This star is going to the moon

Chapter 68 Appreciate the wonders, Technology +3!

February 6th marks the maiden flight of SpaceX's new Falcon Heavy rocket.

Since the retirement of the United States' own Saturn V rocket, the world's strongest low-Earth orbit carrying capacity of the active rocket has dropped from more than 100 tons to more than 20 tons.

The high-speed rail capacity has also been reduced from 40 to 50 tons to more than 10 tons.

The core reason for this situation is actually a demand issue.

After the Cold War, super space programs like manned moon landing have become rare. Current launch vehicles mainly serve commercial launches, near-Earth spaceflight and unmanned exploration within the solar system.

These missions can be met with the carrying capacity of more than 20 tons of the so-called "large rockets" of this century, and it appears to be more economical.

However, with the launch of a series of missions to higher and farther orbits in recent years, including high-orbit heavy satellites, the "Deep Space Gate" lunar orbit space station plan, the Mars exploration and sample return plan, and even the return to the moon plan, humans have begun to need heavy-lift launch vehicles with greater carrying capacity again.

If the "Falcon Heavy" can successfully complete its maiden flight today, the maximum carrying capacity of the current rocket will be increased to more than 60 tons.

In fact, the maximum carrying capacity of more than 60 tons of the "Falcon Heavy" is a theoretical value.

The main reason is that the structural design of the "Falcon Heavy" does not support it launching such heavy objects into low-Earth orbit. Its main design purpose is to launch objects weighing more than ten or twenty tons into high orbit at a cheaper price.

But who can blame the fact that more than 60 tons looks more impressive than more than 20 tons?

A bigger number simply means you are more powerful!
For this reason, the live broadcast of the first flight of the "Heavy Falcon" rocket attracted a lot of attention. In addition to space enthusiasts, even those who don't usually pay attention to rockets will come to watch.

After all, a new "World's Strongest" might emerge today!
However, because some people do not understand aerospace, the barrage in the live broadcast room often appears in a question-and-answer state.

[Why is this rocket so weird? Are the two boosters that big? ]

[You can simply think of it as three Falcon 9 rockets strapped together and flying.]

[No wonder it's called the "Heavy Falcon." Three Falcons bundled together are indeed heavy.]

So the Falcon 20 rocket has a carrying capacity of a little over tons?

[Yes, when bundled together, they weigh over 60 tons of the Falcon Heavy.]

[But the first flight launched a red sports car, which was very cool. Boss Ma said he would fly to Mars!]

The US is really good at aerospace technology. They can build rockets over 70 meters high. But the Long March 50 is only over meters high, right?

[Even more impressive is the SLS rocket currently under development, which is said to be 100 meters tall!]

[Ma Sheng, the light of humanity! Lighthouse, the light of humanity! I love...]

【Where is this stupid...】

BlueStar Aerospace Corporation has a half-day holiday today. Employees can choose to rest or come to the company and watch the live broadcast of the first flight of the "Heavy Falcon" on the big screen with the core technology research department.

Since we hadn't started ignition yet, everyone was in a relatively relaxed state, doing all kinds of things.

Lu Yun went to the bathroom and came back to hear the faint voice that was engraved in his soul in his previous life.

"Hello everyone, I'm Cai Xukun, I can sing, dance, play basketball, and music~"

Lu Yun suddenly shuddered. Oh no, there was already a picture in his mind.

He stopped and looked, and found that it was a female employee, who was also his senior, watching a video at a low volume.

"It really is Cai Xukun..."

Upon hearing this, the senior turned around and saw Lu Yun. She asked in surprise, "Boss, are you watching Idol Producer too?"

Lu Yun didn't answer, but asked, "Is 'Idol Producer' airing now?"

"Yeah, it's already the second episode."

The senior student suddenly got a little gossipy: "Boss, isn't there any competition variety show that wants you to be a mentor? I really want to see you mentor and comment on students older than you!"

Lu Yun glanced at her sideways: "What's your hobby? You like watching Cai Xukun being commented on, right?"

"Hehe, that's true. Of course, I actually watched this show because I like Li Ronghao."

Lu Yun felt relieved after hearing this. As long as he didn't like Cai Xukun, it would be fine.

He knows how different the way girls like Cai Xukun is from the way boys "like" Cai Xukun. Boys usually don't express their love directly, and only occasionally show their chicken feet to be discovered by others.

One minute before the Falcon Heavy took off, the scene became quiet and everyone was staring intently at the big screen.

When the "Falcon Heavy" ignited and took off, 27 engines spewed out hot flames at the same time, instantly creating a huge cloud of white steam!

Extremely spectacular!

"It's worthy of being a heavy-lift rocket. The sound is awesome!"

"Well, it's flying very steadily at the moment. The air fork is really powerful."

The camera switches during the live broadcast, sometimes showing Kongcha's own company. A large number of its employees are also watching the big screen and cheering, while Lu Yun is watching them outside the big screen.

“I wonder if people from other aerospace companies will look at us like this during the live broadcast of our Wanhu rocket’s maiden flight?”

"Of course. According to the design of the Wanhu rocket, although it is smaller, the plan to recover it on its maiden flight is quite astonishing and will definitely attract a lot of attention."

"Hey, hey, keep quiet, and look carefully, the heavy hunter core booster is about to separate!"

"This separation image is really beautiful. The technological creation is so impressive!"

"The new rocket's camera is so clear. The 4K camera installed on our Wanhu rocket will make the live broadcast even clearer!"

Lu Yun also saw it very seriously.

In fact, Lu Yun had noticed something was wrong from the beginning, because he found that the way he watched the Falcon Heavy rocket take off was actually...

Aerospace Engineering +1

The reason is simple: the sight of 27 engines spewing flames at once is truly spectacular.

It also fulfilled the unfinished dream of the Russians, because the N1 super-heavy carrier rocket died due to control problems of its 30 rocket engines.

Too complicated!

The solution for the "Falcon Heavy" is "three Falcon rockets flying at the same time". Each of the three rockets has its own independent control system, which actually reduces the complexity of the system.

On the other hand, the N1 rocket is fifty years behind the current Falcon Heavy rocket, and the development of computer and flight control technology makes the N1 rocket look like a giant prehistoric toy.

You should know that even if the N1 rocket's main control computers consist of dozens or hundreds of computers connected in parallel, its computing power cannot be compared with that of current mobile phones.

But no matter what, the sight of the 27 engines of the Falcon Heavy spewing flames to propel the rocket into flight is a spectacle!
Soon, another wonder came.

Three 3.7-meter-diameter core stage rockets landed together.

Two of them landed on land landing sites and one landed on a sea landing platform ship.

It was even different from the situation in the previous life where two missiles succeeded and one failed. This time, all three core stage boosters landed successfully!
Aerospace Engineering +1

Then, when the red sports car carrying the astronaut model entered the Earth's orbit, the most dreamy scene came.

Through the camera carried in the car, people actually saw the scene of "astronauts driving towards the earth"!

“This scene is so dreamy.”

Yu Xingchen said to Lu Yun: "It is simply the embodiment of the dream of the stars and the sea."

Lu Yun also murmured: "Yes, space is so beautiful, and the earth is so beautiful too!"

"We must go to space and see it for ourselves someday!"

at the same time……

Aerospace Engineering +1

【Watching Wonders, Technology +3】

[Technology points can be exchanged for experience points a hundredfold. Currently, they can be used to supplement the experience points required to advance to level 5 in Aerospace Engineering. Do you want to exchange them now?]

(End of this chapter)