Dreaming about space

Chapter 27 Failure of ideals
[Asia [-]] is our country’s satellite launch site, and it is the first time for an international commercial launch.

China's launch site made its international debut for the first time and set a world record for satellite orbit accuracy.

After two years, our country launched its second international commercial launch.

Liang Tian's parents called him on the afternoon of the launch of Aoxing B1: "Tiantian, my parents have bought firecrackers, and the workshop director will also come to our rooftop to watch the live broadcast together. There won't be any accidents in the end." ?”

Liang Tian knew where his parents' worries came from.

Just a few months ago, on December 1991, 12, the Dongfanghong-28 communication satellite, which was later often referred to as the [Zhongxing-[-]] geosynchronous transfer orbit satellite, failed to successfully enter the scheduled orbit after launch. , causing the launch to fail.

After this, there was a very strong voice in China that opposed the live broadcast of the launch of Austar B1: [There is too much pressure, it is best not to live broadcast. 】

After many twists and turns, the decision to broadcast live was finally made.

The live TV satellite communication vehicle drove from North China to Xichang, and everything was ready.

Liang Tian did not directly answer his parents' questions, but said: "The launch is scheduled for 6:40, and the News Network will also broadcast it live. Have you ever seen a News Network live broadcast fail?"

Liang Tian's parents reacted: "Indeed not."

It takes a lot of skills to persuade others.

Among these techniques, the simplest is to use the concepts already recognized in the other party's mind.

What else is more direct and effective than [use your logic to convince yourself]?

In 1992, every household in the area where Liang Tian's family was located already had a TV.

But everyone still likes to gather on the rooftop to watch major live broadcasts such as satellite launches and bids for the Olympic Games, so that they can start celebrating directly after explanations.

That kind of mentality seems a bit strange now.

It's like if you come out to celebrate a second later, you will fall behind others.

All over the country, many rooftops in cities and many ancestral halls in rural areas have become temporary gathering places for people just like Liang Tian's family.

Liang Tian's parents would call Liang Tian to express their deepest concerns because they had always paid special attention to aerospace and knew that the China Star [-] launch failed a few months ago.

Others who are further away from aerospace are mostly still immersed in the unprecedented success of Asia One and the Asian Games.

People are watching the live broadcast of the satellite launch with a confident and high-spirited attitude.

Most people have never thought about the possibility of failure, thinking that it is just a "going through".

Needless to say, at that time, there were not many launch sites capable of launching international commercial satellites.

The client, Hughes Rocket Company, didn't have many choices.

This time, what carried the Aoxing B1 into space was a brand new launch vehicle called Chang Erliang.

This launch vehicle created a precedent in the history of commercial launches on Earth - when Hughes signed a satellite launch contract with our country, Long Erbang was just a sketch.

The sketches mentioned here are hand-drawn, very rudimentary schematic diagrams.

It is more like a Chinese painting than a drawing. Four booster rockets are bundled around the body of the main rocket, giving it a scientific name, called "Long March 4 E Type."

It is just an idea and has not entered the formal research and development stage at all.

At that time, Chinese astronauts took this sketch of a concept and began to "talk on paper" to participate in the bidding for Australia's second-generation national communications satellite system.

Then, he won the bid.

In other words, for this launch, a satellite launch contract was signed first, and then the development and manufacturing of a rocket capable of carrying the satellite into space began.

This behavior is actually very inconsistent with business logic.

We don’t even have rockets yet, so we’re just trying to make a big pie out of it—just wait a minute, and when this rocket comes out, we’ll send your satellite up there.

No matter how you listen to it, it sounds a bit loose.

What is even more exaggerated is not the contract itself, but the time when the contract was signed - the end of 1988.

This also means that when we signed the contract with Austar B1, we were still a year and a half away from the success of [Asia No. [-]].

Our country has absolutely no successful international commercial space launch experience.

Is Hughes Company crazy to sign such a contract?

It is impossible for a businessman to be crazy if he pursues profit.

In 1984, our country began to investigate the international commercial space launch market.

In October 1985, it was announced internally that the Long March series of launch vehicles would be put on the international market.

In July 1986, the Long March series of launch vehicles were officially launched into the international market.

At that time, our country's launch vehicle technology, launch technology, and measurement and control technology were close to or reaching the internationally advanced level.

Satellite recovery technology and high-energy low-temperature fuel rocket technology have also become among the world's most advanced.

It is one of the few countries in the world that can control and manage satellites with its own measurement and control communication network.

However, without successful experience, it does not have much say in the commercial launch market.

There are too many doubts here, and even the price advantage cannot be eliminated.

Without precedent, it would be difficult to attract international satellite manufacturing companies to hand over their satellites to Chinese launch sites for launch.

Even if our country's launch quotation is 1/2 of the lowest quotation from other countries capable of launching, it still cannot dispel such concerns.

Since our country announced its entry into international commercial satellite launches, a total of seven agreements have been signed.

Poor management leads to poor management, bankruptcies lead to bankruptcies, cancellations lead to cancellations.

Only two of Hughes's Ausat have entered the final launch process. 【Note 1】

As a top commercial satellite manufacturing company, Hughes cannot suffer losses.

Against this historical background, the Chinese astronauts signed a very demanding contract in order to win this contract.

First, Hughes did not pay us any money up front.

Second, it does not provide us with any technical materials about this satellite.

Third, Changerbian must complete a successful test launch in the summer of 1990.

According to the contract signed at that time, the Chang Erliang launch vehicle was only given a total of 18 months from research and development, to manufacturing, to successful test launch.

Even for the most advanced countries in the world at the time, it would take more than two years to complete such research and development.

This clause gives a very short period of time, but it still seems like a “normal” clause.

The last supplementary condition that follows is very "child's play" - as long as Hughes believes that China cannot launch, or there is insufficient evidence to prove that China can launch on time, Hughes has the right to terminate the contract. and demanded compensation of US$100 million from China.

To put it simply, it is, [I don’t think you can do it. I think you can’t launch on time, so you have to pay me money. I don’t even have to give you a chance to try. 】

When Fang Yuan heard this, he couldn't understand: "You don't have any rights at all, it's all obligations. Are you so domineering?"

"Of course, at that time, not only did we not have any experience with a successful international commercial launch, but we also only had a conceptual diagram of the Chang Erliang rocket. How could we negotiate terms with others?"

No one knows what the Hughes company's mentality was when they signed this contract.

Do you want to give China's commercial space launch a chance, or think about it, there is nothing to lose anyway.

The developing China Aerospace has launched a nationwide mobilization.

In order to complete this contract on time, our country has mobilized more than 20 enterprises and institutions in 74 cities in more than 300 provinces.Twenty technical problems such as rocket bundling and connection were solved within 100 days.

More than 180 ground tests were completed within 300 days.

The Chang Erliang launch vehicle launched another launch test on July 1990, 7, and achieved success. 【Note 16】

With the success of [Asia-1990] in March 3 and the successful test flight of the Hechang Erlian launch vehicle, no matter what the initial mentality of Hughes Company was, it also changed.

When the Austar B1 was launched for the first time, the Chinese people watched the live broadcast in front of the TV, and the client was also confidently waiting for the celebration ceremony after the successful launch.

Fang Yuan was confused by Liang Tian: "Old man Liang, one moment you set a precedent, the other moment you succeeded in the experiment, and then you told me about the darkest moment."

“Up until the afternoon when my parents called me, everything was perfect.”

Liang Tian's family watched the live launch of Austar B1 in Shanghai and Sichuan respectively.

1992年3月22日6时40分，展现在亿万电视观众眼前的长二捆火箭，在棕黄和银白色的滚滚烟雾升起后又一动不动。

Liang Tian recalled with a wry smile: "Many people thought the TV at home was broken."

At this time, Miracle Baby transformed into a curious baby: "The rocket doesn't move, so why do you think the TV is broken? The first thing a normal person would consider is that the rocket is broken, right?"

"No, Xiao Fangyuan. Not to mention the ordinary audience, even the experts at the scene were dumbfounded."

In the history of world launches before March 1992, 3, whether it was launching satellites or missiles, whether it was launching space stations or spacecrafts, there were only two situations.

The first is that the rocket takes off after ignition is started.

Second, the rocket cannot ignite after the ignition program is started.

For example, Chang Erbian carried the Aoxing B1. The ignition process was started, the rocket engine was ignited, and finally it became motionless. This was unprecedented.

"There are only two situations?" Fang Yuan was puzzled. "Aren't there many rockets that exploded halfway through launch?"

"Air explosions also belong to the first situation. They have already taken off." Liang Tian replied.

"Oh, okay." Fang Yuan asked again, "Then why is Chang Erbang carrying the Aoxing B1 so lazy?"

"That's not laziness, that's an emergency shutdown!"

"So, if you put it this way, the rocket is fine and the satellite is fine, right?" Fang Yuan concluded.

"Yes!" Liang Tian nodded, "This was considered a miracle at the time."

"Old man Liang, can we not mention the word miracle? In my whole life, I have never seen anyone more miraculous than me."

Liang Tian followed the good example and said, "Okay, don't do anything in front of the miracle baby."

Fang Yuan gritted his teeth and said, "That bad old man is very bad."

"Xiao Fangyuan, I have never said that I am a good person. But Miracle Baby is indeed a very sensitive person."

Liang Tian called "Miracle Baby" again and again, which made Fang Yuan feel heartbroken, but he couldn't be too serious with a centenarian.

"I'm sharp, I'm extremely sharp, my whole family is sharp, I have the sensitivity inherited from my ancestors, okay! Then, where am I sharp?"

"You can point out that the rocket and satellite are still in good condition. This is your sensitivity. Everyone who watched the live broadcast at that time, including my parents, felt that the launch had lost the face of the Chinese people. But From an international perspective, that failure brought Chang Erbang’s reputation on earth to its peak.”

"This is like the polarization of Wanhu Feitian's evaluation at home and abroad, right?" Fang Yuan gave his own understanding.

"No, we feel that we have failed, but the client does not think so. Hughes created a new word called launch abort, the middle, rather than the end of the contract that can be ended at any time. .”

Fang Yuan smiled: "It's just one word difference."

"Yes, it's just a word difference, but the meaning is huge. After the launch was suspended, the client, Hughes Company, directly paid a deposit of US$520 million in advance to support another launch."

"Huh? It obviously failed, but it became a seller's market?"

"That's right!" Liang Tian patted his thigh excitedly, "On the third day after the launch failure, on March 1992, 3, the International Communications Satellite Organization directly signed a contract with us for another large communications satellite. Satellite launch contract.”

"It seems...it's not difficult to understand. In the eyes of the satellite company, the safety of the satellite is definitely more important than the safety of the rocket. The rocket engine has already been ignited and can be shut down in an emergency. Even if this is a failure, it is still a failure. The failure of ideals.”

"Haha, I just said you are smart, Xiao Fangyuan. The chief scientist of Hughes Company at the time also commented like this. He said [this is an ideal failure and a perfect success]."

"It's not even launched yet, so to say it was a perfect success would be a bit exaggerated, right?"

"The perfect success refers to the second launch of the Auxing B1 satellite. On August 1992, 8, the brand-new Long 14-bundle rocket successfully launched the Aoxing B5 that had been stored with us for almost 1 months. On track."

After hearing what Liang Tian said so much, Fang Yuan was a little curious: "Storage?"

"The enemy! I let you, melon boy, catch the key point again."

Liang Tian was so excited that he spoke with a hint of the spicy Sichuan flavor from his college days, "Since it was considered suspended on March 3, not only do we not need to pay compensation, but the other party also has to pay us storage fees."

This is indeed a very gratifying result.

The abort of the launch does not count as a failure and will not be included in the [failure record] in the contract.

It is not considered a failure. The contract compensation that hundreds of millions of compatriots in front of the TV are worried about will naturally no longer exist.

In this way, the Chang Erliang rocket will not die just after its debut, and satellite companies will not need to build new satellites and choose new rockets.

If you include the international commercial insurance company that undertook the launch mission, there is no need to pay compensation.

The result of the entire launch failure can be regarded as a "three wins".

Because that was our country. After having satellite live broadcast, it was the first time that a major failure was displayed in front of the people.

At first, many people couldn't accept it.

Some scolded the astronauts, while others scolded them for letting themselves watch such a live broadcast.

However, when people understand that in the history of the world's aerospace industry, there has never been a launch abort in which the rocket has already been ignited and was shut down in an emergency.

When everyone knew that this "failure" not only did not have to bear high compensation, but also won many new contracts.

Slowly, people across the country came to their senses and sent encouragement to the launch center.

A citizen in Kaili, Guizhou sent a telegram to the launch center: [After the grief, I wish you a successful launch of Aoxing]

The telegram sent to the launch center by students from the Physics Department of Nankai University read: [Although it has not been launched yet, the work is still indispensable.The people of the country encourage each other, and one day we will surely hear that the silver arrow has soared ninety thousand miles]

There are also many people who write letters.

A senior high school student who is about to graduate from the High School Affiliated to Hunan Normal University wrote in the letter: [I was shocked to hear that the first launch of Australia Star was unsuccessful, and I felt extremely heavy.We know that this launch mission is arduous and of far-reaching significance, and you are shouldering a heavy burden... Please believe that the people of the country are your strong backing, and our hearts are closely connected...]

　【Note 1】:
　　What I want to mention here is why [Asia No. [-]] is not the first to stick to the contract from scratch.

　　[Asia One] was purchased by Hong Kong Asia Satellite Communications Co., Ltd. after several turnovers.

　　The original name of this satellite was [Western Union 1984]. It was launched via the space shuttle in February 2, but failed to enter the intended orbit.

　　Became an orphan wandering in space.

　　This satellite was luckier than the original one. It only wandered for 8 months before being recovered.

　　After changing its owner several times, it was finally renamed [Asia One] and successfully launched into space, bringing many live broadcasts of important historical moments to our country.

　　【Note 2】

　　The reason why I say again here is because the first launch test was conducted three days before this, on July 1990, 7.

　　Comrade Wei Wenju, a veteran assembler in the rocket assembly workshop and a national-level technician, died in the rescue operation.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)