Chapter 223 - 217 H2M Passenger Version_1

"Xie Liaofu? Sounds a bit like a Russian name, doesn’t it?"

"Hehe, a bona fide Chinese. It’s probably because there’s a strong influence over in the Ice City, so he got a somewhat ambiguous name."

The major personnel changes at New Yuan Company had long attracted attention. The Aerospace Administration was the first to discover that a college graduate who had been out of school for only a year had suddenly skyrocketed to the position of First Vice President, second only to one and above ten thousand?

At the second manned launch of the Firm Number on August 7th, a big shot caught Lin Ju in Qiongzhou and voiced his doubts.

People had inquired about Xie Liaofu a long time ago and confirmed that he indeed was an authentic Chinese person, with his family having moved there from the south in the previous generation. While in school, his performance was only deemed acceptable, and then due to a family mishap, he fell into a slump and took to vagabonding around the world.

How could such an utterly ordinary college student have been spotted and offered a position by New Yuan Company, and then directly climb to a high position without facing any pushback?

The last bit was said by an expert from the Fifth Academy working on the experimental cabin at the B-level Base; the base staff had no complaints about the young and inexperienced second boss and went about their work as usual. Not only did several executives not mind, but some even said they seemed to hold Xie Liaofu in high regard?

However, Lin Ju didn’t explain much about this matter. After all, Xie Liaofu’s background was clean with no issues whatsoever.

"Our company strictly values ability. Xie Liaofu’s capabilities won the recognition of others. As for being directly appointed as the Vice President, our New Yuan’s internal structure is actually different from that of typical companies; the First Vice President’s role leans more towards a technical position."

This foggy explanation had the big shot nodding along while also feeling as if nothing had been said, but it was not his place to ask further; after all, it was New Yuan’s own business.

He was mainly there to see the launch of the CZ-10, while Lin Ju was there to oversee the Firm Number launch mission and just happened to cross paths.

This time, the Firm Number was fully booked; New Yuan’s own astronaut, Hu Dong, acted as the commander and was accompanied by two rookies as his deputies. Of the remaining seven passengers, four were seasoned commercial astronauts from abroad, while three were lucky car owners who won space tickets last year.

So far, the number of people who have taken space tourism trips with New Yuan and Eastern International has exceeded a hundred. With the first batch of tourists having completed their training, there will be at least one flight mission per month from now on, ushering in an era of ultra-high-frequency crewed launches.

To this end, the Firm Number will also be launching frequently, sending its own astronauts and engineers into space in succession.

Moreover, it is expected that by next year, New Yuan will send students who have signed employment contracts with them into space, continuously bolstering their space crew.

By then, the Firm Number alone won’t be enough; it is possible that an H2M near-Earth orbit tourism model will be built. The cabin layout is entirely based on a passenger jet configuration, with 4 seats on each side, a total of 24 rows, accommodating 192 passengers.

The single mission turnaround cost for an H2M is about 140 million yuan. Since it does not require the replacement of heat-resistant tiles, the cost is significantly lower compared to the H1. The cost of the New Yuan-2 Type A Rocket that launches the aerospace plane is also not too high because it does not require a second stage. The combined costs for fuel consumption and preparations after each launch are approximately 520 million yuan.

seats mean the cost per seat is only about 2.7 million yuan.

If the manufacturing cost for the commercial version of the H2M is set at 3.5 billion yuan, spread out over 100 launches, then the cost per launch is 35 million yuan, meaning the cost per seat is approximately 2.9 million yuan.

Assuming commercial tickets are sold at a price of 5 million yuan each, the manufacturing costs can be recouped after approximately 9 flights, then each flight thereafter nets a profit of about 400 million yuan. If the spacecraft lasts for the projected 100 flights, it could earn back 40 billion yuan.

Considering that a thorough overhaul and inspection is required every 15 flights and assuming 15 flights a year, with most of them involving sending their own people up, the profits would be modest.

But the greatest significance of the H2M transport version lies in its capacity to send large numbers of people into space at once, nearly 200 on a single flight.

As the H2M is particularly heavy and the New Yuan-2 Type A’s thrust-to-weight ratio is not very high, theoretically, as long as one is relatively healthy, they can travel without additional training, similar to taking a passenger jet—except for somewhat higher speeds upon return.

This marks the true beginning of the space tourism era. Provided there are no accidents, the cost-effectiveness and practicality of the H2M transport version will be unparalleled, enabling personnel to travel to and from space en masse.

However, the risks are slightly higher; nearly 200 lives are involved, and riding an aerospace plane may make getting approval for crewed flights somewhat tricky.

Of course, this is also out of necessity, as with the current technology, the aerospace plane is the cheapest way to access space until we can achieve single-stage-to-orbit capabilities.

Yet even with a per-person cost of 2.9 million yuan at cost price, it remains exceedingly expensive, and it’s relatively difficult for these 192 people to be productive unless a major Moon development effort is underway.

But even just with the current launch capabilities of the Firm Number, it’s enough to make the big shot envious.

At 10 A.M., four foreigners and three lucky car owners took a photo with Lin Ju in commemoration of his guaranteeing their space flight. The seven passengers, wearing the ultimate simplified version of intravehicular spacesuits, then headed to the launch tower.

In the interest of continuing to lower costs, New Yuan and the Aerospace Administration jointly developed the latest generation of intravehicular spacesuits. To put it mildly, they are extremely lightweight, but speaking frankly, their performance is rather poor—just passable.

Their sole purpose is to ensure that in the event of an accident with the aerospace plane, the people inside could survive for 120 minutes rather than dying from their blood boiling and suffocation in the vacuum of space. During this period, the aerospace plane must make an emergency return to Earth, and survival is possible once within the atmosphere.

Such spacesuits could be produced en masse for around 1.5 million yuan each, and as long as they haven’t been exposed to a vacuum, they can be reused indefinitely, reducing yet another significant portion of the costs.

At 11 A.M., the three crew members and seven passengers were launched into space by the New Yuan 5A Rocket from Launch Position 2 of the New Yuan Aerospace Launch Site, embarking on their 24-hour space journey.

That evening, Lin Ju saw the CZ-10, which was already partially assembled, in Building 1 of the Qiongzhou Launch Site.

The core stage one and four booster rockets had been installed, only the upper stage was missing.

Unlike the New Yuan rockets that like to use ballast to simulate the upper stage for their maiden flights, the Aerospace Administration’s CZ-10A Remote 1 Rocket is a fully configured three-stage rocket theoretically capable of sending payloads to the Moon.

Standing at the bottom of the assembly building, Lin Ju and the big shot looked up at the towering CZ-10 rocket, accompanied by Yun Hongjun.

Since it also uses a structure with four liquid boosters, sometimes the CZ-10 might be mistaken for a larger version of the old CZ-5, but in reality, the 5-meter class boosters of the CZ-10 are over 40 meters tall, almost reaching the total height of the old CZ-5B.

To improve the manufacturing speed, the CZ-10 uses a standardized core stage. The core stage and the boosters are identical in height, diameter, and the number of engines, and this means that its first stage will run out of fuel almost concurrently with the boosters.

Therefore, the second stage is designed to be longer to extend its operating time, continuing to carry the payload and the third stage into orbit.

This makes the CZ-10, with the addition of the escape tower, also exceed 110 meters in height, taller than the Saturn V.