During the Cold War in the last century, the United States and the Soviet Union launched a fierce competition in the field of space. In this space race, we saw the world's first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1, saw the Soviet cosmonaut Gagarin waving to the world in space, and even saw Armstrong's footprints on the moon. These are feats that were previously unimaginable to mankind, and while more and more countries are now able to explore space, no country other than the United States has ever landed a man on the moon. Even the United States itself has not carried out another manned mission to the moon since Apollo 17 completed its last manned mission to the moon. Behind all this, there is actually an important reason, and that is the rocket that supports the Apollo spacecraft - Saturn V. So, why can't the United States build a big rocket like the Earth Star 5 now? In this issue, we will talk about this topic.
The Saturn V rocket was developed by a team led by German rocket expert Werner von Braun. During World War II, Braun was a German rocket scientist who was responsible for the development and manufacture of the powerful V-2 rocket, the world's first long-range missile to deliver weapons. After the war, Braun was extradited to the United States by the U.S. government and became one of NASA's main designers. Lawn continued his rocket research work in the United States and made great contributions to American astronautics in the 50s and 60s of the 20th century. He led the team that developed the Saturn family of rockets, the most famous of which was the Saturn V rocket. The emergence of the Saturn V rocket was very critical for the American space industry. In the early 60s of the 20th century, the United States was clearly lagging behind in the space race. The Soviet Union was the first to launch the first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1, and successfully launched its first cosmonaut, Yuri Gagarin, into space.
In order to reverse this situation, the United States decided to reshape its "space image" by achieving a manned landing on the moon. To achieve this ambitious goal, the core issue is the carrying capacity of the rocket. Despite the fact that the United States has repeatedly successfully launched probes and carried out a detailed analysis of the expected landing location on the moon, the carrying capacity of the rocket has become the biggest bottleneck. Missions to the moon are far more complex and difficult than low-Earth orbit missions. Manned spacecraft can travel in low-Earth orbit, but to send astronauts to the moon and bring them safely back to Earth, existing rocket technology alone is not enough. To address this challenge, NASA conducted extensive research and design, and ultimately came up with three options. The first two options were abandoned due to technical difficulties and risks. In the end, they chose the third option, the famous "rendezvous in lunar orbits". The key to the success of this program lies in a powerful rocket, Saturn V.
Saturn V is designed to be able to deliver a 140-ton payload in near-Earth orbit and a 45-ton payload in lunar orbit. This powerful carrying capacity allowed Saturn V to launch the Apollo spacecraft and lunar modules into lunar orbit and support them in their mission to land on the moon and return to Earth. In stark contrast to the success of the Saturn V, the Soviet Union was also racing against time to achieve a manned landing on the moon. Their N1 rocket program was equally ambitious, but several Soviet N1 rocket launches ended in failure due to technical difficulties and resource constraints. Every failure is not only a loss of money and resources, but also a blow to the confidence of researchers. Eventually, the Soviet Union had to abandon the manned lunar landing program in favor of concentrating on Mars and other space exploration projects. Therefore, it is not difficult to see the power of the Earth Star 5, and it is not an exaggeration to call it the most powerful rocket in human history.
Strangely, for nearly half a century, the United States has never created a launch vehicle similar to the Saturn V. Some people believe that the manned lunar missions of the last century were fake, so there was no Saturn V rocket at all; Others argue that it would be difficult to rebuild the Saturn V with today's technology due to missing drawings, production lines that have been shut down, and parts that cannot be reverse-copied. So, what is the real reason? The first reason is actually because the cost of Saturn V is too high. According to statistics, the Apollo program cost a total of about $25 billion, which was equivalent to 10% of the total defense budget expenditure of the United States at that time. Such an investment is a heavy burden for any country. It can be said that it is now impossible for any country to devote most of its energy and money to one field, and even if the country has made remarkable achievements in this field, the development of other fields will inevitably be affected, resulting in a disadvantageous position in global competition.
The second reason is that the need for Saturn V has disappeared. At that time, the United States successfully achieved a manned landing on the moon with the powerful Saturn V rocket and won a decisive victory in the space race, thus winning the initiative between the two superpowers. However, after 1975, the United States and the Soviet Union ended the fierce space race, and neither side needed to spend huge financial and human resources on space undertakings. What is even more remarkable is that due to various complex reasons, the Soviet Union finally collapsed, and the confrontation between the two superpowers came to an end. The United States, as the sole superpower, no longer needs a massive and expensive rocket like the Saturn V to demonstrate its technological and military might. Instead, the U.S. has invested more resources in international cooperation and other areas of science and technology, a strategic shift that has eliminated the need for Saturn V altogether.
The third reason is that the United States has changed the direction of rocket engines, they are no longer limited to the kerosene fuel of the Saturn V, but have studied hydrogen-oxygen engines, and the new version of the RS-25 engine has excellent reusability and high specific impulse. Overall better than F1. In addition to the engine, the Saturn V has a lot of outdated technology, and it is for these reasons that the United States, in order to return to the moon, used more advanced technology and carefully designed a new heavy rocket SLS, although the SLS is inferior in size and weight to the Saturn 5. But with more thrust and more performance. The last reason is that the United States has clicked on the wrong tech tree. Over the past 30 years, the United States has almost stagnated its progress in manned rocket and spacecraft technology. The high cost and complexity of the Space Shuttle prevented NASA from devoting sufficient resources to developing the next generation of manned rockets and spacecraft technology for a long time.
This has led to a technological gap that has allowed the United States to lag behind expectations in some aspects of space technology. Second, the decline of the industrial chain caused by deindustrialization has also made the R&D process difficult. The production capacity of many key technologies and equipment has disappeared over the past few decades. In summary, the backward technology of Saturn V cannot meet the needs of modern American aerospace, and the related industrial chain is also in serious decline. Together, these factors are the reason why the United States is now unable to build the Earth Star 5. What do you think about this? Welcome to the discussion, thank you for watching, I am exploring the universe, we will see you next time.