Dreaming about space

Chapter 29 Kicked Out
Regarding the determination of responsibility for the Ausat B2 launch accident, the debate between the two parties is very fierce.

According to the judgment of our country's experts, 48 ​​seconds after the launch of the rocket, the satellite's own fuel tank, which was held on the top by the "Long Erbian", suddenly exploded.

This explosion blew open the fairing at the front of the rocket, and the satellite fell off from this position.

[Chang Erbian] automatically adjusted its attitude when the satellite explosion caused vibrations and the carrying weight suddenly decreased, and still flew normally according to the original procedure. It "successfully" sent the remaining parts of [Aoxing B2] to the scheduled destination after the explosion. track……

In this way, the responsibility lies outside.

Foreign experts believe that Changerbian has faulty defects in the design, manufacturing and assembly of the rocket or fairing.

In this way, the responsibility lies with the rocket manufacturer.

To get a mutually agreeable answer, inspection of the satellite debris must be allowed.

But this inspection can only be one-sided.

This back-and-forth, the determination of responsibility for the accident started from December 1992, 12, until the release on August 22, 1993. It took a full 8 days to issue a joint statement on the investigation of the failure of the Austar B14 satellite launch mission. .

In summary, this joint statement has two conclusions:

First, both parties believe that there is no problem with the rocket - there are no defects in the design, manufacturing and assembly that led to the failure of the Ausat B2 launch.

Second, both parties believe that there is no problem with the satellite - there are no defects in design and manufacturing that led to the failure of the Ausat B2 launch.

"You have no problem, and I have no problem. So, the question is, whose responsibility is it?"

Fang Yuan felt that this so-called joint statement, like the previous contract, was a bit of a joke.

"If this question could be answered directly, it would not be an unsolved mystery. This joint statement is acceptable to both parties, and its main purpose is to show it to international commercial insurance companies."

"Why?" Fang Yuan was puzzled, "Are insurance companies so important?"

"Every international commercial launch must be insured. In commercial activities, losses need to be controlled within a controllable range." Liang Tian explained.

Fang Yuan asked again: "What happened next? Like Aoxing B1, Aoxing B2 also conducted a second launch, right?"

"No. The reason why Aoxing B1 was able to launch for the second time was because we saved the satellite through 39 hours of rescue operations. Until dawn the next day, the engine nozzle was still spraying slowly. The burning flame..."

Liang Tian put away his memories and answered Fang Yuan's question: "Austar B2 exploded, and we didn't even have a chance to rescue him."

"In that case, according to the joint statement, both parties will bear their respective responsibilities. We will rebuild the rocket for launch, and Hughes will rebuild the satellite, right?"

"Right. I said you are a smart little kid. Hughes Company later built an Austar B3. More than a year later, on August 1994, 8, we successfully sent the Austar B28 into the predetermined orbit and completed the mission. All Australian Star contracts.”

"Why does it take so long? More than a year? Wasn't there a gap of five months between the two launches of Aoxing B1?" Fang Yuan was puzzled, "Is it because it takes more than a year to build a satellite?"

"No, they are already familiar with building satellites and our rockets. It won't take such a long time. The problem lies in solving the cause of the explosion."

Hughes Company approached China to launch satellites, but it strictly guarded against the technology of the satellites.

In this way, what the satellite looks like is like a blind person to the launcher.

When our country was conducting the Ausat launch test, it carried iron lumps of the same mass.

But there is definitely a big difference between iron lumps and satellites.

Aoxing B1 was lucky that there was no explosion.

After the explosion of Ausat B2, satellites exploded in several launch tests.

The fundamental reason is that the coordination between satellite technology and flexible connection technology is incomplete.

As a result, it is necessary to strengthen the design of the satellite and fairing respectively in the back-to-back situation.

Time passed like this back and forth.

"Isn't it unhappy that it has been delayed for so long? There will be no further cooperation, and it will directly enter the darkest moment?" Fang Yuan made a reasonable speculation.

"On the contrary." Liang Tian said, "Hughes Company was very satisfied with the in-orbit delivery of the two Ausats, and then signed a contract with us for the launch of the [Asia Pacific [-]] satellite."

"Isn't that weird?"

"It's not surprising. Firstly, we are cheap. Secondly, we did send the satellite up, and it is very accurate."

"Just to set one world record after another for orbit accuracy?" Fang Yuan didn't quite understand.

"No, Xiao Fangyuan, the orbit insertion accuracy is still very important."

"What's important, Old Man Liang?"

"Satellites must enter the established orbit. If they are launched and are far away from the established orbit, they must use the energy carried by the satellite to adjust its attitude again and again and return to the established orbit step by step. The energy carried by the satellite It is quite valuable. It seriously affects the service life of the satellite."

Liang Tian went on to explain: "Although some satellites have been launched, the orbit accuracy is too low, which will consume a lot of energy. As a result, the service life may be half of the design life, or even shorter. When the accuracy is high, it will consume a lot of energy." , the service life may exceed the design life.”

"So that's it." Fang Yuan said: "Then this accuracy is indeed quite valuable. If you say that, it's understandable that Hughes Company is willing to continue to cooperate with [Asia Pacific II]."

"What a pity." Liang Tian sighed: "On January 1995, 1, [Asia Pacific 26] exploded as soon as it took off, destroying all the stars and arrows."

"Old Man Liang, is this the darkest moment you mentioned?"

"Not yet... [Asia Pacific [-]] although all the satellites and arrows were destroyed, there were no casualties. In the international commercial satellite launch environment at that time, this was not particularly unacceptable. It could even be said to happen frequently."

"So, Hughes Company is still willing to continue cooperation, right?" Fang Yuan asked.

"That's right. After all, there is international commercial insurance. I buy it every time, and this time we enter the normal compensation process. For commercial launches, everything follows business rules."

Before Fang Yuan could ask again, Liang Tian fell into memories again: "The darkest moment I'm talking about was the launch of International Communications Satellite 1996 on February 2, 15, also known as the 708 incident."

"Is it also an accident that is named directly with the date?"

Fang Yuan could understand the seriousness of this accident as soon as he heard it. Compared with the 2.22 accident that happened to his parents, it only missed one anniversary.

The birth of the Human Space Disaster Memorial Day and the people who were involved in the accident are all caused by top human scientists.

"Yes, although the 2.15 accident is not the biggest disaster in the history of human space, it can still be ranked high. The death data reported domestically is 6 dead and 57 injured, and the number reported abroad is hundreds. In various subsequent rumors, there are even Thousands of…”

"Is it so exaggerated?"

"Yes, it shows how bad the impact was at that time."

February 1996, 2 is the 15th of the Lunar New Year, and the Chinese New Year will be celebrated in four days.

This is the first performance of my country's newly developed [Long March [-]B] rocket.

It is carrying the [Intercom 708 satellite] commissioned by the International Telecommunications Satellite Organization.

[Chang Sanyi] is our country’s meritorious rocket.

[Chang Sanyi] can send a payload of about 5 tons into geostationary transfer orbit.

Compared with the [Long March 25], later affectionately known as the [Fat 14] launch vehicle, which has 8 tons in low-Earth orbit, [-] tons in geosynchronous orbit, and [-] tons in Earth-lunar orbit, the carrying capacity of [Chang March [-]B] Some are not enough.

But the launch site of [Fat Five] was newly built on the seaside, and it is not from the same era as [Chang Sanyi].Before [Fat 20], for 2016 years, until [-], [Chang [-]B] still had the largest carrying capacity among the rockets in service in our country.

Looking back 20 years, it is not difficult to imagine how confident the astronauts at that time were in the launch of Long March [-]B.

An international satellite was launched on its first flight.

This is not over yet, the public broadcast around the world will be started directly.

The first flight of a new type of rocket was carried out with so much fanfare. Although it has happened before, it is absolutely unprecedented.

The satellite base is also peaceful, and everyone greets them with the same sentence: "After shooting this one, you can go home to celebrate the New Year".

"Old man Liang, we just experienced the mid-air explosion of [Asia Pacific [-]]. Didn't the astronauts think that the first flight of [Chang [-]B] would fail?" The Miracle Baby began to transform into a curious baby again.

"Of course I have thought about it." Liang Tian said, "But looking back, since it is the first flight, it is not unacceptable to explode after liftoff."

"That's right, after all, this is not the first live broadcast. I have already developed my mental endurance."

Fang Yuan was right.

The viewers who watched the live broadcast of the satellite launch had already become stronger mentally than when they were watching the Ostar B1 and B2.

1996年2月15日，凌晨3点01分。

Xichang Satellite Launch Center, Launch Pad 2.

[10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0, ignite! 】

Ignition went smoothly and liftoff was normal.

The astronaut breathed a sigh of relief.

At this time, it is unlikely that a disaster greater than the destruction of the [Asia Pacific II] starship will happen again.

But this breath was only relieved for a brief two seconds.

[Long [-]-B] In the third second after the first start, the trajectory immediately changed drastically, from going up vertically to going out horizontally.

At this time, the rocket had just started and its flight altitude was still very low.

The tilt angle became larger and larger, causing the rocket to start flying sideways.

At this time, the rocket's fuel tank is almost still full.

[Chang Sanyi] transformed into a huge missile and flew out from the base.

In just 22 seconds, the rocket crashed on a hilltop 1.8 kilometers away from the base, and a huge mushroom cloud rose into the sky.

The entire launch site immediately lost power.

In the silent and dark command room, everyone only had the image of the explosion before the power outage in their minds.

Liang Tian, ​​who was standing in front of the TV, was also dumbfounded. It took him a long time to say only two words, which he kept repeating: [It's over, it's over, it's over, it's over, it's over...]

The location of the uncontrolled explosion at [Chang San B] was near the collaboration building and hotel where the base’s aerospace engineering and technical personnel temporarily stayed.

The monstrous weather waves brought by the mushroom cloud instantly destroyed the reinforced concrete buildings.

This launch took away 6 scientific researchers who did not enter the underground bunker before the launch, and injured 57 people.

If there hadn't been a hill blocking the rocket's path, this [missile] would have flown straight to the headquarters of this launch mission...

The first time people across the country saw a satellite launch failure in a live broadcast was when the Ausat B1 launch was aborted.

Although there was also confusion and anger, because the final result was good, the astronauts received more comforting telegrams and letters from all over the country.

The situation this time is completely different.

This directly blew up the mountain and killed people.

Even though the number of casualties was not as exaggerated as later reported, this situation directly frightened the local people.

What kind of scene is that?

If satellite launches follow such a trajectory, wouldn't the place where they live and work in peace and contentment be razed to the ground at any time?

A reportage documenting the situation at that time has been described in several details.

An expert who came from BJ to participate in the launch wanted to go back, and the staff went to the train station to buy a soft sleeper ticket for the expert.

With all the ID cards and letters of introduction in place, the conductor threw him out of the window.

[You people have completely disgraced China, and you still want to sit in a soft sleeper...]

A week after the incident, a senior engineer from a satellite launch base went to town to buy chickens.

The chicken seller saw clearly that he was from the base and refused to let the chicken be weighed.

Anyone can buy it from the front, but not from Gao Gong.

[You have been here for decades, with high salaries and bonuses, but you can't even hit foreign satellites as big as watermelons, and you still have the nerve to eat chicken...]

The anger of people across the country is real.

But the price the astronauts have to pay for this failure is not just the anger of the people across the country.

International commercial insurance companies began to refuse to provide insurance for China's international commercial launches.

At this time, the Chinese astronauts were still holding back their energy.

On August 1996, 8, ChinaSat-18 was launched from the same launch base.

This is a geostationary communications satellite, manufactured by Hughes Corporation.

Because the end user is China Communications and Broadcasting Satellite Corporation, even if no international commercial insurance company is willing to underwrite it, there is still China Insurance Property and Casualty Insurance Company.

The liftoff was smooth, but the secondary ignition of the three-stage engine failed and the satellite failed to be put into the intended orbit.

Two failures within half a year have made the Long March series of launch vehicles almost synonymous with "failure" in the international commercial launch market.

No international insurance company is willing to provide insurance for China's commercial rocket launches, which means that no foreign companies will look to China to launch satellites.

Hughes stopped six years of international cooperation with China, and many companies that had signed contracts with the Long March series of rockets also canceled orders.

This is a vicious cycle and a devastating blow.

China's international commercial space launch, which has just started, is facing the darkest moment of being kicked out of the game.

(End of this chapter)