Chapter 60: Chapter 58 The Chase of the Six Institutes_1

"If even Sir Qian says so, then I’m truly overjoyed. The H1 space shuttle is of course different from the past, with each launch costing very little. Moreover, it’s possible to launch once every week at the shortest, usually once every half month. With six people per flight, there’s no problem sending fifty people up this year."

"Unfortunately, within New Yuan Aeronautics, only Deng Lei counts as a professional astronaut, and a commanding officer still requires outstanding professionals; it’s even fitting to have two professional astronauts, as both the commanding officer and the deputy should be proficient in the operation of the space shuttle."

"That many, huh!" Captain Li was quite moved. In the 10 years up to now, the space agency had only carried out five manned launch missions, so there were so few astronauts in the team.

With less than thirty people, opportunities to go to space were scarce, and it is quite possible that some might retire without ever getting close to space — how regrettable that would be!

If they had the space shuttle, surely everyone would have the chance, right? No more passing up the opportunity time after time.

Not sure if it was because he was too emotional, but Captain Li suddenly said:

"I won’t hide it from you, last week I even went to the Ulanha Mountain base. Didn’t you put a simulation cabin there for convenience? I didn’t just look at the H1; I actually got to pilot it. To be honest, that felt more real than sitting inside a spaceship, and I think it’s only when piloting it through the atmosphere that one can truly feel the sense of mission resting on one’s shoulders."

Lin Ju’s heart stirred; he sensed there was more than just emotion in these words.

"Captain Li Wei, New Yuan Aeronautics has obtained the qualification to participate in the national space project. If the manned space program is also included, then New Yuan has both the ability and the confidence to send a large number of astronauts into space, increasing our spaceflight experience."

"That... should be the case."

When Lin Ju walked out of the training center, he felt a significant weight on his shoulders.

During the rest break in the afternoon training, he met most members of the astronaut team and revealed New Yuan’s involvement in the manned space project and its capability to quickly send a large crew into space.

At that moment, although the reserve members didn’t show much reaction, their eyes seemed to burn with a fiery intensity.

Who wouldn’t want to fly up to 300 kilometers in space? Isn’t that what a decade of training was all about — for that very day?

...

The space exchange conference ended with only a few photos and carefully edited textual reports leaked out.

The official media mentioned this informal meeting briefly, but entertainment media went into a frenzy reposting it.

Why were they willing to repost? Because it had hot topics.

From New Yuan-2 to New Yuan No. 4 rockets, one look at the stats: fifteen thousand tons, the world’s largest;

The H1 space shuttle, H2 space shuttle, nuclear thermal rocket engines are all extremely obvious hype topics.

Moreover, New Yuan already figured out how to tout it — with super space stations, nuclear-powered spacecraft landing on Mars, technology a hundred times more advanced than America’s and so on, a mess of claims sufficient to fill a dozen reports or more.

Since 2010, conspiracy theories, speculations, and sensationalist headlines had already become popular in communication studies, and soon headlines like these appeared:

"Factory Manager Lin battles Ma Yilong: Landing on Mars within a year"

"Domestic nuclear-powered spacecraft engine: Consumes less than a spoon of fuel per second!"

"Liquid oxygen and methane engine to create a new era of human spaceflight"

"Latest news on H20, set to be an aerospace bomber"

"New Yuan Aeronautics monopolizes 40% of national support funds, says the expert"

"The world’s largest, impressive 380-ton class liquid oxygen and kerosene engine"

"Luo Yufeng: Sorry, Lin Ju, only Xiaohei is good enough for me"

"..."

Wait, what does Luo Yufeng have to do with any of this?

Turns out, Lin Ju, with nothing better to do, had been browsing blogs and noticed Luo Yufeng was still active, so he liked her post, only to accidentally ride the wave of attention.

Looking at the ordinary yet confident Sister Feng, talking about how she was "very outstanding, but a woman like me is out of your league," Lin Ju endured quietly before finally giving up on responding.

The more you entertain such blatant freeloaders, the more troublesome it becomes. It’s best to pretend they don’t exist, at least it wasn’t Mu Zimei.

With the conference over, New Yuan was finally officially recognized by the state.

Not only did they gain the qualifications to partake in national launch missions, but they could also apply for technical support as a private entity.

Did New Yuan need technical support? Yes.

Extravehicular astronaut suits, which require high-quality materials and sophisticated manufacturing processes, B-level Base had the equipment, but since it would only be completed by the end of June, they didn’t have enough staff to operate the machinery. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

According to the plan, the current tractor factory would only retain about a hundred people, later serving as a supporting production base, while B-level Base would need to expand to 2,000 people to barely meet the requirements.

From hiring to adjusting to the work, even with upgrade cards, time was needed.

Therefore, the manned project would still rely on the existing factories; although they were capable of making astronaut suits, it was too labor-intensive, so the task was entrusted to the Aerospace Agency.

Moreover, with China Aerospace having executed multiple manned space missions, they had a wealth of valuable data for reference, and outsourcing the suits from New Yuan also helped with adjustments.

After all, it was about sending living people into space; listening to the seasoned space veterans was not a matter of shame.

Naturally, the Aerospace Agency agreed and would deliver on time, although the price was a tad high: New Yuan’s new technologies necessitated adjustments to the equipment and raw materials. The unit price was 55 million, non-negotiable.

Lin stingily ordered only three suits, two for operation and one as a spare.

Once B-level Base had the capability to produce on its own, the cost would be at most a third of that price.

However, the Aerospace Agency didn’t mind the small order, as they themselves had only purchased three suits over the past decade...

Speaking of which, the aerospace science and technology community should probably be thankful to Lin Ju, because manned spaceflight had always been in a "good thing, quite nice, but there’s no rush; take it slow" situation at the central level. Though safe and steady, it meant less support and slow progress.

But now, with New Yuan Aeronautics causing a stir, the higher-ups finally felt the urgency in the space endeavor and decided to allocate more resources to spaceflight.

On March 14, an YF100K, a 125-ton class liquid oxygen kerosene full flow, wide-range thrust regulation, 30-degree gimbal angle reusable rocket engine, was mounted onto a Y-9 transport aircraft at Chang’an and flown to the rocket manufacturing plant of the Eighth Academy.

The Sixth Academy had reverse-engineered the K120V reusable version from the K120 technology in the fastest possible time, instead of improving their own YF100.

Since November, under high pressure to initiate a reusable engine project, the Sixth Academy had made every effort to digest the technical data of K120 and after comparison, it became clear that YF100 was behind in every aspect.

There was no need to upgrade YF100 with K120 technology; the design of K120 itself had no flaws—compact, powerful, reliable, simple—and any modification would have been superfluous.

So, the Sixth Academy made a direct turn and decided to follow New Yuan’s path, researching how to convert K120 for reuse rather than foolishly sticking with the YF100.

The results were astonishing; K120 was highly suitable for reuse and needed almost no modifications—it seemed to have been designed with reusability in mind.

Its dry mass ratio was high, its specific impulse was sufficiently superior, its design was durable enough, and it had a sizeable gimbal angle.

Improving on K120 to develop a reusable version was like a natural progression. By the end of February, they had conducted three continuous long-duration tests. The improved version remained as stable as a seasoned dog, with not a single fault to find.

Tang Weitian still vividly remembered how the Eighth Academy had kicked them when they were down. You want to push me? Here, I’m sending the engine right now!

Thus, the YF100K designation was used, but it had absolutely nothing to do with the YF100; they were completely different technological approaches.

The Sixth Academy had come to a clear conclusion that there was absolutely no need to improve the YF100, on the contrary, the K120 was a treasure trove.

Especially when the K380, another full-flow liquid oxygen kerosene engine, was exposed by Androff, the Sixth Academy now thought: with the technical parameters of K380 so similar to K120, presumably sharing a common origin, could they also improve on K120 to develop an engine of that caliber?

Consequently, an internal project temporarily called YF380 was approved at the Sixth Academy, and they rushed to research a 380-ton class liquid oxygen kerosene engine.

As for the 220-ton class liquid oxygen and methane engine New Yuan was reported to have tested?

The Sixth Academy ignored it, as the performance difference between methane engines and kerosene engines was insignificant, and the price difference wasn’t significant either.