It was another sleepless night. Since the space program was launched, Luo Jia no longer remembers how many times he had driven the night train.

The sky gradually became brighter, and Luo Jia stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window of the office and looked into the distance. It was already May, and the sun jumped out of the horizon, and the sun was gradually becoming stronger and more dazzling. So Luo Jia lowered the blinds halfway, but turned off the lights in the office.

After doing all this, Luo Jia did not go back to rest, but turned her eyes to the huge whiteboard in the office.

On the whiteboard, there are dense data and formulas written, which are the result of Luo Jia's countless calculations. Judging from the results, it seems that he is designing the most important mechanical component, engine, in the entire space plan.

The space program requires at least two engines, one is the chemical jet engine that pushes the rocket out of the atmosphere, and the ion thruster installed on the spacecraft. Luo Jia is thinking and evaluating the latter.

Anyone who has studied space navigation will know that ion propellers have actually deviated from the existing technology level and entered the category of controlled fusion. It seems that they are a little too advanced when controlled nuclear fusion is not yet achieved.

However, this is Luo Jia's job. He is the leader of the Tough Man Group. He not only needs to focus on the present, but also on the distant future. Although the ion propeller project company has not yet begun, Luo Jia must prepare for the relevant preparations early.

"Teacher, everyone is ready." Shen Lang knocked on the door and walked into Luo Jia's office, and said nervously: "Today is a key meeting to decide the route of the rocket engine. Once we decide which engine technology to use, we can't look back."

Luo Jia nodded and said that he understood, and then he and Shen Lang went to the conference room of the brainstorming group.

I saw that under this huge arched dome that looked like a university auditorium, the projection screen had been prepared and was directly connected to the Jiuquan launch center located in the desert Gobi through the network.

"ignition!"

With Luo Jia's order, Zhang Dongning, who was thousands of kilometers away, pressed the red button in front of him, and then saw thick smoke rolling under the huge white rocket. However, the flames did not push the rocket into the sky, but quickly went out. Obviously, this was not a rocket launch test, but an ignition test for propelling fuel.

"We succeeded!" Zhang Dongning said happily on the other side of the screen.

The Ministry of Chemicals has become the third generation of chemical fuel. Zhang Dongning is obviously very proud of the finalization and testing of liquid oxygen kerosene. Although liquid oxygen kerosene may not be used in the space plan, it is always right to prepare in advance. If you don’t use it, let’s talk about it then. The company can not use it, but it cannot be used.

Turning around, Luo Jia faced his colleagues in the Brain Storm Group and wrote quickly on the whiteboard with an ink pen, from the first generation of solid fuel to the second generation of nitrous tetraoxide, to the third generation of liquid oxygen kerosene, the fourth generation of liquid oxygen liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen methane.

Whenever Luo Jia writes the name of a rocket fuel, he will put a hook below to indicate that the technology Xingchen Technology has been fully mastered.

When Luo Jia wrote about liquid oxygen, liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen methane, he did not check it down, but instead drew a big question mark, indicating that the fourth generation of rocket technology is not ready.

"Look." Luo Jia knocked on the whiteboard and said: "We have made good progress in the research and development progress of rocket engines. We have caught up with the third-generation Western technology and are rapidly evolving towards the fourth-generation technology. Such achievements are worth celebrating."

"Although we are determined to build space elevators, rocket technology cannot be ignored, because the launch vehicle is the pre-enabled technology of space elevators, and tens of thousands of tons of materials are waiting for us to send to Earth orbit. my country does not have a super launch vehicle like Saturn V, so the only option is to build it yourself."

"At present, the whole world is doing big things and want to build larger and more fierce rockets. Take our country as an example. The planned Long March 9 rocket has a height of 110 meters and a maximum diameter of 10 meters. It adopts a three-stage mode, with a take-off thrust of 3,000 tons, a low-Earth orbit capacity of 140 tons, a geosimultaneous transfer orbit capacity of 66 tons, a moon transfer orbit capacity of 50 tons, and a Mars transfer orbit capacity of 37 tons."

"From the theoretical data, Long March 9 is still very awesome, but our opponents are stronger. North America not only has large-scale rocket plans, but also two, namely Musk's large-scale Falcon and Nasa's SLS space launch system. If you add the Super Falcon plan that Musk just announced a month ago, North America has three super heavy-load rocket projects being promoted at the same time. The purpose of occupying space and even building space-based weapons is obvious."

"Time is tight and the situation is critical. Even Russia, which has fallen, feels threatened. It tightens its belt and sets up an Energy No. 5 plan, preparing to go out and build a large rocket with a low-Earth orbit carrying capacity of 80 tons. In this case, my country has no reason to lag behind. It is completely natural to launch the Long March 9 plan."

"But I have already said hello to the national team. We do the super launch vehicle thing ourselves and don't get involved with aerospace technology. After all, aerospace technology is the national team, and we are private enterprises, and there are a large number of experts from abroad, so it is really not convenient to cooperate."

Everyone didn't say much, but they knew very well that the aerospace science and technology industry was in a lot of trouble. Not to mention the Long March 9, they had not even handled the Long March 5, which carried 25 tons in low-Earth orbit, and were left behind by North America at least two positions.

The national team approved Xingchen Technology to start a new start, with the idea that eggs cannot be placed in the same basket. In addition, the private Xingchen Technology entry into the aerospace field is also a great stimulation for domestic aerospace companies and research institutes. I hope it can stimulate their potential.

Luo Jia smiled and said: "Although the whole world has expressed its intention to compete with North America, and even India has ambitiously formulated a return rocket plan, in practice, we are the only ones who can do it with North America!"

"Russia's Energy V, let alone the hope of success, what if they succeed? The low-Earth orbit capacity is only 80 tons, which does not meet the standards for starting a 100 tons of next-generation space race."

"As for Europe, they have given up treatment. Everyone should know that we have recently dug up many experts from Europe. In addition to high-paying benefits and immune activation, there is another important reason, that is, the prospects of ESA are too poor. The Alyana Six they made are a medium-sized rocket with a low-Earth orbit carrying only 20 tons, which is lower than Musk's Falcon 9, China's Long March 5, and Russia's Angara Rocket."

"Anyway, the national team is not having a good life now. The liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen engine YF77 used by the Long March 5 has average impact and room pressure, and the thrust is only 50 tons, far lower than the West. The Neon Le-7a has 85 tons of thrust, the European Vulcan engine is 135 tons, the North American Ssme 186 tons, and the rs-68a is as high as 313.7 tons."

"Of course, if the national team successfully develops the yf220 engine that matches Long March 9, we will gain the power to fight the West in the field of heavy-lift rockets, but at the same time, I have also said that the national team does not want to put all the eggs in the same basket, so we need to join."

"At present, this is the case. North America has Nasa and SpaceX, China has Aerospace Science and Technology and our Star Technology, two-on-two, North America has the overall advantage, and we are the chasers."

Everyone couldn't help but sigh that Luo Jia's words of North America were dominant in all aspects made everyone feel uncomfortable, but according to the principle of seeking truth from facts in the Tough Man Group, everyone also acknowledged the existence of the gap.

"No matter what kind of rocket, the engine is the most important. Mr. Luo, since we start a new job and build our own rocket engine, which route should we choose?" Xiong Ningyuan, who is in charge of nuclear physics, asked.

Luo Jia smiled, "Old Xiong asked this question well. How is the quality of the rocket? 50% depends on the engine. As we all know, the fourth-generation launch vehicle has two routes, one is liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen, and the other is liquid oxygen methane. Among them, the liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen engine has been made by various countries. So far, no one has made finished products, but only some design blueprints."

"The Long March 5 rocket, which had an accident not long ago, uses a 120-ton yf100 liquid oxygen kerosene engine, which belongs to the third generation technology. The core stage uses a 50-ton yf77 liquid oxygen liquid hydrogen engine, which belongs to the fourth generation technology, so the Long March 5 is a mixture of the third and fourth generation engines, not a complete version of the fourth generation technology."

"The main reason for the backward technology is that the national team failed to keep up with the pace of Western R&D. There are many secrets unknown to outsiders, including in the 1990s, even the Ministry of Aerospace was almost disbanded, and scientific research was completely stagnant, leaving a huge pit today."

"To put it bluntly, the reason why Long March 5 exists is to make up for the lessons I missed in the past few years. When Neon's le7 engine and North American SSME engine both use the graded combustion cycle, our yf77 is still using a gas generator."

"For safety reasons, we will not discuss the specific details and reasons. I said these just to tell everyone a fact. Whether we are using liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen or liquid oxygen methane, the difficulty is similar, because the national team does not have much technical support, so we have to start from scratch."

Alas ~

Luo Jia's words made everyone feel heartbroken. It is really not easy for China to bump into the road and get stumbling over the enemy. There are a lot of compradors like this in the computer and semiconductor circles. Even a national foundation such as a major as aerospace was almost taken to the gutter.

Ordinary people will never know how many times the life of this land has been hanging on the line, and how many times have people stood up to turn the tide and fallen.

History will one day make the most fair judgment. In decades, who will be recorded in history forever and who will be nailed to the pillar of shame in history will be clear and clear.

Luo Jia did not over-interpret the history and went directly to the core technical link. While writing quickly on the whiteboard, he said in a deep voice: "Simply put, liquid oxygen, liquid hydrogen has the highest ratio and the strongest performance, but the engine design is extremely difficult, and it is also not easy to design a fuel tank. After all, liquid hydrogen is too much space and has a temperature difference from liquid oxygen. It must be heat-insulated, which makes the rocket fat and expensive."

"The ideal state is to use liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen to make the second or third stages, and to maximize its use of its super-large specific impact. Saturn V, the most awesome rocket in human history, is to use liquid oxygen and kerosene to make the first stage, and the second and third stages are both liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen."

"The specific flux of liquid oxygen methane is lower than liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen and higher than liquid oxygen kerosene, and there is no carbon deposit at all, and it is very convenient to maintain. As long as the engine is not burned, it can basically be used unlimitedly."

"In terms of storage cost, liquid oxygen requires minus 173 degrees Celsius, and liquid methane requires minus 162 degrees Celsius, which is far lower than the minus 253 degrees Celsius required for liquid hydrogen. The storage problem of liquid hydrogen in rockets has always been a headache for scientists. At the same time, the density of liquid methane is 422 kilograms per cubic meter, which is much higher than the 71 kilograms per cubic meter of liquid hydrogen. The same size fuel tank, liquid methane can allow the rocket to fly further, and the speed requirements for the turbo pump of the rocket engine are not as abnormal as liquid hydrogen."

"Anyway, when we take all the factors into consideration, we will find the fact that liquid oxygen methane ranks second in performance among the five major rocket fuel systems, but almost all other indicators rank first, especially the engine does not have carbon deposits at all, which can almost achieve infinite recycling, which can save us huge costs!"

"As we all know, our biggest problem at present is how to transport tens of thousands of tons of materials into Earth's orbit, the number will exceed the total amount of launches into space in human history!"

"So, there is actually only one choice before us, that is, to develop liquid oxygen methane engines. Only this engine that can be reused infinitely, built at a fast speed and extremely low cost can be completed to transport tens of thousands of tons of materials. This is an almost impossible task!"
Chapter completed!