Thinking of this, Qin Xinghe immediately laughed.
I knew this multi-purpose orbiter would not be that simple. Tell me how you got along.
Wu Hao smiled and replied: "Actually, I want it to play the role of a space shuttle, which can transport things into space and transport things from space to the earth.
Occasionally act as a courier or takeaway rider, delivering something to some spacecraft or satellites in space, or picking up something from them.
Furthermore, if the energy and fuel of these satellites or spacecrafts are insufficient, then we will also add fuel, charge them, etc.
Finally, if necessary, we can also act as space doctors, inspecting and repairing sick spacecraft and satellites, and we can also conduct physical examinations and preventive measures on healthy spacecraft and satellites. "
Hahaha……
Hearing Wu Hao's introduction, Qin Xinghe burst out laughing.
How could he not understand the meaning of Wu Hao's words? Although Wu Hao's words were very subtle and high-sounding, the meaning contained in them was worth savoring.
Although Wu Hao's words are high-sounding, in fact, everything has pros and cons. So since this multi-purpose orbiter can serve these satellites, it can naturally also punish these satellites and spacecraft.
For example, conducting personal inspections and disassembly inspections for these satellites and spacecrafts, or taking something from inside, or installing something inside, etc., these are nothing.
Since it can serve its own satellites and spacecraft, it can naturally also "serve" other people's satellites and spacecraft. It can provide services in peacetime, but in wartime, it can naturally also provide "services". But one is serving for the better, and the other is serving to the death.
To give a very simple example, such as installing a small device on an advanced satellite or spacecraft, we can naturally grasp the working conditions of the satellite and spacecraft in real time.
In other words, we can steal something from it, whether it is data or hardware.
It is not impossible to even capture the entire thing and bring it back to Earth. After all, Laomi's space shuttle has done this before, bringing back faulty satellites, repairing them, and then re-launching them into space.
In addition to strategic military uses, it has great applications in the aerospace field and scientific research and technology fields. For example, if a satellite we launched in the past failed, it would mean that the satellite would be scrapped and useless, resulting in huge losses. This loss is not only the value of the satellite itself and the cost of rocket launch, but also the loss of the mission carried by the satellite. This loss is immeasurable.
The only way is to re-launch a new satellite to replace the original satellite.
But now, they have new principles. They can use this multi-purpose orbiter to repair these damaged and malfunctioning satellites in orbit. They can even bring them to the earth, repair them and re-launch them.
In this way, a lot of losses will be virtually reduced.
Another example is what Wu Hao mentioned earlier. Many satellites and spacecrafts end their lives. The end of their mission is often not proactive, but passive. There are only two main reasons. Either the satellite or spacecraft is damaged due to malfunction, and the mission has to be ended and decommissioned. And either the fuel and battery power carried by the satellite itself has run out, so it can only be decommissioned and end its mission.
We know that satellites rely on inertia to orbit the earth in space. Even geostationary satellites above the equator are only stationary relative to the earth, which does not mean that they themselves are stationary.
Normally, these satellites rely on inertia to orbit the Earth, so they do not need power. However, the earth has gravity. Even in orbit around the earth, there is gravity, but the gravity is relatively weak.
Therefore, when these satellites and spacecraft orbit the earth, they will be affected by this weak gravity, gradually losing altitude, and eventually fall into the atmosphere and burn up.
In addition, these satellites and spacecraft will also be affected by other factors, and will also change their flight attitude, orbital parameters, etc. Therefore, these satellites need to have a certain amount of power. They can ignite from time to time to adjust the flight attitude and orbit, or ignite to increase the orbital altitude.
Just like our space station, it will ignite every once in a while to raise its orbital altitude to resist the influence of the earth's gravity.
Or when encountering some space debris, you need to actively change orbit to avoid it, which requires fuel consumption.
Perhaps for some high-orbit satellites and spacecraft, the impact may not be obvious. Take our country's first man-made satellite as an example. It does not carry any power and relies entirely on its own rotation and inertial flight. It’s just that the orbit it exists in is relatively high, so although the orbital height has been declining over the past few decades, it is still in space. However, it does not carry any power generation device itself and relies entirely on battery support. Therefore, it is launched into space three times. It stopped working after a few months.
Now, if Wu Hao and his multi-purpose orbiter can really decommission these satellites and spacecraft when they run out of fuel, or refuel satellites and spacecraft that are about to run out of fuel and retire, it will undoubtedly extend the working life of these satellites. , the benefit ratio brought by this is absolutely huge.
It may not be obvious on some low-cost small and medium-sized satellites and spacecraft, but for some large satellites and important high-value satellites and spacecraft, if this technology can be successfully implemented, the benefits it will bring will undoubtedly be huge.
Even if it is possible, these satellites and spacecraft can be supported to work for a long time until they are actively decommissioned or completely damaged and have no repair value.
Because this multi-purpose orbiter can not only refuel and replenish energy for these satellites and spacecraft, but also perform surgical maintenance on them, such as repairing damaged parts and replacing them with newer parts and equipment. , perform software and hardware upgrades, etc.
If it really works, this would be much more cost-effective than launching new satellites and spacecraft.
What is even more meaningful is that there are more and more satellites and spacecraft in space orbit. If this technology can be overcome and successfully applied, a large number of satellites and spacecraft will be saved and owned by these satellites and spacecraft. Countries and companies can recover a large amount of losses and increase benefits.
In addition, it can also greatly reduce the generation of debris in space and protect the space orbital environment. (End of chapter)
