Back to the Republic of China to be a editor

Page 596

What a desperate number.

……

"Ambassador Gu sent a briefing from the United States, saying that the U.S. Senate could no longer sit still and requested a hearing," the prime minister said, "and summoned the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of the Army, Navy and Air Force, and the U.S. National Advisory Committee on Aviation."

To describe the current state of the United States in one sentence, it is broken.Actually, China took the lead, which caused 10 to 20 times more damage to the top leaders of the United States than the Soviet Union.

On December 12, the U.S. Senate required all leaders related to rockets and satellites to go to Washington for a hearing.The Secretary of Defense and the U.S. Navy finally pushed the date to the 5th, which is two days after the launch of Pioneer-TV8.At that time to face the Senate, although there are still blames, but it is not too embarrassing.

"The three armed forces of the United States each carry out a satellite project, repeat construction, fight each other in Congress, and block each other in the field of technology," Tang Hua said. "The efficiency of using human, financial and material resources is bound to be lower than ours. Moreover, their pattern is not so easy to change. of."

Prime Minister: "The briefing also mentioned that the United States' own satellite will be launched soon. It will be the night of December 12, and our side will be tomorrow morning."

Tang Hua: "Prime Minister, we set the satellite launch time on the 3rd to 5th, because we calculated in November when the first US satellite might be launched at the earliest. Now, we are just a little bit ahead."

Prime Minister: "In this case, the United States should be the third country to launch an artificial satellite. It's not bad, it's the top three in the world."

Tang Hua: "The United States is indeed following the path of the fastest launch. The satellites and rockets they are putting up now are immature and have not been thoroughly tested. But... how to put it, we don't curse him, Still hope it works.”

Qian Xuesen: "It's not easy for those who are engaged in rocketry in the United States."

……

Cape Canaveral.

The sunny day and the breeze are the best time for space launch.

Tang Hua's "hope it will come true" Pioneer carrier rocket is placed on the LC-18A launch pad.The small satellite nicknamed "Grapefruit" has been installed in the head of the rocket, and then covered with a conical hood, it has become a Pioneer-TV3 rocket-satellite combination.

The assembled Pioneer-TV3 has a total length of 21.9 meters and a diameter of 1.14 meters. ——Obviously, Pioneer-TV3 is actually smaller than the combination of Long March [-] + Advance [-].

There is no way to do this. In order to launch satellites in the fastest time, the Atlas ICBM cannot be counted on at all, so the medium-range ballistic missiles of the US Navy and the US Army were found to be modified.

Three TV stations took pictures of Pioneer-TV3's TV broadcast rights, and now three cameras are installed 100 to 150 meters away from the launch pad, and the OB vans of the three TV stations are parked behind.In addition to the TV station, there were reporters from nearly 10 radio stations and newspapers.

Milton Rosen looked at the Stitch Monster in front of him. Although he knew that the launch of the rocket would be bad or bad, he was ordered to launch it immediately, so he didn't care about other things.Besides, after he received the mission, he explained that the Pioneer rocket is now launched in a full state of three stages, and the success rate is extremely low.

This stitch monster rocket has three stages in total.The first stage is equipped with a General Electric GEX-405 engine, which uses liquid oxygen kerosene; the second stage rocket uses red smoke nitric acid and unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine; the third stage?Its third stage uses a solid rocket motor.

7:05 p.m. local time.

"……emission!"

The rocket body of Pioneer-TV3 was emitting white steam—a normal phenomenon after the liquid oxygen filling of the first-stage engine—and a puff of smoke was emitted from the tail, and then the smoke turned into flames.Driven by the engine, the rocket rises slowly and then descends slowly.

Under the watchful eyes of the three cameras and all the people present, Pioneer-TV3 sat down on the ground. "Boom!" The liquid oxygen and kerosene storage tanks burst at the same time, and the rocket and the LC-18A launcher were engulfed by the explosive fireball.Before the rocket was completely engulfed in flames, the small hood on the tip of the rocket could clearly be seen crooked.

There was another loud explosion in the fire, and the flame on the LC-18A platform became 20% larger. This probably means that the third-stage solid rocket propellant was also ignited.

……

"It's too bad..." Milton Rosen covered his eyes.

It was not only director Milton Rosen who covered his eyes, but also millions of American viewers in front of the TV.The rocket launch was at 7pm, which is the time when working class workers come home from factories to cook/prepare meals.

In the control room at the center of Cape Canaveral, one by one, the staff stood up from their work positions in a daze. The rocket was so burned that no measurement, control and tracking were necessary.

"Hey! 'Grapefruit' has sent a report! The satellite is working!" A measurement and control officer looked at the instrument in front of him with incredible eyes.

"Didi, didi, didi..."

"Grapefruit" actually started sending radio waves.Moreover, the signal is particularly strong.

Its signal is of course strong, because the satellite is on or near the launch pad.

Late at night that day, after the fire at the launch site became smaller and the fire brigade repeatedly cleaned and decontaminated it, the explorers walked into the site wearing gas masks.After some searching, the "grapefruit" was found in the grass more than 70 meters away from the launch pad.When the rocket exploded on the ground, the nose cone was shaken off, the small satellite was also shaken off, and rolled into the grass dozens of meters away.

The satellite was only burned by the flames for a few seconds, and it was miraculously undamaged when it fell to the ground, and then it started up by itself.

……

Since there are millions of people watching TV, on the morning of December 12 the next day, the New York Stock Exchange urgently suspended trading in Glenn Martin's stock to prevent it from plummeting.

Now Glenn Martin, American rockets, and American satellites are famous.

Especially the small satellite that was roasted by fire and fell to the ground. The American media imitated the name of the Soviet Union Sputnik-1 (artificial satellite No. 1) and gave it a bunch of nicknames: Flopnik-1 (failed satellite No. 1), Kaputnik-[-] (Damn satellite one), Oopsnik-[-] (oh shit one, a TV presenter yelled oops when the rocket exploded) and so on.

"The pressure in the fuel tank and fuel pump was lower than normal, so the high-pressure gas from the combustion chamber flowed back into the fuel pump, causing the fuel pump to stop working and rupture. After the rocket rose 1.2 meters, this failure caused the rocket to lose all thrust and began to fall. .”

"We used to think that the unproven second and third stages were the most risky parts, but now the problem lies in the first stage. I suggest that the Pioneer launch vehicle suspend subsequent launches to investigate and correct this failure, The Pioneer rocket can only continue to fly after it is satisfied that the rocket's defect is no longer present.

Chapter 167, Invite the people of the whole country to choose a star song

"Yesterday afternoon, the United Nations General Assembly held the second discussion meeting of the "Space Convention Initiative". At the meeting, the representative of the Soviet Union stated that it could provide assistance to the United States in the field of aerospace technology."

"When the meeting touched on the topic of whether space technology might be used in the military, Soviet representative Goncharov said the above words. Goncharov said that the Soviet Union is in a leading position in space technology, but the Soviet Union does not intend to use Outer space is used on the battlefield. The Soviet Union adheres to the principle of peaceful use of space and uses space technology to promote the progress of human civilization and benefit the Soviet people and the people of the world."

"Goncharov finally stated that if the United States also promises to always adhere to this principle and not use space technology in the military field, then the Soviet Union can consider providing assistance to the United States in the field of space technology, just as the Soviet Union has been doing, for the backward in the same way that the state does industrial and technical assistance.”

"After learning of the statement made by Goncharov's representative, the reporter of this newspaper contacted General James Doolittle, chairman of the US National Aviation Advisory Committee, through various channels. When the reporter asked, 'Will the United States accept Soviet space technology? aid, or the purchase of Soviet rockets and space technology', General Doolittle hung up."

……

Tang Hua had known for a long time that when comrades in the Soviet Union hurt their words, it was to the level of hurting the sky.

On December 12, the United States launched Pioneer-TV6, not only China was paying attention, but the Soviet Union was also paying attention.When Pioneer-TV3 exploded into a fireball on the launch pad, the Soviet embassy in the United States, like China, was the first to notify the country.

Due to the serious setback of the US space program, the gap with the Soviet Union has widened. Now the Soviet Union is not only relaxed, but also in a joking mood.

After the explosion of Pioneer-TV3, the United States canceled all the Pioneer launch vehicles in December, and it seems that they have to go back to adjust and improve.If the estimate is correct, the Pioneer series of rockets fell out of favor under the fury of Congress, and then the U.S. Army, with the support of von Braun and the whimsy of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, will use the Juno-12/Jupiter-C Success.

The Soviet Union responded to the failed U.S. satellite launch, and China, one of the first two countries to launch a satellite, had a few words to say.

"Chairman and Vice-Chairman Liu said that the launch of artificial satellites certainly has the side of improving military technology, but on the other hand, it does represent scientific progress, and we must look at this issue dialectically. The US satellite launch failed, and their plan to improve missile technology If it fails, we can ridicule it for a while; but if the United States does not study space science in the future, it will be a loss of science, and it will be a pity."

"These are the original words of the chairman, the article can be written like this. Old Qian, I have other things to do these days, so I will leave this article to you."

Tang Hua brought the words.It is more appropriate to write an article in response to the United States. After all, there are still many people who know Qian Xuesen in the American aerospace industry.

Qian Xuesen: "Hey, that is to express regret, give a little encouragement to the United States, and don't write too much sarcasm. Is that what it means?"

Tang Hua: "Yes."

……

"Recently, the launch of the US Pioneer-TV3 carrier rocket-satellite system failed, the rocket was completely destroyed, and the satellite was also seriously damaged."

"The failure of Pioneer-TV3 is a serious setback to the US space program. The US military's plan to launch satellites and develop ballistic missile technology against the Soviet Union has been postponed. On the other hand, the US government has invested in rocket and satellite projects in the past. The cost of a launch vehicle exceeds 10 million US dollars, and the wealth created by the working people of the United States disappeared with an explosion."

"For this, I can only express my great regret. I hope that the future US space programs and space launches will be for the purpose of peaceful use of space, and I also hope that scientists, engineers and other workers in the US aerospace field will not suffer from one or two setbacks. , and lose the enthusiasm for exploration and the courage to pursue dreams.”