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

Chapter 543 Qin Liang: I planned this? I just found out too!
Americans have GPS, and the Russians have GLONASS!

Moreover, the Russians started their research and development quite early, beginning design in 76, launching their first satellite in 82, and completing the system concept in 85. At that time, there were only five or six satellites in orbit, used only for testing.

By 86, large-scale testing began, and the number of satellites in orbit increased to 12. After much effort, the project finally matured in 93, and mass launches began, forming a full network of 24 satellites.

This adds up to a total of forty satellites. However, there is another statistic: in the ten years or so from research and development to the official networking of GLONASS, a total of 27 launches were carried out, sending 67 satellites into space.

Moreover, this does not include the six satellites lost due to the two failed launches.

The Russians used a one-rocket-three-satellite launch method, which wasn't expensive. But how did they launch so many?
Of course, it's because the Russian GLONASS satellites had such short lifespans!

The earliest basic model, codenamed Hurricane, had a very short lifespan, lasting only one year!

Later, in 95, the constellation was officially completed, with 24 satellites required for full constellation. The planned lifespan was only seven years, and many of them did not reach their lifespan. By 2001, the entire system had only six satellites left. Fortunately, cooperation with the United States in the aerospace field began, which enabled subsequent replacement work.

There are many reasons for the short lifespan, such as poor quality solar panels that quickly fail to function properly, or the lack of adequate radiation protection measures...

That's right, the most important reason is that the radiation protection is inadequate!

In the past, Russia's electronics industry relied on vacuum tubes. However, with the development of electronic technology, vacuum tubes became obsolete, and the era of transistors and integrated circuits began.

GLONASS satellites, which use time-division multiple access technology, also use digital integrated circuits. Unfortunately, these chips are civilian chips purchased from the market, which have poor radiation resistance, resulting in a very short satellite lifespan.

Now that the Russians are here, we should continue to make money from them!

We can cooperate in the aerospace field!
The Russians opposite them all had complicated expressions.

They did indeed encounter the major problem of short lifespan of navigation satellites, and Eastern electronic technology was the most advanced, so...

"What advanced electronic equipment do you have?" Baklanov asked.

"That's a lot!" Director Deng said enthusiastically, "First of all, looking at atomic clocks, the atomic clocks we developed can achieve an accuracy of within 100 nanoseconds..."

100 nanoseconds!

One nanosecond is one billionth of a second. Theoretically, this error would result in a ranging error of 0.3 meters. Within 100 nanoseconds, the error can be controlled to within 30 meters. With the addition of other technical means, the actual positioning error can be controlled to within 10 meters!
Currently, the Hurricane 1 satellite, model 11F654, launched by Russia, carries a cesium atomic clock with an accuracy of only 1000 nanoseconds! Therefore, its positioning error is around 100 meters! This is similar to the first generation of Beidou!
It's important to know that the first generation of Beidou uses two satellites for positioning, not multiple satellites!

"Regarding satellite antennas, we have specially designed array antennas with high directivity, which can reduce the output power requirements. As for the internal computing chips, that's even more of our strength. We have specialized radiation-hardened chips, and your time division multiple access technology can even be upgraded to code division multiple access technology..."

The Russians swallowed hard. Needless to say, they wanted all their other satellites and spacecraft to be equipped with equipment made in the East!

This would significantly enhance their space capabilities!

“Then… shall we start by cooperating on the navigation satellite project?” Baklanov suggested.

“Great! As long as you provide us with the navigation satellite data, we can help with the design. As for the cost… if you are willing to make the civilian signals of the GLONASS satellite compatible with our BeiDou, then we can help with the design for free. You only need to pay the procurement cost.”

Need help with the design?

How can that work!
Navigation satellites are primarily for military use! Their first instinct was to shake their heads, but then… what they said next swayed them: they'd help with the design for free!
Their biggest concern is the cost, and their own navigation satellites are technologically outdated and will need to be upgraded sooner or later...

Chang'an Victory Hotel.

Thump thump thump... A secretary rushed in.

"Everyone, everyone, we've found out about their collaboration!"

The ESA, NASA... they all widened their eyes and looked at the newcomers with expectant eyes: "What kind of cooperative project did they reach with the Russians?"

"Regarding GLONASS navigation satellites."

Europeans' hearts skipped a beat. What? Navigation satellites? Then what about us...?

"Tell me quickly, give me the specifics!"

"The Easterners used their technology to help the Russians improve the GLONASS navigation satellites, increasing their lifespan from one year to seven years, improving accuracy by an order of magnitude, and more..."

"Say it quickly!"

"The civilian signals of Russia's GLONASS navigation satellites will be compatible with BeiDou signals..."

What do you mean?
Joseph's heart sank completely; Europe's independent navigation satellite project was about to be completely ruined!
When they arrived, they were full of expectations, hoping to participate in the BeiDou project in the East, and even to lead BeiDou and have control over it! In their eyes, this was a sure thing!

did not expect……

The Russians beat them to it!
Russia's GLONASS system mainly covers Europe and high-latitude regions. With BeiDou signals available in these areas, even if the East builds its own navigation satellite system in Asia first, there's no need to worry about Europe being left without a system!

"This Principal Qin is really shrewd!" Joseph exclaimed.

A sneeze!

Qin Liang, far away in the capital, sneezed.

He really didn't have any ulterior motives, but... after so long, the students at Northwestern Polytechnical University had already learned his style. They weren't working behind closed doors; the Department of Aerospace Engineering was very knowledgeable about the development of foreign aerospace technology!

Director Deng may not be a technical expert—after all, none of the senior professors who specialize in technology want to do administrative work—but Director Deng is definitely a master at collaboration!
After his persuasive efforts, the Russians agreed to cooperate in the field of navigation satellites, enabling BeiDou-2 to achieve global networking at a faster pace!
Needless to say, Galileo, which Europe hasn't even developed yet, is no match for BeiDou-2, not even the US GPS!
"Hmph, this is betrayal! Easterners actually cooperating with the Russians! This is a betrayal of the entire Western world! We must punish them!"

Bergs was furious. For the United States, the most common form of retaliation is sanctions!
They use their advanced technology to sanction technologically backward countries!

Now, when they hear him say he wants sanctions, Europeans have mixed feelings.

What are the sanctions?
Their technology is the best in the world. If anyone should be sanctioned, it should be the Easterners sanctioning us!

In the aerospace field, they are indeed still weak, but their electronic technology is advanced! Now they have proposed to take the liquid oxygen-methane route. As long as this route is successfully developed, the shortcomings of China's aerospace industry will be made up!

“Let’s go!” Bergs stood up.

"Where are you going?"

"I want to tell the Easterners myself that if they dare to cooperate with the Russians in the aerospace field, they should be prepared to accept sanctions from NASA!" Bergs strode out.

This time, when I came to the Department of Aerospace Engineering at Northwestern Polytechnical University again, I didn't see anyone there.

"Excuse me, Director Deng has gone to lunch."

"Which cafeteria is he in? Let's go find him there!"

"Well... he's having dinner with the Russians, so it's not convenient for your side to go. Especially since they've been drinking."

Beggs stopped in his tracks.

If it were just a meal, he would actually have wanted to go, since he had ruined their cooperation. But after drinking...

When the Russians drink alcohol, their fighting ability will continue to soar, and they may even be able to fight a bear with their bare hands!
What if I rush in and get beaten up?
At the same time, in Bangalore, on the South Asian subcontinent, the Indian Space Research Organization...

"Hmph, what's so great about China's space program? It's nothing but small-scale stuff. It can't compare to us Indians at all. Since they want to land on Mars, then our ambitions should be bigger. We want to land on the Sun!"

Upon hearing this, the people below were stunned. "Mr. Premier, don't you have some basic common sense? Is the sun something that we humans can climb up?"

“Mr. Prime Minister, let’s try to make a breakthrough on a planet first,” Dr. Apjab-Dumkaramj said cautiously. “A planet? Well, the largest planet in our solar system is Jupiter, right? Then let’s make landing on Jupiter our goal!”

This……

Everyone was speechless again.

Jupiter is quite different from Earth. It doesn't have a solid rocky surface. It's a gas giant, and the entire planet is gaseous, mainly composed of hydrogen and helium, gases that appeared in the early universe.

All human probes have been able to penetrate deep into Jupiter's atmosphere before disappearing into its raging hydrogen and helium storms.

According to scientists' analysis, there may be regions of liquid molecular hydrogen inside. After all, as the internal pressure increases, the gaseous state will turn into a liquid state. As for whether there is a solid core, no one knows.

Besides, Jupiter is enormous. If you actually went up there, not only would you not be able to fly back, but you wouldn't even be able to stand up. You could only lie down. If you tried to stand up, your own gravity would crush you into a meat patty! No, a pulp!

"What, we're not capable of doing it?"

"Actually, we can set our goals closer to the future. Things like landing on Mars are just science fiction. Why don't we propose a plan to return to the moon?"

Even the moon is a distant dream for India right now!
In 1969, the Indian Air Force Research Organization was officially established. In 1980, their first carrier rocket was launched, with a total weight of 17 tons and a payload of 40 kilograms.

That's right, this is the current technological level of Indian space engineers!
They have no ability to fly to Mars; flying to the Moon is too far away!

"Alright, let's go back to the moon. What the Easterners can do, we Indians can definitely do too!"

Everyone finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Today, we'll finalize the plan, and tonight, I'll announce it to the world!"

That evening, in the East, in the capital.

"Liangzi, you're amazing! You've got the Westerners completely fooled."

"What do you mean?" Qin Liang looked at Old Lin. "You invited me out for drinks today, what exactly do you want to say?"
"By using the Starship program, you whetted the appetite of the entire West. The United States and Europe both hoped to cooperate with you in this field. Unexpectedly, you turned around and chose to cooperate with the Russians! This move was brilliant!"

Mr. Lin sighed with deep emotion: "The Westerners have ill intentions. They want to gain control of BeiDou, want to obtain BeiDou's secrets, and even want to destroy BeiDou. The Russians, on the other hand, will not be in this danger. Their technology is backward, and cooperating with them would be a powerful alliance."

"Wait, Mr. Lin, what is all this? I don't understand anything."

Old Lin put down his wine glass and looked at Qin Liang.

"Keep pretending, kid. Weren't these plans something you arranged in advance?"

I have no idea what the arrangements are!
"I'm telling you, this isn't very interesting! The whole plan is exactly as you've always done. Just admit it to me!"

Qin Liang was getting more and more confused, but luckily, his phone rang at that moment.

"Hello, Director Deng, reporting on work? Okay, I'm listening."

Inside, Director Deng briefly recounted today's cooperation, describing how the Americans were aggressive, how the Europeans were scheming, and how the Russians readily accepted it, leaving Qin Liang wide-eyed.

Great, great! Northwestern Polytechnical University can operate on its own without us having to make any arrangements!

After hanging up the phone, Qin Liang looked across the room.

"Mr. Lin, you should have been able to hear the voice on the phone just now, right? I just found out!"

"Okay, okay, let's say you just found out."

What do you mean by "even if it is"? Are you implying that I deliberately put on this act in front of you to prove my innocence?

you……

There's really no way to communicate anymore.

"I called you here today to discuss whether we can take this opportunity to completely acquire the Russian GLONASS system and make it ours..."

GLONASS is a Russian military system. If we gain control of it, the Russians will have to think twice before trying to use it to cause trouble for us again!

Qin Liang also began to think about it seriously.

Northwestern Polytechnical University made a wise choice.

In later generations, our BeiDou system was integrated with GLONASS, or rather, the Russian GLONASS system was compatible with our BeiDou system. This was done to ensure greater stability.

In the future, if war breaks out, there will be two systems that can be switched back and forth.

As for GPS... it's absolutely the most unreliable, not even as good as GLONASS.

"Old Lin, we can't rush this. We have to take it slowly. After all, we've only just started cooperating with the Russians on the aerospace system. They're definitely wary. Right now, it's just cooperation in the civilian sector. But in the future, we'll definitely be able to realize our military plans."

"Okay, come on, let's drink! What, aren't you going to drink? You have a kid now, it's time to drink!"

Just then, the television in the cafeteria started playing the news.

"Now broadcasting international news, India has just issued a statement announcing their plans to march on the moon."

What, an Indian?

Qin Liang's eyes widened. Sure enough, no matter what the matter was, the Indians always had to get involved!
India's space technology is very backward. At present, it can only send a basketball into low Earth orbit. With that, it still wants to land on the moon?

"Our plan to march on the moon will be divided into three steps..."

On the television screen, an Indian man was talking incessantly.

"First, we will land on the moon. We will use two rockets to launch, dock in orbit, and fly to the moon. After reaching the vicinity of the lunar south pole, we will collect lunar soil and then return to Earth..."

"After completing the sampling, we will develop a larger lunar spacecraft and strive to achieve a manned lunar landing in the new millennium..."

"In the first decade after the new millennium, we will establish a permanent base on the moon and a lunar orbital space station..."

These grand ambitions... even Qin Liang sighed, realizing that when it came to boasting, he had to admit defeat and couldn't compare to the Indians. However, while the Indians might not have much else, their method of achieving mental victory was truly remarkable!
"Liangzi, shouldn't we... also have a manned lunar landing program? I get uncomfortable watching Indians brag like this."

Qin Liang smiled and said, "They're just bragging. We're being down-to-earth. In fact, the manned spacecraft we developed already has the capability to land on the moon."

We're going to build a manned spacecraft weighing over 20 tons right off the bat. Of course, this is because we have multiple plans. As long as we replace the service module at the rear with a dedicated lunar orbital module, it will be able to support the spacecraft's journey to the moon!

Of course, a dedicated lunar lander needs to be docked in front of it, launched by two rockets respectively, and docked in lunar orbit. The astronauts on the spacecraft will then board the lunar lander and descend into lunar orbit. This manned spacecraft will orbit the moon, waiting for the lander to return and dock, and then return to Earth together.

Ultimately, it still lacked the powerful thrust of the Apollo rockets, so it had to be done in two stages. But that's nothing to worry about. Once our starship is built, going to the moon will be a piece of cake!
As they were talking, the phone rang again.

"Hey, Director Deng, what else is there? What? A foreign tycoon is coming to invest in our starship project? Great, great, fantastic! He wants to see me? No problem! I'll personally pick him up at the airport when he arrives in the capital!"

For the Starship project to be successfully completed, our own funding alone is not enough; a large influx of international funding is essential!
This first income was crucial, marking the beginning of the era of private spaceflight as the space industry broke free from government control!

Unfortunately, the future private rocket genius Elon Musk is still a minor and at most writes some computer games. However, the person who came this time is also a big shot, a guy who has loved rockets since childhood, Kay Michelson, who in the future built the world's first privately developed rocket! And it was successfully launched into space!
(End of this chapter)