Chapter 1103: The Quota of Academicians

The successful completion of the Shenzhou V mission almost immediately became the hottest topic at the end of 2003.

In particular, the long video clip of astronauts working in the return capsule was reprinted by major media within a day of its broadcast.

Just as O'Keefe guessed, even many foreign media were interested in this section -

Mainly fresh.

After all, although humans have been conducting manned space activities for more than half a century, in fact, until the 21st century, the content that the outside world could directly see was relatively limited.

There are basically just some specific clips that have been edited.

It was only after the International Space Station was initially put into use in 2001 that some stable sources of images became available.

Therefore, for the general public, space missions still have a lot of mystery.

As for the 480 minutes or so of footage from the Shenzhou V spacecraft, although the astronauts hardly moved the entire time and the space inside the spacecraft's return capsule was quite cramped, the level of interactivity was maximized, and the 21P video quality was considered high-definition at the beginning of the st century.

Still continuous and real-time.

In fact, as early as the 1980s, the Americans considered using the high-coverage relay communication network that had just been built to broadcast space activities continuously for a long time in order to further overwhelm the Soviet and Eastern European camp at the propaganda level.

For this purpose, a teacher, Christa McAuliffe, was specially selected as an astronaut, and the plan is to give space lessons to primary and secondary school students across the country.

But she happened to be on the ill-fated Challenger space shuttle...

Afterwards, NASA announced that it would no longer allow ordinary people to participate in space shuttle missions, so the "Teachers in Space" project had to be shelved.

Later, with the end of the Cold War, the United States no longer had this demand.

As a result, China got there first.

In response, at a press conference held in the evening of October 10, Eastern Time, NASA expressed obviously insincere congratulations to its Chinese counterparts, and also stated that it would consider carrying relevant equipment on the next expedition mission to show the ground some daily conditions inside the Destiny laboratory module or the Unity node module.

There are even plans to open a separate channel on NASA's official website to display this type of image content.

It should be said that when it comes to aerospace technology alone, the United States undoubtedly has the upper hand.

The beginning is an almost long-term project.

But it is not difficult for anyone with a discerning eye to see that this is a completely passive behavior after being stimulated by China.

Instead, it seems to have lost its pattern.

Of course, considering the United States' absolute dominance in the field of space exploration, it is impossible for everyone to immediately turn to China for such a thing.

But if I say I have no idea at all...

That is definitely false too.

As for China, the focus of publicity is still on the astronauts and the spacecraft itself.

In fact, some reporters also paid attention to the technology behind that footage, but at the request of Chang Haonan, they finally reported it in an ambiguous and even misleading manner under the name of "space-based digital image transmission system."

The main reason was to avoid mentioning the specific communication method throughout the process, so as to make the outside world believe that it was a traditional synchronous orbit relay satellite that was at work.

The original intention of the Qingluan constellation was to serve as a military remote sensing satellite. Although it does not directly undertake military missions, it never hurts to be a little low-key.

For this reason, Chang Haonan, who appeared in Dongfeng Aerospace City, declined all interviews in the next few days and planned to return to Beijing after handing over all the information.

The Qingluan constellation is essentially a preparation for a group of practical series satellites with stronger performance and more complete functions.

Now that the feasibility of the medium and low orbit relay communication technology route has been proven, it is natural to strike while the iron is hot and start the next step of the plan.

Although Zhang Weiyong may be responsible for the specific work of striving for project approval, the technical route of the key payload is always proposed by Chang Haonan, who will also organize the testing throughout the process.

So there is no way he can be a hands-off boss.

On the other hand, it is also related to the progress of the selection of academicians.

To be honest, with Chang Haonan's current qualifications, honors, and even connections, it would be a natural thing for him to be elected as an academician of any academy, and no one could find any fault with it.

However, Zhu Linyu and Lin Zuoming still said that the interests behind this title are too great. Even if there is no problem with being selected, there is no guarantee that someone will not jump out to cause trouble out of jealousy.

Therefore, the two of them suggested that he leave the capital to "avoid suspicion."

But now, it is almost late October.

Logically speaking, the results of the first round of selection for the 2003 academician election should have been finalized, but they have not yet been finally announced.

As long as this list comes out, Chang Haonan will have no worries at all and can show up in Beijing openly.

In fact, even he himself was a little curious about whether the finalist would be the Academy of Sciences or the Academy of Engineering...

……

In fact, the second round of candidate lists for the election of academicians should be announced in early October according to convention.

The reason why it has been delayed for nearly half a month this year is that there is no movement...

It’s because of Chang Haonan himself.

October 20th, Beijing.

In an office of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, Vice President Du Wanxiang, who is in charge of this year's review work, sat at the table, facing the two lists in front of him with a worried expression.

And at this moment, a figure suddenly appeared outside the door.

After knocking on the door twice and getting no response, he simply walked in.

It was not until the man came in front of him that Du Wanxiang suddenly reacted.

Then quickly get ready to get up:

"Dean Xu?"

The visitor was none other than the president of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, Academician Xu Dikuan.

Academician Xu waved his hand to indicate that it was okay, and then sat down opposite Du Wanxiang:

"Old Du, it's almost the end of October... Why haven't the results of the first round of selection and review been reported to the institute yet?"

When the other party asked about this, Du Wanxiang shook his head helplessly:

"We are still coordinating the quota issue with the Academy of Sciences..."

This answer confused the dean on the other side:

"In principle, the academicians of our Academy of Engineering and Academy of Sciences proceed independently and do not interfere with each other... Are there any quotas that need to be coordinated with them?"

Du Wanxiang rubbed his swollen head:

"Isn't it because a talented player emerged this year..."

As he spoke, he turned the two lists over and pushed them in front of Xu Dikuan at the same time.

The latter saw the circled name almost at first glance.

Moreover, I saw it on both lists...

"Professor Chang?"

Xu Dikuang took a deep breath, sat up straight, and his face was full of confusion:

"Yeah...how could I have forgotten about him..."

Academician Du saw this and moved a little closer, lowering his voice to introduce:

"The Academy of Sciences' Department of Mathematics and Physics said that Professor Chang won the first Fields Medal in Chinese history last year, so it is impossible not to give him the title of academician..."

"But here, Professor Chang has also been nominated by the Liaoning Provincial Science and Technology Association, the Beijing Science and Technology Association, the Aviation Power Group, and six senior academicians. In addition, he has won three national awards and has made immeasurable contributions to my country's aviation technology. There is absolutely no reason for him not to be accepted..."

"..."

After these words, Xu Dikuan's expression became even more twisted.

You know, the Chinese Academy of Engineering has only been established for less than 10 years and is now in a stage where it urgently needs recognition.

Even if we do not consider the backgrounds of these nominators and nominating units, based solely on Chang Haonan's own abilities and contributions, as the dean, he also hopes to be able to award the title of academician of the Academy of Engineering to him.

All I can say is that some people need the title of academician to prove themselves.

But for some others, they must be given the title of academician in order to prove the authority of this selection system.

But then again, Xu Dikuang knew it very well.

If you have to choose between the two academies, most people would probably choose the Academy of Sciences with a deeper historical background...

"Unexpectedly..."

After thinking to no avail, he could only smile bitterly and shook his head:

"There is actually a day when I don't know how to issue this academician title..."