Chapter 1043 Mars Probe

**** is efficient, thoughtful and thorough, and Andre's trip went very smoothly.

The Baikonur Cosmodrome, as the most important space center in the Soviet Union, undertakes the largest launch missions. This launch was still carried out here.

This was not the first time Andrei had come here, but as the successor to the General Secretary and the actual controller of the Soviet, Andrei's popularity was of course unprecedented!

In the conference room at the launch site, Andrei listened to the reports from on-site experts, especially the report from Chelomen, the person in charge of the Mars exploration program.

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Among the Soviet aerospace figures, Chelomen was a tragic figure. He could not fight against Korolev, and the various projects in his hands were often cut. In particular, in later generations, before the collapse of the Soviet Union, one of his projects was said to have been developed without a project approval, and he was going to be sent to prison.

But now, the situation has changed a lot. The Soviet Union is constantly developing space technology, and Chelomen has also got a share of it. He is responsible for continuing to research nuclear-powered rockets to meet the needs of exploring Mars!

Chelomian was full of energy and worked hard. Finally, his efforts have paid off. The nuclear-powered rocket is about to fly for the first time to carry out the mission of exploring Mars!

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"Our nuclear-powered rockets are fully capable of launching payloads directly from the launch site, but because the gases ejected by our nuclear-powered rockets are radioactive, we have to adopt the current compromise solution," Chelomen said. "We need to use the Proton rocket to launch our Mars probe."

One problem with nuclear-powered rockets is that they are radioactive! Therefore, this first detection was not to ignite directly on Earth, but to use an ordinary rocket to launch this nuclear rocket. After leaving the atmosphere, the nuclear rocket can work!

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"We are currently developing the latest dual-mode nuclear rocket engine system," Chelomen continued. "A single engine in this system can generate 168 kilonewtons of thrust and provide 25 kW of effective electrical power. This single engine is sufficient for our probe this time, and our manned Mars exploration plan will use four such engines in combination, which will be able to completely and effectively solve the propulsion power and power supply problems of the Mars exploration spacecraft."

168 kilonewtons! This seems to be just the thrust of a turbofan engine, but you have to know that the biggest advantage of this engine is that it can provide thrust continuously! In space, there is no resistance, and this engine can accelerate to an incredible speed if it continues to work! Ordinary rocket engines can only work for a few hundred seconds, but this engine can work much longer!

Moreover, in later generations, the Russian proposal only produced 68 kilonewtons of thrust, and four engines were able to carry a payload of about 90 tons to land on Mars in one go. Of course, these equipment were launched by a carrier rocket.

Andre nodded: "We will not stop exploring space. If this launch goes smoothly and the probe can reach Mars, we can prepare the technology for our manned landing on Mars, and then our manned landing on Mars plan will be approved."

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Now, we are just launching a probe to verify the technology. When the technology is mature, we can start the plan of manned landing on Mars!

Initially, the Soviet Union fell behind in the manned lunar landing plan. The N-1 rocket, which was built like building blocks, had a 100% launch failure rate. But now, the Soviet Union is alone in the manned exploration of Mars. After all, the Soviet Union has no rivals!

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Chelomen showed a joyful expression on his face. Manned exploration of Mars! If this plan can be carried out, he will also go down in history because of this plan!

"Yes, Marshal Andrei," Chelomen said, "We firmly believe that our launch will be successful this time!"

It will definitely succeed! After all, the Proton rocket has been launched many times with a very high success rate, and their payload, the nuclear-powered Mars probe on top of the Proton rocket, has also been tested many times and there are no problems at all!

"The development of liquid rockets has reached a bottleneck. We must study new methods and new space technologies to realize our dream of space exploration." Andre said: "Compared to the scale of the universe, our current methods are still too backward."

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Andre in later generations read a book called A Brief History of Time. It was easy to understand and made readers feel the insignificance of human beings. In order to carry out space travel and space exploration, more advanced technology and more advanced theories are necessary.

The launch window will open in two hours. While Andre was discussing with these experts, preparations were also proceeding in a tense and orderly manner in the launch hall.

The Proton rocket with boosters stands on the launch pad. It is already a mature rocket, and has been launched more than 200 times so far. Now, the latest Proton-D rocket, with boosters tied to the bottom, looks quite spectacular, and the Mars probe is installed in the fairing above it. At the same time, this is not the first time it has launched a Mars probe. It has launched several times in the past, but this time, the probe it launched is definitely different!

As it was getting dark, the launch window finally arrived!

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When the flames came out from the bottom of the rocket, the whole rocket was shaking and slowly climbing upwards! The speed was getting faster and faster!

It passed through the atmosphere, discarded the booster, and the rocket behind it fell off one by one. When the top stage ignited, it had already entered the geosynchronous orbit! One launch into orbit!

If it were an ordinary satellite, the speed would be enough now, but it is certainly not enough to explore Mars!

After the four-stage rocket finished burning, the fairing on top opened, revealing a unique probe!

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This probe has a large head and a small rear. The exposed trumpet-like rocket nozzle looks even more impressive. After the fourth-stage rocket fell off, it also began its intense work.

The liquid hydrogen pump starts to pump out the liquid hydrogen in the front liquid hydrogen tank and pump it into the cooling jacket through the conduit. After being heated, it becomes gaseous hydrogen and enters the hydrogen turbine through the conduit. The gaseous hydrogen expands locally in the turbine and enters the nuclear reactor after the pressure drops. At the same time, the energy generated by the turbine is supplied to the liquid hydrogen pump to achieve autonomous circulation.

After entering the nuclear reactor, the hydrogen quickly absorbs the heat of the reactor, the temperature rises sharply, and becomes a high-temperature and high-pressure gas! Then, it enters the nozzle to expand, converting the heat energy into kinetic energy and ejecting it from the nozzle at high speed!

During the whole process, there is no real combustion, so there is no flame at the tail, only milky white hydrogen vapor! It looks even more spectacular. For the first time in human history, nuclear power was actually used on a rocket!