Class B base.

The Laser Lab gained control of the "scrapped" Explorer VII, parking it on a high ground to facilitate laser aiming.

Firing a laser beam from 380,000 kilometers away on an object orbiting at a relative number of kilometers per second is almost as difficult as scoring a hole-in-one in a round of golf from 10 kilometers away.

Qianjun Stick 1 has not stopped testing in space, this is the farthest time, in order to test the limits of its positioning and sighting system, this distance attack can not even use mechanical structures to mediate the deflection of light, relying on small changes in the emission angle of the prism to aim.

At the same time, it is also necessary to cooperate closely with the lunar orbit and the low-earth orbit satellite, first correct the atomic clock in advance, and then continuously determine the precise orbit with extremely low error, in order to provide correct guidance for Qianjunbang-1.

The beam excited by the seven lasers takes about 1.2 seconds to reach the moon, the excitation time is no more than 0.9 seconds, and the photons need 90,000 kilometers to reach the moon when it finishes its attack.

In the field of view of infrared remote sensing satellites, the temperature of the lunar surface that has entered the sunny side varies from 140 degrees to more than 200 degrees, and the temperature in the target area is close to 180 tons, but at that moment, an area of about 30 square meters briefly rises to more than 500 degrees Celsius, like a wave in the tide, fleeting.

The light spot with a diameter of about 3 meters only covered half of the body of Explorer 7, with an error of about 1.5 meters, which caused the exposed part of the body to continue to overheat for nearly 7 seconds, and multiple sensor signals went offline, sending back a large area of error, but the antenna part was intact and was not disconnected for the time being.

Spanning 380,000 kilometers, the spot only spreads to a diameter of 3.1 meters with a deviation of 1.5 meters, which is a 50% hit rate.

For the Qianjun Stick No. 1 of the first machine, this result is already quite satisfactory.

Zhao Xiaowen was satisfied with the experimental process of Qianjun Stick No. 1, and in the past three months, the laser laboratory has been like a child who has gotten an infrared pen, wanting to take pictures of everything he sees.

A less important latitude and longitude backup satellite? Destroy, anyway, one No. 5 rocket can make up for a dozen; Space debris stumbled upon? photo, clean the low earth orbit; An abandoned satellite of a certain country? Free processing.

Half of the 79 tests were on the ground, and the other half were all kinds of gadgets that could be found in space, and now they can finally be stopped.

……

Kazakh, Baikonur.

Mikrin Evgeny and Alexander Maksimovich stood together next to the Ebireni airport, and the former picked up the binoculars and looked at the horizon and frowned.

"It's almost time, why hasn't it been there yet?"

Alexander: "Trust our automated control technology, the Hurricane's booster is a big guy, and to land as smoothly as possible, the computer should still be circling." ”

It has also been three months since the resurrection of the "Hurricane", that is, the Energy 2 rocket project.

The team is probably the oldest in the world, with an average age of over 70, and is basically the same as the old people who have been in charge since the days of the Alliance.

What they did was to have the FSB search for old scientists who were still alive, while constantly restarting the dusty data.

The technical data of RD0120 hydrogen-oxygen engine are still there, but the resumption of production requires a lot of missing equipment, and is currently mobilizing domestic manufacturers or ordering from abroad, and is expected to resume production within one year.

Fortunately, the RD170 is okay, after so many years of the latest generation of RD171MV there are now two, and the engineers from Ermao have modified it according to the model of the Energy No. 2 booster that Lucia had previously made - it was originally an independent launch project to defraud international funding, but now it has become a reality first.

RD171MV is a four-chamber engine with a weight of 10.8 tons and a thrust of about 800 tons, making it the largest single thrust liquid rocket engine in the world.

The Hurricane booster equipped with it has a square bump on one side that is almost as long as the body of the arrow, deploys after the booster falls to a predetermined height, and then glides all the way back to the landing field, landing on three wheels on its belly.

Compared to the Space Shuttle, the Hurricane booster's dry-mass ratio advantage makes it much less likely to descend and the landing will be smoother and safer.

Although the folding wing and landing system add a lot of dead weight, the advantage is that there is no need to reserve fuel for return, at least Maozi thinks it is acceptable.

In order to increase the priority of the project, the first Hurricane booster was successfully erected in Baikonur in two months for the first launch recovery test.

Not long after Micklin complained, a small black dot appeared on the horizon, and when he picked up the telescope, he saw that it was a "hurricane" that had been ablated into an irregular gray-black on the surface of the arrow.

The self-controlled landing was a simple technique, it made a smooth high-speed approach and lowered the wheels, and began to glide on the runway, but Micklin was about to smile when he suddenly tilted, the left wing grazed the runway, and then under the influence of friction, he made a big turn to the left, and lay on the lawn at 180 degrees.

“……”

Alexander: "Evgeny, the landing gear is too fragile. ”

He could see at a glance that one side of the landing gear was crushed and caused by yaw, which was actually expected, in order to reduce the weight of the booster, the landing gear design was very small and light, and the reduction in strength was inevitable.

Fortunately, the wings did not scrape the lawn, otherwise the arrow body would spin and break, and now it looks in good condition, the speed is lower when it pours, and the wings and landing gear can still be used.

He is more concerned about the carbon residue RD171MV reused than the landing system.

Micklin quickly figured it out as well, the experiment was still successful, the route was not wrong, self-gliding recovery was no worse than vertical recovery, and it was much easier.

He looked at the No. 112 plant in the distance, the space shuttle factory that had been abandoned for 20 years collapsed 15 years ago, crushing the last Energy rocket and the Buran space shuttle, and then this mess was put there, at most by Internet celebrities sneaking in and touching it.

Last month, Borisov secured a budget to start repairing the plant and removing the wreckage, hoping to put it back into service in a year's time.

"Evgeny," Alexander suddenly called out his name.

"We should be able to complete the Hurricane as planned, but what about landers and spacecraft? Why hasn't there been a plan until now? ”

Micklin: "It's the director's job, it's none of us. ”

Alexander: "The Kremlin doesn't want to invest money in landing on the moon, does it?" I can see that the bureaucrats don't actually have long-term plans for the moon. ”

Micklin: "How could it not be! Just ......"

Alexander: "I've heard that the Kremlin and the capital have made a deal to put the Lucia astronaut on the Dawn VI spacecraft, and the future of the Hurricane is just to deliver supplies to their research station, right?" ”

Mikrin was a little annoyed, but his face remained unchanged:

"We can get enough money from the Indians, and these funds are enough, and those cooperation has nothing to do with us."

Alexander: "But will the big guys put those dollars into the space program?" ”

This time Mikrin was finally powerless to refute, they are all old people who have seen all kinds of ups and downs, where is it not clear about the current situation of the Kremlin?

The hurricane, which was already the last dignity that Borisov and he had won for Lucia, symbolized that they had not given up on the new round of competition.

"Maksimovich, anyway, as soon as we finish the legacy of the League, the end of the 'Hurricane' program is also the end of our time."

(End of chapter)