The new launch mission is scheduled for the night of August 28th.
The location is still at the Xichang launch base.
Rocket components are transported by train from the manufacturing plant to the launch base.
Transported to the test plant at the launch site through special vehicles.
After components are assembled and laid flat for testing in the test plant.
The basically assembled rocket stages and boosters are transferred from the test factory to the launch tower.
Carry out final assembly work.
But the closer it gets to such a critical moment, the more likely it is that something will go wrong.
The ancients said: Those who travel a hundred miles are half ninety.
Now the China Star 8 launch mission has reached such a critical moment.
Even Zhang Xingyang, who never cared much about failure, was a little nervous at this time.
After all, in the original history, this launch mission actually failed.
Although many possible problems were detected in previous inspections.
But I still don’t know whether this launch will be successful. The original problem was that the three-stage rocket engine failed to ignite and separate, resulting in no normal separation.
In the end, the satellite failed to enter orbit.
Zhang Xingyang almost personally watched them complete the inspection of the three-stage rocket engine. There must be no problems.
But who knows whether there is something wrong with the rocket engine itself?
Maybe there is a problem with other systems?
No one knows the answers to these things. After all, the last rocket has fallen into the ocean, and it is difficult to trace the specific cause of the accident.
The hoisting work of the rocket is still proceeding in an orderly manner. The people responsible for the rocket assembly work are veteran workers who have many times of rocket hoisting experience.
It was basically impossible to have any accidents, but Zhang Xingyang couldn't help but worry about deviations during hoisting.
"Xingyang, drink some water."
Lidya Su handed over a bottle of mineral water.
"Thanks."
Zhang Xingyang took the bottle and thanked him, but did not drink it immediately. Instead, he looked up at the rocket standing like a hill.
"Lidya Su, do you think we will succeed this time?"
Zhang Xingyang, who frowned, seemed to be asking Lidya Su next to him, but also seemed to be asking himself.
"Everyone has put in a lot of hard work this time, and it will definitely succeed!"
Su Xiao didn't know the original ending of this rocket, so she was naturally more optimistic.
But Zhang Xingyang, who knows the development trend behind, is not so optimistic. But now that the rocket is on the launch pad, it is like an arrow on the bowstring. It cannot be launched without launching.
The workers who assembled the rocket moved quickly, and then there was only one last piece of work left to do on the rocket.
That is fueling the rocket.
The fuel used by the Changsan rocket is dimethylhydrazine, a high-performance chemical propellant developed 20 to 30 years ago. It has a very high specific impulse and will automatically ignite when it comes in contact with the oxidizer.
Its conventional oxidizing agent is dinitrogen tetroxide.
Although unimmonium hydrazine has great advantages as a fuel agent, it also has a disadvantage that is difficult to ignore.
That is, it is toxic, and the toxicity is not small. It will be poisonous if you come into contact with it, and it has a certain risk of causing cancer.
This is also an important reason why the use of unimmonium dimethyl hydrazine as fuel is gradually abandoned and instead aerospace kerosene is used as fuel.
Compared with the toxic and relatively expensive undimethylhydrazine, the non-toxic and cheap aerospace kerosene is more favored by everyone.
Of course, the specific impulse of aerospace kerosene is also lower than that of unbiased dimethylhydrazine, which is inevitable.
After the rocket's fuel is injected, everyone needs to evacuate the scene.
Especially after the last accident, in a short period of time, the launch base no longer dared to let everyone stay close to the rocket.
Unlike the last rocket launch that was broadcast live across the country, this time except for several official newspapers, no other media was invited to report.
Rocket launch control center hall.
Everyone is nervously waiting for the launch time to arrive.
There was almost no sound in the vast hall, especially in the area near Zhang Xingyang, there were only bursts of silence.
Seeing such a solemn atmosphere at the scene, the few young reporters who came to report on the rocket launch did not know what they should do.
It seems impossible to interview Zhang Xingyang, the center of attention for this launch.
So I had to turn to the side of the staff who didn't look particularly busy.
"Hello, I would like to ask you whether you are confident that this rocket launch will be successful?"
The young reporter holding the microphone handed it to Lidya Su’s mouth and asked.
"Of course! This rocket launch will definitely be a success!"
Just when the little reporter smiled and was about to ask some more questions.
Zhang Xingyang said calmly:
"One minute to prepare!"
The control center seemed to hear the clarion call for war to begin, and the war state was activated.
Everyone has returned to their jobs and is ready to start their work at any time!
The rocket launch tower began to slowly let go of the originally erected shelves, allowing the rocket to stand independently on the launch pad.
"50 seconds!"
"40 seconds!"
...
"10!"
"9!"
"8!"
.......
"3!"
"2!"
"1!"
"ignition!"
As Zhang Xingyang pressed the red plastic button on the control panel.
The engine of the rocket standing on the launch pad started working, spraying out an orange flame jet.
At this time, everyone in the control center had their hearts in their throats.
After all, the last accident happened when the rocket was igniting, and it's hard not to have some bad associations with it.
"Xicheng, optical tracking is normal!"
Xicheng is the first ground station that the rocket passes through during launch.
Xicheng's normal report means that the rocket was in the initial launch stage and there was no major accident like the last time.
Everyone in the control center also breathed a sigh of relief at this time, except Zhang Xingyang who was not yet relieved.
After all, only he knew that the most critical time for this rocket was when the third stage separated.
Along with a series of normal tracking reports, everyone's expressions became more and more relaxed. Zhang Xingyang could even see smiles on some people's faces, as if they had seen the success of the launch mission.
Only Zhang Xingyang was still frowning.
"Yuanzhi No. 6, radar tracking is normal!"
The rocket successfully entered the sky above the Eastern Ocean and entered the range of the ocean-going monitoring and control ship.
"The first-stage rocket separates normally!"
Radar tracking shows that the first stage of the rocket has separated successfully and the second stage rocket has completed its startup.
The more times like this come, Zhang Xingyang becomes more nervous and can feel his heart beating continuously.
It seemed like it was about to jump out.
Fortunately, there were no problems with the second-stage rocket.
"Secondary rocket separation is normal!"
With this reminder, Zhang Xingyang's heart reached its peak.
After all, the problem occurred here last time.
