Super Copy of Great Power Technology

As the shutdown command was issued, the engine tail flame gradually shortened, and the noise and vibration gradually decreased, until a certain moment, the tail flame completely disappeared, the engine was successfully shut down, and the surroundings returned to silence.

"Huahuahua" the staff in the control room gave warm applause. The successful test run of the Tianque engine means that Ruida Aerospace's launch vehicle research and development plan has taken a solid step and made a good start. Today's ignition test is only the first step in the test of the Tianque aerospace engine. In the next few days, there will be multiple ignition tests, variable thrust tests, injection direction control tests, long-distance operation tests, and other tests to ensure that the Tianque engine meets the design requirements.

The Suzaku rocket currently being developed by Ruida Aerospace is a second-generation reusable launch vehicle. It uses methane and liquid oxygen as fuel and has many advantages such as being recyclable, reusable, and having extremely low launch costs. Of course, such a reusable rocket is much more technically advanced than a disposable launch vehicle. Take the engine as an example. As long as a traditional rocket engine is ignited once or twice and works at full power for 600 seconds, it can meet the requirements. The engine of a reusable launch vehicle will have to go through multiple starts when returning, and it must overcome various internal and external interferences caused by complex flight environments such as weightlessness, overweight, and high dynamic pressure. The research on multiple engine starts and precise thrust adjustment technology is the basis for realizing rocket recovery.

The carrying capacity is guaranteed by the maximum thrust of the engine. In order to ensure the smooth return and landing of the rocket, the engine thrust needs to be greatly reduced. The solution is to use multi-engine parallel connection technology, with all engines working at rated conditions during takeoff and shutting down some engines during return. The parallel connection of multiple engines in the limited rocket body space involves the collaborative design of multiple disciplines such as the rocket body, structure, mechanism movement, thermal protection, etc. It is also necessary to fully consider the technical issues involved in the entire life cycle such as landing impact, fire prevention, post-return maintenance, and overhaul. The overall layout optimization of multi-engine parallel connection can improve the engine thrust-to-mass ratio, which is conducive to improving the reuse carrying capacity and reducing the maintenance and overhaul time and cost. The first-stage rocket body of the Suzaku rocket is equipped with five Tianque engines in parallel to ensure sufficient thrust during takeoff and the need for multiple ignitions and thrust adjustments during recovery.

At the critical moment of recovery and landing, the engine needs to be shut down with rapid thrust change to reduce the impact and disturbance of the engine aftereffect impulse on the rocket body at the moment of landing. One of the key technologies for the reliable recovery of the Suzaku rocket is the use of the face-shutdown pintle injector technology. The face-shutdown pintle injector can achieve zero filling of oxygen-fuel propellant during the engine start-up process, allowing the oxygen-fuel propellant to enter the combustion chamber completely synchronously, avoiding the impact of oxygen-fuel filling timing deviation on the engine start-up impact, and improving the reliability of the engine start-up work; at the same time, the face shutdown can achieve zero cavity emptying during the engine shutdown process, significantly improving the shutdown response characteristics, achieving rapid shutdown to reduce aftereffect impulse, and improving the reliability of the rocket recovery work; with the pintle injector, the engine can undergo a wide range of variable working conditions, which can better adapt to the rocket recovery work.

On the way back to the office, Cao Yifei asked curiously, "Mr. Qiao, you said on the phone earlier that you just came out of the airport. Are you going on a business trip somewhere?"

"Yes, two days ago, I led a team to inspect several cities in Meng Province, trying to find a suitable piece of land to build our own launch center for Ruida Aerospace." Qiao Ruida's itinerary was no secret, and since Cao Yifei asked, he decided to satisfy his curiosity.

"Have you found a suitable place? The initial test of our Tianque engine was successful. In the next one or two months, we will conduct comprehensive ground tests on the first and second stages of the rocket, as well as takeoff and recovery tests of the first and second stages of the rocket. By then, we will need a large open area. If our space center is confirmed, we will not have to rent a test site." Cao Yifei continued to ask.

Spaceflight is bound to involve rocket launches, and owning your own rocket launch site is a must-invest project. Of course, you can also rent a launch station in an official satellite launch center to launch your own rocket, which can save a lot of money. However, Ruida Aerospace is engaged in recyclable rockets. When recycling rockets, the site required is much larger than that of a simple rocket launch. Owning a satellite launch center has become a must-have option.

"It's impossible to do it so quickly. During this inspection, I have only identified several alternative sites. We are currently inviting a team of geological experts to survey the geological conditions of these alternative sites. We need to look at the results of geological surveys before deciding which site to choose as the rocket launch site for Ruida Aerospace." After the satellite launch site is built, it will also be one of Ruida Aerospace's infrastructures. There is no need to hide anything from Cao Yifei, the person in charge of the company. Qiao Ruida simply revealed the current project progress.

"According to the current development progress, we will be able to carry out the first launch of the Suzaku rocket before the end of the year. The site selection and construction of the rocket launch site must be accelerated. I don't want to have to rent someone else's site for the first rocket launch. It's too inconvenient." With the support of drawings and technical data provided by Qiao Ruida, the development progress of the Suzaku launch vehicle is advancing very quickly. The launch vehicle development process that originally took several years is expected to be completed in just half a year. When the time comes to conduct launch and recovery tests, a professional launch and recovery site is indeed needed. If you go to the official space city and rent a site, it will be very inconvenient.

"Don't worry about that. The geological survey is very quick. As long as there are no obvious geological faults underground, it will not affect the construction of the launch site. After the launch site is determined, we will give you a large piece of flat land and pave it with cement. It can be used as a test site for the rocket. It will definitely not delay the development of your rocket."

The fact is just as Qiao Ruida said. Just one week later, the address survey team gave the result. Among the five alternative sites, two met the requirements for building a rocket launch site. Qiao Ruida took the map and compared the advantages and disadvantages of the two alternative sites again and again. Finally, he chose SZWQ, which is closer to the capital, as the construction site of Ruida Aerospace City. SZWQ is also one of my country's manned space recovery sites. It is sparsely populated and has very few buildings. There are almost no planes passing over there, which is very suitable for space activities. After selecting the location, Qiao Ruida and Cao Yifei flew there on the same day, signed an agreement with the local government, paid the land use fee, and won the 1500-year use right of 40 acres of land. After that, it was to find an architectural design institute to design the drawings of the aerospace city, and to bid for the construction unit nationwide.

The Aerospace City is a special building facility. Its design and construction require very high professionalism. It is really not something that an ordinary design institute or construction company can handle. In terms of architectural design, after repeated selection, it was finally handed over to the China Aerospace Architectural Design Institute, a professional architectural design research institution under the Aerospace Science and Technology Group, established in 1958. Over the years, the Aerospace Architectural Design Institute has participated in the architectural design of a series of major aerospace projects, including the Space Launch Center, the Satellite Application Center, the Aerospace Comprehensive Application Center, and so on. In terms of qualifications, technology, and experience, the Aerospace Architectural Design Institute is absolutely excellent, but the fees are really expensive. Just the design drawings of the first phase of the Ruida Aerospace City project cost 50. However, their work efficiency is really fast. It took only two days to come up with the overall planning map of the Aerospace City, and a week to provide the detailed construction drawings of the first phase of the project. The project soon entered the bidding and construction stage. I heard that Ruida Group was going to invest billion yuan to build Ruida Space City. There were hundreds of construction companies that came to bid, but only five of them met the qualification requirements and had experience in building aerospace cities. They were all national teams, including China Energy Construction Gezhouba First Company, China Construction Fifth Institute, China Railway Eighteenth Bureau, Beijing Construction Engineering, and China Power Construction. After multiple assessments and comparisons, Qiao Ruida finally decided to hand over the first phase of Ruida Space City to China Construction Fifth Institute and Beijing Construction Engineering for joint construction. The reason for handing it over to the two construction companies for joint construction is to maximize the speed of construction so as not to delay the research and development and testing progress of the Suzaku carrier rocket.

Two months passed quickly, and the research and development of the Suzaku carrier rocket was advancing rapidly. The ground ignition test of the first stage of the rocket, the ground comprehensive test of the first stage of the rocket, and the ground comprehensive test of the second stage of the rocket were completed. The above tests can also be completed in the Yanqing plant. The next low-altitude launch and recovery test of the first stage of the rocket must be carried out in the sparsely populated Ruida Aerospace City. The so-called low-altitude launch and recovery test of the first stage of the rocket is to inject a small amount of methane and liquid oxygen fuel into the first stage of the rocket, and then ignite and fly to an altitude of about 400 meters. After hovering for a period of time, it will fall back to the ground steadily. This is to verify the flight capability, hovering capability, and safety and reliability of the first stage of the rocket, and also to test the precise thrust adjustment capability of the Tianque engine. Because it is a newly developed rocket, the technical maturity and stability are questionable. This test is dangerous and cannot be carried out in the densely populated Beijing area. Going to the sparsely populated Ruida Aerospace City is the best choice.

Early in the morning, Qiao Ruida got up early, went to a nearby park for a run, then bought two breakfasts at a breakfast shop and returned to the courtyard. At this time, his girlfriend Du Qingqing had just gotten up and was washing up in the bathroom. Qiao Ruida put breakfast on the table, then went into the bathroom to take a shower and change clothes. It is now the end of May, and the temperature in the Beijing area has risen to over 30 degrees. It is okay if you don't move, but if you run a little, you will sweat all over. If you don't wash, you will feel uncomfortable all over.

While eating breakfast, Du Qingqing seemed to remember something and asked, "Rui Da, we are leaving for Rui Da Space City today, right? What's the temperature there? Do we need to bring thick clothes?"

Qiao Ruida took a mouthful of eight-treasure porridge and said slowly, "The latitude over there is higher, and there are large grasslands around, so the temperature must be lower than here in Beijing. Prepare a few long-sleeved clothes and two sets of jackets and pants, that's enough. By the way, you also need to bring a sun hat, sunscreen and a mask. I heard that the ultraviolet rays over there are quite strong, and there are often sandstorms, so you must take good care of yourself against the sun and wind."

"From what you said, the climate near Ruida Space City is very bad. Wouldn't it be very difficult for the staff and construction workers who are stationed in the space city?"

"It's definitely not a bad climate. The province of Meng is mainly grassland, with only a small part lacking vegetation and becoming a desert or Gobi desert. Our Ruida Space City is built on a Gobi desert. In addition, it's spring now, which is a windy season, so it's normal to have a few sandstorms occasionally."

After breakfast, the two returned to the bedroom, packed a few pieces of clothing and personal belongings, put them in the suitcase, and then each pulled a suitcase to the garage. At this time, there were a total of six cars parked in the garage, in addition to the original Mercedes-Benz, MINIEV, and Ruida sports car, there was also a white SUV and a blue seven-seater commercial vehicle.

"Rida, the road to Meng Province is not easy to travel. Which car should we drive, the Mercedes Benz business car or the newly delivered Ruida SUV?"

Qiao Ruida and Du Qingqing will drive to the Ruida Space City in SZWQ with the convoy transporting the Suzaku rocket. The total journey is more than 600 kilometers, and they will pass through highways, national roads, provincial roads, grasslands and Gobi roads. The first few sections are fine, and the road conditions are good. Any car in the garage can run through. The next few dozen kilometers are all unpaved roads, and the road conditions are very bad. Ordinary cars and sports cars are really difficult to deal with. When the space city was inspected and selected, the inspection team led by Qiao Ruida suffered losses in transportation. There were a total of ten cars, and three of them broke down halfway. They were all cars with poor passability.

"It's better to choose the Ruida SUV on the right. It has four-wheel drive, a hybrid engine, the largest tire size, and good passability, making it most suitable for driving on some bad roads. This trip can also test the durability and fuel consumption of this new car, killing two birds with one stone." Qiao Ruida directly used the car key to remotely open the trunk of the white Ruida SUV and put the luggage in it.

This Ruida SUV is one of the two new models developed by Ruida Automobile Company. It has completed all the R&D and certification processes and entered the finalized mass production stage, but it has not yet been officially released to the public. The Ruida SUV and Ruida seven-seater commercial vehicle in the garage are products purchased internally by Ruida Group. There are no less than a hundred similar vehicles in Ruida Group headquarters and its subsidiaries. With the establishment of Ruida Group and the continuous development and growth of its subsidiaries, its demand for vehicles is also increasing. (End of this chapter)