Chapter 237 Is He Really a Genius?

Without any surprise, the two axial modules of the Fram space station successfully entered the 500KM low-Earth orbit.

The Xinyuan-3 has sufficient capacity, so it simply launched the modules to a higher orbit, where the atmosphere is thinner, so that Fram can consume less fuel to maintain the orbital altitude.

Four hours after entering orbit, the trusses that fixed the two modules detached, and the navigation module and the node module automatically docked, forming a giant assembly weighing 120 tons.

It is worth mentioning that both Xinyuan-3s launched this time used recyclable second-stage rockets. The black second-stage rocket on September 2 was launched on the 20th of last month.

Guo Shen's recovery method was still successful. In the second recovery test, the modified second-stage rocket body fell into the sea perfectly at a speed of 5m/s, the engine was almost not wet, and the rocket body was in good condition. It was pulled back and washed and continued to be used.

This also made the Xinyuan-3 the world's first rocket with both the first and second stages recovered. The five hydrogen-oxygen engines of the second stage successfully saved Lin Ju 100 million.

Today's second stage was also successfully recovered. The ablation caused by the two atmospheric frictions did not have a fatal impact. The tugboat towed it back in the sea 4 kilometers away from the coastline.

Seeing this scene, Lao Ma silently flipped through the Starship PPT.

Last month, specaX, whose technical strength is constantly increasing, manufactured the first Starship SN1 test prototype. Before it was made public, it exploded during the liquid nitrogen pressure test...

This cannot be said that there is a problem with the design of the Starship, but that the quality control needs to be strengthened.

Because SN1 is used for ground testing, its appearance is far from what we imagined. It is ugly and the volume is much smaller.

But he is still confident in the complete Starship, because the Starship replaces the upper stage of the traditional rocket as a second-stage rocket, with unprecedented recovery quality, and can also transport 120 tons of payload to low-Earth orbit, with the potential for interplanetary travel.

The most important thing is that it is cheap, which is definitely much cheaper than the new space shuttle.

But when he was confidently pushing the plan bit by bit, several companies including specaX received information from NACA: soliciting designs for artificial gravity spacecraft to land on Mars.

Old Ma looked at the starship that he was going to use to land on Mars. It was obviously unrealistic to make it rotate and generate gravity like the Advance.

But in his mind, the rotating space station or spaceship had a complex and fragile structure. How could there be a starship that could be used as both a lander and a spaceship?

But gravity is indeed very important. Appropriate gravity can save a lot of trouble. So, how can a starship also generate gravity?

Musk fell into deep thought, found two plastic starship models, and thought about the transformation plan.

…

"Hermes? Has Lockheed watched too many space movies?"

Three days after the functional module was also launched into orbit by the New Yuan-3 and successfully docked with the node module, Claire finally received centrifugal spacecraft design plans from multiple companies.

The first one was Lockheed Martin's plan, which was amazing. It was to move out the Hermes spacecraft in "The Martian" released last year.

Except for changing the nuclear fusion ion thruster to fission thruster, the rest of the ship has remained basically unchanged. It is also composed of multiple axial node cabins docked together to form the main body. A centrifugal ring is added in the middle of the hull. The mass is even more outrageous than the Fram, weighing 4,500 tons.

The name was copied and named "Hermes". In case Claire lacks imagination, a movie poster was attached...

Claire was unable to complain. Let's look at Boeing. This one is more pragmatic. Simply put, it is a copy of the Fram, with 12 interconnected centrifugal cabins, but the cabin design has been changed according to the rocket capacity of Aramco, with a mass of 1,200 tons.

Grumman, Grumman is a bit perfunctory. Their plan is a dumbbell-shaped spacecraft with a length of 150 meters and two large structures at both ends, namely the main engine and the living cabin.

The spacecraft first uses the main engine to accelerate axially to the specified speed, then shuts down, and rotates around its center under the action of the attitude engine. At a speed of 2 revolutions per minute, it can generate 0.34G gravity.

After looking at several designs, they were all pretty good, but Claire was a little dissatisfied until he saw the specaX plan.

Claire was silent for a long time, not knowing what to say for a while.

Musk took out the starship.

It was the starship he showed before. It did not have a rotating gravity ring, but it could generate 1G gravity, which was the strongest gravity among all the plans, and it was also adjustable, and could be freely selected within the range of 0.2 to 1G.

So, what is this magical design?

First of all, specaX's Mars landing plan is to combine two starships together through the side docking port, and then fill up the fuel and supplies in the low-Earth orbit to form a combination weighing about 2,000 tons, which can carry 5 to 15 crew members.

This is very good, no problem, low-Earth orbit supply can also be done.

The combination, that is, the two starships docked in parallel, also accelerated into the Hohmann orbit first, and then in the next 7 to 9 months of the journey, the two starships separated, and then the top cover of each head was opened, and a special cable was pulled out from one starship to connect with the other starship.

By adjusting their posture, the two starships become head-to-head, and the distance between them can be adjusted by releasing the length of special cables.

The next thing is outrageous. The special cable can be released up to 380 meters long. Then the two starships connected head to head with the special cable start their engines and start rotating around the center of the special cable.

Theoretically, as long as it rotates at a speed of 1.5 turns per minute, it can generate a gravity of about 1G. The length of the special cable can even be adjusted according to the needs of astronauts to live under the most comfortable gravity.

When it is time to slow down, slow down and tighten, and re-merge, perfect.

It sounds unreliable, but if you think about it carefully, there are some possibilities.

At least for Claire, he knows many kinds of materials that can withstand the strength after a little thought. Even steel cables now have many kinds that can meet the requirements. .

The starships on both sides are only one thousand tons each, and the rotation speed is 1.5 revolutions per minute. The centrifugal force is not large. The cable only needs to withstand 5,000 tons of tension. There are many materials that can meet this standard.

The most important thing is that this plan is very simple. It does not require the construction of a complex centrifugal mechanism, and it can also generate good gravity with low investment cost.

Even without a starship, the current Orion spacecraft can even be used for experiments. The return capsule and the service module can be separated. The mass difference is not much, and the tension test on the cable is less than 50 tons. Any ordinary steel cable will do.

The investment is small, the transformation cost is low, and relying on advanced computer technology, a slight uneven weight can also be adjusted in real time.

Looking at the proposer of this plan, it turned out to be Musk himself.

Is he really a genius?