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

June 7, Qiongzhou, Wenchang Space Launch Center.

At noon, at the busiest station No. 1, a Xinyuan-3 rocket flew into the sky dragging a long flame.

Ding Bijun, who was standing a few kilometers away from the launch station, looked up at the sky and watched the big rocket disappear from the sky.

"Teacher Ding, Teacher Ding!"

Xiong Cheng ran over yelling, his white shirt soaked with sweat, and with his dark skin and helmet, he looked like a working construction worker.

"Teacher Ding, we need to take a group photo. Come over quickly."

"well."

Ding Bijun still kept his head raised, as if he was worried that the rocket would suddenly fall.

When Xiong Cheng pulled him to the podium, he was immediately surrounded by people wearing big red flowers and crowded in the center for a group photo.

Not only people from the space agency, but also officials from the Chengdu and Sichuan governments, as well as people from several solar energy companies, the Environmental Protection Bureau, and the State Grid, it can be called a super hodgepodge.

Behind them is a banner also draped in red and colorful:

"Warmly celebrate the successful launch of the main frame of the 'Chengdian-1' space power station"

Chengdian No. 1, which is the official name of the space power station originally proposed by a committee in Chengdu, has finally started construction today after nearly two years of hard work.

The entire space power station plans to use 1,700 K2 solar cells, with a total area of ​​357,500 square meters, a power generation area of ​​348,500 square meters, a maximum power generation capacity of 174.25 MW, and an average power generation capacity of 168 MW. Only the power generation part is 973 tons, and the total weight is expected to be 1,120 Ton.

What has just been launched is the main frame of Chengdian-1, which provides a platform for solar cells to be attached and is equipped with two super large microwave antennas for transmitting and receiving microwaves respectively.

Both super antennas are folding designs with a maximum transmit power of 180 megawatts and a maximum receive power of 100 megawatts.

After the completion of the dedicated semi-enclosed giant parabolic receiver in Chengdu, the ground will be able to receive 155 MW to 160 MW of power.

The receiving antenna is not in use for the time being. It is prepared for space networking when a large number of space power stations are operating in the future.

The main frame of Chengdian-1 weighs 147 tons, of which the frame part is 90 tons, about 40 tons is the mass of the antenna, and the remaining 10 tons are all densely packed heat sinks.

After all, that is about 170 megawatts of power input. Even if the microwave conversion efficiency is as high as 99% or more, the wasted part will still generate huge heat energy. The only way to solve it is to desperately install heat sinks all over the microwave antenna.

According to Xinyuan's plan, Chengdian-1 requires a total of six launch missions. Four Xinyuan-3 launches will send more than 900 tons of solar cells, and then the Storm and the upcoming Great Wall-1 will perform on-orbit assembly tasks. .

In order to produce special solar cells, Xinyuan, the Space Administration, and the Chengdu Government cooperated with the largest photovoltaic company in China to establish Huaxin Space Energy Company. With such a large number of orders, the price of K2 cells has successfully dropped from 260,000 yuan per square meter. An astonishing 9,100 yuan, with a total order volume of 3.2 billion yuan.

The construction cost of the main frame was 2.5 billion yuan, and the total quotation for the seven launches and missions was 15.5 billion yuan. Not counting the early verification experiments, Chengdian-1 cost 21.2 billion yuan, which was 6% more than the original rough estimate of 20 billion yuan. .

Of course, actually counting the various expenses such as the launch and testing of Chiwu-1 to Chiwu-3, ground receiver construction, power grid transformation, and personnel, from 0 to Chengdian-1 being put into use, it has almost touched the edge of 30 billion.

Fortunately, the Zhuri Project has received strong attention from above, and the Chengdu government has partially solved the ground construction. The actual capital consumption is about 26 billion yuan, of which 11 billion yuan is subsidized by the central government, and the actual local investment is only 15 billion yuan.

Subsidizing the space power station project is not a loss at all. The Zhuri Project has also derived a series of important technologies, of which power generation is only a small part.

If all goes well, Chengdian-1 will be assembled in low-Earth orbit in December, and then actively raised to synchronous orbit, and will begin to provide clean power to the ground after March 2019.

"Professor Ding, you are our great hero!"

"Professor Ding, a project allows us to open for half a year, thank you!"

"Thank you Professor Ding for your contribution to environmental protection and the promotion of clean energy!"

"Man……"

Ding Bijun was almost drowned out by the congratulatory words. Finally, after they finished speaking, it was time for his solo speech, but it was not over yet. In the last period of time, there was a media conference. The reporters who were looking forward to it had already pressed the button. I can't stand it anymore.

Such a lively scene made him feel uncomfortable after spending a year in the mountains of Qinling Mountains. He struggled to cope with the microphones that were stretched out to him, and carefully recalled the manuscript he had prepared before.

But after the arranged reporters are satisfied, other invited media, especially foreign media, will not be so easy to deal with.

"Professor Ding, is Chengdian No. 1 some kind of secret weapon?"

Ding Bijun looked at the source of the discordant sound, glanced at the NHK logo and passed it over.

"Professor Ding, what do you think of Hexagon's accusation that microwaves can cause serious harm to the human body?"

"Any excess electromagnetic waves will cause harm to living things, so our receiving antennas are located in uninhabited areas and are strictly managed."

Ding Biyun didn't dare to be vague about this question. After all, such high-energy and dense microwaves were really scary, and no one could be around when Chengdian-1's receiving antenna was working.

"Can you explain the Qinling genocide caused by Chiwu-3? There is information that villagers in several villages were forced to move away because they could not bear the microwaves."

"This is all false news. You have already asked the question. That reporter from Bloomberg, please say, I hope you will not repeat the rumor that Chengdian-1 is a secret weapon. There are no secret weapons in space."

"Haha..." The reporter is a middle-aged white man with a witty appearance. He doesn't seem that aggressive.

"Professor Ding, NACA is also working on a similar artificial sun project. What do you think of your colleagues?"

Of course Ding Bijun remembered "John Sun" and the super big mirror. He heard that NACA was really serious about it. He had been concentrating on the daily project and didn't know much about it, but it didn't stop him from saying a few nice words.

"I admire their creativity and imagination. This is indeed a great idea. I think it, like space power generation, will bring great help to environmental protection and energy innovation."

However, this was not what the middle-aged reporter wanted to hear. He continued to ask:

"Some people say that this mirror will be blown away by the sun. What do you think?"

"Well... in a sense, it is indeed a super large sail. In addition to illuminating the earth, NACA can also use it to propel probes or spacecraft to Mars."

Ding Bijun did not give a direct answer. In fact, this problem is very serious. The "artificial sun" in Chengdu needs to frequently correct its orbit to offset the displacement caused by light pressure. It is not difficult but a troublesome matter.