Super Copy of Great Power Technology

"Before the rocket is launched, the four revolving platforms are all closed, wrapping the main body of the rocket inside, which can play a certain role in stability and wind protection. At the same time, they are also working platforms for us engineers, and we can perform some inspection and maintenance work on the rocket at close range. Before the rocket is launched, when the countdown is 100 minutes, the fourth group of revolving platforms on the top that serve as a shield against wind and rain will be opened first. Next, one hour after the countdown begins, the first group of revolving platforms on the tower will open, revealing two boosters and the first-stage rocket. Then the second group of revolving platforms will open, revealing the core second-stage rocket. The last group to open is the third group of revolving platforms around the payload, which will generally not be opened until the countdown begins within 30 minutes.

After the rotating platform is fully opened, the only thing connecting the rocket and the launch tower is three swing arms, which have some power lines, signal lines, and pipelines for fuel replenishment. These will not be completely disconnected until 50 seconds before the rocket is launched. At that time, the rocket will rely entirely on the onboard battery to supply power to maintain the operation of the equipment, and will also rely entirely on radio for external communication. "

"We can see that after the revolving platform is fully opened, the heavy Suzaku rocket weighing more than 600 tons stands vertically next to the launch tower, relying entirely on the support of the tail. Is the rocket particularly unstable at this time? If there is a slightly stronger wind, it will break the balance and blow the rocket down?"

"It's not that exaggerated. The support from the ground is still very solid. The three swing arms can also play a certain supporting role. At least it can withstand strong winds below level 7. Strong winds below level 5 will not affect the normal launch of the rocket. The launch window of the rocket is mostly chosen on a sunny day with no wind or light wind. The launch vehicle has been around for decades, and I have never heard of any rocket being blown down by the wind during launch."

While Ruan Xiaoshuang and Wu Ziqiang were chatting, time passed quickly and a new command sounded again, "One minute countdown, swing arm open."

As the command was issued, the three swing arms connecting the rocket and the launch tower were disconnected one after another, and the rocket launch entered the final sprint stage. The reporters, staff on the scene, and tens of millions of netizens in the live broadcast room subconsciously held their breath, waiting for the final countdown to begin.

"Countdown 30 seconds, 20 seconds, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, ignition!" The commander's sonorous voice continued to sound in the loudspeaker. As the countdown ended, the ignition command was issued, and the compressor at the tail of the heavy Suzaku rocket began to work, spewing out a large amount of white mist and sparks. Then the mist was ignited by the sparks, and the two booster rockets, the core stage, and a total of 15 Tianque engines were ignited at the same time, and began to spit out blue flames. The flames sprayed vertically onto the cooling water surface under the launch tower, stirring up a large amount of water vapor, which gushed out hundreds of meters through the diversion grooves on both sides of the launch tower. At the same time, the huge roar and the vibration of the ground also spread quickly, causing exclamations from reporters and media personnel on the scene. The heavy Suzaku rocket, under the huge reverse thrust of the engine, offset the effect of gravity and slowly lifted off. Looking from a distance, water vapor gushed up, white mist lingered, and the huge heavy Suzaku rocket broke through the white mist and soared into the sky, which was spectacular.

Seeing this shocking scene, the friends in the live broadcast room were stunned. The barrage of comments remained stagnant for more than ten seconds, and then exploded in an instant, covering the entire place.

"Oh my god, a launch vehicle weighing hundreds of tons is rising from the ground. This scene is so spectacular!"

"But I'm uneducated, so I can go all over the world with just one word!"

"It's so shocking to watch it live. It's hard to imagine what it would be like to watch it live at the rocket launch site."

"In my lifetime, I must go to the Ruida Space City to watch the launch of the heavy-duty Suzaku rocket. This scene, once seen, will be unforgettable for a lifetime."

"Is this the charm of the aerospace industry? It's really shocking."

"I'm going to Ruida Aerospace to sign up to be an astronaut. No one can stop me."

"The launch of the 1000-ton heavy Suzaku rocket was so shocking, it's hard to imagine what the scene will be like when the -ton Long March is launched."

"I read in the news that the development of the Long March 5 has encountered certain difficulties and it will not make its maiden flight for at least two years."

"The rocket accelerated so quickly that in just over half a minute, it was just a tiny dot in the camera."

"The Long March 5 was difficult to launch. If the heavy-lift Suzaku is successfully launched this time, it will become my country's largest carrier rocket." "Ruida Aerospace is also amazing. It has achieved so many achievements in less than a year. Methane space engines, rocket recovery technology, and the current heavy-lift carrier rocket are all top domestic and world-class advanced technologies, but they have been brought out one after another by a private aerospace company. It's really amazing."

"RuiDa Aerospace is not so much a company as it is its founder, Qiao RuiDa. Looking at the industries that RuiDa Group has been involved in, including e-commerce, mobile phones, chips, automobiles, and now aerospace, none of them is not at the top of the industry."

While netizens were leaving messages and discussing in the live broadcast room, the heavy Suzaku rocket in the live broadcast screen had already flown higher and higher, completely disappearing from the camera and drone lens. The director switched to the picture captured by the ground optical radar at the right time. Under the blurred outline of the rocket, 15 Tianque engines that were ejecting tail flames could be clearly seen. In the lower right corner of the screen, a small window was opened, showing the picture captured by the camera at the tail of the rocket. I saw that the Ruida Space City on the ground was shrinking rapidly, and the surrounding Black Stone Beach and the Mongolian Prairie were displayed on the screen one after another, and were gradually shrinking. Then appeared the outline of the entire Chinese continent and the deep blue ocean.

Four minutes after the heavy Suzaku rocket was launched, the fuel in the two booster rockets was almost gone. As the commander issued the "booster separation" command, the locking mechanism between the booster and the core stage began to rotate and unlock, and then the two boosters separated from the main body of the rocket and entered the recovery process. The main body of the rocket continued to exert force, carrying the space telescope and continuing to sprint into space. After two minutes of flying, the fuel loaded in the core stage was about to run out. The commander issued the "first and second stage separation, second stage rocket ignition" command at the right time. The next moment, the locking device between the first and second stage rockets loosened, and the first and second stage rockets gradually separated, also entering the recovery stage. The second stage rocket ignited to continue the unfinished journey, pushing the space telescope out of the atmosphere and into space.

"Ditching the fairing" As the rocket flew higher and higher, it gradually left the air-dense area. The air resistance on the rocket became smaller and smaller. The fairing, which originally played a role in protecting the payload, became a burden and was discarded immediately. After the main body of the rocket abandoned the booster rocket, the core stage and the fairing, most of the weight was removed. It was lightly equipped and flew faster and faster. Soon it left the atmosphere and entered real space. At this point, the core stage rocket was shut down for the first time, and the rocket entered the glide state.

Ruan Xiaoshuang, who had not spoken for a long time, started to explain at this time: "As you can see, the combination of the second-stage rocket and the space telescope has left the atmosphere and entered space. The orbit that the Clairvoyant Space Telescope is expected to enter is not a low-Earth orbit, nor a geosynchronous orbit, but the Lagrange L150 point 2 million kilometers away from the Earth. That location is quite far from the Earth and requires a very long flight time. In order to save the space telescope's fuel and orbit change time, the second-stage rocket will be shut down for a long time until the combination glides to a specific position, and then it will ignite again to send the space telescope into the transfer orbit. This may be the space version of "helping the horse to get on the horse and send it on its way."

Some of you may be curious about what a Lagrange point is. I am not very clear about this, so let Dr. Wu explain it to us. "

Wu Ziqiang took over the conversation and explained to the netizens in the live broadcast room: "Okay, the so-called Lagrange point, also known as the libration point, is a concept in celestial mechanics, specifically referring to the five special solutions of the restricted three-body problem. At these points, a small object remains basically stationary relative to the two large objects under the gravitational force of the two large objects. At the Lagrange point, all forces acting on the spacecraft are equal and cancel each other out. The five Lagrange points of the Earth-Sun system are L1 between the Earth and the Sun, L2 outside the Earth, L3 outside the Sun, and L4 outside the line connecting the Earth and the Sun. 5, L1 point. The famous Hubble telescope is located at the Lagrange L150 point, and the Clairvoyant space telescope carried by this rocket launch will enter orbit at the second Lagrange point 80 million kilometers away from the earth, and orbit around this point in a halo orbit with a radius of kilometers. Friends who often use telescopes to photograph the starry sky should know that it is very important to keep the position of the telescope stable. Placing the space telescope near the Lagrange point can consume the least fuel and keep its spatial position roughly unchanged. This can effectively extend the working life of the space telescope and is also very friendly to space observation. "

"Does that mean that the Hubble telescope has already occupied the best Lagrange point, L1, and the Clairvoyant Space Telescope had to settle for the second best and choose L2 as the positioning point?"

"No, the location of the Thousand-mile Eye Space Telescope near the Lagrange L2 point is determined by its working mode and has nothing to do with the Hubble Telescope. Although the Lagrange point is called a point, it is actually a very wide airspace. Especially when the earth and the sun are so huge, the Lagrange point between them is also quite large, and it is not a problem to accommodate dozens or hundreds of satellites. As we all know, the Hubble Telescope is an optical telescope, and it is no problem for it to be located at the Lagrange L1 point. The Thousand-mile Eye Telescope is an infrared telescope used to observe the deep space of the universe. Its mission is to capture the light emitted by galaxies at the beginning of the universe. You know, the universe has been expanding since its birth. Those galaxies born at the beginning of the universe are very far away from us. How can the Thousand-mile Eye Telescope see them?

The wavelength of light changes during propagation, and this change in wavelength is called redshift or blueshift. Redshift means the wavelength becomes longer, and blueshift means the wavelength becomes shorter. When the light of galaxies propagates to the earth, it will produce a redshift phenomenon, and the more distant the galaxy is, the more obvious this redshift phenomenon may be. Therefore, the ultraviolet light emitted by these galaxies will turn into infrared light after reaching the earth due to the redshift phenomenon, so we need an infrared telescope to observe, and the Thousand-mile Space Telescope is such an infrared telescope.

However, although infrared telescopes are powerful tools for observing deep space, they have a very obvious problem, that is, they are very susceptible to interference. What is infrared? The essence of infrared is temperature, and the essence of temperature is motion. There is no absolute stillness in the universe, and there is no absolute zero. That is to say, all objects emit infrared rays, and the infrared rays emitted by the earth and the sun will cause great interference to the Clairvoyance space telescope.

In order to minimize the infection, the Telescope must be placed at the second Lagrange point, because the other four Lagrange points all face the sun and the earth at the same time, and only at the L4 point is the sun's light blocked by the earth, which can minimize infrared interference. "

"In that case, why not just fix the Telescope at L2 and have it orbit around L2 in a heliocentric orbit?"

"Because this will make the communication parabolic antenna form a 28-degree angle with the sunlight, which can not only prevent the sunlight from affecting the communication, but also allow some light to shine on the Telescope to provide energy for the Telescope's solar panels. The L2 point itself is not very stable, so a small amount of its own power is needed to maintain the stability of the orbit."

While the two were discussing at length the positioning and orbit of the Clairvoyant Telescope, the two booster rockets that separated from the main body of the rocket first had already landed in a controlled manner under the control of the grid rudder, approaching the airspace near the Ruida Space City, and were captured by the ground camera again. The director immediately switched the live broadcast to the scene captured by the ground camera. Ruan Xiaoshuang explained at the right time: "Okay, through the live broadcast, we can see that the two booster rockets have appeared above the Ruida Space City and are about to land on the ground in a controlled manner for recovery. According to my naked eye observation, the descent speed of the two booster rockets is still very fast, at least not slower than when they took off. Dr. Wu, are the speeds of these two rockets too fast now? Do they need to be ignited to reduce the speed later?" (End of this chapter)