Chapter 325 - 318 Fire_1

"This UAV 20... if it really gets approved, they’ll have to bring down the price of the TP-25 too."

Dou Ping muttered to himself. By now, the ground crew on the runway had already removed the power carts and the heating de-icing equipment. The UAV 20 had to take off quickly, otherwise ice would form on the surface of the aircraft.

The TP-25 engines were still very expensive. If it was just the ramjet-fanjet part, the maximum 11-ton class usually costs about ten million to produce, and the selling price is over twenty million; however, a 25-ton thrust methane aerospike engine is cheaper, costing only one or two million.

But when these two parts are combined, the military gets a price list of one TP25 unit at 130 million yuan each.

The bare cost of the TP-25 is not high. Internal statistics from New Yuan believed that after mass production, each unit would cost only about 25 million, with a normal quote of 50 million being sufficient.

But don’t forget that the military and the space bureau invested four billion yuan in R&D funds for the TP25. Initially, they planned to produce four Cloud Ascend aircraft and placed an order for the first batch of 50 engines, so that four billion yuan had to be added in.

UAV 20 could accept an engine priced at 50 million per unit, but 130 million each was truly unaffordable, so they had to find a way to expand the application scenarios and production volume of TP25.

Especially for the initial four Cloud Ascend aircraft, ten engines per aircraft would amount to a cost of 1.3 billion yuan, which was a bit too much over the military’s budget.

Luckily, the engine for this UAV 20 was a test unit sent by New Yuan and didn’t cost anything, otherwise Dou Ping would also have a headache.

Androff reminded him:

"UAV 20 can only carry a very small payload for detection equipment, at most only 350 kilograms, and you also need to open a reconnaissance window. I do not know much about your technology, but this is not easy.

"The fuel temperature of UAV 20 is too low; either you use ultra-high-speed flight for thermal de-icing, or you stay in orbit. The application scope is also quite limited; the detection capabilities have to be extremely powerful for the military to sign off on it."

Dou Ping: "Actually, I think we could increase the payload mass a bit, to about one ton, and not take off from the ground."

Not take off from the ground?

Androff instantly understood: "You mean to use a carrier aircraft for high-altitude release? Let me think, there aren’t many planes that can carry 18 tons, and it must be a jet that flies high and far. The H-6 won’t do, so it would have to be the Y-20, Il-76, or Y-35, with no problems placing it on the back of the aircraft."

Dou Ping: "Exactly, the importance of UAV 20 warrants preparing a dedicated carrier aircraft for it. The fuel savings and initial velocity gained by this method could definitely increase the payload mass to 1 ton."

Androff: "In other words, if we stick to the original specifications, we could continue to reduce the size. A 12-ton aircraft should be enough, and it would be even cheaper."

Dou Ping: "But Chief Designer An, I would prefer an even cheaper and more convenient platform that can just manage to carry the UAV 20 to an altitude of 15,000 meters for subsonic release."

Androff: "An unmanned aerial vehicle? With a takeoff mass of... around 50 tons, I understand why you asked me to stay here."

Dou Ping let out an embarrassed chuckle.

"But the efficiency of your New Yuan is well known. From design and development to production speed, it’s almost three times faster than other places, and the military would rather pay more to find you guys."

...

"An unidentified high-speed flying object? It must be one of Fengtian Sky Technology Institution’s hypersonic aircraft, right? I’m really envious of them."

At Tanegashima Space Center, Sakai Shinichiro once again saw news about the appearance of an unexplained flying object in China’s airspace. Although he had never dealt with hypersonic weapons, as an aerospace expert, he recognized at a glance what it was.

It was nothing more than a test of a conical warhead capable of flying at dozens of Machs, but this had nothing to do with the Island Country; they were powerless to resist anyway.

Of course, he didn’t know that it was the tremendous noise of the No-Vis 20 returning to the atmosphere, with the firelight from its high-speed friction illuminating half of the sky, showcasing the hidden yet awe-inspiring power of the Eastern continent.

For Sakai Shinichiro, the Star of Asia project was already overwhelming for the entire Island Country’s scientific research capabilities.

According to the division of labor planned by Russian experts, the Island Country was responsible for the development of the Core Stage One of the H-X rocket and the spacecraft’s service module, and both projects had already officially established project teams to push forward.

The service module was crucial, providing power, communication, and propulsion for the entire spacecraft. Russian experts valued the Island Country’s development of the "Stork" cargo spacecraft because it had a more solid foundation than India.

Power and communication were manageable, but the propulsion part was more challenging for JAXA, especially the precise orbital control and automated docking techniques—areas in which JAXA had no technological reserves.

The "Stork" spacecraft would stop 10 meters from the docking port each time it delivered supplies to the International Space Station, and then would be captured and docked by the station’s robotic arm.

This approach saved on the technological difficulties and the quality and cost of automated docking, but the Star of Asia project required the spacecraft and lunar lander to perform docking in lunar orbit, which was no easy feat.

Right after America footed the bill for launching the nine astronauts on the Dream Chaser B1 on the Alliance Spaceship, they also requested the Island Country’s "Stork" spacecraft to carry out a resupply mission ahead of schedule. Sakai Shinichiro decided to equip this "Stork" with a preliminary precision attitude control system and attempt a simulated automatic docking.

Note that it was a simulated docking: the system was not designed for actual rendezvous and docking, so development was relatively simple and rushed, aiming to accumulate just a bit of experience.

The rocket for this resupply mission was the H-2B. The H3 rocket had been shelved in favor of the H-X. After all, there wasn’t much in the way of praiseworthy technological progress between the H-2 and H-3.

Moreover, the H-2B rocket was reliable; since its first mission delivering Stork cargo to the International Space Station, it had never failed. Look at that... huh?

Sakai Shinichiro blinked; that didn’t look like the flame of a solid rocket booster, did it?

He saw billowing smoke rising from behind the launch pad. At first, he thought it was the solid rocket motor working, but something seemed off, and there were flames?

??!

He immediately turned on the intercom, which transmitted a bunch of chaotic sounds and the fire alarm; clearly, they had discovered something was wrong too.

The launch procedure for the H-2B rocket was also immediately aborted, but the fire grew larger, and the billowing smoke soon engulfed the surroundings of the entire launch pad.

Sakai Shinichiro’s eyes were filled with fury. Although he didn’t know the source of the fire, if it spread to the rocket, it contained hundreds of tons of liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen, along with the violently combustible solid rocket fuel. If the shell were to be breached and leak, it could reduce the surroundings of the launch site to ashes!

And the "Stork" cargo spacecraft, this time loaded with goods valued at several billions!

He instinctively wanted to rush over, but the people around him held him back tightly and also stopped others who were trying to approach, barring anyone except for the firefighters from going.

What a joke, if an explosion occurred, these remaining aerospace elites would turn to ash. Without them, Mitsubishi’s aerospace endeavor could declare its end.

But the firefighters were also unable to cope with such a fierce blaze. They initially guessed that the storage area for rocket fuel might be the issue—a flame far beyond their capability to resolve. They could only stand by and wait quietly. As for whether the H-2B rocket would be affected, it was left to fate.