Chapter 244 - 238 Problem_1

"FGD, HGD?"

Still in the Capital, Lin Ju’s mouth hung open slightly as he looked at the domestic news reports.

On September 8, NACA announced that in its subsequent Artemis program and manned Mars missions, gravitational spacecraft would be used, with gravity freely adjustable between 0.3G to 1G.

Lin Ju was shocked when he first saw this content, thinking NACA had come up with some top-secret black technology, but then...

Cable connections, freely adjustable, such a primitive way of generating gravity!

Would astronauts really be willing to stay inside a little can being tossed around?

The Orion spacecraft is one thing, but Starship, what the hell.

The reports even included a conceptual image of Musk’s two Starships connected by a cable, rotating, with two objects weighing over a thousand tons tugging at each other, the cable as thick as a baby’s forearm at most.

Not to mention anything else, the astronauts riding this thing must have an incredibly strong psychological endurance, entrusting their lives to a slim cord; just looking at it makes one sweat.

But weirdly enough, the Aerospace Development Committee seemed quite optimistic about this plan.

The experts from the Fifth Academy immediately simulated their new generation of manned spacecraft, and without claiming too much, a 100-meter flexible cable rotating at 2 revolutions per minute could generate 0.45G of gravity without any problems, and most importantly, the cost is low.

Of course, in terms of style, FGD has no comparability to HGD, but it is genuinely easy to achieve, and there won’t be much difference in the gravitational experience for the astronauts.

The Aerospace Development Committee even had a small discussion meeting specifically to exchange ideas, exploring if there was any application space for this domestically.

The Big Shot concluded first: "At the initial stage of space industry development, both flexible and rigid gravity devices have certain limitations, but flexible devices require less in terms of technical capability and funding, yet it is rigid centrifugal devices that are the future."

This was unanimously agreed upon by everyone, enduring along the path of HGD, as its diameter and weight increase, is the inevitable route for future space cities, even suitable for interstellar spacecraft.

Moreover, the potential of rotating rings composed of cabin sections is incomparable to that of flexible devices, which at most involve two spacecraft, having limited potential. Unlike the former, which can distribute the load evenly across the entire structure and can be made very large, tens of thousands of tons quite easily.

The Fifth Academy: "We’re already involved in the Forward project, there’s no need to mess with FGD."

"But FGD is very simple, we can start experimenting next year, and maybe it can be used for moon landings."

"So what if it’s successful? Can it be used for the first Moon landing? We still have to wait, and by that time, Forward will have been operational for a while."

"..."

The headquarters of the Aerospace Development Committee has experts from various academies rotate on secondment, making some decisions together with the people from the Beijing Aerospace Bureau, or engaging in regular discussions. These small meetings are quite relaxed since they do not involve specific decisions; they’re actually quite interesting.

After a meeting was held, it was still determined that FGD was too insignificant for the soon-to-be jointly operated Forward Space Station, and it was abandoned.

At the end of the meeting, Lin Ju, the Big Shot, Academician She, and a few experts remained behind, as did Xie Liaofu, who had just flown in from New Yuan.

What they were going to discuss next was the Aero-Space Plane.

This was a project that both sides were hesitant about.

Now, the Aerospace Bureau is set to have a new generation of manned spacecraft + CZ-7 as a combination, with New Yuan’s H1 serving as the main crew transport tool.

Whether it’s one or the other, the cost of each flight is tens of millions.

The aerospace bureau’s goal for the Aero-Space Plane is to have a craft that can enter space and return intact without discarding anything, and that can reduce the cost of a manned single flight to under one million—the kind of artifact.

Old Cloud Ascend won’t do; neither will the new Cloud Ascend.

Once rockets are involved, the necessity of high specific impulse liquid oxygen-hydrogen rockets means just the fuel cost alone exceeds this figure, not to mention the extreme dead weight and the difficulties with large-scale storage.

The issue with near-space has already been resolved; the WCR09 engine design is quite outstanding, capable of taking hundred-ton class Aero-Space Planes to altitudes between 50,000 and 60,000 meters. The trouble is with the remaining stretch.

To cross the 100 km Kármán line and enter low Earth orbit at 200, 300, or 400 km requires long-duration liquid oxygen-hydrogen engines, which bring about massive increases in difficulty and cost.

Single-stage-to-orbit has been the direction numerous generations of space enthusiasts have strenuously worked toward since the birth of rockets—from rockets to Aero-Space Planes; they have always been exploring, always without success.

Although New Yuan’s XN90 spacecraft could achieve this using the ultimate black technology NAPE, the cost is far from meeting the requirements.

Academician She glanced at the equally young face next to Lin Ju, and couldn’t help feeling somewhat puzzled.

Xie Liaofu had become vice president soon after graduation, specifically in a technical capacity, which was truly hard to accept. It’s one thing for management, but for technology, no matter how talented, time is needed for maturation.

But his doubts could only be suppressed within, given the higher-ups’ directive: Do not speak if it is not conducive to unity.

After all, it was Lin Ju’s private company; they could do as they pleased.

Academician She: "We have a proposal here, suggested by Academician Mah Weimin, an expert in electromagnetism currently preoccupied with some classified work, but still he has some advice:

He proposes that perhaps an electromagnetic launch track, around 50 kilometers in length, can be built in a high-altitude area to accelerate an Aero-Space Plane weighing around 20 tons along with a small booster rocket to ultra-high speed, keeping the entire assembly under 40 tons. This combination could then ignite its engines above near-space to reach orbit."

Xie Liaofu: ...

Lin Ju: (⊙o⊙)

Others: ...

Clearly, Academician Mah’s plan wasn’t very practical; just the idea of a 50-kilometer-long launch track to be built in a high-altitude area made Lin Ju envision construction funds on the order of trillions.

Perhaps Academician Mah was indeed too busy and tossed out a proposal just to make up the numbers...

Xie Liaofu: "I think this plan could work well on the Moon, with a 5-kilometer-long launch track that can directly send a crewed spacecraft weighing about 5 tons or cargo roughly 10 tons into Lunar orbit. Maybe this could be achieved before 2025."

With this statement, everyone understood the implied meaning that the plan could not be realized, and then an expert from Institute 3 cleared his throat and said:

"The investment cost for this plan is indeed a bit high; compared to it, I still think the Cloud Ascend project has potential, whether it’s two-stage-to-orbit or carrying a booster for orbit entry. With some effort, around ten million could be achievable.

Both options could carry at least ten people, so the cost per person would be around one million, which is already quite low. Lower than that, I think, should be a task for the people of the future."

Xie Liaofu: "Hmm... (shaking head)."

Xie Liaofu’s repeated expressions of disapproval drew everyone’s attention to this young man.

Among all the technical personnel present, Xie Liaofu was too young, prompting an irresistible urge to underestimate him.

But Xie Liaofu himself felt no discomfort, as if he was the same age as the others.

He raised a finger, pointing out the first issue.