Chapter 242 - 236 Is he really a genius?_1

Without any surprises, the two axial modules of the Forward Space Station smoothly entered the 500KM low Earth orbit.

New Yuan No. 3 had ample lift capacity, so it simply launched the modules into a higher orbit, where the atmosphere was even thinner, allowing the Forward Space Station to use less fuel to maintain its orbital altitude.

Four hours after reaching orbit, the truss that had fixed the two modules detached, and the navigation cabin and node module automatically docked, forming a 120-ton colossal composite body.

It is noteworthy that both of the New Yuan No. 3 rockets launched this time utilized reusable second-stage rockets. The second-stage rocket, which was dark and indistinct on September 2, had been previously launched on August 20.

Guo Shen’s recovery method was successful again. In the second recovery test, the modified second-stage rocket body plunged into the sea at a speed of 5m/s, and the engines were barely touched by the water. The condition of the rocket body was quite good too, ready for reuse after a simple wash.

This also made New Yuan No. 3 the world’s first rocket to achieve the recovery of both its first and second stages. The recovery of five hydrogen-oxygen engines saved Lin Ju a billion yuan.

Today’s second stage was also successfully recovered. The ablation from two atmospheric reentries did not cause fatal damage, and a tugboat towed it back from the sea, just 4 kilometers off the coastline.

Ma silently flipped through the Starship PPT upon witnessing this scene.

Last month, the ever-growing technical prowess of SpecaX had produced the very first Starship SN1 Test Model. It exploded during a liquid nitrogen pressure test before it could be unveiled publicly...

This didn’t necessarily indicate a problem with the Starship design but suggested that quality control needed to be improved.

The SN1, intended for ground tests, looked nothing like what was expected - it was downright ugly and considerably more petite.

However, he remained confident in the full-scale Starship. The Starship replaced the traditional rocket’s upper stage as a second-stage rocket, achieving unprecedented recovery mass and capable of transporting 120 tons of payload to low Earth orbit, with interplanetary travel potential.

Most importantly, it was cheap to manufacture, certainly much more affordable than New Yuan’s space shuttles.

But as he was confidently pushing his plans forward step by step, SpecaX, among other companies, received a request from NACA: they were soliciting designs for a Mars landing spacecraft equipped with artificial gravity.

Ma looked at the Starship, his planned Mars lander, knowing that making it generate gravity by spinning like the Forward Space Station was unrealistic.

In his heart, though, he felt that rotating space stations or spacecraft were complex and fragile. How could they be better than the Starship, which could serve both as a lander and a spaceship?

But gravity was indeed very important. Suitable gravity could save a lot of trouble. So, how could the Starship generate gravity?

Musk found himself deep in thought, taking out two plastic models of the Starship spacecraft and considering which modifications to make.

...

"Hermes? Did Lockheed watch too many space movies?"

Three days after the utility module was launched into orbit by New Yuan No. 3 and successfully docked with the node module, Claire finally received design proposals for centrifugal spacecraft from several companies.

The first one was Lockheed Martin’s proposal, which was impressive. It was essentially the Hermes spacecraft from last year’s movie "Mars Rescue" brought to life.

Aside from switching from fusion ion propulsion to fission propulsion, most other aspects remained unchanged. It used multiple axial node modules to form the main body, with a centrifuge ring added to the center, making it significantly heavier than the Forward Space Station, weighing 4500 tons.

They even adopted the name "Hermes," apparently fearing Claire lacked imagination, they attached a movie poster to the proposal...

Claire was speechless and then looked at Boeing’s proposal, which was more pragmatic. In simple terms, it was a direct copy of the Forward Space Station, with 12 connected centrifugal modules, though the cabin design was modified according to America’s rocket capabilities, weighing in at twelve hundred tons.

Grumman seemed a bit perfunctory with their proposal. Their design was a dumbbell-shaped spacecraft, 150 meters in length, with two large structures at both ends, one housing the main engines and the other the living quarters.

The spacecraft would use its main engines to accelerate axially to the target speed. Then, with the engines shut off, it would rotate around its center, controlled by attitude thrusters, at two revolutions per minute to generate 0.34G of gravity.

After reviewing several other designs, all of which were quite good, Claire remained somewhat dissatisfied, that is, until she examined SpecaX’s proposal.

Claire was silent for a long time, at a loss for words.

What Musk had presented was the Starship.

It was the same Starship he had shown earlier, lacking a rotating gravity ring, but it could generate 1G of gravity - the strongest gravity among all the proposals, and it was adjustable too, allowing for the selection of gravity levels between 0.2 to 1G.

So, what was this miraculous design?

Firstly, SpecaX’s Mars landing plan involved two Starships. They would dock side by side through the ports on their sides, and after refueling and resupplying in low Earth orbit, they would form a combined body of about 2000 tons, carrying 5 to 15 crew members.

This was fine, no problems here. On-orbit replenishment was also feasible.

The combined body, that is, the two docked Starships, would first accelerate into a Hohmann orbit. Then, during the 7 to 9-month journey, the two Starships would separate. Caps at the top of each Starship would open, and a specially made rope from one Starship would be pulled out to connect to the other.

By adjusting their attitude, the two Starships would face each other, and the distance between them could be managed by adjusting the length of the special rope released.

Then the craziest part follows. The special rope could extend up to 380 meters, allowing the two head-to-head Starships, connected by this rope, to each activate their engines and start rotating around the center of the rope.

In theory, rotating at a speed of 1.5 revolutions per minute would generate about 1G of gravity. The length of the special rope could even be adjusted based on the astronauts’ needs, allowing them to live under the most comfortable gravitational force.

When it was time to decelerate, they would slow down and tighten the rope, recombine, and proceed perfectly.

It sounded implausible, but upon closer consideration, it seemed possible.

At least to Claire, who quickly came up with several materials that could withstand such tension, including steel cables, which are now available in many varieties that meet the requirements.

With each Starship weighing only a thousand tons and rotating at 1.5 revolutions per minute, the centrifugal force wasn’t high. Cables only needed to withstand 5000 tons of tension, or for extra assurance, 10000 tons. There were plenty of materials that could meet this standard.

Most importantly, this proposal was simple. There was no need to construct complex centrifuge mechanisms, it could generate decent gravity, and the investment cost was small.

Even Orion spacecraft could be adapted for experiments right now. By separating the crew return vehicle and service module, both of which were roughly the same mass, the tension on the ropes would be tested at below 50 tons, within the capabilities of any ordinary steel cable.

The investment was small, the modification cost was low, and, with the help of advanced computer technology, even slight asymmetries in weight could be adjusted in real time.

Looking again at the originator of this plan, it was Musk himself.

Could he indeed be a genius?