This star is going to the moon

Chapter 436 The first solo spacecraft to enter the atmosphere may have been an astronaut.

There are many benefits to using an inflatable heat shield, but it currently has one well-known drawback.

That is, the technology of inflatable heat shields is not mature.

Currently, various countries with some spacefaring capabilities are researching inflatable heat shields, but none of them have conducted successful orbital-level tests.

The Americans and Russians only conducted suborbital tests, and it wasn't 100% successful.

Previously, when the Lao-Chinese team was testing their new generation manned spacecraft, they also conducted an orbital reentry test, which was unsuccessful.

The inflatable heat shield withstood the high temperatures upon re-entry, but after entering the atmosphere, its unstable aerodynamic configuration caused it to become uncontrollable and eventually drift and fall.

Despite the difficulties, research in various countries will not stop, because it has many advantages.

After all, the various rigid thermal insulation bases that can re-enter the atmosphere are too heavy now. Even though they have been developed to be reusable, their existence still seriously reduces the effective payload of spacecraft.

Just like Elon Musk's "Dragon" spacecraft, if the heavy heat shield were removed and replaced with an inflatable heat shield, the spacecraft could definitely increase its payload.

Increasing the load capacity is equivalent to reducing the cost.

The same applies to the Crew Dragon spacecraft; while reducing costs, it can also increase the maximum passenger capacity from 7 to 10 people.

This is equivalent to a double reduction in costs!

That might allow the cost of manned spaceflight for the Crew Dragon to be compared to the 150 million ticket price for the Kite-class space shuttle.

Of course, it's just a comparison of costs to ticket prices, not a comparison of ticket prices to ticket prices.

But at least it will reduce the complaints of those partners who have to cooperate with him for the sake of "federal national security".

The Americans are now preparing for next year's orbital-class inflatable heat shield reentry test, and Lu Yun knows that they succeeded in their previous life.

In the previous life, due to limited funding for space exploration, the Chinese government only conducted a brief test of the new generation of manned spacecraft in 2020, and there was little further activity afterward.

But this life is different.

With Lu Yun's involvement in this life, China's various aerospace projects have made rapid progress. Many domestic and international cooperative projects have generated considerable profits. Even without funding from higher authorities, many new projects can be undertaken, such as the inflatable heat shield project.

Therefore, the old man in this life is also preparing for the next test of the inflatable heat shield.

Moreover, the testing of the new generation of manned spacecraft in this era started two years earlier than in the previous era, and the problem with the inflatable heat shield was exposed earlier. In addition, there was more funding, so the preparations for the second test were quite thorough.

The date is set for the second half of this year!

After all, there is demand from the elderly in this area, so the process must be expedited.

The first phase of the Tiangong space station can accommodate six astronauts for a short period of time, which is when the two Shenzhou spacecraft are handing over their duties.

At this time, two Shenzhou spacecraft will dock with the space station. In case of any accident, the two Shenzhou spacecraft can quickly evacuate with the six astronauts.

If the situation is not particularly critical but evacuation is still necessary, and one of the Shenzhou spacecraft malfunctions, a backup spacecraft can be launched from the ground quickly to provide assistance.

However, if the space shuttle replaces the Shenzhou spacecraft, then the Tiangong space station will only have one docking port available, meaning it can only dock with one space shuttle.

The "Wooden Kite" class space shuttle can carry six astronauts, but the astronauts work in shifts of three.

After the space shuttle returns to Earth with three astronauts, there will be no spacecraft on the Tiangong space station that can return to Earth, leaving a gap in the safety guarantee for the remaining three astronauts.

In fact, the last retired Shenzhou spacecraft could be docked at the space station for several years, serving as a backup emergency return spacecraft.

However, the Shenzhou manned spacecraft was not designed for this mission. Long-term docking with the space station may cause problems, such as various malfunctions caused by material aging.

It would be ideal once the space agency has two space shuttles and the second phase of the Tiangong space station has multiple 1.2-meter diameter docking ports, but that might take several years. Until then, the best approach is to equip astronauts with "escape pods," mimicking the spaceships in science fiction.

However, with current technology, such a sci-fi "escape pod" is equivalent to a small manned spacecraft return capsule, which is not only expensive to build, but also takes up a lot of space.

In fact, the Americans conceived of an astronaut escape device in the last century: an inflatable heat shield.

When there is no need, this escape device is a compressed backpack. When needed, you can put on an extravehicular activity suit, secure the backpack to your back, and "parachute" out.

You know what, it's really like skydiving from a plane.

But not in the air, but in outer space!
Not on an airplane, but on a space station!
Yes, it means opening the space station hatch, jumping directly into space, and then inflating the escape equipment.

And it inflates the equipment while simultaneously jetting air to lower the orbit, ultimately forming an inflatable heat shield that envelops the astronauts as they re-enter the atmosphere!

(An astronaut escape plan from the United States in the last century)

It must be said that both sides in the space race of the last century did a lot of "technological and ruthless work," but unfortunately, due to the limited technology at the time, many of these projects were only partially completed and then abandoned.

Then, after the opponent was defeated, the US completely gave up, and many advanced ideas were shelved.

Now, those good things have been picked up by the Chinese and are yielding results rapidly.

Or it would be even better if it had already been successfully produced.

For example, a single-stage-to-orbit space shuttle.

Now, the Chinese are going to take down the inflatable heat shield.

In addition to serving as a life-saving method for astronauts, they are also developing more flexible and inexpensive returnable spacecraft.

After all, some small-scale space experiments may not reach the level of using space shuttles and space stations.

Don't be fooled by the fact that space shuttles are already very cheap, comparable to "vans".

But there are some things that are still unaffordable; what they really need might be a "human-powered tricycle."

There would then be a market for a small, inexpensive, reusable spacecraft that uses an inflatable heat shield and is launched by a cheap, small rocket.

Previously, these reentry-capable spacecraft used rigid heat shields, which severely reduced the already limited payload capacity of the small spacecraft, reducing the cargo capacity of a "three-wheeled" spacecraft to that of a "bicycle".

And it's not the cargo capacity of an oversized 28-inch bicycle, it's the cargo capacity of a road bike.

In the future, using a lightweight air-insulating shield will eliminate this problem, and the tricycle will have the same cargo capacity as a tricycle.

In addition, although the Chinese have not explicitly stated it, they also intend to make great strides on Mars.

The white entry capsule of Tianwen-1 had a heavy, rigid heat-insulating base. If it were replaced with an inflatable heat shield, the Nezha Mars rover might have increased in weight from 240 kg to 340 kg.

It is also possible to increase the weight of the rather useless 10-kilogram "Hot Wheel" mini Mars rover to a 110-kilogram large Mars rover with actual scientific research value.

In the future, China and Laos will also have a Mars sampling mission, with the initial plan being to collect a few hundred grams of samples.

If an inflatable heat shield is used to reduce dead weight, it is equivalent to increasing the actual payload weight, which may increase the planned sampling weight to two kilograms for lunar sampling missions!
After all, if every kilogram of near-Earth orbit transportation capacity is very precious, then every gram of space travel missions is also very precious!

Not to mention that manned missions will definitely be carried out later. If a heavy, rigid, insulated base is still used at that time, the load capacity will be pitifully small.

In other words, the cost is sky-high.

Given how "stingy" the Chinese are, they definitely won't do it!

(End of this chapter)