"ignition!"
As the countdown ended, Zhang Xingyang, the person in charge of the launch mission, issued the ignition command.
The operator presses the ignition button.
The four YF-21C rocket engines at the bottom of the rocket with a total thrust of nearly 300 tons began to work, and the four YF-25 engine boosters began to eject powerful flame jets at the same time.
The huge orange flame jets were directed to both sides of the launch site along the diversion trough under the launch pad.
The white smoke gradually expanded as the rocket slowly lifted off, as if the white clouds in the sky were tied to the bottom of the rocket.
Shortly after the rocket took off, tracking records for the rocket came from various ground monitoring stations.
"Xicheng, optical tracking is normal!"
"Xia Cheng, radar tracking is normal!"
All optical tracking observations and radar tracking observations were turned on at this time, aiming at the Changsan B rocket that had just taken off and began to break through gravity.
Although various optical detection methods and radar monitoring methods in this era are not as developed as later generations, the basic function of monitoring flight trajectories can still be realized.
Of course, it is still somewhat difficult to rely on these monitoring stations to detect various military hypersonic missiles.
However, even at this time, even Yingjiang is actually still in the stage of technological exploration for various types of hypersonic weapons. It is not known that the hypersonic weapons that can be truly used will have to wait for decades.
By that time, various domestic hypersonic weapons have already been developed, including but not limited to various land-based land strike missiles and ship-based hypersonic anti-ship missiles.
As well as space-based bombing weapons orbiting in space, and hypersonic weapons launched.
Zhang Xingyang thinks that if he has time in the future, he can push the domestic radar industry forward.
At this time, Chang Sanyi had already flown over the Pacific Ocean and entered the monitoring range of the ocean observation ship.
"Yuanzhi No. 6, radar tracking is normal!"
At this point, everything is still normal, which basically means that the rocket test has been successful.
The next most critical time point is when the load is separated. Neither primary nor secondary separation is a particularly error-prone time point.
"The first-stage rocket separates normally!"
This was almost as expected by everyone, and there were no possible problems with the separation of the first-stage rocket.
The most important thing to pay attention to now is the three-stage rocket, which is the fairing where the simulated payload is placed.
After all, this launch is not very different from an ordinary test. Ordinary rocket launches are usually one rocket and one satellite, but this rocket launch is one rocket and two satellites.
There are generally two types of payload release forms: one-rocket, two-stars, or one-rocket, multiple-stars.
One situation is that different satellites occupy the same orbital altitude or a relatively similar orbital altitude. In this case, the satellites in the fairing are basically released at the same time.
Another situation is when the satellites carried by the rocket are operating at different orbital altitudes. In this case, the satellites are released in batches. That is, after the launch vehicle reaches the predetermined orbital altitude, the first satellite is released first. The rocket then continues to fly upward, and after reaching the orbit of the second satellite, it releases the second satellite, and so on, until all satellites are launched to the predetermined orbital altitude.
The two simulated satellites carried by the Changsanyi rocket this time are in the same orbit. After all, this time is actually preparing for the launch of the "Iridium" next month.
The next Iridium launch will be two "Iridium" satellites in the same orbit.
Therefore, when reaching the predetermined orbital altitude, the two simulated satellites in the fairing will be released at the same time.
"The second-stage rocket separated successfully!"
The engineer responsible for monitoring the separation status of the rocket carefully reported the status of the Changsan B rocket.
This time the rocket was launched, everyone in the control center was not as nervous as the last time. Although the Changsan B rocket had a history of accidents, various inspections done before the launch gave everyone the confidence to relax.
Zhang Xingyang even took the time to take a sip of water, thinking about various things about the recyclable rocket.
The three-stage rocket carrying two simulated satellites quickly reached an altitude of hundreds of kilometers above the earth.
The orbit of Iridium is a low-Earth orbit with an altitude of 700 kilometers. Generally speaking, anything below an altitude of 2,000 kilometers is considered a low-Earth orbit, which is the LEO orbit that is often seen in the news.
Most of the world's earth observation satellites, geodesic satellites, space stations and some communication satellites are within this altitude range.
For example, the International Space Station and Tiangong Space Station are both at an altitude of about 400 kilometers.
However, the International Space Station has not yet started construction at this time. In fact, at this time, various countries are still wrangling over their respective division of labor.
At present, everyone in China still hopes to participate in the construction of the International Space Station. After all, at the current stage, it is difficult to build a space station just by relying on the strength of one country.
After all, China currently has not mastered the technology of manned spaceflight, let alone the construction of a manned space station.
However, it is almost impossible for China to participate in the construction of the International Space Station, because the international community still looks down upon China's technical level.
However, Zhang Xingyang doesn't particularly care. As long as he is given enough resources, it is not impossible to build a space station belonging to the Chinese people within ten years.
"Load separation successful!"
Just when Zhang Xingyang was thinking about the development history of manned spaceflight, the man responsible for monitoring the operating status of the rocket came with another piece of good news.
Zhang Xingyang looked intently at the screen in front of him, which contained the detection images of various radars.
The two simulated satellites have successfully separated from the fairing and entered their intended orbits.
"Test the simulated satellite."
Zhang Xingyang issued instructions to the engineer responsible for monitoring the simulated satellite situation.
Because the orbital altitude of the satellite is only 700 kilometers, the delay between the satellite and the ground is still very low and basically imperceptible.
Almost instantly, the control center received the signals sent back by the two simulated satellites.
However, if lunar exploration and manned lunar landings are really to be carried out in the future, communication issues will also be a very important issue.
After all, the nearest distance to the moon is 363,000 kilometers. Even if the radio propagation speed is the speed of light, the fastest speed in the universe, it will take two seconds to travel back and forth between the earth and the moon.
"The analog satellite is in good working order!"
When the engineer responsible for monitoring the status of the simulated satellite said this happily.
There was extremely warm applause in the entire control center, and it felt like everyone was about to break their palms.
In the end, it was Zhang Xingyang who announced that the launch mission was a complete success, and then everyone stopped the applause that seemed to never stop.
"I declare that the experimental flight of the Changsan-B rocket was a complete success!"
