This star is going to the moon

Chapter 516 The Long March 10 Heavy Rocket Makes its Debut; The SLS Rocket Must Make its Maiden Flight as Soon as Possible!

Compared to the abundance of anonymous sources within the Federal Space Agency who provide paid intelligence, there are far fewer anonymous sources on the Chinese side, and those that exist mostly leak information through social media circles.

However, the people watching the live stream with Lu Yun now don't have that idea.

Because they were participating in a manned lunar landing program and working under Lu Yun, they were all very careful.

They even deliberately "disappear" from their WeChat Moments.

They were afraid that the slightest mistake would cause them to miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

So Lu Yun told them to wait and see the show, and they did.

As for the saying "When the King of Hell calls the roll, whoever he calls dies"...

It's just adding a little more legendary attribute to Lu Yun, who is already quite legendary.

On the Chinese side, the young engineers' admiration for Lu Yun grew even stronger.

On the American side, the audience at the scene was even more impatient with NASA.

As for the live stream room, it was a chaotic mess.

Some people think NASA and the Americans are no longer up to par, while others firmly believe that the Americans are still doing great and remain a beacon of light for humanity.

But no matter how much noise people made in the live stream, the manager was no longer an option.

According to the information from the VIP viewing platform, Old Deng's expression was not good.

If the rocket fails to launch today, he's definitely doomed.

director:"……"

Based on the current situation, it's definitely not going to work today.

Because sensor warnings are not precise information, and are not as intuitive as an engine fuel leak, engineers need to investigate after these sensor warnings to find out what the problem is.

If it's just a sensor alarm, that's fine; you only need to investigate one problem or a small area.

In the best-case scenario, the sensor is giving a false alarm, and you can simply reset it.

The next worst possibility is a sensor malfunction, in which case simply replacing the sensor will solve the problem.

The worst-case scenario is that the sensor detection area is actually malfunctioning and needs repair.

But if multiple sensors trigger an alarm at the same time, then the problem becomes much bigger.

Even if there are false alarms, the probability of multiple sensors reporting false alarms at the same time is too low, so there must be a real malfunction somewhere.

Sure enough, the engineers quickly identified the initial problem.

There were indeed a few false alarms, but there was a real equipment malfunction that could not be repaired in a short time.

The supervisor tried one last time, thinking for a moment before saying, "The SLS rocket has strong safety redundancy. Even if there's a malfunction here, it can still launch, as long as..."

Engineer: "Supervisor, this is against the rules."

“But don’t we have an emergency declaration?” the supervisor said hurriedly. “The Chinese are pressing too hard right now; we have to get ahead of them…”

"director!"

The engineer shattered his illusions: "We have an emergency bill, but China's heavy-lift Long March 10 rocket claims to have its maiden flight in July, but it hasn't even had a wet rehearsal yet, so we are still ahead."

"This malfunction can be resolved within a week, and we guarantee that the SLS rocket can make its maiden flight in June."

"It's just that we can't have the maiden flight today."

Supervisor: "It's all over, it's all over..."

The audience at the scene is still waiting for further news.

How long will the pause last?
Is it still possible to launch?

Give me a straight answer?
Then they discovered that the old convoy that had just arrived had left again.

"?"

"Why did the President's motorcade leave?"

"Fake!"

"Damn it, they must have canceled today's rocket launch!"

"Damn it, I shouldn't have come today. I was supposed to be on a date with Jenny!"

"Fuck you, give me my money back!"

The comments section was quite chaotic at first, but when they saw the newly arrived convoy leave before it had even come to a complete stop, they couldn't help but burst out laughing.

Being the president of the United States isn't easy, with all that coming and going.

Sigh, how did America's space technology get to this point?

[Yes, Xiong Da is doing aerospace technology archaeology because the technology is incomplete after the split. The US didn't split up, so what happened to its previous technology?]

[Theoretically speaking, the SLS rocket's technology isn't complex. It uses so much technology from the Space Shuttle, and even simplified some aspects. So why was its maiden flight so difficult?]

Indeed, the engines on the space shuttle could be reused more than ten times, but this one has been modified to be disposable, so why can't it be done?

I don't understand it, I really don't understand it.

Ugh, what a waste of my whole evening...

The manager came out and announced that the time had been postponed...

Although he knew his career was ending with the president's motorcade, the supervisor still worked diligently.

After all, he was participating in a manned lunar landing mission.

Moreover, in order to get the lunar rocket to fly first before the Chinese, he, as the supervisor who is most familiar with the SL rocket, still needs to work hard. Even if he is to be dismissed, it will have to wait until after the SLS rocket's maiden flight.

There are only a few days left, so changing supervisors now is not a good idea.

So the supervisor felt that he might still have a chance. If the SLS maiden flight in a few days goes well... would he not have to leave?
With this in mind, the supervisor's voice became increasingly firm.

It's as if the SLS rocket will really make its maiden flight in a few days.

During the days that the SLS rocket was under maintenance, it was the talk of the town among space enthusiasts around the world. After all, there are only two countries currently working on manned lunar missions, and with China's heavy-lift Long March 10 rocket not making an appearance, the SLS rocket has the most prestige.

However, before, the SLS rocket was delayed, and since it "didn't use its full strength," no one knew what was going on. Now we know.

So the discussions these past few days haven't been very positive about it.

then……

In the past, you couldn't praise someone, because praising them would definitely lead to a bad performance.

As a result, space enthusiasts haven't been praising the SLS these past few days; it's actually underperformed! The problem was more difficult than the engineers had imagined, and they couldn't solve it in a week, so the maiden flight was postponed to the 20th.

Fortunately, the Long March 10 heavy-lift rocket launched on the 20th is still faster than the Chinese Long March 10 rocket.

Because there is still no news about the Long March 10 heavy rocket.

The supervisor was indifferent; he had seen through the illusions of the world.

"Manager, manager," they say, as if they can manage everything, but in reality, they can't manage anything.

He either listens to those above him or those below him; he's caught in the middle and suffers the consequences!
The supervisor is now complacent and doesn't even care whether the SLS can surpass the Long March 10 heavy rocket's maiden flight.

While the US is facing challenges in the aerospace field, Hollywood's latest sci-fi film, "Jurassic World 3," has had a successful opening.

Thanks to the rapid development of science and technology in the world in recent years, the real world is becoming more and more "sci-fi," and science fiction films and television series have also ushered in a period of prosperity.

It has a bit of a "golden age of science fiction" feel to it.

In his previous life, Lu Yun had seen this science fiction movie. The movie took a different turn, bringing dinosaurs directly into human society, which then triggered a series of problems.

This film proposes the hypothetical scenario of humans and dinosaurs "coexisting," and is full of reflections on how humans should get along with other animals on the same earth, as well as on whether "science and technology are a tool for survival or a trap for destruction."

The idea was good, but it was far from being fully realized due to space limitations.

So the film opens by explaining the "postmodern animal protectionist concept" brought about by dinosaurs, and then the director uses a scene of "horse-taming man" to show the charm of "dragon-taming man".

It did not explain how to establish a new model of coexistence.

Moreover, as a film featuring dinosaurs, the film overemphasizes the mutated locust plague, and the off-topic plot has drawn criticism from some viewers.

As the final installment of the Jurassic World film series, the studio incorporated a lot of nostalgia, which is why the audience barely gave it a passing grade.

Of course, as the final installment, the audience was very supportive at the box office, with the domestic box office exceeding 10 billion RMB and the global box office reaching 10 billion USD.

Then... a few years later, the studio came up with another one, "Jurassic World: Rebirth".

After the trilogy ended, the fourth installment came.

There's no way around it; big IPs that can make money are too tempting, so they'll definitely squeeze every last penny out of them.

In this life, due to the influence of reality, a "science fiction craze" has swept the world, and it is estimated that this IP will be able to earn more money.

However, the world's attention soon shifted from the movie to the Sino-Lao coastal space city.

As the doors of the new vertical assembly building in the space city opened, a massive transfer platform carried out the equally enormous Long March 10 heavy-lift rocket.

(Fictional image of the Long March 10 heavy-lift rocket)

Wow, that's huge!

[I'd only ever seen scaled-down models before; the real thing is absolutely enormous!]

"Of course! It's roughly equivalent to four Long March 5 rockets without their boosters combined into one unit. How could it not be big?"

Wow, those are huge! Three first-stage rockets lined up side by side are over 15 meters wide!

【重型长十跟SLS的高度差不多都是90多米，宽度差不多也都是15米，只不过重型长十是5米+5米+5米，SLS则是3.7米+8.4米+3.7米。】

Wow, that really is a mid-door sniping duel! I love it!

I feel that the maiden flight of the Long March 10 Heavy-lift rocket should be fine. After all, unlike the SLS rocket, it's not entirely new; it was developed from the basic Long March 10 model. And since the Long March 10 flies steadily and well, the Heavy-lift Long March 10 should also be fine.

[Haha, the SLS isn't a completely new rocket either; a lot of its technology comes from the previous Space Shuttle.]

It seems like Americans have become less educated these days.

Anyway, I feel that the focus of this maiden flight of the Long March 10 heavy-lift rocket wasn't the rocket itself, but rather the DreamZhu spacecraft it carried.

Indeed, I also think that with the Long March 10 having a history of successful launches and recoveries, the maiden flight of the heavy-duty Long March 10 should not be a problem, while the Mengzhou spacecraft will be the first to fly into lunar orbit...

That’s true.

The DreamZoo spacecraft was originally designed as a new generation of manned space transportation vehicle to meet the future development needs of the country's manned space program.

It adopts a two-module structure, which is different from the three-module structure of the Shenzhou spacecraft, and only has a return capsule and a service module.

It is about 9 meters long and has a maximum launch weight of 26 tons. Based on the existing technologies of the national manned space program, it adopts a series of advanced technologies in structure, propulsion, recovery, energy, thermal control, electronics, human-machine interaction and reusability, making the spacecraft highly reliable, safe, low-cost and habitable.

The Mengzhou spacecraft's return capsule features a completely new blunt-nosed design, giving it a higher lift-to-drag ratio compared to the Shenzhou spacecraft's "bell-shaped" return capsule.

Furthermore, the DreamZhu return capsule consists of a sealed cabin and an unsealed cabin, arranged according to the division of personnel and equipment. Only the astronaut-related equipment is installed in the sealed cabin, while other equipment is installed in the unsealed cabin, which improves the comfort of the astronauts.

The equipment also incorporates a shaped design to effectively utilize installation space.

The sealed cabin's metal structure uses high-strength new metal materials, while the unsealed cabin's outer layer is a detachable heat-resistant structure made of new lightweight, ablation-resistant carbon-based heat-resistant materials, capable of withstanding the thermal environment during reentry from lunar orbit at the second cosmic velocity.

After the heat-resistant structure has been burned, it can be removed and replaced with a new one, and the entire return capsule can be reused.

The reentry capsule is equipped with a deployable head cover and an omnidirectional integrated cushioning and vibration isolation system, among other mechanisms, to improve the comfort of astronauts during launch and reentry.

This two-module design allows the return capsule and sealed compartment to be more than twice the size of the Shenzhou spacecraft, enabling the spacecraft to have more functional possibilities.

The propulsion system of the Mengzhou spacecraft's return capsule uses a single-component non-toxic propellant. Compared with the toxic anhydrous hydrazine propellant used in the Shenzhou spacecraft's return capsule, this eliminates the source of danger, improves astronaut safety, and facilitates the reuse of the propulsion system.

Its service module propulsion system uses an ultra-large surface tension tank to provide the speed increments required for the mission.

The spacecraft has fully autonomous orbit control, autonomous diagnostic and fault handling capabilities, and improved autonomous operation capabilities, which can greatly simplify ground flight control support and maintenance work.

Unlike the Shenzhou spacecraft's single-parachute recovery, the Mengzhou spacecraft utilizes multiple parachutes for deceleration and recovery, in order to meet the recovery mission requirements of the new generation manned spacecraft's return capsule, which is significantly heavier and larger than the Shenzhou spacecraft's return capsule.

The main reason is that the manufacturing process and operational reliability of the parachutes cannot be considered. The single main parachute deceleration scheme of the Shenzhou spacecraft cannot be used. Instead, a group of parachutes composed of multiple main parachutes is needed to achieve deceleration of the larger return capsule before landing.

To enable reuse, the Mengzhou spacecraft's return capsule uses a non-destructive landing method, replacing the buffer engines used in previous Shenzhou spacecraft with landing airbags.

Furthermore, it can land at sea, and its use of cushioning airbags makes it more adaptable to different terrains.

If it falls into the water, the airbag itself can also help it float.

The escape system of the Mengzhou manned spacecraft has been comprehensively optimized and designed with the goal of "ensuring safe escape throughout the entire launch process". It adopts the scheme of "escape from the escape tower inside the atmosphere + escape from the entire spacecraft outside the atmosphere".

The escape tower is responsible for the escape between the pre-launch phase and the ascent tower. After the tower is thrown out, the ship will use the service module for power escape before the near-Earth orbit insertion and separation from the rocket. The escape and subsequent rescue are all controlled by the return capsule, realizing integrated control of the return capsule and high reuse of the entire ship's resources.

Compared to the excitement of the Chinese, the Americans were getting a little anxious.

"The SLS rocket must make its maiden flight as soon as possible!"

"We can't delay any longer!"

"That's right, what's wrong with your engineering team? Can't you hurry up?"

"We absolutely cannot delay until July, that would be too dangerous..."

In the NASA conference room, looking at the anxious crowd, the supervisor was actually somewhat excited.

(End of this chapter)