This star is going to the moon

Chapter 427 The Chinese-made lunar spacecraft and lunar module! The Americans themselves are disrupting the return to the moon!

The accounts don't match!
The more I listened, the less the accounts matched!
After Lu Yun finished talking about the Long March 10 heavy rocket, the chief designer of the Chinese lunar spacecraft and lunar lander also came up to talk.

Laos and China's plan is to either not start at all, or once they start, to make a high-speed advance!
(Earth-Moon Spaceship)
The Lao-Chinese lunar spacecraft is much larger than the Shenzhou spacecraft; its return capsule has a maximum diameter of 5 meters and weighs 26 tons.

Furthermore, the return capsule can be reused.

With a maximum diameter of 2.8 meters and a weight of about 8 tons, it is completely incomparable to the disposable Shenzhou manned spacecraft.

Compared to the lunar lander, whose prototype has been unveiled, there is much less data available on the lunar module. The only publicly available information is that its propulsion module will provide some deceleration thrust for landing.

Once the lunar lander decelerates and descends to a certain altitude, the propulsion module will detach, allowing the lunar lander to complete its final landing with minimal fuel consumption.

This also means that the lunar module does not have to take off separately like the Apollo lunar modules of the last century, but can take off as a whole when it takes off from the lunar surface.

Therefore, the lunar module of the Chinese-made lunar lander can also be reused.

(Lunar module)

Compared to the Long March 10 heavy-lift rocket, whose maiden flight is already confirmed for next year, the maiden flight dates for the Earth-Moon spacecraft and lunar lander have not yet been determined.

After sharing the information that could be made public at the moment, the chief designers launched a global naming campaign for the Earth-Moon spacecraft and the lunar lander.

Information on more specific items such as foldable manned lunar rovers and lunar spacesuits is even scarcer; there aren't even models available, so we haven't discussed them much.

People at the Space Day event were listening attentively, while netizens were already conducting big data analysis based on information from various sources.

Especially those space enthusiasts, who are usually very familiar with various space projects, launch data and public progress.

This skill was originally mastered by Chinese aerospace enthusiasts, because China is currently absorbing a large amount of advanced technology from various countries, and many students are studying abroad, so all kinds of information can be gathered in China, and aerospace information is no exception.

American space enthusiasts are far behind in this regard. One reason is the inherent arrogance of Americans, who believe that they don't need to learn from others, but rather that others should learn from them.

Secondly, there is the effect of "Chinese encryption". Many American space enthusiasts cannot understand the Chinese space information from China and can only read the English information that is actively translated by the Chinese space authorities.

Even if there are American space enthusiasts who can speak Chinese, they don't always have time to translate Chinese space information.

However, since Lu Yun rose to fame in the aerospace field, more and more foreign aerospace enthusiasts have started to actively learn Chinese.

The more famous Lu Yun became, the more foreign space enthusiasts learned Chinese.

Therefore, they now have control over publicly available space information from various countries around the world.

Some of them are industry insiders who know some inside information that is neither confidential nor publicly disclosed, and they circulate it within their own small circles.

Now that they have new information, they immediately grasped the key point!

Time is a smokescreen!

[It seems the other side has finally admitted to the space race, and has even resorted to strategic deception!]

[That's right, the progress of both sides' lunar rockets and Earth-Moon spacecraft is about the same, with only a slight difference in the lunar lander. I don't believe that the time difference could be two years.]

[That's exactly what I'm talking about. Although the SLS rocket is 99% complete, it's stuck at that point, and it's difficult to accelerate the process. The Long March 10 heavy-lift rocket, on the other hand, has Lu Yun, the "fast-paced R&D expert" chief designer, and a mature Long March 10 foundation. So I feel their maiden flight next year is definitely not a problem; the schedule matches up.] [It's hard to say. The SLS rocket is scheduled for its maiden flight next August, but Lu Yun hasn't given a specific maiden flight date for the Long March 10 heavy-lift. If it flies early next year, wouldn't that be faster than the SLS?]

The same applies to the Earth-Moon spacecraft. Although the Orion spacecraft conducted a test flight in 2014, it only performed a "slow" reentry test to low Earth orbit. This meant that the heat shield was not tested for high temperature, high speed, and high pressure. In contrast, China's Earth-Moon spacecraft prototype conducted a high-speed reentry in 2018, fully testing the high temperature and high pressure issues that the heat shield needed to handle during reentry. Therefore, they are ahead of us in the Earth-Moon spacecraft project...

[So, does that mean the Chinese will be quick on the lunar lander project as well?]

Yes, I have the same concerns. The lunar lander announced by China is still of the Apollo type, only with more advanced technology. However, Elon Musk's "Lunar Eagle" is too big, with a diameter of 9 meters and a height of 50 meters. It also needs a 9-meter super-gravity booster currently under development for launch, which is equivalent to developing a super rocket from scratch. There is a lot of uncertainty about its future.

(Comparison image of the lunar lander)
[That's it. SpaceX's "Lunar Eagle" lunar lander has incredibly impressive data, but its uncertainties are too great. Its prototype rocket, the "Super Falcon," had four failed second-stage launches and four failed explosions. How did NASA even choose it?]

[From the beginning, I was optimistic about the lunar lander led by Blue Origin, which was essentially an enlarged version of the Apollo lunar lander. The design was both conservative and advanced, and the team was extremely strong, even including the original service provider for the Apollo lunar lander. However, they were not selected.]

Based on current analysis from various perspectives, China's 2026 plan is very likely a strategic deception. If everything goes smoothly, China may land on the moon before us in 2024. Our biggest uncertainty lies with the "Lunar Eagle" lunar lander. If its development progresses poorly, we might not even be able to return to the moon in 2024!

Yes, NASA's choice has put us in a dangerous situation. Although China is still the second country to land on the moon, it's been too long since our manned lunar landing fifty years ago, and its impact is not as significant as this time. Therefore, we absolutely cannot fall behind this time.

[I'm sorry, but I firmly believe that fifty years ago we didn't have a manned lunar landing; we only went to the moon in an unmanned capsule. Those images of human activity on the moon were all filmed by Hollywood. So this time, the real competition is for the first human landing, and we absolutely cannot lose!]

[Why are there moon landing conspiracy theorists in space enthusiast groups?]

[Not only are there moon landing conspiracy theorists, but also flat-Earth theorists. They're reportedly pooling money to buy tickets for a wooden space shuttle to see real space and debunk the theory of a spherical Earth.]

[Wang Defa? ?]

Okay, okay, let's not talk about that. Didn't we say before that Blue Origin and the Small Business team were dissatisfied with NASA's choice of lunar lander and were going to submit a protest to the National Accountability Office? What are they doing now?

………………

"Ha, our chance has come!"

The head of the "national team" lunar lander project smiled as he looked at the latest online news.

"Tom, urgently revise the protest letter and add the Chinese manned lunar landing plan to it!"

"In particular, it should be mentioned that their lunar lander was similar to our 'national team' enhanced Apollo lunar lander, rather than a more radical, technologically uncertain super-large lunar lander..."

At the same time, the project manager of the "small business team" was doing the same thing.

They were initially just questioning whether NASA had leaked information to SpaceX behind the scenes, allowing SpaceX to offer an extremely low price.

And they only care about the price, ignoring the technical challenges of the Space Fork's super-large lunar lander.

After all, compared to their "small" lunar module, SpaceX's "Lunar Eagle" is too big and has too much uncertainty.

SpaceX called it a lunar module, but they thought it wasn't a lunar module at all!
It was a lunar rocket!

Now, with the added boost of China's manned lunar landing program, their protests have a much higher chance of success!

NASA must be forced to reselect the lunar module!
(End of this chapter)