The contest between China and the United States in the aerospace field has also sparked a lot of discussion on the domestic Internet. In particular, the debate on which is more awesome in the Martian colony or the lunar orbital space station is particularly intense.

Leave some aside purely because of fart. There are still many people who evaluate the stock issue from a rational point of view.

For example, those who think that the United States has the upper hand believe that the BFR rocket uses the world's most advanced liquid oxygen methane engine, the maximum vacuum thrust can reach 138 megaN, and the low-earth orbit carrying capacity is 4.6 times that of Saturn V.

What's more, the Martian colony is tens of millions of kilometers away, and the difficulty of transportation alone and the lunar orbital space station are not on the same level, so naturally the United States is superior.

Those who believe that Huaguo has the upper hand are from a pragmatic point of view. No matter how you think about it, an enclave tens of millions of kilometers away from the mainland and two years to wait for a launch window is far less than the "close" moon.

Objectively speaking, the views of either side are tenable.

However, Lu Zhou did not pay much attention to the discussion around the lunar orbit project.

In his eyes, at least, none of these discussions really made much sense.

In the short term, whether it is China's development of lunar resources or the exploration of distant Mars, it is certain to lose money. Whether it is helium-tri and titanium ore in the lunar soil, or the rich reserves of iron ore and methane on Mars, it is still a distant pie.

Just as centuries ago, until the Age of Discovery was settled, no one knew whether the future of the colonial era would be in the Caribbean or on the more distant Spice Coasts......

Even if the moon is indeed closer.

Of course, although from the point of view of economics, the entire space program is bound to lose money, but sometimes it is not possible to consider the problem from the perspective of economics.

At least as far as China is concerned, the political, scientific research, cultural and other benefits gained through the space program cannot be measured simply in monetary terms.

Taking the Moon Palace program as an example, as the first country in the world to deploy a space station in lunar orbit, other countries that want to participate in moon-related scientific research projects can only sign cooperation agreements with China in this field.

For example, Germany, as the first country to reach an agreement with China on controlled fusion technology, naturally launched cooperation negotiations with China on the Moonpalace program.

According to the results of the negotiations, the Chinese side promised to reserve a scientific research post for the Max Planck Institute of Solar System after the completion of the first phase of the Lunar Palace project, and allowed Germany to send one of its own scientific researchers to serve in the Lunar Palace.

In exchange, the Max Planck Institute for the Solar System will cooperate with domestic research institutions in China on projects related to the development of lunar resources.

Also in diplomatic contact with the Chinese side on the Moon Palace plan are Britain, France, the European Union, Russia, Japan, and other countries.

As for the requests for cooperation from other countries, China has also shown an open and cooperative attitude. Even, even for the United States, which is in an adversary relationship, the Moon Palace has reserved a place for their astronauts.

At all times, the competitive relationship between countries is always relative, not immutable and absolute.

Although China tends to have a "clear stance" on the guidance of public opinion, in fact, the issue of international relations is far from being as black and white as most people imagine.

Even at the height of the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union reached many mutually beneficial collaborations in space and controlled fusion research.

At present, the competition between China and the United States is far from the end of the Cold War, and China, which adheres to the line of peaceful development, has never taken the initiative to provoke a struggle for world hegemony.

Of course, the premise of all this is that the United States is willing to open the outpost of the Martian colony to China, or offer equal bargaining chips in exchange......

At present, Lu Zhou does not know very well and is not very concerned about the specific step of the negotiations between the diplomatic department and other countries.

Of course, the diplomatic department is still responsible for diplomatic matters.

These trivial things have little to do with the Lunar Orbit Construction Committee.

Now he needs to worry about more urgent matters......

Jinling City.

Institute of Aerospace Science and Technology.

A meeting on the construction plan for lunar orbit is being held in the conference room of the institute.

The attendees were all bigwigs in the domestic aerospace industry.

Including Academician Yuan Huanmin, chief engineer of Hangke Group, and Director Zhang, the person in charge of the core module project of Yuegong, almost the whole industry gathered here.

Announcing the start of the meeting with a short opening remark, Lu Zhou walked to the front of the stage, looked around the conference room with a serious expression, and said concisely.

"I'm sure you've all heard that the first phase of the American Ares program has been completed."

"According to the relevant details disclosed by NASA, the BFR rocket did not use the traditional Hohmann transfer orbit, but adopted the method of direct orbit and directly entered the Martian gravitational system."

As soon as the words on the road fell, there was a noisy discussion in the conference room.

In fact, many people had heard about it before the meeting began, but when they heard it again at this time, they were still shocked in their hearts.

For a long time, spacecraft to Mars have used Hohmann transfer orbit, which is also the route to Mars that theoretically consumes the least fuel.

However, the orbit is not perfect, with a window of time every two years and up to 180 days in the air.

If it is used to launch a probe, 260 days is not unacceptable. But if it's to send passengers to Mars, it's a bit unacceptable.

Therefore, the BFR rocket, which is the main means of transport for the Ares program, with the goal of colonizing Mars, has chosen a faster flight trajectory. A BFR rocket in this orbit would take only 30 to 120 days to complete the journey from Earth to Mars, and would have a longer launch window than the Hohmann transfer orbit and no need to wait two years for the next launch.

As for the cost, it requires more fuel.

While on the surface it may seem that BFR rockets drive up the cost of launching to Mars, on the other hand, shorter flight times mean lower life-sustaining loads on BFS spacecraft and fewer sources of fresh water, oxygen, and food. From this point of view, the use of this launch route, which consumes more fuel, can reduce transportation costs......

Getting rid of the launch route of the Hohmann transfer orbit and being able to turn this seemingly crazy plan into reality, in a sense, Space-X's technology is indeed terrifying!

Looking at the conference room that was caught in the discussion, Lu Zhou did not speak, quietly waiting for the sound of the discussion to subside.

In this way, about five minutes later, a professor sitting in the conference room raised his hand and said.

"I have something to say."

Nodding to the professor who raised his hand, Lu Zhou spoke.

"Please."

Pushing the glasses on the bridge of his nose, the middle-aged professor said thank you to Lu Zhou, slowly stood up, and said his opinion in a soliciting tone.

"I think the successful launch of the BFR rocket proves to a certain extent that the chemical rocket has not reached the bottleneck as we imagined."

"Maybe we should revisit our development course, I don't deny the importance of electric propulsion systems, but it's probably a bit too early to give up on chemical rockets."

Looking at the professor who got up to speak, Lu Zhou pondered for a while, and suddenly spoke.

"If I were to give you fifty years and a billion dollars a year, would you be sure that you would be able to get a high-thrust rocket to the level of a BFR?"

It seemed that he didn't expect Lu Zhou to suddenly throw this question, and the expert was slightly stunned, and the expression on his face became a little solemn.

After a brief hesitation, he finally shook his head and replied honestly.

“…… Hard. ”

The BFR rocket has almost marked the pinnacle of the liquid oxygen methane engine, and standing on the shoulders of giants, it is difficult to find a rival to match it.

It is almost impossible to surpass the United States in chemical propulsion systems, given the current situation of the domestic space industry.

Even if he brags, he can't cross this sea mouth.

Lu Zhou didn't say anything, nodded to him, and motioned for him to sit down.

"Yes, as you said, it's hard for us to do that."

"Maybe there's room for chemical propulsion systems to rise, and by improving our engine technology, we can build bigger, farther-flying rockets, but it's almost impossible to rely on this technology to gain an edge in the space race, or even surpass our rivals."

"Therefore, it is our only choice to concentrate all our efforts, develop electric propulsion systems, and maintain our own advantages."

After a pause, Lu Zhou looked around the conference room and continued.

"While the BFR rocket has been a huge success, we don't have to be complacent."

"We may not be their opponent in terms of thrust, but we have our own advantages! The advantage of the electric propulsion system lies in the huge specific impulse, which the chemical rocket cannot catch up with in any case. ”

"Some time ago, I revealed that based on the propulsion system on the Xiangrui, Star Technology is developing a spacecraft that is more flexible and more suitable for the return between low earth orbit and the surface. Now that the research has come to an end, it's time to unravel the mystery. ”

After that, Lu Zhou looked at the big screen behind him and pressed the laser pointer in his hand.

Soon, a three-dimensional composition of the concept of the Xiaguang was presented in front of everyone.

Looking at the picture on the image, Academician Yuan's pupils contracted slightly, and he couldn't help but stand up from his seat.

"This is?!"

It wasn't just Academician Yuan who was shocked.

Looking at the unique shape of the space plane, which was very different from the traditional spacecraft, the sound of surprise suddenly spread throughout the conference room.

Looking at Academician Yuan, who looked surprised, Lu Zhou nodded with a smile and spoke.

"Its name is Kasumi! Our next-generation spacecraft designed for travel to and from the atmosphere. ”

Sitting next to Academician Yuan, also staring at the spacecraft on the screen in amazement, Sun Yuanpei couldn't help but say.

"This design ...... Will it work? ”

The four engines were spread over four twin-shaft fixed wings, with only one main engine remaining in the tail section......

This design is too messy!

"The technical feasibility study has been done a long time ago, and it is absolutely feasible in theory. As for the actual ......" Speaking of this, Lu Zhou paused for a moment and said in a firm tone, "Let's try it!" ”