Chapter 245 - 239 Cloud Ascend_1

"First, single-stage-to-orbit spacecraft need to endure the ablation of passing through the atmosphere. If the thermal insulation isn’t handled properly, then the one-time maintenance cost could be exorbitantly high. Take for example the H1 and H2, which are exempt from replacement for life, the unit area cost of maintaining thermal insulation is less than one-thirtieth of that of H1, it’s almost negligible;

therefore, the target of reducing the single journey flight cost to one million is achievable with the thermal insulation issue addressed. That leads us to the second key issue,"

Xie Liaofu spoke coherently and confidently, enunciating clearly with a well-organized thought process, which naturally instilled a sense of trust in others, to their surprise.

Such confidence and composure can’t be feigned without years of leadership experience and solid technical expertise.

If Lin Ju knew what they were thinking, he would definitely laugh out loud. After all, who does he usually deal with if not marshals and generals, and he has even clashed with Brezhnev. If he isn’t confident, who is?

Moreover, Xie Liaofu possessed his own unique charismatic charm, which could be distinctly felt in interactions with him.

Everyone nodded in agreement with his first conclusion. New Yuan’s thermal insulation technology developed for the H2 was quite advanced. Although expensive to produce, its cost had been spread over a hundred flight missions and brought down significantly.

"Second, fuel, we can’t use hydrogen-oxygen engines, they’re too expensive, too heavy, and kerosene engines also have a relatively high maintenance cost, so we need something clean, like methane. Methane is easier to store, and it burns completely without leaving any residue, so we must use methane;

but traditional methane engines won’t do, we need a gas spike engine, which can change working conditions to suit both atmospheric and vacuum conditions, and also provide higher specific impulse. Moreover, try to combine the gas spike engine with a ramjet engine, use methane for both, and once again reduce weight,"

Academician She: !

"This, this might be..."

The rest of the aerospace experts also found it somewhat hard to accept. Most of aviation and space technology is interchangeable, and understanding Xie Liaofu’s idea, they became even more astonished.

For atmospheric flight, methane theoretically could replace aviation kerosene, and its calorific value is even higher. Trials to apply methane to jet engines have been conducted around the world.

However, for airplanes, methane requires a pressure container for storage which is heavier and more cumbersome than kerosene, limiting its development.

Xie Liaofu not only wanted to standardize the fuel but also to integrate ramjet engines, jet engines, and gas spike rocket engines?

Surely, overall design and weight could be simplified and reduced, but the difficulty... The new technologies that needed to be broken through were beyond imagination.

Xie Liaofu did not respond to the doubts but instead took out a notebook from his pocket and began to draw some simple lines on a blank page with a pencil:

"The combination of a ramjet and a jet engine is no mystery to everyone here; we can take the design from WCR09. The combustion chamber of the gas spike engine would be placed at the nozzle of the combined engine.

We use an annular gas spike engine, by adding a spindle body to the center of the circular nozzle, which wouldn’t affect the work inside the atmosphere too much, and then try to make the core of the turbojet part of the gas spike engine as well. This way, we can control the mass of the combined engine to about 3 tons, and the gas spike engine could generate over 15 tons of thrust when operational."

As a scientist trained by the Union, Xie Liaofu’s ability to draw impressed everyone who saw it, and experts who examined the notebook gained new insight into this young man.

Such a Xie Liaofu indeed deserved some of his high positions.

After a while, an expert from the System Research Institute sighed:

"It’s too complicated, too difficult. The aviation part alone is a big problem. Furthermore, the annular gas spike engine is actually still largely theoretical, previous test engines were very unstable, much more complex than bell nozzles, and the dead weight? There are many small nozzles in a gas spike engine, to make it simple and durable is no small issue."

Academician She crossed his arms, visibly deep in thought, "But a single engine, a single type of fuel, can indeed achieve a terrifyingly low price. There are many ways to achieve single-stage-to-orbit, but this is truly the cheapest, seriously cheap."

Xie Liaofu picked up the notebook again, and in just a few strokes, a large delta-wing aircraft appeared on the paper.

"Maximum takeoff weight is 200 tons, with 10 new-type combined engines. At Mach 10, activate the spike engine. It can carry 20 passengers or 2 pilots along with about 3 tons of bulk cargo. The mass in orbit is about 50 tons, capable of carrying 3 tons of useful payload. Such an aircraft is sufficient for a low-cost space personnel transportation service."

The experts did a quick calculation in their heads; the mass in orbit then reached 25% of takeoff weight—a frighteningly high payload ratio. The 10 engines in spike engine mode would have to operate for at least 240 seconds, with each engine consuming less than 55 kilograms of fuel per second at an output of 25 tons of thrust. This placed high demands on the performance of the spike engine, requiring the specific impulse of the methane engine to be increased to an astonishing level, possibly approaching the performance of hydrogen-oxygen engines!

Although the 200 tons of mass ultimately left little for humans or cargo, this couldn’t hide the superior design: cheap, too cheap.

A thoroughly low-cost means of entering space, it might even reduce the cost of space entry to under $100,000 for the first time.

What a tempting prospect, the mere thought of it is incredibly shocking.

Big Shot: "Such an engine, the development process would need at least three years to become practical, right?"

Xie Liaofu and Lin Ju exchanged glances, and the latter, understanding the cue, immediately created a new task on the system panel. After a brief moment of shock, he raised a finger to Xie Liaofu.

Xie Liaofu: "Give us 10 billion, and within a year, New Yuan will solve the problem."

"..."

Everyone looked towards Big Shot, who coughed and gave Academician She a meaningful look.

Academician She cursed inwardly, 10 billion? With so much funding, and theoretically sound projects, couldn’t the Aerospace Agency pull it off?

He then spoke: "10 billion spent entirely on engine technology doesn’t seem too much, but WCR09 is already a mature technology. Shouldn’t the spike part not require so much funding?"

Could it be that New Yuan is confident to resolve it within a year because they already have some technological reserves?"It was only then that Big Shot remembered, New Yuan definitely had a foundation for the spike engine. NAPE could be counted as one type of spike engine, unlike the Aerospace Agency which was starting from scratch.

But they couldn’t be that lion-hearted, could they?

It was at this point that Lin, who had been silent all this time, finally stepped forward to join the conversation:

"10 billion is our total research and development cost for the entire system. If the Aerospace Agency joins us in pushing forward the Aero-Space Plane project, we can split the engine costs, let’s say 4 billion. As for the aircraft development, it’ll depend on how much the nation is willing to contribute. New Yuan will join as a contractor."

In reality, what he had wanted to say was 1 billion. The System Research Institute’s task had only received a 2% progress increase after an input of one million. Given that New Yuan had considerable technological reserves for both aviation engines and spike engines, it wouldn’t be difficult, but Xie Liaofu’s direct request for 10 billion was indeed frightening.

Academician She: "Then, let this be the final version of the Cloud Ascend plan. We’ll leave cargo transport to others, but as for manned transportation, this is it."

Xie Liaofu: "Let me be the chief engineer. By 2018, the Cloud Ascend project will take flight."