With Wu Hao's encouragement, everyone immediately got back to work. Zhou Xiangming also immediately went to the launch site of the No. 2 rocket to make final preparations before launch.
The second retractable experimental rocket is different from the low-cost rocket made of 3D printing materials that was just launched. In addition to different technologies and methods, the appearance of this rocket is also very different from the former.
Because it is an experimental rocket, this retractable rocket only has the first stage, so it looks like a long log.
As mentioned before, retractable rockets like this mainly recover the first stage of the rocket. The second stage is too difficult and has no recycling value. Therefore, this test also mainly tests its first-level part.
Different from the first stage body of ordinary rockets, the first stage of this retractable rocket is mainly composed of three parts.
The first is the rocket body, which is basically the same shape as the first-stage rocket body of a normal rocket, except that it is different at the top and end.
On this experimental rocket, the colors are also clearly marked. On the top of the first stage body of this rocket, there is a dark blue painted area of about one meter.
This area is not only painted in a different color, but also has a different internal structure from other rockets. This is the parachute recovery device designed and developed by the R&D team for this retractable rocket.
The reason why it takes up so much space is mainly because the parachute takes up more space. Yu Chengwu and the others equipped this rocket with three large parachutes. Their form and materials are similar in shape and structure to the parachutes of the Shenzhou series spacecraft.
At the tail end of the rocket, on top of the rocket body, there are three sets of black prismatic devices similar to tail fins. This is the landing support frame of the rocket. It folds and closes to the rocket body during launch, thus minimizing air resistance as much as possible.
When landing, the landing support frame opens to support the entire rocket body when landing and play a buffering and shock-absorbing role. The style and structure of this point turned out to be the same as the Falcon rocket's landing gear.
Why not use the same technology as the Falcon rocket and use the rocket engine to land smoothly. To be honest, it’s not that they don’t want to, but that their technology is not yet up to it. The main reason is the gap in the engine's materials and manufacturing process, which Wu Hao currently has no way to solve.
That's why they use this kind of parachute relaxation to replace the engine's reverse thrust when the rocket lands. They can even use this technology to reduce the deficiencies in the engine's craftsmanship and materials, shorten the engine's use time, reduce costs, etc.
In this way, although Zhang Jun said earlier that this is the beggar version of the Falcon Rockets, it is correct.
While Zhou Xiangming and his team were nervously making final preparations before launch, in the control center, Yu Chengwu was also introducing the basic situation of the rocket to Wu Hao, Zhang Jun and other guests.
"...The total height of the first stage of this recyclable rocket is 10.2 meters and it weighs 725.7 kilograms. The height of this test launch was 20 kilometers, which is 20,000 meters.
After reaching this height, the rocket engine will be temporarily shut down. When the rocket falls, the top of the main parachute will first throw out the guide parachute, and the guide parachute will bring out the main parachute, thereby reducing the rocket's descent speed.
At the same time, the three landing supports at the bottom of the rocket will also be opened, waiting for landing, and the ranging radar at the bottom of the rocket will also be turned on. And the rocket's main engine is turned on when the rocket is about ten meters above the ground, providing powerful reverse thrust, thereby further reducing the rocket's falling speed.
At the moment the rocket lands, the engine shuts down and the parachute at the top will automatically detach, preventing accidents such as the rocket being pulled down by the parachute or being towed away due to ground wind speed. "
Having said this, Yu Chengwu paused and then continued: "Theoretically, the landing point of this rocket can be controlled through the grid plate on the rocket, and the landing error can be controlled within a small range.
However, the actual situation is complicated. Because we use a parachute recovery landing method, we are easily affected by the airflow and wind direction in the air, which makes the landing location worse.
This deviation can be large or small, so in order to make up for the recycling problems caused by this problem, we specially prepared a transport load vehicle and a crane.
After the rocket lands, our ground recovery team will rush to the landing site as soon as possible to hoist the rocket onto a transport load-carrying vehicle and transport it away. "
After hearing Yu Chengwu's explanation, everyone nodded, and they had a general understanding of the rocket's first-stage recyclable technology.
After Zhang Jun listened, he quickly raised a question he was concerned about: "How much can the cost of this retractable rocket be reduced."
"It depends on how many times the rocket can be reused."
Yu Chengwu explained with a smile: "According to our preliminary design requirements, the first stage of this rocket will be reused more than five times. Although some maintenance costs, fuel refilling costs, etc. will be added to this, the average of the five times , its launch cost is only one-third of that of previous rockets, which can be said to be very low.
Of course, this price is only a conservative estimate and may continue to decrease in the future. "
After hearing Yu Chengwu's words, Wu Hao shook his head. His expectation was still a bit too optimistic. In fact, as long as it was reduced by one-half, it would be considered a great success.
"Thirty minutes countdown, all personnel in the launch site will be evacuated."
"Start charging and start the pre-flight rocket body system self-check program."
As instructions were issued one after another, the rocket also entered the final preparation stage of the launcher. Wu Hao saw this and patted Zhang Jun on the shoulder, then walked out.
"What, you don't want to read anymore?" Zhang Jun caught up and asked.
Wu Hao smiled and said: "Wouldn't it be more intuitive to see it outside?"
"Yes." Zhang Jun nodded, and then he and he came to a second-floor observation deck.
At this moment, many people gathered on the observation deck. When they saw them coming up, they all greeted him.
Wu Hao smiled and said hello to everyone, and then came to the front of the observation deck. Some observation glasses were set up beside the railings, and some people set up some cameras. They were all paying close attention to the situation at the rocket launch site one thousand meters away.
Seeing him coming, someone immediately gave up the observation mirror. Seeing this, Zhang Jun quickly moved up to observe.
Wu Hao looked at the pure dark blue sky above his head, and couldn't help but raise his head and close his eyes against the afterglow of the setting sun, feeling the slightest breeze.
"One minute countdown to get ready!"
"Ten, nine, eight...two, one, ignite, take off!"
Boom!
I saw fierce flames emitting from the bottom of the rocket set up on the launch site in the distance, and puffs of smoke were rolled up.
The rocket breaks through the smoke and dust, slowly increases, and hits the sky!
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