Chapter 109 - 105 CZ-10_1

The experts were seasoned veterans, understanding that this was a real tough battle they would inevitably have to fight.

But planning to land on the Moon within three years was indeed riddled with difficulties.

Academician She remained silent for a long while before slowly beginning, pen in hand,

"The biggest problem is the rocket."

With his opening remark, the other experts also started to analyze,

"Indeed, we have experience in developing manned spacecraft, and we’ve even launched Chang’e 3 for lunar exploration. Our technological foundation should be much stronger than what America had at that time, so technology is not a barrier."

"There are several preliminary designs for the lander, so a soft landing on the lunar surface isn’t completely unprepared for."

"The translunar injection capability must be at least 55 tons. This is a non-negotiable, hard specification! Our astronauts certainly won’t be riding in washing machines."

"Improving upon the CZ-5’s foundation?"

"There’s no need for it, as it’s a conservative design with no potential for improvement."

"..."

Such discussions did not last long, as most of these issues had been thought through countless times before.

When America initiated the Space Race, China also started its aerospace engineering with the "Dawn Project," and Sir Qian even designed the massive rocket CZ-10, intended for manned lunar missions.

Later on, when the aerospace project was restarted in ’92, each time a new rocket appeared, the experts at the space agency wondered: how could we use existing technology to land on the Moon?

Even the CZ-5, which only had an 8-ton translunar capability, was designed with the idea of how to get it to the Moon.

In theory, the CZ-5 could also achieve this, as the lunar spacecraft isn’t one piece; it could be launched in parts, assembled over five or six launches, and then followed by a manned spacecraft to rush to the Moon.

But aside from being a piecemeal approach to the Moon landing—let alone being low-end—the main issues were the high risk, costliness, and limited significance. Apart from being able to land on the Moon, it served no other purpose.

Moreover, due to the need for multiple dockings, both the risk and difficulty were very high. Unless the aliens were going to invade Earth if we didn’t land on the Moon, this plan was best excluded.

Therefore, no matter how the discussion went, it kept coming back to the need for a super-heavy-lift rocket. The New Yuan-2 wasn’t sufficient; it had to be something of the New Yuan-2A or New Yuan No. 3 super-heavy rocket level.

But thinking about the stumbling development of the CZ-5, from its initiation in ’09 to not having its maiden flight yet, whereas the Saturn V took only seven years.

Of course, America’s whole-nation system is incomparable, but the vast gap was still frustrating to observe.

Those in higher positions also understood this to some extent, expressing their discontent,

"With the half-century of additional time we have, and as the world’s leading industrial nation, can’t we produce a heavy-lift rocket?"

Academician She clasped his hands together, rested his head in thought for a dozen seconds, then lifted his head and looked towards the attending experts, as if seeking something,

"CZ-9 is out of reach. Developing a 10-meter-diameter rocket body takes too much time. We must make the most of existing technology and therefore must go with a 5-meter-diameter rocket body."

Although the CZ-5 rocket had not yet had its maiden flight, its 5-meter-diameter rocket body had long been certified and was qualified for use. The 10-meter class was still a blank slate, and it would take too long.

With the rocket body issue resolved, the next challenge was the engines, which were critical. Everyone turned to look at the experts from Factory Six, who pondered in the back for a moment:

"This... I have two solutions. One is to use multiple YF100s in parallel, and the other is the YF130, which integrates two combustion chambers and is derived from the YF100;

Aside from its thrust, this design is good for nothing, as you know, and it can’t be reused. So we’ve never been resolute about it. If we decide on it now, one year... 9 months, to be exact. We must have an initial budget of a billion RMB. We’ll strive to build the prototype in 7 months and will try to stabilize its quality within the following 1 to 2 months."

Well, there we had a solution for the high-thrust rocket engine, and that just left the configuration to be resolved.

The academician and scientist Yun Hongjun from Aerospace First Institute took out a sheet of white paper and began to write and draw.

"With a 5-meter diameter, we’d have to bundle more boosters. The boosters... must also be 5 meters; with 4 boosters, each equipped with two YF130 engines, and the core stage also using two."

"10 YF130 engines, according to this year’s conference data on sea level thrust, that’s 4890 tons of thrust. The rocket’s weight is 3600 tons, its low Earth orbit capacity is 120 tons, and the lunar transfer orbit capacity depends on the second-stage engine. Let’s go with 4 YF77s, with a total thrust of 270 tons. Sending a 45-ton payload to the Moon should be no problem."

"We won’t consider the YF100 parallel scheme, that’s too many, at least thirty engines. It’d be asking for trouble."

The superior looked over the rough sketches and data summary on the paper and frowned:

"45 tons, that’s nearly 20% short of 55 tons."

"Then we’ll add two more boosters."

The speaker was Academician She, who had also been pushed to the brink by New Yuan Aeronautics or by Lin Ju. He drew a circle on the paper and then six more circles of roughly the same size around it.

"6 boosters, 14 YF130 engines, that’s 6486 tons of thrust, a launch mass of 4930 tons, a low Earth orbit capacity of 150 tons, and a lunar transfer orbit capacity of 55 tons. That should be more than enough."

The others imagined the sight of a 5-meter core stage rocket bundled with six 5-meter diameter boosters and shuddered.

"No, the vibration from 6 boosters would be too great; the gaps between the rocket bodies might be only 30 CM, leaving too small a margin for error.

Plus, a total of 14 engines, 28 nozzles! No, absolutely not."

"Let’s split it into two launches. 6 boosters really is too risky. With two launches, we can send 90 tons; that’s not just enough for a moon landing, but also to piece together a lunar research station. Shift a little to the left, 45 tons for a manned lunar landing should suffice, and any additional needs can be met by the next rocket launch. Or we could dock in orbit—that’s an acceptable risk now, not like it was 50 years ago."

Yun Hongjun from the First Institute spoke again, and this time, many agreed with him, nodding their heads.

Academician She also thought it over: "Then I have no objections. We’ll tentatively call it CZ-10. One launch for testing, one to send a manned spacecraft for testing, one for manned lunar orbit, one for manned lunar landing, and one to send a research station; five rockets in total to complete the initial moon landing project.

We can shift some of the lander’s mass to the research station or dump some during the manned lunar orbit. Then there will be no problem. Just over three years, 25 five-meter diameter rocket bodies, if we rush, we can definitely make it."

The superiors looked at the others, and seeing no further objections, leaned forward and asked again, with seriousness: "So, this... CZ-10, it lives up to the name. Tell me, how long do you need?"

A group of experts huddled and after a while, Academician She summarized:

"We can start manufacturing the first-stage rocket body right away. The YF130 will be delivered within 10 months, and the YF77 and YF75 used in the second and third stages are already available. If the Jingou Rocket Manufacturing Base works overtime... by next August, the initial launch of CZ-10 could take place, and each rocket’s manufacturing and inspection need an 8-month gap. However, as Jingou’s production capacity increases later, it should get faster. We estimate the manned lunar mission will take place by August 2018, at the latest by March 2019.

If there’s an accident and a rocket fails, then we’ll save the one set for launching the lunar base and proceed with the manned lunar landing first. The earliest, in the best of circumstances, would be March 2018."

After speaking, Academician She thought for a while more:

"Each rocket costs about 1.5 billion RMB, at least 4 billion for R&D, and no less than 5 billion for the development of the new generation manned spacecraft and lander. Including spares and testing, I am applying for a 20 billion RMB budget approval for the manned lunar project, with at least 4 billion approved this year.

Moreover, we need to significantly expand the rocket and engine manufacturing bases, with an additional investment of at least 20 to 30 billion."

Academician She was somewhat scared by his own proposal; the space bureau had never secured such a large budget for a single project before, and even his voice trembled as he spoke.

But this was inevitable, as all of their discussions were predicated on having an extraordinary budget. Without it, the timeline would have to be doubled at least.

But he was clear that this was far from the limit of China’s space potential. If the world’s leading industrial nation was to go all out, CZ-10 could launch every three months, but the cost would be too great.

"Since that’s the case, I demand that you send Chinese People to the Moon before August 2018. I order that CZ-10 be initiated immediately! I will present this opinion at the highest meeting, but I need you to ensure that the space bureau, before private spaceflight, sends the first Chinese person to the Moon!"

The superior emphasized "the first" because that first was the very reason for CZ-10’s existence; otherwise, there would be no need at all.

Lin Ju would never have imagined that the space bureau’s exceptional launch of a competition was not because of America, but because of New Yuan Aeronautics Power!