Dr. Schmitz said this, Sam and the others only then understood why this Mars spacecraft would need such a huge amount of money to build, according to Dr. Schmitz's explanation, this Martian spacecraft is actually built by three small spaceships that can return to Earth from Mars alone, plus a series of auxiliary function warehouses!

If someone wants to land on Mars, they will probably only think about how to send astronauts to Mars and how to return to Earth, and these additional insurance measures may not be considered at all, because that would make the entire Martian spacecraft much more expensive.

Think about it, the manned spacecraft of the Earth that can be returned from Mars is a remarkable design in itself, and to complete the return from Mars to the Earth, it requires a lot of fuel, but there are three sets of these Martian spacecraft at once, can this cost be low?

Although chemical fuels are not valuable, the cost of getting enough fuel from Earth to geosynchronous transfer orbit is not a small amount. And you have to put enough water and food in these three compartments, which is equivalent to placing three additional supplies on a Martian spacecraft, and this extra cost is absolutely unnecessary in the eyes of others.

But in Tang Feng's eyes, this kind of preparation is very necessary. Isn't it money? As long as it is safe in exchange for money, Tang Feng will definitely do it without hesitation. Obviously, this kind of three-insurance Mars spacecraft is very suitable for Tang Feng's requirements, so when Dr. Schmitz proposed that the construction cost of this spacecraft would be at least 80 billion US dollars, Tang Feng agreed without hesitation.

This kind of long-distance space flight of more than 56 million kilometers cannot be overstated!

Thinking of this, Tang Feng smiled and said to Dr. Schmitz: "Doctor, you have already talked about the general situation of the spaceship, so you can talk about the role of those functional compartments." I think Sam and they're also looking forward to seeing what these racks will do. ”

Dr. Schmitz nodded and said, "I won't say more about the rim cabin, and I won't say much about the bow and stern power cabins, but I'll focus on other functional cabins that haven't been introduced." The first thing I want to talk about is the core module, which is the cockpit. The cockpit is located in the third compartment of the main spacecraft, which is itself a lunar spacecraft, and houses the main control equipment of the entire Martian spacecraft. Our astronauts also need to complete the control of the entire Martian spacecraft in this cabin. ”

The cockpit is undoubtedly the most important part of a ship. And using the lunar spacecraft as the core cockpit of the entire Martian spacecraft is definitely a pretty good choice. First of all, the cockpit will prove its usefulness in the lunar landing program, and through the lunar landing program, the core flight deck can also be thoroughly tested for completeness. Once the lunar spacecraft passes the test, it is undoubtedly the most appropriate to use it as the core cockpit of the Martian spacecraft.

"Behind the core cockpit is the communications module, which, as the name suggests, houses the main communications equipment of the Mars spacecraft. In the absence of accidents, this chamber is the main communication equipment compartment of the entire Mars spacecraft; After the communication compartment is the spare fuel tank, which, like the main fuel tank, is prepared for the fuel of the ion thrusters, and of course, in each of these two compartments, twenty tons of chemical fuel will be stored, because our main ship also has a lander. All have space engines that use chemical fuels for propulsion. ”

"I won't say much about the electronics bay after that, and the various electronic equipment terminals of the main ship are housed in this cabin. It is connected to the core cockpit through various cables to facilitate the control of the entire Mars spacecraft by the core cockpit. After the electronic cabin, there is the living supplies reserve cabin, which has a total of two such storage cabins on the entire Martian spacecraft, mainly to provide supplies for astronauts, of course. If our space vegetables are grown, these two chambers will be the main chambers for the astronauts, along with the eight rim cabins. ”

"After the material storage cabin, there is a very important life-support cabin in the entire spaceship, that is, the water and oxygen production cabin. As you all know, water and oxygen are the most important supplies in space. These two materials can be converted into each other under certain conditions, and our life-support cabin is a cabin specially used to convert water and oxygen. ”

"In this cabin, there are 58 sets of hydrogen-oxygen batteries, which are used to synthesize fresh water. However, we usually do not use these batteries, because in the living supplies storage module, we will reserve enough fresh water for the astronauts, and only in an emergency, these hydrogen and oxygen batteries will be activated, and fresh water will be synthesized from the liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen stored in the cabin. ”

Similarly, an electrolyzed water unit is installed in this chamber. Because this chamber is the most important oxygen generating chamber in the entire spaceship, the most fresh water stored in this chamber is fresh water, and enough fresh water is stored in the entire chamber for electrolysis of water, which is enough to provide sufficient oxygen for the entire spacecraft. The hydrogen produced by electrolysis of water will also be pressurized into liquid hydrogen through a collection device and stored as synthetic water or chemical fuel. ”

This Tang Feng understands, as a college student, this way of electrolyzing water to obtain oxygen Tang Feng still understands. After one liter of water is electrolyzed, 623 liters of oxygen and 1,250 liters of hydrogen can be obtained, and the production of oxygen to sustain the needs of five people is also very small, only about 1,000 watts of electricity are required. At present, whether it is on the International Space Station or other places where oxygen is needed, electrolysis of water is the safest and most efficient way to generate oxygen.

"I won't talk about the next few cabins, I'm going to talk about the rotating body that connects the rim cabin to the main ship. This rotating body is a cylindrical cabin that can rotate 360 degrees, and there are a total of 12 openings on the side wall of this cabin, which are connected to the 12 wheel compartments, and the wheel cabin and the rotating body are connected by a hollow passage made of aluminum-lithium alloy, and there is a ladder in the 75-meter-long hollow passage, which allows astronauts to enter and exit freely between the main spacecraft and the rotating body. ”

"That's the structure and function of the whole Martian spacecraft. The total dry weight of the entire spacecraft is 744 tons, and if all the supplies and fuel in it are stored, the entire spacecraft will weigh more than 1,300 tons, which is more than four times the mass of the International Space Station. However, because we are going to manufacture all the components of this spacecraft by Rockwell International, the construction cost of this spacecraft is much lower than that of the International Space Station. Of course, if our Starry Sky 1 heavy-lift launch vehicle can truly be recycled and reused, so that the launch cost can be reduced to the level in the design, then counting the launch cost of spacecraft components and supplies, the construction and replenishment cost of the entire spacecraft can be compressed to about $80 billion before departure. However, if our Star-1 does not meet the expected design goals, this cost will need to rise by about 20% to 30%! (To be continued.) )