Chapter 58: Final Verdict
According to the technical manual and training requirements, the first step was to install a portion of the rocket casing.
The huge special aluminum-lithium alloy casing was hoisted in, and people immediately began welding.
This was a special welding technology called “friction stir welding,” which could ensure sufficient strength while guaranteeing airtightness and a series of other indicators.
While welding proceeded in the front and back, the remaining installation workers either stood on the tower platform or hung directly from ropes, beginning the installation tasks for subsequent equipment.
Originally, these tasks were carried out in series, meaning one task would be completed before moving to the next, with extensive testing and inspection in between to ensure the overall reliability of the rocket.
But now time was urgent, and they couldn’t afford to be so meticulous, so they directly adopted a parallel construction mode.
Taking the rocket’s first and second stages with a total length of 50 meters in a semi-circular shape as the calculation basis, its interior provided over 900 square meters of working area. With good dispatch, it was enough for more than 400 workers to carry out construction inside the rocket simultaneously.
In addition to these workers, in the rest of the factory building, more engineers and workers had already begun assembling and debugging some pre-installed equipment ahead of time.
Completing the assembly of these devices outside the rocket meant that when installation was needed, these modules could be directly installed into the rocket as a whole, saving a great deal of time again.
Under the tireless work of more than 2,000 workers and over 1,000 logistics support personnel, the construction progress of this giant rocket reached an unimaginably fast pace.
In just a few hours, half of the rocket body had already taken initial shape. A few more hours later, its interior was filled with dense pipes, cables, and equipment.
After 16 hours, all internal equipment installation was completed. At this point, the rocket as a whole finally began its first overall test.
This would also be its only in-depth test throughout its lifecycle.
During the two-hour test period, engineers would thoroughly and meticulously investigate any possible faults and hidden dangers inside it, and complete fault elimination within the next 6 hours.
After that, it would be “capped,” meaning the other half of the casing would be welded on.
In total eight hours, this single test and troubleshooting time was obviously insufficient.
Under normal circumstances, such testing and investigation would be conducted hundreds of times, lasting several months. Now it had been compressed to just a fraction of a percent of the original time.
This would result in many latent faults remaining undiscovered and uneliminated.
But there was no way around it; this was already the limit of what people could achieve at this moment.
In the vast industrial park, everyone had a solemn expression and hurried footsteps.
The eight hours passed quickly. Watching the workers who had begun the “capping” operation, every engineer had a complex expression.
Regardless of whether the preliminary work was done well or poorly, at this moment it was already “sealed and finalized.”
All the effort and hard work, along with any possible hidden dangers and faults, were now sealed inside this colossal object—62 meters long, 5.8 meters in diameter, with a total mass of over 200 tons even without fuel loaded—as the rocket casing was welded.
A giant special truck was already waiting outside.
This truck was over 80 meters long and 7 meters wide, longer than a car parked sideways by more than a meter, with over 100 wheels. Parked there, it was like an island floating on the land.
Under the joint hoisting of several huge tower cranes, this giant rocket was hoisted onto the shock-absorbing device on the truck’s platform.
The rocket was too complex and too precise; even vibrations during transportation could cause internal faults, which had to be eliminated as much as possible.
Once installation was complete, the tarp was covered, the truck roared to life and drove out of the factory area, while inside the factory building, the assembly of the second Giant Spirit God II Rocket had already begun.
Before this truck set off, a “scout vehicle” of the same specifications, size, and load capacity had already departed ahead of time.
On the road ahead, more than a dozen engineering vehicles and scout vehicles for the scout vehicle had already set off in advance.
That wide highway was now completely sealed off, with the central divider fully demolished.
The scout vehicle maintained a speed of about 80 kilometers per hour, driving steadily, while vibration sensors installed at various points on the vehicle recorded every vibration of the body.
“Road section 1152 has excessive vibration amplitude and needs leveling.”
“Yes.”
An engineering vehicle set off immediately, accompanied by several support vehicles. Large amounts of asphalt, gravel, and other building materials were quickly laid on the already very flat road surface, then finely rolled back and forth to make it even flatter.
The scout vehicle for the scout vehicle drove onto a bridge.
This bridge was a necessary route to the launch site.
“Bridge No. 54 has risks; temporary reinforcement required.”
“Yes.”
Several cargo ships quickly sailed over; large jacks were placed with one end on the ship deck and the other under the bridge, providing it with huge supporting force.
“Road section 1169 has too small a turning radius.”
“Yes.”
A blasting vehicle roared in and quickly drilled holes in front of the rocks where guardrails had already been removed, then detonated rapidly.
Amid the roar and smoke, the hard rocks were shattered and completely cleared in less than half an hour.
“There’s a toll station ahead.”
“Yes.”
Huge excavators, bulldozers, and cranes set off immediately. In less than half an hour, not only the toll station but also the concrete steps separating lanes were cleared clean, then paved with flat asphalt and gravel.
Under the busyness of countless workers, the scout vehicle, which matched the rocket transport vehicle exactly in dimensions and mass, always maintained a clear path ahead.
If it could pass smoothly, the subsequent rocket transport vehicle would certainly pass safely as well.
At 80 kilometers per hour, the two giant special trucks sped forward.
At the same moment, across the vast territory, at least over a hundred identical giant trucks were advancing on different roads, along different routes, toward different launch sites.
Some final assembly plants located near the coast chose sea transport instead.
Twenty 200,000-ton cargo ships docked at the port had cleared all their cargo, emptying their over 200-meter-long huge decks completely, loading six rockets at once, and advancing at full speed across the rippling sea toward the launch site.
At this moment, as many as 146 Giant Spirit God II Rockets had been manufactured and were en route to launch sites, but this was not the end of this construction effort.
According to the previous arrangement, many final assembly plants that had undergone exhaustive modifications could still complete one more round of construction before the deadline.
In this way, in five days, the total number of Giant Spirit God II Rockets built reached 292.
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Thanks to all you Reader Lords; monthly tickets have exceeded 1000, time to add an extra chapter.
Originally planned to save them for extras after going on sale, but on second thought, let’s put this one before going on sale—perfect timing to rush the new book list too.
Tonight after 12 o’clock, one extra chapter; tomorrow’s noon and evening chapters as usual.
Thanks to all you Reader Lords!
