Chapter 119: Blue Sky

Ever since the "Blue Sky" project was officially established, Wang Hao felt like he had been walking on clouds these past few days—no, walking on rocket exhaust!

He was just short of moving his dormitory to the "Missile and Space Technology Institute" construction site that was about to be listed, even though it was currently just a construction site clanging with noise.

"Brother Li! Brother Li, did you see where I put the vector nozzle test data for my 'Skyrocket Monkey' Type 3 improvement?"

Wang Hao rushed into the mech final assembly workshop in a flurry, shouting at the edge of the terminal Li Yang was operating.

Li Yang didn't even lift his head, his fingers sliding quickly on the screen to pull up a folder:

"Serial number PY-0037, stored in Joint Server Zone D."

"Also, let me correct you, that is a 'Micro Vertical Take-off and Landing Verifier,' not a 'Skyrocket Monkey'."

"Same thing! You're being pedantic!" Wang Hao got the data and turned to run, but was called back by Li Yang.

"Haozi, 'Blue Sky' is a cooperative project; the Space Administration's expert team will arrive at the docking meeting this afternoon, so restrain yourself and don't talk nonsense." Li Yang rarely gave a warning.

"Don't worry!" Wang Hao patted his chest, making a thumping sound.

"With me, Wang Hao, out there, I guarantee that the old brothers from the national team will feel Longyin's enthusiasm... and strength!"

Afternoon, in the comprehensive conference room.

On one side of the long table was the Longyin team.

Feng Yan sat in command, next to him was the excited Wang Hao, as well as Zhao Kaiyuan, who was in charge of the energy system, and Chen Guang, who provided AI support.

Li Yang was connected remotely from the laboratory, providing real-time technical support on structure.

On the other side was the core expert group sent by the Space Administration, led by an old engineer named Zhou.

Accompanied by several experts of the same age with solemn expressions.

After Feng Yan gave a brief opening statement, he handed the initiative to Wang Hao.

"Chief Zhou, experts," Wang Hao cleared his throat.

"Regarding the 'Blue Sky' reusable rocket, our preliminary idea is... not to build that kind of 'supercar' that pursues extreme performance and costs a fortune."

He paused and threw out the core concept: "What we want to build is a sturdy, durable, fast-running, and highly cost-effective—'Space Truck'!"

"'Space Truck'?" Chief Zhou pushed up his glasses, his brows slightly furrowed; this metaphor clearly exceeded his traditional academic scope.

The experts beside him also exchanged glances, carrying doubts.

"Right! Truck!" Wang Hao got excited, walked directly to the whiteboard in front of the conference room, and grabbed a pen to draw a crooked rocket outline.

"Think about it, supercars are delicate, use the best fuel, run on the best roads, and the repair cost is sky-high if they get slightly bumped."

"But trucks? They can eat coarse grains, run on muddy roads, and the point is they can haul cargo!"

"Our goal is to send things into the sky cheaply and reliably, not to compete with others on who flies more fancy!

An expert in charge of power couldn't help but speak: "Director Wang, this metaphor is very vivid."

"However, rocket technology involves complex system engineering, especially the recovery link, which has extremely high requirements for structural strength, control systems, and power redundancy."

"'Sturdy and durable' is easy to say, but doing it..."

"That's why we use modular design!" Wang Hao immediately took over, drawing several squares on the whiteboard.

"Just like playing with Lego! Divide the rocket into several large modules: first stage, second stage, payload bay, recovery bay."

"Each module has standard interfaces, and the interior also uses universal parts as much as possible."

"Fix whichever is broken, replace whichever needs upgrading, simple and fast!"

"'Lego'?" Chief Zhou's expression became even more complex.

"Yeah!" Wang Hao became even more excited.

"Think about it, traditional rockets are built like carving ivory balls, time-consuming and laborious."

"Ours is like building a house with standardized bricks, fast and sturdy!"

"And, the 'Torch Dragon' AI can be responsible for optimizing the 'assembly' process, ensuring every 'Lego' block fits perfectly!"

Zhao Kaiyuan, who had been silent, added appropriately: "Director Wang's thinking has obvious advantages in cost control and rapid iteration."

"Our 'Energy Institute' can provide standardized high-energy-density battery modules as the 'universal fuel tank' for the 'Space Truck'."

"Cooperating with the 'Tengshe' electronic control system to realize plug-and-play and intelligent management of power packs."

Chen Guang also pushed up his glasses and pulled out a data projection: "Based on 'Torch Dragon's' fluid dynamics simulation and orbital calculation capabilities, we can perform hundreds of millions of simulations on the recovery process."

"Predict and avoid risks in advance to ensure the precision and stability of recovery."

The experts from the Space Administration fell into deep thought.

Wang Hao's "Lego theory" sounded absurd at first, but after careful consideration, the modular and standardized thinking contained within.

Indeed points directly to the pain points of high costs and long cycles in current spacecraft R&D.

At this time, Li Yang's remote communication was connected: "In terms of structure, we can learn from the vector engine cluster technology of the 'Somersault Cloud' verification machine to achieve power redundancy."

"The main structure of the rocket body plans to use a large amount of 'Dragon Scale Alloy' developed by Master Li Kui for weight reduction, while integrating the quick-plug interface concept of the 'Iron Wolf' exoskeleton to facilitate maintenance."

"Preliminary calculations show that adopting this thinking, the rocket body structure weight is expected to be reduced by fifteen percent, and manufacturing costs reduced by more than thirty percent."

Data is always more convincing than metaphors.

The expressions of Chief Zhou and others gradually turned from doubt to serious thinking.

After the collision of theories, it was the practice session.

Wang Hao enthusiastically invited the expert group to move to the precision machining center.

In the workshop, Zhao Gong was operating a modified five-axis linkage machining center with his apprentices, cutting a rocket engine nozzle extension part with a strange shape.

Amidst the flying sparks, metal chips fell like flowing water, revealing the complex cooling channels inside that were dazzling to the eye.

A materials expert from the Space Administration leaned in and gasped: "This... this is a regenerative cooling channel?"

"This processing precision and surface finish... you use equipment for processing mech joints to make rocket parts?"

Zhao Gong turned off the equipment, wiped his hands with cotton yarn, and said slowly: "Things are dead, people are alive."

"Precision is enough, who cares what it was originally for?"

"This material is something that kid Li Kui just figured out; the ablation resistance is not bad, it's just a bit sticky to the knife, so it has to be ground slowly."

He spoke in a flat tone, as if talking about what to eat for dinner, but the part in his hand, shimmering with metallic luster and perfect lines like a work of art, left the aerospace experts present dumbfounded.

They were accustomed to the dust-free, constant-temperature, and extremely standardized environment of aerospace-grade factories.

When had they ever seen such precise rocket parts born in a workshop filled with the smell of machine oil, listening to an old master chatter?

The subsequent ground ignition test pushed this shock to a climax.

On a temporarily built test stand, a reduced-scale "Blue Sky" first-stage rocket verification body was fixed.

At its bottom were three small "Dragon Core" derivative vector engines arranged in a 'pin' shape.

"Ignition!" Wang Hao gave the command in the control room, his voice carrying irrepressible excitement.

Woo—Boom!

Ghostly blue exhaust flames erupted from the three nozzles simultaneously, stable and fierce, and the roaring sound emitted was much lower and thicker than traditional rocket engines of the same level.

Carrying a unique sense of power belonging to the "Dragon Core."

On the data screen, parameters such as thrust, mixture ratio, and combustion efficiency jumped wildly, finally stabilizing in the ideal range.

What made the aerospace experts hold their breath even more was the subsequent action.

As the command changed, the three vector nozzles began to deflect synchronously, driving the entire verification body to perform complex actions such as pitch, yaw, and roll, as smooth as if it possessed life!

"Attitude control response speed is more than forty percent faster than our existing mainstream models!" an expert in control systems muttered.

At the end of the test, the "recovery legs" at the bottom of the verification body unfolded steadily.

That design was clearly a replica of the hydraulic buffer legs of the "Jing-An" mech, full of power and mechanical aesthetics.

When the roaring sound subsided and the verification body stopped steadily on the test stand, with only wisps of blue smoke rising, the control room fell into a brief silence.

Chief Zhou slowly took off his glasses, rubbed his eyes hard, put them back on, and looked carefully at the frozen data on the screen and the metal creation outside the window that was still radiating residual heat.

The wrinkles on his face seemed to smooth out, and he let out a long breath.

He turned to Feng Yan and Wang Hao, his tone carrying unprecedented emotion and a trace of imperceptible excitement:

"President Feng, Director Wang... today, we have truly seen what is called 'Longyin characteristics'."

"This 'Space Truck'..." he paused, revealing a helpless yet admiring smile, "... it really has a lot of kick!"

Wang Hao grinned, proudly winking at the direction of Li Yang's remote camera.

Feng Yan knew that the most difficult stage of conceptual collision for the "Blue Sky" project had been successfully passed.

He was about to speak, but saw Li Yang in the remote screen, lost in thought while looking at a structural diagram of a flexible joint for a robotic arm.

His fingers were tapping on the table unconsciously, as if the wildness of the "Space Truck."

Had brought him some brand-new inspiration for more precise operations in space. ===== CHAPTER 120 =====