This is how black technology should be used

Chapter 243 Bigger! !

"If you want me to say, this starry manned space mission is really amazing. I have never seen such an awesome spacecraft flying to the moon!"

"Yeah, technology is developing so fast, I feel like I should be able to go to the moon in my lifetime."

"Good guy, didn't you say you wanted to go to space to have fun a few days ago, and this has developed to the moon?"

"Ahem, isn't this practical technology is too powerful? I was just optimistic about the aerospace plane, and it has launched a moon-flying spacecraft."

"But it's still too early to say these things. They are either in the experimental period or they are dedicated to national missions. They are not yet accessible to us."

"This month is not only lively on the moon, but also on the earth. For example, the wooden kite is no longer conducting unmanned test flights, but has started to make modifications for the subsequent manned test flights. Practical Technology has released some high-resolution photos. .”

"I also looked at it. The dummies inside have flown several times. It seems that the information and data are almost collected. It is finally going to be manned. I look forward to it."

"The moon-orbiting astronauts from the Freedom Federation have returned to Earth, but no matter what the media reports there, I can't hold back, haha."

"Isn't that right? The ducks we got flew away. Not only did this wave of manned missions to the moon make us take the lead, but the title of the world's first woman landing on the moon also fell to us. It’s called a surge, and it turns out… that’s it?”

"It is said that the manned moon landing plan on the opposite side is related to next year's general election. The current plan is to use the manned moon landing to make the Federation famous, but now it is like this. If I am the president, I can mad."

"Stimulate……"

Not surprisingly, Fan Xing's sudden manned moon landing shocked the world, and then the Freedom Federation's plan to return to the moon became an international joke.

Especially their various publicity in the early stage, they are very willing to make a lot of hype, and all of them have become a joke for slapping themselves in the face.

"laugh."

Every time they saw these news, the high-level federal officials who had participated in that meeting had a sneer on their faces.

If the previous plan is followed, the United Fleet will pass through at high speed, go to the Peacock Ocean, and then conduct the second wave of military exercises there.

But now the United Fleet has begun to slow down, as if to stay for a while.

In fact, the fleet is negotiating within the fleet. The new order given by the high-level federation is to let the most advanced fighter jets take off and take a good flight.

Of course, they don't really want to start a war, they just want to promote force, so how to fly is a test of skill.

It also needs to be discussed within the combined fleet based on the situation on the ground.

Until then, let the ignorant have fun.

Later, the Federation will let everyone know that force is more useful on Earth.

Manned landing on the moon or something... It's all extra!
Of course, they have to publicize as much as they should. Space activities, especially aerospace projects with the attribute of "spectacles", are loved by everyone.

Therefore, the federation also interspersed a lot of big aerospace news between major military exercises.

For example, the cabin section of the Federation's first commercial space station has been built and is currently undergoing testing, and it should be ready for launch early next year.

Then there is the largest rocket on earth. The Starship Launch System has entered a period of rapid iteration after receiving a huge amount of funding. Especially since various departments are no longer stuck, its research and development speed has reached a higher level.

If nothing else, the first flight into orbit will be seen in the spring of next year.

Compared with the first module of the commercial space station, the starship launch system is a real "spectacle".

And its appearance actually came from Emmalon's crazy dream.

At the earliest time, Emmalon's R&D team produced a reusable Eagle Nine, but later he felt that it was not enough and wanted a bigger one.

That is, later the Heavy Eagle rocket.

It was known as the largest carrier rocket in active service at that time, with a capacity of more than 60 tons in low-Earth orbit, but because of the complex structure, high flight control risk and small fairing, there has been no suitable launch order. There were only a handful of launches.

Among them, the first launch was carried by a sports car of a brother company. It can be regarded as Emalon using its own rocket to endorse its own car.

The original destination of the sports car was Mars, but it deviated from the course shortly after launch, and now it is unknown where it went.

Later, Emma Long had a new idea.

In other words, he didn't give up on his idea, he just wanted to send things to Mars, last time it was a sports car, and after that it was people!

But that requires a bigger rocket!

His original vision was a Mars colony transport ship, including a huge "Giant Eagle" rocket booster and a "Giant Eagle" Mars spacecraft that could carry a hundred people.

Among them, the "Giant Eagle" rocket booster is 63 meters high, 9 meters in diameter, and has 31 raptor engines.

The "Giant Eagle" Mars spacecraft is 55 meters high, 9 meters in diameter, and has 7 raptor engines.

At the time, the Giant Eagle was designed to replace all existing launch hardware, including his own Eagle [-], Eagle Heavy and Dragon spacecraft.

But soon, Emmalon changed his mind again. It felt that going to Mars was not beautiful enough, and intended to build a complete rocket ship system to and from Mars.

In theory, it can also travel to and from Jupiter and Saturn, and can also fly in suborbits to create a 1-hour Earth circle.

If you want to go around the earth, the previous design is enough, but if you want to go to Jupiter and Saturn, then the previous design is small.

So even bigger!
The redesigned rocket booster is 12 meters in diameter and 77.5 meters high, with 42 Raptor engines.

The redesigned spacecraft has a diameter of 12 meters, a height of 49.5 meters, 9 Raptor engines, and a maximum capacity of 450 tons.

In order to fly farther, it has to support orbital refueling, so the orbital refueling station spacecraft has been redesigned to store 150 tons of propellant.

After arriving on Mars, a Mars base will be established to synthesize methane and liquid oxygen as propellants on the spot.

But not long after, Emmaron changed his mind again.

The booster was renamed "Super Booster" and the spaceship was renamed "Starship".

The name has changed, the size has changed, and more importantly, the texture has changed.

All changes from carbon fiber composites to stainless steel alloys.

His reason is that from the ultra-low temperature of space to the high temperature of the atmosphere, the application strength-to-mass ratio of an all-stainless steel hull is better than that of aerospace materials such as carbon fiber and titanium alloy.

Also cheaper.

The size was changed, only because the previous 12-meter diameter was too difficult, so it was retracted to 9-meter diameter.

So the first-stage "super booster" is 63 meters high, 9 meters in diameter, and has 31 Raptor engines.

The second-level starship is 55 meters high, 9 meters in diameter, and has 7 Raptor engines.

The modification of the shape of the starship is to add a set of drive fins, a pair of front fins and three tail fins to the "upper and lower" respectively.

The tail fin is both a driving fin and a landing pad.

A large area of ​​heat insulation has been added to the belly of the starship spacecraft, which can adapt to various landing flights such as returning to the earth, the moon, and Mars.

It can be used as both a manned and cargo spacecraft.

Among them, the pressurized space exceeds 1000 cubic meters, which is larger than the combined pressurized volume of the International Space Station!
Such a big thing looks quite exciting.

But before they could laugh, Practical Technology brought them a more exciting one.

In the beginning, the Practical Science and Technology Space Center did not have a rocket launch pad, but only a runway, which made the Freedom Federation a serious miscalculation.

Later, the second phase of the Practical Science and Technology Space Center was built. At first, people didn't take it seriously. It wasn't until intelligent robots appeared on the construction site that everyone was surprised.

It was later discovered that those robots had gone to dig a big hole, and that hole... was a diversion tank for a super-large launch pad.

The practical science and technology aerospace company that has been engaged in epoch-making aerospace equipment is also going to develop "backward" rockets?
And some people immediately thought of the huge rocket in "Wandering 2", which is the main force for building the Navigator International Space Station.

If it is that kind of rocket, then it must be very advanced.

Cough, after all, it is a product of practical technology, how could it fall behind!

It's just that people only saw the huge diversion tank and simple tower, but didn't see the actual rocket, so it's hard to say more.

To this day, the door of the huge factory building of the Practical Science and Technology Space Center opened, and a huge tank was pulled out by a car.

Soon, before Practical Technology said anything, many experts calculated the dimensions of the two large tanks based on the environmental dimensions.

The diameter of the two tanks is 20 meters, the short one is about 30 meters long, and the whole is cylindrical, and the long one is about 50 meters, which can be regarded as a bullet that has been magnified countless times.

All very stocky.

what is this?
Fuel tank or water tower?
Wait...a water tower?
This title was previously attached to Emmalon's super rocket starship, because the thing welded out of stainless steel looks like a water tower.

Is it...

The action of Practical Science and Technology Aerospace was faster than the speculation of netizens. The two large cans were quickly transported to the side of the launch pad, and then completed a combination and stacking with the assistance of the crane on the simple launch pad.

Seeing this scene, many people knew that it was the super rocket of Practical Science and Technology Aerospace Corporation.

It's just that many things have not been installed, such as the engine.

People didn't expect it to be like this, which is somewhat different from the "trailer" in the movie.

Of course, movies are movies and reality is reality.

What people see now is probably related to the super fuel metal hydrogen.

The reason why ordinary rockets are so large and have very little useful payload is because they require a lot of space to install "inefficient fuel".

The large diameter is not easy to do, so it will be made longer, so the current rockets are thin and long, and they are like bamboo poles when erected.

Now practical technology can make a large diameter of 20 meters, but the metal hydrogen fuel is efficient, and it can function with only a small amount, so it looks very solid.

The reason why the "secondary" spacecraft is longer than the booster is simply because there is a lot of space inside the spacecraft to load the payload.

People speculate that its transport capacity must be very strong, definitely stronger than the two to three hundred tons of a starship.

But to say that it is the largest rocket in human history, it is not.

A long time ago, when it was still the Free Federation, it designed a real super rocket-Sea Dragon!
In terms of height, it is higher than the nearly 120-meter starship rocket, and it is not comparable to the 80-meter practical technology new rocket, because it is as high as 150 meters.

In terms of diameter, the 20-meter diameter of Practical Science and Technology’s new rocket is not enough, and the 9-meter diameter of the starship rocket can’t even be seen because its diameter has reached an astonishing 23 meters!
The capacity of the Sea Dragon rocket has reached an astonishing 566-kilometer circular orbit of 550 tons at a time, which is about four times that of the Saturn V super-heavy rocket and twice that of the super rocket starship.

However, as a traditional rocket, it has a huge take-off weight with a huge carrying capacity, so the Sea Dragon rocket with a take-off weight of about 18000 tons has become the super rocket with the largest mass and capacity among all rockets with complete design demonstrations so far.

The super heavy weight of 18000 tons when refueled cannot even allow it to stand upright on land, so it must be built horizontally by shipyards like a submarine.

Its huge internal propellant tanks can provide buoyancy for the rocket, allowing it to float on the water and be towed by a tugboat to the launch site, which is a certain area with calm seas.

Its first-stage engine nozzle is equipped with an oversized ballast water tank, which can stand upright in seawater after filling the ballast water tank.

The first stage of the Sea Dragon rocket is ignited directly in the sea. After killing a bunch of marine life, the first stage of the rocket will send the second stage out of the water, and then the four small engines on the outer wall of the second stage rocket ignite to stabilize the rocket's vertical rise until the entire rocket body out of the water.

This is why it is called "Sea Dragon".

Don't look at it being so huge and cumbersome, in fact, compared with the Saturn V that is thrown away after use, it is also equipped with a recyclable system that inflates airbags to slow down.

The first-stage rocket uses a spherical fuel storage tank, which can be embedded in the nozzle of the second-stage engine to save space. After detaching from the second-stage rocket body, the inflatable airbag will be opened to slow down.

Its second-stage rocket engine actually does not have a dedicated nozzle. After the first-stage rocket is separated, the "rocket body" that wraps the first-stage rocket is the nozzle.

The arrow body expands outwards and becomes a bell mouth, which is the engine nozzle.

After the second-stage rocket is finished ejecting, it will use the blunt design commonly used in the manned return capsule to resist the heat when re-entering the atmosphere, and after re-entering the atmosphere, it will open the inflatable airbag to slow down.

The recovery of the first-stage rocket and the second-stage rocket is splashed in sea water, and then towed by ship back to the rocket factory for repairs, and finally reused.

At that time, its design team believed that greatly increasing the rocket load was just icing on the cake, and that reusing the rocket body was the most important factor in reducing launch costs.

From the present point of view, this idea is correct.

By the way, Hailong also has another way to reduce costs, that is, it does not need to build a special launch tower, because it will not be able to stand up after it is built, and it will save this part of the fund by launching it directly in the sea.

but……

Don't look at the Sea Dragon rocket as being so awesome and think it is so advanced. In fact, it is the real stupid and thick, and it can definitely be built with the technology at that time.

After refueling, its weight will reach 18000 tons, but its first-stage rocket does not use multiple engines to pile up the thrust, it only uses one engine.

Therefore, the characteristic of the Sea Dragon rocket is that the engine nozzle is larger than the fuel tank, which is very huge.

This engine eliminates almost all considerations of the word "efficiency", and simply increases the thrust through "quantity stacking", so that the single engine of the first stage of the Sea Dragon rocket has a thrust close to 36000 tons!

The single-engine thrust of the second stage also reached 6400 tons!
Simply insane!

Therefore, human beings' pursuit of great wonders is never-ending.

There is no biggest, only bigger!

(End of this chapter)