In the 1990s, with the booming development of the electronics industry and the public's growing pursuit of entertainment life.
The television industry has begun to develop rapidly. One of the basic requirements for many young men and women to get married these days is to have a color TV.
As the number of people using televisions increases, sales of another thing are also increasing rapidly: satellite television receivers.
That is, a satellite pot that is like a big pot.
It can receive satellites in geosynchronous orbit and send back terrestrial digitally coded and compressed television signals.
And the signal is processed through the intermediate frequency AGC amplification and demodulator, and the image signal processor.
The output is a signal that can be played on a TV.
Because satellite pots are able to receive many different TV bands, there is essentially no additional charge after purchasing a satellite pot.
Therefore, they exist in large numbers in urban and rural areas of the country.
Not only in China, at this time point in the world, there are also a large number of regions using satellite pots to broadcast TV programs.
This has brought about a problem. As the demand for receiving satellite TV increases, the number of communication satellites is insufficient.
Seriously hindered the development of satellite television industry.
Therefore, the number of communication satellites dedicated to image and voice transmission services has increased over the years.
The two satellites to be launched this time are the Mabuhai satellite and the Asia-Pacific 2R satellite developed by Laura Space Systems for Southeast Asia and Hong Kong.
Both of these satellites are large satellites with ultra-high power and weight, which are different from those analog satellites that only weighed a few hundred kilograms when conducting experiments.
Their orbit is a geostationary orbit above the equator, and each one weighs more than 3,700 kilograms.
If a Changsanyi rocket is used for launch, only one satellite can be launched at a time.
Because the Changsanyi rocket's SSTO orbit (supersynchronous transfer orbit, see the author's words for details) has a carrying capacity of only about 4 tons, there is almost no margin after carrying a satellite.
Therefore, if you want to save launch costs, you can only use the Hongyan rocket with greater thrust and an SSTO orbital carrying capacity of almost 8.5 tons.
The total launch price of the two satellite launch contracts is as high as US$110 million.
This is a discount based on their willingness to use new rockets. If a Changsan B rocket is used for launch, the price of each satellite is expected to be around US$65 million.
The use of new rockets can save US$10 million in launch costs for each satellite.
Both the Southeast Asian company behind Mabuhai Satellite and the Asia-Pacific Communications Company behind APSTAR 2R are very happy to see this.
After all, no capitalist would dislike reducing costs.
The initial cost of the Hongyan-1 rocket is approximately 48 million national currency, which is actually less than 6 million US dollars when converted into US dollars.
After deducting personnel costs, fuel costs, and various other items during the launch process, it will not exceed $10 million in any case.
It can be said that the overall profit from launching these two satellites is about 100 million US dollars.
Of course, this money needs to be divided among many departments, and the money obtained is also domestic currency.
Compared with other domestic research institutions that are now starved for food, this income can be considered extremely rich.
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Xichang base, launch site.
The Hongyan rocket, which has completed its payload loading, is quietly sitting on the launch pad.
This launch is the first time that the Hongyan rocket has launched a real satellite.
Therefore, Zhang Xingyang still attached great importance to it and personally presided over the launch of the Hongyan rocket.
Because the size and weight of the two satellites are not small, the fairing of the Hongyan rocket looks larger than that of a normal rocket.
Therefore, he also received a more familiar nickname, "Big Head Goose".
"How are the preparations at the satellite recycling site?"
Zhang Xingyang spoke to Geng Bo who was guarding the recycling site through the dedicated phone in the launch site control center.
This launch mission is not only the first commercial launch mission of the Hongyan rocket, but also the first attempt at rocket recovery.
"Everything is ready, now we're waiting for you to start."
Electrical signals are transmitted to the recycling site through long dedicated cables. The signal quality has declined, but Geng Bo can still hear Zhang Xingyang's crisp voice clearly.
Putting down the phone, Zhang Xingyang looked at his watch. There were still a few minutes left before the launch time.
Zhang Xingyang calmly supported the console with both hands, recalling the technical details of the Hongyan rocket.
Time flies by and the launch is scheduled.
The Hongyan rocket rises from the Xichang launch site, like a long arrow flying into the sky.
In the control center, Zhang Xingyang listened to the reports from various local detection radar stations while watching the countdown time on the big screen.
Because the orbit to be hit this time is SSTO, which is much higher than the usual orbit, the separation time of the first-stage rocket is also slightly later.
If it is a low-orbit satellite launch mission, the primary and secondary separation time of the Hongyan rocket is about 160 seconds. This time it lasted until 170 seconds before the primary and secondary separation was completed.
After the announcer reported the successful separation of the first and second stages of the rocket.
Only then did Zhang Xingyang become more energetic.
Next is the most important verification link in this launch mission, the actual recovery of the rocket.
"The first stage rocket ignited successfully for the second time!"
Because the first-stage rocket needs to turn around, it needs a second ignition and relies on the four rudders on the first-stage rocket to adjust the direction of the rocket.
During the return process, since there is no need to fight against the gravitational pull of the earth, it is only necessary to turn on several engines of the propulsion system in turn.
The light blue flame at the tail of the first-stage rocket changes regularly, slowly pushing the first-stage rocket to the recycling site.
"The first stage rocket turned successfully!"
"The second-stage rocket separated successfully!"
Good news comes one after another in terms of satellite launch and rocket recovery.
In the control center, everyone was working a little excitedly.
Compared with the launch of satellites, the return speed of rocket recovery is faster.
"The fairing is separated successfully!"
"The first-stage rocket is close to the recycling site 100 kilometers away!"
Now Zhang Xingyang has basically seen that the launch of the two satellites was successful.
So my thoughts are more on rocket recovery.
Just when everyone thought the first rocket recovery would be successful.
A piece of bad news came from the rocket recycling yard.
There were some problems with the first actual recovery of the Hongyan rocket.
During the landing of the first-stage rocket, it is unknown whether it was due to insufficient fuel or a failure in the propulsion system.
When it was still more than ten meters above the ground, the propulsion system shut down in advance.
SSTO (Supersynchronous Transfer Orbit) refers to a type of transfer orbit with an apogee larger than 36,000 km of an ordinary GTO. The advantage of SSTO is that it can save the fuel required for the spacecraft to change orbit to GEO, thereby extending the service life of the spacecraft. The disadvantage is that the launch vehicle needs to provide a higher speed to the spacecraft, so the carrying capacity is reduced, and the position accuracy is also affected.
(End of chapter)
