A group of experts are also old people, and they understand that this is really a tough battle and has to be fought.

But now planning to achieve the moon landing in three years, there are many troubles.

Academician She was silent for a long time, and then grabbed the pen and slowly spoke:

"The biggest problem is the rocket."

As soon as other experts were started by him, they also analyzed:

"That's right, we have experience in the development of manned spacecraft, and we also launched Chang'e-3 lunar exploration, and the technology accumulation in the early stage is much stronger than that of Aramco, and it is not an obstacle in terms of technology."

"The lander has several advance plans, and the soft landing on the lunar surface is not unprepared."

"The Earth-Moon transfer orbit capacity is at least 55 tons, which is a hard indicator that cannot be compromised! Our astronauts don't sit on washing machines. ”

"On the basis of the Long March 5?"

"A conservative configuration that is not necessary, has no potential for improvement."

“……”

This discussion didn't last long, because it had been thought about a thousand times.

When Aramco started the space race, Huaguo also launched its own space project "Dawning Project", and Qian Lao also designed the Long March 10, a giant rocket for manned landing on the moon.

Later, when the space program was restarted in 92, every time a new rocket appeared, the experts of the space agency would wonder: how to use the existing technology to land on the moon?

Including the Long March 5, which has a capacity of only 8 tons in the Earth-Moon transfer orbit, the designers were thinking about how to make it go to the moon when it was designed.

Theoretically, of course, the Long March 5 can also be, after all, the lunar spacecraft is not a whole, it can be launched separately one by one, assembled in five to six launches, and then launched a manned spacecraft to the moon.

But not to mention this patchwork moon landing, the main thing is that it is risky, costly, and meaningless, and it has no use except for being able to land on the moon.

And because it needs to be docked many times, the risk and difficulty are very high, unless the aliens who can't land on the moon will invade the earth, so this plan is best ruled out.

So no matter how you discuss it, you can't get around the giant rocket, Xinyuan-2 can't do it, it has to be a giant rocket of the level of Xinyuan-2A or Xinyuan-3.

But think about the stumbling blocks in the development of the Long March 5, from the establishment of the project in 09 to the present, there has been no first flight, on the contrary, the Saturn 5 has only taken seven years.

Of course, Ami was a national system at that time, and it was impossible to generalize, but the gap was so big that it was uncomfortable to look at.

The superiors more or less understood, and said a little unwillingly:

"Couldn't we hold back a heavy rocket with the strength of the world's largest industrial power in the extra half century?"

Academician She clasped his hands, thought about it for more than ten seconds, and then looked up at the experts present:

"The Long March 9 is too late, the development of the 10-meter rocket body will take too long, we must make use of the existing technology as much as possible, and can only use the 5-meter diameter rocket body."

Although the Long March 5 rocket has not yet made its first flight, the 5-meter-diameter rocket body has already passed the acceptance, which is qualified and usable, and the 10-meter class is still blank and has taken too long.

The arrow body is solved, that is the engine, this is the key, everyone looked at the experts of the Sixth Academy, and pondered for a moment in the rear:

"This ...... I have two ways, one is to connect multiple YF100s in parallel, and the other is YF130, two combustion chambers in parallel, which are homologous to YF100;

You know that this design is useless except thrust, and it can't be reused, so I haven't made up my mind, if it's determined now, a year...... 9 months, there must be a budget of 1 billion in the early stage, we try to build a prototype in 7 months, and try to use another 1 to 2 months to stabilize its quality. ”

Well, there is also a high-thrust rocket engine, and in the end it is the configuration.

Yun Hongjun, an academician scientist of the First Academy of Astronautics, took out a blank piece of paper and drew while writing.

"5 meters in diameter, then you can only bundle more boosters, boosters...... It must also be used 5 meters; Tie 4 boosters, each booster has two YF130s, and two cores are also used in the core stage.

10 YF130, according to the data of this year's exchange meeting, sea level thrust, that is, 4890 tons of thrust, 3600 tons of arrow weight, 120 tons of low-earth orbit capacity, the earth-moon transfer orbit capacity depends on the second-stage engine, 4 YF77, the total thrust is 270 tons, and it should be no problem to send 45 tons of load to the moon.

The YF100 parallel scheme is not considered, there are too many, and it will take thirty units to say the least, and there will be an accident. ”

The superior looked at the stick figures and data summaries on the white paper, and frowned:

"45 tons, close to 20% short of 55 tons."

"Then two more boosters."

It was Academician She who spoke, and he was also forced to collapse a little by Xinyuan Aerospace Power or Lin Ju, and drew a circle on the white paper, and then drew 6 circles of similar size around it.

"6 boosters, 14 YF130s, 6,486 tons of thrust, 4,930 tons of take-off mass, 150 tons of low-earth orbit capacity, and 55 tons of Earth-Moon transfer orbit capacity, enough, absolutely enough."

The others imagined the scene of the 5-meter rocket of the core stage being bundled with 6 5-meter diameter boosters, and suddenly shuddered.

"No, the tremor of the 6 boosters is too big, and the gap between the arrow bodies is probably only 30CM, and the fault tolerance rate is too small.

And a whole 14 engines, 28 vents! No, absolutely not. ”

"Divide it into two times, 6 boosters are indeed too risky, twice, you can send 90 tons over, not only can you land on the moon, but the lunar scientific research station can also be put together, adjust a little to the left, 45 tons of manned landing on the moon is enough, and the next rocket for the rest will be solved. Or on-orbit docking is OK, now it's not 50 years ago, and the risk of moon-orbit docking is acceptable. ”

Yun Hongjun from the First House spoke again, and this time there were many people who agreed with him, all nodding.

Academician She also thought about it: "Then I don't have an opinion, we... Let's call him the Long March 10, a total of five rockets to complete the initial lunar landing plan, one to carry a manned spacecraft for verification, one to launch a manned mission around the moon, and one to send a scientific research station.

We transfer part of the mass of the lander to the scientific research station, or drop part of it while manned around the moon, and then it will be fine. For more than three years, 25 5-meter diameter arrow bodies, we will definitely be able to do it in a hurry. ”

The superior looked at the others, and there seemed to be no objections, so he leaned forward and asked seriously: "So, this ...... Long March 10 is also worthy of a name, tell me how long it will take you? ”

A group of experts exchanged ears, and after a while, Academician She concluded:

"The first-stage rocket body can be manufactured immediately, and the YF130 will be delivered within 10 months, and the YF77 and YF75 used in the second and third stages are ready-made, so that the Jingu rocket manufacturing base will work overtime...... In August next year, the first Long March 10 can make its first flight before this, and each launch needs to be manufactured and inspected with an interval of eight months, but the production capacity of the Jingu rocket base should be faster, and it is expected that the manned lunar mission will be carried out in August 2018, and no later than March 2019.

If there is an accident and a rocket does not succeed, then we will save the rocket that launched the lunar base and carry out a manned landing on the moon first, as early as March 2018, but this is the most ideal situation. ”

After Academician She finished speaking, he thought for a while:

"Each rocket costs about 1.5 billion yuan, the research and development cost is at least 4 billion, and the development of a new generation of manned spacecraft and lander is at least 5 billion.

Moreover, to carry out a large-scale expansion of the rocket manufacturing base and the engine manufacturing base, the additional investment will cost 2 billion to 3 billion. ”

Academician She said that he was a little scared, the space agency had never obtained such a large budget in a single project, and his voice would tremble even when he said it.

But it's also inevitable, all their discussions just now are based on over-budget support, otherwise the time will be at least doubled.

But he actually knows that this is far from the upper limit of China's aerospace potential, if the world's largest industrial country is really allowed to go all out, the Long March 10 can be launched in 3 months, but then the price will be too great.

"In that case, then I ask you to send the Chinese people to the moon before August 2018, and I order that the Long March 10 project be established immediately! I will submit this opinion at the highest meeting, but I want you to assure you that the space agency will send the first Chinese to the moon before private spaceflight! ”

The superiors focused on the "first" to strengthen the tone, because this first is the meaning of the existence of the Long March 10, otherwise there is no need at all.

Lin Ju would never have thought that the space agency made an exception to carry out the competition not because of Ami, but because of Xinyuan Aerospace Power!

(End of chapter)