The competition between China and the United States in the aerospace field also caused a lot of discussion on the Internet. Especially when it came to the question of which was more nutty, the Mars colony or the Lunar Orbit Space Station.
Putting aside some comments that were purely because of the problem with their butts, there were still many people who stood on a rational point of view and evaluated it.
For example, people who thought that the United States had the upper hand argued that the BFR rocket used the world's most advanced liquid oxygen methane engine. The maximum thrust in vacuum could reach 138 Mn, and the low-Earth orbit carrying capacity was 4.6 times that of the Saturn V. All of these statistics were way better than Skyglow.
Not to mention that the Mars colony was tens of millions of kilometers away. The transportation difficulty was on a completely different level compared to the Lunar Orbit Space Station. Therefore, the United States obviously had the upper hand.
The people who thought that China had the upper hand argued from a pragmatic point of view. No matter how one looked at it, an Enclave tens of millions of kilometers away from China, which only had a launch window every two years, was far inferior to the Moon, which was "so close".
Objectively speaking, either side's point of view was valid.
However, Lu Zhou didn't pay much attention to the discussions surrounding the Lunar Orbit Space Station.
At least in his eyes, these discussions were meaningless.
In the short term, whether it was China's exploration of the Moon or the exploration of Mars, they were all going to lose money. Whether it was the helium-3 and titanium ores in the Moon, or the rich iron ore and methane reserves on Mars, they were all far away.
Just like a few centuries ago, before the Age of Discovery was established, no one knew if the future of colonization was in the Caribbean Sea or the distant Spice Coast …
Even though the Moon was closer.
Of course, from an economic point of view, the entire space program was going to lose money. However, sometimes one couldn't completely look at the problem from an economic point of view.
For China, the political, scientific, and cultural benefits of the space program couldn't be measured in terms of money.
Take the Moon Palace program as an example. As the first country in the world to deploy a space station in lunar orbit, other countries had to sign a cooperation agreement with China in this field if they wanted to participate in lunar scientific research projects.
For example, Germany was the first country to reach an agreement with China on controllable fusion technology, so they naturally began to negotiate with China on the Moon Palace project.
According to the results of the negotiations, China promised to reserve a research position for the Max Planck Institute of Solar System Research after the first phase of the Moon Palace project was completed. Germany would also be allowed to send a researcher to the Moon Palace.
In exchange, the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research would cooperate with China's domestic research institutions on the development of lunar resources.
The United Kingdom, France, the European Union, Russia, Japan, and other countries were also in diplomatic contact with China regarding the Moon Palace project.
As for other countries' requests for cooperation, China also showed an open attitude. Even the United States, the Moon Palace had reserved a spot for their astronauts.
Regardless of the time, the competitive relationship between countries was always relative, not absolute.
Although domestic public opinion was often "clear", in fact, international relations was far from as black and white as most people thought.
Even during the most tense moments of the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union reached a lot of mutually beneficial cooperation in the space program and controllable fusion project.
The competition between China and the United States was far from the Cold War. China, which adhered to peaceful development, had never taken the initiative to fight for world hegemony. If the United States was willing to cooperate with China on the lunar space station project, China obviously had no reason to refuse.
Of course, the premise of all of this was that the United States was willing to open its Mars colony to China, or take out an equivalent bargaining chip in exchange …
So far, Lu Zhou didn't know how the negotiations between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other countries were going, nor did he care.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs was, of course, in charge of diplomatic matters.
These trivial matters didn't have much to do with the Lunar Orbit Committee.
Right now, he had to worry about something more urgent …
Jin Ling City.
Aerospace Science and Technology Research Institute.
A conference on the lunar orbit project was being held in a conference room inside the research institute.
The people attending the conference were all big names in the Chinese aerospace industry.
This included Academician Yuan Huanmin, the chief engineer of the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation, as well as Director Zhang, the person in charge of the Moon Palace core module project.
Lu Zhou used a brief opening speech to announce the start of the conference. He walked to the front of the stage and looked around the conference room with a serious expression.
"I'm sure everyone has heard that the United States has completed the first phase of the Ares program.
"According to the relevant details disclosed by NASA, the BFR rocket did not use the traditional Hohmann transfer orbit. Instead, it directly entered the Mars gravitational system."
As soon as Lu Zhou finished speaking, there was a lot of chatter in the conference room.
Actually, many people had already heard about this before the conference began, but they still couldn't help but be shocked when they heard it again.
Spacecraft traveling to Mars had always used the Hohmann transfer orbit, which was theoretically the route to Mars that consumed the least amount of fuel.
However, this orbit wasn't perfect. There was only a window every two years, and the spacecraft had to fly in the air for up to 180 days.
If it was used to launch a probe, 260 days was acceptable. However, if it was used to send passengers to Mars, it was a bit unacceptable.
Therefore, as the main means of transportation for the Ares program, the BFR rocket with the goal of Mars colonization chose a faster flight path. Compared to the Hohmann transfer orbit, the BFR rocket that used this orbit only needed 30 to 120 days to complete the journey from Earth to Mars. Also, compared to the Hohmann transfer orbit, the BFR rocket had a longer launch window, and there was no need to wait two years for the next launch.
As for the price, it had to consume more fuel.
Even though on the surface, the BFR rocket seemed to increase the cost of launching to Mars, on the other hand, shortening the flight time meant that the BFS spacecraft could carry less water, oxygen, and food. From this point of view, using this launch route, which consumed more fuel, could actually reduce transportation costs …
Space-X was able to turn this seemingly crazy plan into reality. In a sense, Space-X's technology was terrifying!
Lu Zhou looked at the people in the conference room and didn't say anything. Instead, he quietly waited for the discussion to die down.
After around five minutes, a professor sitting in the conference room raised his hand and spoke.
"I have something to say."
Lu Zhou nodded at the professor and spoke.
"Please go ahead."
The middle-aged professor pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and thanked Lu Zhou. He then slowly stood up and expressed his opinion in a tone of voice.
"I think the success of the BFR rocket proves to a certain extent that chemical rockets haven't reached a bottleneck as we thought."
"Maybe we should re-examine our development path. I don't deny the importance of ion thruster propulsion systems, but it might be too early to give up on chemical rockets."
Lu Zhou looked at the professor and thought for a bit. He then suddenly spoke.
"If I give you 50 years with a US $1 billion annual budget, are you confident that you can develop a high-thrust rocket to the same level as the BFR?"
The expert didn't expect Lu Zhou to suddenly ask this question. He paused for a second and had a serious expression on his face.
After a moment of hesitation, he shook his head and answered honestly.
"… It's going to be difficult."
The BFR rocket represented the pinnacle of liquid oxygen methane engines. It was hard to find an opponent that could compete with it.
It was almost impossible to surpass the United States in chemical propulsion systems with the current state of China's aerospace industry.
Even if he was bragging, he couldn't do it.
Lu Zhou didn't say much. He nodded at him and gestured for him to sit down.
"Yeah, like you said, it's difficult for us to do it.
"Maybe there is still room for improvement in chemical propulsion systems. By improving our engine technology, we can build bigger rockets that can fly farther. However, it's almost impossible to rely on this technology to gain an advantage in the space race or even surpass our competitors.
"Therefore, concentrating all our forces on the ion thruster propulsion system and maintaining our own advantages is our only choice."
After a pause, Lu Zhou looked around the conference room and spoke.
"Even though the BFR rocket has been a huge success, we don't have to belittle ourselves.
"We might not be their match in thrust, but we have our own advantages! The advantage of ion thruster propulsion systems is their huge specific impulse, which is something that chemical rockets can't catch up to.
"A while ago, I revealed that Star Sky Technology is developing a more flexible spacecraft based on the propulsion system on Skyglow. It's more suitable for low-Earth orbit travel. The relevant research has come to an end, so it's time to reveal this mystery. "
After that, Lu Zhou looked at the big screen behind him and pressed the laser pointer in his hand.
Soon after, a three-dimensional concept image of Starlight was presented in front of everyone.
Academician Yuan's pupils contracted, and he couldn't help but stand up from his seat.
"This is?!"
Academician Yuan wasn't the only one who was shocked.
Everyone looked at the unique aerospaceplane, which was completely different from traditional spacecraft. Astonished voices spread throughout the conference room.
Lu Zhou looked at Academician Yuan and smiled. He nodded and spoke.
"It's called Starlight! It's a new generation of spacecraft designed for atmospheric travel. "
Sun Yuanpei, who was sitting next to Academician Yuan, stared at the spacecraft on the screen with his mouth agape.
He couldn't help but ask, "Will this design … work?"
Four engines are distributed on four dual-axis wings, leaving only one main engine at the tail …
This kind of design was too messy!
"We've done a technical feasibility study a long time ago, and it's absolutely feasible in theory. As for the reality … "Lu Zhou paused for a second and said in a firm tone," Let's try it and we'll know! "
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