Chapter 102: Nasa’s Tyrant
“Good, I understand.
I promise you.
Hong Kong first, then Southeast Asia, and finally Japan. I know what you want.
I agree with this.”
John Morgan said after thinking for a moment.
As a Chinese person, hating and being hostile toward Japan is perfectly normal.
Whether going to Hong Kong or striving for interests for Hong Kong shipowners, it can fully prove Lin Ran’s regard and fondness for Hong Kong.
At this time point, Japan’s economic importance on a global scale has not yet been demonstrated. Both its export industry and outward investment are still in the budding stage.
John Morgan, or others, also could not foresee that Japan’s economy would usher in explosive development.
Lin Ran’s change to the Asia-Pacific shipping port layout can effectively delay Japan’s development pace.
At least in some industries, Hong Kong can compete with Japan with the help of shipping costs.
Therefore, the last condition proposed by Lin Ran can be promised.
In October 1962, Lin Ran continued his work at NASA. His first task was not to go to Redstone Arsenal, but to the Cape Canaveral launch base in Florida.
Lin Ran and Von Braun stood in front of a row of flashing instruments, gazing sharply at the Atlas-Agena D rocket on the launch pad.
James Webber’s modification of NASA is still ongoing. After the news of the 1.8 billion US Dollar budget for next year is confirmed, the opposing voices within NASA have become so weak that they can be ignored.
Although Von Braun and his team are focused on the research and development of the Saturn series rockets, he also participated in the related work on the Atlas-Agena D rocket.
Because this launch is crucial for America to achieve a victory in the space race.
This victory can even be said to have strategic significance.
Although the shadow of the failure of Freedom 7 has been swept away, NASA still faces great pressure, which comes from the sharply increased budget.
You take the money, so you must have corresponding performance.
“Director Lin, Dr. Braun, the rocket’s fuel system has been checked and everything is normal.” An engineer’s voice broke the silence.
Lin Ran nodded and turned to look at the rocket model on the table.
“Very good!
But not enough!
We cannot be negligent. The previous NASA accident reminds us that every detail can decide success or failure.”
Lin Ran still held a brief meeting as usual.
The control room was packed with engineers and scientists, and the air was filled with tension.
Everyone knew that Lin Ran had somewhat of a tyrant tendency.
Especially after General Aerospace became NASA’s core supplier, General Aerospace did not skimp on telling NASA’s colleagues about Lin Ran’s deeds regarding him being a tyrant.
“Gentlemen,” Lin Ran began, his voice low and firm, “this concerns NASA taking the first step toward Mars.
Bringing back photos from Mars is not only a technological victory, but also America’s victory. I need you to prepare everything!”
A young navigation expert said cautiously: “Director, we have fully inspected it according to the new inspection standard and inspection procedures.
We are very confident.”
Von Braun also added: “Success is never accidental; it is the result of our countless calculations, tests, and improvements.
I believe everyone is confident.”
Von Braun gave up competing with Lin Ran for authority on technical matters, but that does not mean he has no intentions at all.
After all, given the form of Lin Ran being highly tied to Kennedy and the Donkey Party, the other party can stay here for at most eight years.
When the Donkey Party leaves the White House, the other party must also leave the White House.
In comparison, a technocrat like him can stay for much longer.
Therefore, if you are the tyrant, I will be the good guy and slowly weave my own network.
Von Braun has enough patience and even has to thank James Webber and Lin Ran for greatly increasing NASA’s budget.
“Qian Bolin, the time window for the Mars probe is in late October, and there are still 10 months until that time point.
You must remember to do multiple checks to avoid accidents in the Atlas-Agena D launch.”
The window refers to the specific time period suitable for launching a spacecraft from Earth to the corresponding planet.
In the field of aerospace, this “launch window” is usually determined by the relative positions of the two planets in their respective orbits.
Taking Mars and Earth as an example, the best opportunity usually occurs within the conjunction cycle of Mars and Earth, appearing approximately every 26 months.
At this time, the spacecraft can reach Mars in the most energy-saving way.
But that does not mean only this time period can succeed. Besides the best, there is also the second best, or even if this year’s launches are not very ideal, there will still be relatively good time points.
And next year’s launch window is between late October and early November.
The Soviet Union’s Mars 1 probe has a launch date of November 1, 1962.
They hoped that Mars 1 could fly by Mars on June 19 of 63.
Mars 1 succeeded halfway.
It entered the predetermined orbit and flew by Mars, but due to communication interruption, it couldn’t transmit any data back.
It even failed to achieve the photography purpose that the Russian wanted.
Later, the first to successfully bring back photos of Mars was Mariner 4 two years later, and Mariner 4 was also launched in November.
“Please rest assured, Director, we will definitely ensure its reliability,” Qian Bolin said.
Of course, not all NASA employees liked the people from General Aerospace.
After all, to some NASA employees, the people from General Aerospace were like overseers, overseers helping Lin Ran watch them.
It was a manifestation of the White House’s lack of trust in them.
After a simple visit to the Cape Canaveral launch base, Lin Ran returned to Redstone Arsenal. The Sikorsky H-19 originally equipped for White House senior officials was almost becoming his special plane.
“I’ve been running around outside this time and haven’t had time to discuss Mariner with you all. Previously in London, because London’s secrecy was really too poor, I didn’t let you send me the Mariner design drawing.
But last night when I was in Washington, I took a quick look, and we can still chat about it. I have some ideas, and we can discuss them.
You shouldn’t use this kind of thing to brush me off.”
When Lin Ran mentioned the current state of secrecy in London, whether it was Bruce Murray, William Pickering, or Jack James sitting there, they all laughed uniformly.
America newspapers didn’t skimp on mocking England’s intelligence and security agencies by using Korolev’s arrival in London.
These people were all core members of the Mariner probe design team.
“Alright, besides the solar panel, Mariner’s power system also needs to add a nitrogen propulsion system to ensure its attitude stabilization, to ensure it can maintain the correct orientation.
Just solar panels alone are not enough.
Because the communication system you designed is trash, do you know that?”
Lin Ran continued, “The multi-band antenna you designed is completely unacceptable; it needs to be changed to a high-gain parabolic antenna and omnidirectional antenna to ensure communication stability.
Using a multi-band antenna very easily leads to communication interruption.
One launch costs at least tens of millions of US dollars, and you’re using this kind of design to brush me off?
Stupid design, low-quality thinking.”
The Russian’s Mars 1 used a multi-band antenna, which was the mainstream proposal for probe communication equipment at the time.
And the reason Mariner 4 succeeded was because it built on the failure of Mars 1 and changed the multi-band to high-gain.
In short, Lin Ran’s idea was, whatever way you originally succeeded, that’s how I’ll teach you.
Wanting me to give more technology is impossible.
Unless I have ulterior motives.
Actually, there is a better proposal, which is the pressure sail.
This is technology leading by ten years, a bit like science fiction novel coming into reality, technology that wouldn’t be used until Mariner 10, and Lin Ran didn’t mention it at all.
“This is a sketch I drew on the airplane; everyone can take a look.
Here we adopt cold gas propulsion technology, using 12 small nozzles, solenoid valves, and a sensor-computer control system to achieve precise three-axis attitude adjustment.
The reason for choosing nitrogen is that its chemical properties are stable enough, and it’s lightweight, not burdening the probe.
The nozzles here can just use the simplest Laval nozzle, relying on gas expansion to produce thrust.
Then here are the solenoid valves, triggered by an electronic control unit to achieve pulsed injection.
The most important is its control system. What I’m thinking is using a combination of sun sensor and star tracker to perceive attitude.
The onboard computer receives sensor data, automatically calculates deviations, and triggers the corresponding nozzle injection.
This way, only a small amount of ground command assistance is needed.”
Based on the fact that simple digital logic circuits already existed in the 1960s.
(Mariner 4 probe design drawing launched on November 28, 1964, from “Mariner 4 – NASA Science” and “Alone in the Darkness: Mariner 4 to Mars, 50 Years Later – Caltech”)
After launch, NASA maintained contact with the spacecraft until the probe was 309 million kilometers from Earth, then disconnected.
Bruce Murray, William Pickering, and Jack James looked at each other.
They were all a bit embarrassed to take out their own design drawings.
Because compared to Lin Ran’s design, their designs were no different from kindergarten scribbles.
Moreover, the more everyone looked, the more they felt that a Mars probe should be like this.
They couldn’t even think of where it could be improved.
If there were people inside NASA who didn’t like Lin Ran or this style, naturally there were those who did.
Engineers from a mathematics background didn’t need to be mentioned; they almost all naturally had extra admiration for Lin Ran, which was the halo effect brought by the highest-level Brahmin.
More were like these three, who had worked with Lin Ran and experienced being crushed by him, and only then would they understand that his bad attitude was perfectly normal.
Because the other’s level was far ahead of yours, just like back in high school and university, they were also top-student level characters, and when exchanging with classmates, they would have a sense of IQ superiority.
And in front of Lin Ran, they had become his former classmates.
The other party could draw a sketch casually on the airplane that was close to perfect, so it was not strange at all to be scolded a couple of times.
Bruce Murray even thought that if he were Lin Ran, he would curse much more filthily.
Of course, in the eyes of NASA employees who did not like Lin Ran, this group that liked being scolded had a bit of a masochistic tendency.
“Sorry, Director, we didn’t think it through.”
