94: From Technological Warfare to Space Empire

Late at night in January 1994, in the quiet research group, the door slammed open, and Lin Yu burst in, carrying manuscripts and without even changing his clothes.

"Teacher! Why are we suspending the research?"

"Cough cough."

"You know that, teacher, if we don't have our own communications satellites, we'll be at the mercy of the Americans sooner or later!"

The room was filled with a thick layer of smoke, and the floor was littered with cigarette butts.

The long table in the center of the research room was covered with design manuscripts signed by Lin Yu.

Sitting in the main seat was an elderly professor with gray hair. On the wall behind him hung a calligraphy scroll in wild cursive script, which read, "Ten years of recuperation, ten years of lessons learned."

The old professor was looking at the original design draft, with a half-burnt cigarette between his fingers. The ash was not brushed off, and the burning flame was almost touching the professor's hand holding the cigarette.

Seeing Lin Yu burst in and choke on the smoke, the professor instinctively stubbed out his cigarette.

After the cigarette was extinguished, the professor picked it up again and took a blank puff.

"What if we don't stop?"

"A couple of days ago... our designed weather satellite exploded right there in the factory before it could even be launched."

At this point, the old professor took two puffs of his extinguished cigarette, and seeing that no smoke could be drawn out, he woodenly put down the cigarette in his hand:

"A single weather satellite costs $5000 million, and now it's completely useless, a complete waste of money. Meanwhile, the military communications satellites you're thinking of would cost at least two or three hundred million dollars each."

Hearing this, Lin Yu clenched the manuscript tightly and spoke with a hint of grievance.

"But the explosion wasn't our fault at all!"

"The satellite design is flawless! Moreover, compared to the American Milstar, the cost of Changying-1 has been reduced to the bare minimum!"

The old professor spoke slowly and quietly:

"Of course I trust you. All your manuscripts are right here. Do you think I wouldn't know if there's a problem with the satellite?"

"Can..."

At this point, the professor paused, tugging at his cotton-padded coat:

"A few days ago, I accompanied my wife to the mall to buy a cotton-padded coat. After we finished, I complained to her, 'Why does a cotton-padded coat cost 40 yuan?'"

"The sales assistant overheard this and proudly told me that this cotton-padded coat was a first-class product woven by their knitting bureau."

"If we sell them overseas, the price can double. In the past, textile factory workers could exchange their knitted clothes for airplanes and cannons. Now they can too."

The professor's eyes reddened:

"The exploding satellite could be exchanged for 800 million of these cotton-padded coats."

"The country's economic development is at a critical stage. To develop military communication satellites, we would need at least dozens of satellites to form a constellation. Even disregarding the possibility of failures in exploration, we don't know how much it would cost."

"The country's money must be spent wisely."

"Ah Yu, civilian GPS devices from the US also work."

"Let's put the manuscript aside and wait until the country is prosperous and strong before we develop our own satellites."

The air fell silent.

Lin Yu's grip on the manuscript tightened and loosened, feeling a surge of frustration stuck in his chest.

He meant to emphasize that the most important thing is to develop an independently developed communication satellite system!

...But what the teacher said is right.

The country was extremely poor at the time, and in 1994 it hadn't even joined the WTO.

The funding allocated to the entire rocket and satellite project was limited, and the professor's research group had just failed, leaving no extra funds for further research.

Furthermore, it is currently widely accepted that using American civilian GPS is the most cost-effective and labor-saving method.

What should he say, that using American satellites is not acceptable, and that we must have our own satellites right now?

The Americans have never blocked GPS before.

He knew his teacher was right; the current economic conditions did not support the full-scale construction of a military-grade encrypted communication satellite constellation.

But he could never forget the sense of powerlessness he felt when facing the US military's electronic warfare in his previous life.

And this is about to actually happen!

At the end of this year, in October 1994, the most solemn and largest-scale military exercise in nearly two decades will be held.

But at that time, the USS Kitty Hawk would bring electronic warfare aircraft to interfere with our radar.

A total of 120 virtual aircraft will suddenly hover over the exercise area, making it impossible for fighter jets to find even a single enemy aircraft no matter how hard they try!

In the original timeline, it wasn't until eighteen days after the event that the experts were suddenly awakened during their investigation:

While we were searching for the false signal, a fighter jet, under the cover of the false signal, had already penetrated fifty kilometers into our territory!

Those damned enemy planes flew over Yancheng, Jiangsu, showing off their power!

The vital artery of national defense is firmly held by the US military due to the outdated GPS system!

Having been given a second chance at life, he was determined not to let such a thing happen to him again!

Faced with the old professor's sorrowful gaze, Lin Yu felt a bitter taste in his throat, and the cold reality made it difficult for him to speak.

The teacher was the Chinese aerospace worker he remembered witnessing countless failures and relentless struggles.

It was his teacher and his group of people who worked hard for 30 years and finally led China to the top of the world's aerospace industry with their never-say-die spirit!

He used to be filled with enthusiasm every time he read it, but now that he was really in the 90s, he just couldn't bring himself to tell his teacher that even if he failed, he should get back up again.

He couldn't reduce 27 years of hard work to a simple "keep trying."

Sometimes, only by truly experiencing immense pressure can one understand the weight of the words "never give up".

Looking into the teacher's earnest eyes, Lin Yu found himself unable to say anything about continuing to try.

In the months since he traveled back from 2026, he has drawn up all the satellite manuscripts he could remember.

The cost of a single U.S. military communications satellite is one billion dollars. By leveraging future technologies, the U.S. has overcome the limitations of materials science and solved the technical challenges of anti-jamming, bringing the price down to just two hundred million dollars per satellite.

Once the satellite is about 80-90% complete, he can even forcefully achieve 100% in this era using his cheat code!

Over the past few months, he has devoted himself to drawing out all the relevant engineering diagrams in his mind.

This is so that we can speed up the satellite production process to the minimum level required to activate the cheat code as soon as possible, and so that we can firmly keep communication security in our own hands!

The best time to plant a tree was ten years ago; the second best time is now.

If we start emergency manufacturing and launch now, even if we miss the year-end crisis, we can still make it in time for the Taiwan Strait crisis two years from now!

But... building a satellite isn't just about building one, nor is it limited to just building satellites.

He once thought that the technology he brought back would lower some of the production barriers and accelerate the pace of satellite and spaceflight...

But he was just an ordinary researcher after all; it's true that he brought back satellite blueprints and technology.

But apart from some things that were actually explored during that era and were recorded in the book, I really don't know anything about other breakthroughs and problems in materials science.

He never expected that even with the manuscript, the escalating costs of basic materials would still be a major obstacle for him.

The lack of gold and silver has always been a pain point for the country.

He knew it; he had seen it many times in books...

But it wasn't until he actually returned to this era that Lin Yu saw just how difficult things really were.

1994 was the first year after the planned economy was abolished and the rationing system for shopping was completely abolished.