Chapter 1042： Mars Rover

Putin is capable of handling affairs, is good at using his brains, and is thoughtful. Andrei's trip was also very smooth.

Baikonur Space Center, as the most important space center of the Soviet Union, undertakes the largest launch mission, and this launch is still carried out here.

It is not the first time that Andre has come here. However, as the successor of the general secretary and the actual controller of the Soviet, Andre's popularity is of course unprecedented!

In the conference room of the launch site, Andre listened to the reports of the experts on the scene, especially the report of the person in charge of the Mars exploration program, Chelomian.

Among the Soviet aerospace figures, Chelomian is a tragic figure. He can’t fight against Korolev. Various projects in his hands are often cut off, especially, in later generations, before the disintegration of the Soviet Union, his A project was also said to be developed without a project, and he would be sent to prison.

But now, the situation has changed a lot. The Soviets are constantly developing space technology, and Chelomian also gets a piece of the pie. He is responsible for continuing to study nuclear-powered rockets to meet the needs of exploring Mars!

Chelo was reluctant and worked hard. Finally, until now, his efforts have paid off. The nuclear-powered rocket is about to fly for the first time and perform the mission of exploring Mars!

"Our nuclear-powered rocket is fully capable of launching the payload directly from the launch site, but because the gas ejected by our nuclear-powered rocket is radioactive, we have to adopt the current compromise." "We need to use the Proton rocket to launch our Mars rover," he said.

One problem with nuclear-powered rockets is radioactivity! Therefore, this first detection is not to ignite directly on the earth. First, use an ordinary rocket to shoot this nuclear rocket out. After leaving the atmosphere, the nuclear rocket can work!

"What we are developing now is the latest dual-mode nuclear rocket engine system." Chelomian continued: "In this system, a single engine can generate a thrust of 168 kN while supplying 25kw of effective electrical power. Such a single engine can generate a thrust of 168 kN. One engine is enough for our probe this time, and our manned Mars exploration plan will use four such engines together to completely and effectively solve the problems of propulsion and electrical energy supply for Mars exploration spacecraft ."

168 kN! This seems to be just the thrust of a turbofan engine, but, you must know, the biggest advantage of this engine is that it can continuously provide thrust! In space, there is no resistance, and this kind of engine continues to work, and it can accelerate to the extreme speed of the sky! Ordinary rocket engines can only work for a few hundred seconds, but this kind of engine works much longer!

Moreover, in later generations, the plan introduced by Russia only generates a thrust of 68 kN, and four engines can guarantee to carry a payload of about 90 tons to land on Mars at one time. Of course, the equipment was launched on a launch vehicle.

Andre nodded: "Our exploration of space will not stop. If this launch goes well, the probe can reach Mars and make technical reserves for our manned landing on Mars, then our manned landing on Mars will be done. The plan will also be approved.”

Now, just launch a probe to verify the technology. When the technology is mature, the manned landing plan on Mars can be launched!

At the beginning, in the manned moon landing plan, the Soviet Union fell behind, relying on the n-1 rockets stacked like piles of wood, the launch failure rate was 100%, but now, the Soviet Union is alone in the manned Mars exploration plan. , after all, the Soviet Union has no opponents!

Che Luomian's face showed a look of joy, manned exploration of Mars! If this plan can go ahead, then he will also go down in history because of this plan!

"Yes, Marshal Andre." Chelomian said, "We firmly believe that our launch this time will be a success!"

It will be a success! After all, the Proton rocket has been launched many times, and the success rate is quite high, and their payload, the nuclear-powered Mars probe on top of the Proton rocket, has also been tested many times, and there is no problem at all. !

"The development of liquid rockets has encountered a bottleneck. We must study new ways and new space technologies to realize our dream of space exploration." Andre said: "Compared to the scale of the universe, we have way, it is still too far behind.”

Andre of the later generations has read a book called A Brief History of Time, which is easy to understand and makes people who read it spontaneously feel the insignificance of human beings. For cosmic navigation and cosmic exploration, more advanced technology is necessary. , a more advanced theory.

The launch window will open two hours later, and while Andre is discussing with these experts, preparations are also being carried out in an orderly manner in the launch hall.

The Proton rocket with boosters stands on the launch pad. This is already a fairly mature rocket. So far, more than 200 launches have been carried out. And now, this latest Proton-d rocket, with a booster strapped to the bottom, looks quite spectacular, and in the fairing above it, this time the Mars probe is installed , At the same time, this is not the first time that it has launched a Mars probe. It has launched several times in the past, but this time, the probe it launched is absolutely different!

When it was getting dark, the launch window finally arrived!

When the flames emerged from the bottom of the rocket, the whole rocket trembled and slowly climbed upwards! Speed, getting faster and faster!

Passing through the atmosphere, throwing away the booster, the first stage of the rocket behind it falls off, and when the top stage ignites, it has entered the geosynchronous orbit! One launch into orbit!

If it is an ordinary satellite, it is fast enough now, but of course it is not enough to detect Mars!

After the fourth-stage rocket burns, the top fairing opens, revealing a unique detector!

This detector has a large head and a small rear, and the exposed bell mouth-like rocket nozzle looks even more impressive. When the fourth-stage rocket fell off, it also began to work intensively.

The liquid hydrogen pump starts to pump out the liquid hydrogen in the liquid hydrogen storage tank in the front, and push it into the cooling jacket through the conduit, and the hydrogen that becomes gaseous after being heated passes through the conduit and enters the hydrogen turbine. The gaseous hydrogen is partially expanded in the turbine, and after the pressure drops, it enters the nuclear reactor. At the same time, the energy generated by the turbine is supplied to the liquid hydrogen pump to achieve autonomous circulation.

After entering the nuclear reactor, the hydrogen quickly absorbs the heat of the reactor, the temperature rises greatly, and it becomes a high-temperature and high-pressure gas! Then, it enters the nozzle for expansion, converting heat energy into kinetic energy and ejecting from the nozzle at high speed!

During the whole process, there is no real combustion, so there is no flame at the tail, only milky white hydrogen vapor!