I built an armada.

Without hesitation, Su Dingping ordered a three-month suspension of subsequent launch plans and a comprehensive overhaul of the production line.

To this end, Su Dingping also introduced a mature industrial quality control system to conduct standardized audits of thousands of suppliers.

Given the speed and number of launches required for the entire program, it is perfectly normal to source certain materials and key components from the civilian sector.

Meanwhile, Su Dingping also had the project team write a special intelligent screening program to assist in fault prediction and design optimization.

The rectification was effective quickly, and the entire project process was optimized to the extreme under Su Dingping's supervision.

Three months later, launches were finally officially resumed, and the success rate steadily improved.

The rate at which satellites are manufactured has gradually increased from a few per month to a dozen or even twenty per month!
The launch frequency also increased accordingly, from once every two months to once a month, and then to twice a month!
Rockets pierce the sky, precisely sending satellites with different functions into their designated orbits, weaving an increasingly dense network in near-Earth space.

Meanwhile, the international community's reaction was complex and nuanced.

The Eagle Tribe Space Force Command and its subordinate management agency under the Ministry of Commerce were the first to launch an attack, accusing Longxia of "creating a large risk of space debris" by continuously launching satellites.

It could even "interfere with the normal operation of other countries' satellites!"

The Eagle Tribe was, after all, a large country. Even though it was declining, it still had many talented and ambitious people. Therefore, they quickly discovered the true purpose of the Dragon Summer Tribe.

That is "the intention to monopolize scarce orbital resources"!
Its think tanks and media outlets have been constantly hyping up the "Longxia space threat theory," calling it a "dangerous step toward the militarization of space," and demanding that the International Telecommunication Union review Longxia's orbital and frequency band applications.

In short, the Eagle Tribe is doing everything in its power to hinder and impede the development of the Dragon Summer Tribe.

At the same time, their own plans to launch satellites domestically are also under discussion.

The main reason is that in such a large country, it takes a lot of time for various departments at all levels to discuss and make decisions.

As an empire on the decline, the response speed of its various departments is no longer comparable to that of its peak.

Therefore, even if they were aware of the Dragon Summer Tribe's plan, various discussions and meetings were enough to postpone the actual decision-making time as much as possible.

In comparison, the European Space Agency's attitude is relatively cautious.

On the one hand, they call for "peaceful use of outer space" and "adherence to international rules".

This is not surprising.

Westerners have always been like this: when you are powerful, they will call for peace and demand fair competition.

When you are weak, they will forcefully use cannons to blast open your country's gates and demand to "compete fairly" with you!
As for the so-called fairness, whether it benefits one side or the other, that's none of your business.

On the other hand, the EU is also discussing and accelerating its own "EU Starlink" project in private.

They even strengthened consultations with the Eagle Tribe on issues such as space traffic management and collision avoidance, subtly suggesting a joint counterbalancing relationship.

Westerners have always known who their real enemy is.

Even in the global arena, they spare no effort in relentlessly suppressing the Longxia tribe.

In reality, they were extremely wary of the Longxia tribe.

Once they discover that the Longxia tribe has the potential to surpass them in certain aspects, they will unite as much as possible and block and suppress the Longxia tribe's technology in that area.

Unfortunately, the willfulness of the Longxia tribe's people far exceeded their expectations, and despite so many years of efforts to blockade them, the actual results were not as desired.

This tactic is quite effective against those nations that lack resilience.

But they were facing a powerful nation that had been passed down for thousands of years, facing cultural extinction and the interruption of its heritage several times, yet forcibly recovering!
Therefore, the Longxia tribe eventually broke through their blockade.

This time was no exception.

The White Bear Tribe, on the other hand, demonstrated a pragmatic attitude. Its space agency expressed its appreciation for Longxia's launch capabilities and also proposed cooperation in areas such as sharing space situational awareness data and avoiding orbital conflicts.

In this increasingly fierce space competition, the White Bear Tribe also needs to find a balance as soon as possible.

Compared to the Longxia tribe, the Baixiong tribe is still much wealthier.

Even though more than 20 years have passed since the old polar bear tribe disintegrated.

Their family fortune remains substantial.

Even for the Longxia tribe, they possess a considerable amount of technology that has some reference value.

Although some of their design concepts are outdated, the Longxia tribe does not reject cooperation with them to a certain extent.

Faced with pressure from all sides around the world, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of National Defense, and the National Space Administration of China coordinated their responses and maintained a remarkably consistent stance.

"Our satellite activities are fully compliant with international regulations such as the Outer Space Treaty, and are aimed at the peaceful use of outer space to serve global communications, disaster reduction, scientific research and other fields."

"All satellites have the capability to actively deorbit, actively fulfilling their responsibility to mitigate space debris."

At the same time, Longxia has accelerated communication with relevant international departments to defend the declared orbital and frequency band resources based on the principle of "actual use".

In theory, the Longxia tribe could completely disregard so-called international regulatory bodies.

But as long as the path that the Longxia tribe is currently taking is the righteous and honorable way of the king.

The Longxia tribe aims to surpass Westerners honorably within the rules set by them.

The goal is to ensure that no one can find any fault with the Longxia tribe!

The rules set by Westerners have become their own prison.

If they disregard the Longxia tribe and forcibly break the rules they set, then no country will follow the rules they have established in the future.

However, if they don't break the rules they set for themselves, they won't be able to catch up with the Longxia tribe.

It's like having a screw stuck at both ends.

This "land grab" surrounding near-Earth orbit has quietly intensified amidst public diplomatic rhetoric and behind-the-scenes technology.

……

While Guo Xueyun was "staking her claim" in orbit, Su Dingping was focusing her main efforts on the more complex technology verification of the next-generation space station.

In Su Dingping's vision, the core warehouse of the space station is mainly divided into three parts.

The first is the most important core module, and the other two are currently very important experimental modules.

In addition, the Suding platform plans to add an enhanced optical cabin in the first phase.

In addition to being an astronomical observation platform, this will also become a "space laboratory" for key technologies of the future "South Heaven Gate Project"!
Therefore, the project team established an additional "South Heaven Gate Key Technology Space Verification Special Office", which has five core task forces under it.

The first is the large-structure on-orbit assembly and maintenance team. This project team plans to use robotic arms and astronauts' extravehicular activities (EVAs) to verify the possibility of modular assembly of large truss structures.

Furthermore, we will conduct in-depth research and exploration into technologies for precise on-orbit adjustments, as well as remote operation or manual replacement of damaged components by astronauts.

To achieve this goal, they designed a set of lightweight, high-strength composite material truss units and intelligent connection mechanisms.

To ensure the reliability of the project, they conducted numerous underwater weightlessness simulations and robotic arm operation drills on the ground before launch.

The second project team is the Key Technologies Group for Space Solar Power Stations.

Energy is a major challenge for space stations.

The current mainstream solutions all utilize solar panels to provide energy.

However, in reality, the world's current solar cell technology is not advanced.

However, this problem is not too troublesome for the Longxia tribe.

Because as early as the beginning of the world, the Longxia tribe had already begun to develop clean energy technologies.

A decade or so ago, the world’s most advanced clean energy technology was indeed in the West, but after more than a decade of development, Longxia Tribe has long since achieved a leapfrog development!
Not only in the aerospace field, but also in the civilian technology field, Longxia Tribe's clean energy technology is second to none.

For the space station, clean energy technology, specifically solar panels, is the core solution to the enormous energy needs of the future "South Gate"!

This group is responsible for validating high-efficiency, lightweight, and deployable thin-film solar cell array technology.

In addition, there are preliminary explorations into long-distance wireless power transmission.

If they succeed, this technology for long-distance wireless power transmission may well be applied to civilian applications in the future.

Compared to wired power transfer, wireless power transfer technology is much more advanced.

It's important to know that in ordinary power transmission systems, a significant amount of electricity is wasted during the transmission process.

If the problem of electricity waste can be solved, this technology will undoubtedly benefit the people.

Even though the power loss during transmission is comparable to that of traditional wired transmission technology, this technology still has considerable application potential.

Because in the traditional wired transmission process, it is also necessary to lay various substations and high-voltage power line networks.

The materials themselves alone represent a huge expense!

Therefore, wireless power transfer technology has considerable application potential and prospects.

Therefore, the project team deployed a small experimental deployment mechanism and a high-precision pointing system in the laboratory to conduct energy harvesting and directional transmission tests.

Although the initial efficiency was low, it was still a crucial step from theory to practice.

Although it is still a long way from being truly applied to the space station, this progress is still very encouraging.

The third is the prototype of a nuclear-powered space tug.

And this project team has the highest level of confidentiality!

Under strict safety controls, the team was responsible for developing a small, safe prototype space nuclear reactor.

The key focus is to verify the microgravity thermo-hydraulic characteristics, radiation shielding design, and long-term operational reliability of nuclear reactors in a space environment.

Indeed, based on current technology, we are still a long way from truly applicable controlled nuclear fusion technology.

Controlled nuclear fusion reactors that are officially put into use on the ground cannot operate for long periods of time, let alone on a space station.

Therefore, what Su Dingping requested was not a more advanced controlled nuclear fusion reactor, but a conventional fission reactor.

The Longxia tribe already possesses the technology to manufacture fission reactors, but the problem is that space on the space station is extremely limited, so the space available for the reactor is also quite limited.

The key research and development goal of this project team is to create a reactor that can operate reliably for a long time and provide sufficient energy in a limited space.

To put it simply, it's about miniaturizing fission reactors.

For a typical space station, the power provided by solar panels is sufficient.

Then why bother researching reactor miniaturization, which is a thankless task?

The answer is simple: it's to accumulate technology for the future Nantianmen project.

In addition, the solar panels can provide enough power for ordinary experiments and daily use.

However, if it is to conduct some large-scale experiments, or even for military purposes, the power provided by solar panels is somewhat insufficient.

That's why Su Dingping set up a special project team to study the miniaturization of reactors.

The fourth project team is the closed-loop ecological regeneration system team.

The project aims to provide life support for future astronauts who will stay on the space station for extended periods.

They have created an independent "ecological experimental cube" specifically for testing efficient water recycling systems, including urine purification.

Indeed, in space, every resource is precious and not easily wasted.

Even astronauts' urine and feces are extremely valuable resources in space.

To be precise, any biomass can play an extremely important role in space.

Space is quite vast; if we were to use an analogy, it would be somewhat similar to the ocean.

Contrary to popular belief, more than 90% of the biomass in the ocean is concentrated in coastal areas.

In other words, more than 90% of organisms live not far from the mainland.

Because of various activities such as rain, a large amount of biomass flows into the sea from the edge of the continent, and this biomass can support a large number of bottom organisms.

These lower-level creatures, in turn, provide a food source for the predators above.

In the depths of the ocean, there is no life at all.

In the middle of the ocean, there is a place that is the most remote from all the continents, and this place is called Nemo Point.

If you were to accidentally land at Nemo Point, the closest living beings to you would be the astronauts on the International Space Station, 500 kilometers above your head.

This shows how vast the sea is.

The vastness of space far surpasses that of the ocean. (End of Chapter)