Chapter 275 Flaws

Xinyuan Space Launch Site, Station 1.

Seen from a distance, there is only a huge erected space shuttle next to the launch tower, and the Xinyuan-2A rocket carrying it for takeoff is not visible at all.

Because there is no need for a second stage, the maximum length of Xinyuan No. 2A is only 51 meters, while the total length of Pioneer plus the tail engine is close to 75 meters...

In terms of width, the three 6-meter-diameter rocket bodies of the Xinyuan-2A modification plus the gap are also about 20 meters, and the wingspan of the Pioneer reaches 38 meters.

Especially from the angle of the viewing beach, most of the Xinyuan-2A rocket body is covered by the Pioneer. From the side, the rocket looks smaller than the space shuttle, and the center of gravity must be extremely unbalanced.

But in fact, the Xinyuan-2A weighs about 3,500 tons after being filled with fuel, while the Pioneer is basically hollow, and now weighs just over 90 tons.

In the launch center, the huge Pioneer can be seen from 3 kilometers away with the naked eye, and the impact is stronger than that of the Xianyuan-3 rocket.

Director Huang found Lin Ju standing with Serev in the first three rows, and said with some helplessness:

"Mr. Lin, you have to find a way to get a special rocket transport vehicle. Our transport vehicle has been going back and forth many times for the Pioneer."

It turns out that unlike normal rocket launches, the Pioneer is too large and is very troublesome to hoist vertically. The large space shuttles of both Soyuz and Aramco are combined with the rocket horizontally, and then transported as a whole to the launch tower for erection.

Both Xinyuan Launch Site and Qiongzhou Launch Site still use general-purpose transfer vehicles, which can only transfer rockets vertically, so the Pioneer is also installed vertically, and the assembly building cannot accommodate it at all. Most of the time, it is operated in the open air, and the equipment and The work of the staff is very troublesome and exhausting.

Lin Ju did not expect this. Some time ago, he went to the capital to discuss the Mars mission. Qiongzhou was left to Serev.

The latter did not disappoint him, and took the initiative:

"I have contacted domestic construction machinery manufacturers to start customization. There will be many tasks for H2 in the future, and the two workstations at the Xinyuan launch site are not enough. Boss, we should expand the number of workstations. It is best to add two more. "

Lin Ju nodded. Coupled with the cooperation agreement signed by Aber a few days ago, Xinyuan has enough money in its account. The two launch stations will not cost much money.

The three of them were chatting there. Not far away, Yevgeny Miklin and Vladimir Rachuk, a member of the OKB456 Design Bureau, were discussing the Pioneer, which was to be launched in an hour.

Rachuk: "Although the Xinyuan-2A is thinner than the Energy, it has greater thrust. The thrust of a single M220 is too great. 21 such engines have a thrust of nearly 4,700 tons.

Although the Energy can also achieve a thrust of more than 4,000 tons, it is still inferior if it cannot be recycled. "

Micklin: "Yes, the Xinyuan 2's grid rudder recovery method is too risky. It is like using chopsticks to catch the top of a broom thrown from the 10th floor. This requires too much electronic control technology. In the next five years, we will There is no such ability.”

Rachuk: "However, the lunar project also needs a giant rocket of this level. If it cannot be recycled, it will be too expensive. The Yenisey/Don rocket does not have this potential. For the long term, it must be recyclable." "

Miklin: "When Director Borisov comes this time, he may have the intention to purchase a customized Xinyuan recovery system. Maybe in this way we in Lucia will also have a recoverable rocket."

Rachuk: "This is not our technology! Unless they are willing to transfer the technology to us, Lucia's recyclable rocket is nothing but useless. As long as they turn off the rocket through satellite, we can't do anything!"

Moreover, it’s not like we don’t have recyclable rockets, right? We also have recycling technology available. "

Micklin: "You mean..."

Rachuk: "Energy No. 2, gliding recovery, the whole arrow can be reused, safer, and it has been mostly completed during the alliance period. Resurrect it, it is more practical than vertical recovery."

Miklin didn't know how to answer. He was more familiar with the Energy 2 rocket than Rachuk, but gliding recovery also had its own shortcomings: the dead weight was too high.

The mass of the eight-piece grille rudder of Xinyuan 2 will never exceed one ton, and the folding wings of the Energy 2 booster are almost the same mass.

But what Rachuk said makes sense. The technical difficulty of gliding recovery is much lower. At least Lucia's electronics industry can handle it. Other fancy recovery methods have too high requirements on the control system.

He looked at Yuri, who was chatting happily with the space agency in the distance, and thought about the cost and feasibility of Resurrection Energy 2.

…

"Countdown, 1 minute."

At 11:29, the sky was still clear, and the three rocket bodies of Xinyuan No. 2A emitted a large amount of white mist.

The live camera screen switched to the Pioneer fuselage and zoomed in. Its integrated heat insulation layer was very smooth, almost like a passenger aircraft.

Spacecraft developers at NACA and the military-industrial complex who watched the broadcast through YouTube couldn't help but remain silent, deeply feeling the generational advantage of the Pioneer.

Integral full-life insulation tiles were studied in depth by Boeing at the beginning of the space shuttle program. However, it was not able to reach this level until the X37B and Dream Chaser eras.

"...7, 6, main engine ignition!"

The enhanced core stage of Xinyuan No. 2A was ignited first. When their throttle valves were opened halfway, the two universal boosters began to ignite.

The seven M220 engines of the booster, which were adjusted and pressurized, have greater thrust, and each can output about 1,680 tons of thrust.

The tail flames of the 21 engines poured into the guide groove below and sprayed upward from the right side of the launch station. The diffused gas spread rapidly. Before completely surrounding the station, the Xinyuan II A modified rocket took the Pioneer away from the launch pad.

Although the mass of the Pioneer of more than 100 tons is not worth mentioning for the rocket body, the aerodynamic factors caused by the huge body in the atmosphere must be considered. At the same time, in order to adjust the center of gravity, the Pioneer had to be launched obliquely from the beginning.

The 21 engines were divided into multiple parts and swung to different degrees to adjust the thrust direction, so that the Pioneer was above the tilted Xinyuan II A modified rocket, like a bear lying on a raft, riding it to the sky.

Because the thrust-to-weight ratio is relatively low, the combination can see a very obvious moving trajectory at low altitude, and the long rocket tail flame swept through a forest about 1 kilometer long.

Director Huang: ...

Needless to say, such a high gas temperature will definitely burn a large area of ​​forest again, and trees should not be planted near the launch site.

But the attention of the audience on the beach and in front of the camera was all on the Pioneer, which had a longer flight time in the atmosphere and could be seen clearly for a while.

The Xinyuan-2A, which could be described as a giant rocket, was as small as three missiles carried by a fighter jet under the Pioneer. The tail flame produced by the high-altitude methane engine was also light in color, which looked quite contrasting.

The cross-sectional area of ​​the three 6-meter diameter rocket bodies and the Pioneer was also extremely large. After breaking the speed of sound, the super-large airflow ring in the middle of the combination could be seen, which was clearly visible even at a very high place.

The engine of the Xinyuan-2A worked for a long time, until the combination became blurred in the ground camera, and finally two white dots were seen separating from the combination. They were the boosters that were separated from the recovery work.

The extra fuel added to the core stage can support an additional 40 seconds of flight, allowing the Pioneer to glide for a period of time and then adjust the main engine for more than ten seconds to enter orbit.

There is no way. Strictly speaking, the Xinyuan-2A modified rocket, like the Energy rocket, does not have a second stage. The first stage can only send the space shuttle to a low orbit of 200 kilometers outside the atmosphere. To reach an orbit of 300 to 400 kilometers, the space shuttle needs to fly for a while, but it does not use much fuel.

In the launch center, the data sent back by the Pioneer itself and the detection system showed normal and reached the predetermined speed, which basically means that the launch has been successful.

Shelev also had a smile on his face, but suddenly froze.

Lin Ju looked over with concern: "What's wrong, Old Ko?"

Shelev: "I suddenly thought of a problem. The core stage controlled the throttle valve during flight and flew longer, basically flying out of the atmosphere. Recovering it from there is basically the same as recovering the second stage. The rocket body... should be fine."