Great Country Academician

The next day, early morning.

In the auditorium of Beihang School, the bidding conference for manned spaceflight and lunar exploration projects officially began.

This time the bidding conference is divided into two sessions.

The first half is aimed at domestic companies that are willing to develop in aerospace, whether they are traditional aerospace groups, Internet companies or other companies attracted by tax exemption and other policies, giving them a stage to show off, and bidding for some different projects. Such a sensitive project.

For example, meteorological satellites, communication satellites, various aerospace components, etc.

This can be regarded as the country encouraging civil aviation companies to invest in aerospace technology and opening up part of the aerospace industry to private aerospace companies.

The bidding meeting in the second half was purely an 'internal' meeting.

Companies that can participate in the second half of the meeting have been screened in advance by the space agency.

The funds and projects for the aerospace core, including manned space missions, lunar exploration projects, etc., will be selected from these internal enterprises.

This is normal. After all, manned spaceflight and lunar exploration projects are major national events, and pre-screening the qualifications of companies is a must.

If, if someone messes up the project and provides spare parts of poor quality or something wrong, the consequences will be extremely serious.

Moreover, whether it is manned spaceflight or lunar exploration projects, they actually involve many cutting-edge technologies, as well as technologies that can be transformed into military applications, and are quite sensitive.

Compared to the second half of the bidding conference, which was more important than others, Xu Chuan was more interested in the first half of the bidding conference.

On the one hand, there were some "foreign companies" in the aerospace field participating in the first half, and they had the opportunity to bring some aerospace projects and funds to Xinghai Research Institute, such as sending satellites to some Internet companies.

On the other hand, it can be said that this is a bidding meeting that brings together most of China's aerospace companies. He also wants to find something that he is interested in at this bidding meeting.

For example, the preparation of satellites, the manufacturing of space telescopes, etc.

If he hadn't been too busy with the things he was doing now, Xu Chuan would even be planning to start another project - 'Building a high-precision space telescope' for scientific research activities.

This idea came to me after watching a NASA press conference a few days ago.

The detection and photos returned by the Webb Telescope made him interested in the vast universe.

In other words, this interest was already in his heart, but it was suppressed by a series of things before, and now it was stimulated.

In addition to the vast universe, Betelgeuse, which may explode as a supernova at any time, is also one of the reasons why he wants to invest in a space telescope.

After all, this was a supernova explosion that occurred only once in a century, and it was at such a close distance of 600 light-years.

It can be said that for a physicist, being able to see the gorgeous fireworks of the universe up close is undoubtedly one of the luckiest things in this life.

The first half of the bidding conference was over, and after receiving a bunch of business cards and various contact information, Xu Chuan followed the staff to the lecture hall for the second half.

Compared with the previous conference, which could be said to be completely open, the security check for the second half of the bidding conference was much stricter.

Not only must a dedicated invitation be presented, but communications equipment must be racked and inspected to prevent anyone from bringing in recording and filming devices.

After all, in this bidding conference, in addition to the traditional corresponding bidding documents and bidding processes, there are also some aerospace planning and technical exchanges that are currently confidential.

For example, "Solicitation for Earth-to-Moon Cargo Transportation Plans for Lunar Exploration Projects", "Solicitation for Temporary/Permanent Base Construction Plans on the Moon Surface" and so on.

These projects are not included in this bidding process. Instead, companies participating in the second half of the bidding meeting need to make on-site proposals and technology demonstrations, and then be considered by the space agency.

In other words, after the bidding conference begins, if you want to participate in a targeted manner, technical experts or engineers need to make some technical explanations to explain some of the technical details, work processes, usage methods, etc. of the project.

In other words, rather than viewing the second half of the bidding meeting as a traditional bidding meeting, it is better to view it as a technical exchange between domestic enterprises qualified to participate in the aerospace industry, which is partly meant to promote the development of the domestic aerospace field. .

After all, with the beginning of the space race, relying solely on the power of national aerospace to compete with opponents, let alone the question of whether it is enough, this route alone is a bit deformed.

Therefore, since the development of the aerospace industry, opening up and purchasing aerospace services to private enterprises is also an arrangement of the space agency and the science and technology institute.

On the one hand, it is to reduce space transportation costs, and on the other hand, it is to encourage the development of commercial aerospace.

It is hoped that a group of Musk-like figures will emerge in the country and support a group of powerful space companies like spaceX.

This method can actually be regarded as crossing the river by feeling the stones of the United States.

Because as early as 2006, NASA Space Agency started the space service procurement model.

The method is also very simple. It is to set up an aerospace project and invite public bidding. Bidders submit plans to bid. After winning the bid, they obtain government funds and start implementation.

Although the method seems simple, the process is quite rigorous.

NASA has set strict time points for the project progress. No matter what technical obstacles or financial problems you encounter, NASA will accept and pay according to the points. If a node is delayed, you don't have to do the rest of the work. You can change companies immediately. .

After years of development, a large number of outstanding aerospace companies have emerged in the United States.

For example, spaceX, Orbital Sciences, Blue Origin, ABL Space Systems, etc., the projects of these commercial aerospace companies involve commercial rocket launches, satellite manufacturing, private space stations, space tourism, space aircraft and many other fields.

It is not wrong to say that the United States is a major space country.

After all, any one of these companies can be said to have stronger aerospace capabilities than most countries on the planet.

Now, they are probably preparing to replicate this model, which can be regarded as crossing the river by following their old rivals.

But for the time being, no one knows what the effect will be in the future.

For Xu Chuan, he participated in this afternoon's bidding meeting mainly to see the strength of major domestic companies in the aerospace field.

It is undeniable that high-power electric propulsion systems are a dimensionality-reducing blow to traditional fossil fuel launch vehicles, but this does not mean that traditional fossil fuel propulsion systems do not have their own advantages.

Such as carrying loads.

The thrust of 500KN can be said to be an extremely exaggerated number in the electric propulsion system, but when applied to traditional fossil fuel rockets, this number can only be said to be even a fraction of those heavy-duty launch vehicles.

For example, the SpaceX BFR heavy-lift launch vehicle announced by NASA at a press conference a few months ago has a take-off weight of up to 7,400 tons.

Although the units between takeoff weight and thrust cannot be directly converted, there is no doubt that traditional heavy-lift launch vehicles can far exceed the current electric propulsion system in carrying load.

Therefore, even if high-power electric propulsion is introduced, it is unlikely to replace traditional launch vehicles immediately.

In terms of transporting large-mass materials, traditional heavy-lift launch vehicles still have unique advantages.

And on traditional launch vehicles, there is a more important role.

That is the field of national defense!

No matter what kind of missile it is, no matter how far its strike distance is, its propulsion method is essentially the same as the current traditional launch vehicle. There is basically no difference between the two.

Both fly to a certain location to deliver objects, launch vehicles generally deliver satellites, etc., while intercontinental missiles deliver warheads.

Therefore, the two are mutually exclusive. As long as a country has developed aerospace technology, it must not be weak in missile preparation.

At this point, electric propulsion cannot replace traditional launch vehicles.

Although aerospace engines and aerospace bombers can form a great strategic deterrent, the status of intercontinental missiles and long-range weapons cannot be replaced.

After all, you can't install an aerospace engine, a small controllable nuclear fusion reactor, and a magnetic fluid generator on a missile.

Only those authors or directors who write science fiction novels or make science fiction movies can do this kind of thing, and they have to have water in their heads.

After some preliminary confidentiality work was completed, the second half of the bidding conference also began.

After major aerospace groups and companies submitted their respective bids to the space agency, discussions on confidential projects such as "Solicitation for Earth-Moon Cargo Transportation Plans for Lunar Exploration Projects" and "Solicitation for Temporary/Permanent Base Construction Plans on the Lunar Surface" were discussed, as well as It’s time for technology demonstrations and exchanges between major aerospace companies.

The first to appear are naturally the two domestic aerospace giants, Aerospace Science and Technology and Aerospace Science and Industry.

The first thing that the Aerospace Science and Technology Group displayed was naturally the ‘Long March 9’ heavy-lift launch vehicle.

The first stage, including the launcher, will use four twin-nozzle YF-130/500-ton thrust engines. According to the exchange technician's demonstration, the assembly of the first YF-130 kerosene-liquid oxygen engine has been completed. R\u0026D assembly and ignition work.

Although from a design point of view, the payload of the Chang 9 cannot yet catch up with SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket. But in the world, it can be said to be top-notch.

In addition to the 'Long March 9', what interests Xu Chuan the most is another technology demonstrated by the Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation - the 'satellite capture' technology.

To put it simply, this technology can accurately capture failed satellites or other space debris in outer space orbit, and then drag them to a designated place.

Xu Chuan is very interested in this technology and plans to chat with researchers from the Aerospace Science and Industry after the bidding conference.

Of course, he is not the only one who is interested in this technology, there are also space agency leaders sitting in the audience.

Whether it is cleaning up the increasing amount of space debris currently, or for some military applications, such as controlling or destroying enemy communications and reconnaissance satellites during conflicts, this technology is very promising.

After waiting for Aerospace Science and Technology and Aerospace Science and Industry to complete their presentations, the third company to come on stage to demonstrate and conduct technical exchanges was undoubtedly assigned to Xinghai Research Institute by the space agency.

As for the technology on display, with the approval of the space agency, it will undoubtedly be the latest electric propulsion system developed by Xinghai Research Institute!

PS: To make up for yesterday’s second chapter, please vote for me.