Chapter 290 - 283 Tripartite Trade_1

The fortuitous encounter between Glory and Dream Chaser in the skies above attenuated the competitive atmosphere for the nations beyond the Pacific, contributing several days of civilian jubilation.

After all, for America, the Artemis program had been quite successful up to now. The Orion spacecraft had already entered the lunar orbit without a hitch, and with the minorly circulating Krystle’s Equation, "1*SLS = 2*CZ-10", as well as the manned flight of Dream Chaser, the previous tension had significantly eased.

Especially since Dream Chaser had successfully completed its first manned flight, the six astronauts from the two Union missions that had been canceled this year, along with the next batch of three astronauts, would fill up Dream Chaser to replace a large part of the International Space’s crew, tentatively scheduled for next January.

The Aerospace Development Committee was about to celebrate the New Year, so there was naturally a more relaxed atmosphere, and there was also good news: The four boosters and core stage of CZ-10A Remote 2 Rocket were completed.

At this time, only four months had passed since the launch of the CZ-10A Remote 1 Rocket.

Since the CZ-10 rocket used the CZ-5 rocket body, it was technically mature. The CZ-5 prototype had actually been tested on a vibration table before the CZ-10 project was initiated, making production very fast.

When manufacturing the CZ-10A Remote 1 Rocket, Jingu Rocket Manufacturing Base started work on eight boosters and the 5-meter diameter core stage (universal) all at once—five were used for assembling rockets, one for testing, leaving two spare, and three more were completed during this period.

The YF130 engine used in the first stage was considered reliable and had already been mounted on the rocket body, with only the upper stage YF77 left to be finished.

Just three months ago, New Yuan’s engine engineers participated in the improvement of YF77, with very exaggerated improvements. After solving the design flaws and hidden problems of YF77, they increased the thrust by 10% and reduced the weight by 500 kilograms, propelling performance to top-tier levels.

Institute 6 was very envious of the engineers sent by New Yuan, offering hefty sums and promising futures to lure them away, without success. Therefore, they impudently extended the stay of several engineers to February to help improve the mass production line of YF77.

The first batch of improved YF77, known as YF77 Mod (or YF77G), both reliability and performance made a great leap, and it was expected to be delivered to the CZ-10A Remote 2 Rocket by the end of January, enabling the latter to complete its launch mission in February.

Therefore, the interval between CZ-10A Remote 2 and Remote 1 is six months. Although SLS production capability is accelerating, Jingu Rocket Factory is even crazier...

Both companies are now in a state of "advantage is on our side," thus their attitudes are exceptionally harmonious.

But for the world, it’s like watching immortals fight, beyond comprehension.

...

New Delhi.

JAXA, IRSO, and RKA gathered here for the grand plan of landing on the Moon.

A week ago, Kishimoto obtained the lunar landing plan assessment report from the "Asian Star Plan Preparation Committee (formed by JAXA and IRSO)," which through thousands of pages of lengthy evidence proved that the Asian Star Plan could guarantee a manned lunar landing by around 2020, no later than 2022.

So the two countries began detailed discussions and ultimately decided, after consideration, to open the Asian Star Plan to Russia to a limited extent, to accelerate the progress of the plan.

Russian experts, who were already in India guiding the construction and improvement of the Gagan Yang spacecraft, gathered to hold a tripartite seminar for the Asian Star Plan.

Possibly aware that their own space technology was still far behind Russia, JAXA and IRSO did not withhold anything, providing all the technology they could for Russian experts to assess.

Alexander Nazilaze was the chief engineer sent to assist with the Gagan Yang project in India; he was ordered before departure to primarily use "Ascent series" technology to guide the Gagan Yang spacecraft.

What is the "Ascent" series spacecraft? It’s what the Union developed in the 60s, upgraded from the "Dongfang" spacecraft that Gagarin rode to complete extravehicular activities...

Nazilaze began to feel that selling this technology for 500 million US dollars was a bit too harsh on his Indian colleagues, but after starting his guidance for IRSO his opinion changed:

Given India’s capabilities, even successfully producing the Dongfang spacecraft might not be reliable!

The Gagan Yang spacecraft had numerous problems, including but not limited to:

The material of the spacecraft’s shell was not up to standard, yet the project lead assured him that since it was for ground testing and wouldn’t pass through the atmosphere, there was no need for high-quality material, even feeling proud of saving money;

You can’t say the assembly workshop was dust-free—how did those workers in slippers get in here?! The assembly precision was comparable to Russia’s light industry;

The structural design was clearly irrational. The structural designer was a former NACA employee and his original design was actually fine, but many impractical demands were made by the heads of the Scientific Department, resulting in the current mess;

Excrement was found in the workshop;

The Escape Tower ignition system data was falsified, falling below safety standards.

Russia had always been known for its roughness, but it was not until Nazilaze arrived here that he realized what true roughness meant. If he had not been present, the Gagan Yang spacecraft might not have even left the astronauts’ ashes behind...

Fortunately, as an RKA expert, his words were effective. Through arduous efforts, he was gradually changing things, at least to the point where the Gagan Yang spacecraft wouldn’t kill anyone.

After experiencing so much, one could imagine the mindset that Nazilaze brought to the Asian Star planning meeting.

However, he did not show it, and the more unreliable these two countries were, the better. If everyone was as serious and hardworking as that student from the East, would there still be any business left to conduct?

He had almost finished reviewing the materials provided by JAXA and felt that they were a lot stronger than IRSO—if there was no exaggeration, but at the very least their industrial standards were implemented much better, and being from Island Country, their precision mechanics should be fine, right?

Nevertheless, based on the overall rocket capabilities of the two countries in the past, relying on themselves alone probably wouldn’t suffice.

"I believe the basic design of the H-X rocket has no problems,"

The first sentence from Nazilaze made the meeting burst into smiles and laughter, as if the Asian Star plan had already succeeded.

"The rocket’s core stage manufactured by Island Country and the boosters handled by India is fine, but the lunar spacecraft task distribution needs improvement,"

"Please offer your suggestions, we are grateful for your help!"

After hearing the translation, Sakai Shinichiro, the proposer of H-X, was very modest as they indeed lacked a foundation in this area.

Nazilaze: "For the lunar spacecraft, I suggest we improve upon the Gagan Yang spacecraft as a base, which can save a lot of time. And for JAXA to handle the design and construction of the service module. You’ve made cargo spacecraft before, so there should be no problems in that area, right?"

Sakai Shinichiro hesitated for a moment, but Xiven·Samarkand, who was across from him, preemptively signaled no problem, and he could only nod in agreement for the time being.

Nazilaze: "Additionally, regarding the lander, I suggest a joint manufacture by all three parties,"

Sakai Shinichiro: "What does a tripartite joint manufacture mean?"

"Tripartite joint manufacture means that we come up with a highly feasible solution, divide the manufacturing of the parts, and then do the final assembly in India or Island Country."

Xiven·Samarkand: "What do you mean?"

Nazilaze skirted around the issue, repeating himself seven or eight times, before JAXA and IRSO finally caught on.

Russia’s own manned Moon landing plan had already been set with the initiation of the Energy No. 2 Rocket project, preliminarily deciding to utilize the "Eagle" spacecraft and traditional lander, to launch in two stages on the Energy No. 2 Rocket, to be assembled in low Earth orbit, and then to head to the Moon together.

The Eagle spacecraft wasn’t much of a challenge for Russia, but the landing and return with a lander were different issues—they hadn’t managed to do it even during the Union times.

However, the technical principles were basically sound. The Union had completed unmanned lunar sample return missions, with both the process and specific data available, with only money lacking.

To save time and funds, RKA decided to "borrow a chicken to lay an egg" by shoehorning the lander development into the Asian Star plan, using the money from these two countries for R&D expenses, which could also be utilized for their own lunar mission.

This was a tried and true Russian tactic, tossing a valuable project out for international cooperation and then continuously pulling in investment to fund their own projects with other people’s money.

However, Xiven·Samarkand wasn’t a defense department official and hadn’t yet realized that anything was amiss. In his view, the joint manufacture by the three countries was quite natural, and he instinctively wanted to nod his head.

Only JAXA sensed a whiff of conspiracy and probed without changing expression,

"So, in which country will the main body of the lander be manufactured?"

Nazilaze: "Haha... That’s a minor issue, a minor issue indeed. Mr. Sakai, everything that Russia has done, is for your benefit.

My friend, Russia is only looking to receive a small compensation while helping emerging countries realize their dreams. Russians are the most sincere in international cooperations."