Riding the wind of rebirth

The launch center is located in a canyon 60 kilometers north of Xichang City, but only kilometers away from Lianhe Township. The road is well maintained and it only takes more than an hour to get there by bus.

This is a semi-enclosed small basin surrounded by mountains on three sides and open to the southeast. It covers an area of ​​only two square kilometers. It is divided into corresponding areas for six major systems: satellite launch testing, command and control, tracking and measurement, communications, meteorology, and service support. All of them are scattered in different areas of the canyon.

As soon as the bus entered the canyon, everyone could see the 76-meter-high launch tower and the more than 300-meter-high lightning tower standing at the bottom of the canyon, as well as the Long March 2E bundled rocket that was in place next to the launch tower.

"Wow..." Mai Xiaomiao was even more excited than the kids. He ran to the front of the bus and looked at the towering rocket through the front window.

Above the rocket is a slightly larger satellite cabin, and below are two core-stage rockets connected in series. According to Luo Yujuan, the two core-stage rockets were modified from the Long March 4.6C rocket, and were lengthened by 6.2 meters and meters respectively to carry more fuel.

Four liquid rocket boosters are arranged around the first-stage core rocket using advanced bundling technology. The diameter of the core rocket is 3.35 meters, the diameter of the booster is 2.25 meters, and the height is 15 meters.

With this combination, the entire rocket reaches a height of 49.7 meters, and the original Long March 1.4C's ability to carry only 462 tons of payload to the geosynchronous transfer orbit has been increased to a takeoff mass of 640 tons and a thrust of 9.2 tons. It has the ability to send a 2.5-ton payload to a 4-kilometer circular orbit, or a 3.6--ton payload to a -kilometer geosynchronous transfer orbit. It can also undertake medium-orbit multi-satellite launch missions.

This is a remarkable achievement. At the same time, as communication technology is changing with each passing day, all space powers have unanimously begun to develop a new generation of more advanced and larger-capacity communication satellites, resulting in the rapid increase in the size and weight of satellites, which often weigh two and a half to three and a half tons. The number of satellite launches has also increased rapidly, bringing about an urgent need.

China's aerospace industry certainly wants to get a piece of the global satellite launch market. Its current big order is the Austar series designed by the US Hughes Aerospace Corporation for Australia.

However, a failed ignition and a failed launch caused some damage to the reputation of the Long March 2E and made space missions more cautious. It was not until last month that the AsiaSat 2 was successfully sent into space by the Long March 2E rocket, which restored a lot of its reputation.

If you don't come and see it in person, but only watch the news on TV, you won't be able to appreciate how magnificent this invention of mankind to conquer space is.

In the exhibition room of the logistics base, Luo Yujuan introduced the construction of the base, the glorious history of rocket launches, and the principles of rocket launches and satellite operations described on some illustrated display boards.

The rocket was about to be launched, so it was impossible to visit outside the launch pad. After visiting the dispatch center and watching the intense and orderly work scene, everyone was taken by Luo Yujuan to the canteen of the logistics base for dinner.

Although the base has dinner in a large cafeteria, the dishes are still relatively rich, at least much richer than those in the Shu University cafeteria. After all, aerospace units are now key support units, and their treatment is different from that of ordinary military research institutes.

After dinner, everyone left the base, and Luo Yujuan led everyone to climb a hill quite far away from the base.

This is the best place to watch rocket launches, with a clear view of the entire brightly lit launch base.

The cheap telescope Zhou Zhi bought for the children at Wukuaishi Market came in handy.

"The hill next to the rocket is all rock!"

"There's a big puddle under the rocket!"

Everyone used telescopes to look at the launch pad and the rocket, and discovered many details, and they all talked about it.

"Sister Luo, what is that big puddle used for?" Jilie Azi asked, still holding the telescope in her hand and reluctant to put it down.

"That's called a diversion trough," Luo Yujuan said. "It's more than ten meters deep, nearly a hundred meters long, and twenty-eight meters wide. The side facing the mountain is a channel that slopes upward." "The thrust generated when a rocket is launched is equivalent to a magnitude 4 or 5 earthquake. Tell me, what is the function of a diversion trough?"

"Sister Luo, you just said that there was an earthquake during a rocket launch, so this water tank should be used to relieve the earthquake." A Zi said.

"Azi is really smart." Luo Yujuan said with a smile: "This is one of the functions of the diversion trough, to relieve vibration and protect the launch pad and surrounding equipment."

"It must have a cooling effect, right?" Muxialaha said, "The flames from the rocket will boil the water. Brother Elbow led us to do an experiment and found that the temperature of boiling water can only reach 100 degrees, so the flames will not burn the bottom."

"Well, this student has put some thought into it. The pool can also serve as a cooling device to protect the ground facilities from fire damage. Anything else?"

No one can think of it anymore.

Luo Yujuan smiled and said, "There is another reason. It is environmentally friendly. The fuel used in the flames contains many additives. The exhaust gas produced by the combustion will pollute the air of the base. The water in the pool will turn into water vapor and combine with them to fall to the ground, avoiding dissipation in the air and causing greater pollution."

Zhou Zhi looked at the mountain opposite the diversion trough. From the foot of the mountain to the top, there was no grass or even soil. So he asked, "Teacher Luo, was that clean hillside sprayed by the water from the diversion trough?"

"Yes." Luo Yujuan nodded. "The diversion trough is filled with 10,000 cubic meters of water. After the launch, only one-fifth of the water will remain. The rest will all turn into hot water and steam, driven by the tail flame, and sprayed onto the hillside along the diversion trough. The current appearance of the hillside is caused by all the previous launches."

"Speaking of which, there is a joke. In the beginning, due to the confidentiality of the design, there was a high red brick wall surrounding the base. As a result, every time a launch was carried out, the wall would be washed away. It was not until the confidentiality level was lowered that the base leaders approved the use of high iron fences and barbed wire there instead. Only then did they no longer have to repair the wall every time a launch was carried out."

Everyone laughed. It would be impossible to hear such a story if you were not lucky enough to come here in person.

The starry sky in Liangshan at night is exceptionally brilliant, and the moon is also exceptionally bright. Unlike other places where it is difficult to see the stars when there is a moon, or difficult to see the moon when there are stars, here both the stars and the moon shine together, and the brightness of the moonlight will not affect observation of the starry sky.

Everyone was waiting for the launch window under the starry sky.

There are three workstations in the entire base, but only two have been completed and are in use, with launch pads erected.

Workstation No. 3 is the oldest, having been completed in late . The Long March Yao rocket was first launched in January . Its main task now is to launch the Long March C.

Station No. 2 is new and was put into use only five years ago. It is now mainly used to launch the Long March bundle.

Base No. 1 is currently just a foundation, planned to be used for the launch of the Dawn manned spacecraft, but now only the railway tunnel has been repaired.

The rockets here are all transported by train. After arriving at the base, they are assembled in stages at the assembly base, then pulled to the launch pad, combined together, and then fueled and waiting for launch.

In addition to protecting the base, Captain Zhou’s mission is to escort the rockets along the way every time they go out to receive them.

Soon, an alarm sounded in the base. Luo Yujuan looked at her watch and said, "We are now entering the last half hour of the procedure. The alarm is to notify all ground personnel to move into the mountain." (End of this chapter)