Chapter 647 - 631 VV’s First Victory

"Are the Yankees insane?"

"Can even Mars not satisfy these people anymore, that they have to go to those godforsaken places of nothing but rocks and solid ice?"

"Damn it, I hope this is just a bluff..."

"..."

Guyana Hair Branch, KUNU Launch Center.

A group of European Space Agency experts stood not far from the launch tower, heatedly discussing, seemingly unaffected by the intense sun of the tropical region.

Even the Veneto 1 rocket, carrying all of ESA’s future hopes and set for imminent launch, was temporarily overshadowed by the juicy news they’d just heard.

With its high development foundation, engines, and recovery systems all utilizing mature subsystems, the Veneto 1 rocket had finally been ready for its maiden flight prior to February 2018 as planned.

However, the Veneto 1 rocket was an innovation in the world of rockets, being the first to use two different types of engines in its core stage, a real test of the design team’s expertise.

Besides, the Veneto 1 was the most powerful rocket Europe had ever had. Even though its thrust was a bit less than the nearly retired Ariane 5, its payload capacity was much higher, reaching 32 tons when recovering, and close to 40 tons without recovery—Europe had never seen a rocket like this before.

Later, by strapping on two solid rocket boosters, it could increase its payload capacity to over 60 tons, capable of fulfilling Europe’s dreams of an independent lunar landing.

But for most of the ESA design team, pride was not the predominant feeling, as aside from essential subsystems being provided by outsiders, there had simply been too many prodigies in the aerospace field this past year...

The CZ-18, launched just over a month ago, had such a terrifying payload capacity that it could even send a fully-fueled Veneto 1 into space, making spaceflight experts struggle to categorize this behemoth; after all, even Saturn V didn’t weigh as much without its payload.

And there was no need to worry about the success rate of Veneto 1’s first launch; the Chinese team oversaw the entire design process. Each improvement was sent to Sichuan’s wind tunnel for testing and simulation. Chinese experts had to give their approval before proceeding, otherwise insurance companies wouldn’t offer commercial insurance, and technical support would be limited.

However, the upside was indisputable reliability, and indirect technical guidance brought the design team a lot of valuable experience in designing heavy rockets, which they could just about accept.

While the design experts were busy criticizing John’s annual speech, other high-ranking ESA officials discussed the same matter, only at a slightly higher level.

"I have a feeling John won’t let us sit idly by,"

"I think so too. They’ve always wanted the Selene project to assist Artemis and demanded we take on more responsibility for ISS maintenance. They want to dump all the difficulties on us!"

Batis and Antoine were jointly complaining about NACA’s shirking of responsibilities, especially the imposition of blame.

Because of its focus on extraterrestrial bodies, NACA had temporarily no time to attend to ISS maintenance and expansion tasks and simply passed the buck to the European Space Agency and Russia.

At first, NACA’s plan was to deal with these "minor details" once they had more time. But over time, they invested less and less effort in the ISS, raising suspicions within the ESA.

Particularly after Musk’s frequent testing of the Gravity Dragon Spaceship, there were rumors that NACA was planning to build a rotating space station like the March, which could serve both as a space station and an expedition spacecraft, looking down on the ISS with limited potential.

When ESA first heard this rumor, they sneered at it, knowing better than anyone how much effort had gone into the ISS. Not to mention, how many launches of gigantic rockets would be required to build a new space station? Did NACA have this launch capability?

But when the first SL-X launched, the situation started to look grim. The European Space Agency, after inquiring around, discovered that the price of SL-X was hardly higher than that of the Veneto One!

Although the Veneto One’s initial goal was to keep the composite cost of a single launch below 300 million US Dollars, the current situation was that the rocket cost was indeed barely controlled at 280 million US Dollars, but with added expenses such as insurance, fuel, and others, a launch would always cost around 450 million US Dollars.

Compared to SL-X’s publicly disclosed launch budget of just over 600 million US Dollars, NACA could fully afford to vigorously launch it, and SpaceX had also proven its ample production capacity, theoretically possessing the ability to construct a rotating space station.

If NACA truly turned a blind eye to the International Space Station, then the European Space Agency absolutely could not afford its operational and maintenance expenses, and Russia wouldn’t be able to either.

The suppliers providing maintenance parts for the ISS were all big profiteers, plus the parts were mostly specially developed unique items, making their prices sky-high.

Applying the concept of price ratios of automotive spare parts, the accumulated maintenance, operational, and upgrading costs over the years had almost accounted for about half of the ISS’s construction price.

To take over the ISS or not, that was the question.

If not, how much would they have to shell out to join NACA’s new space station plan?

As for the possibility of staying out of the affair, most people prudently chose to ignore it.

The two of them frowned in distress as they contemplated how to avoid being completely fleeced by NACA when a staff member interrupted them and escorted them to the safety zone as Veneto One began fueling up, ready for its first flight.

The payload this time was the full-scale technology demonstrator of the Hermes spacecraft—without re-entry and return capabilities and devoid of engines, its primary function was to serve as ballast.

The actual research on the spacecraft had just barely passed the halfway mark, with Dassault, who was responsible for the power part, hoping to imitate the H1 by using hydrogen-oxygen power, but was greatly troubled by fuel storage; if all else failed, they would still reluctantly choose a more conservative poison emitter.

The European Space Agency had scheduled the first flight of the Hermes spacecraft before October, with at least one successful test mission to be conducted before 2019.

"ten, nine..."

In an eerie atmosphere, the nine engines of the Veneto 1 rocket ignited in sequence, and under the watch of domestic experts stationed there, it ascended rapidly into space with a long trail of flame under the intense South American sun.

For them, the first flight of Veneto One was nothing particularly noteworthy; like in a supercomputing simulation, the rocket methodically executed the separation procedures, and while the upper stage continued to deliver the simulated payload into space, the first stage rocket detached and entered the return trajectory.

Since Guyana is relatively near the equator, there was no need to create a special sea-based recovery platform for reclamation; the Veneto One’s recovery site was still on land, just a few kilometers from the launch tower.

A few minutes after the full-scale Hermes demonstrator entered orbit, the Veneto One, with its rocket body extensively ablated, smoothly returned and reappeared in people’s view.

Antoine, along with everyone else, celebrated and suddenly had a flash of inspiration, grabbing Batis’s arm:

"I’ve got it, I know who else can take over... and contribute more to the ISS."

"Who?"

"The Indian people, perhaps they need it!"