This star is going to the moon

Chapter 365 Trial of the "Zhou Tian Xing Dou Grand Array": The Second Explosion of Space Technology (4000 words)
"Hahaha~"

Hearing the laughter from below the stage, Lu Yun quickly gestured for them to be quiet and serious.

"Ahem, let's be serious, we're having a press conference right now."

Moreover, he held the press conference as the "chief designer of the Long March 10 rocket".

Lu Yun naturally knew what those people were laughing about, after all, the cancellation of the Long March 10 bare-rod rocket's manned mode was directly related to him.

Furthermore, along with the Long March 10 bare-barrel manned rocket, the near-Earth orbit version of the new generation manned spacecraft was also cancelled.

The new generation of manned spacecraft comes in two models. One is a near-Earth version weighing 14 tons, whose main mission is to replace the older generation of Shenzhou manned spacecraft and send astronauts to the space station.

Compared to the Shenzhou manned spacecraft, which has limited space and can only carry 3 people, the new spacecraft is not only spacious but can carry up to 7 people.

Of course, the new spacecraft's regular mission also carries three people.

In addition, it has a "downlink" capability that is more than ten times larger than that of the Shenzhou manned spacecraft.

In other words, excluding the astronauts returning in the spacecraft, the Shenzhou spacecraft can bring an additional 50 kilograms of experimental samples back to Earth from space orbit, while the new spacecraft can bring an additional 700 kilograms of experimental samples back to Earth.

More importantly, it can be reused.

Unfortunately, its research was conducted at the wrong time, or perhaps it encountered a cheat code, causing it to become outdated before it could even be developed.

Because for a long time to come, Earth's near-Earth orbit will belong to space shuttles.

There's not much to say about that. After a meeting, the manned spaceflight office of the space agency abandoned the 14-ton near-Earth version of the new spacecraft and gave the saved resources to its 25-ton "twin brother".

The 25-ton deep-space version of the new spacecraft is intended for manned lunar landing missions, where astronauts will travel to lunar orbit.

After all, the "Wooden Kite" class space shuttle is only good for showing off in low Earth orbit; it can't compete with deep space missions.

Moreover, Lu Yun is now speaking about national projects as the "Chief Designer of the Long March 10 Rocket," while "Mu Yuan" and such matters are matters for Blue Star Aerospace Company.

He will speak about commercial space tourism via space shuttle in the afternoon as the "owner of Blue Star Aerospace Company".

However, the scene quieted down as people continued to listen to Lu Yun's latest announcements, but the live stream remained unaffected.

The maiden flight date for the Long March 10 rocket has finally been confirmed: next February!

[This development went way too fast! I remember it was only initiated last February, right? Two years and it's already had its maiden flight?]

What might be difficult for others is normal for Lu Yun.

This is not normal!

Indeed, even for Lu Yun, this was considered slow; the "Wan Hu" rocket was developed successfully in just a year and a half.

[That's right. The Long March 10 uses many mature technologies from the Long March 5, as well as many mature and reusable technologies from the "Wan Hu" rocket. Two years for its maiden flight is indeed considered slow.]

That's right, the Long March 10 is basically a larger version of the "Wan Hu" rocket.

[If that's the case, then the US's SLS rocket used many mature technologies from the Space Shuttle, so why has it been delayed year after year?]

I remember the US's SLS was first announced nine years ago, supposedly using improved versions of the Space Shuttle's solid rocket boosters and main engines, with the first stage also being a modified version of the Space Shuttle's orange fuel tanks.

Good grief, this thing's been around for nine years?

Yes, I remember it quite clearly. The SLS rocket was conceived nine years ago, the design was evaluated five years ago, and the maiden flight was planned for last year. Now, the maiden flight has been postponed to the year after next.

[Brothers, this is the normal rocket development timeline. Lu Yun's is really abnormal!]

Is Lu Yun really cheating? So, is the "Lu" in Lu Yun actually "Lu," like Grandpa Lu?

【Hahaha~】

[Haha, look at Lu Yun's latest reaction! Who destroyed the new spaceship? It's so hard to guess!]

[A resident of Bengbu said, "My freelance income exceeded my main business income, and incidentally, I even ruined my main business."]

[Brothers, this is great news! This means all the engineers working on the near-Earth spacecraft will be transferred to the lunar spacecraft project, and the engineers working on the manned rocket project will be transferred to the manned lunar rocket project. Both projects can be accelerated...]

In fact, this is indeed the case.

Training aerospace talent is no easy task. Currently, not only are there major national aerospace projects, but private aerospace companies are also booming. However, the existing aerospace talent pool in China is far from sufficient, and private companies have begun to poach talent from their foreign counterparts.

The country's major space projects have a very high level of secrecy, and people cannot be recruited from outside and put into classified tasks at will; they can only be transferred between internal projects.

Now that Lu Yun has "taken down" several projects, their engineering teams quickly joined other projects, greatly accelerating the overall project progress.

After Lu Yun finished his presentation on the Long March 10 project, he returned to the backstage area, but then came back out when it came to the "Zhou Tian Xing Dou Da Zhen" project.

"Yes, it's still me."

Lu Yun pointed to his new identity badge on his chest and said to the audience, "I am now the technical consultant for the 'Zhou Tian Xing Dou Da Zhen' constellation of 10,000 internet satellites."

He was asked to talk about "Star Dou" not only because he is a technical consultant, but also because his company is responsible for the launch, so he knows best the current number of "Star Dou" satellites in orbit.

"As of now, the number of 'Xingdou' satellites in orbit has reached 660. After testing, they have met the domestic trial requirements, so domestic trial access is now open."

"As long as you are within the country's territory, whether it is inland no-man's land, desert or ocean, you can use the 'Star' ground receiver to connect to the satellite internet."

"Simply unfold the folding stand, then insert this square antenna, about the size of a 14-inch laptop, under the stand, and it will automatically search for and connect to satellite internet."

(Net map)
"The antenna integrates a router, so mobile phones, laptops, tablets and other devices can connect."

"Currently, the network speed of 'Starry Sky' is 8-18 MB per second, and the latency is between 20-40 milliseconds. As more satellites are put into orbit, the network speed will be further improved and the latency will be further reduced."

"The price of this antenna system is 599 yuan, and the monthly fee can be found by contacting the major operators, but it is generally less than 100 yuan..."

Upon hearing Lu Yun present this data, both the audience at the scene and the live broadcast room reacted with an immediate "Wow!"

I told you we wouldn't fall too far behind!

[Yes, Starlink just announced its trial last month, and Stardust announced its trial this month. They're really racing against each other!] [Very good, very energetic!]

[The price of Starry Sky is so cheap, is it really a one-to-one exchange rate between RMB and USD?]

Indeed, Starlink is priced at $499 and $99, while StarDou is priced at $599 and $100, meaning the difference is only $100 more for the antenna.

Strictly speaking, it's cheaper, since 599 yuan is less than 100 US dollars when you really convert it.

[Now I can finally say this: due to special needs, our company often needs to go to places with no signal. Carrying only a satellite phone is actually very inconvenient. With StarDou, things are much more convenient.]

[Haha, my department was one of the early beta testers, and it's really convenient. Before, not having internet was awful, but now that we have it, I feel like I could stay in this remote mountain village for a year!]

I work on ships, and our company's ships were equipped with this system before. The signal is excellent within our country's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), and it's still there outside the EEZ, but the signal gets weaker the farther away you are. When will it cover the entire globe?

【Wait, are there really this many trials available?】

Believe me, there will only be more, because many organizations or departments simply forbid people from talking about it publicly.

[Our country's space-based internet is state-led; if we want to find test sites, we can simply send out missions. In contrast, the US's Starlink is developed by SpaceX, which has a very strong private commercial character, making it much more difficult for them to find test sites.]

That makes sense. Currently, our country's space programs are progressing quickly and steadily, while the US's commercial space companies often cause delays.

[Domestically, things are stable, but in terms of speed, I think Lu Yun played a significant role. As for the delays on the American side, it's because they were too high-profile in the early stages, attracting attention from the start. In contrast, China operates quietly first, only announcing its success afterward.]

[Lu Yun continued, "Wait, the 'Starry Sky' satellite also has a 'main star,' what is a 'Great Zhou Celestial Star Banner'...?"]

No, your "Zhou Tian Xing Dou Grand Formation" really is the Zhou Tian Xing Dou Grand Formation...

Yes, Lu Yun didn't name this thing "Zhou Tian Xing Dou Grand Array" randomly.

In mythology, setting up the Zhou Tian Star Array requires the forging of 365 Great Zhou Tian Star Banners, corresponding to the 365 main stars in the sky, and then 14,800 Small Zhou Tian Star Banners, corresponding to the 14,800 secondary stars.

In contrast, the real-world satellite internet constellation "Zhou Tian Xing Dou Da Zhen" consists of 14,800 satellites. These satellites are smaller, lighter, and have limited functions. For example, they cannot provide precise positioning and navigation, only internet services, and a portable tablet receiver is required to connect to a high-speed internet network.

The 365 main satellites are nodes; they are larger and heavier, and have more integrated functions, such as precise positioning and navigation, and direct connection to mobile phones without a receiver.

As Lu Yun has already explained, there are currently fewer than 1000 satellites in orbit, so they can only serve the domestic market. Once there are 2000 satellites in orbit, global service will be available.

At that time, you will be able to use a smooth network in both the Arctic and Antarctic, and the latency may even be lower than in some cities in China.

The main satellite is what Lu Yun is about to talk about.

"...The main satellite weighs 800 kilograms, which is a huge size compared to the 300-kilogram secondary satellite. Its large size comes with good stuff. It can not only use multi-satellite cross-calculation for positioning, but also allow your ordinary mobile phone to connect directly to the satellite Internet."

"Yes, once the main satellite is in orbit, there will be no need for a flat panel antenna. You can directly access the high-speed internet with your mobile phone. The mobile phone can basically achieve the effect of a 4G network, so watching videos and video chatting will be no problem."

"The main satellite is currently under development according to plan. We plan to launch it in 2022 and expect to provide domestic services in 2023..."

With the official launch of the "Zhou Tian Xing Dou Da Zhen" project, its actual engineering is quite different from Lu Yun's initial vision. For example, instead of building a two-ton main node satellite right away, the configuration was reduced and another generation was added in the middle.

After all, the "Zhou Tian Xing Dou Da Zhen" is intended for commercial operation, so some business matters need to be considered.

Furthermore, such a large-scale satellite internet constellation can support many domestic aerospace-related companies, so having another generation is a good thing.

Therefore, the final plan was to first launch 10,000 300-kilogram secondary satellites to provide basic services, and then launch 100 800-kilogram primary satellites to provide advanced services.

A few years later, the 300-kilogram sub-satellites began to re-enter the atmosphere on a large scale, and the first-generation 800-kilogram main satellite was downgraded to the second-generation sub-satellites, and the launch of tens of thousands of satellites began.

Once the second-generation secondary satellites have reached a certain scale, the second-generation main satellite, which is the 2-ton main satellite that Lu Yun initially envisioned, will be launched to provide more substantial services.

And even though people who need it will be able to connect to high-speed satellite internet directly with ordinary smartphones in three years, those three years are enough for "mini satellite antenna" smartphones to develop for another two or three generations.

It is also sufficient for the development of enough users for ground-based flat panel receiving antennas.

If the "mini antenna phone" was intended to save Huayao's mobile phone business, then many users of flat panel antennas have a genuine need for them.

Furthermore, installing a flat panel cable doesn't mean it will be useless after three years; rather, it will result in faster network speeds and the transmission of more information.

After all, with a "big antenna" attached, its signal reception capability is definitely stronger than that of a small mobile phone.

After Lu Yun finished speaking, he had completed his task for the morning and began preparing for his company's press conference in the afternoon.

However, the space agency's press conference was not over yet.

Afterwards, other people came up on stage to give reports, including major ones such as solar probe satellites, dark matter particle detector satellites, and gravitational wave detector satellites.

Smaller-scale missions include lunar exploration, Mars exploration, and asteroid exploration.

After listening to the space agency's project reports all morning, and considering that commercial space tourism tickets would be available for sale in the afternoon, the audience felt a sense of "humanity rushing into the space age."

No wonder people in the 1970s thought that humans could live in lunar and Martian cities in 2000, 2010, and 2020.

Because that was also a period of great breakthrough in human space technology.

It feels like humanity has entered its second space technology explosion!

Indeed, at this rate, will we actually be celebrating our 100th anniversary in a lunar city?

Haha, it's hard to say, but as a civil engineering guy, I really want to go to the moon and do some big construction!

[Hey, on Earth we're called civil engineers, but on the moon we'd have to call them lunar construction engineers!]

I remember how many years it took Shenzhen to transform from a "small fishing village" into the "city of science and technology" it is today—40 years?

[It's still different; Shenzhen is on Earth, after all. Things are much more complicated on the moon.]

Just wait and see, we'll definitely witness history in the next few years!

I believe that; our generation will definitely witness a lot of history!

(End of this chapter)