I ask you to build tractors, but you build rockets?

Xiao Gangtian doesn't quite understand what Serev means. The maintenance cost of H1 is 20 million, which means that the launch system is less than 10 million? How can this be?

Serev opened his X16 laptop, directly pressed the touch-screen capable screen to a 180-degree opening and closing angle, and opened the electronic drawing board.

"Look, if we build an unmanned H1 without humans and increase the cabin temperature limit to the maximum threshold of 60 degrees, will the weight reduction be enough to carry a ten-ton payload? Can the maintenance cost be reduced to 20 million? the following?"

"Of course there is no problem. There is no difference for the equipment whether the temperature is 20 degrees or 60 degrees. In this case... I think 16 million for one maintenance is definitely enough, and the insulation layer must be greatly simplified."

Serev: "Then it's about the launch method. Have you heard of the MAKS plan?"

Xiao Okada: "MAKS... Max, no, I remember, using An-225 to launch the space shuttle?"

Serev: “Before I died, the Alliance was studying plans to launch small space shuttles or aerospace planes into space cheaply and conveniently. There was no MAKS at that time, and it was the ‘Spiral’ plan proposed by the MiG Design Bureau.

They plan to build the MiG-105, a small aerospace fighter that will be carried by a hypersonic carrier aircraft manufactured by the Tupolev Design Bureau and fly to about Mach 5 before being released and flying into space on its own, similar to your Soaring Cloud Plan.

Later, in the 1980s, after the birth of the An-225, the Lightning Design Bureau launched MAKS after passing several plans and ideas. "

The MAKS aerospace plane program is an aerospace plane project promoted by the Alliance in the last century.

The core of the plan is to use the An-225 carrier aircraft to transport the MAKS small aerospace aircraft and the fuel tank assembly of more than 200 tons to an altitude of more than 10,000 meters, and release the assembly after reaching a certain speed.

Then the two engines at the tail of the MAKS space shuttle that can provide 275 tons of thrust are started, pushing the assembly all the way to low-Earth orbit, and then abandoning the fuel tank.

The entire launch process cost nothing to install the 225 carrier aircraft and take off, nor did the canisters containing more than 200 tons of fuel cost anything. The space shuttle can be recycled, and there are only maintenance costs.

Serev: "H1 is bigger than MAKS, but that doesn't matter. The An-1250 machine can carry a load of 500 tons, and a 300-ton fuel tank is enough. As for the engine, it must use a high specific impulse hydrogen-oxygen engine, so let's use the H240. If you scale it up a bit and make an H300, with 110% power output at an altitude of 10,000 meters, it will definitely have a thrust of 330 tons.

How much does it cost to fly an An-1250 once? Disposable fuel tanks plus fuel are the most expensive, probably about 12 million, so the entire launch system can be priced at 30 million, and its overload is definitely low enough, about 3G, which is lower than launching with Xinyuan No. 5A. "

Xiao Gangtian randomly found some information on the Internet that was disclosed by the MAKS plan back then, and quickly verified Serev's statement.

"So if that's the case, all we need is to build or modify an unmanned H1 and design a fuel tank. This is much simpler than waiting for the H2M to be completed."

Serev: "Yes, there is everything in the base. Give me one month to complete the design, and the whole plan will not cost much. The only disadvantages of this plan are that the fuel tanks cannot be reused and the liquid hydrogen fuel is a bit expensive , but there are only more than two hundred tons, and the budget can be controlled."

"Then let's go find the president..."

"No" Serev waved his hand, "I decide on my own for projects below 1 billion. In three months, we will work hard and let our MAKS fly into space in December. As soon as the C-level base has spare production capacity, let them bring it on."

…

“Lanjian Aerospace launched the first liquid oxygen kerosene reusable rocket Qinglong 2. It is reported that Qinglong 2’s recycling LEO capacity has reached 20 tons, and the current external commercial quotation starts at US$57 million.

This is a great success for my country's small and medium-sized private aerospace enterprises..."

On August 23, the Qinglong-2 rocket was launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Site and successfully recovered.

This is the largest rocket manufactured by private aerospace companies in China except Xinyuan Company, and it is also the rocket with the highest technical content.

A medium-to-large rocket with a take-off thrust of 870 tons, seven liquid oxygen and kerosene engines, and recyclable. Why does it sound a bit familiar?

Except for the fact that 7 K120s have replaced 9 Merlin 1D engines, Qinglong 2 can be said to be the plus version of Falcon 9, and they all look exactly the same!

Moreover, as a polished rocket, Qinglong 2 can also develop the CBC configuration "Heavy-Heavy Qinglong". The maximum LEO transport capacity without recycling reaches 81 tons, making it a proper super-heavy rocket.

The heavy-duty Falcon needs a transport capacity of 60 tons that can be achieved without recycling, and the heavy-duty Qinglong recycling can achieve it.

And unlike the Falcon 9, Qinglong 2 was successfully recovered immediately after its first flight, which perfectly replicated Xinyuan's original success and reassured investors that they would not be so anxious to launch Blue Sword Aerospace on the market immediately.

While many people cheered and encouraged the rise of private aerospace, some also discovered problems:

The recycling system is bought; the engine is bought; only the rocket body is made by oneself. How is this a bit like the major mobile phone manufacturers?

If you buy the key components and assemble them yourself to create a high-tech rocket, can this be considered your own research and development?

Of course it does, and everyone is happy to do it.

The domestic quotation of 350 million yuan for Qinglong 2 was immediately received: the space agency is preparing to launch Tianzhou 2 at the end of the year, and it has been decided to use Qinglong 2.

If we always use Xinyuan rockets, it will seem a bit awkward, but if the rain and dew are equal, then the Aerospace Development Commission can come forward and say that it is to reform the quality, optimize the industrial structure, and streamline the mission of the space agency.

And 350 million is really not expensive for the space agency, much cheaper than a rocket that cannot be reused.

After all, the Changqi's outrageous CCBCC configuration requires nine K120s to be recovered as a whole, and the load coefficient is indeed pitifully low. However, the space agency has not stopped and plans to continue, and is about to make its first flight.

Moreover, the reuse cost of Long March 7 is only a little over 150 million, so the province still needs to save.

The Qinglong 2 rocket is now cheap enough, so it’s good to just fill the gap.

Other domestic private enterprises have also been given great confidence by the success of Qinglong 2 and believe that this model can continue and quickly improve their own rocket launch success rates.

This has also profoundly affected the foreign aerospace industry.

On August 24, at an ordinary executive meeting within the European Space Agency, Italian representative Badis made a surprising statement:

"Everyone, I think there is no need for the Ariana Rockets to continue to develop."

As soon as these words came out, Antoine, the most excited representative of the country, jumped up and pointed directly at Badis' nose and cursed:

"Ariane 5 is the last glory of Europe's heavy-lift rocket! Without it, ESA would not have its own heavy-lift rocket! Do you want to cut off European aerospace?"

Badis took his time: "The launch cost of Ariane 5 has reached 2 billion U.S. dollars! Everyone, the international launch price of Xinyuan 2 is only 130 million U.S. dollars. A rocket that cannot be recycled is not worth a penny. We need It’s a new generation of rockets that can be recycled.”

Dai Ying’s representative: “If we want to develop a new generation of reusable heavy-lift rockets, I’m afraid Dai Ying doesn’t have enough financial support.”

Countries around the world have become accustomed to the behavior of leading a handsome guy in advance. Badis just rolled his eyes, and then said seriously:

"Italy has its own heavy-lift rocket 'Veneto 1', which can transport 30 tons of payload to orbit while being reused, and costs only US$200 million per launch, which is one-tenth of Ariane's cost. one!"