Chapter 1087 The Race for the New Frontier (Third update, please subscribe)
“Your Excellency sent a congratulatory message to the Prime Minister of the Republic of Malaya and congratulated on the founding of the Republic of Malaya. Your Excellency stated in the telegram...”
Listening to the news coming from the car radio, Qian Fukang, who was driving the car, raised his lips slightly and said to himself.
“I don’t know if anyone will say that Malaya is a satellite country in Nanyang.”
Just yesterday, August 31, the Republic of Malaya was established. As we all know, that is In a country where Tang people account for 65% of the population, if Singapore can also be incorporated into it, Tang people will account for more than 80%.
But no matter what, the Tang people still firmly controlled that country, of course with the help of Nanyang. Nanyang invested more than one billion yuan in Malaya, stationed troops, and even destroyed a country for Malaya - - Helped the restoration of the King of Siam. In the eyes of the outside world, Siam was a puppet state in Southeast Asia. Even the King of Siam was renamed Zheng Xi.
What about Malaya?
I am afraid it is also a satellite country of Nanyang.
Just like the European and American views of Eastern European countries, in the eyes of European and American countries, Eastern European countries are puppet states of the Soviet Union - their leaders and military officers are all from the Soviet Union, although many of them are Poles and Romanians. , Hungarians, Bulgarians or Czechoslovaks, but they all lived in the Soviet Union for a long time and were even generals of the Soviet army themselves.
What about Malaya?
It seems that some places are different.
I just think about it and recall it in my mind. In fact, Qian Fukang doesn’t care about these political matters at all. Compared with politics, he is more concerned about the manned spaceflight project currently underway. . Soon, the car drove from Rocket Town into Wanhujiao. After entering Wanhujiao, Qian Fukang quickly came to his office.
In his office, in addition to a model of the Wanhu-5 rocket, there is also a model of a cylindrical rocket, which is the "Peacekeeper missile" being developed - the first in Nanyang A true strategic missile with a range of more than 16,000 kilometers can not only cover any country in the world, but can also carry a warhead weighing 10 tons - the 12-million-ton hydrogen bomb just tested in Nanyang is of this level.
As one of the leaders of these two projects, Qian Fukang is under great pressure. Not only is he under great pressure, but all the scientific researchers in Wanhujiao are also under great pressure.
“It is still very reluctant to carry out two projects at the same time.”
While talking to himself, Qian Fukang frowned. Although Nanyang provided sufficient funds, it was still very difficult to carry out two projects due to the limited number of engineering and technical personnel.
These two projects are both very important projects. One is manned aviation, sending people into space, and the other is related to the safety of Southeast Asia.
But... Staring at the drawings taken out of the safe, this drawing is not of the "Peace Guardian", but a further improved version of the Wanhu Type 5 rocket. Compared with the original model, it It has greater thrust and greater weight, and can send an 8-ton payload to a low-Earth orbit of 200 kilometers.
It is also the rocket currently used in manned space projects. Two months ago, it completed the first unmanned spacecraft launch mission. Although the launch was successful, some problems were also exposed.
While he was studying the drawings, the office door was pushed open.
"Fu Kang, are you still studying Ten Thousand Households Five?"
It was Yuri, he came over and said looking at the drawings.
“From the current point of view, it seems that there is nothing that needs to be adjusted.”
“It is not that adjustments are needed, but that we should try our best to use Wanhu Type 5 rockets, which are manufactured by the military. The 12 Wanhu Type 5 rockets were originally used to launch nuclear bombs, but once the "Peace Guardian intercontinental missile" is put into service, they will soon be eliminated. We must be prepared to accept it and enable it to be used in Satellite launch..."
As he spoke, Qian Fukang raised his head, looked at Yuri and said:
"Although Nanyang is very wealthy, Nanyang's financial resources are far inferior to those of the United States and the Soviet Union. It is impossible for us to engage in a space race with them. Therefore, we must save every penny. Only in this way can we advance in the space industry. Farther.”
In fact, this is also the most helpless place in Nanyang. Although Nanyang is the third largest country in the world, its GDP is only about 40% of that of the Soviet Union. How does it compare with the United States? There is no need to compare, but it is only equivalent to 13.4% of the United States!
The United States’ annual military expenditure exceeds 25% of Nanyang’s gross national product!
With such a huge gap in national power, how can it be possible to have a space race, let alone a space race? Even the arms race, Nanyang has no intention of competing. As for the 12 "intercontinental missiles", they are just for Maintain nuclear deterrence capabilities in Southeast Asia. In order to increase their voice, during the "Hungarian Crisis", the Nanyang intelligence department deliberately released false information to the Soviet Union through Soviet spies. Not only did it exaggerate Nanyang's nuclear weapons arsenal, but it even had only one experimental ballistic missile submarine. , the quantity has also been exaggerated.
In a word, Nanyang simply does not have that much money to build so many weapons, at least not yet, and the reason why Nanyang is able to "fool" the Russians is essentially because Russia has already saved people - —Because of its extraordinary military spending, Russia believes that other countries do the same, and even calls the United States a military-industrial empire.
In any case, Nanyang certainly does not have the capital to engage in an arms race and space race.
Because of this, unlike the United States and the Soviet Union, Nanyang’s artificial satellite launches have emphasized practicality from the beginning. For example, artificial communication satellites are the most successful example, and their launch costs are still borne by the enterprise.
This is why Qian Fukang solemnly mentioned the twelve "future" retired missiles, asking them to use their remaining energy in the rocket industry.
"Indeed,"
Lighting a cigarette, as the person in charge of the Nanyang Space Program, Yuri looked at it and thought for a while, then said. "We must use limited funds to do more things. This is why you put combat readiness life first when designing the "Peace Guardian"."
“The longer its combat readiness life, the lower the cost. Now Nanyang’s missiles and rockets have been divided into two paths. Because the requirements of the two are different, from the beginning, we must We need to consider how to reduce costs.”
This is the biggest difference between Qian Fukang and other engineers. The Aurora missile he participated in the design of is a medium-range missile with a range of 4,500 kilometers. The missile is not only deployed on land, but is also a missile launched by Nanyang ballistic missile submarines. Now technical personnel from other departments are designing submarine-launched missiles based on the Aurora missile. Although this is a very complicated process, Qian Fu and Qian Fu Kang has nothing to do with it. His current mission focuses on manned spaceflight and Peacekeeper.
“What about this?”
Yuri asked, pointing to the drawings on the table.
"According to the current progress, when will we be able to send people into space..."
When talking about "space", Yuri's tone was a little more serious. His tone was full of expectation, and Who doesn't look forward to it?
Everyone is looking forward to sending people into space, just as Russian scientist Konstantin Tsiolkovsky said: The earth is the cradle of mankind, but mankind will not stay there forever. In the cradle.
And now that they have mastered the technology that can send humans into space for the first time, there is only one problem left - time!
Although they launched their first unmanned spacecraft two months ago, and they had another launch two weeks ago. However, there is still a certain distance from actual launch.
"You know, the Russians are making efforts in this area now. Just last month, Khrushchev announced that they would soon send humans into space to recover."
Words After a pause, Yuri said in an extremely serious tone.
“We must surpass the Russians!”
We must surpass the Russians!
For German engineers like Yuri, there is a grudge between them and Russia.
Of course, for Qian Fukang and the others, they never cared about this. They only cared about one thing - to send the Tang people into space before the Russians. This is what they care about most.
“If nothing else happens, I think the Russians should launch their spacecraft in the first half of next year.”
Listening to Qian Fukang’s judgment, Yuri thought for a while, said.
“I think it may be earlier. The Russians are different from us. When they do things, they think more from a political perspective. If they can launch in the first half of the year, then officials in Moscow We will definitely ask them to come to Revolutionary Day as early as possible”
“Revolutionary Day?”
Qian Fukang looked at the other party with some confusion.
“Yes, it is Revolution Day, that is, November. For Moscow, there is no more valuable gift than launching a spaceship to send a Soviet man into space!”
Obviously, Yuri knows the Russians better than Qian Fukang, and he knows very well what is most important to the Russians.
“So they are very likely to launch a spaceship in November to send their astronauts into space.”
Listening to the chief engineer’s speculation, Qian Fukang frowned. Group, he looked at the drawings in front of him, thought for a while, and then said.
"If we want to surpass them, we must complete all launch experiments in the shortest possible time. But according to the current rocket production speed, we cannot produce enough rockets before November... The safe way is to use the military's missiles for an unmanned launch, and then use the newly produced rockets for a launch. If this happens, we should be able to complete all the tests before October."
Especially. Li nodded and said:
"It seems that we need to coordinate with the military."
No coordination is even needed, just a report to management. After learning that they wanted to use the military's missiles for launch tests, Li Yi'an agreed without hesitation.
He knew very well that the missiles that launched nuclear weapons would actually be stored there as decorations for decades to come.
Instead of using it as a decoration, it is better to launch it. Whether it is used to launch satellites or launch spaceships into space, waste can be avoided.
Moreover, space is a new frontier that humans must conquer. Therefore, soon under his instruction, the military handed over a rocket.
Half a month later, Wanhujiao conducted its third unmanned spacecraft launch experiment.
(End of this chapter)