Chapter 328 - 320 Escape Tower_1

"ten, nine, eight..."

In the curry-scented English of Bangalore’s ISRO testing center, a desolate piece of wasteland suddenly burst with orange-yellow flames shooting from a triangular structure that boasted a round, conic tip and a long "needle." The structure, dragging a white object, soared into the sky.

This was the ground-level, zero-altitude test of the Gagan Yang spacecraft’s escape tower, the first safety assurance when the spacecraft was launched into the atmosphere.

The structure of the Gagan Yang spacecraft’s escape tower was simple, consisting of several small solid rockets set at an angle, covered with a streamlined fairing.

If the rocket encountered any unexpected issues during flight, the escape tower would immediately force the spacecraft to detach from the rocket and fly to a safe distance, and then separate to allow the spacecraft to descend with parachutes.

This was an essential safeguard for the astronauts’ lives and comparatively one of the "easier" parts.

ISRO had originally planned to test the escape tower by itself, intending to modify a solid booster used by the GSLV rocket into a launch vehicle to send the escape tower high into the sky for testing.

But after Nazilaze’s intervention, they scrapped that idea and opted for a "zero-zero" (zero altitude, zero speed) ground test instead, saving time and equally achieving the verification goal.

Moreover, Russia had applied its technology to Gagan Yang in a limited way, basically just copying the escape tower design. How could there be a problem?

ISRO’s wish to conduct an actual high-altitude flight test was simply a desire to launch a few more rockets to generate excitement, which was of no help to the spacecraft’s development progress.

The Gagan Yang spacecraft had been more than three months in development with Russian technical support and was making significant progress, nearing the point where it could be test flown.

Even though it originated from the second generation of manned spacecraft technology which was decades old, even with India’s industrial level it could still be manufactured. The issue with Gagan Yang was merely the lack of design experience, leading to a mess in the initial design.

Doctor Nazilaze’s actual tasks were only two-fold: to redesign Gagan Yang within the bounds of the technological license to meet the treaty requirements, and to streamline the Indian space industry to produce qualified components and establish standard assembly procedures.

What India received was not high-tech per se, but a set of manned spacecraft design processes and related experience, which was more valuable than the technology itself.

At least, that was how Nazilaze explained it. Otherwise, how could the old technology of a second-generation manned spacecraft be sold at such a high price of several hundred million US dollars?

Of course, while the technology was dated, its reliability was still guaranteed. Just like this zero-zero ignition test, where the escape tower’s flight path and engine operation were flawless. The scientists on-site and ISRO officials cheered, feeling they were one step closer to success.

"Doctor Nazilaze, we’ll be holding the most grand banquet tonight, and you must attend!"

"This... well, I still have work to do."

Xiven Samarkand was excitedly inviting Nazilaze, who, however, looked rather embarrassed and politely declined.

The reason wasn’t that Nazilaze, who was quite advanced in age, was that committed to his work. Rather, the local banquets... Well, if it had been a private invitation from high-level officials, it would have been a Western meal with wine and steak, but a more populous celebration meant sitting on the ground and sharing curry. Nazilaze would rather not go.

Fortunately, Samarkand didn’t seem put off, but grew even more admiring of the Russian expert’s stringent work ethic.

"Ah, Doctor Nazilaze, you are a true friend who is sincerely helping us. It’s a pity that our friends from the Island Country didn’t accept your help. Look at them, I really doubt if their work can be completed on schedule."

"Heh heh, heh heh." Nazilaze responded half-heartedly. The recent accidents at the Tanegashima Space Center had made the locals a bit arrogant, thinking they had surpassed the Island Country, but Nazilaze didn’t know what to say about that.

Although Russia also looked down on the Island Country’s aerospace efforts, the Island Country’s precision engineering and optical equipment were indeed famous; during the Union period, they even had to import Toshiba’s machine tools for machining nuclear submarine propellers. As for India, Nazilaze was just relieved that he couldn’t smell cow urine in the workshop anymore.

The last time an employee came to report to him, that guy had just bathed in the Ganges River and drank a big bottle of cow urine, almost making him vomit.

Now it was only the Russian experts taking over the project that barely kept the plan moving forward normally. If they left, he truly worried that his Indian colleagues might end up coating the spaceship’s exterior with cow urine and dung.

Eh? This problem seems to actually exist. Should he consider recalculating the corrosion of cow urine on the ablative material later? He mustn’t let this ruin Russia’s reputation!

Nazilaze instantly knew what his work for the evening would be. He quickly brushed Samarkand off and then hurriedly sent someone to prepare samples of cow urine and dung.

...

"Lin, your business jet is really great, lying down is so much more comfortable than sitting," said the Big Shot as he moved his waist, praising the comfort of the modified ARJ21.

New Yuan’s customized ARJ21 business jet significantly reduced the number of seats. The standard occupancy ranged from 16 to 30 people, but generally, there wouldn’t be more than 10 people at the same time. The interior space was quite ample. Apart from individual resting compartments, all the seats were upgraded to sofas, and the interior had been upgraded and remodeled as well.

Executives from the Aerospace Bureau planned to visit the Ninth Academy, and since this ARJ21 was in the Capital, they got to experience a real luxury private jet.

Since the launch of the Dawn project, the Big Shot had also been flying quite frequently, and the seats on commercial flights were nowhere near as comfortable.

Hearing this, Lin Ju smiled and said, "Well, since our planes often fly this route anyway, just give us a word when you need to go somewhere next time. If we can make it in time, we could take you along. The extra fuel is no big deal."

The Big Shot hurriedly waved his hand. It was just a coincidence that he took this ride, and strictly speaking, he shouldn’t have. If he did it a few more times, the Discipline Committee would be having a chat with him.

However, he couldn’t help but complain, "This ARJ21 is so comfortable, and you guys still choose to fly supersonic in advanced trainers. It’s really maddening how some people have it better than others."

Lin Ju: "Indeed, it’s not as comfortable as the ARJ21, but traveling for three hours each trip isn’t short either. Saving a bit of time is also good. Sigh, if fuel prices hadn’t risen, we could have flown onboard the Tu-144 and Concorde."

Lin Ju suddenly thought of the supersonic passenger plane projects from the last century’s golden age of aviation. The Union had developed the Tu-144, France and the UK had jointly built the Concorde supersonic plane, which even flew the Hong Kong Routes many times. Unfortunately, these advanced creations were eventually grounded by the rising oil prices.

Upon hearing these two names, the Big Shot also recalled many things, "Concorde," in fact, was something that they had wanted to keep back in the day.

The Concorde’s maximum cruising speed could reach 2.04 Mach, and its maximum takeoff mass was over 180 tons, more than twice that of the H-6 bomber. Even though the whole world knew that operating supersonic planes was not environmentally friendly at the time, Air China still hoped to introduce a few.

Apart from the advantage of supersonic flight, if you think about it, this was a plane that could carry 140 people at up to twice the speed of sound over a distance of 6500 kilometers. If you modified the payload and extended the range a bit, it could become a supersonic bomber with a range of over 8000 kilometers.

Even if they couldn’t obtain the technology, it was still an important reference for developing their own large supersonic aircraft.

But while it was visible within the country, others saw it even clearer, so in the end, the Concorde’s introduction project still fell through, remaining as a difficult to forget memory in the hearts of a small group of people at the time.

But now, the country no longer needed to import the Concorde; the Aerospace Bureau’s Cloud Ascend project alone was incomparable.