Chapter 364 I Want It All
The Apollo 1 separated from its booster and core stage near the Karman line 100 kilometers above the ground.
Seeing the tracking signal and steadily flying out of the atmosphere, everyone present breathed a sigh of relief.
The most dangerous phase has passed, and the rest of the voyage will be relatively safe.
However, Jose, Antonio and others did not take it lightly. The danger of the atmosphere comes from the natural environment of the earth, but in low-Earth orbit, there is another thing that threatens spacecraft - space debris.
For example, the large number of communication satellites launched by SpaceX not only occupy a large amount of orbital resources in low-Earth orbit, but also form a large amount of space debris.
When Antonio was designing the Apollo-class launch vehicle, he made a special design for the core second stage (spacecraft), using high-strength composite materials to create an outer shell with extremely high defensive performance.
This special shell can withstand the impact of space debris.
At the same time, the hull layout of the spacecraft has also been specially designed. Probes and communication signal receivers that need to be exposed are placed in the back area of the spacecraft, and the front of the spacecraft is covered with hard armor.
As for solar panels, which are most likely to be hit by space debris, in addition to surface coating to increase strength, a micro-modular design is also adopted. One solar panel is composed of hundreds of micro photovoltaic modules, each of which can generate electricity independently.
Another thing is to deploy a space debris monitoring system. The Ministry of Space has deployed 16 special monitoring satellites in low-Earth orbit to monitor artificial satellites, spacecraft, space stations, space debris, and natural celestial bodies in low-Earth orbit.
In addition, the Apollo 1 spacecraft is also equipped with various monitoring equipment, which is more than enough to avoid some obvious space debris.
The automatic navigation system operates the spacecraft to fly towards the synchronous orbit.
The Apollo 1 is actually still used for testing, but the previous tests did not reach the synchronous orbit and the moon. Therefore, the core mission of this launch is to collect flight data to the synchronous orbit and the moon.
In this regard, the Homo Sapiens company is indeed wealthy and powerful, and it has no regrets in using a launch vehicle costing more than 6 million yuan for testing .
The aerospace departments of other forces carefully calculate every launch mission.
Even NASA's investment in spacecraft is actually very limited. They have invested a lot of money in many large projects, but only a small part of that money is actually used in spacecraft and technology research and development.
After all, contractors and management also need to make money.
Inside the ground command center.
Antonio looked at the data on the computer, turned to Jose and said, "We can just assign a team to keep an eye on it. Let's go report the situation first!"
"Can."
The two came to the VIP room.
Sanjibada Layal served tea to both of them.
Jose, who had just sat down, immediately reported: "Mr. Chairman, the Ape-Eating Eagle 1 has entered low-Earth orbit and is currently orbiting. The next step is to go to geosynchronous orbit and then to the moon."
Antonio added: "This kind of test is still necessary. After all, the company has accumulated too little data in the aerospace field."
Li Qingye waved his hand and said, "It doesn't matter. It's just a carrier rocket. By the way, what is the current manufacturing speed of carrier rockets?"
"It depends on the need. If the supporting factories run at full capacity, they can produce 40 Apollo-class launch vehicles per month. Currently, the number is around 2 to 4 per month." Jose gave the answer immediately.
Li Qingye thought for a while, then instructed: "Jose, I discussed with Dr. Antonio this morning that we will build a space station in low-Earth orbit in the near future to test the operation of various biotechnologies in microgravity."
Jose nodded: "I heard from the doctor."
"There are currently five launch sites in Port Ramon Space City. You must arrange the progress of each task to avoid affecting the progress of the Guigong Project."
"I'll make sure to arrange it."
As for why we did not use the Aerospace City of Hongsavadi Branch or Ceylon Branch, the reason is that the positioning is different.
The Puerto Ramon Space City in Medan Island mainly follows the launch vehicle route.
The Hugang Space City of the Hongsavady Branch mainly focuses on small and medium-sized solid rockets, and is more inclined towards military, emergency and concealed use. It also manages the Longgarang cannon project in the south of Hongsavady.
The Ceylon branch's aerospace city mainly produces launch vehicles that use metal hydrogen fuel. Currently, there has been no breakthrough in the metal hydrogen passivation technology, so although there are several design plans for the launch vehicle, none of them have been officially put into operation.
The Harij Space City of the Suez Branch and the Northern Space City of the Mada Island Branch have not been completed yet, and the technical routes of these two space cities are also different from those of other space cities.
Among them, the Motor Island Space City is developing a mass projector. It plans to build a 300-kilometer-long annular sub-vacuum pipeline, plus a 500-meter-high launch building, and use electromagnetic acceleration to project spacecraft into outer space.
Meanwhile, the Suez branch's Khalij Space City is developing a space shuttle route. Currently, the supporting facilities have not been completed and the space shuttle is still under design.
The five aerospace cities each have five technical routes.
It includes six technologies: cannon launch, liquid launch vehicle, solid launch vehicle, metal hydrogen launch vehicle, space shuttle, and mass projection.
Even America doesn't dare to play like this.
After all, the space shuttle project back then made America complain a lot.
But Sapiens doesn't care. For the company, even if such a big project fails, it will not shake the company's foundation.
Since it will not shake the foundation of the company, in order to avoid choosing the wrong technology tree, we will make large-scale investments in all possible technological directions.
By then, even if several of the projects fail, as long as one succeeds, it will be equivalent to the success of Sapiens' space strategy.
Although the cost of trial and error is huge, Homo sapiens has the strength to support it.
When Li Qingye approved these projects, he had already read various professional assessments, including the previously criticized space shuttle project.
After all, America has already paved the way for newcomers on the space shuttle path.
But Li Qingye still approved the space shuttle project.
Because times have changed.
The failure of America's space shuttle project was actually due to material problems. During the repeated use of the space shuttle, parts aged, resulting in a continuously rising failure rate and maintenance costs.
However, the material problem is not a problem for the current Homo sapiens company.
Even if Sapiens simply replicates America's space shuttle, as long as it uses the company's unique materials, especially self-repairing biomaterials, the failure rate and maintenance costs of the space shuttle will be reduced by an order of magnitude.
What's more, Sapiens will carry out a comprehensive upgrade and transformation of the space shuttle.
As a result, the space shuttle route has seen a second life.
Even Li Qingye is not sure about the future development path of space exploration.
Other forces are limited by economy and resources and can only choose one, but the Sapiens company said: I want them all.
Li Qingye talked with Antonio, Jose and others for more than an hour. After assigning some tasks, he secretly took the subway back to his temporary residence.
He is currently studying a very critical topic.
