This is a "Commercial Hercules 3" launch vehicle with a diameter of 9.82 meters and a length of nearly 50 meters, which is almost as high as an 18-story building. It looks like a big-headed doll sandwiched between two large strap-on solid rockets.
An adult African bull elephant can be easily stuffed into the rocket body. The maximum carrying capacity can reach 13 tons. Its performance is not inferior to its brothers. Other versions originally used for military purposes are also among the best in the Hercules series.
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A commercial launch from the Cape Navilar launch site in Florida on the east coast of the United States, which is the LC-39A launch area of the Kennedy Space Launch Center, costs at least US$170 million, including the launch vehicle.
This does not include the manufacturing cost of the special satellite. In fact, Helena and Daru paid nearly 500 million US dollars to fulfill their promise with the intelligent core system "Adam".
Although the invasion was an invasion, the Third Age Civilization Council and the advance team still valued the credibility of their promises.
Abandoning the supercomputer center on the outskirts of Stockholm, the Swedish capital, which was originally a hiding place, the "Adam" intelligent core system carried the last family property through three large star door rings in the Victoria Desert in the interior of Oceania and entered the dimensional membrane world of the third era.
The advance team who stayed in the present world quickly secured the launch opportunity for "Adam" through members of the vassal "Holy Arrival" organization.
The "Commercial Hercules 3" launch vehicle is not a piece of cabbage on the supermarket shelves. If we follow the normal process, we will have to wait until a year at the earliest before we can get a launch vehicle that meets the requirements and schedule the launch.
The weather at the launch site on the Atlantic Ocean is good, and the gentle sea breeze brings a cool feeling. The launch site, which was still noisy just now, became quiet as the staff evacuated in batches according to the work process. Only the sea breeze, waves and sea
The sound of birds became the main tone of the empty launch site.
"The countdown to launch is still half an hour away. The security team is beginning to confirm the final clearance."
"The Marlene team begins final confirmation! The inspection will be completed within 5 minutes and the final evacuation will be carried out in 10 minutes."
As usual, many tourists and space enthusiasts often gather outside the safety zone to watch this launch. The view from the launch site is excellent. Even without a telescope, you can see the rising smoke and flames from a distance, from head to toe.
Watch the entire launch process at the end.
Most launches at the space center will not exclude civilians from watching, even the launch of space equipment with military purposes.
The isolation area is only used to prevent the leakage of highly toxic propellants from harming those who accidentally enter. Outside the launch site, except for a small number of plainclothes agents and police to maintain order, there is no grand scene of a large army with live ammunition and a tight blockade.
In fact, this is free advertising to promote American aerospace technology. NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) does not only serve the military. The huge profits from commercial services are due to the general trend of using the military to lead the people and the people to support the military.
Towards.
Tourists gathered in small groups outside the quarantine area and looked at the launch site in the distance, which was in its final stages. Many held telescopes in their hands. The huge "Commercial Hercules 3" launch vehicle was clearly visible in sight, even a rivet.
Everything is clear.
The tweeter in the launch site area reports the launch progress according to the standard procedure, and the countdown sound is clearly audible. The effect far exceeds the effect of watching the live broadcast in front of the TV at home. Some enthusiasts enjoy it even more, and come to watch every time there is a launch.
It's like a pilgrimage.
This is the real "Tower of Babylon". It is the starting point for mankind to move beyond the sky. No matter who you are, you can feel a vast and mysterious atmosphere here.
There was a flash of fire under the launcher, and thick gray smoke rose upwards, quickly wrapping the launch vehicle and launcher.
Tourists outside the quarantine area only heard the belated loud roar of the rocket engine after seeing this scene. It seemed that even the air was vibrating in the continuous roar.
The white launch vehicle broke away from the launch frame and rushed out of the smoke cloud in the next second, spraying orange flames from its tail and quickly approaching the azure blue.
A moment later, the "Commercial Hercules 3" carrier rocket successfully used the additional speed of the earth's rotation to disappear over the eastern Atlantic Ocean and submerged into the boundless starry sky.
As the last stage of the propulsion system separated, the thick deflector carrying the cargo of this launch successfully reached an altitude of more than 200 kilometers above the ground, and continued to climb to a higher orbit relying on the power system of the deflector.
"The deflector successfully detached and now begins to accelerate around the earth at 6.5 kilometers per second. This is a successful launch. It will enter the first cosmic speed 12 hours later and enter the target orbit 484 kilometers above the earth 144 hours later. Continue to pay attention."
As the bottom engine emits a faint blue light, the artificial satellite, which is as big as a bus, takes the remaining momentum accumulated by the launch vehicle and continues to climb to a higher altitude while flying around the earth.
Although this height is still within the ionosphere of the atmosphere and is not yet the outermost exosphere, the influence of gravity here is far less than on the ground. With more than a hundred tons of chemical propulsion fuel, it can be used in just a few seconds
With the kinetic energy bursting out within minutes, it already has the capital to completely escape the influence of gravity.
During the rest of the journey, the propulsion slowly released by the small rocket engine and plasma engine is enough to allow this specially-made satellite, which combines the top technologies of the two-dimensional membrane civilizations, to climb to a higher altitude.
As planned, the "Adam" intelligent core system can maintain a backup system in an absolutely safe place outside the atmosphere, and can also serve as a bridgehead for returning to the surface world.
"Hmm! The familiar smell... is 'Adam'! Wasn't it uprooted? Why is it here? Go and have a look..."
An artificial satellite cruising at an altitude of 500 kilometers above the earth suddenly deviated from its original orbit, ejecting several streams of faint blue flames as thick as forearms, and slowly moved towards the earth.
Several metal fragments passing near the satellite at high speed suddenly slowed down for no reason. If their orbits are specifically tracked and calculated, it can be found that the next cycle of these fragments will overlap with the satellite that continues to descend in orbital altitude.
Several circles expanded to several kilometers, and the electrostatic field like concentric elliptical rings was surrounding the satellite and moving with it.
Anything containing metal that passes nearby, no matter how big or small, will be intercepted and slowed down by Coulomb's law of the electrostatic field. The repulsion and attraction are changing under precise control, and the speed difference and distance will be slowly absorbed, and it will be slowly attracted.
, and finally disappeared mysteriously on the surface of the satellite, as if it had never appeared before.
Humans on the earth and space scientists did not notice that the earth's low-Earth orbit suddenly became much cleaner. Some space junk that still continued to fly around the earth for a long time disappeared mysteriously, just like a person who did good deeds without leaving a name.
The active Lei Feng is silently cleaning the low-Earth orbit.
"Where is it?! Why did 'Ye Xiao 3' deviate from its original orbit! I can only barely confirm the position of 'Ye Xiao 3' through other satellites, Kono-kun! Are you making adjustments?"
In the Satellite Control Center of the Tanegashima Space Center, Yamashita Shigeaki, who was on duty to monitor his country's satellites, suddenly saw a military spy satellite suddenly leaving its original orbit and approaching the Earth.
This is not good news. The sudden and inexplicable approach to the earth means that the possibility of the satellite crashing out of control is increasing. Once it cannot maintain the first cosmic speed, it will fall into the atmosphere involuntarily.
Except for the space shuttle or space return capsule, other man-made objects in outer space can only "crash" after losing speed.
"No, no, no, I'm not controlling it. 'Ye Xiao 3' has been experiencing malfunctions since it disappeared last time. It was only two months ago that the link was barely restored. Maybe the malfunction has recurred."
Satellite communications and control expert Shu Yan Kono, who was not far away, perked up when he heard the sound. He immediately approached his computer monitor, adjusted his glasses, and quickly typed on the keyboard to confirm the satellite that suddenly went out of control. Started
Contact them.
This spy satellite lost control seven months ago. As for the reason...
Well, it’s really hard to say. It’s probably the fault of a certain hegemonic country. But it can’t defeat the other country, and it doesn’t even have the courage to protest. All it can do is knock out its teeth and swallow blood, bear with it!
The Satellite Control Center on Tanegashima has been trying to restore contact with the lost satellite and regain control. However, ground technical experts have tried hard for several months without any response. It was not until two months ago that it suddenly and miraculously recovered.
For some signals, it can barely respond to basic signals and respond to some operating instructions.
"unable-to-..."
Looking at the information displayed on the screen, Kono Shuyan pushed the keyboard, shrugged helplessly, and said discouragedly: "There is no way, the connection has been lost again, it seems that it is really an old fault."
"Well, inform other countries to be careful about this out-of-control satellite. It is a pity to include it on the list of highly dangerous space debris. It is worth 500 million US dollars."
Yamashita Shigeaki let out a long sigh.
In order to develop aerospace technology, Japan often spends several times more effort than other countries to make a small step forward. This military spy satellite lost control not long after it was put into service. It is really regrettable and helpless.
"Wait a minute, the Americans have just launched a commercial satellite. According to calculations, this commercial satellite will overlap with the orbit of Ye Xiao 3 in 4 hours. This will mean..."
Shuyan Kono, a satellite communications and control expert who had just finished pulling out the phone to report the situation to his superiors, was preparing to write an email to notify colleagues when he suddenly discovered a new identification signal in low-Earth orbit.
He couldn't help but create a new orbit model. After a little calculation, the result was surprising.
"collision!"
Yamashita Shigeaki and Kono Shuyan suddenly stood up in unison and looked at each other.
"Did you calculate correctly? Kono-kun!"
Yamashita Shigeaki first prayed for the friendship of the unlucky commercial company, but Amaterasu was probably not in the service area.
"Uh! There should be nothing wrong. According to the vector model, the probability of collision is as high as 90%, and the error of the impact time will not exceed two hours."
Kono Shuyan lowered his head and continued to type on the keyboard. He calculated nervously for a while and once again confirmed the judgment he had just calculated.
"Okay, report this result to NASA!"
Yamashita Shigeaki could only regret it and reluctantly accepted the result.
After all, it was not Japan that suffered. The collision was purely an accident. The Satellite Control Center on Tanegashima was helpless, and the commercial company that launched the satellite through the Kennedy Space Launch Center in the United States could only admit that it was unlucky.
News from Japan reached the Kennedy Space Launch Center in the United States immediately, alarming NASA at the same time.
This was a real-money commercial launch, and the U.S. aerospace department was naturally responsible for it. The control center immediately became busy monitoring the out-of-control military spy satellite "Ye Xiao 3".
"Collision countdown, 3 hours and 15 minutes, 'Night Owl 3' begins to accelerate and begins to correct the collision time. A collision will occur in 1 hour and 9 minutes, remote control avoidance begins now!"
"The trajectory is being adjusted, the fuel remaining is 99%, and it is 3 degrees off! Uh, the trajectories overlap again! What on earth is going on?"
"It's all the Japanese's fault. That shit shouldn't be called 'Night Owl', it should be called 'Kamikaze'. What's the name of a satellite? Forget about calling it a missile. Keep evading! Accelerate and reach the first cosmic speed as soon as possible. As long as it exceeds
The orbit of 'Night Owl 3' can be successfully avoided."
"Okay, let's get out of the way and notify Hudall Television and Telephone that the Mesopotamia satellite that was just launched has encountered a little trouble. Let them rest assured that we will have it sorted out soon.
Tell the satellite manufacturers and ask them to help quickly. If the launch fails, they will go bankrupt."
After all, NASA and the Kennedy Space Launch Center don't just collect money and do nothing. Once they send the launch vehicle to the sky, they have to ensure services such as communication and assistance control after charging a high fee. They can only wait until the satellite completely enters the designated orbit.
Finally, most of the work at the space center was officially completed.
The data being tracked by the Kennedy Space Launch Center and the Tanegashima Space Center also appears in the computer processing systems inside the two huge man-made objects in outer space.
The "Mesopotamia" satellite, which is shaped like a luxury bus, has deployed two pairs of dark blue solar panels. It is meticulously executing ground attitude adjustment signals to avoid possible collisions.
However, to everyone's surprise, the out-of-control Japanese military spy satellite "Ye Xiao 3" seemed to have identified the commercial satellite that had just entered outer space. No matter how it avoided it, it could not get away from it. The distance between the two parties was getting closer.
reality.
The shape of this huge commercial satellite began to change, and a slender square bar nearly two meters long stretched out from the inside and was aimed at a certain direction in the dark starry sky.
"Locked target, named 'Ye Xiao 3', orbit altitude distance 47 kilometers, speed difference 0.7 kilometers per second, expected to collide in 45 minutes, confirmed threat level 7, activate the attack system, particle beam cannon starts to calibrate...
..Group A processors failed, system performance decreased by 19%, warning, hardware system failure occurred, Group B processors failed, Group C processors... Start hardware restart, activate the second backup system....
..Complete failure of the primary system, failure to boot the system, failure of the secondary backup system, failure of the third backup system, shutdown..."
The "Mesopotamia" satellite, which is in orbit at an altitude of 351 kilometers above the earth, went through a series of internal system changes that were unknown to the outside world, and the ground control center initiated a response.
The signal lights that were still flashing on the surface suddenly went out, and the satellites that were still in some operating state completely died, like a coffin that had lost its life.
"We lost contact with the Mesopotamia satellite and entered a drifting state. Damn it, what happened? Is it a solar storm?"
"Sorry, Director Michus, there are no recent forecasts of solar storms arriving on Earth."
"Is losing control also contagious? Communications team, repair the connection immediately, increase the antenna output power, and open the backup communication channel. Damn it, Larry, help me take notes and prepare a report. I want to report to Mr. Bollen
this matter."
The control center at the Kennedy Space Center started to get busy.
Although satellites may encounter various accidents after being sent into space, there was no sign of what happened today, and there was an air of evil.
"That commercial satellite also went out of control?"
In the satellite control center duty team at Japan's Tanegashima Space Center, Shigeaki Yamashita and his colleagues looked at each other, obviously in disbelief. The satellite that had just been launched could not escape the fate of being used as a backup. It was really unlucky to lose control at this juncture.
Against the background of the bright blue earth, a cylindrical satellite with flashing light spots was slowly approaching a satellite whose lights were completely extinguished, as if it had been scrapped. The flight speeds of the two parties were getting closer and closer, and they were even almost stationary.
It is hard to imagine that this satellite that has stalled not long ago is actually the brand new satellite "Mesopotamia" that has just launched into space and will officially enter the designated orbit in a week.
According to the manufacturer's design life, it can work non-stop for at least 30 years.
The surface of the cylindrical satellite approaching with evil intentions is undergoing drastic changes. A large number of complex components emerge, are constantly activated and moved.
Six gaps suddenly opened on the surface of the cylinder, opening wider and wider, slowly blooming like a piranha flower.
"Food...harvest..."
The moment the two satellites were about to come into contact, the six-petaled component suddenly enveloped the stalled satellite.
A large number of components of various shapes are swarming over...