After the space exploration technology company took off, Musk's "trampoline" joke stung the Russians?

The hatch slowly opened, and the American and Russian astronauts once again successfully "joined hands" on the International Space Station. However, two Russian astronauts waiting for their American counterparts on the space station did not see the familiar Soyuz. Instead, the "Dragon" spacecraft is completely white, as if flying out of an American science fiction blockbuster.

On May 3 1 local time, the manned "Dragon" spacecraft was launched from Kennedy Space Center, and docked with the International Space Station after flying 19 hours. After the "capture" was successful, the power supply of the "Dragon" spacecraft was connected to the International Space Station.

There is no doubt that this is a great victory for space exploration technology company. Even the big explosion of the heavy rocket "Starship" on the launch pad less than 24 hours ago could not hide such dazzling success. Excited, Musk, the boss of Space Exploration Technology Company, did not forget to speak to the Russians.

"The trampoline succeeded!" He joked at the press conference, "This joke is for people who understand."

At that time, because of the Ukrainian crisis, US-Russian relations were tense. The United States and Europe began to impose sanctions on Russia, while Russia threatened to fight back. This is one of the possible measures to prevent Americans from using Soyuz. As has happened many times in history, space flight has once again become a geopolitical issue.

Manned space flight, even manned landing on the moon and ignition on this basis, is the "crown jewel" in the space field, which has always been promoted only by powerful countries. Since Gagarin's first flight nearly 60 years ago, only the Soviet Union, the United States and China have successively mastered manned launch technology. Today, the space exploration technology company headed by "Iron Man" Musk has officially become the first commercial company with manned spacecraft launching capability, and even achieved space docking in one step.

What to do next?

In Musk's view, the success of the "Dragon" spacecraft is only a small part of a larger plan. Although Musk has always had the reputation of "painting cakes" among netizens, and even been accused of "selling colonial space by science fiction PPT", the success of Falcon rockets and dragon spacecraft has its own weight, which has gradually dispelled some people's doubts.

The first flight of the first generation "Dragon" spacecraft was 20 10. At that time, the positioning was to transport goods to the space station, and the freight cost was greatly reduced. The first generation of "Dragon" spacecraft carried out 22 launch missions, of which 2 1 was successful, and the hull was destroyed only once due to rocket explosion. Because it can be reused, the launch cost can be reduced to less than one tenth of that of the space shuttle, and the cargo capacity can reach one third of that of the space shuttle.

The second-generation manned "Dragon" spacecraft successfully docked with the International Space Station also maintained its low-cost advantage. At present, the United States buys a seat of the Russian Soyuz spacecraft as high as 90 million dollars, while the manned dragonfly ship needs about 55 million dollars (also called 20 million dollars), which greatly reduces the expenditure of NASA on manned space flight, and the money saved can be used for other projects.

Technically, "the biggest technical highlight of the manned' Dragon' spacecraft is the adoption of the first brand-new launch escape system. The spacecraft does not need a rocket escape tower to escape, but uses its own eight' super dragon' engines to escape. " Pang Zhihao, an aerospace expert, pointed out to this newspaper (www.thepaper.cn) that "unlike the previous escape tower system, the spacecraft can escape at any time during the ascending phase, which is safer."

In addition, "the manned' Dragon' spacecraft is highly automated, equipped with a touch control screen and a fully automatic driving system. This launch will also continue to verify some of the world's leading space technologies, which will greatly help to enhance the strength of American space science and technology. " Pang Zhihao said.

After the successful first flight, Space Exploration Technology Company became the first private space company capable of independently launching manned spacecraft. As a private company considering income, Space Exploration Technology Company undertook two space tourism projects through its agents. In the near future, four paying passengers can take the "Dragon" spacecraft for a five-day space trip. Different from the previous space travel projects, the passengers on the "Dragon" spacecraft do not need the guidance of professional astronauts, and the spacecraft can realize autonomous orbit and return. When the demand for commercial launch is declining, space tourism may provide some profit opportunities.

With launch orders and other profits, space exploration technology companies have more ambitious space exploration goals. As early as 20 16, Musk announced the "Colonial Mars Plan", hoping to establish an immigrant city on the surface of Mars that has been confirmed to have liquid water.

Of course, the timetable for immigration to Mars announced by Musk in excitement is quite suspected of "painting cakes". At present, it is getting closer and closer to his planned manned landing on Mars in the second half of 2020, and the goal of "moving millions of people to Mars within this century" is out of reach. However, the successive success of the "Dragon" spacecraft and the Falcon rocket at least shows that the first basic condition for colonizing Mars-the reusable use of rockets and spacecraft is becoming a reality step by step.

The United States and Russia are competing to develop a new generation of manned spacecraft.

With the strong support of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), space exploration technology companies stand out, but other space powers will not relax their pace of catching up. In Russia, this sense of urgency is particularly strong.

Musk's little joke at the press conference immediately "stung" the Russians. On Russian social media, netizens mocked rogozin, director of the Russian Space Agency, with a large number of words. His name even made a hot search on Russian Twitter.

Rogozin, who became an "internet celebrity", didn't keep silent. His spokesman immediately responded to the online discussion: "We really don't understand the hysteria caused by the successful launch of the dragon spacecraft. (Americans) just realized what they should have realized long ago. " The spokesman also generously applauded the "Dragon" spacecraft, calling it "great". Americans and Russians can finally fly to the International Space Station together.

Compliment, but the Russians also took action. On May 3 1, the Russian Space Agency announced that it would test two new rockets this year and restart the long-forgotten moon landing program next year. In the two rocket tests, the angara heavy-duty launch vehicle to be launched this autumn is noteworthy. If successful, it will greatly improve the launch capability of Russian space.

France's Le Monde commented that there is a strong sense of urgency behind this series of actions. The sudden emergence of space exploration technology companies has now brought great pressure to the Russian space system. The monopoly position of Russian Soyuz spacecraft was challenged from 20 1 1. Over the years, NASA has paid a huge sum of $3.3 billion to Russia to buy tickets for the Soyuz spacecraft.

Faced with the dual competition between American tradition and private space industry, Russia began to plan its own new generation of manned spacecraft early. The old Soyuz is a classic manned spacecraft developed by the Soviet korolev Design Bureau (now Energy Group). However, after decades of service, the Russian government urgently needs to develop a new type of spacecraft with reusable capabilities. So in 2009, the Energy Group began to develop a new type of spacecraft, which was called "Future Manned Transport System" (PPTS) at that time, and was named "Federation" in 20 15.

The core technical index of "Federation" is that the return module can be reused for ten times, and the service module has a larger model of landing on the moon, which can be separated from the lunar orbit and meet the Russian demand for landing on the moon. According to the original plan, after the spacecraft is put into use, it will be matched with the new launch vehicle "angara 5P" developed by Russia, and the Russian spacecraft will be upgraded.

However, the development process of "Federation" is full of twists and turns. Different from the technical problems frequently encountered by space exploration technology companies in the early days, such as rocket explosion and recycling failure, the research and development of energy groups are more affected by environmental factors such as economic contraction and budget decline. In 20 12, the energy group announced the completion of the technical design of the spacecraft. As long as the budget funds are paid on time, the test flight can begin on 20 17. 20 14 geopolitical turmoil, coupled with external sanctions and economic sluggishness, led Russia to cut its space budget. At the end of that year, Russia announced that the first launch of the new spacecraft would be postponed to 202 1, and later announced that it would be postponed to 2022, and the first manned launch mission would wait until 2024.

In recent years, the development progress of "Federation" has been continuously delayed, and even the launch vehicle model has been changed to the newly developed "Alliance 5" rocket. In 20 18, due to the development problem of this type of rocket, the first flight time of "Federation" was postponed again until around 2025.

Until then, Russia will still use Soyuz to supply the space station. The Russian Space Agency believes that the United States will still have the need to carry out space cooperation with Russia. "It's important to make sure there are at least two ways to get to the International Space Station, because you never know what will happen." A spokesman for rogozin said.