Behind it was the blue planet, and behind it was the dark and endless universe.
Before the launch, commander-in-chief Chen Fangli consulted Ye Qing and asked him what the name of the communication satellite was.
Ye Qing had a name in mind, but Ye Qing wanted to announce it after the launch was successful.
It seemed that 80% of the way to success was complete.
The satellite flew toward its final orbit at the first cosmic speed. Next was the deceleration work. There was no gravity in the universe. Usually, the same amount of energy was used to reduce the speed to zero.
"Signal normal."
"Long-range surveillance radar and height-finder radar tracking normal."
"Deceleration complete in 30 minutes. Try to enter orbit."
On the display wall, lines of data that Ye Qing couldn't quite understand flashed past.
Listening to the technical staff's report, everything was unexpectedly normal.
The half-hour wait became extremely long, so much so that when commander-in-chief Chen Fangli patted Ye Qing on the shoulder and told Ye Qing that the satellite had successfully entered orbit, Ye Qing still didn't quite react.
"Mr. Ye, the orbit was extremely smooth this time. From the start of the booster to the adjustment of the satellite's attitude to the use of reverse thrust to decelerate to zero, the whole process was completed in one go without any unnecessary secondary fine-tuning movements. At least about 7% of the fuel was saved. "
"This satellite's propulsion system is excellent."
"This shows that our domestic industrial technology is making great progress and has achieved impressive achievements in the aerospace industry." Ye Qing pretended to smile casually.
The satellite propulsion system was purchased from the scientific research factory supporting the space center. Of course, Monster Industries' excellent integration of hardware and software was part of this, but no matter how strong the control software was, the hardware had to pass.
"Entering orbit means that 90% of the way has been completed. I'm confident in the remaining 10%." Commander-in-chief Chen Fangli also praised Monster Industries.
After that, commander-in-chief Chen Fangli turned his head and shouted into the microphone, "Enter the solar panel deployment procedure."
"Yes, sir." The commander gave the order. "All departments, pay attention. The solar panel will be deployed in one minute."
"Satellite sensors are normal."
"Radio transceiver is normal."
"Energy storage battery cycle is normal."
"The panel needs to be adjusted to a negative 27% angle. Manual intervention and correction are ready at any time."
"Ready, deploy the panel."
"Yes!"
An electromagnetic wave invisible to the naked eye was launched from the launch station of the Aviation Center at the speed of light. After 0.3 seconds, the electromagnetic wave reached the satellite's position.
The satellite radio receiver received the signal. After the signal was verified by multiple encryption chips, the control program automatically executed the command in the signal.
The deployment of the solar panels was the last step after the satellite entered orbit, and it was also the procedure that was most prone to accidents.
Satellites required a large amount of electricity to carry out their missions. Take the communication satellite of Monster Industries as an example. It required at least ten square meters of solar panels to provide an energy supply of one kilowatt to meet the requirements.
A satellite without energy could only be space junk. In order to obtain energy, a satellite must have a large area of solar panels and ensure that one side of the solar panels is always facing the sun.
The space of the satellite carrier compartment was limited, which required that before the satellite could take off, the panels had to be folded together.
Therefore, the solar panels of the satellite were fixed on both sides of the satellite with a spring restraining mechanism and locked by a pyrotechnic mechanism.
Every gram of weight of the Rocket Carrier was extremely precious. The satellite could only use the lowest weight one-time deployment plan to unfold the sail. After the deployment, the sail would lose its ability to retract.
Similarly, the satellite only had one chance to unfold the sail. If it failed, it would become a box.
Every aerospace country had examples of solar panel deployment failures.
Not far away, the Long Three Rocket that sent the satellite of Monster Industries to the sky was encountered when the Xinnuo Satellite Communications Company's satellite was launched.
The reason for the repeated problems was that the satellite used a full mechanical plan to unfold the sail. The mechanism that locked the sail was eight explosive bolts.
The explosive bolts were considered pyrotechnics and could not be detected in advance.
This meant that it might have flaws.
And these explosive bolts were made by Monster Industries itself.
"The explosive screw safety is removed. Two by two at the same time."
Someone in the space center shouted. Then, on both sides of the satellite in orbit, two flashes lit up at the same time. Then a second time, a third time …
Every time there was a flash, there would be two extremely small nuts bursting out from the surface of the satellite.
"The first screw has been detonated."
"The second screw has been detonated."
"The third … screw has been detonated."
"The fourth … the fourth screw has also succeeded!"
All the explosive screws were detonated. The spring restraining mechanism, which had lost its restraint, immediately released a strictly calculated elastic force, pushing the six solar panels into a flat surface.
The sun was at the angle of minus 27% of the satellite. The light sensor automatically captured the sun's position. The control system drove the panels to slowly rotate, welcoming the sun's dark blue surface.
The moment the sun shone on the panels.
The moment the panels converted the hot sunlight into electricity and stored it inside the battery pack.
Excited cheers came from the space center command hall again.
"The solar panels have been unfolded. The energy circulation system is working normally. The automatic orientation system of the panels is working normally."
"We have succeeded!"
"Succeeded?" Ye Qing asked Commander-in-Chief Chen Fangli with his eyes. The latter gave him an affirmative look.
"Perfect. From the launch to the unfolding of the satellite, every step was as perfect as a textbook." Commander-in-Chief Chen Fangli excitedly held Ye Qing's hands. "Mr. Ye, look at the big screen. The staff has just activated the satellite's main radio transceiver."
"The main transceiver is the core of the communication system, WeChat, and the most energy-consuming component."
"Now that the main radio transceiver is working normally, we have completely succeeded!"
At this moment, Ye Qing's phone rang.
He picked up the phone. Dian Jing, who was in charge of the company, reported to Ye Qing the good news that it had been able to contact the satellite from the control room ten seconds ago.
"Very good!"
"Then let's start the test. After testing the satellite's communication ability, adjust the optical lens and take a picture of our building for us to take a look."
"Okay!" Dian Jing agreed enthusiastically.
After more than ten minutes, Ye Qing received a picture from Dian Jing on WeChat.
It was a picture with a surface full of noise and slightly distorted colors. At first glance, it looked like it had been taken by a fake phone camera with only 300,000 pixels.
But its real source was the picture taken by the communication satellite more than 30,000 kilometers away in space.
The diamond-shaped building stood slightly tilted on the surface of the earth.
At the top of the building, the giant monster logo of Monster Industries could be faintly seen. It shone with a silver light under the sun.
It was obviously unrealistic to make a communication satellite in a geosynchronous orbit have the same outstanding ability as a low-orbit reconnaissance satellite.
But based on the clarity of this picture, Ye Qing's idea of making the communication satellite be able to lock onto and track the aircraft in real time was already valid.
"Commander-in-Chief Chen, didn't you ask me what this satellite was called before?"
Ye Qing clenched his fist and said to him, "This satellite is called Skynet One."
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