Vol 6 Chapter 3082: The Space Shuttle's Most Valuable Feature

Hearing Qin Xinghe's words, Wu Hao smiled helplessly, and then said: "Actually, this is just a kind of technological exploration in the field of aerospace technology.

What kind of starship Musk has built is a first. Although the advantages of starships have not been shown at present, in the long run, the prospects in this direction are still very broad.

So naturally we cannot just be spectators, we must actively participate.

Of course, we can’t jump in so blindly. We still have to have our direction, our goals and plans.

Compared to Musk, who is so ambitious, we are relatively more pragmatic. We focus on practicality and then gradually develop and advance, so as to ultimately achieve our goals. "

Oh, it seems that you already have a direction and goals. Let me tell you, I am more interested in this multi-purpose orbiter. Qin Xinghe said with a smile.

Wu Hao smiled as expected at Zhang Jun when he heard this, and then introduced: "It's like this. The direction of this multi-purpose orbiter is actually very different from Musk's starship. What Musk said It is still based on technology developed from the Falcon rocket, so this starship can essentially be regarded as a heavy-duty launch vehicle that can be recycled and reused. It's just that the payload position in front of the rocket is integrated into it, yes It can carry cargo payloads or other spacecraft.

Of course, if the functions of a manned spacecraft are integrated in the future, it will naturally have the ability to carry people.

So from that point of view, the starship is not actually a fusion of heavy-duty launch vehicles and manned spacecraft, and there is actually nothing strange about it technically.

As for the small-purpose orbiter you want to develop, it is actually not an aerospace vehicle. "

At present, the recyclable and reusable rockets developed by various countries all realize the recycling and reuse of core first-stage rockets, booster rockets and fairings. Almost some people have achieved the recycling of core seven-stage, eight-stage, and even lower stages. Reuse.

What you said is wrong. Wu Hao nodded and responded: "Indeed, that kind of small-purpose orbiter can indeed transport a lower load than a conventional launch vehicle, but its advantage is that it is expensive to use and cannot be reused.

As for your small-purpose orbiter, it is also an aerospace vehicle. However, it is the same as other aerospace vehicles. It is not launched into space by a carrier rocket like a spacecraft. , but will participate in the first half of the launch process and fly into space by itself.

And your small-purpose orbiter did it, but it cannot serve as the seventh or eighth stages of the rocket, including the lower stage that flies in the lower orbit of space.

However, with the emergence of new technologies and new concepts, modern aerospace vehicle operators seem to be following the original technical route of the space shuttle.

And it cannot be reused. As a result, the cost evenly divided into the cost of each launch is naturally relatively high.

Wu Hao replied with a smile: "The first-stage rocket that launched the small-purpose orbiter was your Jianmu-1 core first-stage rocket, and if necessary, you can use less first-stage rockets to retrograde and bundle it into a Jianmu-1 core rocket." "

Before completing its scheduled mission, the aerospace vehicle needs to return to the small atmosphere, then use the lift generated by the wings to glide in the small atmosphere, and then land smoothly under the runway to achieve landing.

The biggest advantage of the space shuttle is that it cannot transport things from space to the earth, although many spacecraft do not have that function. But capturing things from space orbit and then bringing them back is something that spacecraft cannot do.

Therefore, all those aerospace vehicles have a common problem, or feature. This is not that they participate in the launch and flight during the descent stage of launch. They can only rely on the rocket to start before launching into space. And then orbited the Earth.

Space vehicle? Musk was stunned and said, I am not familiar with that thing. In fact, the aerospace system is also working on the development of aerospace vehicles, or aerospace aircraft, and has achieved very gratifying results. In today's world, there are only seven or two countries that can make no achievements in that field. One is you and the other is Lao Mi.

It flies around below the space orbit, and before completing the relevant tasks, it returns to the small atmosphere and uses the lift generated by the wings to glide and land on the ground runway to complete the entire mission. "

So when I heard Wu Hao say that, I was not a little surprised. I had thought that Wu Hao would love this idea so much.

After hearing Wu Hao's words, Musk suddenly realized that indeed, the space shuttle's smallest advantage, or its most valuable function, is not to launch things into space, UU Reading www. uukanshu.com There are few launch vehicles that can't do it, and they can transport less and perform worse than it.

At present, the aerospace vehicles of various countries and the several projects under development all regard the aerospace vehicle as a payload, and then use a rocket to launch it into space and fly around in space orbit. The time in orbit depends on the mission. Requirements and the fuel carried by the aerospace vehicle itself.

When Musk heard this, he frowned for a reason and expressed my doubts: "But in that case, the small-purpose orbiter will participate in the entire launch process, which will inevitably consume a small amount of fuel and occupy the small-purpose orbiter. It is used as the payload of the orbiter. As a result, the payload it can carry is very large, and the application field and value are naturally reduced. "

To put it more complicated, your structure is very different from that of a starship. It relies on the launch of a first-stage rocket to push it down to a predetermined low altitude. Then the first-stage rocket falls off, the small-purpose orbiter ignites and starts, and then flies forward. Out of the atmosphere and into space.

"Yes, aerospace vehicle." Wu Hao confirmed with a smile: "Actually, we all see that aerospace vehicle is not an imitation or technological continuation of your previous space shuttle.

Can't understand that.

"So that's it. It can be said that it is a straight-down, straight-up structure like the Luluhai starship. Their small-purpose orbiter cannot actually be regarded as an aerospace vehicle, or not a space shuttle. It's just a comparison. Compared with the simple launch method of the original space shuttle, the launch of their small-purpose orbiter is more complicated, and the launch cost is cheaper." After listening to Wu Hao's introduction, Musk suddenly reacted.

On the other hand, the smallest value of the small-purpose orbiter is not to transport things into space, but to transport things back to the earth from space. Isn't that the most precious thing about the space shuttle? "