Chapter 317 - 310 Dawn_1

The melon-eating masses warmly welcomed the landing of the world’s largest space shuttle, Pioneer, and witnessed five experienced astronauts walk off the shuttle with their heads held high to receive flowers on the ground.

However, they did not leave because across from the airport, the assembly building at Launch Site No. 2 of Qiongzhou was brightly lit.

The CZ-10A Remote 2 Rocket had been fully assembled and was scheduled to launch within the next three days.

According to disclosed information, this flight mission was to carry a fully intact new-generation manned spacecraft along with four test dummies (gender unknown) to the Moon’s orbit, conducting an unmanned circumlunar flight mission.

The CZ-10’s lunar orbit payload capacity was 45 tons, and the new-generation manned spacecraft weighed around 22 tons, so the remaining 23 tons were not wasted.

The fully intact lander was still undergoing finishing touches and testing, but the space agency had manufactured a usable prototype "model" that was still installed at the front of the spacecraft.

This prototype "model," code-named "Full Moon," had a landing section identical to the official version, but the difference was in the ascender.

The lander was equipped with a manned lunar rover, some simple detectors, etc., providing power and communication; the manned section was designed as an integral part with the ascender, serving as the space for moonwalking astronauts to travel between the lunar surface, lunar orbit, and their living space.

The manned section was not fully finalized; however, this prototype lander still had a role to play.

It was to perform an unmanned landing at Krum Impact Crater, delivering two lunar rovers and some detection instruments and tools there, which, if all went well, would also be the landing site for future manned landings.

Then, the four nearest Explorer robots would load the collected 55 kilograms of ice layer, moon soil, moon rock samples into the refrigeration equipment of the ascender and meet up with the new-generation manned spacecraft orbiting the Moon.

When the spacecraft returned to Earth, it would also bring back these 55 kilograms of samples for analysis on Earth.

Thus, the mission of CZ-10A Remote 2 would not only validate the rocket and spacecraft but also carry out an unmanned return mission with a sample collection of up to 55 kilograms, achieving multiple benefits in one go.

This was also thanks to the Explorer II being the rover, able to climb the stairs used for personnel descent and ascent, which allowed it to bring the samples back.

The space agency had always been begrudging about the original Chang’e 5 sample return mission being replaced by Explorer II. This time, they planned to bring back more than 50 kilograms of samples in one go, sufficient for hundreds of scientific research institutes to each get a share for in-depth study, and even for superiors to casually gift a gram of moon soil sample during visits, humbly showing off.

Moreover, by analyzing data from different sample collection points, scientists could also conveniently understand the detailed resource distribution around the Krum Impact Crater to seize the initiative in a timely manner.

"Why not bring back Yutu No.2? What’s the point in fetching that thing?"

At the launch center, Academician She found Lin Ju’s idea somewhat incomprehensible. Though the ascender’s fuel was more than adequate to bring back several robots, these weren’t scientific samples. Were they to be brought back to be displayed in a museum for middle and elementary school students to visit?

Lin Ju: "Sir She, but Yutu No.2 is broken, and in terms of functionality, it cannot compare with Yutu No.3. It might as well be brought back as a memento..."

Academician She: "Even so, that cannot be done. There’s scientific equipment on Yutu No.2 in collaboration with Germany; we can’t just pull out now."

"..."

Compared with the robust Yutu No.1, Yutu No.2 actually hadn’t been very lucky. It was unclear whether it was due to the landing site’s abundant magnetic forces, but its solar panels always accumulated dust, affecting their efficiency.

Even more unlucky was when Explorer I went over to clean it and hopped onto a fragile moon rock, the resulting spatter of debris caused a dent in a solar panel, once again reducing its effective working time.

The situation for Explorer I was not optimistic either. Initially, to carry more batteries, the weight proportion of its eight spider-like legs was quite high, causing severe wear on the joints. After intense work, the gaps got filled with electrically charged moon dust, and its movements gradually became less agile.

With the impacts of bouncing around, the ground control estimated that Explorer I, under current conditions, could operate for another four months before the wear on its joints becomes so severe that its movements would have to be limited, entering a "retirement" state until it’s scrapped.

Therefore, the total lifespan of Explorer I is roughly one year. Although short, considering its vast amount of work, it’s entirely worth the mere tens of millions spent on its production.

However, compared to lunar exploration, what Lin Ju was more inclined to criticize was the insane speed at which the space agency accelerated its efforts after getting serious.

Although the CZ-10 was destined to be a one-off product with outdated concepts, the fact that it could be researched and manufactured in such a short time only meant that previously there was too little pressure and motivation. Everyone was too busy pursuing professional titles and had neglected global competition; now things are much improved.

When’s the next launch for the SLS rocket? In any case, it’s going to be much later than the CZ-10.

Thinking about lunar exploration, Lin Ju asked Academician She the question that was on his mind:

"Sir She, the Apollo program conducted a full-state circumlunar flight because of insufficient technology. Why does the Dawn Project also do one? I think we could have proceeded directly to the landing mission on the third launch."

Academician She: "The Apollo program indeed faced technical issues. The first time they landed on the Moon, the lander’s automatic computer crashed due to insufficient memory, so they had to be more cautious; with CZ-10... the main issue was that the initial YF77 had some malfunctions, otherwise, we could have carried out a manned circumlunar flight this time, and gone straight to the Moon landing on the next.

Although the next CZ-10 Moon landing is theoretically feasible, I still decided to play it safe. When it comes to human lives, even the most cautious attitude is not excessive. Besides, the progress now is already very fast."

As the chief designer of the Dawn Project, the words of Academician She naturally impacted the progress of the plan and essentially represented the facts.

Lin Ju: "What about the astronauts for the Moon landing? They’ve been confirmed now, right?"

Academician She: "Both crew teams have been confirmed. Actually, it was pretty much set half a year ago. I can’t say who specifically."

Though he claimed to be keeping a secret, Lin Ju more or less knew the details. The astronauts from New Yuan and the space agency were training together. As long as one paid a little attention, they could figure out the general situation, but some things go without saying.

"How about you guys? The H2 should be nearly ready, right?"

What Academician She referred to as the H2 was the initial version of the H2 spaceplane equipped with the A100 engine.

The so-called rumors outside about the space agency purchasing the third H2M were half true, half false. The agency indeed bought one, but that was for Project 909. Its progress was still just a little bit underway.

New Yuan’s own building plan originally consisted of two H2 and two H2M units. Among the first three completed airframes, the first priority was to build the conventional power version for the March spacecraft. The third airframe was waiting for the official mass production of the A100 to start installation testing.

The fourth and fifth H2 units were also under construction. One of them was purchased by the military for Project 909 (entrusted to the Fourth Academy); once the airframe was built, it would be taken to the Fourth Academy’s secret base for weapons installation.

The naming of the third H2 hadn’t been decided yet. As the first manned, nuclear-powered large space vehicle, it deserved a meaningful name.

Lin Ju: "The ground tests for the A100 have been completed, and the results are quite satisfactory. We don’t plan to conduct more tests. Next time, we will directly install the mass-produced A100 and are expecting to carry out the manned first flight in either May or June."

The H2 was initially conceived to use a methane-fueled A100 engine, but subsequent actual research findings indicated that methane’s large molecular weight made it very difficult to reach the required specific impulse, so it was switched back to the liquid hydrogen fuel sold with the system, fully meeting the design targets.

The atomic mass of hydrogen is only 1/16th that of methane molecules, making it the best choice for increasing specific impulse, albeit more expensive and tricky to store, but that wasn’t much of a problem for the A100.

Though Academician She had some understanding of the A100, he was still shocked that the engine, considered groundbreaking, had met its design targets on schedule.

If it truly met the technical parameters as envisioned, the H2 could take five astronauts and a landing module from low Earth orbit, reach the Moon in 10 to 20 hours to carry out the lunar landing, and then return to Earth within 7 to 8 hours, all while consuming no more than 10 tons of fuel.