Chapter 251: Major Breakthrough In Private Aerospace
The rocket’s fairing is covered with icons.
Bilibili, WeChat, QQ, Honor of Kings.
Tim pointed to the advertisement and asked: “Brother Qian, what’s this?”
Qian Fei said: “Oh, you mean this. This is part of our cooperation with Bilibili and Tencent.
I went to inquire, and this should be called advertising sponsorship.
In other words, this Burning No. 1 launch is sponsored by Bilibili and Tencent.
Advertising on rockets has a long history. During the Soviet Union period, Sony advertised on Soviet Union rockets, and later Russia also printed Pizza Hut’s LOGO on rockets.”
(Pizza Hut advertisement on a Russian rocket in 1999, costing 1 million US Dollars)
(Weibo advertisement on Ceres-1)
Director Bi looked at the rocket and fell into deep thought. He asked: “Brother Qian, why do they print advertisements on the fairing?
The fairing separates during the first stage flight phase, with very limited exposure time. Why not on the first stage side? That would last longer.”
Qian Fei explained: “Generally speaking, that’s the case. Rocket advertisements are usually printed on the first stage side because this position is the most prominent, longest-lasting during launch, and best meets advertising visibility needs.
Pizza Hut’s rocket advertisement and SpaceX’s Falcon 9 are both like that.
But the fairing isn’t impossible either, since it’s the most prominent.
After communicating with General Manager Ma, Tencent’s General Manager Ma made the decision to put it on the fairing.”
Just as they were chatting, Lin Ran and Pony happened to walk into the workshop.
However, they weren’t watching from the corridor but directly on the first floor, going under the rocket to observe.
Tim signaled the cameraman to quickly aim the lens at Lin Ran and Pony below.
“Why doesn’t it have boosters?” Pony asked. “I see many rockets have boosters, including our domestic Long March Series Rockets.”
Lin Ran said: “Actually, the heavy-lift launch vehicle that China Aerospace is developing now doesn’t have boosters either.
Boosters are more like a product of the era.
Tsiolkovsky’s ideal rocket equation is actually for sleek multistage rockets without parallel stages or half-stages. Rocket engineers should intuitively design them as sleek from a design perspective.
Back then, we developed rockets with boosters to solve the unreliability of high-altitude ignition in liquid rocket engines.
America and the Soviet Union solved the high-altitude ignition problem for engines, and they no longer put boosters on rockets with clear payload demand.
America’s second-generation intercontinental ballistic missiles Titan I and Titan II, and the Soviet Union’s second-generation R-9 and R-16, all returned to single-sleek configuration.
Because that’s the right way.
Later main heavy-lift launch vehicles like the Soviet Union’s Proton and N1, America’s Saturn 1 and Saturn 5, etc., were all single-sleek.
Of course, you might still have questions. Today, engine ignition reliability has long been solved, but there are still launch vehicles with booster schemes on the market.
Delta series, Atlas series, SLS and future ULA Vulcan, Russia’s heavy rocket Energia, Buran, Angara trio, China’s original Long March series.
There are mainly two reasons here. The first is that they had boosters from the initial design, achieving payload capacity coverage by adding or removing boosters or changing booster numbers, to minimize waste due to payload mismatch as much as possible.
The American and Russian rockets mentioned above are basically for this purpose.
For example, the Russian heavy-lift launch vehicle Energia, expected to be put into mass use in the 1990s: 2 boosters is Angara, 2 boosters with series payload is Energia-M, 4 boosters is Energia, 8 boosters is Buran.
Our Long March Series Rockets were also originally planned for modular development, even planning two types of boosters at 2.25 meters and 3.35 meters, but abandoned modularity for some reasons.
The other reason, taking Long March 2E, 2F, Long March 3B, 3C, and America’s Titan 3C as examples: later high-payload models were developed from earlier single-sleek versions by adding boosters to increase payload capacity. This is actually a kind of alternative modularity, just not within the original plan.
But generally, due to unreasonable stage ratios, this leads to payload efficiency loss. The most typical example is Long March 6A.
But today, when planning new rockets, with Falcon 9 as a precedent and designing for recovery as the goal, the cost savings from modular payload matching are clearly lower than the cost increase from modular complexity.
Rockets with clear payload demand will naturally no longer have boosters.
Although Burning No. 1 won’t perform moon landing missions, after modification, it can develop into a rocket similar to Falcon 9.
Our current payload capacity is about one-third of Falcon 9, same two-stage structure, multiple engines on the first stage, one engine on the second stage.”
Pony felt very novel, after all, China’s booster-less heavy rocket is still in research and development, and this is a very rare heavy rocket right now.
Although he had seen it before, no matter how many times, the novelty and oppression from the giant machinery were still so strong.
“Great, I can’t wait to see the rocket launch.
Lin Sheng, the moment of orbit insertion success, my mood will probably be as excited as yours.” After a few days of interaction, Pony’s attitude changed quickly.
To put it this way, as long as Lin Ran succeeds in orbit insertion this time, completing a medium rocket with 8 tons payload capacity in half a year.
Using a 7-engine parallel no-booster approach, Lin Ran is the number one figure in China private aerospace, no one else.
More than twice as fast as peers doing small rockets, what is this concept.
Equivalent to doing a math test paper, others take 120 minutes to score 90 (full score 150), you finish in half an hour with 130 points.
How to score 150, from capital’s perspective, still needs to nail reusable rockets.
After all, since Falcon 9, so many years have passed, and no one except SpaceX has succeeded.
For Pony, once successful, investing in Lin Ran has natural justification.
He personally likes astronomy is one aspect, and on the other hand, investing in this kind of company is the greatest response to the national call, and Lin Ran is also a fellow townsman from Guangdong Province.
Pony’s attitude has already shown a change in the way he addresses him, from Professor Lin at the beginning to Lin Sheng now, with a bit more expectation for the younger generation in his tone.
Just as they were walking around the first floor watching while wearing helmets, Apollo Aerospace staff came over and whispered a few words in Lin Ran’s ear.
Lin Ran turned his head and asked: “Pony, the UP host from Bilibili wants to come over for a simple interview, are you convenient to appear on camera?”
Pony thought for a moment, then nodded and said: “Let them come over.”
Director Bi and Tim couldn’t hide their excitement inside after knowing they could come over.
This is all traffic.
Living traffic.
Lin Ran himself is the focus of public opinion.
If this launch is successful, he would be China’s Musk, the number one figure in private aerospace, plus the halo of the Fields Medal, definitely China’s new tech star.
And Pony is even more of an old-school traffic magnet.
On the internet, Pony’s voice is not as loud as Leizi’s, because Leizi desperately does marketing, with accounts on Weibo and Douyin and keeps outputting videos.
Pony purely relies on netizens spontaneously playing memes.
The difference in popularity is just whether both sides operate or not; if Pony also operated, the popularity wouldn’t be less than Leizi’s.
Of course, black-red is also red.
“General Manager Ma, General Manager Lin, hello big shots, I am”
After Tim and Director Bi introduced themselves, Tim took the lead in asking: “General Manager Ma, what I’m most curious about is, are you General Manager Lin’s investor?”
Pony pointed to the icon of the Tencent app on the rocket and said: “I invested a little, so our icon is printed on Burning No. 1.
And for the cooperation with Bilibili, we also voted in favor.”
Tim then asked: “Then General Manager Ma, we all know that Apollo Technology’s goal is moon landing; do you think highly of General Manager Lin being able to achieve this goal?”
Pony smiled and said: “I think highly of it, of course I do, how could I not.
I’ve told Lin Sheng that even if I give him another 1.2 hundred million US Dollars, he wouldn’t want it.
Lin Sheng is the most confident young entrepreneur I’ve ever seen among the younger generation.
But thinking about it, it’s understandable; if someone else proved the Twin Prime Conjecture and Goldbach Conjecture at the age of 23, they would only be even more confident than him.
I think very highly of Lin Sheng, high-profile in doing things but low-key in being a person.”
Tim continued to ask: “General Manager Lin, for the moon landing, what is your plan like? Completing the moon landing within five years or ten years?”
Lin Ran shook his head: “If things go smoothly, we will go up by the end of this year; current technology is already sufficiently advanced, advanced enough to complete the moon landing in one year.”
As soon as the words “moon landing within one year” came out, Pony, Director Bi, and Tim all showed a hint of shock in their eyes.
This is too exaggerated.
“Really?” Director Bi couldn’t help but say.
Lin Ran nodded: “Of course it’s true; we started the project last year, but my preparations began when I graduated from high school.”
Lin Ran thought to himself, in the 1960 spacetime, I prepared for a full seven years; no one understands the Apollo Moon Landing better than I do.
“We will tell the world through the one-year moon landing that moon landing is not as difficult as everyone imagines; humanity entering the universe era will also be faster than everyone thinks.
The reason we are still trapped on the small Earth is, in a certain sense, a man-made conspiracy.”
After the first day of the visit, Tim and Director Bi couldn’t sleep at all because they got too many explosive news; originally they thought after the visit they would edit a video together.
Now their idea has changed; they want to edit the video immediately and release it right away.
They could completely imagine what kind of uproar the one-year moon landing thing would cause.
Not only is the thing itself shocking, but also because America has been shouting about returning to the Moon for so many years, yet a Chinese private aerospace company achieved it in just one and a half years since its establishment.
What kind of tsunami this would cause.
They had already thought of the sensational effect this would cause.
As they expected, Tim posted the video at three in the morning that night, and Director Bi posted at nine-thirty in the morning.
The hot searches related to the two’s videos and Lin Ran’s moon landing spread across all social media you can see.
“Moon landing in one year? Ran Shen went crazy after getting the Fields Medal? Really thinks he’s a god, right? This is rubbing the IQ of us old folks on the ground, or preparing to slap NASA’s face back and forth!”
“Holy crap, so arrogant, saying this in front of Pony, and Pony still invested money; if it’s not done by the end of the year, won’t it be awkward when they meet again?”
“This is too exaggerated; moon landing in one year, even Musk couldn’t do it.”
“I lost the bet on Ran Shen getting the Fields Medal before; in 2022 I definitely had to do a handstand head wash, but this time I’m betting again! I really don’t believe he can moon land by the end of this year; this time I bet on doing a handstand to eat poop!”
Xu Xian at Yenching University felt the pot coming from the sky; Lin Ran made bold statements, and now he has to take responsibility.
Because of his previous answer on Zhihu, a lot of people are flooding in, saying they want to bet with him again; originally if it was handstand head wash he could take it, but now these people want to bet big, eating poop he really doesn’t dare to bet.
And Lin Ran’s odds of winning are really too small.
Even on Twitter there is a lot of discussion.
This is mainly thanks to Musk forwarding the news with a laughing emoji.
The discussions in internet space failed to affect Burning No. 1’s launch according to the established steps.
At the launch pad, the second stage rocket stood on the launch pad, reflecting the sheen of metal under the sunlight.
Staff bustled around conducting final checks.
Inside the control center, the big screen displayed the rocket’s real-time status and countdown.
Lin Ran sat at the console with Pony, quickly browsing system data, while engineers closely monitored propulsion system parameters to ensure everything was normal.
Pony was able to go to the viewing platform specially prepared for media and guests to watch the launch.
After all, Bilibili was live broadcasting the entire process, and people from Bilibili and Shanghai state-owned capital had come.
When Lin Ran suggested choosing the console, Pony chose it without a second’s hesitation, since he had never watched from the console before.
Lin Ran asked: “Zhang Gong, how is the final system check?”
Zhang Gong replied: “All systems green, propellant loading complete, engine precooling normal.”
Other engineers replied respectively: “Control center, departments report status!”
“Propulsion system normal, pressure stable.”
“Media area and live broadcast signal in place, ready to start at any time.”
Lin Ran said: “Good, prepare to start, data no problem, design no problem, everyone relax.”
Pony asked: “Nervous? To be honest, I feel aerospace is all about this tension, one rocket is one billion, failure and one billion is gone.
My heart is starting to race.”
Lin Ran smiled: “Of course not, tension is insecure behavior.”
Pony chuckled in surprise, “Lin Sheng, you still have a youthful vigor in this aspect.”
Lin Ran thought to himself, it’s not youthful vigor, it’s that I have truly never failed.
Countdown entered the final 10 minutes, the atmosphere in the control center became tense, unprecedentedly quiet, only breathing sounds and machine sounds.
Lin Ran stood in front of the command console, voice steady: “T-10 minutes, initiate automatic launch program.”
On the big screen, heat waves surged below the rocket’s nozzle, staff evacuated the launch area.
Lin Ran’s gaze locked on engine parameters, while Zhang Gong repeatedly checked the propulsion system’s pressure curve.
“T-5 minutes, all systems recheck.”
“Propellant temperature normal, thrust ready.”
“Attitude control system stable, trajectory preset complete.”
“T-0!” Lin Ran decisively issued the command: “Ignition!”
Blazing flames erupted from the bottom of the rocket, the massive roar shaking the entire launch pad.
The rocket slowly left the launch pad, passed through the launch tower, and accelerated into the sky.
The control center’s big screen displayed the rocket’s real-time altitude and speed.
“Rocket liftoff, attitude normal!”
“Engine thrust stable, temperature within safe range.”
Lin Ran glanced at the screen: “Trajectory deviation less than 0.01 degrees, everything proceeding as planned.”
The trajectory curve on the screen matched the expected one exactly.
With an engineer explaining, Pony also knew this launch was very smooth.
He unconsciously smiled at the corner of his mouth: “Lin Sheng, first step success, next watch separation.”
The rocket flew to the predetermined altitude, first stage fuel nearly exhausted.
Lin Ran calmly issued the command: “Prepare stage separation.”
With a slight vibration, the first stage and second stage separated smoothly.
The second stage engine ignited immediately, continuing to propel the rocket toward the target orbit.
“Stage separation success, second stage ignition normal.”
“Second stage propulsion system running well, thrust output stable.”
Lin Ran said: “Trajectory fine-tuning complete, entering predetermined orbit.”
Then Lin Ran explained to Pony: “Separation is the most dangerous step in the entire process, many rockets fail at this step.”
Pony clapped: “Lin Sheng, your team’s efforts weren’t in vain.”
The rocket entered low Earth orbit, second stage preparing to release payload.
Lin Ran ordered: “Prepare payload separation.”
Seconds later, the payload smoothly detached from the rocket and entered the predetermined orbit. The big screen displayed orbital parameters, fully meeting expectations.
“Payload separation success, orbital parameters normal!” Lin Ran’s voice rang out in the control room: “Mission accomplished, we succeeded!”
The Control Center erupted in enthusiastic applause, and the staff of Apollo Technology all clapped one after another.
For everyone, this step’s success is real, tangible success.
They could add a line to their resumes: participated in the research and development work of Burning No. 1, which is the first medium-sized rocket independently developed by a domestic private enterprise, successfully developed in half a year.
This resume could land a good offer at any private aerospace company.
Everyone was poached by Apollo Technology, and many came after being laid off or becoming unemployed.
This resume is the capital for turning their lives around.
Of course, just the potential shown by Apollo Technology and the ability shown by Lin Ran mean that staying at Apollo Technology forever would of course be the best.
After the mission was completed, Lin Ran accepted an official Bilibili interview. He faced the camera and said:
“Today, we successfully sent an 8-ton payload into low Earth orbit.
This is a major breakthrough for China’s private aerospace, thanks to the team’s efforts and all those who support us.
In half a year, the outside world will think this is a miracle, but I know very well that this is just our starting point.
A professor’s life has never known failure.”
Lin Ran waved a finger in front of the lens.
The bullet screen in Bilibili’s official Apollo Aerospace live broadcast room exploded instantly, with over 100,000 people surging in at once.
“66666”
Bullet screens of 6s kept scrolling nonstop.
