Chapter 244 Test Flight

On September 13, the official microblog of the Aeronautical Development Commission released a notice of the launch of the Wentian and Mengtian experimental modules on September 19 and 20.

The space agency is also about to be led astray by the Xinyuan, with a faster and faster pace, more emphasis on time efficiency, and chooses to launch such important spacecraft intensively.

Of course, the biggest reason is that there are many Xinyuan-2 rockets that can perform missions, and it is easy to extract two.

The Wentian and Mengtian experimental modules weigh about 43 tons each, and the Tiangong space station in the sky has been increasing in operating mass due to the high-frequency supply launches over the past year.

After the two experimental modules are launched, the Tiangong space station will surpass the Hera space station by a single-digit advantage, and become the world's second largest man-made object in orbit with a mass of 230 tons.

The Hera space station ranks third with a mass of 225 tons, while the axial module of the Fram ranks fourth with a mass of 220 tons.

It's a pity that the axial module of the Fram has a higher orbit and is not designed to dock with the space station, otherwise it would instantly surpass the ISS when combined.

After the Aerospace Development Commission released the preview, Ma Yilong himself rarely appeared in the comments below, and then the Aerospace Development Commission replied with a message inviting Ma Yilong to Qiongzhou to watch the rocket launch.

Ma Yilong's reply was: "I will if I have a chance."

In a seemingly simple and ordinary online interaction, both parties tacitly expressed their respective attitudes. As for Ma himself?

When he sent the message, he had already decided to take a flight to Shanghai on the 17th and rush to China as soon as possible.

…

At the Desert Base, under the watchful eyes of Yang Wei and a group of base designers, a gray J-20 with different shades of color on the surface, like oxidized metal, was pushed out of the hangar.

The trailer towed the verification aircraft with the number 2201 painted on the new surface on the side to the end of the runway, opened the cabin for the ground staff to conduct the final inspection, and the pilot in a gray space suit sat not far away, waiting for his turn.

Yang Wei looked at the strong sunlight above his head and gave a thumbs up to the researchers at the base next to him:

"The heat-insulating stealth coating was completed so quickly, awesome."

"Not really, in fact, this is all based on previous technical reserves, it just took some time to adjust."

The Desert Base has been carrying out the "Snow Swan" project for more than half a year, and now the original design of the aircraft has finally been completed, and it is ready to enter the trial production research stage.

An important technology of the Snow Swan project is the heat-insulating/stealth coating that can withstand ultra-high temperatures.

Although in fact, when the aircraft at 10 times the speed of sound rubs against the atmosphere, the temperature of the aircraft body can reach more than 1,600 degrees, and the rest of the body is also around 700 to 800 degrees Celsius.

In theory, infrared remote sensing satellites can still detect such high temperatures, but satellites also have blind spots, right? It is not easy to detect without obtaining the accurate flight route of the aircraft, so stealth is still the focus of consideration.

For example, the SR71 "Blackbird" reconnaissance aircraft has a maximum fuselage temperature of more than 450 degrees when flying at a speed of more than Mach 3.2, and an average temperature of more than 260 degrees, but the radar reflection area is less than 1 square meter, which is a typical stealth aircraft.

The goal set by the Desert Base for the Snow Swan is a radar reflection area of ​​less than 0.15 square meters.

The radar reflection area of ​​the J-20 is less than 0.05 square meters. The aerodynamic configuration and volume of the Snow Swan are there, and 0.15 square meters is almost the same. If it enters below 1 square meter, there are still not many radars that can detect it.

Even if it is detected, with the flying speed of the Snow Swan, a slight acceleration can get rid of the missile pursuit. At present, except for laser weapons, no missile can pose an effective threat to the Snow Swan.

But the J-20 is different. After obtaining the XW-9, Yang Wei designed the interceptor model of the J-20, the J-20B.

Compared with the J-20, the J-20B has a longer fuselage, a smaller wingspan, an empty weight of 22 tons, and a maximum take-off mass of more than 44 tons. It is a typical heavy interceptor.

The J-20B sacrificed some maneuverability, but the two XW-9s it carried can bring an optimized maximum speed of 3.5 times the speed of sound and a maximum ceiling of 33,500 meters. Because of the fuel-saving characteristics of the XW-9 and the smaller drag fuselage that sacrificed maneuverability, as well as the increase in internal oil caused by the increase in fuselage weight, the J-20B's cruising radius has increased to 3,000 kilometers, which is extremely exaggerated.

Such a J-20B needs to make major changes to the fuselage skin, and still ensure that the damage to stealth is not too great, and still limit the radar reflection area to within 0.05 square meters.

After more than 8 months, after the cooperation of four research institutes, the J-20B's skin problem has been solved.

Unlike the SR71 more than 50 years ago, which needed to reserve gaps to control the length of the skin extension under high temperature, the J-20B uses expensive aerospace materials, and there will never be such a thing as oil leakage, and the weight remains basically unchanged, but the price has more than doubled.

The 611 Institute built a J-20B prototype verification aircraft, and then quietly flew it to the desert base, where it was painted with special paint developed for the Snow Swan.

The Snow Swan needs to be repainted with stealth/heat-insulating paint every time it flies, while the J-20B can be repainted after four or five flights, and the ground crew can check some weak points and repair them before each flight.

This paint formula was secretly developed at the beginning of the aerospace fighter plan in the last century, and it was invested heavily in the "Shenlong" period, which was about 7 or 8 years ago and achieved a major breakthrough.

In Dou Ping's words, this kind of paint is the most advanced in the world, surpassing Ami by a whole generation, so it is highly confidential. The J-20B must test it at the desert base.

The new paint is a dirty metallic color after being brushed on the skin. It is said that the price per kilogram is six figures, and the output is still very low. The J-20B uses the production capacity that has been accumulated for 4 months.

Of course, this is also because Xue Hu is still on paper, so the production is still in the laboratory.

When the official version of the J-20B is put into service, it will definitely not use this kind of paint, but a downgraded version that reduces costs and simplifies the process.

More than half an hour later, the ground crew completed the inspection, and the pilot in the space suit climbed into the cockpit and checked whether the ejection device was stuck by something.

Due to the high temperature, the J-20B no longer has a beautiful bubble cockpit. The front half is composed of three thick flat glass, which looks a bit like the cockpit of Mr. Ba.

Moreover, the cockpit part looks a bit like protruding on both sides. Because the J-20B is an unprecedented long cruise interceptor, it adopts a parallel double-seat layout to reduce the pilot's driving intensity, which is more comfortable than the tandem double-seat.

"01 (Dongyao), are you ready?"

After a second or two, the test pilot pulled down the mechanical valve of the mask and fixed it, and then answered with the built-in microphone:

"01 is in good condition and can test fly!"

The heat generated by the high-speed flight of the J-20B is extremely high. In order to reduce weight, the cooling equipment in the cabin is limited in size, and the air conditioner cannot be turned on all the time. It can only be turned on for a while when the two pilots need to rest and change shifts.

Under normal conditions, the cabin temperature is as high as 39 degrees or more. If you don't wear a simple space suit, you will be dried by the heat.

Yang Wei: "I order, the high-altitude and high-speed flight test of aircraft No. 2201 to start immediately!"

The first flight of the J-20B has been done at the 611 Institute. At that time, there was no stealth paint and it was all yellow skin. It was not conspicuous among a group of verification aircraft, but it only did a subsonic test flight.

The test pilot received the instruction and pushed the throttle to take off. Because of the XW-9 engine and the smaller aspect ratio of the fuselage, the taxiing distance was longer and it took 400 meters to pull up.

Bad news: The trip is over

Good news: I will start writing with full effort tomorrow