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

Without any accidents, the two axial modules of the Qianjin space station successfully entered the 500KM low-Earth orbit.

Xinyuan-3 has sufficient transportation capacity, so it simply launched the module to a higher orbit, and the atmosphere is thinner, so that the Forward can consume less fuel to maintain the orbital altitude.

Four hours after entering orbit, the truss holding the two cabin sections detached, and the pilot module and node module automatically docked, forming a giant 120-ton assembly.

It is worth mentioning that both Xinyuan-3 launched this time used recyclable second-stage rockets. The dark second-stage rocket on September 2 was launched on the 20th of last month.

Guo Shen's recovery method was still successful. In the second recovery test, the modified secondary rocket body crashed into the sea at a speed of 5m/s perfectly. The engine was hardly wet with water, and the rocket body was in quite good condition. Pull it back, wash it and continue using it.

This also makes Xinyuan 3 the world's first rocket to recycle both the first and second stages. The five hydrogen and oxygen engines in the second stage successfully saved Lin Ju 100 million.

Today's secondary bomb was also recovered successfully. The two ablation by atmospheric friction did not have a fatal impact. The tugboat pulled it back 4 kilometers offshore from the coastline.

When Lao Ma saw this scene, he silently opened the Starship PPT.

Last month, specaX, whose technical strength is constantly increasing, manufactured the first starship SN1 test prototype. Before it could be released to the public, it exploded during the liquid nitrogen pressure test...

This does not mean that there is a problem with the design of the star ship, it can only be said that quality control needs to be strengthened.

Because SN1 is used for ground testing, its appearance is far from what was expected. It is ugly and much smaller.

But he still has full confidence in the complete starship, because the starship replaces the upper stage of a traditional rocket as a second-stage rocket, has unprecedented recovery quality, can also transport 120 tons of payload to low-Earth orbit, and has the potential for interplanetary travel.

The most important thing is that the cost is low, which is definitely much cheaper than the Xinyuan space shuttle.

But when he was confidently advancing the plan step by step, many companies, including specaX, received information from NACA: soliciting designs for artificial gravity spacecraft for landing on Mars.

Lao Ma looked at the starship he was going to use to board the fire. It was obviously unrealistic to want it to rotate and generate gravity like the Advance.

But in his mind, the rotating space station or spaceship has a complex and fragile structure. Where can I find a starship that can serve as both a lander and a spaceship?

But gravity is indeed very important. Proper gravity can save a lot of things. So, how can a starship also produce gravity?

Musk fell into deep thought, found two plastic starship models, and thought about modification plans.

…

"Hermes? Lockheed. Have you watched too many space movies?"

Three days after the functional module was also launched into orbit by Xinyuan-3 and successfully docked with the node module, Claire finally received centrifugal spacecraft design plans from multiple companies.

The first one is Lockheed Martin's plan, which is amazing. It uses the Hermes spacecraft from "The Martian" released last year.

Except for changing the nuclear fusion ion thruster to fission propulsion, the rest of the ship has basically remained unchanged. It is also composed of multiple axial node cabins docking together to form the main body. A centrifugal ring is added to the middle of the hull. The mass is even more outrageous than that of the Advance, weighing 4,500 tons.

The names were all copied from "Hermes", and to avoid Claire's lack of imagination, a picture of the movie poster was attached...

Claire couldn't complain. Looking at Boeing, this one is more pragmatic. Simply put, it copied the Advance, with 12 interconnected centrifugal cabin sections, but the cabin design was changed according to Aramco's rocket capacity. One thousand two hundred tons of mass.

Grumman, Grumman is a bit perfunctory. Their plan is a dumbbell-shaped spacecraft, 150 meters long, with two large structures at both ends, which are the main engine and the living cabin.

The spacecraft first uses the main engine to advance axially to accelerate to a specified speed, then shuts down, and rotates around its center under the action of the attitude engine. At a speed of 2 revolutions per minute, it can generate 0.34G gravity.

After looking at several designs, they were all pretty good, but Claire was a little dissatisfied until he saw specaX's plan.

Claire was silent for a long time, not knowing what to say.

What Musk took out was a starship.

The starship he showed before did not have a rotating gravity ring, but could generate 1G gravity. It was the strongest gravity among all solutions, and it was also adjustable and could be freely selected within the range of 0.2 to 1G.

So, what is such a magical design?

First of all, specaX's landing plan is to combine two starships together through the docking port on the side, and then fill up with fuel and supplies in low-Earth orbit to form a combination weighing about 2,000 tons, which can carry 5 to 15 crew members.

This is very good, no problem, low-Earth orbit replenishment can also be done.

The combination, that is, the two starships docked side by side, first accelerated into the Hohmann orbit, and then in the next 7 to 9 months, the two starships separated, and then the top covers of their respective heads were opened, from one to the other. A special cable was pulled out of one starship and connected to another starship.

By adjusting the posture, the two starships become head-to-head, and the distance between them can be adjusted by the length of the special rope release.

The next step is outrageous. The length of the special rope can be released up to 380 meters. Then the two starships connected head to head with the special rope start their engines and start rotating around the center of the special rope.

Theoretically, as long as it rotates at a speed of 1.5 revolutions per minute, it can generate a gravity of about 1G. The length of the special rope can even be adjusted according to the needs of astronauts to live under the most comfortable gravity.

Wait until you need to slow down, then slow down and tighten, then merge again, perfect.

It sounds unreliable, but if you think about it carefully, there are some possibilities.

At least for Claire, he knew with a little thought that there are many kinds of materials that can withstand the strength. Even steel cables, there are many kinds that can meet the requirements. .

The starships on both sides are only one thousand tons each, and the rotation speed is 1.5 revolutions per minute. This centrifugal force is not large. The rope only needs to be able to withstand a pulling force of 5,000 tons. It is enough to have a pulling force of 10,000 tons. There are not many materials that can meet this standard. few.

The most important thing is that this solution is very simple and does not require the construction of a complex centrifugal mechanism. It can also generate good gravity and has a low investment cost.

You don’t even need a starship. The current Orion spacecraft can even be used for experiments to separate the return capsule and the service module of the spacecraft. The quality is not much different. The tension test of the rope is less than 50 tons. Any ordinary steel cable can OK.

The investment is small, the modification cost is low, and relying on advanced computer technology, slight weight unevenness can be adjusted in real time.

Looking at the proposer of this plan, it turned out to be Musk himself.

Is he really a genius?