You promised to build cars, so why did you go into the military industry?

Chapter 71 Recruiting on a Rocket

November 28, cloudy, northwest wind level 11.

At 10:13 a.m., an hour before launch, Zhao Feng's team, which had been calm, became excited as the launch time approached.

"Are you sure all the doors to the biological storage compartments for the lab mice are closed?"

For some reason, Zhao Feng felt anxious and insecure, especially doubting whether he had forgotten to close the warehouse door. When recalling the operation, he always felt that he had missed a step.

Qiu Cunming was not surprised, knowing that he was just being too nervous, after all, he had been in the same situation before.

For example, he once received news before a business trip that the water supply in his neighborhood was cut off, and as a result, he spent the next few days in the city trying to remember whether he had turned off the tap before leaving.

At this point, offering words of comfort was useless. Qiu Cunming pulled up the video log and played it for Zhao Feng to see.

"Look, it fits perfectly, there's not a single problem."

At 11:10, three minutes before launch, Qiu Cunming also became excited.

This is the last launch.

If successful, the cross-shaped space station complex will be completed within a month, with the docking of the modules.

Although the combined structure has less than 60 cubic meters of living space, it is more than enough to meet the needs of two astronauts for long-term stays.

Moreover, this is a space station with the ability to self-regulate its environment. According to the astronauts' physical data provided by CNSA, the frequency of launching cargo spacecraft for resupply will increase from once every three to six months to three times every two years.

It truly is a scorpion poop, uniquely poisonous.

Amidst much anticipation, the Joint Launch Vehicle-1 Y8 successfully delivered the Biosphere 3 module to its designated orbit in 500 seconds.

For a period of time thereafter, Zhao Feng arranged for people to closely monitor the survival status of his laboratory mice and the fluctuation range of various ecological data within the chamber.

According to his calculations, once the data stabilizes within two weeks, the docking and rendezvous of the modules can begin.

On December 3, Manager Xun, who was assisting the Sixth Construction Bureau, dragged a burly man wearing a white safety helmet to Li Ran.

"Construction in the undeveloped area has been completed, and you have two weeks to relocate."

Next Wednesday, December 17th at midnight, we will begin the upgrade and renovation work on the current base as scheduled.

Li Ran was overjoyed. With the successful launch of the Biosphere 3 module, the subsequent rocket-related production tasks were only some non-reusable second-stage hulls and fairings. The task intensity was not high, and the time was also very flexible. The timing was just right!

He then summoned all the leaders to begin preparations for the move.

In heavy industry, many production equipment cannot be started or stopped arbitrarily.

Therefore, the relocation must be carried out in batches and in an orderly manner, and the preliminary preparations are of paramount importance.

The more thorough the preparation, the better the chance of avoiding irreparable losses due to improper operation.

On December 15th, upon hearing that the space station docking operation would take place that day, Li Ran took a break at 2:26 AM to prepare to stay up late and watch the live broadcast.

However, the anticipated cross-shaped Tiangong-1 did not appear; its top view still shows a T-shaped configuration.

If a description had to be made, Li Ran felt that using a Cartesian coordinate system would be the most accurate way to describe it.

The origin 0 (0, 0, 0) is set at the junction of the four modules.

The furthest point of Tiangong-1, located on the Y-axis, is (0, 10.8, 0).

The farthest point of Biosphere 1, located on the X-axis, is at coordinates (7.5, 0, 0).

The furthest point of Biosphere 2, located on the Z-axis, is at coordinates (0, 0, 7.5).

The farthest point of Biosphere 3, located on the X-axis, is at coordinates (-7.5, 0, 0).

As for why things turned out this way, Li Ran later learned from Zhao Feng that it turned out that when CNSA conducted its year-end pre-sales review before the docking, it was discovered that nearly 4.5 million yuan of budget had not been spent.

Meanwhile, after detailed discussions with several astronauts who had previously resided on the space station, the space station designers developed new design ideas for future space stations.

As a backup for Tiangong-1, Tiangong-2's framework has reached its limit in terms of modification potential and cannot adapt to subsequent improvement work.

Adhering to the principle of not wasting resources, Director Qi Kaifeng plans to launch it at a suitable time and dock it with the combined vessel.

At that time, Tiangong-2 will be located on the Y-axis, with the farthest coordinates being (0, -10.4, 0).

However, the budget of 4.5 million is indeed limited, and the Z-axis region (0, 0, -7.5) is empty —

So Zhao Feng's team received a temporary task: to rebuild a Biosphere 4 module with 250 million yuan.

The remaining 200 million is for the launch costs of the two launches by United Industries.

To be honest, nobody at United Industries takes this reason for getting their feet done seriously.

Considering the friendship behind the 4.5 million yuan deal, no one would do anything to spoil the mood.

Besides, once the order is in hand, it's impossible to give it back.

After all, it's impossible to lose money. Not to mention that friendship is priceless, the incomplete planetary-level integrated industrial base that is currently in operation can significantly reduce the manufacturing cost of United One and greatly improve production efficiency.

Loss? Not at all.

So, the students who originally thought they could have a good New Year with the successful launch of the Biosphere 3 module suddenly realized that they might not be able to go home for the Spring Festival this year.

Time flies, and more than two months have passed.

Although the delivery was delayed, the 10,000 sets of passive robotic arms were successfully delivered to the military region despite the rush.

On February 17, the planetary-level integrated industrial base was completed and officially handed over.

Faced with Manager Xun openly running wild in the conference room, Li Ran didn't have any thoughts of petting him, because he was too busy right now.

The planetary-level integrated industrial base, covering an area of ​​two square kilometers, suddenly put the previously well-staffed United Industries in a predicament of labor shortage.

Although the entire industrial base is highly automated, these 7,000 employees are far from enough to operate at full capacity.

In anticipation of the upcoming Spring Festival holiday, to prevent any unforeseen events at the base, all staff members will receive triple pay for the holiday.

The price was that everyone worked without a break during the Spring Festival.

In fact, this situation of no holidays for all employees has been going on for more than a month.

Managers from almost all departments have reported to Guo Shuyan that employees are not getting enough rest.

Despite the generous overtime pay and the equipment operating at a lower power level, people are not made of iron, and even working three shifts can't keep up.

People need to rest.

After receiving a thick stack of "Completion Data" from the burly man, Li Ran absentmindedly flipped through it, pondering how to quickly recruit personnel.

A black, furry dog ​​paw pushed a pen in front of Li Ran.

Picking up the pen, Li Ran mechanically signed his name in the designated spot.

"Woof!"

Manager Xun nodded in satisfaction and dragged the burly man out to have some fun.

The following day, Lunar New Year's Eve, in the morning, the Joint-1 Y7 carrier rocket, which had been reused several times, stood tall on the transfer platform.

Unlike before, the first-stage rocket body, which had been blackened by repeated high-temperature scorching, was repainted by United Industries.

The 25-meter-tall white arrow body is particularly eye-catching with the two large black characters "Recruiting".

The launch was officially announced as a fatigue test of the first-stage rocket body, therefore it is not a complete form with a second-stage rocket body.

The original location for the second-stage rocket body was replaced by three aluminum fuel canisters used as counterweights.

The three fuel tanks, containing a total of 10 tons of fireworks fuel, were placed in a simple rotary separation system using the same technology as the three rockets.

However, this configuration was a compromise with the environment, and Lin Yu was not actually satisfied with it.

His initial idea was to place a metal tank that was 5 meters high and 3.5 meters in diameter.

It was divided into two parts: the inner part was filled with explosives wrapped in thermite, and the outer part was filled with various metal powders.

This allows for the activation of flame tests on different metal powders at high altitudes through the high temperatures of the aluminothermic reaction.

The resulting fireball will have extremely high brightness and will also display several colors, and is expected to be visible as a bright spot from 150 kilometers away.

However, Wang Bing rejected the proposal outright because of the existence of heavy metal pollution.

Knowing the inside story, county leaders issued a notice a week in advance to avoid waste, calling on residents to go out and watch at night.

At 9 p.m., United Industries started a live stream, celebrating the New Year with the entire internet.

Meanwhile, the Spring Festival Gala production team, having received advance notice, also dispatched a filming crew to the launch site.

At 23:58:52 PM that night, the Spring Festival Gala's big screen showed footage of the United Rocket igniting and lifting off.

The huge "Recruiting" sign on the arrow appeared on television screens in thousands of households during the Spring Festival Gala, attracting much attention.

At 23:59:37, the rocket successfully reached an altitude of 6 kilometers, after which the three aluminum fuel tanks separated from the simple spin separation system and the first stage of the rocket.

The first-stage rocket immediately turned around and headed to the designated location for recovery.

The fireworks assembly, high in the air, was separated from its center by a rotating separation system. The three aluminum fuel tanks dispersed in different directions and fell.

Twenty seconds later, at an altitude of about 3000 meters above the ground, the three fuel canisters exploded precisely at the zeroth second of the new year, flashing white light in an instant.

About a second later, three flames, each about 92 meters in diameter, appeared in the air from different directions.

From a military location 50 kilometers away from the explosion site, sentries on duty could clearly see three bright, flashing lights on the horizon.

The timely explosion of the fireworks relieved Lin Yu, who then sent a New Year's greeting to his former boss who had comforted him.

"Happy New Year, Boss! I've accomplished my mission; the fireworks exploded successfully."

After the fireworks display ended, the crowd at the No. 1 viewing platform was speechless at the impact and shock of the explosive art.

Suddenly, everyone was startled awake by Xue Mingyu's strange shout. He rushed up to Li Ran, phone in hand, and yelled, "Happy New Year! Mr. Li, your idea is brilliant! In just three minutes, the official inbox has been flooded with resumes!"

Standing next to Li Ran, Guo Shuyan also handed over her phone: "President Li, Tiansi Group has inquired about the price of the GG logo on our rocket exterior, hoping to include the Red Bull logo—"