This star is going to the moon

The assessment given by "Mr. Lu," an industry insider, in Chapter 399 is—worrying!
The news of the full system test of the seven engines of the first stage of the Long March 10 rocket has generated considerable buzz, as it is a rocket with a diameter of 5 meters.

There are many types of rockets currently in service in the world, but most of them have a core stage diameter of more than 3 meters.

Only the US, China, and Europe share a single rocket with a core stage diameter of 5 meters.

These are the American Delta IV, the Chinese Long March 5, and the European Ariane 4.

Let's not even talk about the retired 10-meter diameter super rocket; it's all in the past.

Many of the structures under research exceed 5 meters in diameter, with the United States having the most, such as the "Vulcan-Centaur" with a diameter of 5.4 meters, the "New Glenn" with a diameter of 7 meters, and the "SLS" with a diameter of 8.4 meters.

There's also Elon Musk's 9-meter diameter "Super Falcon".

The Long March 10 is also under development, but it has just successfully completed a full-system test of its first stage, and its maiden flight is confirmed to be next month. It is quite different from these uncertain rockets!
Space enthusiasts are very excited.

After all these years, the world is finally going to have a new giant rocket.

It is still an advanced reusable rocket.

The most important thing is not the Long March 10 itself, but the Long March 10 heavy rocket that consists of "three Long March 10 rockets bundled together".

That's the manned lunar landing rocket that everyone's talking about, but only the Chinese space agency hasn't officially acknowledged!

And when it comes to missions related to the moon, there are quite a few this year.

After Lu Yun participated in the full system test, he did not rush to leave. After all, this was the last test before the maiden flight of the Long March 10. So after the test, the Long March 10 team held a short meeting.

They discussed the rocket's maiden flight next month and the lunar probe that will be launched on its maiden flight.

We also chatted about other countries' lunar exploration plans for this year.

The first thing we talked about was the Russians.

As major countries around the world accelerate their lunar exploration efforts, Russia has also begun to advance its own lunar exploration program.

It plans to send three new probes, Luna-25, Luna-26, and Luna-27, to the moon within two to five years.

And they hope to launch "Luna-25" in 2021, which is this year.

According to information obtained from Laos and China, the lunar lander "Lunar-25" should be completed in March this year and is scheduled to be launched around October.

Luna-25 will search for water in the lunar south polar region and test technologies such as soft landing. This probe may become the first Russian probe to reach the lunar surface after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Many older aerospace veterans were quite emotional when they talked about this meeting.

"The 24th lunar probe was launched in the 1970s, when Russia was still around. It's been almost half a century, and Russia is finally going to explore the moon again."

"Yes, they actually proposed the 25th probe back in 1998, but at that time, based on the budget, they prioritized the Phobos-Grunt probe and the Spectroscopic Astrophysical Observatory, and lunar exploration was temporarily shelved."

"Yes, I was there at the time because the 'Grunt' and our country's first Mars orbiter, 'Yinghuo-1,' were to be launched on the same rocket. Unfortunately, the rocket launch failed, and then two years later, the title of 'the first Asian country to explore Mars' was taken by our neighbor, India."

"Russian space program is really not doing well now. The technology is like archaeology, and the funding is not much. The 'Luna-25' was supposed to launch in 2019, but it was delayed by two years until this year..."

"I think it's unlikely this year either..."

Lu Yun nodded upon hearing this; it was indeed a risky situation.

Because in the previous life, the Luna-25 probe was not launched until two or three years later, and the launch failed.

The probe veered off course due to a malfunction in its engine shutdown system while descending to its landing preparation orbit, and ultimately crashed into the lunar surface.

At the time, many people thought that Luna-25 was a "sacred relic" of the Russians, which is why it failed.

Actually not.

Number 25 is a modern product.

At most, the development speed is too slow, and the finalized technology is from more than ten years ago.

And none of the other lunar exploration projects that were supposed to take place this year have been carried out on schedule. For example, a lunar exploration project that the US and China are cooperating on.

Or rather, it's a ride-on project for everyday life.

The main component of this mission is the Peregrine lunar lander developed by a commercial space company, which is part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Service.

As a commercial payload, it carried equipment from about 10 countries, including the mini lunar rover "Yaoji," a two-wheeled lunar rover weighing less than 500 grams.

It's so small you can hold it in one hand.

(Net map)
The other payloads on the "Peregrine" were rather miscellaneous, including scientific instruments, commemorative plaques, artworks, commemorative capsules, and cryptocurrencies.

The most bizarre thing is that they also accepted lunar burial services from two commercial funeral companies, taking some people's ashes to the moon.

This list includes the creator of the classic TV series "Star Trek" and several former U.S. presidents.

It's... very commercial.

Fortunately, they didn't succeed.

The Peregrine Falcon was to take the maiden flight to the moon aboard the Vulcan-Centaur rocket, which was under development and had a core stage diameter of 5.4 meters. However, the maiden flight of the rocket was delayed, and it was delayed until 2002 or 2004.

In 2004, the Vulcan-Centaur rocket successfully completed its maiden flight, sending the Peregrine into a lunar transfer orbit. However, the Peregrine lander itself experienced a fuel leak.

This caused the peregrine falcon to be unable to escape Earth's gravity, and it eventually burned up upon re-entry into the atmosphere.

It's alright, at least the ashes of a few people have been to space.

They even enjoyed a "secondary cremation" service.

They still use the "extremely romantic" cremation service from Earth's atmosphere.

Another ambitious country is India. Ever since the Chandrayaan-2 probe achieved a "95% success rate" in landing on the moon in 2019, India has been trying to get back at them.

Then it was announced that the Chandrayaan-3 probe would be launched in 2021.

However, this plan was postponed for two or three years.

This time, the Indians were really impressive, achieving a 100% successful landing.

Other countries observed that the Chandrayaan-3 lander did not land within the lunar south polar circle, but India insisted that the landing site was at the lunar south pole and declared itself the fourth country to achieve a landing on the lunar surface after the United States, Russia, and China.

Most importantly, it is the "first country to land on the lunar south pole"!
Europa, on the other hand, is in a different position. It continues to participate in the US-led International Space Station mission and plans to cooperate with China and Laos to build an international lunar research station in the future.

There is also the new rocket "Ariane 6", which is similar in configuration to "Ariane 5" but at a lower cost.

However, it is still a one-time use item and not recyclable.

The assessment from Mr. Lu, an industry insider, is—worrying!
Speaking of new rockets, there's the "Vulcan-Centaur" with a diameter of 5.4 meters, the "New Glenn" with a diameter of 7 meters, and the "SLS" with a diameter of 8.4 meters.

There's also Elon Musk's 9-meter diameter "Super Falcon".

They all claim that the maiden flight will take place in the second half of this year.

But based on Lu Yun's experience in his previous life, none of them were on time.

Especially the SLS, which was postponed from last year to its maiden flight in 2022.

After all, the Long March 10 rocket, which is scheduled to make its maiden flight this year, has already completed the full system test of the first stage rocket. Except for the fact that it did not take off, the entire process was basically gone through during the test.

Then it was confirmed that the maiden flight would be in February.

But there's been absolutely no sign of these rockets being tested.

A relevant industry insider, "Mr. Lu," once again commented – "Worrying!"
(End of this chapter)