ESA.

In the nearly three months since the Selene Plan was proposed, Italy and France have lobbied the remaining nine countries with great difficulty, and finally achieved something.

In addition to them, Spain, Germany, Germany, Henan, Norway, and Switzerland have expressed affirmative support and are willing to contribute money and technology, while the rest of the countries are mainly wavering.

In fact, the biggest target is to fight for Obi, but Obi's economy is not very good now, and he still has a lot of ideas about the Selene plan, but he is very worried about the execution of ESA.

After all, ESA is not a coalition government, and it cannot let the plan continue to be implemented in various countries, there are too many accidents.

In the past, there have been too many joint projects in Europe, either because there were too many variables in the middle of the process, or because of poor coordination, budget overruns, project delays, and few of them went smoothly.

Youde and Beard, the two industrial powers, agreed, and they thought that the technical problem was not big, but the budget was difficult to say.

According to preliminary estimates, the cost of a launch of the Veneto-1 rocket bundled with four EAP boosters is about $250 million, of which the main solid booster is the cost of consumption, and the core-stage Veneto 1 can be recycled and very cost-effective.

The launch cost of a heavy rocket with a LEO capacity of more than 60 tons is only 250 million US dollars, which is still very satisfactory to ESA, and the landing of two rockets on the moon is only 500 million US dollars.

In the first phase of the Selene program, that is, before the first moon landing, four heavy rockets need to be launched, one test rocket, one with a manned spacecraft around the moon, one to hit a lander, and one to officially land a manned spacecraft on the moon.

The lander then docked with the manned spacecraft in lunar orbit to complete the lunar mission and return.

The Veneto I, bundled with four boosters, is tentatively named HVE (Heavy-Veneto-EAP) rocket, which will cost a total of $2 billion.

The lander is led by Hair and De, and the research funding is about 1 billion US dollars.

As for manned spacecraft, ESA is still struggling.

The country wants to resurrect the "Hermes" space shuttle, which it abandoned in the Cold War, with a mass of about 25 tons, can carry four to six astronauts, and can be sent to lunar orbit by HVE rockets.

The preliminary demonstration and research of the Hermes space shuttle has been sufficient, and as long as the funding is granted, it can enter the actual development stage, and it is expected to make its first flight in 2019, and there is no problem in catching up with the moon landing in 2020.

The Belt and Germany prefer the traditional "Kepler" manned spacecraft, which is similar in size and layout to the mainstream second-generation manned spacecraft, and can carry up to 7 people and 4 people on lunar missions.

That's where the disagreement lies.

Antoine, the representative of the Aerospace Administration, convened the twelfth meeting to demonstrate the Selene plan, and he must decide which direction to choose at this meeting, and he must not continue to quarrel.

He looked at the more than 20 deputies present, and read out the evaluation reports of the two plans with a sullen head:

"The Hermes program will be 80% of the development tasks undertaken by the country, with an estimated total cost of $2 billion to $2.5 billion, and ESA countries will need to bear $1 billion to $1.2 billion, and we promise to complete the first flight and the circumlunar mission in 2019.

The Space Shuttle Hermes will be launched on a Veneto rocket at a cost of no more than $300 million per launch and can be used for near-Earth missions as well as ISS maintenance;

The Kepler program is expected to cost about $1 billion, and the first flight will be achieved in 2018, which can be reused, using the maritime recovery program, and the country will undertake 70% of the development tasks, and ESA will raise $500 million to use the Orion ESM service module, with an overall mass of 21 tons, and the cost of a single launch will not be higher than $250 million. ”

Well, the important factor in Germany's support for the Kepler spacecraft is that it is cheap, the Kepler spacecraft is a joint monster, and the ESM service module developed by Europe for the Orion spacecraft is directly used by it, and the spacecraft is its own.

This represents a significant cost savings, half of the cost of the Hermes program, which is very appealing to the rest of ESA.

Of course, the country wants the space shuttle, they are the strongest, and the intention of independence is also the strongest, a country has almost undertaken 80% of the launch tasks of ESA, how can everyone not keep up with the space shuttle?

Italy is also quite good in Europe, and its vision is also high, and it also supports the space shuttle.

But the views of the remaining 20 Member States were also important, so they could only be voted on by a show of hands.

Badis raised his hand first:

"Italy can provide $500 million for the Hermes plan, let's discuss the results today, and if the number of people on one side reaches 15, it will go straight through."

"Wait, if we follow the original budget of $10 billion, how many people can we send to the moon?" ”

Antoine: "If you include the development costs, there should be six to seven more manned missions after the first mission, sending a total of 14 to 16 astronauts to the lunar surface."

The cost of a subsequent mission is about $700 million to $800 million, and the lander carries two people at a time. ”

The representative of Spain: "That is, if each of our 22 member states had an astronaut on the moon, it would take at least 11 missions, and each astronaut on the moon would consume an average of $300 million to $400 million, not more than $9 billion in total, right?" ”

Baddis: "About $15 billion to $20 billion, that's enough for us to get every ESA member country on the moon." ”

Antoine: "I would like to remind you that the more missions, the more cost-effective the Hermes space shuttle is, and Kepler ships have to throw away $240 million worth of ESM service modules for each mission, and even if it is mass-produced, it will not be less than $150 million, and the Hermes space shuttle can save that money." ”

"Hmm......"

The representatives of the countries attending the meeting all fell into thinking, Europe is rich, 22 countries to scrape together 20 billion US dollars is not difficult, 20 billion euros is not much, especially the first phase of the Selene plan is at least 4 to 5 years, and the pressure of batches is even less.

However, unlike people's livelihood investment, Selene did not achieve much return, and the investment was doomed to be limited.

The meeting on 20 November lasted a full day, with three interspersed meetings between representatives and domestic liaison, and finally a final vote was taken at 7 p.m.

The head of ESA, John Dilriithi, stood up and said solemnly:

"Now for the first phase of the Selene plan, we will vote on ESA to invest a total of 9 billion euros in the plan over the next four years."

Twenty-two delegates voted unanimously.

Dilithi nodded, moving on to the next one:

"The next decision on the development of a manned spacecraft to the moon: the Hermes space shuttle and the Kepler spacecraft, if the former, needs to be pursued with 1 billion euros, and now the vote will begin."

Antoine immediately raised his hand and looked around at the others.

"One, two, three...... Sixteen...... That's great! ”

Dilitsch was quick to confirm the results, with 16 of the 22 delegates in favour of the Hermes space shuttle programme, two abstaining and four in favour of Kepler.

Germany also supports the Hermes space shuttle.

Johan Dilitsch: "Then, the first phase of the Selene plan was approved by the ESA meeting on November 20, with a total investment of 10 billion euros, with hair, Italy and Germany as the main development members of the Hermes space shuttle, Italy and Germany responsible for the development of the lander, and the rest of the tasks will be determined in the coming week.

I announce the official start of the European manned lunar landing and reusable vehicle programme, and the ESA will send astronauts from every member state to the lunar surface! ”

Excitedly, Badis brushed his scalp with his hands, slowly stood up, and hugged the representatives on both sides.

Regardless of the difficulties encountered in future cooperation, the Selene plan did paint a bright picture for ESA, and everyone began to applaud and it grew stronger.

(End of chapter)