Riding the wind of rebirth

Before the words were finished, another instruction came through the walkie-talkie: "Level 1 shutdown, Level 1 disconnect."

"Damn it," Yan Xiao said, feeling a headache coming on. "Another hundred tons gone!"

"Let's go, hurry back to the observation hall. Let's see what happens next." Zhou Zhi picked up his camera bag, said goodbye to the CCTV filming team, and hurriedly ran towards the military vehicle.

When they returned to the observation hall, they saw Feng Xueshan and Mai Xiaomiao sitting in front of the glass curtain wall, watching the tense but orderly busy work in the command hall. The walkie-talkie was placed next to the speakers, and the instructions that Zhou Zhi and the others had just heard were all coming from here. Xiao Shunzi was lying obediently in Feng Xueshan's arms, already fast asleep.

"Where are we now?"

"We've passed the maximum Q value, the speed has exceeded 16,000 kilometers per hour, the fairing has separated, and now the terminal rocket is pushing," Mai Xiaomiao said.

"What is the maximum Q value?" Yan Xiao asked.

"This is a rocket term, referring to the ratio of maximum dynamic pressure to static pressure during flight."

What does this ratio indicate?

"Except for the initial launch phase, the closer the rocket gets to this ratio during flight, the more dangerous it becomes and the more likely it is to explode," Zhou Zhi said. "Once it passes this ratio, the rocket's safety increases significantly, meaning that the rocket has now passed the most dangerous phase."

"Then why did the fairing get thrown away prematurely while the terminal rocket was still working?" Yang He asked, looking at the flight process displayed on the large screen across the hall.

"Because the fairing is used to adjust the airflow impact of the rocket. After flying to the edge of the atmosphere, the air becomes very thin, or even non-existent. Theoretically, regardless of the shape of the rocket, whether it is square or round, it will no longer be affected by the airflow, so the fairing is naturally useless," He Shiqing said. "In order to reduce the flight mass of the rocket due to unnecessary payload, it should be jettisoned. Is that right, Elbow?"

“That’s true. If there’s no airflow, there’s no point in fixing it.” Zhou Zhi nodded.

"The third-stage rocket ignition is shut down, and the rocket and spacecraft are separating." Commander No. 1 in the hall took over the task from Commander No. 0 and began issuing instructions.

Exciting applause erupted in the hall once again.

"Time flies!" Yan Xiao exclaimed excitedly while clapping his hands. "I've never felt time go by so fast."

Li Laosan was so nervous he was about to cry: "But why does it feel like time is passing so slowly?!"

"Orbital entry normal..."

"It has entered the low Earth transfer orbit." Zhou Zhi also applauded: "The rocket's mission is complete, and now we are in the satellite deployment phase. The next step is the process of transferring from the low Earth transfer orbit to the geostationary transfer orbit."

"So what are the key actions now?"

"Currently, the orbital maneuver is carried out by the satellite fixation device's own power. The first key action is the separation of the satellite and the spacecraft after reaching the dispersion area. The second key action is the safe entry of the three medium-Earth orbit satellites into orbit and the deployment of their solar panels to begin operation. The third key action is the entry of the geostationary orbit satellite into orbit and the commencement of its operation. The fourth key step is network formation."

"It'll take another five hours, right?"

"Yes, that's about right. If everyone wants to rest, you can go to the hotel first."

"No, I won't be able to sleep if I go back. Let's keep watching."

For the next hour or so, the No. 1 command post was filled with standard instructions for tracking and telemetry. Most of what everyone could understand were "...normal" and "...normal." Although the atmosphere was tense, at least it was all good news.

Liang Hong and Yan Xiao kept eating fruit to relieve their tension, while Zhou Zhi drank tea. Li Laosan, who was raised with strict discipline, remained calm on the surface, except for his slightly pale face.

Of everyone, the calmest were Mai Xiaomiao and Feng Xueshan, who cared more about Xiao Shunzi than about the launch mission.

"Ignition shut off the retainer, star separation." With this command, enthusiastic applause erupted once again in the hall.

"It's starting." Zhou Zhi sat up straight abruptly, his hand holding the teacup trembling slightly.

The commands suddenly became much more frequent, on a completely different scale than before. "High-end satellite orbit insertion initiated, operation normal."

"Zhongxing-1's orbit insertion was normal."

"Zhongxing-1 has successfully entered orbit."

"The two-way connection between Zhongxing-1 and satellite has been established."

"Zhongxing-1 attitude adjustment, solar panels activated, attitude adjustment successful, solar panels successfully deployed."

"Zhongxing-2's orbit insertion is normal."

"Zhongxing-2 satellite has successfully entered orbit."

"ChinaSat-1 signal test successful"

"The two-way connection between Zhongxing-2 and satellite has been established."

"Zhongxing-2 attitude adjustment, solar panels activated, attitude adjustment successful, solar panels successfully deployed."

"Zhongxing-3's orbit insertion is normal."

"The Zhongxing-1 satellite-to-ground network has been successfully established and is operating normally."

"The Zhongxing-2 signal test was successful."

"The Zhongxing-2 satellite-to-ground network has been successfully established and is operating normally."

"Zhongxing-3 has reached its designated orbit."

"..."

Every time a crucial instruction was given, enthusiastic applause would erupt in the hall, forcing Yan Xiao, who could only clap along, to mutter, "Damn it, they don't understand science, they're like dogs chasing motorcycles, they don't even know when to clap... Hey? Xiao Miao, what are you doing?"

“Our group has ground stations with access to the Tianxing Diwang network, and Xiao Miao is connecting,” Zhou Zhi said.

"The channel of Zhongxing-1 has been activated." On Mai Xiaomiao's laptop screen, there was a bunch of parameters and various colored icons, some of which were simple animations. Those in the know would understand them at a glance. Mai Xiaomiao pointed to a standard light in a square and said.

“That shows the line status of the Asia-Pacific module,” Zhou Zhi said. “The bottom row of indicator lights represents ChinaSat 1, 2, and 3, and the top row represents GaoSat 1. GaoSat 1 is used for inter-satellite signal exchange. In fact, given that we are only deploying one satellite region, it is not necessary at all. It can only serve as a means of information offloading and some system testing and experimentation.”

"In other words, once the three satellites are deployed, they will be able to meet the needs of satellite-to-ground communication in the Asia-Pacific region. For example, Hong Kong, Macau and the mainland will have an additional satellite-to-ground communication channel."

Only Zhou Zhi, Mai Xiaomiao, and Li Laosan knew the true meaning of these words. With this channel established, the fast financial settlement system between Hong Kong Island and the mainland, which Li Laosan had always longed for, would have a safe and secret passage.

This is a powerful tool to ensure the financial security of Hong Kong Island before and after the handover. With this extra layer of insurance, both sides can open up channels for foreign exchange reserve lending and can allocate foreign exchange reserves without each other's knowledge.

It's important to know that Hong Kong and mainland China currently have the world's largest and third-largest foreign exchange reserves, respectively. Now, their combined reserves can play a significant role, which will greatly benefit not only Hong Kong but also the mainland's financial stability and import/export trade.

Therefore, both sides are now working hard to achieve this goal. Currently, the five major banks have borrowed a lot of technical resources to the People's Bank of China (PBOC), with the PBOC providing the system and interface protocols, and the Clover Group building a smart terminal graphical interface R&D center to jointly carry out closed-loop development.

If there is only this system and no independent communication network, the settlement system can only use the existing lines for line selection.

That way it will be usable when the time comes, but it might not achieve the "surprise attack" effect. (End of Chapter)