Technological Supremacy Chapter 449: Our goal is the 4th generation liquid oxygen methane engine!
It was another sleepless night. Since the launch of the space program, Luo Jia couldn't remember how many times he had to drive all night.
It was getting brighter, and Luo Jia stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows of the office and looked into the distance. It was already May, and the sun leaped out of the horizon. lights.
After doing all this, Luo Jia did not go back to rest, but turned his gaze back to the huge whiteboard in the office.
On the whiteboard, there are dense data and formulas written, which are the results of Luo Jia's countless calculations. Judging from the results, it seems that he is designing the most important mechanical component in the entire space program, the engine.
The space program requires at least two types of engines, one is the chemical injection engine that pushes the rocket out of the atmosphere, and the other is the ion thruster installed on the spacecraft. It is the latter that Luo Jia is thinking and checking.
Anyone who has studied space navigation will know that the ion thruster has actually broken away from the existing technological level and entered the category of controllable fusion. Research has begun before controllable nuclear fusion has been achieved. , seems to be a little too advanced.
However, this is the job of Luo Jia. He is the head of the tough guy group. He not only has to focus on the present, but also looks at the distant future. prepare for.
"Teacher, everyone is ready." Shen Lang knocked on the door and walked into Luo Jia's office. Turn back again."
Luo Jia nodded to show that he understood, and then he and Shen Lang came to the big meeting room of the brainstorming group.
It can be seen that under the huge vaulted dome that looks like a university auditorium, the projection screen has already been prepared, and it is directly connected to the Jiuquan Launch Center in the desert Gobi through the network.
"Fire!"
Following Luo Jia's order, Zhang Dongning, who was thousands of kilometers away, pressed the red button in front of him, and saw thick smoke billowing under the huge white rocket, but the flames did not push the rocket into the sky , but went out very quickly. Obviously this is not a rocket launch test, but an ignition test about propellant fuel.
"We succeeded!" Zhang Dongning said happily on the other side of the screen.
Chemistry Department has become the third generation chemical fuel, and 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 program, it is always right to prepare in advance. Whether to use it or not, let’s talk about it later, the company can use it, but it can’t.
Turning his head, Luo Jia faced his colleagues in the brainstorming group, and quickly wrote on the whiteboard with an ink pen, from the first generation of solid fuel to the second generation of dinitrogen tetroxide, to the third generation of liquid oxygen kerosene, to the fourth generation Liquid oxygen liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen methane.
Whenever Luo Jia wrote down the name of a rocket fuel, he would put a tick below it, indicating that Star Technology had fully mastered the technology.
When Luo Jia wrote about liquid oxygen, liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen methane, he did not tick the box below, but drew a big question mark, indicating that the fourth-generation rocket technology was not ready yet.
"Look." Luo Jia tapped on the whiteboard and said, "We have made good progress in the research and development of rocket engines. We have caught up with the third-generation technology in the West and are rapidly evolving to the fourth-generation technology. , such an achievement is worth celebrating."
"Although we are determined to build a space elevator, rocket technology cannot be ignored, because the launch vehicle is the front-end technology of the space elevator, tens of thousands of tons of materials are waiting for us to send to the earth's orbit, and there is no such thing as the Saturn V in our country. Super launch vehicle, so the only option is to build it yourself."
"Currently the whole world is doing big things and wants to build bigger and more powerful rockets. Taking my 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 model. The take-off thrust 3,000 tons, 140 tons in low-Earth orbit, 66 tons in geosynchronous transfer orbit, 50 tons in lunar transfer orbit, and 37 tons in Mars transfer orbit.”
"From the perspective of theoretical data, the Long March 9 is still very powerful, but our opponents are stronger. North America not only has a large rocket program, but also has two, namely Musk's large Falcon, and NASA The SLS space launch system, if you add the Super Falcon project announced by Musk just a month ago, there are three super heavy-lift rocket projects in progress in North America at the same time. It occupies space and even builds space-based weapons. It is obvious."
"Time is running out and the situation is critical. Even Russia, which has already fallen, feels the threat. It tightens its belt and launches a No. 5 energy plan. It is ready to go all out and build a large low-earth orbit with a carrying capacity of 80 tons. The rocket came out, and under such circumstances, our country has no reason to lag behind, and the launch of the Long March 9 plan is completely logical."
"However, I have already greeted the national team. We will develop the super launch vehicle by ourselves, and we will not mix it with Aerospace Science and Technology. After all, Aerospace Science and Technology is the national team, and we are a private enterprise with a large number of It is not convenient for experts from abroad to cooperate.”
Everyone didn't say much, but they knew in their hearts that the troubles encountered by the Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation were not small, not to mention the Long March 9, they hadn't even finished the Long March 5, which carried 25 tons in low-earth orbit. At least two positions were thrown away by North America.
The national team approved Xingchen Technology to start a new stove, with the idea that all eggs cannot be put in one basket. In addition, the entry of private Xingchen Technology into the aerospace field is also a big stimulus for domestic aerospace companies and scientific research institutes. Unleash their potential.
Luo Jia said with a smile: "Although the whole world says that it wants to compete with North America, even India has ambitiously formulated a returnable rocket plan, but in actual operation, only Us!"
"Russia's Energy 5, don't say that it seems that there is little hope of success, so what if they succeed? The low-earth orbit carrying capacity is only 80 tons, which does not meet the standard of 100 tons for the next generation of space competition. .”
"As for Europe, they have even given up treatment. You should know that we have recruited many experts from Europe recently. In addition to high salaries and benefits and immune activation, there is another important reason, and that is the prospect of ESA. It's too bad. The Ariana 6 they built is a medium-sized rocket with a load capacity of only 20 tons in low-Earth orbit, which is lower than Musk's Falcon 9, China's Long March 5, and Russia's Angara. Rocket."
"In short, life is not easy for the national team. The YF77 liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen engine used by the Long March 5 has average specific impulse and room pressure, and its thrust is only 50 tons, which is far lower than that of the West. Neon LE The -7A has a thrust of 85 tons, the European Vulcan engine has 135 tons, the North American SSME has 186 tons, and the RS-68A has a thrust of 313.7 tons.”
"Of course, assuming that the national team successfully develops the YF220 engine for the Long March 9, we will gain the strength to compete with the West in the field of heavy-lift rockets. All eggs are put in one basket, so we need to join in.”
"Currently, the situation is like this, North America has NASA and SpaceX, Huaxia has Aerospace Science and Industry and our Star Technology, two against two, North America has an overall advantage, and we are the chasers."
Everyone couldn't help sighing, Luo Jia's statement that North America was dominant made everyone feel very uncomfortable, but according to the principle of seeking truth from facts of the Tough Guys, everyone also admitted the existence of a gap.
"No matter what kind of rocket, the engine is the most important. Mr. Luo, since we start from scratch and make 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 a good question. What is the mass of the rocket? Fifty percent 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." One is liquid oxygen methane, among which liquid oxygen liquid hydrogen engines have been manufactured by various countries, but so far, no one has made a finished product for liquid oxygen methane, and some are just some design blueprints.”
"The Long March 5 rocket that had an accident not long ago used a 120-ton YF100 liquid oxygen kerosene engine for the booster, which belongs to the third-generation technology, and a 50-ton YF77 liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen engine for the core stage, which belongs to the fourth-generation technology. So the Long March 5 is a mixture of 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 research and development in the West. There are many secrets that are unknown to outsiders. The overall stagnation has left a huge pit today.”
"To put it bluntly, the reason why the Long March 5 exists is to make up for the lessons that have fallen in the past few years. When the Neon LE7 engine and the North American SSME engine both used the staged combustion cycle, our YF77 was still there. Use a gas generator."
"For the sake of safety, we will not discuss the specific details and reasons. I say these just to tell you the fact that whether we engage in liquid oxygen, liquid hydrogen, or liquid oxygen methane, the difficulty is similar, because the national team does not have Too much technology supports us, we have to start from scratch.”
Hey~
Luo Jia's words made everyone feel heartbroken. Huaxia has been bumped and bumped along the way, and it is not easy to be stumbled by the enemy. There are a lot of compradors in the computer and semiconductor circles. Even such an important country as aerospace was almost taken into the gutter.
Ordinary people will never know the dusty past, how many times the life of this land was hanging by a thread, and how many times people stepped forward to turn the tide and collapse immediately.
History will make the most fair judgment one day. After decades, who will be recorded in the annals of history and who will be nailed to the pillar of shame in history, everything will be clear.
Luo Jia did not over-interpret the history, and directly entered the core technology link. While writing quickly on the whiteboard, he said in a deep voice: "To put it simply, liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen have the highest specific impulse and the strongest performance, but The design of the engine is extremely difficult, and the design of the storage fuel tank is also not easy. After all, liquid hydrogen takes up too much space, and there is a temperature difference between it and liquid oxygen, so it must be insulated, which makes the rocket fat and expensive to manufacture.”
"The most ideal state is to use liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen as the second or third stage to make maximum use of its super large specific impulse. The most powerful rocket in human history, the Saturn V, is made of liquid oxygen and kerosene. The first, second and third stages are all liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen."
"The specific impulse of liquid oxygen methane is lower than that of liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen, and higher than that of liquid oxygen and kerosene. It does not deposit carbon at all, and it is easy to maintain. As long as the engine is not burned out, it can basically be used indefinitely."
"In terms of storage costs, liquid oxygen needs minus 173 degrees, liquid methane needs minus 162 degrees, which is far lower than the minus 253 degrees needed for liquid hydrogen~IndoMTL.com~ For a long time, the storage of liquid hydrogen in rockets The problem is 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. With the same size fuel tank, liquid methane can make the rocket fly farther , and the speed requirement for the turbo pump of the rocket engine is not as abnormal as that of liquid hydrogen.”
"Anyway, when we take all 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. In particular, the engine does not accumulate carbon at all, and it can be used almost infinitely, 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 the earth's orbit. The amount will exceed the total amount launched into space in human history!"
"So, there is actually only one choice before us, and that is to develop a liquid oxygen methane engine. Only this kind of engine that can be reused infinitely, has a fast construction speed, and is extremely low in cost can complete the transportation of tens of thousands of tons of materials. , this task is almost impossible!"
Smiling slightly, Luo Jia raised his lips and said, "So far, no one, including the mighty NASA, has completed a liquid oxygen methane rocket engine, and we will be the first !”