Chapter One Thousand Two Hundred and Six: Take a Wonderful Space Journey
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"Mr. Wu, we deserve that you have been committed to the development of civil aerospace technology. From commercial launch vehicles to this new experimental spacecraft. Now many of us are more concerned and ask you when will we, ordinary tourists, be able to fly
Go to space and engage in space tourism. Many people also ask whether the price of space tourism can be lowered, so that it should not become an exclusive project only for the top rich."
Su Qian asked Wu Hao.
Wu Hao put down the coffee in his hand and said with a smile: "This is also the goal we have been working hard for, which is to send more tourists to the sky to experience a wonderful space journey.
However, it is not easy to achieve this goal. Apart from other things, we must first have a manned spacecraft that can successfully send people into space.
As we all know, manned spacecraft is a very grand and complex systematic project. It is difficult for most companies, let alone enterprises, to support such a huge project.
So currently there are only a handful of countries in the world that can operate manned spacecraft, and only the few that are well known to everyone.
Although there are already related successful cases, some companies and more than one company have developed manned spacecraft.
But without exception, these companies have invested huge amounts of money, resources, manpower, material resources, and time to achieve such results.
Therefore, if we want to build a manned spacecraft, we must invest a lot of manpower, material resources, and time. This will be a huge number, which is very difficult for us to bear.
Therefore, if we really want to engage in a manned spacecraft research and development project, we definitely cannot do it alone. We need to invite more companies to join in. We all work together so that this thing can be realized.
In fact, it is about technology, which can be put together with cost.
First of all, manned spacecraft technology can be said to be a combination of cutting-edge technologies gathered from the current comprehensive human technology. There are only a handful of countries that can develop manned spacecraft, and there are only a few of them. The technology is highly monopolized.
If we want to do it, we will be faced with a project that most countries in the world cannot do. You can imagine how difficult it is.
Of course, this is not only reflected in technology, but also in research and development costs. To put it bluntly, most countries on the planet cannot support such a huge money-burning project."
Having said this, Wu Hao glanced at Su Qian, and then continued: "The traditional manned spacecraft has a very small space and can only carry three to four astronauts at a time. As for the space shuttle, there are also the current new generation of
As for the manned capacity, the number has been expanded to seven to eight people, almost doubling the number.
But despite this, the current carrying efficiency of these passenger-carrying vehicles is really too low, and the price converted into one passenger is very expensive. Except for those who are particularly wealthy, ordinary people, even those with a substantial family background, can't afford it.
It's hard for people to bear.
So if we want more people to take a space trip at a more reasonable price, then we have to lower the price of each spaceship ticket.
If you want to lower the price, you must reduce the transportation cost per passenger. And if you want to lower the cost, you must first reduce the rocket launch transportation cost.
We can use recyclable and reusable launch vehicles, which can greatly reduce rocket transportation costs.
So the next step is to go to the manned spacecraft. The current manned spacecraft carrying capacity is too poor. If you want to use it commercially and reduce costs, you need to expand the manned spacecraft carrying capacity.
The current maximum capacity of seven people will be at least doubled, or even more. Generally speaking, it is more appropriate to control the number of passengers within the range of fourteen to twenty-one people.
In this way, we can evenly distribute the cost originally shared by seven passengers to 21 passengers, so that the transportation cost for a single person will be reduced a lot.
Secondly, it is necessary to reduce the cost of manufacturing and using spacecraft. There are two ways to do this, just like our commercial launch vehicles.
Either use an ultra-low-cost disposable spacecraft, which will reduce the cost a lot. The ultra-low cost I am talking about here does not mean sacrificing the safety and reliability of the spacecraft. It means that on this basis, we will reduce unnecessary costs on the spacecraft.
things, thereby further reducing costs.
The second method is that, like our Jianmu-2 retractable launch vehicle, it can be recycled and reused, which can also reduce costs.
If all of this can be realized smoothly, we are confident that the cost per passenger will be controlled within 2 million yuan, so that more tourists with space dreams can realize their dreams and take a dream trip to space."
"Two million yuan is still too high a price, and I'm afraid it's hard for most people to afford it. If nothing else, let's just talk about me. Although I also have a strong space dream, I don't have two million yuan to go on a space trip.
"Susie smiled bitterly and shook her head.
Hehehe, Wu Hao smiled and shrugged: "Unless we make a huge leap forward in aerospace technology, the cost of going to space cannot be reduced to a level that everyone can accept.
Just like today's intercontinental flights, aircraft technology has been developed for nearly a hundred years, and not everyone on the planet can afford an intercontinental flight ticket.
The same is true for space travel. What we can do is reduce this dream from being out of reach for most people and untouchable in their lifetime to a dream that can still be realized in this lifetime if many people work hard.
This is the limit of what can be achieved based on our current social and technological level."
Hearing Wu Hao's words, Su Qian nodded. Indeed, Wu Hao was right. The price of two million can be said to be very conscientious. You must know that the world's first space passenger, in order to be able to go to space, but
It cost 20 million US dollars.
The price quoted by Wu Hao and others is only two million, less than one-tenth of that price, and it is still in RMB, not US dollars. It can be said that it is already very cheap, and we really can't ask for too much.
Hearing his answer, Susie nodded, and then said to him: "In what you just said, you mentioned that unless we make a huge breakthrough in the field of aerospace technology, it is impossible for us to reduce the cost of going to space to everyone.
All are acceptable.
What technological breakthrough do you mean here, is it similar to the space elevator in the science fiction novel "The Three-Body Problem"?"
Hearing Su Qian's words, Wu Hao smiled and shook his head.
"The book "The Three-Body Problem" is very good, and I am also a loyal fan of it. However, if we want to realize the sky elevator in the Three-Body Problem, we conservatively estimate that it may not be possible in the past hundred years."
