Chapter 697: The Phase 1 Goal Has Been Completed

The successful recovery of the first two stages of the rocket means that half of the rocket launch is completed. Now it depends on whether the satellite can reach the predetermined orbit. Now there are only two moving pictures on the screen.

One is the satellite orbit picture simulated by the aggregation of satellite data. It can be seen that the satellite is slowly and firmly adjusting the orbit, gradually approaching the predetermined orbit.

The other is that the third-stage rocket is slowly moving towards low orbit with the fairing, and the recovery of the third-stage rocket will not be as fast as the first and second stages.

Because it is already in space, it needs to change its orbit constantly, gradually lower its orbital height, and at the same time grasp the timing of lowering its orbital height to avoid landing elsewhere.

If it is too far away from the rocket recovery platform when it leaves space orbit, it will not be able to recover, so every time node must be precisely controlled, and no mistakes can be made.

Fortunately, as long as it is still on the space orbit, even if there is a mistake, it can be adjusted. It just goes around the earth one more time, and then finds the right time to adjust to the correct position.

In order to save fuel, the third-stage rocket uses distributed ion thrusters inside. Although the power is not high, it is more than enough to adjust the posture in space.

When it is officially out of space orbit and begins to descend rapidly towards the ground, it will use the remaining fuel inside the rocket to continuously decelerate and adjust its attitude.

The two things that are currently going on have no results for a while. The monitoring ships on the ocean and the monitoring stations built in other countries need to wait until the two things are completely over before they can finish their work.

As for Ye Zishu, there is no need to stay here and wait, but follow the relevant personnel to the recovery platform where the first and second stage rockets have been recovered.

The recovered two-stage rocket has not exploded, but there is still a slight vibration. In addition, it has undergone air friction and high-speed operation, and the shell must have gone through a big test.

It is also very important whether these are still in the designed state. If the recycling is successful, but the materials and the parts inside are seriously damaged, they cannot be used next time.

It took a while for everyone to arrive at the first-stage rocket recovery platform. The surrounding area is empty, and a raised artificial platform stands here quietly, looking very lonely.

The rocket is standing here quietly. When Ye Zishu arrived, the staff had already driven the engineering vehicle over, and used the full-coverage hugging mechanical arm to hug the huge first-stage rocket.

Then it slowly left the recovery platform, then slowly tilted, and finally turned into a horizontal state, and then slowly approached the transportation frame of the transportation vehicle waiting quietly beside it.

When it is confirmed that there is no shaking visible to the naked eye, it slowly descends, and the rocket is gradually approached to the transport frame. This process is also careful, for fear of uneven force and damage to the components.

Ye Shu and the others didn't get very close, because there was still some fuel in the rocket that hadn't burned out, and if the operation was not done properly, it might still explode.

They saw the cautiousness of the operators from a distance, and Ye Zishu thought they were too cautious. When he designed it, the redundancy was actually quite large, and he also made a lot of innovations in materials, which were not so fragile.

But he didn't say it either. The saying "Be careful and make no big mistakes" is absolutely correct in the field of aerospace. Any negligence may lead to wasted efforts.

After about twenty minutes, the rocket was finally safely placed on the transport workshop, and then another engineering vehicle came over and began to extract the unburned fuel from the rocket.

Avoid the fuel shaking during the transportation of the rocket, causing friction and then burning. If this happens, it will be funny, although the probability of this is very low.

Because the rocket has experienced violent shocks during the recovery process, the fuel inside must also have violent shaking, which was actually considered during the design.

This is done just in case, even if there is no frictional high temperature, it will be very troublesome if it leaks.

Because rocket fuel is a pollutant, it is definitely not clean energy.

About an hour later, after making sure that all the remaining fuel inside was pumped out, Ye Shu and the others approached the transport vehicle to observe the state of the rocket's surface at close range.

There are traces of burning on the rocket. This is a high-temperature combustion phenomenon caused by friction with the air. Ye Zishu took a closer look and found that the problem is not serious. After taking it back, wipe it clean and apply a layer of high-temperature combustion-resistant coating.

When the first-stage rocket departs, the speed is actually not particularly fast, because it helps the second-stage and third-stage rockets to accelerate, and the actual speed is not very high.

Therefore, the friction between the surface of the rocket and the air is not too intense. If there are no major problems with the internal components, the first-stage rocket can be put into use again.

Other staff also observed closely and came to the same conclusion as him. Some people even applauded to express their joy.

They didn't stay here for a long time either. The transport vehicles slowly headed towards the factory building of the launch center. The first-stage rocket will be tested there. If it is confirmed that there are no major problems, they will directly carry out maintenance and overhaul here.

There is no need to transport it back to the manufacturing plant, that distance is too far, and it is not worthwhile to go back and forth, and Ye Zishu and the others drove to the second recycling platform.

The recovery platform of the second-stage rocket is far away. The first-stage rocket generally flies upwards vertically, not far from the launch site, so the landing site is relatively close to the launch site.

But the second-stage rocket starts to fly obliquely, and it is very far away from the launch site. In order to save energy, the recovery platform is naturally built far away.

Ye Zishu and the others drove for nearly three hours before arriving at the recovery platform of the second-stage rocket. The engineering vehicle hadn't come over yet, and they saw the rocket standing quietly on the recovery platform.

The staff had been arranged here before, and when Ye Zishu arrived, the staff reported to them the current status of the second-stage rocket.

According to a preliminary assessment, the damage to the rocket body is completely within the design, and if there are no problems inside, it should be usable again.

After listening to their preliminary results, Ye Zishu didn't listen to the report completely, but went to the launch platform and took a closer look. The surface of the rocket was more severely damaged than the first stage rocket.

But it's just that the paint on it is damaged, the paint falls off, and then it can be re-sprayed.

As for whether the structure inside has been damaged, it is not clear at present. It needs to be tested with neutrino detection equipment to get results. If the structure of parts is damaged to a certain extent, it needs to be disassembled for detection and replacement.

If the neutrino detection equipment detects no problem, basically there is no need to disassemble them to check one by one, and then put them back together, which is likely to cause secondary damage.

After seeing it, the leader of the same launch base said to Ye Zishu: "We have seen the first and second stage rockets, and there should be no major problems. It seems that our planned goal has been achieved.

It is still the technology of Baihu Technology Company. This set of rocket technology and launch system should be regarded as the top in the world, which has saved us a lot of launch costs.

If the third-stage rocket can also be recovered safely, then most of our costs will come from fuel, which will open up a new situation in space launches. "

If only the first and second stage rockets are successfully recovered, the cost of each launch is only about 30% of the original cost. If even the third stage rockets can be successfully recovered, the cost is less than 10% of the original cost.

In the future, it will depend on how much the rocket continues to be damaged after multiple launches. If the rocket is not used more than once, the cost can be greatly saved. When Ye Zishu designed the rocket, the rocket can be reused hundreds of times.

However, the further you go to the back, the higher the maintenance and repair cost of the rocket. After hundreds of times, there is no value of repeated use at all, because the high maintenance cost is not as good as using a new rocket.

Now it is only the first launch. After the rocket is recovered, it is hardly affected in any way. However, as the number of times increases, the material structure will gradually be damaged. When it reaches a certain level, it cannot continue to be used.

Since the rocket can be used continuously, as a manufacturer, Baihu Technology Company, if it only makes a one-off sale, its interests will definitely be greatly damaged.

Therefore, after the follow-up negotiations, Baihu Technology can obtain a certain amount of income from the launch fee every time it is launched. This income is not the technology authorization fee negotiated before.

Due to the extremely high economic value, if the hundreds of reuses in the design are really achieved, the launch cost will continue to decrease, which may only be about 5% of the original.

In the launch market, such an offer would definitely not be made. According to the current launch fee discounted by half, all global commercial launch orders can be snatched up. There is no need to elaborate on the economic benefits involved.

Therefore, in addition to the previous technology authorization fee, Baihu Technology Company also obtained an additional 50% of the benefits, which means that it can obtain 60% of the launch benefits.

This does not include subsequent maintenance and parts costs, but in this regard, Baihu Technology Company can't talk too loudly, and has reached an agreement on the charging standard.

As a technology research and development and provider, if the interests of Baihu Technology Company are not guaranteed, it will seriously delay the enthusiasm for research and development, and it will also affect the development of the entire domestic space launch field.

It is also based on this kind of thinking that the two parties have reached this benefit distribution plan. If there is no agreement on this aspect, Baihu Technology Company is likely to increase the price, anyway, it will not suffer by default.

After reading the situation here, the sky was about to get dark, and the construction transport vehicles hadn't come yet. Ye Zishu didn't intend to wait, so he went back directly.

In the future, engineering transport vehicles should be sent here in advance. This test launch has no experience, and there is not much hope for successful recovery, so the preparations are not very sufficient.

These were not what Ye Zishu considered. When he returned to the launch base, it was completely dark. Ye Zishu ate dinner here. Anyway, he was fine, so he went to the monitoring center again.

I found a place to continue my book writing career, and at the same time, I was watching the situation here. The satellite will enter the predetermined orbit if there is no accident tonight, and then it will be de-orbited, so that the test satellite will crash automatically as required.

As for the recovery of the third-stage rocket, it may have to wait until tomorrow morning, mainly because a lot of work is difficult to do at night, so it is better to wait, anyway, there is not much difference.

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