Star Sky Technologies is developing a spacecraft that is more flexible and adaptable to the proximity of Earth orbit to and from the surface. Now that the relevant research has been completed, it is time to uncover the mystery. ”

Go ahead, the ark looks at the big screen behind it and presses the laser pen in its hand.

Soon, a three-dimensional diagram of the concept of the Sauvignon was presented in front of everyone.

Looking at the image, Yuan Yang's pupils contracted slightly and couldn't help but stand up from the seat.

“What is this?! ”

It wasn't just Master Yuan who shook up.

Looking at the unique, very different sky shuttle from the traditional spacecraft, the sound of surprise spread across the conference room.

Looking at the astonished Yuan Academician, Ark nodded with a smile and said.

“It's called Xia Guang! We designed a new generation of spacecraft for going to and from the atmosphere. ”

Sitting next to the Yuan Academician, Sun Yuan Pei couldn't help but stare at the spacecraft on the screen.

“Does this design… work? ”

Distribute the four engines over the four double-axis fixed-wings, leaving only one main engine at the tail…

This design is too messy!

“Technological feasibility arguments have been made a long time ago and are theoretically absolutely feasible. And as for the fact...” Speaking of which, the ark paused for a moment and said with a firm tone, "Let's try and find out! ”