At this point, Yu Chengwu continued to change pictures and said: "To be honest, how to fix such a large and heavy gold meteorite core on the ascender is a difficult problem.
Because it will directly change the center of gravity of the entire ascender structure, causing the entire launch ascent process to fail.
Originally, its best fixing position should be at the top of the ascender. It only needs to be fixed for a long time to avoid the problem of center deviation, so as to smoothly ascend and dock with the orbiter on the orbit.
However, the top of the ascender is usually a docking port to facilitate docking with the orbiting spacecraft in orbit. But if it were placed on top, wouldn't the docking interface at the top be blocked? How could it be docked with the orbiter? "
"It won't work if you put it underneath, because the bottom of the ascender is the rocket nozzle, and such a large gold meteorite core cannot be placed. Otherwise, it will easily block the rocket engine nozzle and affect take-off.
As for the surrounding area, it is even worse, because this will seriously affect the center of gravity of the entire ascender. Even if the moon's gravity is very small, it will affect the stability of the ascender during the entire launch process, leading to failure of the ascent.
So it can only be placed above or below, so we need to modify the entire ascender so that it can meet our transportation needs.
After studying multiple options, we believe that the meteorite core must be placed under the ascender. As for the rocket engine, it is moved to the side. "
You can see in the picture that the structure of the entire ascender is basically similar to the structure of the lander of the lunar cargo transfer spacecraft. The rocket engine is not placed on the ground, but placed all around, like outstretched arms.
In this way, a huge space is formed between the landing gears below the ascender. And this space can be used to fix the cube frame containing the golden meteorite core to form a whole.
We have set up a lot of holes on the landing frame, which can correspond to the holes on the cube frame where we fixed the gold meteorite core, so that bolts can be used to fix it.
In this way, the entire golden meteorite star core can be firmly fixed on the ascender, so that it will not shift or fall off. In this way, we can use the ascender to transport the gold meteorite star core into a lunar orbit, then dock with the orbiter in the lunar orbit and return to the earth together.
You mean returning to Earth with the ascender? Yang Fan interrupted Yu Chengwu and questioned.
Yang Fan's doubts are not unreasonable. You must know that in order to reduce weight, the ascender usually transfers the materials inside the spacecraft to the spacecraft after docking. In this way, the ascender loses its value and can be separated immediately and crashed on the moon. superior. The orbiting spacecraft only needs to transport the materials in these transfer pots back to Earth.
You must know that the entire ascender has weight. The heavier the weight, the greater the thrust required, so it must carry more fuel, and the launch cost will naturally be higher.
So usually, all lunar exploration and return missions basically abandon the ascender.
Facing Yang Fan’s doubts, Yu Chengwu nodded and replied: “Yes, we plan to transport the ascender back to Earth together with it.
Although the ascender has a certain mass, fortunately the moon's gravity is relatively weak and the earth's gravity is relatively strong. Therefore, the entire return process does not actually require much thrust or consume too much fuel.
In addition, we have also installed several small rocket engines on the opposite side of the ascender's engine. After docking, these rocket engines can still provide additional thrust for the entire spacecraft assembly, which can completely compensate for the weight of the ascender. "
Hearing Yu Chengwu's answer, Wu Hao nodded slightly, then raised his hand and said: "Continue."
Seeing Wu Hao's approval, Yu Cheng became more enthusiastic and spoke louder: "After docking with the spacecraft, the robotic arm in the spacecraft's return cabin will automatically grab these lunar soil samples in the ascender cabin, and then store them Go to the spacecraft return cabin.
After arriving in Earth orbit, the spacecraft assembly will gradually enter the landing orbit. First, the spacecraft will separate from the lander. The spacecraft's return capsule will take these lunar soil samples and land on the Earth according to the prescribed orbit.
The ascender used its remaining fuel to transport the golden meteorite core to the predetermined landing orbit, and then separated from the golden meteorite core. "
Does this mean it will just fall down? Zhang Jun opened his mouth and asked Yu Chengwu. He didn't expect that the transportation process would be so simple, direct, or even rough.
Let’s not talk about whether it will explode directly and form a crater if it is allowed to fall freely. Just say that such a large meteorite hits directly without slowing down, I am afraid everyone will be scared.
The power of a meteorite hitting over a ton directly is probably no less powerful than a missile.
Yu Chengwu, on the other hand, shook his head and said with a smile: "No, there is actually a special umbrella bag that was separated from the golden meteorite core, and it has been hidden at the bottom of the ascender.
When the outer cube frame of the gold meteorite star core is fixed to the bottom of the ascender, it is also fixed to the parachute bag at the same time. In this way, the golden meteorite star core can land with this parachute bag.
Because it is a gold meteorite core, as long as it is not damaged, there is no problem in going faster. Therefore, we can control the size and type of the umbrella to be smaller.
It only needs to slow down the golden meteorite star core during its descent in the atmosphere and prevent it from falling too fast. In this way, we can obtain this golden meteorite star core on earth. "
After hearing Yu Chengwu's introduction, everyone present couldn't help but nodded. It sounds like this plan is indeed the most realistic and feasible plan, which can make great use of existing resources and control the cost within a very reasonable range.
Seeing Zhang Jun, Yang Fan and others nodding, Wu Hao smiled and said, "It seems you are well prepared."
Haha, I don’t dare to mention this to you even if I don’t have enough. What do you think, is it possible? Yu Chengwu asked with a smile.
Wu Hao nodded and said: "From a technical point of view, there is no problem. But there are still many risks and uncertainties in the whole process. My request is that you must take these risks and uncertainties into account, and Come up with corresponding response plans.
Everything must be planned and then acted upon, and success will be achieved if it is acted upon, do you understand? "
(End of chapter)
