This star is going to the moon

Chapter 111 Manned Lunar Landing Seminar, Find Lu Yun

The manned lunar mission could not have been a simple scientific and engineering issue from the very beginning. The manned lunar landing plan in the space race of the last century had very strong political implications.

It’s probably the same in this life.

However, given that the last space race was indeed too crazy, both sides are much more rational this time.

Because regardless of politics or not, no one can afford to spend too much money.

The last time the US launched a manned lunar landing program, it was extremely expensive. Not to mention the various facilities, the cost of a single-use Saturn V rocket alone was enough to buy as much as a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier.

That manned lunar landing program cost more than $250 billion at the time, which is equivalent to more than $2600 billion today.

This time the American scholar has learned his lesson. The core of the plan is to save money, save money, and save money damn well!
Therefore, the SLS rocket, which plays the main role this time, also needs to save money.

Its engine is from the space shuttle, its main fuel tank is the large orange tank of the space shuttle, and its solid booster also comes from the space shuttle.

So a single launch of it will no longer cost the same as the construction of a new nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, because...

The cost of building a Ford-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier is over 100 billion!

US dollar, US knife!

The launch price of an SLS rocket is $40 billion.

It was previously planned that the research and development funding for the entire SLS rocket system would be US$100 billion, but now the rocket has exceeded the budget before its first flight. Boeing, which is responsible for research and development and manufacturing, has been asking Congress for money.

According to the American plan, the cost of the entire "Return to the Moon" plan must be controlled within 1000 billion US dollars.

I don’t know if it can be achieved?
On the Chinese side, the unmanned sample return Chang'e-30 project, which fully tested the manned lunar landing process, cost more than billion yuan.

So at the beginning, people’s most extreme “dream idea” to save money was that the manned lunar landing project would cost ten times as much as the Chang’e 5 project.

That is more than 300 billion RMB.

Of course, the reason why it is a "dream" is because it is impossible. The difficulty of manned space travel increases exponentially compared to unmanned space travel, and ten times is simply not enough.

At most, it will reach the $100 billion R&D cost of the SLS rocket program, which is less than 700 billion RMB.

Even if we grit our teeth and think that if the new technologies developed in the manned lunar landing program can be applied to other areas on a large scale and conveniently, the overall funding may be able to reach 1000 billion like the Americans.

Of course, it’s RMB.

This is a lot of money. Even though the official exchange rate between RMB and USD is so high, 1000 billion RMB equals more than 100 billion USD. But in terms of actual purchasing power...

That's hard to say.

“…That’s roughly the situation.”

Director Zhang of the National Space Administration explained the situation and continued, "The data from the US is our own calculation based on publicly available information, and the data from China is our own estimate."

"In fact, let alone 1000 billion yuan, even if it exceeds 700 billion yuan, the probability of upper-level support for the project in the near future will be greatly reduced, and it may be pushed back to after ."

"If the overall project is within 500 billion yuan, the higher-ups will most likely support the project in the near future. So everyone should calculate your own situation and see if it's possible."

Hearing this, everyone started talking.

There were quite a few people on the scene, but most of them were from the First Academy of Aerospace Science and Technology and the Eighth Academy of Aerospace Science and Technology, because they are the ones in charge of the various types of Long March series rockets in China.

The First Institute has more overall responsibilities and the rockets it researches are larger, while the Eighth Institute has less overall responsibilities and the rockets it researches are smaller.

Other research institutes mainly provide supporting services and participate in research, and have not presided over the overall rocket research project.

Representatives from the First Academy discussed the matter. "We've discussed the manned lunar landing program a long time ago and have been preparing for it for years. If we want to land humans on the moon, we have to emulate the Saturn V rocket used by the Americans to carry out their manned lunar landing program, and the current SLS rocket, which is the Long March 9 we are promoting."

"That's right. Launching a manned spacecraft and a lunar module into space at once is the safest option. The Americans have already proven this."

"Yes, and the Long March 10 has the familiar 'core stage + four bundled booster' rocket configuration. In addition to the 7-meter diameter fuel tank of the core stage and the 5-meter diameter tanks of the second and third core stages, its four boosters can use the -meter diameter tanks of the Long March ."

"The biggest problem before was that it was too expensive. But with Roadun's 'Technology Integration Theory' and the results of the previous 'Industry Survey', we have a chance to reduce the overall project cost to under 700 billion yuan, but getting it down to 500 billion yuan is a bit difficult."

"Do you think we can second Lu Yun to the project? As the inventor and practitioner of 'Technology Integration Theory', his projects are very cheap..."

As they spoke, they looked at Lu Yun.

Representatives from the Eighth Hospital were also discussing it.

"We have no experience developing large rockets, but fortunately we have the Long March 70, a ready-made rocket, which we can modify. We have previously calculated that if we extend the three-stage hydrogen-oxygen rocket to 16 meters and replace the four-stage booster with a six-stage booster, its lunar transport capacity will double to tons."

"That's right. This isn't just a few decades ago. Our space docking technology is already very mature. We can rely on a modified Long March 5 launch three times to dock and assemble the lunar module, service module, and return module in space, and then fly to the moon for a landing."

"I think it's no problem. Although this project is relatively complicated, it's cheap. It should be within 500 billion yuan."

"We can even borrow Lu Yun. His 'Technical Integration Theory' is suitable for the technical integration of the modified Long March 5..."

As they spoke, they also looked at Lu Yun.

(Internet photo, modified with PS, the modified Long March 5 is longer and more powerful)
Lu Yun sighed that it was worthy of being a country. Even if they spent frugally, the amount would still be hundreds of billions.

After his Blue Star Aerospace Company successfully launched the Wanhu rocket, it received another 10 billion investment from multiple funds, but its valuation only rose to 80 billion.

After the "Starship" plan was announced, it attracted the attention of a super heavyweight fund, namely the National Manufacturing Transformation and Upgrading Fund.

Negotiations are now underway. If the negotiations are successful, the foundation will directly invest 30 billion in the development and testing of the "Starship".

By then, Blue Star Aerospace’s valuation will double to 160 billion.

The reason why the valuation has increased so much is that 30 billion is not only an investment, but also national support.

However, even the valuation cannot keep up with the funds the country is preparing to invest in its manned lunar landing program.

Even many things are not included in the funds, so the actual cost is definitely higher.

This is also the reason why Lu Yun wants to participate in the national manned lunar landing project, because personal ability and capital are too small in the face of such a super aerospace project.

If Lu Yun were to take control of the project, let alone 500 billion, 700 billion, or 1000 billion, he might actually be able to accomplish this with a "dreamlike" 300 billion.

After all, he knew that in the previous life, the country chose the Long March 10. That rocket made extensive use of the Long March 5 technology. After it was developed, it was not only used for moon landing, but also could be used as a recoverable and reusable rocket to replace the expensive disposable rocket Long March 5.

And in this life, Lu Yun can bring it to an even greater extreme. Not to mention the later stages, he can even make the rockets used for the manned lunar mission recyclable and reusable, greatly reducing costs!

He was just thinking about this when he felt Yu Xingchen next to him pushing him.

"what happened?"

Hearing Lu Yun ask this, Yu Xingchen gestured for him to look around.

Lu Yun frowned and looked around, only to find that almost everyone was looking at him.

"?"

(End of this chapter)