Super technology leader

"Is it today? The largest orbital shuttle in human history is about to launch! I'm so excited just thinking about it!"

"Don't talk nonsense. The Americans define this thing as a 'spaceplane'. They don't want to use the standard 'orbital shuttle'."

"The live footage is here. The Adventure Star spacecraft is being fueled up."

"It feels like the maneuverability isn't great. Why is it fixed to the launch pad for launch? Can't it take off directly from the runway like the orbital shuttle?"

"I was wondering what that strange launch pad was built for before, with such a large water tank, and it's rectangular. Now it finally makes sense."

"Tsk tsk, a payload of more than 20 tons, it's simply a behemoth. What about those little guys with a 2-ton payload?"

"Hurry up, isn't it supposed to launch? Launch it quickly, I like big things!"

"It feels like there's not much difference from a reusable carrier rocket? It even feels like the carrying capacity is not as good as a comparable recoverable carrier rocket, so what's the point of making this thing?"

"How is it pointless? This is technological progress. Aircraft-type flying machines give people a sense of security. Round rockets are just not good!"

"How are rockets not good? Before the space shuttle, didn't astronauts enter space in rockets? Space shuttles are no good! After the space shuttle retired, we still have to rely on rockets to enter space!!"

The Adventure Star debuted, and the Americans instantly returned to the promotional model from two years ago, sending out text information, materials, pictures, videos, manufacturing engineer interviews, documentaries, etc., one after another.

In just a few days, before space enthusiasts could even celebrate enough, it quickly fast-forwarded to the test flight.

It seems that Adventure Star has indeed given the American space agency a lot of confidence.

However, the internet is not just full of laymen watching the excitement, there are also many experts. In their opinion, the positioning of Adventure Star is indeed very confusing.

It's not that its technical level is not high, but that it seems to be using 10 points of technology to create a 5-point device.

It's like you have various advanced technologies, such as black technology power, black technology armor, black technology weapons, etc. Without special battlefield requirements, and the opponent does not restrict you from using any attack methods, you don't go to build tanks, but instead, you go to build large mechas.

That thing is useless except for looking good.

Just like the Adventure Star at the beginning, because it had to maintain a specific shape, various technologies could not meet the requirements, and a lot of problems needed to be solved.

Because the time was too short, many technologies could not be broken through. The simple and easy-to-use traditional rocket technology broke through one after another, making its role no longer so attractive, so after everyone "happily" spent several billion dollars, they felt that it had no future, so they gave up.

After various materials and experimental equipment were sealed up, they defined it as a "trial and error" project.

After all, according to the most basic Tsiolkovsky rocket equation, the ratio of the initial mass to the final mass of the launch vehicle directly determines the carrying capacity.

Under this principle, constantly dropping the storage tanks that have run out of fuel during the rocket launch is the most cost-effective. In fact, rockets also need to be designed in multiple stages to facilitate continuous discarding.

Even if the complexity is high, which leads to a higher degree of danger, it is not important compared to the payload weight, otherwise every kilogram of body structure carried up will take up a lot of effective payload space.

In fact, this is also the case. After the reusable rocket came out, people thought that Adventure Star would never be revived. Unexpectedly, it was actually built by the Americans.

I wonder if it was stimulated by the Pathfinder's orbital shuttle.

However, this single-stage-to-orbit aircraft is not useless. At least it has one more advantage than a reusable rocket, that is, the preparation time for take-off is shorter.

After all, even if the rocket only has two stages, there is a docking and installation process, and you have to be careful when transporting it, and you have to pay more attention when injecting fuel.

The integrated single-stage-to-orbit aircraft does not need to pay attention to these.

So relatively speaking, single-stage-to-orbit aircraft are more suitable for some "emergency" missions.

Of course, as for how urgent it can be, it depends on the technical level of the single-stage-to-orbit aircraft.

Like the Adventure Star compared to the Dart-class orbital shuttle, although the Dart-class is suppressed in other aspects, just the ability to "prepare faster and take off on the runway" can easily turn the tables.

If you want to say what mission needs to take off urgently, it is probably a military mission.

And military missions do not need to consider large payloads and different payloads. They are all regularly shaped missiles and bombs. The Dart-class orbital shuttle with a small payload and a small cargo hold can still handle it.

At worst, ten aircraft can take off at the same time.

Even if ten aircraft take off at the same time, its preparation time is much shorter than that of the Adventure Star, so the Adventure Star has no chance of winning in this regard.

Also because of these reasons, many industry insiders feel that the positioning of Adventure Star is a bit confusing.

"Is it really just for technology demonstration? Or is it stimulated by the Pathfinder and entered a mindless competition mode: I can not only do it, but I can also build bigger?"

These things are not known now. After all, the Adventure Star has not yet launched on the launch pad. Whether it can successfully enter space is a problem, so what its subsequent positioning is depends on what the Americans plan to do next.

As for those early plans, just take a look.

Early plans are used to be modified.

The subsequent test flight was very successful. The Adventure Star successfully entered space. The Americans' confidence in playing "making a splash" is also based on superb technology.

However, the Americans are indeed better in terms of publicity. After the successful entry into orbit, the news instantly spread around the world, and various "first" titles and achievements were put on it, which was a lot of fun.

This is based on its decades of operation and a very powerful cultural output platform, which Pathfinder can't compare to anyway.

At least not now.

Knowing that the Adventure Star's test flight was successful, Tang Chuan stopped paying attention. After all, this thing would not affect him. He also said that the company does not need to pay too much attention. As long as it proceeds according to the previous plan, the company's development will not have any problems.

After all, the Americans are still not confident enough, because this Adventure Star test flight was just an uncrewed test flight, and no equipment was carried.

At the same time, when the outside world received news that the Adventure Star had successfully entered its planned orbit and the outside world was cheering, the American Space Command Center was in a mess.

The Adventure Star didn't have any big problems, but small problems kept occurring.

"How is it, is the 28976 contactor still not responding?"

"Yes, it has been confirmed that it is not responding."

"Okay, then write it down."

"Cracks have appeared in the NF92 solder joints. The monitoring probe that we installed there can see it very clearly. Through external observation and ultrasonic flaw detection, the problem is not big, and it should be able to land safely."

"TA-1 route is scrapped, showing 727, it should be burned out due to overheating. The flight control computer has automatically switched to the backup route, and the current situation is stable."

"There is a problem with the No. 8 reaction control system. The propulsion power is insufficient. If you want to maneuver, pay attention to its thrust..."

Bad news kept coming in, but fortunately, no major problems have occurred so far, so every time a small problem is summarized, the technicians will make a summary and record it for analysis of the impact of these small problems on subsequent actions.

If the impact is small, the mission will continue, and it will be modified during maintenance after returning.

This is a necessary step for a test machine, nothing.

If the impact is very large, then the mission may have to be suspended, and even if it is too serious, this test mission may fail.

"Fortunately, these problems are all within our expectations, saving a lot of testing. It's great to have such a result."

The people who made the decision to "reduce testing and quickly test flight" in the conference room at the beginning are basically here. The order was researched and decided by them. Of course, they have to be responsible. Knowing that the situation is still acceptable, they are finally relieved.

"If this is completely successful, then we can regain the leading position, and the President should also be happy."

Chapter Two 11:30