Super Copy of Great Power Technology

"After separation, the first-stage rocket, which has been shut down, will rely on inertia to continue rising for a distance, reaching the subspace above 100 kilometers above the ground, and then enter the recovery phase. The second-stage rocket ignites successfully, and the transport satellite continues to rise, rushes out of the atmosphere, and enters the predetermined orbit."

As Du Qingqing explained, the height of the second-stage rocket and satellite combination continued to increase, and the speed of the rocket continued to increase, and soon exceeded the first cosmic speed of 7.8 kilometers per second. After exceeding the first cosmic speed, the spacecraft can leave the earth's atmosphere and enter the earth's orbit.

"Dumping the fairing"

After two minutes of flight, a new command was issued. At the same time, the live broadcast also showed the picture taken by the camera installed next to the satellite and inside the fairing. At the beginning, it was also pitch black, and then with a flash and vibration, the two halves of the fairing wrapped outside the satellite separated directly, and the dark universe and a little blue arc of the outer edge of the earth appeared in the picture. From this image, it is not difficult to judge that the separation of the fairing used explosive bolts, which are commonly used in rocket separation. This is because there is no recovery plan for the fairing, and the damage caused by the explosive bolts is not taken into account. The most important thing is to ensure the successful separation.

Du Qingqing's on-site explanation continued, "Throwing the fairing is an important step in the rocket launch process, which involves the technology and physical principles of the rocket. The main function of the fairing is to protect the payload, especially precision equipment such as satellites, from high temperature and aerodynamics in the early stage of the rocket's ascent. When the rocket reaches a certain height and speed, the fairing will be thrown away to reduce the weight and allow the payload to enter its predetermined orbit better. The Suzaku rocket chose to throw the fairing at this time, which was also carefully calculated. First of all, the rocket and satellite combination is more than 200 kilometers above the ground at this time. This altitude has passed the air-dense area. Flying higher, the air is extremely thin, and the impact on the rocket and satellite is minimal. Secondly, it is not difficult to see from the demonstration animation that the rocket and satellite at this time have already flown over the South Pacific, which is a vast ocean and there are few ships passing by here. The thrown fairing will not damage anything or cause casualties."

"Second stage rocket shutdown"

After flying for more than three minutes, the rocket reached an altitude of more than 1000 kilometers and completely left the atmosphere. At this time, the second-stage rocket was shut down, and the rocket and satellite assembly continued to move forward by inertia. In the small window in the lower right corner of the live broadcast, the rocket engine that had been working quickly stopped spraying flames, and the horn that was originally burned red also quickly cooled down and returned to the original black and gray color of steel.

"Okay, after the rocket-star combination exceeds 1000 kilometers, the second-stage rocket will be temporarily shut down. In the next few minutes, the rocket-star combination will rely on inertia to fly a long distance. The reason for doing this is to save some fuel. Let's turn the live camera back to the first stage of the rocket. As you can see, the first stage of the rocket, which has completed the launch mission, has basically exhausted its kinetic energy under the continuous effect of the earth's gravity after a period of inertial upward rush, and has now entered the descent phase. In fact, shortly after the first and second stages of the rocket separated, the first stage rocket began to execute the recovery procedure and ignited an event, which is called reverse thrust ignition. Its purpose is to push the first stage of the rocket back to the rocket landing site near the launch site. During that time, we were paying attention to the operation of the second stage of the rocket, so we did not see the reverse thrust ignition of the first stage rocket.

The live broadcast is provided by a camera mounted on the side wall of the first-stage rocket. If you look closely at the image, you will find that there are four fly swatter-like objects sticking out from the top of the first-stage rocket. It is called a grid rudder, a rocket flight attitude control device that plays an important role in the precise landing area of ​​rocket recovery. It can control the attitude during recovery and ensure that the rocket debris can land in the set area. The rocket's descent speed is not too fast now, so the grid rudder is not very effective. When the rocket's descent speed increases, the airflow speed flowing through the grid rudder will increase rapidly. At that time, the grid rudder only needs to adjust a small angle to have a greater impact on the flight direction of the first-stage rocket. "

As Du Qingqing explained, the live broadcast screen changed from the flight demonstration animation of the star-rocket combination to the picture taken by the camera on the side wall of the first-stage rocket. In the picture, the stretched grid rudder can be clearly seen, and the whistling wind can be heard. After a while, the live broadcast screen was divided into two again. The left side still showed the picture taken by the camera on the side wall of the first-stage rocket, and the right side showed the picture captured by the camera at the tail of the first-stage rocket. In the right picture, the grassland of Meng Province, which was originally reduced to a small dot, was rapidly enlarged until it covered the entire picture, and then the Ruida Space City under construction began to appear in the picture and was also constantly enlarged. At the same time, the height of the first stage of the rocket marked in the upper right corner of the live broadcast screen was rapidly decreasing, and the speed was also constantly increasing.

"Under the adjustment of the grid rudder, the first stage of the Suzaku rocket basically returned along the original launch route. In the live broadcast, you can clearly see that the outline of our country is rapidly expanding, followed by the Mongolian grassland, and finally the Ruida Space City also appeared in the picture. After the adjustment of the grid rudder, the flight attitude of the first-stage rocket is close to the state of vertical ground. Judging from the real-time parameters in the upper right corner of the live broadcast screen, the landing speed of the first-stage rocket is already very fast at this time. In order to facilitate recovery, the landing speed of the first-stage rocket must be reduced, which requires the engine to be ignited for the third time. At this time, more than 20% of the fuel loaded on the first-stage rocket has been consumed, and the overall weight of the rocket has been greatly reduced. There is no need for five engines to work at the same time. Only one engine in the middle needs to be ignited. Working for about seconds is enough to control the descent speed of the first-stage rocket within the permitted range."

As soon as Du Qingqing finished speaking, a new command message sounded in the flight control hall.

"The rocket's first stage ignites for the third time"

As this command was issued, the engine nozzle located in the middle of the tail of the first-stage rocket on the live screen spewed out a white mist, and then sparks flashed, and the mist instantly turned into a blue flame, extending more than ten meters long, and the beautiful Mach loop was clearly visible. The blue-black tail nozzle also quickly became red. The effect of the engine ignition this time was very obvious. The live screen was directly frustrated, and the expansion speed of Ruida Space City was significantly reduced. It is not difficult to see from the flight parameters in the upper right corner of the live screen that the descent speed of the first stage of the rocket is rapidly decreasing. Until 20 seconds later, the engine was shut down again, and the first stage of the rocket continued to descend in a controlled manner.

"The rocket's first stage ignites for the fourth time, the support legs open, and it prepares to land."

After the first stage of the rocket descended again for more than a minute, it ignited for the last time. At this time, the first stage of the rocket was so close to the ground that the high-definition cameras and quadcopters placed near the rocket recovery site had successfully captured the first stage of the rocket, and the live broadcast screen also switched to the signal captured by the ground camera. In the picture, it can be clearly seen that a blue flame spurted out from the tail of the falling first stage rocket, and then the descent speed of the first stage rocket slowed down visibly, even to the point of hovering. At the same time, the hydraulic support system at the tail of the first stage rocket automatically popped open, and the flight attitude and spatial position of the first stage rocket were constantly adjusted, aiming directly at the center of the red cross plus sign on the left side of the rocket recovery site, and landed vertically.

"Look, the first-stage rocket has been ignited for the fourth time, which is also the last ignition during the rocket recovery process. Like the third ignition, this time only the middle engine is working, but the thrust is obviously much larger, and the slow descent effect is very obvious. Everyone, please pay attention, the four hydraulic support legs at the tail of the rocket have been opened. After a period of adjustment, the landing position of the rocket has been aligned with the cross plus sign on the left. The height of the first-stage rocket is slowly decreasing, getting closer and closer to the ground. Don't leave, don't blink, next, it's time to witness a miracle, the first rocket recovery of mankind is coming soon. Descend, descend, reach the ground... No, the rocket body is tilted, has this recovery failed... Fortunately, at the critical moment, the powerful hydraulic mechanism of the support legs played a role, and the first-stage rocket was stabilized again. So far, the recovery of the first-stage rocket has been a perfect success. Let us cheer to our heart's content, Ura——"

Witnessed by hundreds of people at the launch site and tens of millions of netizens in the live broadcast room, the first stage of the Suzaku rocket landed successfully. After a small swing, it stood firm, and then the engine was turned off. The first stage of the rocket was recovered perfectly. Everyone in the rocket flight control hall and the staff hiding in the underground bunker all stood up, hugged each other, and applauded and cheered. In the live broadcast room, there were also a large number of bullet comments and free gifts floating around, so dense that they covered the sky.

"Isn't it said that rocket recovery is a world-class problem? How did it succeed so easily?"

"Congratulations to Mr. Qiao and Ruida Aerospace. Your pioneering work will surely go down in the history of aerospace!" "It's not easy at all. The professional aerospace knowledge and rocket control theory involved can be published in dozens of SCI papers."

"RuiDa Aerospace has successfully completed the recovery of the first-stage rocket, which is a world first!"

"The first-stage rocket recovery was successful, so how long will it take for the second-stage rocket to be recovered?"

"In fact, as long as the recovery of the first-stage rocket is completed, more than half of the cost of the rocket launch can be saved. Even if the recovery of the second-stage rocket fails, it will not be a big deal."

"The technology of Ruida Aerospace is amazing. They can actually control the first-stage rocket and land it exactly at the center of the cross at the rocket recovery site. If this technology is used on missiles, it can hit whatever it is pointed at."

"The people of Beihe sent a congratulatory message. Mr. Qiao, we are all from the same hometown. Congratulations!"

"The people of Meng Province sent a congratulatory message. Another space miracle has been created on the ground of our great Meng Province!"

……

In the rocket flight control center, Qiao Ruida and a group of employees celebrated for a while, and then returned to their respective workstations to continue the following work. Now it has been ten minutes since the rocket launch, and it is time for the satellite and rocket to separate. The live broadcast screen also switched to the satellite perspective at this time. The satellite and rocket combination flew at the edge of the earth. Half of the picture was the universe and the other half was the blue planet emitting the halo of life. The picture was beautiful and romantic.

"The second stage rocket has been shut down and the rocket and satellite have separated."

The new command was issued, and the second-stage rocket, which had been re-ignited and working for a while, shut down its engine again. Then the live broadcast screen began to shake. Under the rotation of the small motor, the locking mechanism between the second-stage rocket and the satellite was automatically unlocked, and the mechanical arm that had been in a folded state began to exert force to push the satellite away from the second-stage rocket. The satellite and the second-stage rocket quickly separated, and in the live broadcast screen, the second-stage rocket was moving away quickly until it completely disappeared.

"The auxiliary engine ignites, the flight attitude is adjusted, the main engine ignites three times for boost, and re-enters the atmosphere."

Another new instruction appeared in the flight control center, and the live broadcast screen switched to the demonstration animation again. After an auxiliary engine on the side of the second-stage rocket ignited, it generated a lateral thrust, which directly pushed the second-stage rocket to make a 180-degree U-turn. Then the main engine ignited again to brake the second-stage rocket. After the speed dropped to zero, it began to accelerate again and returned along the flight route from afar. Of course, this is just a simplified demonstration animation, in order to let netizens understand the general process of the second-stage rocket recovery. The actual flight control process is definitely much more complicated than this.

Next, the flight process of the second-stage rocket is a bit like the recovery process of a manned spacecraft, which also requires adjusting the flight attitude, re-entering the atmosphere, and going through the black barrier. The only difference is that after breaking through the black barrier, the second-stage rocket did not open the parachute, but started the main engine several times to recoil and slow down.

During this process, Du Qingqing's explanation has been going on all the time. Some netizens who do not have much knowledge of aerospace can understand the entire recovery process of the second stage of the rocket through the explanation.

"…The second stage rocket is adjusted into place and re-enters the atmosphere in a tilted state. This state can effectively reduce the ablation of the rocket's tail engine. The second stage rocket has successfully re-entered the atmosphere. The rocket's descent speed is very fast. From the live broadcast picture in the lower right corner, it can be seen that the tail and sides of the rocket body are rapidly heating up and turning red due to friction with the air, and even flames have appeared. Now it has entered the black barrier state, and the live broadcast signal has been interrupted. We can only understand the current flight status of the second stage rocket through the demonstration animation.

"(End of chapter)