Military Technology

There is still some time before the launch, Wu Hao can't just let these two stay here, so he still has to accompany them to visit the base. Of course, this is also an important purpose or wish of Lao Ma and Xiao Ma's trip, how could Wu Hao, as the host, not be satisfied.

First of all, they went to the rocket launch site. There is still some time before the rocket launch, so the site has not been closed and cleared.

Therefore, before closing and clearing the venue, I took the two of them to visit the site. Once the launch site is closed, no one else can enter, not even Wu Hao.

In addition to the base, the vehicle began to drive smoothly on the straight and wide asphalt road. The standing figure of the rocket in the distance has appeared in the eyes of everyone.

In the vast and endless desert next door, the tall rocket stands like this, it has to be said that it is very shocking.

The closer you get, the bigger the rocket will be, and even give people a sense of oppression. The height of more than 30 meters may not sound high, but the actual feeling is very shocking, especially when people stand at its feet and look up, the huge body makes people marvel.

The vehicle stopped in the empty space in front of the launch site, and everyone got out of the vehicle in shock, without looking at the rocket.

The staff on the side immediately gave them white hard hats, and everyone took them and put them on.

"Mr. Wu!" Zhou Xiangming and several people greeted him.

"Xiang Ming, I'll bring two presidents Ma over here for a visit." As he said that, Wu Hao introduced with a smile to Lao Ma, Xiao Ma and others: "This is Zhou Xiangming, the deputy chief engineer of our entire project. He presided over the design and development of this recyclable launch vehicle."

"You are really young and promising." Lao Ma looked at the very young Zhou Xiangming in front of him, and couldn't help admiring.

"amazing!"

Hehe, Zhou Xiangming shook his head with a smile and said, "This is the result of the hard work of the whole team, and Mr. Wu has also given us a lot of help. Otherwise, the progress of this project would not be so fast."

On the other hand, Brother Xiao Ma kept looking at the rocket and asked with a smile, "Can you tell us about the general situation of this rocket?"

"Of course, please come this way, everyone." Zhou Xiangming led the crowd, and introduced them with a smile to everyone.

"This is the second commercial launch vehicle developed by the Aerospace Science and Technology Research and Development Laboratory of our Haoyu Technology Company, and it is also the first retractable commercial launch vehicle developed by ourselves.

The rocket is 36.8 meters long, with a diameter of 3.52 meters and a take-off mass of 225.4 tons. The low-earth orbit carrying capacity can reach 4.2 tons, and the sun-synchronous orbit can reach 2.3 tons. This capability can basically meet the orbiting requirements of most commercial satellites and some spacecraft.

This rocket is composed of two rockets in total, which are composed of a first-stage recoverable rocket and a second-stage rocket.

After the rocket is launched, the first-stage part will automatically fall off after sending the rocket to a certain altitude. The parachute at the top of the first stage throws out the pilot parachute first, followed by the three main parachute. These main parachutes will greatly reduce the speed, and control the landing speed of the rocket in a more appropriate range.

The grid plate and direction engine on the rocket will continuously control the direction of the rocket's descent, thus ensuring the accuracy of the landing point of the first-stage rocket.

When the rocket is about to land on the ground, the launch pad is opened. Generally, this distance is between 200 meters and 100 meters. The main engine of the rocket will be ignited, thereby further decelerating, allowing the rocket to land smoothly, and the entire first-stage rocket recovery task is completed.

As for the second-level rocket, the rocket body is smaller, the cost is relatively small, and the recycling cost is high, the recycling is difficult, and it does not have the recycling value, so we generally let it fall at a fixed point.

For such a retractable launch vehicle, the first-stage rocket body accounts for about 80% of the entire launch cost. If it can be recovered, the launch cost will be greatly reduced.

According to our current quotation,

Generally, two launches can recover the cost and make a profit. And the design service life of the first-stage body part of our retractable rocket is five to eight times.

Of course, the number of launches will also be appropriately extended or reduced according to the recovery status of the first-stage rocket body. "

Hearing Zhou Xiangming's introduction, everyone nodded and had a general understanding of this rocket. Although I have read relevant information before, it is far less impressive than the on-site explanation.

Ma, who listened very carefully to the whole process, immediately asked, "Is this rocket reliable, and what advantages does it have over the Falcon rocket?"

Zhou Xiangming nodded when he heard the words and said: "Of course it is reliable, the most important condition for determining whether a launch vehicle is good or not is reliability.

If a launch vehicle is unreliable, it is of no value no matter how good it is in other aspects.

Therefore, when we socially develop and manufacture rockets, we put reliability first. The technology on this retractable rocket is not only borrowed from some international advanced and mature technologies, but also has many innovative designs and technical applications.

For example, the fuel used in rockets is independently developed by us. At present, this new type of mixed fuel has been recognized by experts in the aerospace sector, and has been partially used in some rockets to replace some toxic fuels.

The second is the rocket's flight control system and the newly designed return method. We have designed an "intelligent control brain" for this rocket. This "brain" can control the flight attitude control of the rocket, and can deal with some problems that occur during the rocket launch in real time.

Compared with traditional passive solutions, this proactive effort to deal with problems can greatly improve the reliability of the rocket.

The second is our self-designed return method, which is different from the way that the Falcon rocket needs to ignite the engine for the whole flight to land. Our first-stage rocket body uses a parachute to decelerate at medium and high altitudes, and only at low altitudes will the engine be turned on to ignite and slow down the landing.

The advantage of this is that on the one hand, it can increase the carrying capacity of the rocket, save more fuel and use it in the carrying capacity of the rocket.

On the other hand, this method of reducing the working time of the engine can prolong the life of the engine and even the first-stage rocket body, increase the number of launches, and further reduce the cost.

Finally, in terms of cost, the parachute thrown by the first-stage rocket body can be reused. It only needs to be recycled and cleaned, and then refolded, then it can be refilled and used.

And this parachute deceleration method can reduce the working intensity of the rocket engine, prolong its life, and reduce fuel consumption, thereby reducing launch costs.

Of course, there is another advantage of this, that is, the manufacturing difficulty and manufacturing cost of our engine are further reduced, and it is not as demanding as the Falcon. "