A month later.

Cape Canaveral Air Force Base, USA, around the LC-40 launch pad.

Hua Kejing, Li Chenjing, and Lu Jieshi, the three of them were sitting on the viewing platform with binoculars and earmuffs.

It's not just the three of them, at this moment, the surroundings are full of spectators from all over the world.

On the launch pad in the distance, there is a behemoth with a whitewashed body, a height of 70 meters, and a building of more than 20 floors - a heavy Falcon rocket.

Perhaps due to the influence of the warm atmosphere around them, Li Chenjing and Lu Jieshi also became extremely excited.

"Immortal Banban, can you believe that watching a rocket launch will be as exciting as watching the World Cup."

"Even so, I didn't know I could watch a rocket launch up close like this, I used to see it on TV......"

Indeed, the atmosphere was no less enthusiastic than the football game.

Hua Kejing smiled: "It's easier to find a visit to the launch of Cape Canavenar, and the ticket price is cheap, so if you do the math, it didn't cost much for our three VIPs." ”

"Gotta get it!" Li Chenjing held up the telescope in the direction of the launch pad, "I didn't expect Lao Tzu to go abroad for the first time, and he actually came to see the rocket launch, what do you say, how awesome this rocket is!" ”

"This guy is the most powerful launch vehicle in service." Hua Kejing introduced.

Lu Jieshi also picked up the binoculars and asked with interest: "Then how many are we in the Long March in China?" ”

So, Hua Kejing introduced to them: "The top three active rockets in the world, the first place, is the one in front of me, built by the private space company Space X (Space Exploration Technology Corporation), a reusable launch vehicle - Falcon Heavy rocket, with a low earth orbit carrying capacity of 66 tons, a geosynchronous orbit carrying capacity of 28 tons, a take-off thrust of 2,600 tons, and a height of 70 meters. ”

"Second place, the American Delta IV heavy rocket, with a low-earth orbit carrying capacity of 30 tons, a geosynchronous orbit carrying capacity of 16 tons, a take-off thrust of 1,000 tons, and a height of 70 meters."

"The third place, China's Long March 5 rocket, has a low-earth orbit carrying capacity of 28 tons, a geosynchronous orbit carrying capacity of 15 tons, and a height of 58 meters."

PS: The timeline is 2021, so the capacity has been slightly increased by 5%, please don't get entangled in the data.

"Of course, these are just the data of the rockets in active service." Hua Kejing also picked up the telescope and added, "The strongest rockets in history are Maozi's Energy launch vehicle and the American Saturn 5 super-heavy launch vehicle, with three-stage structures, all of which are like prehistoric monsters. ”

"You should have heard of Saturn 5, the guy who sent the Apollo spacecraft into lunar orbit, with a total thrust of 3,408 tons and a low-earth orbit carrying capacity of 118 tons."

"I've heard it!" Lu Jieshi shouted proudly: "No matter what, our Long March 5 is also in the top three." ”

"It is indeed not easy, although our country's aerospace industry started late, but it has made rapid progress, and I believe that greater achievements will be made in the future."

"It's very domineering, this situation and this scene, when you say this, even I want to devote myself to the aerospace industry!"

Seeing Li Chenjing's serious face beside him, Hua Kejing hurriedly patted him on the shoulder: "Brother, without you, Yijing Construction can be crossed." ”

"That's it, Mu Yuaerospace is still waiting for you to make blood." Lu Jieshi also put down the binoculars and echoed.

At this moment, a string of text suddenly popped up on a huge screen on the side of the viewing area.

Space X Team - Falcon Heavy Rocket Launch Countdown - 10 minutes and 22 seconds.

Matching the text, a simulated animation also began to be broadcast.

According to the plan, this time the Falcon Heavy rocket was first lifted off from the launch pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Base.

A few minutes after launch, the three boosters of the Falcon Heavy rocket will successfully separate and return to Earth one after the other.

Among them, boosters on both sides of the rocket were recovered by landing on a concrete platform on the coastline around Cape Canaveral Air Force Base.

And the larger center booster will land on Space X's unmanned recovery ship in the Atlantic.

PS: During the first test flight of the Falcon Heavy rocket in February 2019, the boosters on both sides successfully landed, but the center booster ran out of fuel and fell into the water. However, the subsequent launches successfully completed the rocket recovery mission.

At this time, the time was approaching evening, and the sun was hanging on the top of the mountain in the sky.

Hua Kejing looked at it, and pieces of fiery clouds were covering the sky, mighty and mighty, showing a dazzling red.

The soft light poured down, and the white rocket, the majestic heavy falcon, also put on a carmine coat under the light of the setting sun.

"What if I'm a little excited?" Staring at the numbers on the giant screen, Lu Jieshi couldn't help asking, "The rocket launch will definitely be successful, right!?" ”

"There is no such thing as perfection in the world." "In the initial stage, in order to reduce the cost of carrying the vehicle, the Space X team only studied one thing, which was the recovery and reuse technology of rockets. Musk was bitter in those years, the original Falcon 1 was launched 3 times and exploded 3 times. ”

"Wow, that's all money!" Li Chenjing exclaimed.

Hua Kejing nodded: "In the face of continuous blows, coupled with the denial of society and the attacks of the media, Musk himself is about to collapse, and he is often woken up by being scared when he sleeps, yelling, the company has no money, it is going bankrupt, and he has cried in front of the camera more than once." Fortunately, Falcon 1 successfully recovered the rocket for the fourth launch, which greatly reduced the cost of each launch, and finally got a $1.6 billion order from NASA to regularly deliver supplies to the International Space Station. ”

"$1.6 billion, that's not happy to die."

SEEING LI CHENJING AND LU JIESHI'S EXPRESSIONS OF EMOTION, HUA KEJING CONTINUED: "THIS ERRAND FEE IS INDEED NOT ORDINARILY HIGH, AND IT IS NOT SOMETHING YOU CAN RUN IF YOU WANT TO, BUT AT THAT TIME, THE PRESSURE ON SPACE X WAS STILL VERY GREAT, BECAUSE THE LOW-EARTH ORBIT CARRYING CAPACITY OF FALCON 1 WAS ONLY 670 KG. Such a small rocket simply does not have the ability to deliver takeaways to the ISS. However, NASA's orders have been accepted, so I have to desperately research the next generation of medium-class rockets. ”

"And then Falcon 2, 3, and 9?"

"No, no, no." Hua Kejing shook his head, "The number of the Falcon rocket is numbered according to the number of the first stage thrusters, and the Falcon 9 is the 9 Merlin engine thrusters. ”

"Is the Merlin engine very **?" Li Chenjing suddenly cared, "Will Mu Yu Aerospace also learn related technologies in the future?" ”

Hua Kejing smiled: "From 2006, when the Merlin 1A engine was installed on the Falcon 1, it has been 15 years since this year, and it can be said that the first three generations of 1A, 1B, and 1C are walk-behind tractors, and no one in the aerospace industry at that time can afford it." Go rent a launch base, everyone knows you're going to have to blow it up. ”

"And then it blew up 3 times!"

The three of them smiled and continued to listen to the story of Hua Kejing's Iron Man in Silicon Valley.

The road of self-development of rocket engines is very hard.

In the cold Moscow that year, after a heartbreaking story, Musk made up his mind to dig up a group of experts around the world.

He spread his hands, I don't understand the rocket, I don't understand the engine, I understand two words - save money.

Once listed, the criteria for saving money are simple production technology, reliable performance, cheap cost, and the R & D cycle must be short, and you can't afford to spend it.

In order to reduce the difficulty of research and development, they adopted the classic open cycle, which is the kind that is open and the exhaust gas is discharged.

It's really earthy to say, it can't be fully burned, and it's still emitting black smoke.

The nozzle uses ablative cooling technology, and the turbopump and combustion chamber use ordinary ones.

What is the result, premature cubs with congenital heart disease, countless pits on the road to entrepreneurship, and this pit is still a bit big.

The nozzle is cooled by ablation, which is definitely one of the biggest pits, as it burns the engine.

Musk thought about it, it will definitely not work if it goes on like this.

So he gritted his teeth, and after 1A and 1B, he decisively overturned and restarted, which ushered in the rebirth of 1C and fixed Merlin's classic architecture.

Under the crazy pressure of the boss's nervousness, Merlin continued to evolve over the next dozen years.

All the way to the later Merlin 1D, as the main engine of the Falcon 9, it has successfully carried out nearly 100 launch and recovery missions, and it is very mature.

IT IS ALSO THE FALCON 9 THAT HAS ESTABLISHED SPACE X'S STATUS IN SPACEFLIGHT.

If technology can be moved, talents can be tapped, but status cannot be given in the hearts of others, and you have to rely on your own strength to earn it.

The Falcon 9 is the first rocket to achieve controlled vertical landing recovery on land or at sea.

It was the first rocket to achieve multiple reuse of the first stage,

It was the first low-cost multi-launch parallel low-cost rocket.

SPACE X HAS CREATED THE ERA OF PRIVATE COMMERCIAL AEROSPACE, COMPLETELY CHANGED THE GLOBAL COMMERCIAL AEROSPACE MARKET PATTERN, AND INSPIRED COUNTLESS YOUNG PEOPLE TO LOOK TO SPACE, LOOK TO THE FUTURE, AND DEVOTE THEMSELVES TO THE FIELD OF COMMERCIAL AEROSPACE.

IT IS TRUE THAT WE CAN DENY HER, WE CAN IGNORE HER, AND SHE CAN GO OUT OF BUSINESS, BUT IN THE HISTORY OF HUMAN SPACEFLIGHT, A STROKE HAS BEEN ENGRAVED ABOUT SPACE X.

On the other hand, there are certainly better engines than Merlin, but they are not suitable for low-cost commercial spaceflight.

For private aerospace companies, reducing costs and grabbing the market is the first step, because if they can't survive, everything is in vain.

The price of Merlin 1D is at the million-level level, and those engines that are tens of millions tall at every turn cannot afford to play for private aviation, and there is no need.

Hearing this, Li Chenjing couldn't help but sigh with heartfelt emotion: "This guy is really not easy. ”

Hua Kejing nodded: "But the era that belongs to Merlin will eventually pass, because the next era belongs to the liquid oxygen methane engine, and there will be more efficient engines to carry the banner of interstellar travel in the future." ”

"Na, na, na, ......" Lu Jieshi excitedly pointed to the countdown on the giant screen and shouted, "Don't say it, don't say it, the rocket is about to be launched!" ”

……

I would like to pay tribute to every friend who has been with me all the way, and thank you from the bottom of my heart for your support!