Go back in time and be a chaebol

Chapter 838: Make up for the loss (Second update, please subscribe)

How big is Sputnik 1?
Diameter 0.58 meters, mass 83.6 kilograms.

In terms of size, it is not worth mentioning. The satellite shell is made of two aluminum alloy hemispherical shells connected and sealed, and the interior is filled with nitrogen. The shell is equipped with battery packs, radio transmitters and other instruments and equipment, which is also extremely simple from a technical point of view.

Although it looks extremely simple, this artificial satellite, which is not much bigger than a basketball, has caused an unprecedented stir around the world.

It not only caused European and American countries to fall into chaos for a short period of time, but also revealed a future to the world, mainly to the United States - the sky is no longer safe!
Although the successful test launch of the Soviet Union's R7 rocket more than a month ago made Americans feel threatened, the threat was not intuitive. After all, it was just a report in the newspaper. But what about now?

The Soviets sent an artificial satellite into space!
The so-called advantages of the United States - the Air Force, science, and other advantages - disappeared overnight, completely vanished.

For people in 1959, going into space was simply a fantasy!
The sudden news even made Americans mistakenly believe that they were aliens, and made US officials consider whether the humans on Earth would become Indians.

However, when they found out it was a Soviet satellite, it not only failed to alleviate the Americans' panic, but made them even more nervous!
On this day, more than 200 million Americans were in deep panic - extremely panicked.

After all, the aliens might be friendly, but the Soviets sure knew how to grow mushrooms!
The next morning, the U.S. stock market plummeted and continued to fall for two days. It seemed that the end of the free world was at hand. Fortunately, the third day was Saturday and the market was closed.

Otherwise, I really don’t know how bad the market will fall.

The stock market was plummeting and the newspapers were asking questions.

The New York Times asked directly: "How could the Soviets send satellites into space if they couldn't even make a good refrigerator? How is this possible?"

The United States in 1954 was full of pride. After all, they were number one on the blue planet, the city on the hill, the leader of the free world, and the technological overlord. In a word, at that time, all Americans thought they were the best.

As for the Soviet Union?

The Soviet Union was a rubbish industrial country that couldn't even make a refrigerator. As a result, the United States, which was in their eyes inferior to them in everything, launched mankind's first satellite. It was like a monkey launching a rocket. It is easy to imagine how huge the psychological blow was to the Americans.

But now that they have heard that the Soviet Union has launched the first artificial satellite into space, are Americans more than just confused?

In response to reporters' questions, Eric Walker, president of Pennsylvania State University, said in a heavy tone.

"From today on, the United States has been reduced to a secondary world power."

"I think the consequence is clear: the Soviet Union will dominate the world."

When Lieutenant General Doolittle, the US President's foreign intelligence adviser, said this, his eyes were filled with worries. The Soviet artificial satellite was not only the first highlight of human exploration of space, but also brought a huge military threat and confidence blow to the entire Western capitalist camp.

American public opinion regarded it as the "Pearl Harbor incident in the space world"; a Washington newspaper designated October 10 as the "National Humiliation Day" of the United States; a science fiction fan angrily jumped into the Mississippi River and left a suicide note for Eisenhower.

Public opinion in the United States was in an uproar. People walked into the yard and stared in silence at the object that twinkled across the space against the backdrop of a sky full of motionless stars. People just stared at it.

Artificial satellites orbited in space one after another, and on this day, the earth was changed.

Its radio signals were easily detectable, and its angle during orbit made its flight path cover almost the entire inhabited Earth. Radio monitors around the world could monitor its signals, and countless people fell silent as they listened to the "beep, beep" sounds in their headphones.

Among these silent people, Li Yian was not included - in fact, he was the first person to blow the whistle to march into space.

But now, the Soviet Union’s artificial satellite... this is a slap in the face!

"Alien invasion... the Americans can really think of this. This must hurt even more!"

Reading the reports on the Soviet satellite in American newspapers, Li Yian couldn't help laughing.

In this world, the sensation caused by the artificial satellite is far greater than that in another world. After all, in another world, two years before the satellite was launched, the United States announced that it would launch the first artificial satellite during the International Geophysical Year, that is, in 1957. Four days later, the Soviet Union followed suit and announced that they would also launch an artificial satellite.

Therefore, Americans were mentally prepared. When electronic signals appeared in space, their first reaction was that a Soviet satellite was launched into space!
But this time, they were not mentally prepared. Just like in the other world, the Soviet Union initially responded very low-key to Sputnik 1, fearing that the secret would be leaked. As a result, a few hours after the launch, European and American countries were all confused, thinking that aliens had come.

The chaos caused by this has intensified the reaction of Americans and of course aroused people's anxiety. I don't know how many politicians have satirized the tragic situation of the United States.

But Li Yian knows very well that this is only temporary. Once the United States adjusts, it will definitely catch up. The prerequisite is that it needs to invest more manpower, or simply spend more money.

In fact, the US reaction is a bit of a "stress response" - it is nothing more than the US being accustomed to being arrogant and thinking that it is ahead of any other country in science and technology.

But after being severely slapped in the face by the Soviet Union, they suddenly became a little extreme, exaggerating the Soviet Union's advantage in aerospace. Of course, this advantage is a matter of life and death for the United States. Even when Kennedy was elected president, he made narrowing the missile gap as his policy platform, that is, to deploy more ballistic missiles, in numbers exceeding the ballistic missiles possessed by the Soviet Union. However, unlike the panic in the United States, Moscow and the entire Soviet Union were excited at this time. Khrushchev finally achieved his goal - to scare the Americans to death in the cheapest way. While scaring the Americans half to death, the Soviet authorities began to encourage people to listen to the signals of artificial satellites on the radio - that is, the periodic "beep" sound, and also encouraged their allies to mobilize their own people to look for artificial satellites in the night sky. Although the artificial satellite itself has been highly polished, its small size is almost invisible to the naked eye. Most observers actually see the more conspicuous 7-meter core stage of the R-26.

This time, the United States was really scared, and even had a stress reaction, and then the space race began.

In fact, this also shocked Nanyang. Just when Li Yian was lamenting that the United States was frightened and had a stress reaction, Yuan Jialiu walked into Li Yian's study.

"Now the Americans are definitely going all out to launch their satellites, and we should also launch our own satellites."

In the study, Yuan Jialiu, the person in charge of the Nanyang satellite project, said.

“Perhaps our artificial satellite is not yet able to broadcast TV signals, but we need it, and Nanyang needs it!”

Like many people, after learning that the Soviets had launched an artificial satellite, Yuan Jialiu felt not shock but loss. The feeling of missing out has always dominated his emotions.

"You mean, we're going to launch a satellite too?"

Looking at Yuan Jialiu, Li Yian asked.

"But is our satellite ready?"

In fact, Li Yian knew the answer - the Nanyang satellite is the world's first communications satellite. Its complexity and difficulty can be imagined. Its weight alone is almost one ton, and now it has just completed the basic design.

This……

Yuan Jialiu answered truthfully.

"There are still some designs that need to be improved. We need to solve the long-term operation of the satellite and let it operate in space for as long as possible. Only in this way can we balance the launch cost."

Then he emphasized it again.

"But considering the public sentiment and the need for scientific exploration, it is necessary to launch our satellite as soon as possible. After all, our people are now asking - where is our satellite!"

Although Yuan Jialiu knew very well that launching a rocket was expensive, sometimes, many things could not be described by money.

His question made Li Yian fall into silence. He was thinking about some issues in the newspaper. In fact, it was not only the Americans who were stimulated. The people in Southeast Asia were also stimulated in some way. In recent days, the reactions in the newspapers were also a bit excited!

Looking at Yuan Jialiu and thinking about people's reactions in recent days, Li Yian realized that he had made a mistake of the times - he thought the first artificial satellite was no big deal.
After all, in another world, news about artificial satellites, spacecraft, lunar exploration, and humans' march to Mars were just things he glanced at.

An artificial satellite will not have much impact!
In fact, Li Yian was not the only one who made this mistake. Eisenhower did the same thing. He reacted calmly and just held a press conference, saying, "As far as the satellite itself is concerned, it doesn't worry me, not at all."

After all, Ike, who came from a military background, still underestimated the reaction of Americans. He ignored one point - the Americans' fragile self-esteem was hurt.

And what about yourself?

Always think about practicality... economy. Sometimes, some things cannot be measured simply by money!
"Maybe our communication satellite is not ready yet, but we can definitely launch a scientific exploration satellite. Not only can we enter space and complete space science exploration missions, but we can also conduct some corresponding experiments on communication satellites, which will help our next plan. After all, the cost of communication satellites is also very expensive, and we need some corresponding time."

Unlike others, Yuan Jialiu came here with a plan, the design plan for an artificial satellite.

This is exactly the biggest difference between scientists and ordinary people. When ordinary people are disappointed and envious, what do scientists think about? They try to catch up from a scientific perspective.

In the following time, Yuan Jialiu took out a sketch and introduced the scientific exploration satellite he designed.

"Although there are some technical difficulties, some components are already mature. After all, we originally planned to carry those devices on the communication satellite. If everything goes well, we can complete the design of the satellite within two months."

Well, let’s mend the fold before the sheep are lost!

Nodding, Li Yian said.

"In that case, let's fire it!"

Well, Nanyang will also join this competition, but it’s the kind of competition without competing!

(End of this chapter)