Dreaming about space

Chapter 65 Motorola
Liang Hangyu was born on September 1997, 9.

That day, Liang Tian was not by his side.

It's not that Liang Tian is a particularly irresponsible father.

Liang Tian has a series of plans to welcome new life.

Becoming a father for the first time is always exciting.

However, Liang Hangyu gave birth ten days ahead of schedule.

This also caught Liang Tian off guard, who was performing a mission at the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center.

He originally wanted to rush back to accompany his wife to give birth after finishing the mission.

Liang Tian said that when Liang Hangyu was born, our country's aerospace industry was developing rapidly.

Eleven days before Liang Hangyu was born, the success of [Mabuhai 11] marked the emergence of China’s aerospace industry from its darkest moment and the restart of international commercial launches.

After this, issues affecting the international commercial insurance of [Mabuhai 1] will no longer become a stumbling block for China’s international commercial space launches.

However, aerospace is cutting-edge technology, and technology is changing with each passing day.

By this time, it is no longer enough for a rocket launch to send a satellite into the sky with light.

Global satellite launch technology has entered the era of multiple satellites with one rocket.

One arrow and multiple stars happens to be Liang Tian’s research direction at the Eighth Academy of Aerospace Science and Technology in Shanghai.

From 1990 to 1997, he worked as a special truck driver for Asia One, and in [-], as a scientific researcher, he personally participated in the one-shot and double-satellite launch of two Motorola Iridium satellites.

Astronaut Liang Tian spent more than seven years.

He was only a very junior scientific researcher at the time, and it was not up to him to decide when the Iridium satellite would be launched.

Firstly, Liang Tian had to be present for the launch, and secondly, Liang Hangyu was born ten days earlier than the expected date. The two reasons combined made it impossible for Liang Tian to watch Liang Hangyu's birth with his own eyes.

During the period of rapid development of China's aerospace industry, Liang Tian was also growing rapidly.

Counting from the time of his birth, for some reason, whenever it was important for Liang Hangyu, Liang Tian always had special circumstances where he could not leave his post.

The lack of father's love has accompanied Liang Hangyu's entire growth process.

When Liang Hangyu was young, he admired Liang Tian very much.

A little bigger, because of the disappointment again and again after expectations, there was some gap between Liang Hangyu and Liang Tian.

Not that the relationship between father and son is that bad.

After all, Liang Hangyu also inherited his father's career. Since college, he has studied aerospace-related majors.

But it's certainly not the kind of close father-son relationship where they get along like friends.

After the successful launch of the two simulated Iridium satellites, the official Iridium satellite will be launched immediately.

From testing to official launch, there are countless problems that need to be solved.

After missing Liang Hangyu's birth, Liang Tian thought of organizing a [-]-day banquet for him.

Liang Tian worked overtime and devoted himself to scientific research.

The interval from the test to the official launch of Motorola's Iridium satellite was, coincidentally, almost 100 days.

98 days to be exact.

Based on this time, Liang Tian can catch up with the Hundred Days Banquet.

But there is a summary report after the launch.

Motorola asked us to launch not just two Iridium satellites.

The first contract included six satellites. Because scientific researchers like Liang Tian solved the problem well enough, each Iridium satellite was accurately delivered, and more were subsequently signed.

The Iridium Project had a great impact on Liang Tian.

Being able to participate in the Iridium satellite project is not just about launching satellites for Liang Tian.

For Liang Tian, ​​this was an opportunity to open his horizons, and it also made him understand that any plan he designs must conform to the times.

This kind of adaptation cannot be delayed or advanced.Motorola was a mobile phone company that, in its heyday, was rivaled only by Nokia, another giant.

Many of the generation that grew up with smartphones have never heard of these two brands.

Neither of these two giants developed well later, and they are inseparable.

The reason why these "brothers" did not develop well is completely opposite.

Nokia failed to develop well because it was too conservative and failed to keep up with the smartphone era.

But at any rate, I am still slowly trying to adapt.

Motorola went bankrupt before the advent of the smartphone era.

The cause of bankruptcy is too much advancement.

And this advance is very specifically attributed to the Iridium satellite project.

In terms of the plan itself, the Iridium satellite project proposed by Motorola in 1987 and put into practice in the 90s was actually a very remarkable and revolutionary plan.

What is this plan for?
Iridium atoms have 77 electrons. The Iridium Satellite Project, as the name suggests, is to launch 77 satellites to form a near-Earth satellite communication constellation and bring mankind into the era of satellite mobile communications.

To put it more simply, it is using a mobile phone to make satellite calls.

Does it sound a bit like a cutting-edge mobile phone in the 2020s?
From the time humans had mobile phones until the emergence of cutting-edge mobile phones in the mid-2020s, mobile communications were completely dependent on base stations.

In the 2020s, base stations have covered most areas except for particularly remote places.

At this time, having a mobile phone that can make satellite calls is more useful for dealing with extreme situations.

From the very beginning, the Iridium Project was not thinking about extreme situations, but absolute situations.

In 1987, when Motorola proposed this plan, there were still very few base stations on the earth, and the area covered by mobile phone communications was also very limited.

The Iridium satellite project aims to fundamentally solve the problem of base station coverage.

It focuses on a corner where you can make calls on your mobile phone as long as you can see the sky.

If the Iridium satellite in the 90s had been successful, it would have been at least 30 years earlier for humans to be able to make satellite calls with their mobile phones.

Iridium satellites actually launched 66 satellites, 11 less than the original plan.

The launch mission of 66 Iridium satellites ended in May 1998.

On November 11 of the same year, Motorola officially launched Iridium global services.

Motorola spent ten years arduously deploying stars in space, and communications companies around the world were frantically building base stations.

By the time Iridium satellites can be officially put into use, ground mobile communications have already very stably covered major cities on the earth.

This also made the "high-key" Motorola company unable to obtain the expected stable customers after the Iridium satellite was put into use.

Just three and a half months after it was put into operation, Motorola announced that if no buyer acquires Iridium and makes additional investment, Iridium's services will be terminated.

摩托罗拉宣布这个消息的时候，是1999年的3月15日，停止服务的时间是3月17日的最后一秒。

This shows how bad the situation was at that time.

It took 11 years to prepare and took three and a half months to use.

The Iridium project cost Motorola $50 billion.

This also made the bankruptcy of Iridium the worst in the history of the United States at that time.

　Want to know what happened to Motorola?
　　Learned from the painful experience of various splits.

　　It is worth mentioning that Motorola’s mobile phone business was acquired by Lenovo Group for US$2014 billion on January 1, 30.

　　Does this sound familiar?

　　Also acquired by Lenovo was IBM's computer business, which was earlier in 2004 and was Lenovo's highlight moment.

　　That is, how should I put it, Lenovo is now a bit...

　　
　
(End of this chapter)