Chapter 549 Spacecraft
Having a child in old age is the happiest thing for many people, and for Logino-Loginsky, his child is the Helix! When he was in his fifties, he began to devote himself to the research of the Helix. After several ups and downs, he was stopped again when he was about to enter the fast lane of development. Unlike the previous ones, he stopped this time because he wanted to develop the more advanced Blizzard than the Helix.
Even so, Logino still didn't want the Spiral to disappear. He wanted to revive the Spiral in another way!
Therefore, when designing the Buran, he was constantly thinking about how to use the development of the Buran to give the Helix a new life? Why not let the Buran be the carrier of the Helix!
The famous Helix Plan from more than a decade ago consisted of two parts: a hypersonic mothership and a military spacecraft. The hypersonic mothership carried the military spacecraft on its back and took off with the help of a taxiway. When the speed reached 380 to 400 kilometers per hour, the whole body separated from the taxiway and flew into the air. After that, the hypersonic mothership exerted its strength and when it reached the predetermined speed and altitude, the military spacecraft separated from the mothership and flew into orbit.
Among them, the hypersonic carrier is developed by the Tupolev Design Bureau. It needs to fly at a speed of Mach 6 and an altitude of 24 to 30 kilometers, with a payload of ten tons.
The military spacecraft is the one that Logino is in charge of. It is a single-seat winged combat aircraft that can be equipped with different mission modules to perform daytime photo reconnaissance, radar reconnaissance, and interception of space targets. The reconnaissance model carries a 500 kg combat payload, and the interception model carries a 2,000 kg combat payload. Depending on the direction and inclination, the orbital altitude of the military spacecraft ranges from 130 to 1,350 kilometers. It completes the mission within two or three laps of the flight, then lands, and has the ability to maneuver with the help of the spacecraft's engines.
Now that the project has been terminated, Logino thought to himself, why not just use the space shuttle as its carrier! Through a special revolver-like arrangement, five can be loaded into the cargo hold of the space shuttle! In this way, a Buran will become a space mothership! With five fighters! Because the height and speed of the space shuttle far exceed the original Tupolev Design Bureau's carrier, then correspondingly, these fighters have better combat flexibility!
If this plan can be implemented, it would be great! However, the mission plan of the Blizzard will be a huge plan, which is estimated to cost tens of billions of rubles. At this time, Logino did not dare to throw his plan to the upper level. Now, General Andrei came to inspect. This person is a confidant of General Secretary Andropov. He simply pretended to be accidentally exposed to see this person's reaction. If this person is not interested, then he will not lose anything. If this person is very interested in this plan, then his ideal can be realized!
Now, seeing the other party's reaction, Logino knew that he had made the right bet! General Andre was very interested!
"I'm sorry, this is just a casual drawing out of my own interest. I'm very sorry, there is no such plan in our project," Logino said.
"This is a good plan." Andrei said, "However, this plan must be carried out in secret, and it does not require too many people to participate. Just find a newcomer who has just started working to make a detailed plan and then send it to Marshal Ogarkov."
To Marshal Ogarkov? And he wanted a newcomer to make the plan? Logino was confused and didn't know what Andrei was up to.
"Pay attention, and keep it secret." Andre continued to remind him, "You know this."
Understand? What do I understand? Although Logino still doesn't understand, he also knows that this matter has passed, and there will be no new progress in a short period of time.
"We've talked about so much in the plan, is there anything ready-made?" Andre asked, feeling dizzy as he looked at the slides.
"Yes, we are currently conducting prototype trials. The first OK-1K1 test aircraft for ground testing has been completed and is currently undergoing equipment installation." Logino said, "We plan to build five similar test aircraft to test our technology. Once the technology is completed, we will build a formal space shuttle that can fly. If all goes well, we should be able to build the first Buran space shuttle in 1986."
In later generations, the number of Buran was far more than one. Some were taken to museums for visits, and some were crushed in warehouses. In fact, these included those test aircraft.
"Okay, let's go take a look at the test machine." said Andre.
"Our Buran is designed to be used more than 100 times and to be able to send 30 tons of payload into an Earth orbit 200 kilometers high and at an inclination of 50.7 degrees. The standard crew consists of four people, including a pilot and a co-pilot, and two astronauts engaged in extravehicular activities and research in other fields. Compared with the American space shuttle, our personnel are smaller, but our experience with the Soyuz shows that a team of three people can accomplish many tasks. Four people are enough, and there is no need for more. Moreover, our small number of members means we have more transport payload." Logino said as he looked at the test aircraft being assembled.
"By the way, are our life-saving equipment fully equipped?" Andre asked. The Challenger exploded a few seconds after the US space shuttle took off because of its lack of life-saving methods, and no one survived.
"We are equipped with the K-36RS ejection seat produced by the Star Research Development and Production Enterprise. This is an improved version of the K-36. If an accident occurs during launch, the astronauts can be ejected," said Logino.
Andre was shocked when he heard this. How awesome! They even use ejection seats! However, Andre also knew that Xingchen Enterprise was a long-established aerospace company. For example, all space suits were developed by this company, as well as flight suits, ejection seats, aerial refueling equipment, etc. The business scope is quite extensive, especially the K-36 seat, which is well-known around the world. It has appeared at air shows many times, showing the outstanding performance of this seat.
Looking at the busy engineers, Andre enthusiastically asked to take a photo with the space shuttle.