Riding the wind of rebirth

Zhou Zhi has been dealing with the base a lot recently, and has become more clear about some of the so-called "commercial secrets."

The Long March 2F rocket, also known as the Long March 2E rocket, and the No. 2 launch pad at the launch center were tailor-made for launching satellites for the Hughes Corporation in the United States.

The country has made hundreds of millions of dollars from this business. The biggest expense here should actually be the initial design and production costs, but now it has achieved profitability.

Engineering manufacturing is like that; the more of the same thing you make, the lower the cost. As far as Zhou Zhi knows, after completing the launch mission for Hughes, the Chang Zheng 2F was in a situation of "no orders to accept". The country also quickly completed the upgrade of the aerospace system, and the Chang Zheng 2F was replaced by a new rocket.

So according to normal historical memory, the launch that failed first and then succeeded last year was actually the last launch of the Chang Zheng 2F.

After the current Chang Zheng 2 completed a comprehensive upgrade of the process management system at the base, its quality has been greatly guaranteed. It has no more launch missions from now on. In a few years, it will become a cultural relic, and Zhou Zhi can't help but feel regretful.

And if Zhou Zhi remembered correctly, the satellite that exploded last time was launched by China for Pakistan. Unfortunately, that satellite was a communications satellite.

Again, engineering manufacturing is just like that. The more of the same thing you make, the lower the cost. If the Li family were to entrust the design and production to a domestic company, and then launch it through the Chang-2 missile...

The more he thought about it, the more he felt that this was a good idea. The satellite launched to Pakistan must be redesigned and manufactured, which requires capital investment and cost reduction. The Chang Zheng 2 satellite is already mature, and of course he hopes to have more launch missions to make money. He also has more and better satellite communication service needs... For everyone, Li Laoer's idea is like a pillow delivered when they are sleepy.

The only problem is the quality and efficiency of the satellite.

However, Zhou Zhi is really not worried about this. China's military industry may still be average in other aspects, but that is because research and development were interrupted for a period of time in the past, and now there is an urgent need to catch up.

However, aerospace technology is one of the five major scientific and technological projects that the country has not given up even in the most difficult times. It includes both satellite technology and rocket technology.

It can be said that it has always been in the leading position in the world and has basically not fallen behind.

The only problem is the lack of money, so much so that the latest technological products cannot be put into use. Just like the Indian Tejas fighter jet in later generations, it can only be iterated on the drawings.

The cost of Hughes building a satellite for Australia was tens of millions of dollars, plus the launch cost was over 100 million. However, Zhou Zhi felt that if the Li family of Hong Kong Island commissioned a domestic design and launch, they would have to pay a heavy price.

After all, for the current Long March 2F, one more launch means a net profit.

The same is true for satellites. Being able to turn blueprints into physical objects allows for debugging and experimentation, which is of long-term significance to technological progress. If you only draw without practicing, you may end up falling behind.

"Hearing what you said, it seems that this thing can be accomplished, but it is also quite complicated, right?" asked Li Laosan.

"It is definitely complicated," Zhou Zhi said. "It is not enough to just have the hardware. We also need supporting on-site services."

"So my suggestion is that we pay the money, entrust the Academy of Sciences to design, the base to be responsible for the launch, and then entrust your brother's Yangtze River Telecom to be responsible for operation and access to the international satellite network."

"He is responsible for the specific channel application and so on."

"Then I'll call now." Li Laosan took out his mobile phone. "Then I'll call now too." Zhou Zhi picked up the landline on the table.

It was common for the big boss to stay up late, and it was also common for the chief engineer to stay up late. The two of them didn't care whether it was the middle of the night or not, and they just dialed the number, and it actually went through.

Upon hearing that the Li family of Hong Kong Island intended to launch a communications satellite, Li Weigang did not believe it at first. Secondly, he was surprised that the news of such a big thing actually came from Zhouzhi.

Zhou Zhi had no choice but to say that he and Li Laosan's wife were cousins. This was the easiest way for the outside world to understand the relationship between him and the Li family.

Because of his long-term use of satellite communication equipment, Zhou Zhi is no longer a complete novice in communication satellites, and the two of them began to communicate about the satellite parameters.

Communication satellites can actually be understood as base stations that are very familiar to everyone in later generations, but this base station is set in space, that is, an artificial satellite used as a radio communication relay station.

Satellites forward radio signals to achieve communication between satellites and earth stations, satellite mobile terminals, and spacecraft.

There are many types of commercial modern communication satellites. What Zhou needs most is the geostationary orbit multi-purpose civilian commercial international communication satellite.

Since one geostationary communications satellite can cover approximately 40% of the Earth's surface, three geostationary communications satellites equally spaced above the equator can achieve global communications except for some polar regions.

Seen from the ground, the satellite is hanging in the sky without moving, which makes the work of the ground receiving station much more convenient. All one needs to do is to fix the antenna of the receiving station at the satellite and communicate uninterruptedly day and night.

The international communications satellite network is managed by a global organization called the International Telecommunications Satellite Organization. This organization uses 15 international communications satellites deployed over the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans to provide telecommunications services such as telephone, telex, telegraph, television and data transmission to more than 170 countries and regions around the world. It also leases satellite communications transponder channels to establish domestic satellite communications lines for some countries and will provide some maritime mobile communications services to ships from all over the world.

Through Li Weigang’s popular science explanation, Zhou Zhi learned that even if the satellite was his own, he still needed to go through a series of approval procedures before he could obtain the interface if he wanted to access the international satellite network.

As of 85, the international communications satellite had completed five iterations and was divided into six different functions. A total of satellites had been launched. Except for six satellites that failed to launch due to rocket and apogee engine failures, the remaining satellites were sent to the predetermined geostationary orbit position, meeting the requirements of international communications.

The latest generation of satellites have been improved and can achieve frequency reuse by using the method of spatial beam isolation. The number of communication repeaters has increased from twelve to twenty, and the communication capacity has increased by fifty percent, to the level of 1.5 voice channels or color television channels.

During the conversation, Zhou Zhi felt that Li Weigang seemed to be testing him in his words and was hesitant, which made him feel very confused.

"Chief Engineer Li, is this going to work?" Zhou Zhi got straight to the point: "Why do I feel like you haven't finished talking about something? We were just discussing the feasibility of domestic design and launch, so why do you keep introducing foreign satellite communication technology to me?"

"Haha, catching up with and surpassing the international level is also the consistent ambition of us aerospace people!" Li Weigang thought for a while and said, "It's really a coincidence that you called me. I can't help but wonder."

"What a coincidence?" Zhou Zhi was a little curious.

"I can't say that. If I say more, I'll make a mistake." Li Weigang said with a smile, "But overall it's a good thing. So, give us a few days, we'll report it to our superiors first, and then give you a reply."

Zhou Zhi had no choice but to hang up the phone. He looked up and saw Li Laosan's sharp eyes: "What did they say over there?" (End of this chapter)