My Age of Investment

"Dongfeng Optical B radar tracking is normal."

"Weinan radar tracking is normal."

"Qingdao radar tracking is normal."

"Yangtze River 3 tracking is normal."

"Telemetry signal is normal."

…

As observation points set up on land and in the ocean successively transmit observation reports to the command and control center, the Wanhu-1 carrier rocket has flown out of the country from west to east along the direction of the earth's rotation and entered the sky over the Pacific Ocean.

Sitting in the viewing gallery of the command and control center, Ivanovich had no intention of appreciating and comparing the professionalism of his Chinese aerospace counterparts because all his eyes were focused on the large screens hanging on the wall.

One of the screens is an image taken by a rocket-mounted camera. The picture is very clear. Not only can you see the rocket dragging its tail of continuous fire through the clouds, but you can also see the water vapor in the clouds condensing into small water droplets. Drops on the lens.

In addition, several sets of numbers displayed at the bottom of the image are constantly beating, and the rocket's flight speed, altitude, and changes in longitude and latitude are accurately presented in the screen.

There is also a set of images that were manually tracked and shot by the ground optical measurement team of the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. This is a test of the skill of the equipment operator. The difficulty is just like ordinary people opening their mobile phones and using dozens of times of zoom to shoot distant moving objects. If A slight shake of the hand may cause the entire scene to disappear, let alone continuous and stable tracking shooting.

Fortunately, the staff at the Jiuquan base have been tested for a long time, and each of their hands is steadier than the last. Wanhu No. 1, which is in the stage of accelerating its rise, has always been firmly captured in the picture.

You can see through the picture that this rocket is like a meteor streaking across the sky, dragging a long tail, bright and dazzling.

There is also a set of animated flight simulation images, which draw a curved real-time flight trajectory of the rocket through a large number of computer operations.

The images displayed on several screens, as well as the results reported by ground observation stations, all indicate that the rocket is flying normally.

But this was not enough. It only proved that the rocket successfully flew and flew normally for dozens of seconds. This rocket still needs to go through more than ten minutes of testing before it can achieve industry-recognized success.

Looking at Wanhu No. 1 on the screen as it continues to travel far away, Ivanovich, who was excitedly describing the bright blueprint for reviving the future of aerospace with Xia Jingxing at the wine table yesterday, now feels quite dry.

Just as Xia Jingxing needs to highlight the presence of revitalized aerospace in the increasingly popular private aerospace track, this veteran Ukrainian aerospace expert also needs a successfully launched rocket to get a good start for his rejuvenated aerospace career.

But at this time, the rocket had already taken off for dozens of seconds. Obviously, he couldn't do anything at this moment. The only thing he could do was to wait quietly for the result.

Li Zexiang and Wang Tao, who were sitting next to the old man, were also staring at the rocket on the screen. Neither of them spoke, their hearts were tied to the little rocket that was taking off.

Whether the aerospace business group can become famous in one go and at the same time reach out to ask for more development funds from the group depends on this.

…

Watching the rocket gradually disappear into the sky, a group of guests at the outdoor auditorium completely exploded.

"Damn it, did the launch succeed in just one try?"

"It's still very early, and it still depends on whether the subsequent rocket separation, satellite-rocket separation, and satellite insertion into orbit are all completed smoothly."

"There should be no problem. Mr. Xia never fights an unprepared battle."

"That's right, it will definitely enchant you!"

…

A group of entrepreneurs didn't know whether they really didn't understand the business or were trying to flatter Mr. Xia. They all seemed very optimistic about the follow-up steps of the rocket's launch.

In comparison, foreign reporters appear to be very calm. Whether the rocket launch is successful or not, it does not affect their compilation of news.

Because they had already prepared two sets of news headlines - Darren Xia's Space Dream Broken and Darren Xia's Space Dream Realized.

…

In the command and control hall, Ivanovich clenched his hands tightly into fists, held his breath, and stared at the several large screens directly in front of his head - the rocket that had been flying safely for more than two minutes was about to face the first round of the test. .

"The secondary engine ignites and the primary and secondary separation is normal."

At 156 seconds after the rocket ignited and took off, when the flight altitude reached 70 kilometers, ground observers reported the observation results, and warm applause immediately erupted in the command and control center.

This is a consistent tradition of China's aerospace industry. Applause and celebration are held every time a rocket launch is successful, which can relieve the pressure in the hearts of the staff.

Hearing the applause, Ivanovich's hanging heart finally relaxed.

If there was a problem with the first stage rocket, then he would really be embarrassed to see anyone.

This is also the minimum requirement for this launch, which at least ensures the normal operation of the first-stage rocket.

On the big screen, the rocket with a section of its tail broken off was still accelerating, while the remains of the first-stage rocket, whose connections were severed by explosive bolts, began to fall toward the surface at a high speed.

It is this stage that SpaceX recycles and reuses. Fazhong Aerospace has not yet mastered this technology, so it can only abandon the expensive first-stage rocket.

The landing point of the debris of this stage rocket has been calculated in detail. If nothing goes wrong, it will land in a certain area of ​​the Pacific Ocean. It will explode a few kilograms of fish at most and will not hurt the flowers and plants on the land.

Then, the flight altitude of the Wanhu-1 carrier rocket reached 200 kilometers. The conical fairing on the top of the rocket seemed to have been cut vertically with a knife. The two pieces of debris cracked and separated to both sides of the rocket body. , revealing the experimental satellite wrapped inside.

The Rockets successfully passed the second level and once again received a large round of applause from the command and control center.

The difficulty of this level is actually not small. Last year, South Korea, which clamored to become a space power, launched its first launch vehicle "Naro" for the first time. The failure was caused by a problem in the fairing separation link.

The second launch of the Luo Lao this year failed again, which made the first-stage rocket engine provider Da Mao a little unhappy. He threatened to cancel the cooperation if the three launches were unsuccessful.

It's not that the Koreans gave too little, but that Da Mao was afraid that the Koreans would smash the signboard of their world-renowned rocket engines.

Wanhu-1 has successfully flown to this point, and it can actually surpass South Korea.

Although everyone purchased the rocket engines from Da Mao's family and then also used magic modification and assembly, Fuxing Aerospace was one step ahead of South Korea's aerospace technology.

After a while, the second and third stage rockets of Wanhu-1 successfully completed separation, and there was another round of applause in the control center.

The footsteps of success are getting closer, but they are also getting more and more dangerous.

Ivanovic, Wang Tao, and Li Zexiang all looked nervously at the rocket for which they had high hopes.

Time passed by minute by second, and soon the Rockets ushered in the final test.

At 709 seconds after ignition and takeoff, the terminal rocket and the satellite were officially separated, and an experimental simulation satellite weighing 1 ton was sent into a low-Earth orbit 700 kilometers above the ground.

At this point, there was no longer any suspense about the launch result of Wanhu-1, and it was a complete success. All the commanders and observers stood up and applauded, and many people nodded to Ivanovich, Wang Tao and Li Zexiang. .

Although Wanhu-1 is not a rocket developed by them, it can be regarded as a part of China's aerospace power. Seeing the successful launch of this rocket, all the staff are sincerely happy for this emerging private aerospace enterprise.

"Mr. Ivanovich, we succeeded."

Wang Tao was the first to react from his sluggish state and gave the old Ukrainian man next to him a warm hug.

Ivanovich seemed to have still not recovered, and muttered to himself: "Did it succeed?"

Li Zexiang clapped and smiled: "Yes, we have really succeeded. We have become the seventh new aerospace force after China, the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan, and India to have the ability to launch satellites of more than 1 ton."

"So, my ten boxes of Maotai are now available?"

Xia Jingxing, who was striding forward in the distance, heard Ivanovich's words and laughed and said: "I'll send the wine to your house tomorrow, but you have to drink it leisurely. If you drink too much, be careful of the rockets it makes." Flying around like crazy."

"Haha, Darren, don't worry, I won't cause trouble by drinking."

For this old man who loves drinking, Xia Jingxing does not hesitate to satisfy his hobby. After all, Vision Capital China is also one of the shareholders of Moutai, so can he still drink from the old man?

He is afraid that the old man will drink people away. Before the young and middle-aged generation can be officially cultivated to revive aerospace, the old man, a master of aerospace technology, will continue to play the leading role.

Xia Jingxing had just chatted with Ivanovich and others when Director Shang from the base came to congratulate him.

“Mr.

Xia Jingxing smiled slightly. He knew his own family affairs. As for Wanhu No. 1, there is still a long way to go to revive aerospace. At present, this achievement does not deserve too much praise.

After chatting with Shang Hong and others for a few words and expressing solemn thanks, Xia Jingxing left the command and control center and went to the outdoor auditorium where the guests were.

When Xia Jingxing arrived at the viewing platform, the group had already received the news that the rocket launch was a complete success.

Jack Ma, who was standing in the crowd, said with his nostrils turned upward: "What am I talking about? Mr. Xia will never fight an unprepared battle.

Some people are still questioning me, are they being slapped in the face now? "

After saying that, Jackma deliberately looked towards where Zhou Hongyi was standing.

Zhou Hongyi heard what Jack said with a gun and a club, and wanted to say something back, but he saw Xia Jingxing jumping out of the car not far away. Now he didn't care about quarreling with Jack and rushed out to greet Xia Jingxing. .

“Mr.

Seeing Zhou Hongyi's arrogant appearance, Jack Ma felt a sense of contempt in his heart. Isn't he very dignified? Why are you so quick to flatter Mr. Xia?

Soon, Jack Ma was not to be outdone, and rushed to Xia Jingxing's side, saying with an accusing look on his face: "Darren, why didn't you contact me earlier?

If you had contacted me earlier, Ahri would definitely become a sponsor of Fuxing Aerospace. "

Jack Ma's words reminded Xia Jingxing, why didn't he think of selling the Rockets naming rights?

Ahri paid a sponsorship fee, and then Fuxing Aerospace printed Ahri's logo on the rocket. Then Ahri could hold a rocket shopping festival - to celebrate the success of Fuxing Aerospace's launch, everyone distributed shopping red envelopes.

After other entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs reacted, they also came forward to send blessings to Xia Jingxing, and all kinds of complimentary words were poured onto Xia Jingxing for free.

It's not all a compliment, but they really feel the gap between themselves and Mr. Xia.

They were still digging for food in the fields, but Mr. Xia had already made his business reach the sky.

This pattern is beyond their comparison.

Looking at Xia Jingxing, who was like a moon among the stars, Jack Ma felt envious in his heart, and even felt that a man should be like this!

He suddenly had a ridiculous idea in his mind, how about starting an aerospace company of his own?

But Jack Ma soon gave up this idea. Even if the profit model was not very clear, the risks were still huge and the investment was even more expensive. He should be more down-to-earth.

Then, reporters who noticed the movement rushed over to interview Xia Jingxing and surrounded him on three levels inside and three outside.

"Don't worry, everyone, I haven't run away, am I still here? Everyone asks questions one by one, and I will tell you everything I know."

With his back to the majestic launch pad behind him and the vast Gobi Desert as his background, Xia Jingxing began to accept interviews and questions from Chinese and foreign reporters.

"Mr. Xia, first of all, congratulations on starting a new and magnificent career. I want to ask, what made you decide to enter the private aerospace field?"

The first person to ask a question was a Chinese female reporter, who was looking at Xia Jingxing with stars in her eyes.

As the fourth richest man in the world with Internet on his left and finance on his right, and with the title of "Rocket Maniac" on his head, Xia Jingxing has everything that interests reporters, especially female reporters.

Xia Jingxing smiled slightly at the female reporter and said: "When I was a child, I used to look up at the sky, looking at the stars in the sky, and asked my father: Are there any aliens in this world...

My father told me to study hard. Only by reading the book well can I understand this problem by myself.

Later, I went to college and started my own business, but I never forgot this childhood question.

Later, I learned about private aerospace and found that private individuals could also build rockets, so I plunged into this field without hesitation. "

The reporters all couldn't help laughing. Is this the attitude of answering questions? Entering private aerospace just to fulfill your childhood dream? Discovering aliens seems to be more difficult and more absurd than Musk's immigration to Mars.

Then, a female reporter from the United States caught the problem exposed in Xia Jing's jargon and asked closely: "Darren, you said you learned about private aerospace and found that private individuals can also launch rockets, so That’s when I decided to build a rocket.

Is this inspired by Musk? "

Xia Jingxing nodded lightly, "Yes, although I don't have a good relationship with him, he did build rockets before me."

"Maybe you were born in the United States and could launch rockets earlier than him."

Next, a foreign reporter began to dig holes for Xia Jingxing, trying to extract some discussion about the national situation from Xia Jingxing.

But unfortunately, Xia Jingxing was not fooled. He spread his hands and said, "Maybe I was born ten years earlier and could launch the rocket earlier than him."

Seeing that Xia Jingxing was so dishonest, the foreign reporters gave up their desire to sow discord and began to dig up news from another angle.

“Darren, did Fuxing Aerospace get help from China’s official space agency for this rocket launch?

I noticed that Wanhu-1 did not disclose the model of the second- and third-stage rocket engines?

And your rocket separation technology is also very mature, which makes many reporters including myself very curious. Can you answer our questions? "