"How's it going on over there?"

This was the meeting of the heads of various departments of the Rocket Research Institute on Monday, and the first thing Zhang Xingyang asked was the question of the return capsule.

As an important vehicle for astronauts to return to the ground, it cannot be overstated.

And the return capsule involves a lot of technology that no one has been exposed to before.

"In terms of thermal insulation, the ablation-resistant thermal insulation coating we used earlier is also suitable for the return capsule."

Su Xiao, who is in charge of the research and development of thermal insulation materials, first stood up and reported the progress.

"Current experiments on the portholes of the return capsule have shown that the ablation-resistant thermal insulation coating can withstand temperatures in excess of 1,600 degrees Celsius."

"And because the portholes of the return capsule are designed with multiple layers of insulated glass, the temperature in the re-entry capsule can be maintained at about 30 degrees Celsius after heat insulation."

The thermal insulation of the re-entry capsule is very important if it is not possible to ensure that the temperature in the capsule is always maintained at a temperature that the human body can adapt to.

Otherwise, there is a mortal danger for the astronauts among them.

The original ablation-resistant heat-insulating coating developed by the Rocket Research Institute was used to insulate the outer layer of the Hongyan rocket.

Applied to the surface of the re-entry capsule, the effect is not as good as that on the rocket, which can withstand high temperatures of more than 2000 degrees.

But the return capsule will not produce such a high temperature during the process of returning from space.

So it's barely enough, but Zhang Xingyang still hopes to improve the performance of the thermal insulation coating.

"During the return process, there may be a high temperature of more than 2,000 degrees Celsius in an instant, and the performance of the insulation material needs to be further improved."

Su Xiao also knows that the performance of the thermal insulation materials they have developed still needs to be improved, but at present, the organic resin synthesized from silicon, phosphorus, nitrogen, boron, chlorine and other elements is currently used, and the places that can continue to improve are relatively limited.

So Su Xiao didn't give a 100% reply, but said more conservatively:

"We will try our best to improve the heat resistance of the thermal insulation coating, but the current material development has entered a bottleneck period, and we cannot guarantee that there will be a big improvement."

Zhang Xingyang naturally knew it, so he didn't embarrass Su Xiao, and said after nodding:

"Do your best!"

Then he turned his head to look at Geng Bo, who was in charge of the design of the thrust reverser engine for the return capsule:

"Thrust reverser engine, how is the development progress now?"

As an important equipment for the re-entry capsule to slow down during landing, the thrust reverser engine and the ordinary engine work differently.

It is more like a small bomb that explodes when the re-entry capsule is relatively close to the ground, providing an upward thrust to slow the re-entry capsule.

If the thrust reverser engine does not work well, then the impact force of the return capsule will be very high when landing.

At worst, the astronaut in it will have a blue nose and swollen face, and at worst, it may also cause a concussion.

"We're now using a two-set thrust reverser engine design."

Geng Bo shows off their latest design on a projector in the conference room.

At the bottom of the capsule are two honeycomb-like designs, each with 22 vents.

Each vent is capable of providing a certain amount of thrust when the re-entry capsule is close to the ground, slowing down the re-entry capsule.

At this point, Geng Bo did not use the large nozzle engine that was more popular in the world at this time.

Instead, a large number of small nozzle engines were used.

"After the thrust reverser engine receives altitude information, the eight nozzles in the inner ring first come into action to slow down the return capsule."

"After a slight reduction in speed, the fourteen nozzles in the outer ring then work for the final deceleration."

Geng Bo gave a little insight into the working process of the thrust reverser engine, and then began to explain why such a design was adopted.

"We used a multi-vent design, mainly because of the overload of the return capsule."

"Although our astronauts are selected from among the best pilots in the Air Force, a large overload will still cause a lot of damage to their bodies."

"After adopting the multi-nozzle design, it can effectively reduce the overload of the return capsule during landing and reduce the damage to the astronauts."

Speaking of this, Geng Bo paused slightly, glanced at Zhang Xingyang before continuing:

"And in the thrust reverser engine, we use the all-nitrogen anionic salt as a solid fuel, if we don't use time-sharing ignition thrust reverser operation."

"There may be a scenario where the thrust is too high, which pushes the re-entry capsule upwards."

Zhang Xingyang looked at the thrust reverser engine design plan on the curtain expressionlessly at this time, and did not say a word.

The atmosphere in the conference room seemed to cool down all of a sudden.

After a while, Zhang Xingyang asked:

"Have you done any tests?"

"How did it turn out?"

Geng Bo took a deep breath at this time and said:

"We have retrofitted a return capsule for aerial simulation experiments."

"The experimental results show that the thrust reverser engine uses the all-nitrogen anionic salt as a solid fuel."

"Able to reduce the speed of the re-entry capsule from 12 m/s to no more than 2 m/s in 2 seconds."

This performance is considered a good data in the entire field of manned rockets.

So Zhang Xingyang didn't continue to say anything, but continued to ask about the parachute of the return capsule.

"Did you send a sample from the parachute manufacturer?"

The parachute of the return capsule can be regarded as the most important deceleration device in the return process.

Komarov, the first cosmonaut of the former Mao Xiong, relied on himself to repair nearly 100 failures on the Soyuz-1 spacecraft, which was full of failures, and he was almost successful and could successfully come back alive.

But in the end, because the large parachute of the spacecraft could not be opened, he died helplessly on the plain near Orenburg.

Therefore, Zhang Xingyang attaches great importance to the parachute problem of the return capsule, and even a failure rate of 0.1% is not allowed!

"It's been sent, and there have been no problems in the previous several tests."

Geng Bo's answer slightly alleviated a little worry in Zhang Xingyang's heart.

But as long as we don't see the parachute of our own astronaut opening, we can never be careless.

"Gamma-ray altimeter, did you send it from the High Energy Institute?"

"I've made an appointment and I'll send it over tomorrow afternoon."

After getting the exact time, Zhang Xingyang couldn't help but admonish:

"After transporting it, we must do a good job of radiation protection."

The gamma-ray altimeter is mainly used for altimetry during the landing phase of the return capsule, which is slightly slower than the radar ranging, which is slightly slower.

The response speed of gamma source ranging is very fast, but the range is small, and it is mainly used when the return capsule is close to the ground.

However, because high-energy particles are used to measure the distance, it will produce relatively strong gamma ray radiation, and if you do not do a good job of radiation protection, it will have a relatively large destructive effect on the human body.

(End of chapter)