Theoretically, the altitude-independent nature of the plugged rocket engine could create a single-stage, reusable spacecraft that could be launched directly from the ground into space, and then land in its entirety and be reused like a conventional aircraft.

Soon the idea was being actually developed.

That's right, it's the Merriken Space Agency.

I have to say that the Merriken Space Agency in that era was really rich, and it was rich and idealistic, and dared to be the first in the world.

For this, Tang Chao also has to give them a thumbs up.

Their behavior of daring to be the first in the world, whether they succeed or fail, provides a lot of experience for latecomers and saves a lot of money and time.

At that time, they started a more than 10-year research and development program on the RS-2200 engine around this technology, using a linear structure, which is the kind of rocket engine that looks like a rectangle, and has the feel of a futuristic spaceship.

Accompanying this engine is a single-stage space shuttle replacement project called the "Adventure Star", with a triangular lifting body structure fuselage with square engines, plus an unmanned concept, which represents the future.

But this thing looks good, but it's actually very difficult.

Due to the need for reuse, the extremely high requirements for materials and processes, coupled with technical limitations, lead to the instability of the air tip engine, resulting in a sudden drop in thrust in the air.

This is very dangerous in the process of lifting off into space.

On the other hand, the problem of heat insulation and heat dissipation also involves new materials, which has not been solved.

Later, they felt that the "Adventure Star" scheme was too radical, so they built a small verification machine.

After all, the "Adventure Star" weighs more than 1,100 tons, and its length and width are more than 45 meters, which is much larger than the space shuttle, and even if most of it is fuel weight, it is too difficult to get this thing into space orbit without throwing it away.

It's better to be small, and small can satisfy them.

As a result, the length, width and height were reduced by half, and the weight was only a fraction of the original 130-ton "X-33" technology verification machine.

However, its development did not go smoothly either, not only with serious budget overruns, but also with progress falling far behind the original plan.

In the end, after the space agency and Loma spent a billion dollars together, they felt that this thing was still too advanced, and now it has a future, and then it was dismounted.

A few years later, the Space Shuttle was also retired for "too advanced" reasons, resulting in Merrican having to buy a ticket to the space station for a long time.

The hairy bear is also interesting enough, slaughtering it a few times, and the ticket is getting more expensive every year.

What Tang Chao is seeing now is actually the second prototype, the first prototype has been built and is doing various ground tests, and the second is for flight testing.

It was being assembled, and Werner took Tang Chao inside to take a look at the cabin and cockpit.

This model has three cabins, a cockpit, a transition cabin, and a passenger cabin.

The aircraft has a hatch that slides forward on its back, near the nose, and after entering, it is a transition cabin, which also doubles as an airlock cabin.

The capsule will also be loaded with some supplies, because passengers are designed to stay in orbit for more than two hours and have a simple space meal.

Ahead of the transition module is the cockpit, which can seat two pilots, and to the back is the passenger cabin, which can seat four space tourists.

Although there was no equipment in the cabins yet, Tang Chao could already imagine what it would be like when it was running.

Since this aircraft is a wing-body fusion fuselage, not a cylindrical fuselage, it is not easy to open the portholes on both sides, so the portholes of this aircraft are opened on the top.

Just above the front bulkhead of the seat, passengers can see it when they look up.

After the spacecraft reaches the predetermined orbit, passengers can unbuckle their seat belts and move freely, feeling the wonder of weightlessness.

During this time, the seats will be flattened to provide more room for passengers to maneuver, so that they can play some weightless tumbling and weightless flying movements, or float to the porthole to enjoy the beautiful space and blue earth.

The performance of this model is actually not good, its size is similar to the "X-33" that Merrican experimented before, but the shape is a little more sci-fi.

Moreover, although the "X-33" can land horizontally on the runway like a glider, it must be launched vertically like a rocket when taking off, and cannot save some fuel with the help of air lift.

The general payload capacity of this vertical take-off single-stage orbit vehicle is only 1%~2%.

That is to say, even if the design is very reasonable, the aircraft with a take-off weight of 100 tons can only carry 2 tons of cargo, and the poorly designed aircraft can only transport 1 ton.

It is not comparable to the 4% or 5% payload generated by the staged rocket after throwing off the dead weight.

Just like the more famous heavy falcon, its take-off weight is about 1420 tons, and the low-orbit carrying capacity can reach about 64 tons, with a load ratio of 4.5%.

If it is a vertically launched single-stage orbital vehicle, the same take-off weight can transport up to 28 tons of cargo.

This is still a theoretical value calculated at best, and the design of the aircraft is a little worse, and it may not even be able to transport 20 tons.

And the reason why Tang Chao said that the performance of his aircraft is not good, not because it can't reach 2% of the capacity, but because it only has 2% of the capacity.

His aircraft does not take off vertically, but horizontally.

In order for a rocket to fly vertically, the thrust must be greater than the weight, for example, the thrust is 10 and the weight is 9 to fly.

But the two values are also limited, there is a reasonable range, and it cannot be infinite.

Otherwise, there will be too much thrust, and the fuel will be burned out early, and eventually it will not fly into orbit, and then fall off.

Or there is too much fuel, the weight is too large, the thrust can't push the rocket, and it can't fly.

His winged aircraft that takes off horizontally is much better, the wings can take off with the help of the lift of the air, even if the thrust is less than the weight.

For example, the orbital shuttle in front of him has a take-off weight of 100 tons, most of which is fuel, but the maximum thrust provided by the six engines is only 93.6 tons.

Vertical take-off will definitely not fly, but fortunately, its wings can be lifted by air, and it can take off on the runway with 50% thrust.

If the thrust is smaller, the fuel consumption will be less, and when it flies to a high altitude, the air will be thin and the lift will not be enough, and the small thrust will not be able to push.

It doesn't matter, after flying for a while, the fuel is consumed somewhat, it weighs less than 90 tons, then driving to 100% of the 93.6 tons of thrust is enough to push smaller and smaller weight into orbit.

Originally, this design could break through the 2% setting, but the thrust of the Canxing Technology engine it used was too small, and one engine weighed one ton, six six tons.

In order to find reasonable values for weight, thrust and fuel consumption speed, the size and performance are limited, and only the load of the vertical take-off mode can be transported.

Fortunately, his flying machine can fly, which is also a breakthrough on the earth, and the technological stride is not too big, after all, there have been experiments before.

It can also be regarded as a kind of test of his reaction to the stress of the market and other countries.

And all take off, all come back, and pay for gas every time.

Even if he only transports a few rich people at a "low price", he will make a lot of money.