Chapter 276 Hurricane

The question Shelev was concerned about was answered 10 minutes later.

The Pioneer had to glide for a while and ignite again to enter orbit, but the long-awaited reinforced core stage finally passed through the atmosphere and began to adjust its attitude to enter the recovery program.

The situation Shelev was worried about did not occur. The signal sent back by the rocket showed that everything was normal, which meant that it was at least not burned by the atmosphere.

When the core stage after several decelerations appeared in the enlarged picture of the ground camera, the launch center was still shocked.

The reinforced core stage of the No. 2 rocket was flying for the first time, but the longer time and higher speed burning made its surface black as if it had been used at least 10 times, and the charred arrow body completely covered the surface prints.

The launch center was particularly afraid that the delicate grid rudder would be damaged. Fortunately, although it looked black, there was no malfunction. The reinforced core stage was still clamped by the recovery tower in the heart-pounding of a group of people.

Shelev wiped the cold sweat off his forehead and said with some fear:

"Perhaps the treatment of the insulation layer of the first core stage should be the same as that of the second stage of the recovery. Although it was successful this time, I still think it is a bit risky. The wear and tear of the rocket body in one recovery is almost three times that of an ordinary launch."

Lin Ju: "I think it is a success if the launch tower is not blown up, or if fewer trees are burned."

At this time, the outside world can already see the gray smoke coming out of the woods next to the launch station. It is estimated that Director Huang is directing the firefighting there.

Shelev: "..."

He has never encountered such a problem in the alliance. After all, it is not easy to catch fire in the ice and snow in the north. Baikonur is a steppe and Gobi desert in Kazakhstan, which is really his blind spot in knowledge.

...

Beijing, State Guesthouse.

After the launch of the Pioneer, Yuri and his party flew back to Beijing, where they prepared to discuss the construction of the lunar scientific research station.

However, because they arrived in the afternoon, they only had dinner with the Aerospace Development Commission in the evening, and then Yuri was asked a fatal question by the experts of the Aerospace Development Commission:

Since Lucia is planning to increase the cooperation projects and launch plans for the lunar scientific research station, what rocket is she going to use?

Yuri naturally answered that it was the Yenisei series of super-heavy rockets currently planned by RKA. The Aerospace Development Commission did not doubt the technical problems of the Yenisei rocket, but asked him tactfully whether Lucia could afford the launch cost of such a disposable rocket.

Although the Long March 10 of the Aerospace Development Commission is also a disposable rocket, the space agency can afford to build and use it. It has enough production speed and funds, and it also has the reusable rockets of Xinyuan.

On the other hand, it is hard to say whether Lucia can guarantee that the Yenisei rocket can be launched once a year.

This is indeed a sharp issue that cannot be avoided, so Director Yuri can only fool around first, deliberately resisting drinking too much, and calling the two designers who accompanied him to stay up late at night.

Lachuk and Micklin were not sleepy at night, listening to Director Yuri's complaints:

"They asked me to see the Pioneer Space Shuttle, just to tell me that Lucia has fallen behind in space, so as to make us compromise and give in!

In their view, Lucia has no strength in lunar exploration, and is a dispensable object, and they want to get other things! But 20 years ago, they got the RD120 data from us to make YF100, which was such a backward thing, but now they have surpassed us in aerospace."

Micklin could only remain silent. After 25 years, it was already difficult for Lucia to stop its decline. It is very rare to have a little momentum of revival now, but it can only be said that the development of the neighbors is too fast and too crazy.

Lachuk: "But Lucia still has advantages, with high-thrust hydrogen-oxygen engines, nuclear propulsion and space nuclear reactors, and our production costs should be lower."

Yuri shook his head: "Now if we want to catch up with the return to the moon, we must take the Chinese ticket. Cooperation is certain. We have to show our strength. Manned landing is too complicated for the time being, so we should start with equipment and carrying capacity.

We need a super-heavy rocket that can be put into service on schedule and can guarantee a high number of launches. Otherwise, what is the difference between being empty-handed and Aber? Do we have to spend 10 billion US dollars to buy a ticket like those people with squares on their heads?"

Micklin: "The Yenisei rocket has to discard V and an RD180 at a time. This is indeed difficult to produce and the price is also very expensive.

However, it is too late to develop reusable rockets like Ame and China."

Yuri: "If it doesn't work, we will buy Xinyuan's control system. They even sell it to ESA, so we can buy it too."

Lachuk and Micklin looked at each other. They didn't expect Yuri to really have such an idea.

Miklin had witnessed the glory of the Union Space, and he could not accept that Lucia Space, which once competed with Aramco, had to rely on others for space technology.

After a tacit eye contact with Lachuk, he finally made up his mind.

"Yuri, we actually have a recoverable giant rocket, and it is very large."

...

On December 2, the RKA visiting team led by Yuri left Beijing.

The subsequent construction plan of the Lucia part of the lunar scientific research station has not been negotiated, but a small pressure from the Aerospace Development Commission has also achieved results:

Yuri said that Lucia's future reusable giant rocket will be determined soon, and the construction plan of the lunar scientific research station will be discussed again after the specific project is established.

The internal code name of this reusable giant rocket has been determined: 11K30, Hurricane, or Energy 2 Rocket.

The Energia II (also known as the Hurricane) rocket is a two-and-a-half-stage giant rocket that launches the Soyuz Buran space shuttle. It has a takeoff mass of 2,200 tons and a low-Earth orbit carrying capacity of more than 100 tons. It can send 32 tons of payload to the moon and 27 tons to Mars or Venus.

The core stage is 8 meters in diameter, using four RD0120 hydrogen-oxygen engines with a thrust of 190 tons (vacuum), and four 3.9-meter-diameter boosters, each equipped with an RD170 engine with a thrust of 800 tons.

In the late 1980s, the Soyuz thought that the Energia rocket was too expensive and decided to develop reuse technology, which led to the Energia II design.

Energia II installs folding wings, wheels and turbofan engines on each booster, and after separation, it can land at the airport for recovery in the same way as an airplane.

The core stage was transformed into a space shuttle style, with tail fins and controllable rudders added, and changed from two stages to one stage as a whole, sending the payload all the way to orbit, and then entering the atmosphere to glide back for recovery.

This solution is highly feasible, and the technology is much simpler than vertical recovery, but the problem is that the gliding recovery system has a large deadweight, which may lead to a significant reduction in transportation capacity.

Moreover, the core stage as a whole is equivalent to a one-and-a-half-stage orbital method, which greatly affects the carrying coefficient. If you want to retain the transportation capacity as much as possible, you need a very high level of design skills.

Vertical recovery obviously has less deadweight and is lighter, but Lucia has no choice.