Reborn Before the Apocalypse: My Backing is the Nation

Chapter 174 Space Dock
"Countdown 3, 2, 1, 0... Ignition!"

Blazing flames erupted from the base of what was the largest rocket in the history of human civilization.

Standing 133 meters tall, with a total mass of over 4200 tons, the rocket, which accounts for about 80% of its total weight, is propelled into the air by over 3300 tons of fuel and oxidizer burning fiercely.

The sound was like thunder, deafening even several kilometers away. Its fiery, powerful tail flames shot onto the ground, causing the earth to tremble slightly.

In the past, such giant rockets were usually used for Earth-Moon transfer orbits, Earth-Mars transfer orbits, or to launch probes to Saturn, Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune, or even the Kuiper Belt and other deep space objects.

But this time it's different.

Its destination is merely a low Earth orbit a few hundred kilometers above the Earth's surface.

In the past, such "small" missions were usually carried out using small rockets.

The significantly shortened destination resulted in a substantial increase in its carrying capacity.

With just one launch, it can send more than 300 tons of supplies into space!

Finally, the huge supply crate, divided into ten parts, slowly approached the massive structure of Earth 6 space station.

The astronauts, secured by safety ropes, were already on high alert.

They gathered all the supply crates together. After unpacking, the follow-up work began immediately.

They took out building materials, equipment, sealing plates, cables, pipes, and so on, and installed them one by one onto Earth 6's already enormous body.

At the same time, other launch sites on Earth were also carrying out the launch mission of the Giant Torch IV rocket.

The arrival of thousands upon thousands of tons of supplies and materials caused all 26 space stations around Earth to begin expanding in size.

At the space launch command center, Professor Chen Yusheng looked serious.

"This is our alternative plan."

Large rockets have long manufacturing cycles and are technically challenging. In the short term, it is simply not feasible to launch sufficient supplies to the moon using large rockets.

Only small rockets that can be standardized and mass-produced, especially reusable small rockets, can undertake this task.

However, the small rockets lacked sufficient thrust to send the supplies into the lunar transfer orbit. Therefore, the mission was split into two parts.

His voice was full of confidence stemming from a thorough understanding of existing technologies and engineering capabilities: "Transform the existing 26 Earth space stations into 26 space transit hubs."
The reusable small rocket is only responsible for launch missions from the Earth's surface to near-Earth space. It is only responsible for delivering spacecraft components, fuel, personnel, supplies, etc. to the transit port. Then, the spacecraft going to the moon is assembled on-site at the space station, fueled, and personnel are stationed there before taking off from the space station to the moon!

Because assembly and transit take place within a space station, a complete lunar spacecraft can be disassembled into several parts, significantly reducing both its mass and size. Small, reusable rockets can easily handle this task!

Upon hearing Professor Chen Yusheng's overall plan, Jiang Yang felt a slight ripple in his heart.

The plan appears quite simple at first glance. However, Jiang Yang, who has already accessed a considerable amount of information and knowledge, knows that there are countless troublesome details involved, making it far more complex than it seems.

Just rocket control, material docking, and space station assembly alone involve countless high-precision technologies.

Not to mention, once this model is adopted, it won't be long before tens or hundreds of thousands of supply boxes, spacecraft parts, manned spacecraft, and so on will be flying in space.

With so many flying objects traveling at speeds exceeding 7 kilometers per second, the sheer difficulty of coordinating and controlling them is self-evident. And there is another, even more serious problem.

If we were to replace all the large rockets with small, reusable rockets... how many would we need?

"According to our preliminary estimates, the number of rockets required for the entire launch mission is probably at least two hundred times that of large rockets."

Assuming a reusable rocket can be used ten times during its lifespan, this mission would require... 10 rockets. The number of launches would be around 100 million.

Based on a single launch consuming 160 tons of fuel, the total fuel consumption alone would be approximately 1.6 million tons.

1.6 million tons...

Jiang Yang nodded silently.

"A unified manufacturing standard for small reusable rockets has been released, and the global aerospace industry is already integrating it, which will be completed soon."

Reusable rockets produced using this standardized production model only need to undergo some tests within the factory before they can be put into use, unlike in our time when they needed to be repeatedly tested and debugged for months or even years.
The remaining aspects—rocket transportation, replacement and repair of vulnerable parts after recovery, fuel production and transportation, refueling—all aspects related to the launch mission will be integrated into a single system.

Professor Chen Yusheng slowly said, "There are no technical problems. At this moment, we only face one obstacle."

Industrial production capacity.

Jiang Yang was somewhat surprised.

"The whole world has been organized, isn't that enough?"

"Maybe enough, maybe not enough."

This project is simply too enormous; it has never been seen in our entire history. Even if everyone in the world were involved… who could truly know if it would be enough?

Anyway, let's just do it.

……

Just as Jiang Yang described, at this moment, almost all available manpower worldwide has been devoted to this unprecedented industrial production task.

Five days after the mobilization order was issued, commercial streets, pedestrian streets, and entertainment streets in cities of all sizes around the world became deserted.

Not only were there no pedestrians or customers, but all the shops were also closed.

All the tourist attractions, whether large or small, were completely deserted.

Not only were there no tourists, but all the景区 staff were also conscripted.

The elderly, children, and patients were placed in a unified manner and cared for by designated personnel. Starting from high school, all students were also organized and involved in this global production effort.

Those who can cook will cook, those who can drive will transport goods, electricians will maintain power lines, and those who can repair will work in repair shops.

Even if you know nothing and have no professional skills, you can still pick and wash vegetables, right? You can still tighten screws with a wrench, right? You can still sort some loose goods in the warehouse, right?
Under military control, no one can remain uninvolved.

(End of this chapter)