I ask you to build tractors, but you build rockets?

The launch of the Long March 18 was not accurately positioned at the announced 6 o'clock, but about 4 minutes earlier. However, almost no one missed the launch site.

Unlike land-launched rockets, the noise before the Long March 18 was launched was so great that it was difficult not to attract attention.

Lin Ju never moved his eyes from the time he filled the water at the gate of area B of the launch box. The completely unrestrained water filling caused the water level in the sea area around the launch box to plummet. The water flow driven by the water level difference rolled and formed a strange wave.

Of course, these were all video signals returned from the buoy outside the launch area. When the water flowed in at an increasingly faster speed for two or three minutes, a huge white column slowly emerged from the mouth of the launch box.

There was almost no sound in the video at this time, but just 6 seconds later, Lin Ju felt a muffled "dong-dong" sound coming from under the 17,000-ton Yuanwang 7 hull, like a whale's tail flapping. On the sea surface, this is the sound that comes from the water first.

Immediately, an astonishing amount of water mist began to pour out from the mouth of the launch box following the rocket. It was all water vapor that had been vaporized by the high temperature of the engine. After gathering in the confined space, it pushed upwards desperately, continuing to accelerate the rocket's ascent.

In the next 10 seconds or so, the water vapor continued to accelerate upward, and then fell to all sides at a certain height, forming a beautiful small mushroom cloud.

But this failed to cover up the Long March 18's tall and tall figure of more than 200 meters. The Jiuzhang number on top of it easily passed through the mushroom cloud and appeared in the sky. This also means that the bottom of the rocket has almost left the water.

Each of the four solid boosters can produce more than 2,800 tons of thrust. Dazzling bright lights are emitted in all directions where the sea surface contacts the air, replacing the sun and becoming the early morning sunrise in Qiongzhou.

Yu Ziming, who was also on the 022 boat at the edge of the observation area, opened his mouth slightly, not knowing whether it was an explosion or a normal launch.

The surging thrust of 22,000 tons acts mercilessly on the sea level, causing more seawater to vaporize and rise. The water vapor, which is dozens of times more spectacular than before, extends and expands in a columnar shape. It is extremely astonishing even ten kilometers away. It's like reaching straight to the sky.

The Little Sun, which is composed of 39 liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen engines and 4 solid rocket engines, rises nearly three times as fast as a conventional rocket. In just a few seconds, it has fully illuminated the sky dome for more than ten kilometers around it.

At this time, nearly 30 seconds had passed since the launch. When Yu Ziming saw the dense ripples of sea water on the surface, he suddenly reacted and opened his mouth wide, pressing his ears firmly with the palms of his hands.

But it was too late. The strong wind carried the sound of thunder and came towards him. Even though Yu Ziming was already leaning on the hull, he still felt the air blowing from the surface of his skin. The air rushed straight into his mouth and even blocked his breathing. At the same time, Accompanied by the sound of countless large-caliber heavy artillery firing in my ears.

This feeling was very clear to him. It was an exercise he conducted with friendly forces not long after he joined the company. At night, he and the commandos got lost and ran near the bombardment area. As a result, he happened to catch up with a battalion's 155mm howitzer group to open fire there.

Unprepared, he was less than a hundred meters away from the firing position. The rumbling sound of the artillery made people lose their hearing at the first time. It took Yu Ziming a week to slowly recover his hearing, and the tinnitus was relieved for a month. before completely disappearing.

The situation now is similar to that then. The missile boat weighing several hundred tons is still vibrating violently at the same time, resonating with 43 rocket engines ten kilometers away.

While he was fighting the air shock wave, the sun in the distance had already flown above the clouds. The place where the four solid boosters passed formed a smoke column with a diameter of tens of meters, which was illuminated by the tail flame, like It was a rolling dragon with golden light, piercing the sky and heading straight to the highest point.

…

But in the command center, people had just experienced the most thrilling minute.

"Dongfeng, optical and telemetry signals are normal."

"Yuanwang 4, the altitude is measured at 26 kilometers, and the ascent rate is abnormal."

"Yuanwang 7, the altitude measurement is 27 kilometers, and the ascent rate is abnormal."

"The throttle valve adjusts independently, and the core-level throttling is 65%!"

"Three savings by 75% and start to make corrections!"

"Throttling 85%, end steering correction!"

Several broadcasts came out one after another with almost no delay. Academician She immediately felt a little dizzy. He only knew that these were inconsistent with expectations, and something happened to the rocket.

But the signal was not lost, and the huge rocket did not suddenly explode in the ground tracking footage. It continued to rise and began to accelerate in the direction of the earth's rotation.

When he came back to his senses, Serev was already standing next to him at some point, staring coldly at the series of information flashing on the big screen.

Those were the data sent back by the rocket flight computer, which in his opinion was much more useful than manual broadcast.

"A little problem."

There was no emotion in his voice, but it made Academician She breathe a sigh of relief, and he was able to concentrate and read the abnormal log that had been recorded.

The tips just now all refer to one thing: the rising speed is too high, nearly 20% higher than expected.

But this was not because there was an engine failure. The rocket flight computer took only 1 second to complete the troubleshooting and then decisively reduced the thrust.

Because the initial speed is different, the flight computer adjusts the throttle range of the engine to control the flight trajectory to remain unchanged. According to the results sent back, 2% more fuel will be left for the first stage during separation, which is almost 120 tons of fuel. So there must be something wrong somewhere.

"Launch box, we underestimated the additional thrust during launch."

Serev already thought of the reason and explained in a low voice:

"The rocket is launched from there because the accumulation of gas will increase the thrust. The vaporized seawater can also provide thrust. The buoyancy force also acts faster than expected. It is difficult for our current computers to simulate such complex fluid dynamics. problem, so the simulation in advance is not accurate.

However, I believe that the flight control can adjust. The excess fuel is enough for the core stage to work for 5 more seconds after the booster is separated, and to send an additional dozen tons of payload. "

"That's it, that's how it should be."

Academician She nodded. Fluid calculations all rely on experience, and errors are to be expected.

But what he feels more now is his slowness. It may be because of working around the clock for several days, or it may be because he is old and his reaction speed is not that of a qualified commander-in-chief.

Serev was surprisingly calm compared to him, which was a good thing.

Such a talent should come to the space agency - the engineering management capabilities he has shown these days are no less than Qian Lao, and he should lead a huge group forward.

Serev did not know what Academician She was thinking, but still monitored the flight status of the rocket seriously. Due to the high initial speed of launch, the Long March 18 entered space much faster than ordinary small rockets.

Only 110 seconds after launch, the four solid rocket boosters separated at an altitude of 65 kilometers;

160 seconds after launch, the 39 engines on the first stage of the core shut down and separated from an altitude of 95 kilometers and began to fall.

The remaining second stage, carrying the Jiuzhang spacecraft, does not need to rotate and accelerate around low-Earth orbit, but directly sprints towards the moon with all its strength.