A big country of aerospace with black technology

"Geng Bo, what do you think of their plan to return to the moon?"

After the morning meeting at the institute, Zhang Xingyang asked with a smile while everyone was chatting.

In the past period of time, Yingjiang's plan to return to the moon has aroused heated discussions around the world.

Even countries thousands of miles apart have sparked heated debates.

"From a technical point of view, it is also very difficult to return to the moon."

After thinking for a while, Geng Bo gave his answer.

Although overall, the level of science and technology is constantly developing and getting higher and higher.

However, in some less used areas of technology, after the decline of explosive growth, it is easy for technology to lag behind what it once was.

At this time, if you want to develop existing technologies, you have to rely on "technological archeology."

Yingjiang's moon landing technology tree falls into this situation.

Many technologies of the past have been buried in decades.

Now even if they want to return to the moon, most of those scientific researchers who were dead and old are no longer able to work.

Therefore, if they want to land on the moon, they have no advantage in technical reserves.

Like other countries, we have to start from scratch.

Even due to technological gaps, in terms of rockets, navigation and other technologies, it is still not up to the world's first level!

"From the perspective of capital investment, it is unlikely that they will invest huge amounts of money in the moon landing project." Geng Bo went on to say.

"What they value more now is the International Space Station project."

"The priority of lunar exploration is relatively low."

Construction of the International Space Station, or ISS, began five years ago.

So far, six modules have been launched, including the Dawn functional cargo module, the Unity node module, the Star service module, the Destiny experimental module, the Seeking airlock module, and the Pier docking module.

Although it has not yet reached the expected completeness, some scientific research experiments have been carried out.

This is also the aerospace project that NASA attaches most importance to at present.

Because it is not just a space project of one country, but involves as many as 16 countries.

This is also an important reason why it is called the International Space Station.

Although NASA relies on Eagle Sauce’s strong position in the world, it almost has a decisive say in the International Space Station project.

However, its international attributes cannot be ignored.

As the largest aerospace project in history, most of NASA's funds in recent years have been spent on the International Space Station project.

Geng Bo doesn't quite believe that NASA can carry out another huge return to the moon program under such circumstances.

Moreover, the goal of sending astronauts to space will be completed within five years.

"Unless they can suspend the ISS cooperation project." Geng Bo said after taking a sip of the green tea poured by Zhang Xingyang.

"However, they will have to spend a lot of effort to appease those ISS partners."

No matter how big a say NASA has in the International Space Station, it is not NASA’s voice.

Both the Alliance and Damao have a strong say in this project.

Especially Da Mao, who controls the manned rocket, a large number of cargo spacecraft and manned spacecraft in the International Space Station need to rely on them.

If they cannot be convinced, then NASA has no way to stop the entire project as they imagined.

"What if they really persuade other participating countries to stop subsequent construction?"

Su Xiao was on the side and said somewhat arrogantly:

"They have now completed the basic construction of the ISS. Even if they no longer carry out subsequent construction, it has reached a point where it can be used."

Su Xiao's statement is also a possibility.

In the past five years, the launch of the basic module of the space station has been completed through dozens of launches.

Most of the subsequent cabins are experimental cabins and research modules.

Although there are also plans for two node modules, they are all for expansion of the existing space station.

Even if it is not launched, it will not affect the current applications of the space station.

"It would be great if they could actually stop construction!"

After Geng Bo heard this, he laughed and clapped his hands:

"Then we can definitely keep up with their space station construction progress."

"Moreover, the current Yingjiang is not the 'Golden Twenty Years' of the 1960s and 1970s. The moon landing plan was enough to drain their blood!"

At that time, Eagle Sauce was in the so-called golden 20 years.

After the end of World War II, during the period of rapid economic development, the economic growth rate has remained high.

Even so, the moon landing came at a huge cost, and not all plans were completed.

Plan J, the follow-up to the Apollo program, was never completed.

If they really want to invest huge financial and material resources in moon landing activities like they did before.

So many other countries would probably laugh to death on the sidelines.

Such a huge project is enough to drain the blood of a peak empire.

"It's impossible for them to invest as much money into the moon landing program as they did in the last century."

Zhang Xingyang said, thinking about the information about the moon landing in Yingjiang's later generations.

"It's even a question of whether they are really determined to go to the moon."

Facing Heywood's speech, Zhang Xingyang felt that it was more like an unrealistic slogan made by him.

It doesn't mean that they will really invest money in this area.

Maybe it was Yingjiang's strategic deception, maybe.

It's like the "Star Wars Project" they used to trick the furry bears into falling into the pit last century.

"No matter how I look at it, I think he is just shouting slogans."

Zhang Xingyang thought again about the TV show where Heywood spoke.

"After all, they just announced last month that they were about to launch the next node module. It doesn't look like they will give up on the International Space Station plan."

The next node module was originally planned to be used as a support for the Columbus and Hope experimental modules.

If they really planned to carry out a huge moon landing program, they should not proceed with the Node Module-2 launch plan.

"Unless they plan to carry out two huge aerospace projects at the same time."

When Geng Bo said this, he was shocked.

The International Space Station is a major space project in which sixteen countries participate.

Although other countries also contributed a lot, NASA also contributed a large part.

This already consumes a lot of their annual budget.

The moon landing plan is a very huge scientific project.

At that time, Eagle Sauce spent $25.5 billion for the Apollo program.

At that time, the Bretton Woods system had not yet collapsed, and 35 US dollars could be exchanged for 1 ounce of gold.

To put it into perspective, the Apollo program cost an actual 729 million ounces of gold.

Throughout 2003, the price of gold has been rising. As of December, gold was quoted at US$410 per ounce.

In other words, the Apollo program would cost at least more than US$300 billion today.

The GDP of Eagle Sauce last year was only US$11 trillion, and US$300 billion would account for about 3% of it!

This does not take into account the rising domestic prices of eagle sauce over the past few decades.

NASA's funding last year was only US$14.9 billion.

To reach US$300 billion, it will take at least twenty years!

This is without taking inflation into account.

"It is impossible for their Congress to agree to spend such a huge amount of money on space exploration."

Zhang Xingyang said based on his understanding of Eagle Sauce.

In fact, they would not have launched such a huge moon landing project in the 1960s if it hadn't been for the furry bears taking away the honor of being the first to go into space.

"This is a project that has no short-term benefits and is very costly. Apart from Heywood, I don't think anyone in China supports it."

Lidya Su thought for a while and then said.

By starting the moon landing plan, the materials and money Heywood can accept will greatly increase, which he is naturally happy to see.

"And they just launched the YLK war this year, and the main public opinion in the country is still paying more attention to the war."

Geng Bo said: “Not many people pay attention to things like the moon landing plan.”

"Without public attention, neither bureaucrats nor others in their country will pay attention."

What Geng Bo said is very realistic. Yingjiang is a country where public opinion comes first.

As long as we can win the attention of public opinion, many things can gain public attention.

At present, the hot topic in their public opinion field is still war.

I don’t pay much attention to the moon landing, something that was done decades ago.

"Brother Xingyang, when can we land on the moon?"

Seeing that the scene had become a little cold, Lidya Su quickly talked about a related topic.

"We have a complete plan for lunar exploration."

At this time, Zhang Xingyang also laughed and said.

The Chang'e Project has clearly divided every step of lunar exploration.

The first is the three steps of "circling", "falling" and "returning" of the unmanned detector.

Chang'e-1 achieved this step of orbiting the moon.

A large number of photos of the lunar surface were taken, and at the end of its life, the impact experiment on the moon was completed.

Evidence of large amounts of water ice has been found at the lunar north pole.

"Chang'e-2 was originally the backup satellite of Chang'e-1."

Zhang Xingyang had a brief chat.

"For Chang'e 3 and 4, we plan to achieve a soft landing on the moon and use a lunar rover to explore the lunar surface."

"Chang'e-5 and Chang'e-6 have sampled the lunar surface and have returned to Earth."

The three-step plan, as a public content of the lunar exploration project, is actually relatively clear to everyone.

However, what happens after this is unclear to everyone.

Especially the content about manned moon landing.

"Xingyang, just tell me about the plan for manned landing on the moon!"

Geng Bo, who couldn't wait any longer, said hurriedly.

"Actually, the higher authorities have not yet fully determined what plan to adopt for manned landing on the moon."

Zhang Xingyang smiled and said: "But I think we will still be able to land on the moon before 2020 at the latest."

The year 2020 is only sixteen years away from now, whether it is long or short, it is not short either.

"There are two different models for the current moon landing plan."

"The first one is, of course, to learn from the world's only successful moon landing plan."

"That is, the lunar orbit rendezvous plan."

As aerospace workers, everyone is familiar with this solution.

In the plan, it is divided into command/service module and lunar module.

The command/service module is responsible for carrying necessary fuel and daily necessities.

The lunar module is responsible for the astronauts' landing on the moon.

After the spacecraft entered lunar orbit, the lunar module and command/service module separated and landed on the lunar surface.

During this process, the command/service module stayed in the lunar orbit, and an astronaut stayed in the command/service module to provide various services to the astronauts on the moon.

After the lunar landing mission ended, the lunar module took off again and docked with the command/service module in lunar orbit.

Then return to Earth together.

"Such a plan cannot be said to be bad, but it has many disadvantages."

Zhang Xingyang went on to speak.

"First of all, in order to be able to bring so many things to the moon at one time, the thrust of the rocket needs to be very powerful."

"This results in a large portion of funds being spent on the process of launching materials into space."

Geng Bo seemed to have thought of something when he combined his own recyclable rockets.

"Secondly, this plan cannot stay on the moon for a long time."

After Zhang Xingyang finished speaking, he gave everyone some time to think, and then said.

"So I think that if you want to land on the moon, you must first build a permanent space station in outer space on the earth as a departure base."

"It is used to adapt astronauts to space life, and the space station can provide them with supplies on the moon."

"In this process, the use of Hongyan rockets can reduce the cost of material transportation on a large scale."

"On the moon, before the astronauts go there, we will first use unmanned autonomous machines to build a base for the astronauts to live."

This plan has actually been in Zhang Xingyang's mind for a long time.

Moreover, this is also a relatively convenient moon landing plan explored by later generations.

Unmanned autonomous machines will first build basic living areas in the polar regions of the moon.

And because there is a lot of water ice in this area, it can greatly reduce the logistics demand for water.

"Then, we can transport astronauts from the space station to the moon through the spacecraft to conduct scientific research."

Zhang Xingyang expressed his thoughts completely.

Although this plan sounds much more complicated than the lunar orbit rendezvous plan at first glance.

But if you think about it carefully, the fault tolerance rate of such a plan is much higher than that of the lunar orbit rendezvous plan.

Moreover, whether it is a permanent space station or a space transport spacecraft, it is within various aerospace plans.

One of the few difficulties with this plan lies in the construction of the lunar base.

The logistical pressure is smaller compared to other options.

Because they now have reusable rockets, transportation costs between the ground and space are relatively low.

For transportation in interstellar space, Hall thrusters have made certain progress.

Future transportation costs will not be very high.

Geng Bo thought about it carefully. The probability of success of this plan is really very high!