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

As the order from the command center was issued, the explosive bolt that fixed the uppermost gate on the outer surface of the launch box was energized. The impact of the explosion caused the gate to leave the launch box, exposing the dense water injection ports reserved on the side wall.

The surging seawater immediately poured into the launch box from the water injection port, but when it came out, it was diverted by the partition in the middle of the pipe, adhering to the inner wall of the launch box and flowing downward.

In order to prevent accidents before launch, all gates are fixed with explosive bolts and cannot be closed once opened.

Therefore, once water injection begins, the rocket's launch procedure cannot be interrupted, and the result of failure will be a huge loss.

Serev, who was sitting in the C position in the first row of the command center, stared at the monitoring screen in the launch box with a solemn expression. He had never designed a rocket to be launched like this, and there was a lack of system backup, so the probability of an accident was not low.

In order to reduce the risk as much as possible, the opening sequence of the water injection gates is from top to bottom to control the water pressure.

But the mania when the water was actually released was still beyond imagination. The seawater gushing out from the water injection port to both sides was extremely high due to the strong pressure, which produced a large number of bubbles and appeared almost white. From the monitor, the upper part of the launch box suddenly appeared. A white line formed, and then quickly gathered into a rectangular ring along the steel box wall, covering it downwards at an alarming speed.

The drop from the water injection port in Area A to the bottom is nearly 150 meters, but most of the kinetic energy is consumed in the friction with the rough steel surface. The picture of the bottom camera becomes refined for about 7 or 8 seconds after the water is released, and then it looks like The picture suddenly became blurry and filled with water vapor, and then the water level began to rise at a speed visible to the naked eye.

The water injection port in Area A is expected to complete the predetermined amount of water filling within 40 minutes, which means that nearly 12 tons of seawater will be added per second. During this process, the water level rise rate will reach about 4 centimeters per second until the booster is submerged.

This speed is quite terrifying. The camera at the bottom was submerged in seawater in an instant. The 39 H280 hydrogen-oxygen engines and the nozzles of the slightly higher boosters were also completely immersed in seawater extremely quickly.

The inside of the launch box is like this, and the scene outside is also quite spectacular.

In the sea 10 kilometers away from the launch area, Lin Ju stood on the mast of the "Yuanwang 7" survey ship and observed the status of the launch box through the set up telescope.

The influx of more than ten tons of seawater per second directly causes the surrounding seawater to converge towards the launch box like a whirlpool. Fortunately, the water injection port is reasonably designed, otherwise if a real vortex is formed, the terrifying torque may really cause the launcher to collapse. The box is scrapped directly.

But even so, it can be seen that the water level around the launch box has dropped significantly, and the water flow formed attracts all surrounding objects.

However, there is nothing in the surrounding area that can be sucked in at this time. All the floating docks and small boats on the sea have been collected in advance, so it is not a big problem.

"Mr. Lin, Mr. Lin!"

Lin Ju covered the telescope eyepiece and looked down. Several crew members and his entourage crowded together and looked up at him:

"Come down, there is a synchronous recorder in the cabin, it's too dangerous up there!

The boss has already said that if you don't come down, you will be held accountable for trespassing into the sensitive equipment area! "

"..."

…

"I'll listen to the sounds inside."

Academician She picked up the headphones and put one side against his ear, and then heard countless giant waterfalls intertwined together.

Whether the rocket is soaked in water or launched in untreated seawater, it is still thrilling even if you are prepared in advance.

He couldn't help but look back at Serev, who was sitting behind him. His young face was still determined, and he was intently watching every move in the launch box.

As the seawater is added, the buoyancy of the Long March 18 continues to increase. The force sensor on the steel base connected to the bottom of the rocket keeps beating, and the number keeps shrinking.

From receiving a downward mass of more than 15,000 tons, to adding nearly 30,000 tons of seawater to form an upward buoyancy force of 10,000 tons, the stress situation of the steel base will become completely opposite, which will have a negative impact on both the base itself and the rocket. It's a test.

However, the buoyancy force on the rocket is much more uniform than its own thrust, which makes people feel a little more reassured.

Serev is not too worried. At least several teams have conducted inspections according to a strict quality monitoring system before launch. It will never be as chaotic as the previous alliance.

"The water level is 25 meters!"

"The water level is 35 meters!"

"The water level is 45 meters!"

The 20 minutes went faster than expected. At 5.48 a.m., the pulling force data returned by the fixed rocket base exceeded “100,000 KN.”

There are now 10,000 tons of pulling force pulling the rocket upward, and it is still increasing.

This was more than a minute earlier than expected. Academician She was stunned for a moment before realizing that the formal launch process should have entered at this time.

But the rest of the staff performed their missions faithfully like the program. After seeing that the pulling force data met the standards, they issued the next instruction:

"The gate of area B is opened, and the main engine starts to exhaust!"

The outer wall gates on the lower half of the launch box, which were submerged by seawater both inside and outside, were also activated. These gates were much larger than the A area above, and the number of water injection ports was much greater, so the moment the gates were blown away by the explosive bolts, water The traffic increased rapidly at a rate of two or three times that before.

The 39 engines at the bottom of the first stage of the rocket core also begin to prepare for ignition. The liquid oxygen in the fuel tank first flows through the pipeline through the turbopump and then is discharged from the combustion chamber, squeezing out all the seawater inside, filling the engine with clean of pure oxygen.

As for the combustion chambers of the four solid boosters, this does not need to be the case. The composite propellant inside them has its own oxidizer and only needs to be ignited.

Countless bubbles emerged from the bottom of the first stage of the core due to the forced discharge of a large amount of pure oxygen. The underwater camera no longer saw any valuable images, but this is not important. Its life span is only counted in seconds. .

At 5:53, about 37,000 tons of seawater had poured into the launch box. The buoyancy force on the Long March 18 exceeded 20,000 tons. The screen in front of the launch operator gave an alarm 15 seconds in advance, indicating that the base and rocket body were under heavy pressure. The capability is close to the design limit. The flight control computer is ready to ignite and disconnect, and the countdown can begin.

"10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, two, one, light the fire!"

In fact, when the countdown reached 6, the 39 engines in the core stage began to ignite in sequence. Each engine successfully ignited in an oxygenated environment, but what the monitor saw was a sudden surge in mass. White bubbles.

At the same time, the explosive bolt connecting the rocket to the steel base was also powered and activated, and the Long March 18 completely lost connection with the launch box.

When the countdown returned to zero, all 39 engines were finally successfully ignited in order from the inside to the outside, and the throttle valve was opened to 45%. However, at this time, the rocket had already risen about 20 meters under the buoyancy stronger than its own thrust, and Because the water that is still pouring in crazily continues to accelerate.

It was not until the bottom of the rocket rose from 180 meters below the water level to 10 meters underwater that the core-stage liquid engine quickly increased the throttle valve to 100%, and at the same time the four solid boosters ignited. When the rocket completely jumped out of the water Finally, the 22,000-ton thrust was fully released.