Chapter 367 - 364: I Want It All

Near the Carmen line, 100 kilometers above the ground, Ape-Eating Eagle 1 separated from its boosters and first core stage.

Seeing the tracking signal show it flying steadily out of the atmosphere, everyone present breathed a slight sigh of relief.

The most dangerous phase was over, and the rest of the journey was comparatively safe.

However, Jose, Antonio, and the others did not let their guard down. The atmosphere's dangers came from Earth's natural environment, but in low-Earth orbit, another thing threatened the spacecraft—space debris.

For example, that vast number of communication satellites launched by the Space Exploration Company not only occupied a great deal of orbital resources in low-Earth orbit but also created a large amount of space debris.

When designing the Ape-eating Eagle-class Carrier Rocket, Antonio had given the second core stage (the spaceship) a special design, using high-strength composite materials to create a highly resistant outer shell.

This special shell could withstand impacts from space debris.

The spaceship's hull layout was also specially designed. Components requiring external exposure, such as detectors and communication signal receivers, were placed at the rear of the ship, while the front was entirely covered in hardened armor.

As for the solar panels, the components most likely to be struck by space debris, they received a surface coating to increase their strength and were also built with a micro-modular design. A single solar panel was composed of hundreds of miniature photovoltaic modules, each capable of generating power independently.

Furthermore, a space debris monitoring system had been established. The space division had already deployed 16 dedicated monitoring satellites in low-Earth orbit to track artificial satellites, spaceships, space stations, space debris, and natural celestial bodies.

Combined with the various monitoring devices equipped on the Ape-Eating Eagle 1 spaceship, it was more than capable of avoiding any large pieces of space debris.

The automated navigation system steered the spaceship toward geosynchronous orbit.

Ape-Eating Eagle 1 was essentially a test vehicle. Since previous tests had not reached geosynchronous orbit or the Moon, the core mission of this launch was to collect flight data for the journey to both.

In this respect, the Homo Sapiens Company was truly wealthy and extravagant, using a carrier rocket costing over six million Jin yuan for a test without a second thought.

The aerospace divisions of other powers had to pinch pennies for every single launch mission.

Even NASA was stingy with its investments in actual spacecraft. Many of their big projects received a lot of funding on the surface, but the money actually spent on the spacecraft and technological R&D was only a small fraction of the total.

After all, contractors and management had to make their money, too.

「Inside the ground command center.」

Antonio glanced at the data on the computer, then turned to Jose. "Let's just assign a team to keep an eye on it. We should go report on the situation."

"Alright."

The two of them went to the VIP lounge.

Sangjibada Laiyal poured tea for them.

Jose had just sat down when he immediately reported, "Mr. Chairman, Ape-Eating Eagle 1 has entered low-Earth orbit and is currently in a stable orbit. The next phase of the plan is to head to Earth's geosynchronous orbit, and then proceed to the Moon."

Antonio added, "A test like this is necessary. After all, the company has accumulated far too little data in the aerospace field."

Li Qingye waved a dismissive hand. "It's no matter. It's only a single carrier rocket. By the way, what's our current manufacturing rate for them?"

"That depends on our needs. If the supporting factories run at full capacity, we can produce 40 Ape-eating Eagle-class Carrier Rockets per month. Currently, the rate is around two to four per month," Jose answered immediately.

Li Qingye thought for a moment before giving his instructions. "Jose, Dr. Antonio and I discussed this morning that we need to build a space station in low-Earth orbit soon. It will be used to test how various biotechnologies operate in microgravity."

Jose nodded. "The Doctor mentioned it to me."

"Lamon Port Aerospace City currently has five launch pads. You must arrange the schedule for each mission carefully to avoid impacting the progress of the Gui Palace Project."

"I'll make sure it's handled."

As for why they weren't using the aerospace cities of the Hongsawaddy Branch or the Ceylon Branch, the reason lay in their different specializations.

Lamon Port Aerospace City on Cianlan Island was focused mainly on the carrier rocket route.

Meanwhile, the Hongsawaddy Branch's Hu Gang Aerospace City primarily focused on small- and medium-sized solid-fuel rockets, leaning toward military, emergency, and clandestine applications. It also managed the Longge Lang Giant Cannon project in southern Hongsawaddy.

The Ceylon Branch's aerospace city was focused on carrier rockets using metallic hydrogen fuel. But because there had been no breakthrough in metallic hydrogen passivation technology, none of the several proposed designs had been put into formal operation.

The Suez Branch's Harij Aerospace City and the Mad Branch's Northern Aerospace City were not yet complete, and their technological paths were also different from the other aerospace cities.

The Madagascar Space City was developing a mass driver, with plans to construct a 300-kilometer-long, ring-shaped, near-vacuum tube and a 500-meter-tall launch tower to project spacecraft into outer space using electromagnetic acceleration.

The Suez Branch's Harij Aerospace City, for its part, was pursuing the space shuttle route. The supporting facilities were not yet complete, and the space shuttle was still being designed.

The five aerospace cities were each pursuing five different technological paths.

Together, they covered six distinct technologies: cannon launch, liquid-fuel carrier rockets, solid-fuel carrier rockets, metallic hydrogen carrier rockets, space shuttles, and mass drivers.

Not even America would dare to play the game this way.

After all, back in the day, the Space Shuttle program alone had caused America no end of trouble.

But the Homo Sapiens Company didn't care. For the company, the failure of even a major project like this wouldn't shake its foundations.

And since failure wouldn't shake its foundations, to avoid picking the wrong branch of the tech tree, they simply made massive investments in every possible technological direction.

That way, even if several projects failed, as long as just one succeeded, the Homo Sapiens Company's overall aerospace strategy would be a success.

Although the cost of this trial-and-error approach was enormous, Homo sapiens had the power to sustain it.

When Li Qingye had originally approved these projects, he had already reviewed all sorts of professional assessments, including those for the once heavily-criticized space shuttle project.

After all, America had already scouted out the path of space shuttle development for those who would come after.

But Li Qingye still approved the space shuttle project.

Because that was then, and this is now.

America's failure with the Space Shuttle program was actually due to material science issues. During the process of reuse, the shuttle's components aged, causing the failure rate to climb and maintenance costs to skyrocket.

But for the Homo Sapiens Company at this stage, material problems were not an issue at all.

Even if the Homo Sapiens Company were to build a carbon copy of America's space shuttle, the failure rate and maintenance costs would drop by an order of magnitude simply by using the company's proprietary materials, particularly its self-repairing biological materials.

And that was to say nothing of the fact that the Homo Sapiens Company intended to comprehensively upgrade and redesign the space shuttle.

As a result, the space shuttle approach was experiencing a renaissance.

Even Li Qingye couldn't be certain which path of aerospace development would ultimately prevail.

Other powers, constrained by their economies and resources, could only choose one path. The Homo Sapiens Company, however, declared: 'We'll take all of them.'

Li Qingye conversed with Antonio, Jose, and the others for over an hour. After assigning a few tasks, he secretly took a subway back to his temporary residence.

He had recently been researching a crucial subject.