This star is going to the moon

Chapter 392 A Two-Stage-to-Orbit Spacecraft with a Larger Payload – Project Tengyun!
BlueStar Aerospace's first fully commercial space tourism flight, centered around the "Wooden Kite" class space shuttle, has caused a huge stir around the world.

Because this is a major event that will be recorded in human history, foreign media outlets that usually cooperate with foreign governments in information censorship have also given it extensive coverage.

Of course, some reports were factual, while others, as usual, smeared the truth.

That's nothing; just letting the public know about this is enough to shock people.

Because of their severe information blockade and mudslinging in the early stages, people who heard about it for the first time began to... doubt the reality of the world.

The public, whose information was simply blocked, simply couldn't accept how a technologically advanced country could suddenly appear in the world.

Others have long held the worldview that "old Chinese people still wear queues and long robes," and their entire perception is that "old Chinese people are extremely backward."

And then you suddenly tell him, "Actually, China's manned spaceflight technology is the best in the world!"

What is the principle of praising by first criticizing?

This is a perfect example of using the technique of first criticizing to elevate the performance!

Even that's considered good; some have been spreading smears for a long time, instilling in the public the idea that "the evil old China is fully developing military technology in an attempt to invade the whole world."

The current reporting on this matter has directly shifted to its military applications, claiming that it could be used to defeat the entire world within minutes.

Previously, missiles were only used to strike key cities; now, special forces can be directly airdropped to indiscriminately burn, kill, and loot.

This caused great panic among the public.

Because that's how they propagated the Russians in the last century, almost thirty years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, many older people still suffer from PTSD!

And now, the PTSD over there hasn't subsided yet, and here the Chinese guy has started getting it again.

This is just the surface issue; the real core problem is something that only the technical staff have realized.

Other countries are alright, but the American tech workers are the ones who feel it the most.

They realized that China's space technology development was too rapid; not all of it, but some of its space technologies far surpassed theirs.

Some federal scientists who participated in the last space race in their youth and have now become key figures in the race are reminded of the fear they felt when they were overwhelmed by the Russians in the early stages of the space race.

The Federation eventually turned the tide and won.

The year after the Federal Republic of Canada first sent humans to the moon, China launched its first artificial satellite.

As a result of the huge gap back then, China has now overtaken the Federation in some aerospace fields.

what is this?
They are unaware of the situation in China, but they are aware of the situation in the United States, which is why some people wrote to the White House urging them to pay attention to the "return of manufacturing".

Some petitioned the White House for more funding to accelerate the development of the X-33 single-stage-to-orbit space shuttle.

Others are already paying attention to new projects, since the X-33 single-stage-to-orbit space shuttle alone cannot compete with the "Wooden Kite" class space shuttle.

Either they would launch an enlarged version of the X-33, "Adventure Star," to win by being "big."

Alternatively, they could develop a two-stage-to-orbit spacecraft, using a staged approach to achieve a larger payload and lower cost for the same specifications.

However, one of the challenges of two-stage-to-orbit spacecraft is hypersonic technology.

Coincidentally, China's hypersonic technology is also among the world's most advanced.

While the US was still considering starting the project, China's two-stage-to-orbit spacecraft had already entered a high-speed development phase.

In fact, as early as the 1980s, the Chinese wanted to research two-stage orbital spacecraft. However, due to insufficient technology, they ultimately chose the Shenzhou manned spacecraft and manned rocket to develop the manned space program.

(Net map)
The technology at the time was not advanced, but after the first manned Shenzhou spacecraft mission, the aerospace group rekindled that dream.

After all, two-stage-to-orbit spacecraft can be fully recovered, which is exciting to think about.

Spaceplanes are a type of hypersonic aircraft. When talking about hypersonic aircraft, people tend to focus on speed, but this is not actually the core advantage of hypersonic aircraft.

The key word for hypersonic aircraft is "aircraft," and its core advantage is "superior controlled flight capability at hypersonic speeds."

For example, ballistic missiles can easily achieve flight speeds of Mach 20 or higher, but they are not completely controlled. They can only fly along a predetermined trajectory, and even if they can change course to a limited extent, the magnitude is not large.

For hypersonic aircraft to achieve controlled flight over a wide area, they need to be equipped with wings.

Director Qian was one of the earliest scientists in the world to focus on the development of spaceplanes. As early as the 1950s, he proposed a concept of a two-stage orbital rocket plane.

After returning to China, while developing the main ballistic missile and carrier rocket industries, he also paid special attention to the construction of a research system for hypersonic aircraft and personally promoted the development of related industries.

Therefore, when selecting a manned spacecraft for China in the 1980s, he proposed a two-stage-to-orbit spacecraft in which a large spaceplane carries a small space shuttle.

However, he was rejected due to the high technical difficulty and had to choose manned spacecraft. In the 1990s, he personally wrote a letter to the younger generation of aerospace workers.

In the 21st century, my country must demonstrate its capabilities in spaceplanes; this is a matter of national importance!

Everything Qian Xuesen did laid a solid foundation for the explosive development of hypersonic equipment in my country today.

Currently, the aerospace group has invested the most and is making the fastest progress on a two-stage-to-orbit spacecraft with a takeoff mass of 150 tons and a low Earth orbit payload capacity of 5 tons.

This is also known as the "Soaring Cloud Project".

(Image from the "Tengyun Project" website)
The key challenge in developing a spaceplane is how to utilize the oxygen resources within the atmosphere and overcome the speed transition difficulties at different altitudes, which requires the development of combined-power engines.

The "Tengyun" is a two-stage spaceplane with a takeoff mass of 150 tons. It is based on a combined-engine system and has a takeoff mass of approximately 122 tons.

It uses a turbofan engine when it takes off from the runway, consuming special aviation kerosene and oxygen from the air.

Once it reaches high altitude and the speed limit of the turbofan engine, it will switch to the scramjet engine.

At this point, it still consumes special aviation kerosene and oxygen from the air, but its speed can reach hypersonic speeds.

Once it reaches an altitude of 30 kilometers, the small space shuttle carried on its back can be released.

The small space shuttle has a mass of 28 tons and is powered by a liquid oxygen methane rocket engine.

In the complete simulation calculation of the flight path, the 150-ton "Tengyun" two-stage spaceplane takes off from the coast and flies southeast, using the linear velocity of the equatorial region to climb efficiently.

After the two stages separate, the large spaceplane of stage one can glide back to land on the airport runway.

After consuming a large amount of fuel to enter orbit, the small space shuttle had an orbital mass of 8 tons, of which 5 tons were payload.

After completing its payload transport mission, the second-stage space shuttle re-entered the atmosphere, glided back to Earth, and landed on the airport runway.

Both have a takeoff mass of 150 tons, but the "Muyuan" class single-stage-to-orbit space shuttle has a payload capacity of 2.2 tons, while the "Tengyun" two-stage-to-orbit spaceplane has a payload capacity of 5 tons.

The technology behind the "Wooden Kite" space shuttle is not particularly difficult; in fact, it can be considered a kind of "rocket" with a unique shape.

After all, it uses rocket engines throughout the entire process and will not separate at ultra-high speeds, making it very safe.

There are two problems with "Tengyun": first, the combined turbofan and scramjet engine is technically challenging; second, there is the issue of hypersonic safety separation technology.

These two issues also slowed down the development of the "Tengyun" spaceplane system, resulting in its failure to date, despite its development beginning in the early 2000s.

Fortunately, China's technological research and development capabilities are quite good, and the progress of the combined engine has been steadily improving. The hypersonic safe separation technology also underwent wind tunnel testing in 2019. (Wind tunnel free separation test of a two-stage-to-orbit aerospace vehicle)

The benefit of separating the "dead weight" is that the "Tengyun" system, which takes off at the same weight of 150 tons, has a carrying capacity of 2.8 tons more than the "Muyuan".

Based on the analysis of the progress of various aspects of the project, if the progress is smooth, the "Tengyun" spaceplane system is expected to conduct test flights in 2025.

However, no one expected that the "Wooden Kite" space shuttle would come from behind and surpass it.

And this thing is... way too high up!
It was developed in such a short time.

Of course, this is because they don't know that Lu Yun is using cheat codes.

Fortunately, the technological approaches of "Tengyun" and "Muyuan" are different, so the emergence of "Muyuan" did not cause "Tengyun" to be abandoned.

On the contrary, the success of "Wooden Kite" led to increased investment and support from higher authorities for "Soaring Cloud".

The Chinese people of today have the power to say, "I want it all."

Moreover, "Tengyun" has really good performance.

The aviation fuel used by a first-class spaceplane is much cheaper than rocket fuel.

Furthermore, it only uses aviation fuel and does not require oxidizers, which makes it cheaper than rocket fuel, which requires oxidizers.

Current reusable rockets cannot be fully recovered; the second stage rocket needs to be discarded. However, the second stage of "Tengyun" is a space shuttle and is reusable.

Therefore, the operating cost of "Tengyun" will be lower than that of reusable rockets, and its cargo transportation cost will certainly be lower than that of the current lowest-cost "Wanhu" rocket.

The 5-ton near-Earth orbit capacity is also quite good.

Even the potential for manned spaceflight is enormous.

While it may not be as comfortable as the single-stage-to-orbit "Wooden Kite" space shuttle that doesn't require any separation, it certainly far surpasses current manned spacecraft.

In the simulation, the riding experience of the "Tengyun" system was slightly better than that of the previous space shuttles.

However, the biggest advantage of "Tengyun" is its cost.

Like the "Wooden Kite," it is 100% recyclable, and both its primary aviation fuel and secondary liquid oxygen/methane fuel are cheaper than the liquid hydrogen/liquid oxygen fuel used by the "Wooden Kite."

While being cheaper to use than the "wooden kite," it can carry at least twice as many passengers!

To be precise, the "Wooden Kite" can carry 6 people to space, while the "Soaring Cloud" can carry 14 to 17 people!
In that case, you could even go to space for two or three million RMB.

That's three to four hundred thousand US dollars!
Of course, ground training may take a little longer.

However, with the "Wooden Kite" leading the way, tourists taking the "Soaring Cloud" to space should no longer need to undergo months of training like previous space tourists.

These things are still just ideas, provided that the "Tengyun" two-stage orbital spaceplane system can successfully take off.

After the successful manned mission of "Muyuan", the aerospace group wanted to invite Lu Yun to join the "Tengyun" project team. However, Lu Yun was too busy, and "Tengyun" was not in a hurry, so the matter was temporarily dropped.

The day after the mass-produced "Wooden Kite" completed its first fully commercial space tourism flight, the whole world knew about it.

However, the Chinese side completed the record of "New World History" yesterday. The "Wooden Kite" had carried people many times before, so the popularity in China is actually not too bad. It is mainly the foreign countries that are experiencing explosive popularity.

Today, Lu Yun's online activity is promoting Peng Yuchang's movie "The King of Bathing".

"The King of Bathing" is released today. It tells the story of a rich second-generation who suffers amnesia and begins an unforgettable life as a bathhouse attendant. After experiencing various trials, he becomes the "King of Bathing" and also understands the meaning of friendship and family in life.

It can be considered a kind of "transformation" for the rich second generation.

This movie was directed and written by Yi Xiaoxing, so many actors from "Unexpectedly" played supporting roles and cameos.

However, if we're talking about the true "King of Bathing," the true soul of this film, then it has to be Qiao Shan.

After all, in the magazine "Men's Diary," he has become deeply associated with images such as "bathing," "scrubbing," and "massage."

Just like a certain brand of car, such as a Dirac.

Lu Yun had seen this movie in his previous life. Its main problem was that Yi Xiaoxing, who was both the director and screenwriter, came from a background of making short dramas and sketches. As a result, the movie contained a lot of nonsensical sketches and narrative issues, which led to its low rating.

Of course, the score is around 6 points, which is considered passing.

It's good enough to just have a laugh, after all, it's a low-budget comedy film with a young director and young actors.

Moreover, it achieved a box office of 7000 million yuan with a budget of 4 million yuan, which can be considered quite successful.

With Lu Yun's promotion this time around, its box office is expected to be much higher.

After its release, "The King of Bathing" received a rating of 6.6, the same as the previous film.

However, most movies' scores decrease as their release time increases, with only a very few experiencing a reverse increase in scores.

Two days later, Lu Yun appeared at the test site of the three engines of the first stage of the Long March 10 rocket.

As the chief designer of the Long March 10 rocket, he can usually direct operations remotely, but he must be present at some important moments.

Just like this time.

Lu Yun and the deputy chief engineer were both on site, watching the engineers bustling around the test arrow equipped with three engines. The deputy chief engineer was more nervous than Lu Yun.

(Image of the three engines of the first stage of the Long March 10 rocket)

"Xiao Lu, do you think we can succeed on the first try?"

Lu Yun was initially hesitant to interact with these senior colleagues, given the significant age and position difference between them. However, once they became more familiar with each other, they relaxed and became more comfortable with each other.

So he said, "Don't worry, Lao Zhang, even if you don't believe the various test data you see, you should trust my intuition."

"It will definitely succeed on the first try!"

Lao Zhang: "..."

To be fair, normally Lu Yun's statement would definitely be the opposite of what he said.

After all, those of them who are engaged in technical engineering must trust data, not their own intuition.

However, sometimes it really is quite strange.

In abnormal situations, some people's intuition is more accurate than data.

In three projects that Lao Zhang personally participated in, the data checks were all fine, but someone felt something was wrong and strongly requested a change in the checking method, which saved the projects.

The current situation is actually very good. The technical checks are fine, and Lu Yun's intuition is also correct, so it's 100% fine.

It's just that the Long March 10 project is progressing so fast that the veterans who have worked in the aerospace industry their whole lives are a little overwhelmed.

(End of this chapter)