The military-industrial scientific research system of the academic master

The entire press conference lasted for nearly two hours, but there were still many media who had not yet had their turn and were eager to ask questions.

Director Sun Yanlai, who was mainly responsible for answering, was obviously in high spirits during happy events, and the corners of his mouth were grinning almost to the base of his ears.

But after the press officer next to him pointed at his watch for the third time to remind him of the time, he had no choice but to temporarily put away the urge to continue showing off:

"Ahem——"

It was only then that he felt that his throat was about to smoke.

So he quickly drank some water, cleared his throat, then raised his hands and pressed down:

"Although I also want to continue communicating with you, according to our plan, the current satellite equipment self-inspection process is nearing completion, and the formal space debris capture process will soon enter... Dear journalists, you can exit in an orderly manner, You can also choose to stay here and witness this historic moment with us..."

Obviously, it is impossible for anyone to choose to leave.

At this moment, tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of eyes around the world are staring at the little light in the center of the screen through a camera with only 480P pixels——

The satellite has now reached an area where it can directly illuminate the sun. Even without being close to the screen, Griffin can already see some details of the battery panel.

For example, as many people had worried before, the battery panel did not completely maintain its original shape after a violent impact. Instead, it bent from the middle and became a V-shaped structure.

Combined with irregular rolling at a certain angular velocity, it is indeed a huge trouble if a rigid robotic arm is used to grasp.

In your case, even he can't help but admire the ingenuity of the other party's flying net capture plan——

Perhaps given time, NASA will also think of this technical route that was abandoned ten years ago.

But no matter what, it is always one step slower than others.

Griffin sighed softly and prepared to lie back on the bed.

After all, he is a sick patient who has just recovered from his illness. The brainstorming just now consumed a lot of energy, and now he feels a little weak.

However, the phone on the table next to him suddenly rang.

Griffin, who had already lifted the quilt, had no choice but to turn around and pick it up.

Assistant Meyer's voice came from over there:

"Director, everything you asked before has been completed... Relevant information has been made public on the website. In addition, the monitoring and control station has confirmed that China's latest satellite launch is in nearly the same orbit as the 40396 space debris. 20 minutes ago, There is a distance of about 1.8 kilometers between the two. They are currently in a measurement and control blind spot, but new results will be returned soon. "

"1.8 kilometers..."

He turned and glanced at the TV screen.

Judging from the perspective relationship, it is not much different from the situation in the picture, which means that the camera lens is not in a magnified state at this moment.

Of course, at this point, these numbers are no longer important.

What matters is the subsequent effects being calmed and dealt with.

"Okay, I know..."

He had almost put down the phone when he suddenly realized something else:

"Wait...left our measurement and control area 20 minutes ago?"

The coverage of the aerospace measurement and control network in the United States is quite high, and there are not many large blind spots that would cause such long-term interruptions.

"So the space junk...is of course the Chinese satellite. Where is it currently?"

There was a grunting sound coming from the other side of the receiver, as if he was asking the person next to him in a low voice.

Seconds later, Meyer replied:

"Over the North Pacific, to be specific... there will be a close rendezvous with the International Space Station in about 10 minutes, but the orbital distance is still about 1.8km, and there is no risk of collision at all..."

"..."

Griffin couldn't hear the rest clearly.

Now there was only one voice echoing in his mind:

"Have you even calculated this?"

…

At the same time, the TV broadcast picture, which was almost in a fixed state, finally underwent its first obvious change.

An antenna-like object surrounding the camera suddenly began to rotate at a low speed, and then a bright light suddenly flashed on the left side of the camera.

The voice of the Space Control Center was also heard in the background for the first time:

"The device starts spinning."

Of course, the command password was not translated, and it was not very clear in the first place, so most people, including Griffin, did not understand what happened for a while.

Fortunately, the press conference, which had been silent for several minutes, started to sound again.

"Because of the camera's viewing angle, we can't actually see most of the satellite itself."

Sun Yanlai's desire for expression was obviously not fully satisfied, so he simply acted as the commentator as the director of the space agency:

"Now it is the functional load on the head of the satellite, that is, the equipment used to capture space junk will start to rotate slowly in a while. On the one hand, it is for lubrication, and on the other hand, it is also to maintain stability through spin, and because almost all space debris in space There is no resistance, so the momentum applied to the load will react on the satellite body, and the bright light on the left side of the picture just now is the anti-rotation engine performing a short period of work to maintain the overall stability of the satellite..."

As soon as he finished speaking, the image captured by the camera began to zoom in and refocus.

About half a minute later, the piece of space junk No. 40396 finally appeared in front of the world with a clear appearance for the first time.

The press conference was suddenly filled with clicking sounds.

Obviously, everyone wanted to capture this rare moment.

But Sun Yanlai said very appropriately:

"Don't worry, everyone, the imaging materials of this mission, including videos and pictures, will be made public on our official website later..."

There were all media reporters present, and such news was naturally met with a burst of applause.

However, it didn't last long.

Because at this time, as the "orbit improvement" command was issued, the video screen began to shake weakly but rhythmically.

In fact, for professionals, this situation is quite normal.

But in the eyes of the audience, this does not seem to be a good phenomenon.

Some even couldn't hold their breath and even exclaimed in surprise.

"This is the main power system of the satellite at work..."

Sun Yanlai quickly explained:

"Before the capture process officially started, the orbit altitude of our Fishing Boat 1 was 35 meters lower than the target. Considering that the ejection of the capture mechanism will cause the satellite itself to decelerate and fall into orbit, we now need to slightly increase the orbit altitude, and Further improve the alignment accuracy and try to ensure first-time success.”

In space, it is impossible to distinguish a height difference of tens of meters with the naked eye without a clear reference object.

Therefore, everyone can only see that the screen jitters last for about a minute, and then calms down again.

"Countdown, 3 minutes to prepare."

There was another command.

Almost at the same time, sharp-eyed people noticed that a blurry white shadow suddenly appeared in the lower right corner of the camera screen, and seemed to be slowly approaching.

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"That's..."

It didn't take long for someone to guess the correct result.

But for a moment, I couldn't believe it.

Finally, it was Sun Yan who revealed the answer:

"That is the International Space Station, and there is a not too big intersection angle between the orbits of the satellites, so it is equivalent to being rapidly approaching us... It is worth noting that just three days ago, the orbital heights of the two were still high. The difference is about 2.4 kilometers, and now there is only about 1.8 kilometers left. If our reaction speed is slower for a few days, the consequences may be disastrous..."

A burst of exclamations erupted from the scene in unison.

Logically speaking, this is not the question and answer session.

But if you can't bear it, there will be trouble:

"Mr. Director, does this mean that the entire capture process can be visually observed by astronauts on the International Space Station?"

"Uh... maybe you can, we don't have any special design for this."

Sun Yanlai almost couldn't help smiling, but luckily she controlled it in the end:

"But judging from the current situation, it is indeed possible... If the astronauts on the space station happen to be looking outside... you know, they are also very busy at work and cannot enjoy the scenery all the time..."

No one with any brain would believe this statement.

However, the people who could sit down and attend the reception were all human beings, and no one would pierce this layer of window paper.

"Countdown, 1 minute to prepare."

Although separated by a screen, the audience seemed to be able to feel that there was something on the satellite that came to life from the original silence.

The space station in the lower right corner is getting closer and closer, and those with good eyesight can even see the iconic truss structure clearly.

"30 seconds..."

"10, 9, 8..."

By this time, even people who don’t understand Chinese know that this is the final countdown.

What's more, a shrinking Arabic numeral immediately appeared in the upper right corner of the screen.

And in front of countless televisions, in some squares where space enthusiasts gather, in the auditoriums of some schools and units...

There were countless people shouting along in different languages.

"3...2...1..."

The vacuum environment of outer space cannot transmit sound, but the attention and expectations from millions of people seem to be enough to break through the sky.

"Net launch!"

Everyone's heartbeats seemed to have stopped at this moment.

After a delay of about half a second, as the picture trembled, a gray shadow was thrown out from directly above the camera.

Behind it, there is a thin line that is not easily noticeable in the image.

Soon, the carefully designed folding mechanism began to unfold layer by layer under the traction of several counterweight blocks, forming a large net with loose mesh but almost covering the sky and the earth, like the inescapable Wuzhi Mountain. Flying towards the solar panel 1.8 kilometers ahead.

The next few minutes seemed like seconds.

Finally, just when some people were so nervous that they could hardly breathe.

The camera screen flashed, and a striking white solid dot appeared in the lower right corner.

"The web body is in contact with the target!"

This password was quickly translated into English in text form and appeared in the lower center of the TV screen.

But it's not time to celebrate yet.

After the net body touched the space debris, several counterweights around the rope net pulled the edge to continue flying forward, but because the center part was blocked, it naturally changed from flying horizontally to retracting inwards.

Just like a real fishing net.

At the same time, the tightening module inside the counterweight began to work, gradually "binding" the rope made of composite materials to the target surface.

After a few long minutes, the originally threatening net disappeared from the screen.

Instead, there were dense mesh holes on the surface of the V-shaped space debris.

"The Beijing Aerospace Measurement and Control Center confirmed that the net was successfully closed!"

The long-suppressed emotions finally broke out on almost the entire surface of the earth after this final confirmation command sounded.

At the media reception of the China Space Administration, there was a thunderous applause!