Back in 1978, I was admitted to Northwestern Polytechnical University.

Chapter 298 Spaceborne Atomic Clock, the Same Model as GPS!
Washington, D.C., USA.

"We, Intel, are the hope of Silicon Valley. If we fall, we will fall far behind the East in the high-tech industry!"

Grove, clinging to his last glimmer of hope, came to deceive the politicians here. At this moment, his eyes were full of expectation as he looked at the congressman sitting opposite him.

"So, what kind of support do you need?"

"We need the government to issue an order to refuse the use of Loongson computers in all key departments and to insist on using our Intel processors."

"Your processor? Can it play videos? Or does it produce sound, or just that monotonous beeping sound when it starts up?"

"Your processors even make mistakes in floating-point operations, how are we supposed to use them?"

"These can all be changed, they can be changed. As long as we have the money, we can fix all these defects!"

"Really? How much will it cost?"

"With just 500 million, we can solve all the problems. Intel is the leader in microprocessor development, and we are confident we can solve them!"

Upon hearing his words, the congressman opposite him revealed a look of disdain: "So, where do you plan to raise these five hundred million dollars?"

"We hope the government will provide us with this funding..."

"That's impossible. Taxpayers' money isn't something we can spend as we please."

Grove's face was full of disappointment. He never expected that these politicians in front of him would be so short-sighted. Their own high-tech industry had already suffered such a heavy blow, yet they didn't even think about supporting it. They still thought about relying on ordinary market competition. If this continued, America's high-tech industry would be finished!
"Fellow countrymen, if Intel goes bankrupt, then America will lose hope!"

"Grove, you overestimate yourself. There are other companies that produce processors besides yours. Even if Intel doesn't exist, there's AMD and other companies. Do you expect taxpayers to cover your losses when your own business is struggling?"

Leaving the building, Grove's expression was complicated. Business methods could no longer solve the problem, which was why he came to the government with his last hope. Now, the government had given up, and Intel... probably had no future.

He was somewhat dazed as he walked toward the parking lot, not even noticing the roar of cars behind him.

The next moment, bang!
Grove's body flew into the air and then fell heavily to the ground, drawing gasps from passersby.

Soon, news of Grove's fatal car accident appeared in the newspapers. To ordinary people, it was just a common traffic accident, and they were glad that they had already sold their Intel stock. As for those who hadn't sold their stock... they could only watch helplessly as Intel went bankrupt, and their money was gone for good.

Princeton University.

"The technological development in the East is truly remarkable! The Loongson 1 we use now has already far surpassed Intel's 386 processor, so... Intel's decline is almost inevitable," Professor Gerald O'Neill remarked with emotion.

In front of him was an Apple computer using a Loongson processor. After acquiring this computer, his scientific research progressed rapidly.

“Teacher, you’re right. Using the Loongson computer, we have completed the calculations for the giant space structure, and the results have verified your prediction. This O’Neill cylinder is the best space city structure,” said student Epstein.

Gerald O'Neill is a renowned American physicist, a professor at Princeton University, and... a space enthusiast.

When the Soviet Union's first artificial satellite roamed space, O'Neill made a bold prediction: humanity would eventually live in space! Industrial production could be concentrated in space, reducing environmental pollution, providing living space, and establishing entirely new social systems, free from government constraints, thus realizing the dream of utopia.

O'Neill began various investigations. In particular, as a university professor, he could assign homework to his students. Over the years, he summarized the theories proposed by his students and finally arrived at the concept of a cylindrical space assembler, which was published in Physics Today in 1974. Two years later, he published "High-Altitude Frontiers: Human Colonies in Space," formally proposing the O'Neill cylinder concept.

At the time, he could only point out that he didn't have the resources to use computers extensively. Now, Loongson computers have helped him calculate a lot of data and obtain an accurate model.

This system consists of two cylinders that rotate in opposite directions to reduce the gyroscopic effect. Each cylinder is 30 kilometers long and 7.5 kilometers in diameter. Inside, there are mountains, lakes, forests, and cities, which can house 10 million people!
“The current design is already very precise, but unfortunately, it will still take many years of effort to realize our space dream,” O’Neal said. “Recently, I have come up with a new idea.”

"Hmm? What idea?"

"It's a brand new satellite navigation system that only needs two satellites to provide satellite navigation services to the entire United States..."

Listening to O'Neill's eloquent explanation of his ideas, Epstein couldn't help but say, "Teacher, your idea is already being implemented by people from the East."

"What did you say?" O'Neal's eyes widened.

"Please wait a moment, I'll go find a copy of the journal 'Progress in Aerospace Sciences'."

A few minutes later, O'Neal looked at the paper on dual-satellite positioning, titled: Beidou Navigation, a Dual-Satellite Navigation and Positioning System with Eastern Characteristics. He carefully read it from beginning to end, his eyes shining brighter and brighter.

These Easterners have the same idea as me! However, I can only think about it; I simply don't have the funds to push this project to the point of implementation. Moreover, the US military is taking a different approach and disdains satellite navigation systems that require two-way communication.

"Northwestern Polytechnical University has already demonstrated first-class standards in fields such as aviation and electronics. Now, they also have such unique insights in the aerospace field... I want to go to the East and see for myself, I want to have a chat with them!"

At this point, O'Neal was eager to go to the East for exchanges. Now, many American companies and universities are cooperating with the East, so it's normal for him to have this idea.

Dongfang, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Department of Aerospace Engineering.

"Over the past year and a half, we've conducted extensive theoretical research. In particular, we applied for domestic satellite and ground receiving stations and conducted simple tests. The results prove that our theory is feasible," Professor Wang said excitedly. "This project alone has resulted in the publication of over a dozen SCI papers..."

Qin Liang frowned.

"what happened?"

"It's nothing. This paper... it's published, so be it. But in the future, we still need to be careful to prevent foreigners from learning our technology. At Northwestern Polytechnical University, we don't evaluate scientific research based on the number of papers published."

This is still a matter of evaluation criteria.

How is a university's research capability demonstrated? Boasting about how strong its research and development capabilities are is meaningless because there's no way to compare them. Therefore, in universities, the number of papers published becomes an objective evaluation standard: whoever publishes more SCI papers has stronger research capabilities!

As development progressed, a quantitative standard emerged for whether university professors could continue to be hired: how many papers they published during their previous term, and how many of them were published in core journals. In order to publish papers, professors used all sorts of tricks. Some of them were truly talented and had the ability, while others who didn't... resorted to all sorts of crooked methods.

Qin Liang wasn't sure how to evaluate this system, but at Northwestern Polytechnical University, we don't look at the number of papers!
Many advanced technologies cannot be written into academic papers. Writing about them would inspire others and even allow other peers to imitate and surpass us. Northwestern Polytechnical University's advancement relies on its products! Real products that are selling well in the market!
As for this dual-satellite navigation system, it's been published, and others probably won't copy it. After all, the Americans use dozens of satellites, and so do the Russians. Europe... doesn't have this idea yet, and even if they do in the future, it will also be dozens of satellites. Only we in the East, due to a lack of funds, can only temporarily develop a regional navigation system.

"Well, Qin Liang, your concerns are valid. Perhaps we haven't considered things thoroughly enough. From now on, we won't pursue these empty titles. Launching the satellite will naturally prove our scientific research capabilities," Professor Wang said.

The aerospace engineering department had been suppressed for too long and hadn't had any notable achievements, so... they were a bit anxious. Therefore, when they had research results, they wanted to publish them to attract the attention of their peers. At this point, Professor Wang understood Qin Liang's meaning and also felt a little regretful.

"Well, let's talk about the problems we're currently facing."

"Next comes the design and manufacturing of the satellite. Our aerospace department has some experience in this area, but there are also many shortcomings. The biggest problem is still the onboard atomic clock." For satellite navigation systems, the positioning accuracy depends entirely on the timing accuracy of the atomic clock!

Now look at our East. Let's not even talk about accuracy; we don't even have spaceborne atomic clocks!
To keep time, one must have an accurate way of measuring time. Early on, Huygens discovered the isochronism of a pendulum and thus created the pendulum clock. A few years ago, he discovered the isochronism of a quartz crystal oscillator and created the quartz clock, bringing clocks into a new era.

For ordinary people, a quartz clock that loses one or two minutes a week is acceptable. However, for aerospace, this error is extremely large. The clocks required for aerospace should ideally have an error of no more than one second over hundreds of millions of years.

Ordinary devices were not very effective. Fortunately, humans had already discovered the internal structure of the atomic nucleus. In 1945, magnetic resonance technology was applied to the measurement of clocks, thus beginning the development of atomic clocks.

In 1948, the United States manufactured the world's first atomic clock. In 1967, the International Conference on Weights and Measures officially redefined time: 9192631770 oscillations of the cesium-13 atom constitute one second.

In this field, the East has not lagged behind. In the 1950s, experts from the Institute of Physics of the Oriental Academy of Sciences began research on atomic clocks and used the magnetic resonance of ammonia molecules to create the first atomic clock in the East.

In the 1960s, the Institute of Physics of the Oriental Academy of Sciences and the Shanghai Optical Instrument Factory jointly developed the first cesium atomic clock in the East. After the 1970s, in order to meet the needs of the Yuanwang tracking ships, a rubidium atomic clock was also developed.

However, all of these are for ground use and often require the size of a room. Such atomic clocks are destined to be unusable on satellites.

In the field of spaceborne atomic clocks, the East is still a blank slate!

"We can have nuclear physics faculty and students research this atomic clock, but from the initial research on its technical principles to its final successful development, it will probably take at least five years, and a significant amount of research funding," Professor Wang said. "In that case..."

This is not keeping up with the pace! We estimate that we can develop the satellite in two or three years, but the atomic clock that goes on it will take more than five years. And that's under ideal conditions. If we encounter insurmountable technical difficulties, the time may be extended. In that case, the first generation of Beidou will be hampered.

Qin Liang nodded, and just as he was about to say something, the phone rang.

“Hey, that’s right, Qin Liang is here with me. What? A foreigner wants to see him? Let the foreigner wait. Qin Liang is discussing something very important with us! What? Gerald O’Neal? Is he from Princeton University? Okay, okay, I got it.”

After hanging up the phone, Professor Wang's expression was complicated: "Qin Liang, Gerald O'Neill is a renowned professor at Princeton. He has many novel insights in the field of aerospace. For example, in the space city project, many people thought that the rotating ring was the best solution, but he proposed the cylindrical solution. He..."

“Then let’s invite him to come along,” Qin Liang said. “I also want to hear what this old professor’s purpose is.”

"Okay." Professor Wang was very excited.

A dozen minutes later, Professor O'Neill entered the conference room with several students. He glanced at Professor Wang first, and then looked at Qin Liang.

"You are Mr. Qin Liang?"

"You know me?"

“That’s right, of course I know. Mr. Qin Liang, in the American scientific community, everyone is very curious about you, wondering where your novel ideas come from…”

"Ahem, I'm just an ordinary person," Qin Liang said. "The research achievements of Northwestern Polytechnical University are the result of the joint efforts of our teachers and students. You've come all this way with your students, surely not just to flatter me? Please feel free to say what brings you here."

"I saw your SCI papers from the Department of Aerospace Engineering at Northwestern Polytechnical University. Is your BeiDou Navigation Satellite System still only at the theoretical stage?"

This guy actually came for this?
Professor Wang's expression was complicated; he didn't know whether to be happy or regretful, because his published paper had attracted professors from the United States!

"It is currently only at the theoretical level."

"Why? I see from the papers that you are genuinely conducting research, and you must be working to bring this project to the point of practical application, right? Moreover, for your Eastern countries, this should be the most suitable satellite navigation system!"

"Because we lack the relevant technology."

"What technology?"

"Spaceborne atomic clock".

There's nothing shameful about this. The satellites launched in the past didn't need it, so there was no need to develop it. The Eastern scientific research model has always been to develop only what is needed, without hiding anything. The Americans probably know that too.

"Currently, we are planning to consult with the nuclear physics department of Northwestern Polytechnical University to first develop a spaceborne atomic clock. Once this technology is mastered, we will consider formally developing this navigation satellite. Since you are an expert in this field, you should know how important this thing is to a satellite navigation system, right?"

“That’s right, this is very important! However… it will take too long for you to develop it from scratch. I can help you by coordinating two spaceborne atomic clocks from the United States!”

Professor Wang's eyes widened instantly.

purchase?
If we buy it, this problem will be solved instantly! The development of the BeiDou navigation satellite system can then officially begin, and within three years, it will definitely be able to form a network and provide services!

only……

He also knew that Qin Liang never recommended buying from them. After all, buying from others inevitably meant being subject to their control, and this feeling of being controlled was not what Northwestern Polytechnical University wanted. So…

As expected, Qin Liang shook his head.

"We don't want to buy them. On the one hand, we can't buy the most advanced atomic clocks, and we don't want outdated ones. On the other hand, even if we could buy advanced ones, the manufacturers would charge exorbitant prices. With the same amount of money, we might as well develop them ourselves. It just takes a little longer..."

Historically, the two onboard atomic clocks of the first generation of Beidou were purchased, and their accuracy was not high. Therefore, the navigation accuracy of the first generation of Beidou was only at the level of hundreds of meters. When it came to the second generation of Beidou, when they wanted to buy more, the other party refused to sell. This was an attempt to restrict the progress of the East in navigation systems!

Therefore, Qin Liang was not optimistic about external purchases, but... the guy in front of him was obviously very curious about the twin star positioning. If he could help, that would be different. These words were meant for the other party, hoping that he could understand his meaning.

Professor O'Neill did not hesitate at all.

"The chief engineer for atomic clock development at Holtron Corporation graduated from Princeton University; he was once my student," Professor O'Neill said. "If you need atomic clocks, I can help you make contact, and I'll get him the best price!"

This guy really knows when to strike.

"What...do you require?"

There's no such thing as a free lunch. What's this guy thinking, helping to coordinate things? He wants to get our BeiDou secrets? No way!
"My request is that you can complete the development of this navigation system as soon as possible, so that the world can see that aerospace systems do not necessarily require high investment, but can also be low-cost. In this way, we will be closer to large-scale human space exploration."

This guy... is he really such a pure person?

　PS: The interior of the cylindrical space city, and my country's early ground-based atomic clock.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)