Chapter 350 - 342: YM-12_1

B-level Base, the original parking area had been covered by a brand-new factory building, its paint barely dry, and gigantic devices were being transported for lifting and installation.

Technicians from the Fourth Academy and the 601 Institute stared open-mouthed as a super colossal beast began to assemble and take shape, everyone was in a state of extreme shock.

The factory building was assembling a hydraulic forging press, YM-12, with a self-weight of 30,000 tons capable of exerting 120,000 tons of pressure.

A 120,000-ton hydraulic forging press!

Before it, the world had known China’s 80,000-ton hydraulic forging press as the largest, and before that, a 75,000-ton press built by the former Union 47 years ago. Only America, France, Russia, and China possessed the capability to manufacture forging presses with tens of thousands of tons.

And YM-12 broke the former records, making it the first time in human history for a hydraulic forging press to exceed 100,000 tons of pressure.

The YM-12 stood nearly 40 meters above ground and extended over 18 meters below ground, with over 60 individual parts weighing more than 100 tons each, setting a new historical record.

YM-12...When was the YM-12 project initiated? October last year.

After Xie Liaofu took over the engine and overall design of the Cloud Ascend project, the biggest challenge was controlling the body weight.

How do you make an aero-space plane with a takeoff mass of 200 tons, capable of traveling between heaven and earth and reusable more than 100 times, weigh less than 35 tons when empty?

In terms of materials alone, it was barely sufficient, but the processing technology was an unprecedented challenge; aircraft made of difficult-to-machine materials had to be forged as much as a single piece to reduce weight while maintaining strength.

There were two methods to process such a demanding aircraft body: 3D printing or integral forging.

3D printing was technologically insufficient at the time, and material requirements were troublesome, so the suitable option was to use a super high-pressure forging press – fast and guaranteed to maintain strength.

China’s 80,000-ton hydraulic forging press was barely enough, but it had too many tasks. Since it began production in 2013, it received countless assignments and was scheduled solid for two years, making it impossible to spare time for Cloud Ascend services; even jumping the queue would mean another year’s wait.

Xie Liaofu couldn’t wait, so he tried to get the research institute to finalize the ideal 100,000-ton press, and surprisingly they completed the design with little cost, so he immediately started arranging for workshops and suppliers to produce the parts.

To ensure efficiency, two An-1250s were flying parts directly from the factory, their frightful load capacity solving virtually all component transport issues once they reached the base.

Also part of the main force in the Cloud Ascend project design were the elite design staff from the Aerospace Bureau and the 601 Institute, who had previously been working in their own territory designing the body according to Xie Liaofu’s requirements, assuming it would be a long-term project of four or five years.

Last month, however, the TP-25 "Lushan" engine had a successful trial flight at the Desert Base, meeting the technical requirements perfectly, which took them by surprise. They couldn’t believe this "hodgepodge" engine could actually operate stably.

As the industrial leader of the Republic, the 601 Institute did have its pride. In the original timeline, they lost the fifth-generation fighter competition but modified their "97 proposal" and took nine months to produce another fifth-generation fighter, the FC31 "Gyrfalcon"—all on the strength of their own consortium!

So learning that they were to assist Xie Liaofu in the Cloud Ascend project was quite difficult for them to accept, but seeing the TP-25 erased all doubts, leaving only admiration for what seemed like a divine marvel.

Later, when Xie Liaofu said it was time to proceed with partial prototyping for the body, claiming that the base had a solution, they thought it would be some kind of unusual innovative approach, but they never expected it to be a miracle of brute force.

A 120,000-ton hydraulic forging press had more than enough capacity to machine the high-strength body of Cloud Ascend, and incidentally, it could also easily handle tasks like forging large ship propeller shafts, ultra-high-strength aerospace components, and the like.

Yet, this thing was built in just over five months?!

"Mr. Xie, this, this is really..."

The researcher from Institute 601 pointed at the YM-12, at a loss for words, the sudden appearance of the super forging machine was simply terrifying.

Xie Liaofu: "This isn’t my achievement. I design spacecraft; the YM-12 is a project led by the medium machinery department, and many domestic manufacturers were also involved in the production, having been fundamentally involved in the previous 80,000-ton forging machine as well."

"But, but..."

Xie Liaofu: "Alright, alright, has the wing-beam optimization design I requested been completed? That area bears high temperature and pressure; it’s the main region of stress. Even if it adds a bit of weight, it doesn’t matter, safety must be guaranteed since this is a passenger-carrying vehicle."

...

Florida.

"54-year-old white man rapes an alligator? My God, Bezos, could it be that such an unreliable environment here has led to your HLS being so unreliable?"

Jim Frey, carrying NACA’s support team, arrived at the Blue Origin Headquarters to inspect the technical status of the "Blue Moon" lander and investigate the cause of engine failure during earlier tests.

During a break, Jim looked at the latest local news and complained to Mark Bezos—Jeff Bezos’ brother. His brother was still under the careful care of a private doctor.

Mark Bezos was somewhat embarrassed, as the "Blue Moon" lander indeed could not be described as flawless at the moment.

"Blue Moon" was originally scheduled to complete its plans in November, but now NACA is trying to bring it forward at least three months, and a lot of problems emerged during the inspection.

Starting with the overall design, "Blue Moon" has a full-fuel weight of 45 tons, and clearly, America does not have any rockets capable of launching a fully-fueled "Blue Moon." Hence, the original plan was to launch the empty lander and then send a space plane to refuel it afterward.

Clearly, this plan won’t work. It was a pie-in-the-sky idea at the beginning, and it’s definitely too late to implement it now.

Heavy Falcon, all non-reusable, can carry a maximum of 22 tons, allowing "Blue Moon" to carry 8 tons of fuel, which is obviously not enough.

The original plan was to use the New Glenn rocket, which Blue Origin planned to develop, or launch another Heavy Falcon to complete the refueling process—not using a space plane—and refuel in orbit instead, which, even if not fully fueled, would be sufficient by reducing some payload.

Now the "New Glenn" has only just entered the detailed design stage due to the successful test of the BE-4, which is definitely not happening in time. Heavy Falcon... that would mean nearly exhausting SpaceX’s Falcon 9 to manufacture parts for the Heavy Falcon boosters; Ma would certainly be happy, but that means paying more.

Apart from this, there is no other way. The SLS rocket could do it, but it’s clear the production capability isn’t up to the task.

NACA has already reached an internal consensus to inform SpaceX to build the Heavy Falcon and the fuel module. Right now, NACA has sufficient funds. Money can solve any issue that it can solve, at least the CBC configuration of the Heavy Falcon can be produced much faster, directly commandeering the active duty Falcon 9.

Meanwhile, Claire was also secretly contacting the four crew members of the Artemis program.