Technological Hegemony

It was another sleepless night. Since the launch of the space program, Luo Jia could no longer remember how many times he had driven late.

It was getting brighter, and Luo Jia stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows of the office and looked into the distance. It was already May, and the sun jumped out of the horizon. The sun was getting stronger and a little dazzling, so Luo Jia lowered the blinds halfway, and turned off the lights in the office.

After doing all this, Luo Jia did not go back to rest, but turned his gaze back to the huge whiteboard in the office.

On the whiteboard, densely packed data and formulas were written, which were the result of Luo Jia's countless calculations. Judging from the results, it seemed that he was designing the most important mechanical component in the entire space program, the engine.

The space program needs at least two kinds of engines, one is the chemical injection engine that pushes the rocket out of the atmosphere, and the other is the ion thruster installed on the spacecraft. It is the latter that Luo Jia is thinking and checking.

Anyone who has studied space navigation will know that the ion thruster has actually broken away from the existing technological level and entered the category of controllable fusion. A little too far ahead.

However, this is the job of Luo Jia. He is the head of the tough guy group. He not only has to focus on the present, but also looks into the distant future. Although the ion thruster project company has not yet started, Luo Jia must make preparations early.

"Teacher, everyone is ready." Shen Lang knocked on the door and walked into Luo Jia's office, he said a little nervously: "Today is a key meeting to decide the rocket engine route, once we decide what engine technology to use, we can't go back .”

Luo Jia nodded to show that he understood, and then he and Shen Lang came to the big meeting room of the brainstorming group.

I saw that under this huge vaulted dome that looks like a university auditorium, the projection screen has already been prepared, and it is directly connected to the Jiuquan Launch Center in the desert Gobi through the network.

"ignition!"

Following Luo Jia's order, Zhang Dongning, who was thousands of kilometers away, pressed the red button in front of him, and then saw thick smoke billowing under the huge white rocket, but the flames did not push the rocket into the sky, but It went out quickly. Obviously, this is not a rocket launch test, but an ignition test about propellant fuel.

"We succeeded!" Zhang Dongning said happily from the other side of the screen.

The Department of Chemistry has become the third generation of chemical fuels. Zhang Dongning is obviously very proud of the final design and testing of liquid oxygen kerosene. Although liquid oxygen kerosene may not be used in the space program, it is always right to prepare in advance. Whether it is used or not , let's talk about it later

The company can do without it, but it cannot do without it.

Turning his head, Luo Jia faced his colleagues in the brainstorming group, and quickly wrote on the whiteboard with an ink pen, from the first generation of solid fuel to the second generation of dinitrogen tetroxide, to the third generation of liquid oxygen kerosene, to the fourth generation of liquid oxygen liquid Hydrogen and liquid oxygen methane.

Whenever Luo Jia wrote down the name of a rocket fuel, he would put a tick below it, indicating that Star Technology had fully mastered the technology.

When Luo Jia wrote about liquid oxygen, liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen methane, he did not tick the box below, but drew a big question mark, indicating that the fourth-generation rocket technology was not ready yet.

"Look." Luo Jia tapped on the whiteboard and said, "We have made good progress in the research and development of rocket engines. We have caught up with the third-generation technology in the West and are rapidly evolving to the fourth-generation technology. Such an achievement It's worth celebrating."

"Although we are determined to build a space elevator, rocket technology cannot be ignored, because the launch vehicle is the front-end technology of the space elevator, and tens of thousands of tons of materials are waiting for us to send to the earth's orbit. my country does not have a super launch vehicle like the Saturn V. , so the only option is to make it yourself.”

"Currently the whole world is doing big things and wants to build bigger and more powerful rockets. Take my country as an example. The planned Long March 9 rocket has a height of 110 meters and a maximum diameter of 10 meters. It adopts a three-stage model and has a take-off thrust of 3,000 tons. The low-earth orbit capacity is 140 tons, the geosynchronous transfer orbit capacity is 66 tons, the lunar transfer orbit capacity is 50 tons, and the Mars transfer orbit capacity is 37 tons.”

"From the perspective of theoretical data, the Long March 9 is still very powerful, but our opponents are stronger. North America not only has a large-scale rocket program, but also has two, namely Musk's large Falcon and NASA's SLS space rocket. The launch system, if you add the Super Falcon project announced by Musk just a month ago, there are three super heavy-lift rocket projects in progress in North America at the same time. Its goal of occupying space and even building space-based weapons is clearly revealed .”

"Time is running out and the situation is critical. Even Russia, which has fallen, feels threatened. It has tightened its belt and launched an Energy No. 5 plan. It is ready to go all out and build a large rocket with a carrying capacity of 80 tons in low-earth orbit. Under such circumstances, our country has no reason to lag behind, and the launch of the Long March 9 plan is completely logical."

"However, I have already greeted the national team. We will develop the super launch vehicle by ourselves, and we will not mix it with Aerospace Science and Technology. After all, Aerospace Science and Technology is the national team, and we are a private enterprise with a large number of talents from abroad. Experts, it’s really inconvenient to cooperate.”

Everyone didn't say much, but they knew in their hearts that the troubles encountered by the Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation were not small, not to mention the Long March 9, they hadn't even finished the Long March 5, which carried 25 tons in low-earth orbit, and were dumped by North America. Opened at least two positions.

The national team approved Xingchen Technology to start a new stove, with the idea that all eggs cannot be put in one basket. In addition, the entry of private Xingchen Technology into the aerospace field is also a big stimulus for domestic aerospace companies and scientific research institutes. I hope it can stimulate their enthusiasm. potential.

Luo Jia said with a smile: "Although the whole world says that they want to compete with North America, and even India has ambitiously formulated a returnable rocket plan, but in actual operation, only we can compete with North America!"

"Russia's Energy 5, not to mention that it seems that there is little hope of success, so what if they succeed? The low-earth orbit carrying capacity is only 80 tons, which does not meet the 100-ton starting standard for the next generation of space competition."

"As for Europe, they have even given up treatment. You should know that we have recruited many experts from Europe recently. In addition to high salaries and benefits and immune activation, there is another important reason, that is, the prospect of ESA is really bad. , The Ariana 6 they built is a medium-sized rocket with a load capacity of only 20 tons in low-Earth orbit, which is lower than Musk’s Falcon 9, China’s Long March 5, and Russia’s Angara rocket.”

"In short, life is not easy for the national team. The liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen engine YF77 used by the Long March 5 has average specific impulse and room pressure, and its thrust is only 50 tons, which is far lower than that of the West. Neon's LE-7A has 85 tons of thrust, 135 tons of European Vulcan engine, 186 tons of North American SSME, and 313.7 tons of RS-68A.”

"Of course, assuming that the national team successfully develops the YF220 engine for the Long March 9, we will gain the strength to compete with the West in the field of heavy-duty rockets. In one basket, so we need to join."

"Currently, the situation is like this. North America has NASA and SpaceX, China has Aerospace Science and Industry and our star technology, two against two, North America has an overall advantage, and we are the chasers."

Everyone couldn't help sighing. Luo Jia's statement that North America was fully dominant made everyone feel very uncomfortable, but according to the principle of seeking truth from facts in the Tough Guys, everyone also admitted the existence of a gap.

"No matter what kind of rocket, the engine is the most important. Mr. Luo, since we start from scratch and make our own rocket engine, which route should we choose?" Xiong Ningyuan, who is in charge of nuclear physics, asked.

Luo Jia smiled, "Old Xiong asked a good question. What is the mass of the rocket? Fifty percent depends on the engine. As we all know, the fourth-generation launch vehicle has two routes, one is liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen, and the other is liquid oxygen." Among them, liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen engines have been manufactured by various countries, but so far, no one has made a finished product for liquid oxygen and methane, and some of them are only some design blueprints.”

"The Long March 5 rocket that had an accident not long ago used a 120-ton YF100 liquid oxygen kerosene engine for the booster, which belongs to the third-generation technology, and a 50-ton YF77 liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen engine for the core stage, which belongs to the fourth-generation technology. The number is a mixture of the third and fourth generation engines, not the full version of the fourth generation technology."

"Technology is backward, the main reason is that the national team failed to keep up with the pace of Western research and development. There are many secrets that are unknown to outsiders. In the 1990s, even the Ministry of Aeronautics and Space was almost disbanded, and scientific research was completely stagnant. It leaves a huge hole for now.”

"To put it bluntly, the reason why the Long March 5 exists is to make up for the lessons that have fallen in the past few years. When the Neon LE7 engine and the North American SSME engine both used the staged combustion cycle, our YF77 was still using gas to generate electricity. What about the device?"

"For the sake of safety, we will not discuss the specific details and reasons. I say these just to tell you the fact that whether we engage in liquid oxygen, liquid hydrogen, or liquid oxygen and methane, the difficulty is similar, because the national team does not have much technology. Support us as we all start from scratch."

Hey~

Luo Jia’s words made everyone heartbroken. Huaxia’s journey has been full of bumps and bumps, and it’s not easy to be stumbled by the enemy. The important national capital was almost taken into the gutter.

Ordinary people will never know the dusty past, how many times the life of this land was hanging by a thread, and how many times people stepped forward to turn the tide and collapse immediately.

One day, history will make the most fair judgment. After decades, who will be recorded in the annals of history forever, and who will be nailed to the pillar of shame in history, everything will be clear.

Luo Jia did not over-interpret the history, and directly entered the core technology link. While writing quickly on the whiteboard, he said in a deep voice: "To put it simply, liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen have the highest specific impulse and the strongest performance, but the engine design is difficult. It is extremely large, and the design of the storage fuel tank is also not easy. After all, liquid hydrogen takes up too much space, and there is a temperature difference with liquid oxygen, so it must be insulated, which makes the rocket fat and expensive to manufacture.”

"The most ideal state is to use liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen as the second or third stage to maximize its super-large specific impulse. The most powerful rocket in human history, the Saturn V, uses liquid oxygen and kerosene as the first stage. , the secondary and tertiary are both liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen.”

"The specific impulse of liquid oxygen methane is lower than that of liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen, and higher than that of liquid oxygen and kerosene. It does not accumulate carbon at all and is easy to maintain. As long as the engine does not burn out, it can basically be used indefinitely."

"In terms of storage costs, liquid oxygen needs to be minus 173 degrees, and liquid methane needs minus 162 degrees, which is far lower than the minus 253 degrees that liquid hydrogen needs. Headache, at the same time, the density of liquid methane is 422 kilograms per cubic meter, much higher than the 71 kilograms per cubic meter of liquid hydrogen, the fuel tank of the same size, liquid methane can make the rocket fly farther, and the rocket engine turbo pump The rotational speed requirements are not as abnormal as liquid hydrogen."

"Anyway, when we take all factors into consideration, we will find the fact that liquid oxygen methane ranks second in performance among the five major rocket fuel systems, but almost all other indicators rank first, especially the engine. There is no carbon accumulation at all, and it can be used almost infinitely, which can save us huge costs!"

"As we all know, our biggest problem at present is how to transport tens of thousands of tons of materials into the earth's orbit. The amount will exceed the total amount that humans have launched into space in history!"

"Therefore, there is actually only one choice before us, and that is to develop a liquid oxygen methane engine. Only this kind of engine that can be reused indefinitely, has a fast construction speed, and is extremely low in cost can complete the transportation of tens of thousands of tons of materials. This is almost It is an impossible task!"

Smiling slightly, Luo Jia raised his mouth and said, "So far, no one, including the mighty NASA, has completed a liquid oxygen methane rocket engine, and we will be the first!"