Chapter 229 - 223 Defeat-II_1

The H80, which was more suitable than the H50 for use as a third stage engine, now also faced its first actual test.

The numerical suffix of the H80 represented ground thrust, and its vacuum thrust could reach 112 tons, roughly equivalent to the J-IIB engine of Saturn V’s second stage rocket.

On August 14th, two days after the launch of CZ-10, New Yuan Aerospace Launch Site’s No. 2 position was propping up a New Yuan No. 3.

This New Yuan No. 3 carried only a second stage, and this second stage was the recoverable one mentioned by Guo Shen.

Following Guo’s initial idea, in the midst of the four H240 engines, a newly improved H80 engine from the H50 was squeezed in.

The appearance of this second-stage rocket also greatly differed, its entire outer surface turning black to endure atmospheric ablation, thanks to a simplified heat-resistant layer derived from the H2 space shuttle’s heat-resistant tiles.

Since the protection was for fuel tanks instead of humans, the weight and cost of the heat-resistant layer were significantly reduced, yet it still met the requirements to withstand atmospheric ablation 100 times.

As the self-weight increased, to avoid reducing payload capacity, the rocket body was slightly elongated by 5 meters to accommodate more fuel, and those who were observant could also notice several bulges at the lower part.

The recovery method for the second-stage rocket was different from what most would expect, it was neither vertical landing gear recovery nor grid fin recovery, but parachute descent.

Because the 11-meter diameter was just too large, and the rocket body was too wide with only one H80 swinging back and forth, the strain on attitude control was absurdly high. Although theoretically feasible, it was very troublesome in practice, so landing upright on the ground was not an option.

Having multiple engines for a recovery would necessitate a layout change. If three H80 engines were to be used for this purpose, then the second stage would have to change from four H240 engines to thirteen H80 engines.

Not to mention the issue of the dead weight of too many engines, just the oversized nozzle required for the vacuum version couldn’t be fitted, so it was truly impossible.

Now, the recovery method designed by Guo Shen was:

Upon second-stage rocket separation, its original top turned into a blunt rounded smooth surface, with its head angled downward to withstand atmospheric ablation and protect the engine. After entering the atmosphere, the parachute at the top would deploy.

The purpose of this parachute was not to decelerate but to adjust the attitude of the rocket from head-down to engine-down by gradually releasing three parachutes of increasing size in sequence, and then discarding them after roughly aligning.

Next, the four massive nozzles of the H240 would open to their fullest, leaving ample room for the H80 rocket engine to begin swing deceleration, sustaining nearly-hovering mode 5 to 10 meters above sea level.

At that moment, the H80 would shut down abruptly, while several small solid-fuel pulse rockets embedded underneath would ignite, allowing the rocket body to flip over and lie down horizontally.

Simultaneously, several bulges at the tail end of the second-stage rocket would split open, releasing huge airbags. Upon the rocket’s water landing, these would naturally cause the tail end with engines to face upward, keeping the body floating engine-up on the water surface.

At this time, nearby tugs that had been lingering would rush over, hook up chains, and drag the rocket back to the port for recovery and reuse.

The rocket body didn’t fear a saltwater bath, especially armored with a layer resistant to atmospheric ablation. A bit of water on the engines was no problem, a wash and they’d be ready to use again.

The biggest advantage of this recovery system was that it significantly reduced the mass of the landing components because falling directly into the water meant the rocket experienced minimal impact, and the second-stage rocket, not being overly long, suffered no issue from the body’s strength when falling over.

Just like that, at least one hundred million could be saved in a single go, aligning the launch cost of New Yuan No. 3 with that of New Yuan-2A. Comfortable~

With such expectations, New Yuan No. 3, carrying the black and potentially recoverable second-stage rocket, ascended towards the sky.

seconds later, the first stage of New Yuan No. 3 underwent separation and entered the recovery sequence, and the four H240 engines of the second stage worked a bit longer, turning around for recovery after surpassing the atmosphere.

From outside the atmosphere to within the ionosphere, the engines could not be started for braking, nor could aerodynamic adjustments be made. Thus, this period of time was purely abrasive burning.

Guo Shen looked up and saw a new bright meteor in the sky; it was the second stage of New Yuan-2, now fiercely rubbing against the atmosphere at speeds over 30 times the speed of sound.

Then came a few minutes of lost communication, after which the second stage rocket finally crossed the ionosphere and established contact with the ground.

For this launch mission, Lin Ju also actively learned from Ma, and just like with previous non-secret missions, there was an official live broadcast for each one. This time, since they said they would recover the second stage, the number of viewers was quite substantial.

At this moment, the only live broadcast footage was from ground cameras. In the sky, there was just one meteor, unable to send back any images, only maintaining radio contact.

Upon reaching the predetermined altitude, the nose of the nearly upside-down falling rocket popped open the first parachute. The parachute was very small and fragile; it only managed to function for a second upon being deployed by the fast-moving airflow before it broke off and flew away.

But the rocket’s attitude had already been adjusted slightly. Immediately after, the second parachute also popped out, which worked for a little over two seconds before getting torn apart.

Then the third and final parachute was deployed. Despite the rocket still hurtling downwards at high speed, with the aid of this parachute, it nearly corrected its attitude within five seconds.

As the third parachute was also jettisoned, the H80 engine officially began to intermittently ignite, constantly adjusting its attitude.

The live broadcast still couldn’t show the specific situation in the sky, only an animated simulation of the attitude.

As the altitude gradually decreased, at around 5000 meters, the live feed finally began showing an enlarged, somewhat blurry image of the second stage rocket.

Although its attitude was now fully corrected, its descent rate was extremely high, nearly double the speed compared to past recovery rockets.

This was because it was carrying less fuel in order to reduce weight; after all, it was to be recovered from the sea, so a higher speed wasn’t a problem.

At an altitude of 1000 meters, the H80 finally began to operate continuously. The engine, accelerated in development by the System Research Institute’s funding, was extremely reliable, having only undergone a cumulative 10 times of 1800-second tests before its direct application.

With multiple ignitions and long durations of operation, the YF77 could only collapse in the restroom in tears.

The altitude was slowly decreasing, when Guo Shen suddenly realized something was wrong.

Why was there white smoke?

Since the whole body was black, the white gas escaping from the side of the rocket’s bottom was particularly conspicuous; it was hard not to notice.

The viewers in the live streaming room didn’t yet know what had happened, but the launch center had already detected the anomaly:

"Oxidizer tank pressure has dropped sharply, suspecting a crack in the rocket body!"

"Pressure sensors 01 and 04 are malfunctioning, fuel is rapidly decreasing!"

"Oxidizer depleted, engine shutdown!"

In full view of everyone, the second stage rocket that had descended to 200 meters finally stopped emitting white vapor. The H80 at the bottom, lacking fuel, shut down, and then the rocket fell straight down.

As the rocket began to fall sideways, four airbags at the bottom rapidly deployed as per the pre-set instructions, and four huge white airbags enveloped the entire tail.

The second stage rocket entered the water at nearly an 80-degree angle to the vertical plane; head down but mostly horizontal, it splashed down into the sea, hopped up a bit from the reaction force, and then, because of the airbags, came to float upside down on the sea surface.