Recently, the National Academy of Engineering
Announced the list of new academicians
Space Exploration Technologies Corporation
SpaceX founder Elon Musk
Be among them
As one of the most influential engineering institutes in the world
Elected to the National Academy of Engineering
Undoubtedly one of the highest professional honors for experts in the field of engineering
What made him receive this distinction?
What are the big moves in the future?
Musk was elected to the Academy
Zhang Hongjiang, Fang Daining and others were selected as foreign academicians
On the morning of February 10, Beijing time, the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) released the list of additional academicians of the National Academy of Engineering in 2021, and a total of 111 academicians and 22 foreign academicians were selected. Among them, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk were selected.
As for why, the National Academy of Engineering wrote that SpaceX founder, CEO, and principal engineer, Musk, made breakthroughs in the design, engineering, manufacturing, and operation of reusable launch vehicles and sustainable transportation and energy systems.
Also selected are many people from companies and institutions we are familiar with, such as The investment partner of Beijing's Source Code Capital, Dr. Zhang Hongjiang, who is also a senior consultant of Carlyle Investment Group and an outstanding visiting professor of the Intelligent Industry Research Institute (AIR) of Tsinghua University, who was elected as a foreign academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering in 2022 for his outstanding technical contributions in the field of multimedia computing;
Professor Daining Fang, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and from the Institute of Advanced Structural Technology of Beijing Institute of Technology, was also named a foreign academician of the American Academy of Engineering in 2022 for his research contributions to the mechanics of ferroelectric/ferromagnetic materials and lightweight multifunctional structures under extreme conditions.
Public information shows that the National Academy of Engineering is the highest level of academic institutions in the field of engineering science and technology in the United States, and it is also one of the more influential academies of engineering in the world, and being elected as an academician of the academy is undoubtedly one of the highest professional honors for experts in the field of engineering.
Musk's image in the eyes of some people is always linked to keywords such as coin speculation and social network chatter. But his achievements in the field of industry can be said to be beyond doubt.
Reusable launch vehicles
Greatly reduce the cost of spaceflight
SpaceX was founded to target Mars colonization, and the most basic premise of Mars colonization is large-scale space launch. Back in the early 20th century, the global average launch price per kilogram exceeded $20,000, which made most people question that SpaceX was just delusional, but SpaceX did not waver and change this goal, but constantly adjusted and optimized, driving the advancement of its own technology and capabilities.
In order to reduce the launch price, SpaceX insisted on adopting the "reuse of launch vehicles" technology path, and achieved breakthroughs many times after conquering and applying vertical take-off and landing technology. Today's rocket recovery objects mainly refer to the first and second stage rocket boosters, the main body is the engine compartment. The mainstream recycling schemes are as follows:
Parachute recovery
Parachute recovery its principle, is that when the space shuttle re-enters the atmosphere after completing the task, it lands on the airport runway through unpowered gliding horizontally, and its two large solid boosters rise to the highest point after separating from the rocket core stage, and then entering the atmosphere, first releasing the guide umbrella and then pulling out the deceleration umbrella. When the booster descends to a certain height, the deceleration parachute separates and releases the auxiliary umbrella and the main umbrella, and finally the booster splashes at a speed of about 25 m/s.
The advantage of this approach is that the technology is relatively simple, the reliability is high, and the recovery system does not squeeze out the launch load too much. However, the disadvantages are also obvious, such as too strong dependence on weather factors and poor landing accuracy. In addition, even if the buffer system is added, in conjunction with the parachute system, the impact force of the rocket engine module landing is still too large, which destroys the integrity and reuse value of the rocket engine.
Vertical recycling
Traditional disposable launch vehicles are vertically launched into space, and under the condition that the configuration of the launch vehicle is not completely changed, the vertical landing method of the launch vehicle can be recovered by adding the pneumatic control mechanism system, the landing buffer mechanism system and the reverse thrust control system.
The advantage of this scheme is that the rocket landing site is very precise, and the parachute system is also omitted in the rocket design, reducing the burden. However, this recovery method also has no lack of disadvantages, in addition to the strict requirements for the perception and control system, because the rocket substation needs to start the return and landing deceleration, it must retain a large part of the fuel, which is bound to cause the loss of the rocket's carrying capacity. According to relevant information, the loss of carrying capacity can be as high as 40%.
SpaceX has gone through two major stages of parachute recovery and vertical take-off and landing. The former was tested in the Falcon-1 launch mission and the two previous Falcon-9 launch missions, but did not make it through. By the end of 2010 for the second falcon-9 mission, a sub-stage was again destroyed during the return due to the inability to withstand the force/heat load. After 7 years of unsuccessful development of parachute recycling technology, SpaceX shifted its focus to vertical take-off and landing technology.
However, the parachute recovery technology has not been abandoned by the company, and was successfully applied to the recycling and reuse program of fairings in 2019. In terms of vertical take-off and landing technology, SpaceX founder Musk officially disclosed the Falcon-9 rocket vertical take-off and landing return landing plan in September 2011.
In the follow-up technical verification, the technology of engine restart, return ballistics, attitude control, thrust adjustment, landing support and other technologies was verified step by step through a gradual manner, and finally successfully opened the process of rocket recovery and reuse.
Today, as SpaceX's main rocket, the Falcon-9 has established a great competitive advantage in both commercial and military and civilian launches with its ultra-low launch price brought by its reuse capabilities.
In the future, three large rockets will be launched every day
Transfer of 10,000 tons of supplies to Mars
As mentioned earlier, Space X was founded with the goal of reducing the cost of space transportation and colonizing Mars. Apparently, Musk has not forgotten his original intention.
Two days after Musk was elected academician, SpaceX held another press conference, at which it highlighted the latest developments in the starship, the strongest rocket starship in human history, and several important plans for this year.
The scene of the "rough hardcore" press conference | Screenshot of the SpaceX conference video
50 launch missions
In his speech, Musk talked about the success of SpaceX so far, and has 106 successful landings, so many launches that he almost got to launch "PTSD", and he also hopes that SpaceX can carry out 50 launch missions this year, and in the future can reach the goal of launching 3 times a day.
In addition, the next-generation large rocket for launching cargo and personnel to the Moon and Mars, the Starship, is designed as a stainless steel rocket to be reusable. Fuel reserves of 1200 tons, 1500 tons of propulsion and a payload capacity of 100-150 tons, which can fly three times a day in the future, and can simultaneously send 150 tons of goods or 100 people into space.
A better engine: The Raptor II is here
SpaceX's fame stunt is the low-cost, reusable, and highly reliable Falcon 9 series rockets. The root cause of this is its Merlin series of engines, especially the mature 1D version.
Multiple repetitive starts, variable thrust adjustment, ultra-high thrust-to-weight ratio, multi-engine parallel work and other characteristics make the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy series use this production engine, which greatly reduces the cost of the rocket.
At this press conference, SpaceX officially announced the research and development progress of the second generation of Raptor.
In the test, its thrust has been increased to a staggering 230 tons, and the overall structure has been greatly optimized, more compact and efficient, and the cost will be reduced to about half of the original version. In future research and development, it is expected that its thrust will further increase.
Bolder recycling program: "Chopsticks"
The rocket stage (booster) of the Falcon series rockets, as the only reusable rocket in service, can be recovered by using a ground-based fixed-point platform and a maritime-based fixed-point platform. Since the first successful recovery in December 2015, the recycling technology has become more and more mature, with more than 100 successful recoveries and 4 boosters breaking through 10 reuses, and this data is still increasing. Correspondingly, the recycling accuracy is also significantly improved.
So the starship, which uses a stronger propulsion system, simply plans to adopt a bolder recovery plan: catching the rocket that lands in the air through a huge robotic arm, and Musk himself calls this huge steel structure "Chopsticks" on social media.
Recycling plan simulation animation
The benefits of this design are obvious: the rocket does not need to design a huge and heavy landing leg, the overall transportation efficiency of the rocket is more efficient; the rocket is directly recovered to the launch tower, without going through the process of transfer, maintenance and reassembly, and the reuse cycle can be greatly shortened.
However, the disadvantages are also obvious, in case of any accident during the recycling process, the entire launch tower will be scrapped together.
A new generation of insulation tiles, the target full arrow recovery
The starship's goal is full arrow recovery, which means that the spacecraft itself that has flown out of the atmosphere and has entered orbit must also re-enter the atmosphere and fly back to the surface in its entirety, which is far more difficult than the existing recovery rocket stage.
The most successful strategy before was the equally reusable Space Shuttle, which at its core consisted of insulation tiles/blankets all over the bottom and key areas. The low weight and small size can isolate the high temperatures of thousands of degrees Celsius, which also leads to the extremely high price of this small tile and the soaring cost of maintenance and replacement.
Because of this, thermal insulation tiles are also the core technology in the development of starships. Over the past few years, SpaceX has made a series of breakthroughs in this area of research and development, and NASA and the US Air Force have also given research and development contract support. According to Musk, the insulation tile is reusable and automated.
With more powerful engines, more efficient recycling programs and safer and more efficient rocket-built outers, Musk claimed at the meeting that in the future, SpaceX will be able to build an average of one Raptor engine per day, and the manufacturing cost of each starship will be reduced to several million US dollars, and the cost of a single launch will be less than 10 million US dollars. He also expressed the hope that Starship can deliver a large number of supplies in the future and build a self-sufficient "Mars City" on Mars.
Look back at these plans
Many of them have been
It has been called "too idealistic" questions
But even if it fails in the end
It is also an exploration of the future
Once it succeeds
That will be the way we live in the future
It will have a profound impact
What the future holds
It can still be expected