This star is going to the moon

Chapter 273 The first stage and fairing of the "Wanhu" rocket were successfully recovered at sea for the first time, saving millions (Seeking monthly votes)
The launch pad for the "Wanhu" rocket in Binhai Aerospace City is of a higher standard than that in Dongfeng Aerospace City.

After all, the coastal aerospace city is located by the sea, and the humid air, salt spray corrosion, and typhoon damage are all problems.

However, due to its advantages such as low latitude, convenient transportation, and safe landing area, it has become a key development area for the national aerospace industry, and more than a dozen launch pads have been planned so far!

(Image from the internet, super launch site planning model, marked with red dots)

There are early Long March 5 and Long March 7 launch pads here, as well as the newly built "Wan Hu" rocket launch pad, and the Long March 10 integrated launch pad under construction.

In addition, other commercial space companies are also planning and building their own launch pads, and even small solid rocket launch pads are joining the fray.

BlueStar Space's space airport and Starship base are located a bit further away and are relatively isolated.

After all, these two are different from this one. One is a space shuttle that requires an ultra-long runway, and the other is a super rocket with a takeoff mass of 7000 tons.

Lu Yun and Yu Xingchen looked at the Binhai launch pad for the "Wanhu" rocket with some emotion. It had only been three years since they founded Blue Star Aerospace Company, launched the "Wanhu" rocket from Dongfeng Aerospace City in the Gobi Desert, and were now launching it from Binhai Aerospace City.

Compared to Yu Xingchen, who mostly expressed感慨 (feelings of emotion), Lu Yun was more smug, saying, "See? I didn't lie to you, did I?"

Yu Xingchen glanced at the confident Lu Yun and laughed, "You've lied."

Lu Yun turned to look at him: "?"

"Ha ha!"

Yu Xingchen looked at Lu Yun, who had a puzzled expression, and then pointed to the space airport and "starship" base under construction in the distance and laughed: "You only said that you were going to build reusable rockets, and they were two sizes smaller than the 'Falcon 9'. You didn't say that you were going to build a space shuttle and a super rocket."

"..."

Lu Yun glanced at Yu Xingchen speechlessly, really wanting to push him into the sea.

Yu Xingchen smiled again and said with emotion, "Although it's a bit of a pity that the 'Wanhu' rocket is two sizes smaller than Lao Ma's 'Falcon 9' rocket, I know that China's aerospace technology accumulation at that time was indeed not as good as that of the United States, so I'm quite satisfied."

"After all, development must be done step by step."

"But you give me too many surprises, sometimes even shocks me."

"Because I thought that even if the 'Wanhu' rocket was much smaller, it could still be compared to the 'Falcon 9' rocket, but it would still take several years to develop. But you got it done in a year and a half."

"There's also the groundbreaking manned spacecraft that's about to make its maiden flight, and the 10.6-meter diameter Starship rocket, which hasn't even started construction yet, but I know you'll succeed—it's even more powerful than Old Ma's 9-meter diameter Super Falcon."

"I really don't know what other scary things you'll come up with next."

"Looking back now, it sometimes feels like a dream..."

Lu Yun waved his hand in front of Xingchen's eyes and said, "Stop dreaming. Let's wait until we take the Wooden Kite to space a few months later. When we're floating lightly in space and can see the beautiful scenery of Earth, that will feel more like a dream."

Yu Xingchen paused for a moment upon hearing this: "That's true..."

"Cough cough!"

Lu Yun choked on his own saliva. How could Yu Xingchen, who was so smart and wise before, be like this?
Is it really possible that someone in their twenties could build a reusable rocket in a year and a half, a space shuttle in two years, be the chief designer of a manned lunar landing rocket, and occasionally make movies that break records and gross over 60 billion yuan at the box office?

"Let's go, let's go back to the command center. The rocket will be ignited and taking off soon."

Yu Xingchen followed Lu Yun into the command hall. If he knew what Lu Yun was thinking, he wouldn't be surprised at all.

It can really terrify people, especially those in the aerospace industry.

Because this research and development timeline is too outrageous.

In order not to be truly terrified, one can only use one's imagination to make sense of it.

For example, the announced timeline is definitely not the real timeline. These things must have started development a long time ago, but they were only officially approved and announced to the public after they were almost finished.

Just like China's manned lunar landing program, which hasn't been officially launched yet but is still developing various subsystems, it won't be officially launched until the subsystems are nearly complete. As for how Lu Yun conducted his secret research in advance…

Either he has a secret research team that no one else knows about, or he is a true genius who can handle most of the preliminary research and engineering framework on his own.

There is a huge difference between geniuses and ordinary people.

There is a world of difference between super geniuses and geniuses.

Clearly, any technologist who has had contact with Lu Yun knows that he is a super genius.

It's not wrong for some to compare him to Qian Lao.

Of course, Lu Yun is actually quite humble. In addition, he has raised his [Aerospace Engineering] level to lv5 through his own efforts and is moving towards lv6.

Other "advanced technologies" and "forward-looking technologies" are somewhat influenced by memories of past lives.

After all, while others were only at the 2016 technology milestone, Lu Yun already knew about the 2026 technology milestone.

Although by 2020, Lu Yun had gone from knowing about technologies ten years in advance to only knowing about technologies six years in advance, his skills were still incredibly impressive because his skill level kept improving.

"3, 2, 1, ignition!"

"take off!"

A brand-new "Wanhu" rocket carrying the third batch of 30 "Xingdou" satellites took off on time from the Binhai launch pad.

Lu Yun remained calm, having seen the place many times before; the only difference was the scenery.

The tourists and spectators on the other side of the bay, however, cheered enthusiastically.

After all, they had only seen disposable rockets here before, and had even seen the more spectacular Long March 5 rocket several times. Seeing a reusable rocket for the first time was a novel experience for them.

The "Wanhu" rocket is a mature and reusable rocket, and the Binhai Aerospace City has made great efforts to develop aerospace tourism, setting up large screens at many viewpoints to broadcast live aerospace programs.

People on land can no longer see the rocket with the naked eye, nor can they see the first-stage rocket and fairing recovery ship floating at sea, but they can watch it on a large screen.

Many people at the scene had seen the Falcon 9 rocket recover at sea, but watching their own country's rocket recover at sea was a completely different experience.

"Wow! That was really steady; it landed on the flatboat in no time!"

"AUV! It landed right in the middle, so accurate!"

In contrast to the first-stage rocket recovery process, where "the rocket finds the ship," fairing recovery is more like "the ship finds the fairing."

Since there were no engines on the fairings, the two fairings were jettisoned and each deployed its parachute, slowly descending.

The fairing contains positioning devices and cameras. Initially, there will be a large landing area, and the recovery ship will wait in that area. Then, just like a manned spacecraft landing, it will continuously report its position and predict the landing area, and the recovery ship will rush there.

If it reaches the designated spot, then the huge recycling net will be deployed to catch it.

It doesn't matter if it can't reach the designated location. The fairing itself is like an empty hull ship. The designers made a special design for it, so it can float on the sea like a ship. The recovery ship can just go over and retrieve it.

However, the second method would contaminate the fairing with seawater, which is corrosive, so it could be reused fewer times.

but……

Through the recovery ship's camera, Yu Xingchen saw the fairing being caught securely in the net, and he clenched his fist and swung it.

"We saved millions again!"

(End of this chapter)