Chapter 251 Regret
There is no shortage of space enthusiasts in China, and they all know that although this thing sounds simple, it is really not easy to do.

The biggest difficulty lies in the power system and control system of the rocket recovery device.

It takes a lot of talent to achieve this level.

After finally successfully recovering the intact rocket with a parachute from the Gobi Desert in the northwest, the entire barrage was boiling.

“Witness history”

"Call the starship over here, call the starship over here, I told you to call the starship over here!"

"This is purely original technology, right? Besides, is Light Armor Aerospace just following the people behind SpaceX and taking a stroll?"

"Dai Gaolong is calling the hotline. Brother, are you selling this technology?"

"Americans, please release them immediately!"

"If you don't release them, we'll let the dogs bite them."

The older Chinese on Zhihu were even more enthusiastic. Compared with the emotional speeches in the live broadcast room, all kinds of experts emerged.

This is determined by the background of the community. As a favorite of small town test-takers, Zhihu naturally has a unique obsession with technological progress.

However, this time, the answer with the highest number of likes on Zhihu was from a certain blogger:
"I just want to say that Lao Zhong's performance this time couldn't be more impressive. The technique itself is amazing and eye-catching.

What I want to talk about is something beyond technology.

During the live broadcast, engineers from China Aerospace and Guangjia Aerospace also introduced to us that the space recovery device can be regarded as a module of the space station.

This means that after the future Guangma Aerospace's space station is launched into space, they will be serious about space mining, and space coating automation is only the first step in the entire space mining attempt.

It can be seen that both Guangshen and Guangjia Aerospace are moving step by step towards the goals they have set. The cooperation between them and China Aerospace has given me hope for China to open up the future of commercial aerospace.

Back to Drawing the Sword, the Federation detained all the engineers who were sent by Guangjia Aerospace for exchanges on the pretext of a black man's murder case. This is definitely unacceptable to China.

What kind of situation is this now? Why are you Americans still doing this?

The live broadcast of the entire recovery process of the Shenzhou-Guangzhou Armor proves that we are not bragging when we say that the recovery rate is close to 100%. Only electricity is needed to complete a rocket launch, which means that the cost can also be compressed to a very low level.

A launch only requires electricity, the rocket's own losses, and thermal insulation coating.

I don’t know whether it is possible to achieve the 100 yuan per kilogram that Guangshen claimed in the interview, but it is definitely so low that it is unimaginable with traditional rocket launch methods.

I read a very obscure message from it. Guangjia Aerospace has never cooperated with Damao and has never helped Damao launch satellites.

But this time is different. If America doesn't send the people back, and Guangjia Aerospace uses the latest electric-driven rocket technology to help Russia launch a satellite, what will America and Europe do?
In the fight between Russia and China in 22, why did both sides fight back and forth? Russia had almost no air superiority. The disabling of Starlink and GPS caused Russia's air defense system to still be in the previous era.

If Guangjia Aerospace helps Damuo undertake the task of launching satellites, Damuo will gain a huge advantage if it starts a war again.

In the past, we could still fight each other even without air superiority. But if we had air superiority, how could Ermao resist?

The advantage of satellites is that they can be deployed quickly and reach their destination in seconds.

In the past, satellites were too expensive. They needed to be deployed for fixed-point reconnaissance, change orbits, and consume satellite fuel. The fuel is the life of the satellite.

Now, not only has the cost of satellite launch been reduced for you, but if you lack fuel you can make up for it by quantity, and if real-time performance is poor you can just launch a few more satellites.

Multiple satellites need to change orbits to coordinate monitoring, and the cost is lower than that of a single satellite. Satellites have poor real-time performance and cannot stay over the target. To maintain continuous monitoring, multiple satellites need to change orbits to take turns, which is even more expensive.

In short, the low launch cost means that once Guangjia Aerospace is willing to provide this launch service to Damuo, Damuo can offset all its disadvantages by the number of launches.

Even satellites can be handed over to China to help them build them. Satellites built by China are cheap and easy to use. If Russia doesn't buy a batch of them to do the work, it will definitely not work.

If America doesn’t release them, we will have to export rocket launch services to Russia at a very low price. This is a naked threat.”

The discussion on the Internet is more about technical details, how incredible this technology is and why America can't do it.

“Regarding the launch and recovery of the electric-driven rocket by Guangjia Aerospace and Huaguo Aerospace, American companies have also made similar attempts in the past.

It was the first orbital-class rocket to use an electrically driven turbopump as a fuel drive component.

Both its first and second stages use electrically driven turbopump engines, where the electric pumps are powered by lithium batteries. The second stage uses three heat-swap batteries, which will be discarded directly once the battery power is exhausted to reduce the mass of the rocket.

The rocket has nine engines in the first stage and a vacuum-optimized version of the engine in the second stage. Almost all of the engine components are 3D printed. The main body of the rocket is built using lightweight carbon fiber composites.
That is to say, if we can also launch a rocket recovery device into space, we can also make the rocket be received by the space recovery device, repaired, and finally return to Earth.

The reason why I know its parameters so clearly is because I used to be an engineer of this company. We started the first launch in 17 and successfully launched it in 18.

Even its launch mass is similar to that of China's rocket, which is also less than 150 kilograms.

The technical solution used by China this time is the same one we proposed back then.

By adding a rocket recovery device in space, the rocket can be repaired in space and returned to Earth.

This would bring the cost down to $10 per kilogram.

But we failed because investors refused to invest and NASA did not give us orders. For them, supporting SpaceX was far more important than supporting other commercial aerospace companies.

Even though our plan was so advanced, even though we could have succeeded if we had only been given another $2 million.

The technological gap between America and China in recent years comes from creativity. In my opinion, America has lost its creativity and we dare not invest in radical technological routes and technical solutions.

Seeing that the Chinese people have realized our dreams back then, I don’t feel any regrets, I just feel gratified.

Today's NASA is no longer the NASA of 50 years ago. It is full of corrupt bureaucrats who are only interested in investing resources in SpaceX.

Once there is a success, it is the credit of NASA's good leadership and NASA's achievement. Once the launch fails, it is SpaceX's problem and Musk will come out to help them attract firepower.

It is these bureaucrats who caused NASA to quickly become mediocre, and SpaceX is the freak they bred."

George typed very quickly. As a former rocket lab engineer and now unemployed, he cried in front of a space enthusiast's Shenzhou-Guangzhou A-class live broadcast channel on YouTube in the early hours of the morning.

The scene where China's rocket recovery device captured the Shenzhou-Guangjia was exactly what he had dreamt about. It was what they could do if they got the investment.

The result was achieved by the Chinese.

After George saw the related questions on Quora, his thoughts were brought back to two years ago when they disbanded. Due to NASA's short-sightedness, the plan that they failed to implement was accomplished by the Chinese.

George was filled with righteous indignation and was venting his inner dissatisfaction crazily on Quora. The Apple phone next to him started ringing.

"Hello, George? Getting ready to get back to work."

(End of this chapter)