The military-industrial scientific research system of the academic master

"???"

Griffin stood up from his chair after hearing the news:

"Orbital height?"

"Updated every few minutes?"

"Are you sure you didn't write it casually?"

Although the orbital height of the International Space Station is public, the data with two decimal places can only be obtained by the tracking and control station.

Even if the tracking and control stations of the United States, Russia and Europe work together, and with the assistance of the orbital positioning capability of the new generation of GPS, they can only reach the level of refreshing every few minutes.

As for China...

China has not participated in the International Space Station, so it is naturally impossible to share such data.

"I thought it was fake at first, so I verified it specifically."

Meyer on the other end of the phone took a deep breath and replied:

"Some of the specific numbers in the middle may be estimated by interpolation, but the overall accuracy is still very high, and about a quarter to a fifth of them are exactly the same as the results we see here..."

Griffin suddenly felt a little short of breath.

Obviously, it was unknown which good teammate had been a traitor again, otherwise it would be impossible to obtain such high-precision data with the Chinese people's flawed global measurement and control system alone.

But now, he could no longer pay attention to these.

At least not for the time being.

"Besides these two data..."

Griffin originally wanted to ask, what else is there in the program besides these two numbers.

After all, the Chinese people themselves should know that it is impossible for the 40396 fragments to really collide with the space station based on this solar storm alone.

So there must be other backups, otherwise after these few days, the other party will become the biggest clown in the world.

But after thinking about it, I still think it is better to watch it myself than to hear it from others:

"Forget it, through what channels can I see their programs?"

"All international channels of the Chinese official TV station are broadcasting simultaneously..."

Griffin, who was already anxious at this moment, had no time to listen to Meyer's continued chatter, and quickly put the receiver aside and turned on the TV again.

In recent months, China's international channel has become one of the most broadcast news channels in the entire NASA.

Since it was produced and broadcast in English, the signal can be received directly in North America, without the need for signal transmission or translation.

Griffin has almost formed muscle memory, and quickly presses the numbers 3 and 7 on the remote control.

Sure enough, as Meyer said, the TV screen is showing a computer-simulated earth and two near-circular orbits that cross in an X shape.

The two numbers are displayed next to the two orbits, and perhaps considering the mathematical level of the audience in English-speaking countries, the difference between the two numbers is even specially displayed-

2.43km.

And just at this moment, the three numbers flashed at the same time.

Then, the difference has become 2.42km...

Not to mention ordinary people, even Griffin himself, when he saw the number jumping, his heart couldn't help but jump.

"Fxxk... It's really considerate..."

The moment he saw this scene, Griffin had already caught some clues in his mind.

Although the overall impact of a solar storm on orbital altitude is not large, if we focus on the time window when the eruption is the most violent, the effect is still quite scary.

1-2 days may cause the spacecraft to descend.

But the International Space Station has an orbital altitude control system, so there will be almost no changes.

Insiders certainly know that as long as this period of time passes, it will be almost over, but for most TV viewers, this trend is a bit scary.

Nearly one thousand meters in two days, doesn't that mean that it will collide in a week?

I am afraid that the whole world will put pressure on the International Space Station to lower its orbit to avoid it.

And because the power of the space station comes from the Soyuz/Progress spacecraft or the Zarya functional module, this operation is specifically carried out by the Russians.

At that time, they will sing the same tune and say that the International Space Station was forced to make extreme avoidance actions under the threat of space debris and was not hit. How can NASA explain it?

Even if it is explained, will anyone believe it?

Even if there are a thousand mouths, it can't be explained!

In the past, it was the Americans who took the initiative to use this trick. Now that they were tricked, they finally realized how aggrieved they were.

But no matter how aggrieved they were, Griffin thought of the only way to save the situation in a flash.

No matter how many benefits they promised to the Russians, they must not let the International Space Station de-orbit!

He immediately stood up, not even bothering to turn off the TV, and picked up his coat at the fastest speed in his life, ready to communicate with Anatoly Perminov, director of the Russian Federal Space Agency in person.

However, just as Griffin left the office, Bodi's slightly anxious voice came from the telephone receiver he had placed on the table:

"Director, Director, the content of the program on the Chinese side suddenly changed..."

Naturally, no response was received.

At the same time, on the TV screen that was forgotten to be turned off, as Bodi said, a brand new picture appeared after a flash of a moment.

The background that had been displayed just now was still there, but it changed from occupying the entire screen to a background projection screen.

Near the screen, a female host appeared.

"An urgent piece of news needs to be inserted here..."

Compared with Fox News, China’s program shows traces of improvisation everywhere.

The host didn't even have time to put on full makeup and leave, causing his face to look a little dark under the light.

But precisely because of this, the urgency of the situation became even more apparent.

"As all viewers can see, affected by solar activity, the density of the Earth's upper atmosphere has increased, causing the height of space debris No. 40396, which has been a threat to the International Space Station for half a year, to rapidly decrease. The orbital distance between the two has increased in the past twelve hours. It has reduced by about 150 meters and will continue to accelerate in the next two days..."

"We just received a message from the International Space Station. Just 25 minutes ago, fragment 40396 once again passed by the space station. The astronauts took another picture of it after five months. It is clearer than the last time. It is also enough to prove that the distance between the two parties is closer..."

"..."

Just when the host was giving a live broadcast somewhat incoherently, the track height difference on the background wall was refreshed again.

2.40km!

Just now it was reduced by 0.01 every few refreshes, but this time it changed directly by 0.02...

The host seemed stunned by this change. He half turned around and held up the microphone without speaking for a long time.

In fact, there is no need to speak anymore.

The Arabic numerals flashing behind her are the best language.

Like a reminder, even people who didn't care much about the aerospace industry in the past became worried.

After a few minutes.

"I'm very sorry, dear viewers..."

The host pressed the ear with one hand and brought the microphone back to his mouth with the other hand.

Such an outrageous performance would be considered a serious accident in any normal live broadcast program, but at this time, it is extremely suitable for the situation:

"The China Space Administration is currently convening an emergency meeting to prepare to work with all aerospace authorities around the world to find the most secure solution, and all we can do now is wait and trust..."

"Although the results are still unclear, and although China has not participated in the construction and operation of the International Space Station due to various reasons, one thing is certain... Space exploration is a great cause common to all mankind, and China will do so at all costs. , I will never give up any hope because of some competition in the past or narrow selfishness..."

"..."

In the data center at the backend of CCTV, the ratings of several international channels have soared almost visibly to the naked eye, like a rocket, and soon reached an unprecedented and outrageous figure, which made the channel director and the director of the main station very happy. Open mouth from ear to ear.

Some people are happy and some are sad.

For Griffin, who had just finished communicating with Pominov and received the latter's assurance that he would never lower the orbital altitude of the space station...

The sky suddenly collapsed.

When he returned to the office, he found that several office workers, including Meyer, were already standing at the door.

Before Griffin could react, Meyer strode up to him:

"Director, our external message phone has been flooded with calls... Not only ordinary people and enthusiasts, but also many members of Congress are asking whether we have any plans to avoid collisions on the space station."

Another assistant came over immediately:

"Director, the White House has also asked us to respond to people's concerns about this matter and at least provide a reasonable solution. Otherwise, it is likely to develop into offline protests in the next few days..."

Then the third person:

"Director, the Japanese Space Agency and the Brazilian Space Agency have just sent letters to us to verify the authenticity of the Chinese report..."

"..."

Griffin felt his eyes darken and his body swayed slightly.

Fortunately, Meyer's quick eyesight and quick hands grabbed the director's arm and prevented him from falling to the ground.

"Prepare……"

After regaining consciousness, Griffin barely managed to speak the first word when he saw another staff member trotting down the stairs:

"China just announced in a live broadcast that they have decided to urgently launch the Space Fishing Ship satellite two days later on September 3, striving to completely resolve the collision risk faced by the space station within the golden time of 72 hours!"