Chapter 118 New Ships
Fan Ren knew that the scientists present did not have much confidence in the test content of his flying boat, so he had no choice but to play the video content for everyone to watch.
When the video played the part where the surface of Mars appeared on the screen, all the designers shut their mouths and stared at the screen.
Is it shocking?
Not really.
In the picture, they saw the unique orange-yellow desert landscape of Mars, which had never been seen on Earth, and the gray atmosphere all over the sky.
And finally, there is Spieth's Mars base on Utopia Plains.
"When it was designed, we considered that we would only go to Mars and place our quantum relay satellite in the synchronous orbit of Mars. Well, re-entering the Martian atmosphere was my personal decision and was not part of the test plan. But now it seems that this flying boat is capable of flying in the atmosphere."
Upon hearing this, all the designers present blushed unconsciously.
Listen, it's 'just' a trip to Mars and 'by the way' dropping a satellite.
It also flew within the Martian atmosphere. Although the density of the atmosphere there is low and the gravity of the planet is slightly lower, it is still an unknown planet after all.
Liu Shengzhan turned around and looked eagerly at the "wreckage" of the flying boat and said, "Fanren, you don't have to belittle yourself. I think this flying boat is very useful. You just said that the maximum speed on Mars can reach Mach 22?"
"Yes, Mach 22. We haven't done any wind tunnel testing, so the aerodynamic layout isn't very reasonable. Otherwise it could be even faster."
"Aerodynamic layout is nothing. Our designers are very good at this. The main thing is applicability. Can it take off directly from the earth into space?"
Fan Ren heard this with some regret and said, "Of course it is possible, but the engine is too expensive. If we want to take into account the navigation within the atmosphere, as the size of the flying boat increases, the thrust required must also increase the number of engines, which is not worth the loss."
"Liu Shuai, the Earth's gravity is relatively high, so we can continue to use traditional aircraft. Today we are mainly here to refer to the experimental data and discuss the design direction of future spacecraft."
Li Jiandong patted the other person's shoulder and looked at Fan Ren with satisfaction in his eyes.
Today, various projects in the space hub are being carried out in full swing, and the lunar space elevator has been built more than halfway.
In this context, relying solely on those few Star Series rockets is already very insufficient for transportation.
The Ministry of Industry must start designing new types of spacecraft suitable for space operations as soon as possible.
He continued:
"Our transport ship has been sent to the space hub and will be assembled in the near future. However, this type of transport ship is relatively only suitable for transporting large cargo such as ore. We also have a large number of workers and professionals in charge of various projects who need to travel between the Earth and the Moon."
Liu Shengzhan had a clue in his mind after thinking about it, so he took over the conversation and said:
"The newly established space force of the military will also need a variety of combat ships. Since the future mission of the space force involves monitoring various high- and low-level satellites, I think our military ships will need a certain ability to fly within the atmosphere."
He paused, looked at the designers who were in deep thought, and said, "See if you can design a tugboat that has the ability to capture and a certain amount of towing power. The space rules we set will definitely be challenged by certain forces. Shooting it down directly will certainly solve the problem once and for all, but at the same time there will be no room for reversal."
Fan Ren nodded, and he thought of a movie he had watched in the dormitory that year.
A large spacecraft in space will be able to directly cut off the solar panels of smaller satellites, and at the same time cast a large net to drag away some small satellites.
This is a very good idea.
However, because it may involve low-level orbital operations, there may be some requirements on thrust.
Thinking of this, his eyes lit up.
"There is a way!" Fan Ren quickly pulled up the Xingyun series of launch vehicles on the display screen and pointed at it and said:
"Just use it. After removing the first-stage booster, the Star Rocket has a payload of nearly 200 tons. Originally, after our new transport ship was put into use, these Star Rockets were going to enter a semi-retired state."
He stared at the photos of rockets that had made great contributions to the starry sky, with nostalgia in his eyes.
"Liu Shuai, the Xingyun rocket is fully capable of meeting your requirements. We can carry out targeted modifications on it, install a deployable and retractable robotic arm and other fishing equipment in the original payload compartment, and remove the original secondary hull and replace it with a nuclear fusion engine to enable it to have long-term endurance patrol capabilities.
At the same time, several of the dismantled second-stage thrust engines will be retained and installed on the tail wing of the rocket, while a certain number of chemical fuel tanks will be retained.
In this way, when it is operating in a low-orbit environment, if it encounters a situation where a tugboat operation is required, it can temporarily use chemical fuel thrusters to carry out towing operations. "
After Fan Ren finished speaking, everyone gradually had a general picture of what he had described in their minds.
It’s just that the cylindrical rocket has several chemical fuel engines on both sides, which always feels weird.
Fan Rencai doesn't care about these things, as long as they are useful. There are more than a dozen Xingyun series rockets now, and it would be a pity to retire all of them.
Besides, since we are not flying into the atmosphere, there is no need to consider the aerodynamic layout.
In a vacuum, a large iron lump of equal mass and his flying boat require the same thrust.
Fan Ren stared at Liu Shengzhan and muttered, "I haven't seen how good-looking the water tugboat is."
"I think it's feasible!"
The old master in charge of designing fighter jets in the military nodded heavily. He understood what Fan Ren described.
In its view, it doesn't matter whether it looks good or not, as long as it is practical.
The modified Xingyun rocket can fully meet the needs of a series of operations such as repairing, capturing and towing satellites in orbit.
And this can also save a lot of construction costs. To be honest, in the eyes of scientists of this generation, the idea of spending little money to achieve great things is engraved in their bones.
Liu Shengzhan could only nod at this time. The bulk of the current budget is still based on the Ministry of Industry projects. Although the Space Force is equally important, its main job is to protect the interests of Daxia from being damaged.
With this modified Star Rocket, at least they can do what they said in the series of related statements they released previously.
Fan Ren smiled.
Of course, these cannot meet Liu Shengzhan's space force requirements.
Then he operated it, and the image of the Star Rocket on the display screen changed, and a spaceship they had never seen before appeared in front of everyone.
The spacecraft has bulges at both ends of the bow, a straight body, and two slightly raised cylinders at the stern.
Fan Ren dragged the screen to rotate, and the cylinder at the stern of the ship also appeared.
Two nuclear fusion engines.
(End of this chapter)
