Texas, SpecaX base.

Lao Ma sat on a chair with a dozen engineers wearing NACA logo T-shirts and watched the introduction of Tom Mueller, the chief designer of Starship and the chief designer of the Falcon 9 and the leader of the Merlin series of engines.

“…… Starship is designed to be a multi-purpose, multi-purpose planetary spacecraft with a variety of application scenarios that will revolutionize the traditional concept of astronautics.

On Earth, starships can reach any corner within one hour through vertical take-off and landing and rudder surface maneuvering; In lunar missions, it can be used as a lander, spacecraft, and returner with only a few modifications, and any landable planet such as Mars and Europa is!

It is made of stainless steel, which is cheap and robust, and the dry mass ratio is less sensitive than that of a recyclable rocket, and it can carry a load of up to 200 to 300 tons even as a conventional rocket......"

Tom Mueller gushed about the prospect of the starship spacecraft, and the NACA engineers below just listened with a cold face and didn't say a word until the other party was finished:

"So, what is the total investment in Project Starship?"

Elon Musk: "$3 billion, give me two years, and it will be able to travel in the solar system." ”

The NACA engineers nodded slightly, whispering something to each other, and after a few moments slowly pulled out the list.

"After NACA's evaluation, we believe that Starship-Super Heavy has the potential to be a universal spacecraft and have decided to provide some funding and technical support as follows:

TUFROC overall toughened and anti-oxidation composite structure thermal insulation tile;

9-meter large-diameter rocket body manufacturing technology;

Intra-Atmosphere Flight Control System Technology;

……

With a total of 14 key technologies and $1 billion worth of support, gentlemen, I hope you can work a miracle, maybe in 2024 our astronauts will land on Mars in a Starship spacecraft. ”

Musk breathed a sigh of relief when he heard this series of technology lists, and at the same time, a smile appeared on his face, and he shook the hand of the person who came:

"Thank you, SpecaX continues to carry the Aramco Aerospace dream."

"Mr. Elon, I hope you will respect some traditional techniques more, NACA is not an old antique yet."

The jokes of NACA engineers embarrassed the old horse, who had planned to use a stainless steel casing to resist atmospheric friction in order to save costs when the Starship prototype was being built.

As a result, no matter how much it was strengthened, it would cause structural damage, so they had to add thermal insulation tile technology to NACA technical support, and the latest thermal insulation tile used in the official X37B they obtained adopted a hexagonal honeycomb structure, which is more durable.

Not only Starships will be used, but also Dream Chaser and FATS programs, which are much more advanced than the old Space Shuttle programs.

After a long period of thought, NACA finally decided to support Starship, and although there are some risks associated with multiple launches in parallel, this is currently the fastest way to get a super rocket.

Whether it is the rocket body or the engine, NACA will provide technical assistance to require the starship to complete its first flight before the Artemis III mission, which is the official landing on the moon, as a vehicle for subsequent missions.

Director Claire began to prepare for the Mars program after John's victory, and there is no doubt that reusable giant rockets must be done, one-time rocket funding is a trivial matter, and low launch frequency is a hard flaw.

What's more, SLS is about to be launched, and the budget has been more than doubled, so it would be too wasteful to rely on SLS in the future.

As for the established manufacturers such as Boeing and Loma, neither their appetite nor their reaction speed are as reliable as the SpecaX, and Claire must not put her hopes on them.

……

"Samarkand, you should know that heavy rockets are not successful by simple stacking."

"Yes, the GSLV project has taken a lot of our energy, and you're right."

In Moscow, Samarkand was taken around several aerospace design bureaus by Lao Maozi, admiring many grand plans and advanced products, and his saliva flowed all the way, and even the usual pride of the third brother was suppressed.

Shivin Samarkand studied at the Imperial Institute of Technology since he was a child, traveled to Germany and Aramco, and is a little more pragmatic in thinking than the megalomaniacs in China, so he is more aware of the technological gap between India and Lucia.

The Gaganyan program has been advanced for decades, and from a technical level, it can be described as breaking through the lower limit of aerospace technology.

If you really want to compare, it is probably more advanced than the "Vostok" that Gagarin was riding?

Let's take a look at the "Eagle" spacecraft that Lucia is developing, which is of the same level as the new spacecraft of Huaguo and Ami, and surpasses the Gaganyan spacecraft by not much.

Although both sides ideally thought that they could land on the moon in 2020 when they imagined the Asia Star program with the island nation, they could calm down immediately after looking at their own background, and they knew that it was somewhat unreliable.

Fortunately, as Lucia's loyal leader, Samarkand still believes that he can seek technical help here.

Yuri first praised the third brother: "The design idea of the Gaganyan plan is very advanced, and landing in the Indian Ocean can save a lot of mass, this idea is very good, but do you really plan to send people up next year?" ”

"Of course!"

Shivin Samarkand reflexively straightened his chest, but his eyes clearly had something to say.

Yuri:......

Fortunately, he was accustomed to the third brother's appearance of not admitting defeat, and Samarkand also reacted and lowered his head a little, and said in a low voice:

"Of course, if there can be some support from countries that are more experienced in space technology, the Gaganyan spacecraft will be more reassuring, and India is willing to reciprocate such friendship."

Yuri looked at Samarkand's three raised fingers, squinted and shook his head slightly.

The latter gritted his teeth and erected four.

Yuri still shook his head, and Samarkand thought bitterly for a long time, and opened all his palms.

Yuri put all his fingers together with both hands and said sincerely:

"Lucia is willing to fully support our Indian friends in developing an independent space industry, the Gaganyan program is too small, and we still need a space station in the future, as well as the Asian Star program to the moon, and RKA can give full support."

Samarkand understood, Yuri actually wanted to say that this mosquito leg is who are you sending away.

"That, that......"

Yuri interrupted him and went straight to the point:

"Lucia and the League have had a lot of experience designing lunar landers, aren't you responsible for the lander design of the Asia Star program? It is better to participate in our lunar exploration program and gain experience. ”

Samarkand: "Lucia...... Want to restart lunar exploration? The last Luna 24 probe was in 1976, right? ”

Yuri: "Luna 25 is already being built, and you can get involved in the process and technology of landing on the moon, and develop your own unmanned probes and manned landers.

There is also the H-X rocket, a heavy rocket with a take-off weight of 1,500 tons, you should know how difficult it is, but this is nothing for Lucia. ”

Samarkand: "So how much does it cost?" ”

Yuri: "Measuring friendship by money is a huge disservice to our friendship, why don't we go to the drinking party and relax for a while?" ”

(End of chapter)