Research starts with PhD students

Chapter 249 There really are new weapons! Unknown and terrifying!

Ion cannon experimental base.

Control room.

A large group of people gathered in front of a big screen. When they saw Zhang Shuo walking in from outside, the crowd immediately made way for him.

Zhang Shuo waved to the others, then walked to the front and asked Liu Honglei, "What's the situation?"

"Look! This is the clearest photo." Liu Honglei pointed at the screen, "It's all smoke, in space, very beautiful..."

“It is indeed beautiful!”

Zhang Shuo also nodded and smiled. The ion cannon hit the target. Any image could be praised.

The resolution of the photos on the screen is not high, but the specific situation can still be seen.

Most of the satellite was covered in smoke. Only the edge of the solar panel on one side could be vaguely seen, and the rest was covered in smoke.

"Professor Zhang Shuo, how long will this reaction last?" Liu Honglei asked.

"Normally it takes less than a minute, but due to the high temperature caused by the reaction, smoke will continue to come out."

Liu Honglei continued with a smile on his face, "This is the clearest picture we have taken, but it is still not clear enough. I have contacted the military and asked them to operate the satellite to track and shoot, but we need to wait for a while."

"how long?"

"A few hours."

Zhang Shuo crossed his arms and nodded, "By then, we'll only be able to see the wreckage, but the wreckage is also meaningful."

Tracking satellites does not mean you can track them whenever you want.

Military tracking satellites are equipped with power energy systems and can use their own power to significantly adjust their orbits.

However, orbital adjustment is not like the random flying of the space shuttle in science fiction movies, but rather using the power system to slowly adjust to approach the target orbit.

This process could circle the Earth many times.

If the track is too far away, you may not even be able to wait for a day, and if it is closer it will take several hours.

Zhang Shuo stared at the image on the screen, as if he was appreciating a beautiful painting, and continued to ask, "Are there any subsequent test launches? Do you want to measure the hit rate?"

"of course."

Liu Honglei and Zhang Shuo had the same movements and expressions. "We will test-fire dozens or even hundreds of times in the future. At the same time, we will also let the satellite track and cooperate. By shooting at close range, we can get more accurate data."

"Only through multiple test launches can we determine the hit rate and see how big the difference is from the theoretical calculation."

"In addition, we can only accumulate experimental data to illustrate the reliability of the technology, which is very important for the follow-up."

At this time, Xue Baikun suddenly said, "People abroad will know about this, right?"

"There's nothing we can do about it." Zhang Shuo replied calmly.

"There really is no way."

Liu Honglei has the most say in this matter. "After the last time, it is no longer confidential information. We issued a notice and there are discussions everywhere on the Internet. I also saw an analysis saying that it might be a particle cannon or an ion cannon."

"Our superiors want us to do the test openly."

Zhang Shuo listened and nodded.

Xue Baikun and others are looking forward to it. Once the international community knows the news, will more people be shocked?

This is the weapons technology they developed. Just thinking about it gives me a sense of honor and accomplishment.

……

In fact, the international community is not as 'smart' as imagined.

Even though an anti-missile weapon test announcement was released last time, many people still did not believe it. There were many voices of distrust on the east coast of the Pacific, and their decision-makers adopted the statement of Josh Abbott, deputy director of the Information Management Bureau.

Josh Abbott believes that there is no new technology and no anti-missile weapons, and he even uses his position to guarantee it.

The decision-makers were unable to collect more information, so they agreed to a certain extent with what Josh Abbott said.

The assessment document concluded that "it could be a special missile test or it could be a hoax."

In fact, the most fundamental reason is that they do not believe that the country across the Pacific Ocean has the ability to develop an undetectable space anti-missile technology.

Space Information Center, Monitoring Office of Information Administration.

Josh Abbott was half-lying leisurely on the chair, with the latest issue of fashion magazine on his legs. He picked up the fragrant coffee and took a sip, then lowered his head to glance at the beautifully dressed female star in the magazine.

"Um……"

"tasty……"

He even closed his eyes to savor the moment, then raised his head to look at other people who were busy working in the monitoring office, and a sense of superiority in comparison arose in his heart.

This life is so wonderful.

Josh Abbott couldn't help but think of the last time he was busy. He only captured the moment when a missile launched into space self-destructed. Very thick smoke came out of the missile body, and then it fell directly into the atmosphere and crashed.

Many people on the Internet believe that it is a new weapon technology?
"Who knows?"

Abbott shook his head thoughtfully, "But it's better not to have any more."

"It's always been like this, plain and simple, nothing..."

He thought about it and picked up his coffee again.

Just as I was about to bring the coffee to my mouth, I heard a cry from the side, "Josh, you have to come and see this!"

"what happens?"

Abbott asked irritably, and heard the other party shout, "It's an exploding satellite!"

"Satellite, explosion?"

"Bob, I noticed that you are always jumpy after being promoted to team leader. I told you a long time ago that you should stay calm when encountering things. You must remember that you are already the team leader!"

Abbott impatiently put the coffee on the table, then stood up and walked over. Bob pointed at the screen and continued, "Look, a satellite with thick smoke, very similar to the last time."

"Is that so?"

"Of course, it's very similar! I'm sure it's related to the missile from last time. It also emitted thick smoke, and it's a satellite!" Bob said excitedly and with certainty.

Abbott was stunned.

The satellite images on the screen were relatively blurry. We could only see thick smoke and were not sure what it was.

But there is no need to confirm it at all, because the Space Information Center has information on more than 99% of international satellites. As long as the location is determined, we can know what satellite it is.

Bob said it was a satellite, and nature had been accurately processed.

Abbott pressed the issue, "What satellite?"

"FA-107, a thirty-year-old weather satellite, is nearing the end of its service life."

"It's normal for such an old satellite to have problems, but in any case, I can't imagine how it could emit such thick smoke."

Abbott could not have imagined that he and Bob had the same judgment.

This is directly related to the last missile.

The reason why they made this judgment is very simple, because meteorological satellites do not have a power system, they are only powered by solar panels. The satellites also only have basic circuits and the meteorological and radar equipment supported by the circuits.

Even if such a satellite had a very serious circuit problem, it would not be able to sustain an explosion, let alone emit such thick smoke. This was even more impossible for a satellite that was built thirty years ago.

This ruled out the possibility of self-destruction, so the cause could only be external.

Abbott continued to stare at the image and asked, "Did you capture anything else, like a missile?"

"Do not make jokes!"

Without even thinking, Bob responded, "Who would use a missile to shoot down a thirty-year-old weather satellite?"

"..."

Abbott knew that what Bob said made sense.

Satellites at altitudes above one thousand kilometers require professional anti-satellite missiles to hit.

Anti-satellite missile technology exists, and China has mastered this technology and also has very powerful anti-satellite missiles.

However, there are very few related experiments, and news of each experiment will be released to the international community in advance.

This is mainly because the technology is too advanced and anti-satellite missiles are very expensive, with each costing more than $10 billion.

High-cost anti-satellite missiles, once manufactured, will basically only serve in conventional service. To put it bluntly, they are just kept there for maintenance and are basically unlikely to be used, nor will they be rashly tested.

Think about it carefully, how much does a satellite cost?
One anti-satellite missile is enough to launch more than ten conventional satellites.

Abbott was silent for a long time before he finally issued an order, "Report to your superiors and ask the military to authorize satellite tracking. We need to take close-up images of it."

After giving the order, he said nothing more.

Bob waited for a long time but didn't see Abbott. He turned around and asked in confusion, "Don't you need other work? For example, intelligence analysis, and contact with Europe..."

"This has nothing to do with me."

Abbott took a deep breath and said with a grimace, "This is your job, Bob."

"why?"

"Because I'm about to be fired. Remember? The last time I made the report, I was guaranteeing my job."

"Uh~~~"

Bob was silent for a while. He stood up and patted Abbott on the shoulder. "Josh, you are right, but before you leave, maybe you can recommend me?"

"We are friends, good friends, right?"

……

soon.

The military decision-makers on the other side of the ocean received two pieces of news.

One is an emergency report of a satellite emitting thick smoke from space, and an application for authorization for military satellites to track the satellite.

Another is Josh Abbott's resignation report.

Josh Abbott remembered that in his resignation report, he also recommended a successor to the position--
Bob William.

He also made a simple comment, "Bob takes his work very seriously, and he was the one who discovered the problem last time."

For the military decision-makers, Josh Abbott's resignation report is not important at all. In their eyes, Abbott is just a small official.

The discovery in front of us is more important.

The new discovery, combined with the last space missile incident and China's announcement on anti-missile weapon testing, almost confirms one thing -
They do have anti-missile weapons supported by new technology and have conducted several very successful experiments.

No, now it should be called a new type of anti-satellite weapon.

This is definitely bad news.

A new type of weapon capable of anti-missile and anti-satellite operations, capable of striking space missiles flying at supersonic speeds, and capable of striking satellites at altitudes exceeding one thousand kilometers.

Most importantly, the attack detected nothing at all.

This situation is totally unacceptable.

What should we do if the other party has an undetectable weapon?
What kind of weapon is this?
What kind of technology?
What are the performance parameters and what is the launch cost?
Everything is unknown.

The unknown can be frightening and can make people panic.

Even if there are weapons that can hit satellites in synchronous orbit at an altitude of 36000 kilometers, they don't care at all.

The reason is just one word - expensive!
Such weapons can only demonstrate advanced technology, but in fact they are somewhat useless because the cost of launching weapons is more expensive than more than 99% of satellites.

Not to mention, weapons may not necessarily hit the target when fired.

The military decision-makers had a serious discussion and finally decided to shelve Abbott's resignation report and let him continue the information investigation.

At the same time, control authorization for tracking satellites is also given, allowing the Space Information Center to find more information.

……

Ion cannon experimental base.

After the higher authorities learned the news, a group of senior teachers came immediately.

The people who came this time were Teacher Zhao, Teacher Li, and another teacher with a higher rank, Teacher Wang. Teacher Wang is the main body of the team.

Originally, Zhang Shuo wanted to leave after the experiment, but because of the arrival of the leadership group, he had to stay for one more day.

Liu Honglei and Tong Zhiguo were introducing the performance of the ion cannon weapon to the leadership group. "For a missile with a range of 10 kilometers and a speed not exceeding Mach , the accuracy of the ion cannon is already very high."

"We can't say that we can hit the target 10% of the time, but we can still hit 20% of the time. If the speed exceeds Mach 400, the hit rate will decrease. Below Mach and at an altitude of kilometers, the hit rate is also very high."

This data is already quite good.

Intercontinental missiles usually fly in space at speeds above Mach 20 and are generally considered to be uninterceptable.

The ion cannon is powerful enough to deal with intercontinental missiles. Even if one out of ten hits the target, it would be a great achievement, not to mention the effective interception that can be achieved at a distance of 400 kilometers.

"This research is mainly focused on satellite strike technology. Our previous experiments always had deviations and were not accurate enough."

"After Professor Zhang Shuo came, he helped us improve the accuracy problem, and the accuracy of attacking satellites has been greatly improved."

"We have conducted dozens of experiments before, but none of them have hit the target satellite. This time we only conducted two test launches. Theoretically, if we launch five times at an altitude of 1,000 kilometers, we will be able to hit the satellite once."

"At the same time, the maximum attack altitude of the ion cannon on satellites has been expanded to more than 2,000 kilometers."

Teacher Wang listened and nodded continuously with a smile, and was obviously very satisfied with the performance of the ion cannon.

Liu Honglei continued, "However, we believe that the biggest advantage of the ion cannon is not its performance, but its cost."

"The manufacturing cost of the ion cannon is very low. Although it is still in the experimental stage, we estimate that the cost of mass production will not exceed 200 million per unit, and the cost of each launch will only be around 10,000."

"Taking into account the range and altitude of the strike, it would only cost hundreds of billions to achieve anti-missile coverage for the entire country."

This statement is a big one.

Teacher Wang was shocked when he heard this. Hundreds or hundreds of billions may sound like a lot, but compared to an anti-missile system covering the entire country, it is just a fraction.

The cost of maintenance, testing, and personnel salary expenditures for the United States' domestic missile defeat and defense system exceeds $20 billion each year.

The cumulative cost of the "missile defeat and defense" system may reach hundreds of thousands or trillions of dollars.

One hundred billion to achieve anti-missile coverage of the country?

Just kidding!
(End of this chapter)