Chapter 717 Weakness
"Amazing, United Mining is the most amazing company I have ever seen!"
On July 14, the command module of Artemis 6 crashed into the sea with three astronauts in the waters near the west coast. Roy and others saw a group of people led by NACA Deputy Director Jim the next day.
The astronauts are currently recuperating at the Astronaut Training Center in Houston, but their mental state is quite good. It can even be said that they are the most energetic group Jim has ever seen after performing a lunar mission.
Roy, who was overly energetic, took the initiative to talk about everything he saw, and he couldn't stop talking:
"...You will never imagine how luxurious the Chinese people are...Jiuzhanghao is a small mobile base. I can even say that its living conditions are better than the 'Portal', with complete facilities and ample space!"
Their supply of supplies is done at no cost. It only takes four days for supplies sent from the earth to the moon at the fastest, and it takes less than 24 hours for fresh vegetables from the Tiangong Space Station to arrive! Man, every meal I've had has surpassed all the standards I've heard about space meals.
Of course, I know you want to hear more about technology. We are equipped with a total of two T7s and two T3s. The former is powered by a nuclear reactor and the latter is an isotope battery, both of which have continuous power!
You don’t know how smart their spacesuit is. Wearing it, you can jump to a height of 10 meters or the same depth..."
Roy's narration was a bit messy because of his excitement, but the NACA experts did not interrupt. Instead, they quickly jotted down the key points while quickly constructing the true situation of the Sky Canopy Project in their minds:
The Chinese have an almost unlimited supply of materials. Most of their energy needs are met by nuclear power. They are assisted by robots, and the work intensity of astronauts is greatly reduced...
Jim felt more and more shocked as he looked at the written words. Matthew and others had a similar conversation some time ago. Jim could feel that the power of the Chinese people on the moon was getting stronger!
In comparison, the "Columbus" camp seemed too slow. It had only been a few missions and the foundation was not even ready!
What Roy said is absolutely correct. United Mining is creating miracles every moment. It can really be described as amazing!
After Roy, Jim asked Felix and his deputy commander respectively. Although the caliber was not the same, they could all hear their shock at the Chinese aerospace technology.
After leaving the training center, Jim immediately got on the plane back to Washington and found Robert who was also busy.
…
"NOVA doesn't even have a successful engine test now. Can you complete the target of this year's test launch!"
As soon as he approached Robert's office door, Jim heard the roar coming from inside, and then rationally found a place to sit down.
The content was about the Saturn 7 rocket "NOVA". As far as he knew, this giant launch system was not going well.
The fastest progress of the Saturn VII is the first-stage rocket body. Although the 14-meter-diameter rocket body is unprecedented, Boeing is making rapid progress with the support of NACA's huge funds. It successfully trial-produced the first 14-meter-diameter ring three months ago. , the first-level sample arrow is already being intensively manufactured and is about to be completed.
The second-level recyclable spacecraft has been handed over to Lockheed, and it has just completed the verification test. They successfully conducted an atmospheric return test on a 1:3 scaled-down model. This year, they will produce a full-scale static test sample at most.
If the progress of these two is slow but tolerable, Rocketdyne's F1R engine is too frightening.
The F1R design is to have a minimum throttling range of 10% and be reused. It does not sound too difficult, but you must know that this is a liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen rocket engine with a thrust of 680 tons!
The Long March 18 uses 39 hydrogen-oxygen engines with a thrust of 280 tons. Among them, it is difficult to throttle the super-thrust rocket engines!
The F1R's reusable modification and ignition test went very smoothly, but the throttling part was a disaster. There was a risk of flameout when the throttle was throttled to 30%, and the thrust changes caused by throttling were completely nonlinear, which made Rocketdyne designers Already shaved off his hair.
Not to mention the originally promised first flight at the end of 2018, it seems that there is little hope for 2020.
The movement in Robert's office lasted for more than 10 minutes, and then he saw the designer responsible for coordinating the Saturn VII walking out with an ugly look on his face. Jim waited for a few more minutes before going in.
Seeing that it was his deputy Robert, he calmed down as much as possible. After briefly reading the report Jim brought, he put it aside and began to complain about various projects:
"Saturn 7 is backward and unreasonable. In fact, there is no need to support it at all, but now I have to try my best to save this shit! Endeavor is the one I am most satisfied with. If only everyone was as efficient and responsible as JFT …
Oh, and SSTO, that random monster has already been manufactured, but the engineer I sent to keep an eye on it told me that the existing design will be more than 20% overweight, and the aerospace plane will not be able to fly at all!
Damn it, why, why do Chinese people do everything so smoothly! "
During Robert's trip to China, he did more than just discuss aliens. Although he didn't make it to the Xinyuan Base that he wanted to visit most, he did have a good visit to the Jingu Rocket Manufacturing Base.
The Jingu base began its automation transformation more than a year ago after learning from Xinyuan. Even if it is not as exaggerated as OGAS, it has achieved remarkable improvements in output and quality.
Robert saw the Long March 5 rocket body, which is expected to make its maiden flight this year. The Chinese started working on six rockets at the same time before the first flight of this rocket, as if they were not worried about failure at all.
The only comparable company in the United States is SpecaX, but SpecaX can only mass-produce the first stage of the starship. The second stage of the spaceship is still under renovation, and there is no mass production capacity for more complex space station modules.
Thinking about these is not just to compete with the Chinese, but also an urgent need to deal with the alien crisis.
After going to China, he accepted the opinions of the other party's experts. Whether it is escaping or fighting, it is always necessary to build a huge space infrastructure and spacecraft first. NACA is also studying long-term plans.
If the future continues to drag on like this, then the original 10-year plan may be difficult to complete.
Jim listened to his complaints silently, suddenly stood up to lock the office door, sat down again and whispered:
"Mr. Director, have you ever considered buying Chinese technology? At least now we should all be in the same boat."
Robert's face was a little bad, but he was not angry. Instead, he explained in a low voice:
"We have proposed it implicitly, but they are very determined and refuse to share advanced technology. It may be related to the opening of the market next year. At least before we make a lot of money here, we don't want to find out these things.
Damn, I hope our companies won't go bankrupt next year because of Chinese dumping. The president really opened up all areas."
Jim was immediately disappointed. He wanted to say something but held back. Finally, he said:
"The president is too weak. We shouldn't keep giving in like this."