Riding the wind of rebirth

"The reason for choosing the 'one rocket, four satellites, one high-speed and three medium-speed' scheme is simple: it is the smallest possible Star Engine network unit," Zhou Zhi said. "It can form a Star Engine network covering the entire territory of our country, including our territorial waters, as well as most Southeast Asian and South Asian countries, and can begin providing data transmission services to the terrestrial communication networks of fifty cities across the country."

"The entire Star Engine project will be launched in four phases. The first three will be four satellites launched at once to meet the communication requirements of Asia, the Americas, Europe and Africa respectively. The fourth will provide redundancy reserves and dual-line backup for the Star Engine project. The original plan was to start test launches in the third year and complete the system construction by the fifth year, which is the year 2000."

"It now seems that the timeline will be brought forward significantly. If all goes well, the entire deployment should be completed by 1998."

“We’re being a bit optimistic about 1998.” Li Laosan, who had been quietly listening to Zhou Zhi introduce the Tianxing Diwang Project to his friends, finally spoke up: “The country’s rush to accelerate this project isn’t for our benefit. After our trial run is successful, we might have to give way to more important projects.”

“That’s true.” Zhou Zhi couldn’t help but smile wryly. “For example, my second brother’s Yangtze Communications is currently waiting for our project to progress. Once it succeeds, they will immediately follow suit and build Yangtze Communications’ global satellite communication network. They might even push our project plan to the back…”

Speaking of this, a question suddenly came to mind. Next year is the year Hong Kong Island returns to China. If this project is successfully tested, and Yangtze Communications proposes to build such a network as a gift before the handover, then without a doubt, the higher-ups will support Yangtze Communications and postpone their own plans.

This might necessitate adjustments to space strategy, and if that happens...

As if he understood the worry in Zhou Zhi's eyes, Li Laosan smiled confidently, picked up the porcelain cup with the rocket pattern and took a sip of tea: "Zhouzi, what are you worried about? Don't you know the real reason why our project has been able to move forward so quickly?"

Zhou Zhi immediately relaxed; money really does make you the boss!

The reason this project has progressed so quickly is simply because the country is still very eager to earn foreign exchange, and AXA Fund has been very swift in transferring US dollars!

As long as this situation continues in the short term, there's no need to worry about the project progressing slowly!

Once he felt relieved, Zhou Zhi suddenly remembered a question: "By the way, when it launches later, are you planning to watch it here or go outside to watch it?"

"What do you mean?" Yang Honghui asked.

"From here, you can only see the big screen in the command center, and feel the roar and the ground vibration. The best place to watch the rocket launch is on the hilltop outside, but you won't be able to hear the operating commands or follow the subsequent process after the rocket launch." Zhou Zhi said.

"Then I have a plan to offer." Yan Xiao, the thief, rolled his eyes.

"What's the plan?" Zhou Zhi always played along perfectly with such tricks.

"We can go up the mountain to watch the rocket launch first, and then run back to the command center to see what happens next."

"You're such a clever fellow," Zhou Zhi laughed. "It takes a total of 6 hours from rocket launch to satellite entering geostationary orbit. The first hour is from liftoff to the 2,000-kilometer low-Earth transfer orbit, and the second hour is from the low-Earth transfer orbit to the geostationary transfer orbit. In both orbits, the satellite moves along elliptical trajectories, moving from perigee to apogee. Our observation time ends here; we can still come back after watching the launch."

"What about the next few hours?" Yan Xiao asked.

"In the following hours, the satellite relied on its own inertia and propulsion system to gradually reach higher altitudes through multiple Hohmann transfers, and finally arrived at a circular geostationary orbit."

"For our system, it also involves the process of separating the satellites from the support during the transfer, and then each completing its own deployment in medium and high orbits." "That's quite grueling," Liang Hong sighed.

"Actually, the most grueling part is over. This is just the final push. Success or failure depends on this one."

"We'll definitely succeed!" He Shiqing said excitedly.

"Yes, it will definitely succeed!" Zhou Zhi nodded, but his confidence was not blind; it came from the previous two successful launches of the Long March 3B.

Judging from later experience, the Long March 3B was an excellent rocket. Apart from the first launch failure which caused a serious accident, the subsequent hundreds of launches were very successful.

The only subsequent failure was in 2020, which was caused by the disruption of production due to the pandemic and the failure to maintain technical stability during the improvement process.

Therefore, Zhou Zhi was very confident in the rocket. What he was really worried about was the problem that the satellites could not be accurately deployed after the constellation separated during the Hohmann transfer.

However, it's best to worry about this yourself; there's no need to tell your overly excited friends.

"How about we don't go?" Feng Xueshan said, holding Xiao Shunzi. "It's quite cold outside at night, and Xiao Shunzi is already asleep."

“Then I’ll stay too.” Unlike Yan Xiao, Yang He was very sensible: “You guys go and take some pictures, I can see them on the computer.”

"Sister Xueshan and I will stay and take care of Xiaoshunzi. I already came to see the rocket launch with the kids from the village school last time," Mai Xiaomiao said. "Brother Yang hasn't seen it live yet, so this is a rare opportunity."

“Xiao Miao is right,” Feng Xueshan said with a smile. “Actually, I can take care of Xiao Shunzi by myself.”

"Then let's leave Xiao Miao here for a while. I'll contact Sister Luo and ask if it's too much trouble for her," Zhou Zhi said.

In fact, it was quite a hassle for them. To watch the rocket launch, they had to go to the hilltop outside the base and look down from a high vantage point to get a clear view. The area outside the base was under the jurisdiction of the security regiment, so Luo Yujuan had to contact the security regiment to drive to the base gate to pick up Zhou Zhi and the others.

Fortunately, the person who came was not a stranger. Upon seeing him, Zhou Zhi stepped forward with a beaming smile and shook hands with him, saying, "Commander Zhou, I'm so sorry to have troubled you to come all this way in person!"

"Haha, elbow! It's been so long!" Commander Zhou warmly shook hands with Zhou Zhi, hugged him, and patted him on the back. "Are the kids all doing well?"

This question made Zhou Zhi's friends behind him burst into laughter. If they didn't know Zhou Zhi's background, this greeting would sound like Zhou Zhi had been a father for a long time.

Zhou Zhi, of course, knew that Commander Zhou was referring to the children at the Lianhe Township Primary School. He laughed and said, "Now that the township has been upgraded to a town, there's even a middle school. The children from the surrounding areas have all been gathered together. According to our preliminary statistics, we can probably put together two classes for each grade. There are quite a few more children now!"

"This patriotic education and support-the-military education will definitely be a burden on you again." (End of Chapter)