I ask you to build tractors, but you build rockets?

"China's largest 120-ton liquid rocket engine was tested for 300 seconds!"

The tractor factory caught the slander and released a big news.

Although the 120-ton YF100 had been delivered for two years at this time, it had not yet been improved like later generations to increase the thrust from 120 tons to 125 tons.

The maximum thrust data of the newly manufactured K120 for trial operation is 123.5 tons, which is indeed slightly higher than the YF100.

Just relying on this little bit, it is true to say that it is the strongest in China now.

Several other engines currently in service by the China Space Administration have a maximum thrust of only 70 tons. It was not until the YF130 six years later, when the big prototype with a thrust of 500 tons was built, that it was the high-thrust engine that truly reached the level of aerospace power.

It is said that because the structural design of DX-1 is very simple, a large thrust engine was simply added to the first stage instead of the usual two to four small thrust engines.

And there are some tricks. The 120-ton engine itself is not very big. Lucia and Ami both have hundreds of tons of monsters. Compared with them, this can only be considered average.

But as soon as the biggest news about China was released, it instantly attracted everyone's attention.

Since the complete image of the engine test run was released, the voices that originally questioned Xinyuan No. 1 suddenly disappeared.

A dozen people wearing Xinyuan Tractor Factory work clothes stood in front of the camera and watched the video of the rocket engine test run - which slapped those well-known Vs in the face.

Especially focusing on the name of "maximum thrust", although it sounds unrealistic, but if you look closely, it seems that it is really the case.

Private enterprises build China’s most powerful rocket engine!

Even foreign media were surprised and reprinted the latest test drive video, which brought a lot of popularity.

But what I care most about are the friends around me who are living a good life and eating kimchi all day long. Even their official news has reported on this.

Lin Ju refreshed the panel that day and found that the gain had changed from negative 1.5% to positive 2.2%, and the effect was immediate.

Also paying greater attention is the national space agency.

A few days later, in the final assembly building of the tractor factory, the rocket casing was lying quietly here.

The Xinyuan-1 rocket is relatively small, with a height of only 31 meters and a diameter of 2.5 meters, which is the level of the Long March-2 booster, but the latter has a thrust of only 75 tons.

At this time, all engines and main rocket bodies have been manufactured, and a few parts can be installed after the main structure is completed.

Thanks to the investment and personnel support of Nanjing Nanjing Institute of Technology, the progress of the rocket is about a week ahead of schedule, allowing more time for debugging and inspection.

When Lin Ju looked at the rocket that was taking shape and his heart was racing, suddenly deputy director Chen ran over and told him the news.

The factory office suddenly received a request to visit from the Sixth Institute of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, hoping to inspect the K120 rocket engine and possibly enter into commercial cooperation.

The person on duty at the computer checked and found that the email address was correct, so he hurriedly reported it.

Lin Ju was confused, and then went to Du Niang to search the Sixth Institute, and then discovered that the design unit of YF100 was the Sixth Institute!

Could it be that he is eyeing K120? Lin Ju had some guesses but wasn't sure.

But of course I can agree to the request for a visit. After all, it is a space agency and they are of a very high standard.

He personally sent a reply letter of approval to the Sixth Institute, but he did not expect the other party to reply immediately, saying that someone would be at the factory the day after tomorrow.

Lin Ju was a little shocked by the speed. At the same time, he was thinking about how to arrange the visit request, so he asked Guo Shen what he thought.

"There is nothing to say about the Xinyuan-1 rocket. The only valuable thing is the K120. This is definitely their purpose. Maybe a test run can be arranged on that day, as we are going to do a 550-second long test run."

Lin agreed to the arrangement and then waited for the inspection team from the Sixth Academy.

On the day of the inspection, he discovered that the leader of the team was actually his old acquaintance Tang Weitian!

"Professor Tang!" Lin Ju looked at the group of seven or eight young and middle-aged people behind him and immediately understood Tang Weitian's unit.

"I didn't expect you to be from the Sixth Academy. It turns out that our factory has actually received guidance from the Sixth Academy of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration!"

"Haha, I also want to ask Lin Ju not to blame me for concealing my identity before. In fact, this cooperation between the Sixth Academy was also initiated by me."

Tang Weitian said he was embarrassed, but there was no trace of embarrassment on his face, it was a completely familiar expression.

On the other hand, the other people behind had different expressions, and their eyes kept looking around. Lin Ju saw this but didn't say anything.

According to the procedure, he first took the inspection team from the Sixth Institute to see the first trial-produced engine prototype, and Guo Shen introduced the parameters and design ideas.

Two people in the team of the Sixth Academy were communicating quietly.

"He Gong, is this the full flow rate? It obviously has more pumps than us, but it still looks simpler, and the nozzle is also smaller."

"I don't know, but the craftsmanship seems to be similar to ours, but the design is indeed very simple, and there are far fewer parts visible to the naked eye. No wonder it is 700 kilograms lighter than ours, 700 kilograms!"

The man named He Gong looks ordinary, but he is deeply involved in the overall design of the YF100 research institute.

In fact, when he heard that a private enterprise had built a 120-ton liquid oxygen and kerosene engine, he was very shocked.

In the 1990s, China Aerospace Corporation was determined to research high-thrust rocket engines after seeing the "poisonous effects" of the use of unbiased dimethylhydrazine, which was only 70 to 80 tons of thrust compared to reducing pollution.

This started the argument for YF100. For this purpose, Huaguo Aerospace also bought several RD120 rocket engines from the former alliance, hoping to find a reference.

The RD120 is also a liquid oxygen and kerosene engine. Perhaps after several years of research, the problem was not considered serious. At the beginning of the millennium, the YF100 project was established.

Then for 12 years, the project was troubled and had problems everywhere. It was not until the delivery in 2012 that it stabilized.

Needless to say, the hardships involved in this process. Although the data indicators of the YF100 can only be said to be mediocre, it is at least a usable high-thrust engine.

However, someone suddenly said that a private company, suddenly, has built an engine of the same level that is more advanced and more reliable than the YF100!

If it hadn't been Professor Tang who sent the email, He Gong would have wanted to hit the sand jar of the person who sent the message with a hammer.

On the way here, he had already watched the K120's first test drive video, and he felt even more complicated.

Now listening to Guo Shen explain the design ideas of K120, I just feel that they have made a lot of stupid mistakes in the past, and everywhere they say "Obviously this can be better!"

He couldn't help but interrupt the other party and asked: "Mr. Guo, are your engines completely self-produced?"

"Of course, there is a simplified version of the K30 upper-stage engine being manufactured right now."

He Gong was even more depressed after hearing this, and couldn't figure out why other people's success was so easy.

He actually wanted to ask if K120 got the information from the Aramco Space Agency, but unfortunately he could only think about it and never say it out loud.

Later, they were taken to watch the 550-second test run. When the flames similar to those of the YF100 spurted out, the eyebrows of all the personnel in the Sixth Institute were twisted into twists.

At the end of the whole day's visit, everyone from the Sixth Hospital returned to the hotel in the town with the K120's technical instructions.

Nine people reserved the hotel restaurant for the meeting. When the door closed, Tang Weitian's smile that lasted all day finally disappeared.

"Tell me, what do you think?"

The other seven or eight people looked at the technical instructions in their hands, and after hearing this, they all sighed with sad faces.

"It's not scientific, it's not scientific! This must be Ami's technology."

The person who called it unscientific expressed the confusion in everyone's hearts, and everyone nodded desperately.

"That's right. We have been doing this for 15 years and now we are making changes. Suddenly we are told that others will blow our breath?"

"With full flow, small volume, simple structure, and high thrust, the K120 alone is already world-class. I feel that no matter how much modifications are made to the YF100, it will never reach this level."

"What did the person who designed this engine think? It was not a genius to use one structure to design so many components. This is because the designer must have considerable experience in engine design. Either Aramco or the former Alliance, except that they have no People can do it!”

After more than ten years of hard work, he was easily surpassed by others. Everyone was dissatisfied and complained. Only He Gong remained silent. Tang Weitian turned to look at him:

"He Gong, what do you think?"