Chapter 536 - 525 Halfway to Success_1

"Aero-Space Plane not only surpasses rockets in both convenience and economy but is also much more user-friendly for the crew. It is inevitably the direction for future development."

National Security Advisor McMaster made a statement that revealed the federal government’s resolve, and all the companies present immediately expressed their agreement.

Setting aside the terrifying pressure and mental strain from across the ocean, the companies bidding for the project were actually in quite good spirits.

This constant pressure meant constant competition, and the defense conglomerates, which had been reducing their size year after year, suddenly received unprecedented project funding support. Over the past two years, there was a hint that they were reclaiming their former glory.

Moreover, military budgets were more readily approved, and the stock market’s response to the entire American military and aerospace industries was rather positive.

Of course, being too far behind was not a good thing either. What if Congress decided to just lay back and do nothing? So they still had to keep up the chase.

About the SSTO project, McMaster, who was more familiar with equipment technology, first threw out several directional questions, the first being, whether to go for single-stage to orbit or multi-stage to orbit.

The first round of resolutions eliminated the multi-stage to orbit option, not only because it was less high-end than single-stage to orbit but also because the difficulty of multi-stage to orbit was not low...

Multi-stage to orbit also required the carrier vehicle to fly at speeds above Mach 8. Since Tengyun could achieve single-stage to orbit at this speed, why bother with a lower-end, multi-stage orbit?

The second question: Which propulsion system should be used for the spaceflight phase?

This time there were some differences in opinion, but in the end, they unified on liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen fuel, the highest specific impulse and the best option; as for the space engines, they directly copied the annular aerospike engines that were leaked from the Tengyun, America had ample technical reserves in this area and felt somewhat confident.

Then came the specifications: At what speed should the spaceflight phase engines be activated?

Here, opinions were divided into two camps: some said it had to be between Mach 8 and 10 while others believed that speeds above Mach 3 were sufficient.

The atmospheric flight phase consumed very little fuel, and if they could fly faster and higher, it would greatly reduce the fuel use during the spaceflight phase and improve the payload coefficient.

The proponents of speeds above Mach 8 had this rationale: Mach 3 was too slow and would consume much more fuel.

The belief in the adequacy of Mach 3 came from Pratt & Whitney, who insisted that supporting high supersonic speeds with ramjets would take a long time to develop, whereas if they flew at Mach 3, they could immediately offer an existing one — the J58, the variable cycle engine used by Blackbird.

As for the issue of the payload coefficient? Pratt & Whitney looked to Northrop Grumman.

The attending designer from Grumman answered directly:

"The GEM63 Solid Rocket Booster, the kind used by Cosmos God V, 1.6 meters in diameter, 20 meters in length, weighing 49 tons, it can provide maximum thrust of 165 tons for 98 seconds, I think placing one or two GEM63s on the fuselage should be enough.

If you find them too heavy, Grumman can still shed some weight, that shouldn’t be a problem."

Musk, who had been observing silently: ...

The defense conglomerates’ forte, solid rocket fundamentalism, wasn’t expected to be brought into Aero-Space Plane development.

But it can’t be denied... it’s a solution, solid boosters are very suitable for this.

Due to urgent real-world needs, the SSTO specifications were quickly determined: the atmospheric flight stage would have a speed of Mach 3, a maximum takeoff mass of 280 tons (including two boosters not exceeding 80 tons), using a variable cycle engine acceleration, solid rocket acceleration, and SSTO’s own liquid hydrogen engine acceleration to complete orbit entry, capable of carrying 20 people or a payload of 10 tons.

McMaster directly chose all the most conservative solutions to combine, taking as few risks as possible.

It was only after the technical specifications were fully determined that he noticed Musk had barely spoken throughout the process, which was not normal. Surely he hadn’t flown all the way to Washington just to be an observer?

The others also realized this and turned to look at him.

Facing everyone’s gaze, Musk started with an unexpected announcement:

"Ladies and gentlemen, three minutes ago, the Starship’s third launch attempt failed. The second stage, the Starship Spacecraft, experienced abnormal posture and was destroyed by the computer’s control 15 seconds after separation."

Everyone was a bit slow to react, then showed expressions of regret. Only Robert thought for a moment and asked:

"What about the first stage? How did that fare?"

Musk: "The GEM63 Solid Rocket Booster B10 successfully separated at an altitude of 82 kilometers as planned, and although we didn’t manage to recover it, we did manage to control its separation posture. It’s now capable of being used for a one-time launch mission."

The Boeing executive, who had just been showing sympathy for Musk, immediately looked unhappy—this meant that SLS had completely lost hope, hadn’t it?

Robert, on the other hand, was beaming with joy. With SpaceX’s speed, at least two or three heavy boosters could be delivered this year. NACA could finally carry out Moon missions again!

...

B-level Base.

On October 3rd, the Tengyun Aeronautic Aircraft, which had been operating in orbit for 68 hours, landed on the runway inside the base.

The reason for its landing here was still due to logistics; after all, Tengyun wasn’t an ordinary aircraft. Maintenance and inspections required aerospace qualification. Landing at a regular airport was feasible, but transporting it for maintenance would be problematic.

H1 and H2 could be airlifted by transport planes, but Tengyun was simply too large. Plus, refueling and maintenance weren’t things to do at the prototype stage; sticking with a cautious approach was still preferable.

The Tengyun, which featured the latest generation of advanced heat shield technology at the base, still looked the same as when it took off—the surface was free of any signs of ablation, a clear testament to the tremendous advancements in technology.

A few minutes after the ground crew pulled up the gangway, the hatch opened from the inside, and Chang Lihai appeared, his mask off, holding onto the gangway as he descended.

They were all wearing lightweight astronaut suits, scarcely different from high-pressure flight suits. If not for the distinct helmet design, one would never have guessed they were astronauts.

Chang Lihai saluted the high-ranking officer who was there to meet him, then hurried off to rest with the other three astronauts.

The welcoming team was much smaller than at takeoff, and the feel was rather subdued. Ground personnel started fitting the plane with a tow to pull it back into the hangar for servicing, not much different from an ordinary flight.

Zhu Bingguang and Yang Xinjun approached with a few others, keen to observe the details of Tengyun’s surface, examining it up and down ceaselessly.

As two competitors in the Moon Expressway Project, their core development teams had already undergone months of training. Right after Tengyun’s maiden flight, their training plan had been revised—they would actually take a trip on Tengyun, the fastest way to grow through hands-on experience.

Moreover, the date was set for the end of October, and many others would be joining them.

Given Tengyun’s exceptional performance, the Aerospace Development Committee planned to schedule three more flight missions within October, each spaced more than seven days apart. Counting one or two days in flight, a five-day window for ground maintenance seemed more than enough.

If the five-day maintenance cycle in October proved to be effective, the plan was to attempt to shorten it to three days. After next year, there might be an Aero-Space Plane taking off every single day.