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

Although John stated that he would go all out to carry out the Ares project, it did not mean that the Artemis project would be suspended.

On the contrary, the Artemis program will also build a base on the moon and also have multiple subsequent landing missions to keep astronauts permanently stationed.

To maintain a high frequency of lunar exploration while exploring Mars, there is no doubt that a considerable number of giant rockets will be launched, and they will have to be cheaper.

The SLS, which costs more than 4 billion US dollars per launch, will definitely not work. Not to mention the current Block1 version, even the 140t capacity Block2 will not work. These giant rockets alone will consume the entire budget.

Under this circumstance, Robert reorganized the bidding and asked for a new rocket that could replace SLS, and the cost was directly in line with XAP's announced launch price of Xinyuan-2A: US$500 million.

The first thing he did after taking office was to abolish the SLS. After firing the third one, he would never manufacture it again.

Although he knew there was great resistance, he still insisted on doing it, and had already received the support of Jack Sullivan and John. Ami really did not have the ability to launch such an expensive thing on a large scale.

This time, in addition to SpecaX’s expected starship, Lockheed also came up with a two-stage recyclable rocket that matches the starship.

"Nova, we decided to use Nova to perform this task. Not only is it completely reusable, but the cost is also very low."

When Robert got the data of the "Nova" rocket, he immediately felt familiar: Isn't this the NOVA plan that competed with the Saturn V!

During the Apollo program, based on the needs of different missions, von Braun came up with two rockets, one with five F1 engines and one with eight F1 engines. Finally, weighing the cost and difficulty, NACA chose option one, which is Later, the Saturn V, the latter also known as "NOVA" was not selected.

Lockheed dug out this old plan from nowhere, and then made some magical changes:

The first is the first-level design. Because it needs to be recovered and the dead weight increases, the diameter is expanded to 14 meters and an F1R engine with deep throttling is added in the center. The total thrust reaches a huge 6120 tons, and the weight after refueling is 3800 Ton;

Then abandon the original cumbersome and unreliable five-stage design and replace it with a huge second stage with controllable wings like a starship spacecraft. It has a diameter of 10.4 meters and a wing span of 21 meters. It uses 5 Rocketdyne based on the RS68 improvement. The methane fuel engine RS75 has a single thrust of 750,000 pounds. The core stage can be deeply throttled and can be recovered after landing on the water surface. The total thrust is 1,650 tons and the mass after refueling is 1,200 tons.

The first stage is called "Saturn VII" to commemorate the origin, and the second stage is named after "Nova". It can send 170 tons of payload into low orbit during recovery and carry 35 tons of payload when flying to the moon.

After a comprehensive assessment, Lockheed believes that the cost of a Nova rocket launch will be controlled at around US$450 million. The upper stage can carry both people and supplies, and it can be used as an OSS aircraft to refuel the "Gateway".

The engineer who designed it believes that although the configuration is similar to that of a starship, the first stage of the "Nova" only requires 9 mature and reliable F1R engines. The latter is a reusable model designed by Rocketdyne for the F1, simplifying the engine by 30%. structure and greatly reduce costs, and will never shut down unreliably due to too many engines like a starship booster.

In addition, when landing at sea, the Nova spacecraft first decelerates in the vertical direction and then lands on the water at a small elevation angle. It consumes less fuel during recovery and has a greater error tolerance.

In Robert's opinion, the entire "Nova" plan still has many bright spots, especially the smaller number of engines. The starship launch in May really made people worried about multi-stage parallel connection.

It seems that the old military-industrial complex still has a few tricks up its sleeve!

First-level kerosene fuel and second-level methane fuel do not seem expensive.

Like SLS, "Nova" also has the advantage of being equally exposed to rain and dew. Unlike "Starship", which is basically fully packaged by SpecaX, the main rocket body plan of "Nova" is outsourced to Boeing. The engine comes from the mature and reliable Rocketdyne, and the system Lockheed is responsible for the engineering and personnel modules, while the avionics and control equipment are handed over to Raytheon. The arrangement is very clear and combines the strengths of each company.

It can be recalled that Claire’s instructions before leaving office: support the more efficient and cheaper SpecaX and suppress the old military-industrial complex.

Considering all factors, "Nova" is more attractive, but "Starship" has already entered the actual launch test, so it is really difficult to make a choice.

However, he soon knew how to make a decision.

…

presidential palace.

"If you raise taxes, you must raise taxes."

Jack Sullivan waved his fist resolutely, causing John to shrink his neck subconsciously.

“As we increase expenditure, we must increase revenue and taxation. Taxation is the foundation of Aramco!

Bank releases cannot replace a substantive fiscal plan. Raising taxes on the rich is not only a good way to increase income and balance classes, it can also enhance the power in your hands! "

"But……"

John temporarily ignored that he was also a rich man and asked worriedly:

"Raising taxes that are too high could cause some instability, you know."

Of course Sullivan knew what he was afraid of, and just shook his head contemptuously:

"Sir, politics is a loose alliance of hostile tribes. Increasing taxes on the rich will indeed offend many people, but officials from top to bottom will strongly support your decision. With the help of Ares, the god of war, and the industrial reshoring plan, you only need to move your mouth, and it will naturally come true." Countless people rushed to bite him."

But after he finished speaking, he changed his tone and looked more serious:

"Of course if you just do that you're going to get a lot of backlash, so that needs to be appeased as well."

John quickly asked: "What kind of comfort?"

"Subsidizing the automobile giants is to appease them. There are also the Ares and Artemis plans, from which sufficient benefits must be derived. Automobiles, medicine and aerospace are the main targets you are targeting. Use these plans to give them some benefits. With some more pressure, they will compromise.

Only small and medium-sized enterprises will truly accept our support. If you give them a chance, they will naturally fully support your re-election. "

Snap, snap.

John couldn't help but start applauding. Although the new staff was less lovable than Pio, he was more worthy of the important task.

But before he could praise him, Sullivan began to ruin his good mood:

"Sir, it's not a good idea to attack the military."

"How do you talk about this?"

The team formed to investigate the logistics of overseas bases was ready to go, and John was very confident that he could catch some people's pigtails.

He discovered many clues from last year's accounts alone: ​​1.4 million black goats flown by air transport, $1,000 coffee cups, and why is there an electric breast pump in the purchase list?

Seeing that John was unhappy, Sullivan didn't say any more and left with the words "You will understand".