2007, 27 April.

Infinity Corporate Headquarters Building.

In the multi-purpose conference room of the Academic Committee, the heat generated by nearly 200 people made the whole room steaming.

The staff had to turn on the central air conditioner and let the cold air of seventeen degrees balance this temperature.

At the request of Director Gu, Infinity sent all the security team members to close the upper and lower floors where the conference room was located.

No one other than the researchers associated with the conference is allowed to pass.

The expert group brought by Director Gu this time was not only people from the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense, but also people from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Academy of Space Technology, and several other aerospace departments.

This also includes the aerospace aircraft research group secretly established by the state.

As early as 1996, the state quietly set up this research and development department to carry out theoretical research and practical research and development of aerospace aircraft.

In China, only a few people know about the existence of such a research group.

Including the family members of these researchers, they only know that their husbands went to participate in a top-secret research project, but they do not know where they went, what the research was, and when they will return.

In fact, they all went to Baijing, the national comprehensive research base.

Using the supercomputer interface provided by Infinity, the National Aerospace Aircraft Project team has done a lot of research.

The intelligence department and the secret service have painstakingly obtained information from abroad, and the latest progress in materials, engines, and processing technology from other foreign research units have also been delivered to them as soon as possible.

It is hoped that their research work will be progressive.

However, the progress of their research has not been smooth.

Fuselage design, aerodynamic layout, navigation system, life support system, etc., these general aerospace problems, with decades of domestic research accumulation, it is not difficult to come up with a set of stable solutions.

However, the most critical power system has never been solved.

Aerospace planes, which need to take off from the ground, like ordinary airplanes.

After that, at the speed of a supersonic jet, it will rush to an altitude of tens of thousands of meters, and finally, it will reach the first cosmic velocity, break away from the earth's gravity, and enter outer space.

Such a complex flight process, even an ignorant outsider knows that this is not something that can be solved by a power system.

To take off like an ordinary airplane, you need a turbine engine to accelerate from zero to less than Mach 3, to go up to tens of thousands of meters in the air at supersonic speed, and to increase the speed to Mach 20 per hour.

Finally, when detaching from the atmosphere, rocket engines are also needed to fly at least hundreds of kilometers in the absence of oxygen.

The project team has worked hard to address these issues, but progress has been slow.

After a long period of research, they finally admitted that with the current level of technology, the best way is to abandon the idea of taking off from the ground and use large transport planes to bring the aerospace plane to a high altitude and launch it from a high altitude, just like the people of the United States.

Such an approach is feasible.

But the problem that comes with it is that it will inevitably reduce the carrying capacity of aerospace aircraft.

Its practicality will be greatly reduced.

Yesterday, when I received a notice to let them go to South China City, Infinity Company held a plan demonstration meeting, all the researchers were stunned.

Could it be that the state also handed over the project to the National Aerospace Aircraft Project Team and Infinity to compete with it?

Isn't it only a few years since the launch vehicle of Infinity was launched, and the development of a manned space vehicle can be carried out so soon?

It's not just the National Aerospace Aircraft Project Team that has this idea.

Experts in the aerospace sector also hold the same opinion: the accumulation of technology in the aerospace field of Infinity is nothing more than a newborn.

Aerospace aircraft?

It's amazing that they can come up with a civil aviation regional airliner!

Most of the people in the domestic aerospace port know each other, after all, as the crystallization of cutting-edge technology, the number of truly outstanding astronauts is always limited.

Even if you haven't met each other, most of them have heard each other's names and know what his research direction is.

They were surprised to find that there were many old acquaintances in the National Aerospace Aircraft Project Team, all of whom had disappeared many years ago, and suddenly appeared here, and sat alone and separated from them.

Many people immediately guessed that they must have taken over some top-secret engineering project.

As a result, only a few people greeted them loudly, and the others just smiled and nodded slightly at them.

The people at Infinity are also talking about it.

The participants in this meeting were basically a group of researchers transferred back from Africa, and all of them were Chinese.

They wandered around Africa, discussing recent issues, technical difficulties, and the upcoming prototype testing.

With the conference table in the middle as the boundary, the researchers of Infinity and the expert group of the space sector who came to participate in the technical appraisal were divided into two parts.

The noisy conference room is like a free market.

Chen Weidong accompanied Director Gu and an officer of the general assembly into the conference room with a smile.

This officer, the leader of the general assembly who participated in the review of the flight simulator last time, came this time mainly to serve as the moderator of the meeting.

In order to exist as a neutral party between the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense and Infinity.

It was not the first time that everyone had met, and with a little politeness, the officer of the general assembly sat at the top of the arc of the oval conference table, and Chen Weidong and Director Gu sat on both sides of him.

When the personnel arrived, the voice in the conference room gradually became quieter, many people belong to the military industrial system, even if they are scientific researchers, there is still some discipline, gradually, the conference room is quiet, waiting for the start of the meeting.

The officer stood up, nodded to the scientists around him with a smile, and said with a smile: "You don't have to be restrained, we are always an observer in today's meeting, so I will make a long story short." ”

"You should know that what we are participating in today is the report meeting on the aerospace aircraft program proposed by Infinity, of course, what progress has been reached in their specific research, to be honest, I don't know."

"However, without diamonds, I don't dare to do porcelain work, since Infinity Company dares to come forward, it must have confidence."

"Then, let's invite the president of Infinity, Mr. Chen Weidong, to introduce their aerospace aircraft research to us, please applaud!"

After saying that, he was the first to applaud.

The conference room was covered with applause in an instant.

The researchers of Infinity by the window applauded the most enthusiastically, and they all revered this famous boss from the bottom of their hearts.

The people in the space department also applauded, but their applause, which was more ceremonial and not enthusiastic, soon stopped.

To tell the truth, they really can't raise their spirits about this report meeting, and they don't have any hope for the quality of the report meeting.

Chen Weidong stood up and nodded to his own researchers and the expert group of the aerospace department, and then said: "Thank you to the leaders of the General Assembly, the leaders of the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense, as well as the seniors and colleagues of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Academy of Space Technology and other units for coming to our company in their busy schedules to listen to the report on our aerospace aircraft research and guide our research work." ”

"On behalf of Infinity, I would like to express my deep gratitude for this!"

Representatives of the General Assembly Department, the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense, and all the experts applauded, which was even more enthusiastic than just now.

Chen Weidong's posture was very low, which made everyone present very satisfied.

After the polite words, Chen Weidong got to the point: "Aerospace aircraft, everyone here knows more than us, so I won't talk about the details anymore." ”

"However, I still have to recall, why do we need space planes, and what is the need for them compared to rockets and space shuttles?"

"Since ancient times, human beings have had the dream of flying to the sky, and Chang'e's flight to the moon and Verne's lunar cannon are all concrete manifestations of this spirit."

"The way we have space flight now is nothing more than a rocket and a space shuttle."

"But in both cases, both of them require a fixed launch site, which requires thousands of personnel to assist and maintain the launch site, and equip it with a variety of high-value instruments and equipment."

"At present, rockets are still one-time consumables, and although the space shuttle can be partially recycled and reused, its actual launch cost is even higher than that of the rocket."

"What's more serious is that these two methods will leave a large amount of residue in outer space, and as the residue increases, it will increasingly affect the safety of outer space vehicles."

"If this continues, sooner or later, we humans will be sealed on this planet by the fragments of our own making, and become frogs sitting in the well, looking at the vast universe, sighing in vain."

The researchers on both sides nodded slightly.

It's just that everyone doesn't care too much about some slightly artistic space residues in Chen Weidong's words.

Although there are more and more remnants of space, they have not yet reached the point where human beings are amazed.

The reason why countries want to vigorously develop aerospace aircraft is more because of the cost factor.

In order to build an International Space Station, the United States has to drag it to Europe, as well as the old enemy Mao and Russia, and do it together.

This is not a high price.

Huaxia wanted to participate in the exploration of international space, but they did not invite us at all, not only with a cold attitude, but also consciously hindered the development of our sounding and sabotaged our satellite launch mission.

If China wants to build its own space station, it is also a choice made by forced desperation.

The rocket has insufficient carrying capacity, and a launch requires months of preparation in advance, and it is also affected by the weather.

Although the carrying capacity of the space shuttle is powerful, the cost is too high for us to afford, which is the main reason for the development of the space shuttle. (End of chapter)