A big country of aerospace with black technology

In the 1990s, with the vigorous development of the electronics industry, and the public's growing pursuit of entertainment life.

The television industry has begun to develop rapidly. One of the basic requirements for many young men and women to get married these days is to have a color TV.

And as the number of people using TVs has increased, sales of another item have also increased rapidly: satellite TV receivers.

That is, a satellite pot like a cauldron.

It can receive satellites in geosynchronous orbit and send back digitally encoded and compressed television signals on the ground.

And through the intermediate frequency AGC amplifier and demodulator, and the image signal processor, the signal is processed.

The output is a signal that can be played on a TV.

Because the satellite dish can receive many different TV frequency bands, and basically there is no need to pay extra after purchasing the satellite dish.

Therefore, there are a large number of them in urban and rural areas in China.

Not only in China, but also in a large number of regions in the world at this time point, a large number of satellite pots are used to broadcast TV programs.

As a result, there is a problem that the number of communication satellites is insufficient along with the increased demand for receiving satellite TV.

Seriously hindered the development of satellite TV business.

Therefore, the number of communication satellites dedicated to image and voice transmission services has increased over the years.

The two satellites to be launched this time are the Mabuhai satellite and the Asia Pacific 2R satellite developed by Laura Space Systems for Southeast Asia and Xiangjiang.

These two satellites are large satellites with super power and heavy weight, which are different from those simulated satellites that are only a few hundred kilograms when conducting experiments.

Their orbit is a geostationary orbit above the equator, and each one weighs more than 3,700 kilograms.

If the Long Sanyi rocket is used for launch, only one satellite can be launched at a time.

Because the SSTO orbit (super-synchronous transfer orbit, see the author's words for details) of the Changsanyi rocket has a carrying capacity of only about 4 tons, and there is almost no margin after carrying a satellite.

Therefore, if you want to save launch costs, you can only use a Hongyan rocket with a greater thrust and an SSTO orbital carrying capacity of almost 8.5 tons.

The total launch quotation for the launch contract of these two satellites is as high as 110 million US dollars.

This still depends on their willingness to use a new type of rocket. If they use the long-term three-B rocket for launch, the quotation for each satellite is expected to be around 65 million US dollars.

The use of new rockets is equivalent to each satellite, which can save 10 million US dollars in launch costs.

Whether it is the Southeast Asian company behind Mabuhai Satellite or the Asia-Pacific Communications company behind Asia-Pacific 2R, we are very happy to see this.

After all, there is no capitalist who doesn't like things that reduce costs.

The initial cost of the Hongyan-1 rocket is about 48 million Chinese yuan, which is actually less than 6 million U.S. dollars when converted into U.S. dollars.

After deducting personnel costs, fuel costs, and various items during the launch process, it will not exceed $10 million in any case.

It can also be said that the overall profit of launching these two satellites is about 100 million US dollars.

Of course, the money needs to be distributed by many departments, and what is obtained is domestic currency.

Compared with other domestic research institutions that are hungry and full now, this income can be regarded as extremely rich.

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Xichang base, launch site.

The Hongyan rocket, which has completed the loading work, is quietly staying on the launch pad.

This launch is the first time that Hongyan Rocket has launched a real satellite.

So Zhang Xingyang still attaches great importance to it, and personally presided over the launch of the Hongyan rocket.

Because the size and weight of the two satellites are not small, the fairing of the Hongyan rocket this time seems to be a circle larger than the normal rocket.

Therefore, he also got a relatively close nickname, "Big Head Goose".

"How is the preparation at the satellite recovery site?"

Zhang Xingyang talked to Geng Bo who was guarding the recovery site through the dedicated phone in the launch site control center.

This launch mission is not only the first commercial launch mission of the Hongyan rocket, but also the first attempt to recover the rocket.

"It's all ready, and now it's waiting for you to start."

The electrical signal was transmitted to the recycling site through a long dedicated cable, and the signal quality had declined, but Geng Bo could still hear Zhang Xingyang's crisp voice clearly.

Putting down the phone, Zhang Xingyang looked at his watch, and there were still a few minutes left before the launch time.

Zhang Xingyang calmly supported the console with both hands, recalling the various technical details of the Hongyan rocket.

Time flies, scheduled launch time.

The Hongyan rocket rose from the Xichang launch site, flying into the sky like a long arrow.

In the control center, Zhang Xingyang was listening to the reports from detection radar stations in various places, while watching the countdown time on the big screen.

Because the orbit to be hit this time is SSTO, which is much higher than the usual orbit, so the separation time of the first-stage rocket is also slightly later.

If it is a low-orbit satellite launch mission, the primary and secondary separation time of the Hongyan rocket is about 160 seconds, and this time it lasted until 170 seconds before the primary and secondary separation was completed.

After the announcer reported the successful separation of the first and second stages of the rocket.

Only then did Zhang Xingyang regain his energy.

The next step is the most important verification link in this launch mission, the actual recovery of the rocket.

"The second-stage ignition of the first-stage rocket was successful!"

Because the first-stage rocket has to turn around, it needs to be re-ignited and rely on the four rudders on the first-stage rocket to adjust the direction of the rocket.

During the return process, because there is no need to struggle to break free from the gravitational effect of the earth, it is only necessary to turn on several engines of the propulsion system in turn.

The light blue flame at the tail of the first-stage rocket fluctuates regularly, slowly pushing the first-stage rocket to the recycling field.

"The first-stage rocket turned successfully!"

"Secondary rocket separated successfully!"

Good news came one after another in terms of satellite launch and rocket recovery.

In the control center, everyone was working with a little excitement.

Compared with the launch work of the satellite, the return speed of the rocket recovery is faster.

"Successful detachment of fairing!"

"The first-stage rocket is 100 kilometers away from the recovery site!"

Now Zhang Xingyang has basically seen that the launch of the two satellites was successful.

So more thoughts are still on rocket recovery.

Just when everyone thought that the first rocket recovery would be successful.

A piece of bad news came from the rocket recycling yard.

There were some problems with the first actual recovery of the Hongyan rocket.

During the landing of the first-stage rocket, it is not known whether it was due to insufficient fuel or a failure of the propulsion system.

When it was more than ten meters away from the ground, the propulsion system shut down prematurely.

SSTO (Super Synchronous Transfer Orbit) refers to a type of transfer orbit whose apogee is greater than 36000 km of ordinary GTO. The advantage of SSTO is that it can save the fuel required for the spacecraft to change orbit to GEO, so as to prolong the service life of the spacecraft. The disadvantage is that the launch vehicle needs to provide a higher speed to the spacecraft, so the carrying capacity is reduced, and the position accuracy is also affected.