The No. 4 Aerospace Assembly Workshop is one of the earliest assembly workshops to be built.

Of course, the secret project should be low-key, so Tang Chao did not arrange it in the No. 1 assembly workshop, but threw it into the No. 4 workshop.

The No. 1 assembly workshop is the largest, used to assemble rockets.

The company's smallest rocket is more than 40 meters long, and the super heavy rocket under development will reach 80 meters, so of course the largest one must be used.

But let’s not talk about it for now, there is enough lively here in the No. 4 workshop.

After entering the real workshop area, I saw that I was white, just like the anti-static clothing they had on them.

Various equipment are listed in it, with many but not messy, and many engineers wearing the same anti-static clothing are busy.

The most eye-catching thing is the aircraft in front of you. It is surrounded by many scaffoldings, overpasses, moving ladders, and robotic arms. It is white and black on top and has a smell of space shuttles, but overall it is flatter than the space shuttle, and looks more sharp and more sci-fi.

This is the first orbital shuttle that Pilot Company is about to be completed.

Or single-stage orbital aircraft or space aircraft are fine.

It has no official name yet, only a code name, called "Dart x".

Awkward, because the engine it uses is the T-1 "dart" ring plug liquid fuel engine.

All the foundations of this spacecraft are on those six engines, so Tang Chao simply used the engine name to give it a code name.

As for its positioning, how to say it, although many people want to call it a "sky plane", it is not at all.

Because aerospace planes are new aircraft that can both aerospace and space, and are aircraft that are highly integrated with aviation technology and aerospace technology.

The "Dart x" cannot perform aviation flights, at least it cannot perform long-term aviation flights because it is equipped with a rocket engine.

Everyone knows that Rocket engines are all oil tigers... no, they are all oil whales.

Even if the fuel can account for 90% of the aircraft's take-off weight, it will be done in just a few minutes, or in more than ten minutes.

This time is comparable to a shiver for the aviation aircraft in the atmosphere, and it is just taking off.

At this time, someone asked: "Has it started?"

You said: "It's over."

How embarrassing this is.

However, compared with traditional space shuttles, "Dart x" also has its own advantages and great advantages.

Otherwise, Tang Chao would not have taken it out as a transitional spacecraft and used it as a fishing spacecraft.

Zhang Liyan would not rather be bald for it, and then wait until it is almost finished and is so excited that he can't help himself.

Traditional space shuttles are only Meriken and the dead white bear, but they both need auxiliary rockets to send them up, and they cannot enter orbit with their own abilities alone.

Let’s not talk about the White Bear’s space shuttle, the Blizzard was sent purely by rockets, and it has never been in service and has only conducted test launches.

It does not exert force during the takeoff phase, and the rocket that sent it into space is the legendary "Energy" rocket, with a low-Earth orbit carrying capacity of more than 100 tons.

There are more space shuttles in Meriken and they have all performed actual missions.

They also said that they do not rely on rockets, they only need to hang a fuel tank and fly into space with their own engines throughout the journey.

But the external orange fuel tank it uses is larger than itself, and it seems to be attached to the fuel tank, not to mention that it also has two solid rocket propellers, each of which can generate violent thrust of more than 1,500 tons.

So just rely on yourself, just listen.

However, both White Bear and Meriken have been retired and are now the second-generation space shuttle.

Oh, possible, the world in the future.

Because the second-generation space shuttle is under test, it has not yet been officially put into service.

The second-generation space shuttle has been reduced a lot, and is basically unmanned. It can be launched directly on the top of the rocket.

After all, it was still with the help of external forces.

The only one that can be used to go to the sky with its own engine is the legendary reusable, unmanned, single-stage orbiting prototype of the spacecraft "Adventure Star"... - x-33.

This spacecraft can be launched vertically on the launch pad and then landed horizontally on the runway.

Unfortunately, this technology verification machine code-named "x-33" did not take off, and the final progress was frozen in 95% of the parts manufacturing and 75% of the assembly.

Then, due to technical problems, a big pit was left for aerospace enthusiasts.

If "Dart x" can succeed, it's really amazing!

It will definitely become an unprecedented achievement in the history of Earth's space.

How do you say what the Pioneer’s previous achievements...

When organizing competitions, their prize money is not the largest in the world.

Regarding Rockets, bigger ones appeared decades ago.

Regarding lunar probes, lunar rovers, sampling and return, they are not the best in the world.

Although the 50-ton Moon Palace 2 has a large tonnage, it really does not have much breakthrough. It is just a large lunar module, which is still the kind that does not carry people.

Therefore, the construction of his company's single-stage orbiting aircraft was about to be completed. Zhang Liyan's excitement was not adulterated at all.

Zhang Liyan took Tang Chao in and out of the "dart x", and then circled it up and down, left and right several times, introducing a ten percent.

Tang Chao also listened with a smile.

But most of these are for outsiders to see, because he had already experienced today's scene when he was in Kanxing.

Thinking about it now, it was several years ago, based on the time of Kanxing.

Time is really sad.

When he first saw this kind of spacecraft, he was as excited as Zhang Liyan.

But now a few years have passed in Kanxing. He even went to Kanxing's "Moon" and "Mars" not long ago and obtained controllable nuclear fusion technology and nanorobot technology like black technology. He really doesn't like this thing in front of him.

Of course, Tang Chao was still very happy to see it on Earth, especially in his own company.

This means that the Earth is about to usher in a new aerospace era, an era that reduces manned space flight from top to popularization.

The cargo capacity of single-stage orbiting aircraft is extremely poor, with carrying capacity generally only 2% of the take-off weight, or even less.

The cargo was transported to space without separating anything, just because early rockets were prone to danger when they separated.

However, as humans' technological strength becomes higher and higher, safe separation is no longer a problem, so there is no need to enter the orbit as a whole. It is more pleasant to throw away the dead-heavy recycling rocket at critical moments.

Because their carrying capacity can reach about 5%, and the warehouse is easy to build larger and can easily carry large equipment.

Of course, that's for freight.

For humans, aircraft that do not throw away anything looks safe.

This kind of thing that flies in the sky and has to enter space is frightened to fall.

Not to mention throwing away such a large piece, it will even have to be thrown away two or three times.

There are even some precision equipment, a batch of aircraft that take off and land at a horizontal level, and the word "stable" is very important to them.

After introducing the "Dart x-1" with a completion rate of 97%, Zhang Liyan took Tang Chao to look at the "Dart x-2" behind. The assembly completion rate of the No. 2 test machine reached 38%, and the parts were also made 45%.

Perhaps when the No. 1 test machine can be tested in orbit, the No. 2 test machine will be almost done.

Everyone in the factory is looking forward to it.
Chapter completed!