The success of the first sea launch means that the subsequent rocket can be launched not only from several land launch sites, but also in the South China Sea near the equator.

It is more from the point of view of the economy of launching rockets.

The floating launch platform, which has no power of its own, can only be moved by tugboats.

In addition, there are basically no requirements for the environment, so it is convenient to carry out launch work in different sea areas.

Corresponding to the launch is the recovery of the rocket.

After several years of exploration, the Rocket Research Institute has become fully proficient in the recovery of the first-stage rocket.

As for the two-stage rocket, for various reasons the recovery tests were not completed.

The biggest problem is because of the recycling location.

Rocket launches, all of which are launched from west to east, make full use of the Earth's rotation.

And even the most westernmost launch site in China to launch rockets, the second-stage rocket has basically flown out of the national border.

This poses a big problem for the recovery of the second stage rocket.

There are only two ways to recover the second stage rocket.

The first way is to add an autonomous return mechanism to the second-stage rocket and let it fly back on its own, just like the first-stage rocket is recovered.

However, there is a big problem with this method, that is, the increase in flight distance is bound to increase the fuel consumption of the second-stage rocket, which puts more pressure on the propulsion system of the rocket, and for this it is necessary to increase the thrust of the first-stage rocket.

So, it's basically an impossible thing to do.

The second way is to carry out offshore recovery work in the Pacific Ocean, and after the second-stage rocket lands on the offshore platform, the second-stage rocket is transported back by a transport ship for secondary use.

Although this method is more technically challenging than land-based recycling, it is more feasible and economical than the first option.

"The scenery of the South China Sea is still as good as ever!" Qin Ming looked at the blue sea and blue sky and said with some joy.

The sea breeze of the South China Sea, blowing on the face, has a strong sense of moisture.

The deep blue sea is also different from the scenery of Bohai Bay.

If the Bohai Sea is a tranquil inlet surrounded by mountains, then the South China Sea is a vast ocean with big waves all the time.

It looks like a large iron plate recycling platform, floating quietly on the water.

At all four corners, the winch rattled and lowered the wrist-thick chain into the water.

Attached to it are large iron anchors that will hold the floating platform within a small range of movement.

The Sea Reclamation Platform, just by looking at it, can be seen to be much more rudimentary than the Sea Launch Platform.

The main part is a large plane, which is convenient for the first-stage rocket to complete the landing smoothly when it is recovered.

"In fact, in the future, we can blow sand and reclaim the sea in the South China Sea and build our space launch site close to the equator."

Zhang Xingyang picked up the wind that he had just been blown by the sea breeze, and said with a deep breath.

The southernmost point of the South China Sea is only a little more than three degrees of latitude, and the conditions are not generally good for space launches.

However, due to the limitation of national strength, the development conditions of the southern part of the South China Sea are not yet mature.

Zhang Xingyang can only think about the scene of building a launch site near the equator in the future.

Whether it's a large sand blowing boat, or other related technologies, they don't have it at the moment.

It will take at least a decade or so before it is possible to develop these.

"If you can blow up a few islands in the South China Sea, that's a good thing anyway."

The naval officer who accompanied everyone to the rocket recovery work, Han Zitao said.

"Even if we can't replenish our fleet, it's good to be able to build a few airfields."

The north-south width of this sea area has reached more than 2,000 kilometers, and even the latest J-20 has a combat radius of only 2,200 kilometers.

It is still a little difficult to completely defend the southern Xinjiang of the motherland.

Unless it is possible to build several airfields that can take off and land fighter jets.

Otherwise, this vast ocean is still as undefended to others.

Everyone, who is here, basically knows this.

So after Han Zitao said it, many people fell into silence.

Only Zhang Xingyang knows more and knows more about the future, so he still maintains a good attitude.

"Within 10 years, after the construction of our large cutter suction dredger, we will be able to blow sand and reclaim the sea in the South China Sea and create several permanent aircraft carriers at sea."

Zhang Xingyang pointed to the distant islands and reefs that only showed a little bit of light green.

In fact, now the first large-scale cutter suction ship in China has started construction on the slipway.

Although there is still a certain gap in the sand dredging ability compared with the later Sky Whale, the first step has been taken, so the next reason is much smoother.

This is also the reason why Zhang Xingyang will say that in less than a decade, he will be able to see large cutter suction ships blowing sand and reclaiming the sea in the South China Sea.

After a few more moments of small talk on the subject, a siren beeped from the ship.

Reminder to everyone, the launch of the rocket is about to begin.

This rocket launch is a very ordinary supplementary launch of a low-orbit communications satellite.

Every year, there are about ten percent of satellites that need to be replaced.

It is not only to supplement the satellites that have reached the end of their life, but also to upgrade the satellites that are relatively backward in technology.

A four-handed rocket took off from the Wenchang launch base, and after nearly two minutes, the first-stage rocket completed its mission.

Detached from the second-stage rocket and began to fly towards the offshore recovery platform.

There is not much difference between the sea flight procedure and the land flight procedure.

The attitude engine constantly adjusts the attitude of the rocket, so that the trajectory of the rocket can fly correctly to the offshore recovery platform.

In this process, there is actually very little that everyone on the ship can do.

Only Qin Ming, who is in charge of the control system, has been monitoring the rocket landing procedures and positioning the offshore recovery platform during this process.

The first stage of the rocket is guaranteed, capable of aligning with the offshore recovery platform.

However, this positioning accuracy requirement does not need to be too high in comparison, and it is enough to reach the decimeter level.

The rocket returned extremely fast, and everyone could already see the cylindrical rocket with blue fire at the tail with the naked eye.

When approaching the offshore recovery platform, the rocket's attitude adjustment engine began to increase the deflection angle, adjusting the rocket's posture from horizontal tilt to vertical state.

Even though it is still hundreds of meters away from the sea, you can still see the high-pressure and high-speed gas spewing out of the inclined tail nozzle of the rocket, blowing waves more than half a meter high on the sea surface.

The offshore recovery platform, which is in charge of the offshore recovery platform, began to shake slightly after dozens of seconds, affected by the waves.

"What is the tilt of the platform at the moment?"

After Zhang Xingyang saw the offshore platform outside shaking, he looked at Qin Ming, who was still looking at the data in the cabin, and asked.

"Floats between 0.008 degrees and 0.015 degrees!" Qin Ming said a number and didn't look back.

This number is still within everyone's acceptable range.

Even at a maximum of 0.015 degrees, the length of the recovery platform is 90 meters, but there is a fluctuation of 2 centimeters.

This is an acceptable data for offshore platforms, after all, it cannot reach the level of no ups and downs.

In Zhang Xingyang's mind, when he got the angle data, he calculated this, and he naturally put his mind at ease.

The degree of automatic control of the rocket is still controlling the rocket to make the final attitude adjustment.

At this time, the rocket has come to the top of the offshore recovery platform, and the thrust reverser engine is running at half power, reducing the speed of the rocket from tens of meters per second, little by little, to several meters, and then to almost one meter per second.

When the first-stage rocket was still a few meters away from the platform deck, the steel legs on the outside of the first-stage rocket popped out.

These legs are very strong and can withstand the impact of the rocket's weight and speed in an instant.

Of course, the legs are basically disposable products, after all, after bearing a huge impact, there will be tiny cracks in the internal structure.

After repeated use, the legs will break.

"Boom!"

With a muffled sound, the first-stage rocket slammed into the center of the offshore recovery platform.

Although it does not overlap completely with the inner circle, it is still in the middle of the circle in general, and there is no situation where it falls to one side.

If it falls aside, there is actually a slight risk that the offshore recovery platform will roll over, because even a first-stage rocket that has run out of fuel will weigh tens of tons.

"The rocket landed successfully!"

After everyone present saw the rocket firmly parked on the offshore recovery platform, they let out their own excited voices.

Most people, in fact, are prepared for the first failure of recycling.

The range of options for the rocket to land at sea is too small, and a slight deflection of the attitude adjustment engine by one hundredth degree may deviate from the target.

Not to mention, the biggest difference between the offshore recovery platform and the land is that it is always in the shaking of the waves.

"Let's go, let's take a look at the rockets we recovered!"

Zhang Xingyang greeted everyone very excitedly and boarded the offshore recovery platform together.

Unlike the sea launch rocket, the rocket landing is much less dangerous because of the slower speed and less fuel inside.

So the command ship stayed very close to the recovery platform.

After the rocket stopped, the engineering ship equipped with lifting equipment and the cargo ship responsible for transporting the rocket took the lead in setting sail, rowing out the waves, and preparing to transfer and load the first-stage rocket.

However, the command ship was a little faster, and the first one drove near the offshore recovery platform.

The hanging chain, which connected the two, commanded the crew on the ship to follow the steel ladder up to the wide floating platform.

Standing on the platform, you can clearly feel that the undulations are much smaller than on the ship, almost as smooth as land.

Although the rocket's engine has been turned off, it still emits heat that is difficult to approach, and waves of heat are mixed with the sea breeze and blow across everyone's faces.

It's obvious that you're losing water quickly.

Zhang Xingyang didn't care so much, and after approaching the first-stage rocket, he lay down on the ground and observed the situation of the first-stage rocket with his own eyes.

Through observation, it can be seen that the most critical component of the first-stage rocket, the eleven YF-110 liquid oxygen kerosene engines, has not shown obvious deformation visible to the naked eye.

However, the tail nozzle of one of the engines had an unnatural reddish tinge, which apparently had not cooled down.

Although this phenomenon is very weak, it still attracts Zhang Xingyang's attention.

The highly heat-resistant composite materials they use should not be the case.

This is true even if this first-stage rocket, which is a four-handed rocket.

After getting up from the ground, Zhang Xingyang first dusted off the dust and some water droplets on his body.

He didn't say anything about it, because it was obviously a problem with the material.

None of the people present were in charge of this.

He didn't know if it was a problem with the use of this time, or if it was a problem with the first launch, but no one found out.

However, this is still a big problem.

Because, according to the design requirements, the YF-110 liquid oxygen kerosene rocket can be reused at least ten times.

It was only used five times before there was a problem, which made Zhang Xingyang a little difficult to accept.

"The rocket recovery was perfect, and there were no problems with the main engine."

Zhang Xingyang stopped Han Zitao, who wanted to lie on the ground to take a look, even if he looked at it, he couldn't see anything.

"Why don't you let me see, I haven't seen a rocket so closely!"

Han Zitao complained a little, after all, if you look at it a little, the rocket will not have any losses.

And this opportunity, for him, is still relatively rare.

"What's so nice about a rocket engine, it's just a big black tube." Zhang Xingyang said a little angrily.

"Hurry up and carry out the lifting and transfer!"

The engineering ship on the side has also driven to the vicinity of the floating platform, which can carry out hoisting operations on the rocket.

After the four thick wire ropes were fixed on the rocket body, the winch still slowly rotated to lift the rocket weighing dozens of tons from the offshore recovery platform.

Although the hoisting work does not seem to have any technical content, this kind of precision object still needs some operating experience to be able to be hoisted steadily onto the transport ship.

The ship, which is responsible for transporting the first stage of the rocket, was completed not long ago and was specially customized for the sea transportation of rockets.

It can well maintain the stability of the rocket in the cargo compartment, so that it will not be damaged due to transportation.

The robotic arm of the crane slowly rotates, transferring the first-stage rocket above the transport ship next to him.

The workers standing on the transport ship, although it is not the first time to experience the scene of rocket transportation, but the big guys who are tens of meters long and several meters thick appear in front of them, which is still amazing!

Without any danger, the white-painted rocket safely entered the cargo hold of the transport ship.

It will travel hundreds of nautical miles back to the rocket maintenance center at the Wenchang launch center.

Zhang Xingyang believes that after today, there will be more and more such scenes!

Ask for a monthly pass, ask for a monthly pass!!

(End of chapter)