Chapter 1108 Inadvertently Promoted History

Just as Chang Haonan was considering how to solve the problem of processing large-size wide-chord blades.

Paris France.

Jean-Jacques Dordain was looking at two reports in front of him with a frown. The reports had similar contents but completely different conclusions.

They are all related to China's aerospace engineering.

In fact, China's successful first manned space flight has become the biggest topic of the European Space Agency (ESA) in the past half month.

But on this topic, ESA is divided into two completely different factions.

One group argues that one can never have too many options for retreat, and that when resources are insufficient, one should try to open up cooperation with any other country or organization with space capabilities.

After all, just a few months ago, they even signed an agreement with the Russian Space Agency to develop a Soyuz series rocket specifically for the Guiana Space Center to alleviate the problem of tight space transportation capacity in Europe.

It seems that having a few more partners is not a problem at all.

The other group believes that although China's aerospace capabilities are promising, their foundation is not solid and their areas of expertise have a high degree of overlap with those of the EU. Introducing cooperation will only intensify competition, and the risks to the Americans must also be taken into consideration.

As an organization based on the European Union and supported by many countries, even though Dordan is the director, he does not have the final say within ESA like his counterparts in other countries.

More often than not, his job seems to be more like that of a coordinator.

Not only is it necessary to balance the interests of various member states, especially the initial few member states, but also to take into account the impact of the external environment.

For example, NASA is keen on long-arm jurisdiction...

In short, although the money is lucrative, it is definitely all money earned...

Just then, a sudden knock on the door interrupted Director Dordan's sigh.

After looking up at the person who came, he quickly performed the art of face-changing and quickly stood up to invite the other person in:

"Bernard, long time no see..."

Then he picked up two cups and placed them in front of the two of them:

"Want something to drink?"

Bernard Kandel is ESA policy development advisor and honorary professor at the Institut Universitaire de France.

"no need."

Kandel waved his hands, apparently not buying it.

He is considered a veteran within ESA, but his current title is just a nominal one.

They have no real power, nor are they subject to much control.

If I hadn't had a good personal relationship with Dordan, I probably wouldn't have made this special trip:

"You called me here specially, I guess it's not just to reminisce about the past..."

Dordan, whose purpose was directly exposed, was only embarrassed for a moment:

"China has given me a difficult problem this time."

This sentence made Kandel stunned:

"You mean... about them sending their first astronaut into space?"

"if not……"

Dordan sighed:

"What else could it be?"

Kandel almost laughed out loud when he heard this:

"But we... No, it's you who have long given up on independently completing the manned space program?"

There was a strong sense of gloating in his tone.

But Dordan just shrank his head and looked at the other party -

In the mid-80s, ESA had a manned space program that was expected to cost more than 1000 billion Deutsche Marks.

Kandel himself is an enthusiastic supporter and promoter of this plan.

However, when Europeans are asked to carry out such a complex project, the results are not surprising.

The ESA ultimately proposed a breathtaking three-stage development route.

The first step is to develop a spacecraft similar to the Soyuz, and then develop an improved version based on the Ariane 3 rocket to send the spacecraft and astronauts into space.

The second was the Ariane 5 space shuttle, which was slightly smaller than the US space shuttle and was expected to be launched by the Ariane rocket which was still in the planning stage at the time.

The third is to develop the "Columbus" space capsule, which is actually a small space station that allows astronauts to stay in orbit continuously.

Anyone with a discerning eye can see that the problem here is already huge -

Spacecraft - Space Shuttle - Small Space Station.

The relationship between the three is more of a parallel one than a succession one.

Especially the first two.

Indeed, even though the Soviets already had spacecraft, they still began developing a new Buran space shuttle in the 80s.

But after all, the Soyuz has been in use for almost 30 years, so it is natural for them to iterate and launch new products.

What about ESA?

There were not enough resources to begin with, and we had to build two means of transportation at the same time.

It doesn't make sense no matter how you look at it.

In short, as neither side gave in, they finally came up with a plan that was full of traces of compromise.

The whole plan had to be abandoned.

Only the name "Columbus" remains to be used on a module of the International Space Station.

It was this incident that stimulated Kandel to leave ESA's frontline business.

Now, seeing the Chinese catching up, it’s hard not to think, “You really deserve it.”

Dordan, who had also experienced the whole process, was unable to refute and had to change the subject:

"It's not entirely related to manned space flight..."

He took the two reports from the table and said:

"Anyway, take a look at this first."

Although Kandel was still holding a grudge, he had a good personal relationship with Dordan after all, so it was impossible for him to directly offend the other party.

Besides, we are here already.

So, in the end, I took it and quickly read it to the end at a glance.

After a moment of silence, he slowly said:

"I think... in the field of space, international cooperation is the general trend after all. Even the Americans and Russians can get together to build a space station, so it's not unreasonable for someone to hope that we will be open-minded about this matter..."

Dordan's eyes moved slightly.

It seems that the other party supports the first opinion.

But before he could open his mouth, Kandel changed the subject:

"But we also have to consider that our space program is deeply tied to NASA, and the risks mentioned in the second report do exist..."

"At present, it seems that the Chinese are good at developing functional space payloads, such as satellites and spacecraft, but their weakness is the lack of large rockets with strong carrying capacity. This is completely consistent with our ecological niche in the international aerospace industry... We cannot simply judge based on the situation in the EASA aviation industry..."

These words are of a very high level.

It's like saying a sentence.

Humphrey possessed belongs to yes.

Dordan also showed an expression that he couldn't bear to look at it:

"I invited you here today, not to help me bring water..."

Kandel shrugged and put down the two reports in his hands:

"I don't even need to look at the name of the person who submitted the report to know that this is an internal struggle between the ELDO faction and the ESRO faction... You, the director, can't do anything about them, so what can I, a professor who left ESA a long time ago, do?"

ELDO, European Launch Vehicle Development Organisation.

ESRO, European Space Research Organisation.

These are two organizations established simultaneously in 1962 on the basis of the European Community in the early days of space exploration.

Although the two merged to form today's European Space Agency in 1975, the conflicts of interest between them are not so easy to disappear.

On the contrary, it has become more serious due to resource sharing.

The extremely abstract manned space program mentioned above is also related to the infighting between the two factions.

The positions of both parties vary at different times, but in general, the former is more inclined to open cooperation, while the latter is more inclined to be tied to NASA.

As for why the previous cooperation with the Russians was able to pass...

That's also because NASA took the lead.

Now that their partner has changed to China, the ESRO faction is naturally not so easy to deal with.

Before Dordan could speak again, Kandel asked:

"Come to think of it... I remember that at the beginning of this year, we were going to cooperate with China on the Galileo satellite navigation system. Why did it end up in vain?"

"Don't mention it..."

The former loosened the tie around his neck:

"We had just started discussing the feasibility of cooperation internally, and we hadn't even decided on the members of the inspection team to be sent to China when the news leaked out... The Americans put pressure on us very strongly, and many people who were initially inclined to cooperate quickly changed their attitudes. In the end, we had to put it on hold for the time being..."

Kandel spread his hands and showed an "I knew it" expression:

"So you see, even the cooperation on the global satellite navigation system was leaked so quickly. If you want to cooperate with China in the more sensitive field of manned space flight or even deep space exploration, what's the difference between that and dreaming?"

"..."

Dordan was speechless.

After a while, he said with some sadness:

"The bond between us and NASA...is indeed a little too deep..."

Unexpectedly, this somewhat self-deprecating speech made Kandel change his mind:

"Actually...it's not impossible."

"Ah?"

Dordan instantly perked up.

"Your ESA has been infiltrated like a sieve... There is definitely no hope."

Kandel puts it very bluntly.

"Uh……"

Dordan scratched his head in embarrassment.

Kandel completely ignored him:

"If you really want to break the impasse, you can only consider allowing private capital to enter the aerospace industry, and then find a white glove to complete this task..."