Chapter 1251 Academician Chang, Who Is as Good at Predicting Things as a God

A little earlier.

Beijing.

The command hall of the Manned Spaceflight Command Center.

According to the plan, China did not arrange any manned space launch missions throughout 2006.

But today, just like when Shenzhou 5 and 6 were launched, the place was filled with a dark crowd.

Even because there were not enough decision-making seats for visitors in the last row, many chairs were temporarily added.

In one of the windows on the big screen in front, a scene of CCTV Americas broadcasting an ABC program was playing——

The UARS satellite was about to leave the Sea of ​​Okhotsk when the SM-3 interceptor was launched.

Therefore, the collision location of the two is basically north of the center of the Pacific Ocean.

After the actual South Pacific measurement and control station was canceled for some reason, China no longer had fixed aerospace measurement and control resources in the entire Pacific region.

Although the navy in 2006 has taken over a batch of new and renovated equipment, it is still mainly operating in the offshore area.

Even the sailing training before going out to the Western Pacific is a major move that requires the headquarters' intervention, and often has to be prepared a month or more in advance.

As for letting the Yuanwang survey ship track the fleet alone...

It's definitely not a problem.

Therefore, even the National Space Administration needs to use the broadcast footage of ABC News to understand the interception situation at the first time.

At this time, on the big screen, there was nothing on the orbital diagram of the earth's surface in the background.

Even the well-informed host of the international news channel sounded hesitant:

"According to ABC studio guests, the kinetic energy interceptor has successfully hit the target satellite..."

"After the impact, the main structures of the two will fall into the atmosphere in a short time in the future. Most of them will be burned in the process. A few of the larger ones that have not been burned are scheduled to land on the Pacific Ocean. It is absolutely impossible to pose a threat to humans on the ground..."

Except for the voices of the host and translator, the scene was silent.

Compared with the crowd watching the fun, the people sitting in this hall have a better understanding of what this anti-satellite test will mean if it succeeds.

After a while, Qiao Chenqing, who was sitting in the last row, turned slightly and asked Zhou Pingjian, the new chief designer of the manned space engineering next to him:

"This interception...should be successful?"

The nature of the direct-ascent anti-satellite task is too special. It is neither like missile air defense nor space launch. No one on the scene can say that he is a professional counterpart.

Including Zhou Pingjian.

He is currently working on the spacecraft docking technology between the space station and the spacecraft. Although it seems that the two things collide in outer space, the specific operation is still fundamentally different from the standard 3 approach.

I have no choice but to give an answer as accurate as possible within the scope of my own research:

"At least the collision should be true... Americans have no need and no way to lie about this matter."

Zhou Pingjian paused for a moment and moved his eyes from the news broadcast screen to the measurement and control screen next to it:

"As for the interception effect... the operation of the spacecraft is cyclical. Our country's local measurement and control station can observe the target satellite after one hour at the latest, while the European Space Agency and the Russian Federal Space Agency have to update more Earlier, an assessment should be made soon."

Hearing this answer, Qiao Chenqing shook his head helplessly.

Perhaps for the aerospace field, the aftereffects of kinetic energy collisions are a subject worth studying.

However, from a military perspective, there is no doubt that the threat of missile defense systems has truly loomed over everyone’s heads——

Although this thing has the word "defense" in its name, it actually looks like an air defense system.

But it may actually affect the strategic balance.

On the other side of Qiao Chenqing, Jing Zhiyuan, the head of the Second Artillery Corps, looked down in thought, as if thinking about something in his mind.

"Old Jing, what do you think?"

After a delay of about half a second, the latter raised his head, but his eyes were still aimed at the screen in front:

"I am calculating, based on an interception rate of 2:1, if we consider the enemy from a broad perspective, how many new missile units do we need to maintain an effective threat to targets within the first island chain?"

Before the other party could speak again, he continued to ask and answer himself:

"As a rough estimate, the conventional missile force needs to be expanded to at least three times its current size, and it must be at full strength!"

If Chang Haonan heard these words here, he might not be able to hold back his laughter.

After the missile force in the previous life was restructured from an independent branch (Second Artillery Force) to a service branch (Rocket Force), its size was more than three times that of 2006?

But it can only be said that the military thinking at the beginning of the 21st century is still conservative.

Qiao Chenqing showed an unbearable expression on the spot.

Although military expenditures are soaring at double-digit percentages every year, they are still limited.

If the Second Artillery Group triples its size, others will have a hard time:

"I think it is more important to improve quality than simply expanding quantity... Last month, Comrade Chang Haonan also mentioned that the air-breathing superb flying in the atmosphere for the whole process and the flying at the edge of the atmosphere for most of the stage. Gliding skills can effectively penetrate missile defense systems."

Jing Zhiyuan just did some calculations out of professional habit, and was not really prepared to ask for three times the army expansion. He immediately smiled and said:

"Haha...you old Qiao, you are playing tricks on me here..."

Qiao Chenqing suddenly started crying:

"I can't help it... Actually, I personally don't care, but I can't keep the troops below from being anxious. Just two days ago, the last batch of J-6s on combat duty in the Air Force were withdrawn from active service..."

After a while of you coming and going, the slightly depressing atmosphere just now became a lot more relaxed.

But joking is joking, and the matter at hand still needs to be dealt with head-on.

Qiao Chenqing sighed softly, and his face returned to seriousness:

"I have to say... on a technical level, Americans still have a lot of good stuff hidden in their hands..."

Of course it's not convenient to say this in public, but now that I'm surrounded by my own people, there's nothing to hide.

Just two years ago, China verified the feasibility of using anti-aircraft missiles to intercept short-range ballistic missiles.

The biconical warhead test conducted last summer has proven that existing air defense weapons are basically unable to effectively intercept ballistic targets with terminal speeds exceeding Mach 5.

In addition to new concept hypersonic weapons, this naturally also includes traditional intermediate missiles.

"That's true."

Li Zhongyi, who had never spoken at all, suddenly interrupted:

"It is difficult for us to achieve this direct increase in hit accuracy, at least at this stage. Therefore, in order to ensure the hit rate, Kinetic Energy 1 still uses a fragmentation warhead with a larger killing range, which easily produces more unnecessary space fragments. Said, there is no way to directly use it for anti-missile.”

Compared with fragile satellites, the warhead of a ballistic missile is a rougher target.

In order to ensure high launch, the anti-satellite fragmentation warhead is very small and often difficult to cause fatal damage.

Except for the evil approach of nuclear warhead anti-missile, only a sufficiently violent kinetic energy impact can guarantee complete destruction.

The attention of the other two people was attracted to him at the same time.

"Comrade Zhongyi, in the field of equipment development, we still have to rely on you."

Jing Zhiyuan tried to maintain a relatively relaxed atmosphere:

"There is a long way to go..."

"..."

At this moment, Qiao Chenqing raised his hand to look at the time, and then glanced at the live broadcast on the big screen:

"Almost twenty minutes have passed..."

This sentence was a bit meaningless, leaving several people around him a little unresponsive.

"I mean, although we can't see the interception, the United States should be able to draw a final conclusion... But why haven't there been any relevant reports?"

Qiao Chenqing frowned slightly:

"It feels like I'm delaying time..."

For a moment, an idea flashed through Li Zhongyi's mind:

"Wait a moment……"

He sat up quickly and lowered his voice slightly and said;

"Some time ago, the hypersonic weapons project team submitted a report saying that this interception by the United States is likely to produce large space debris that could seriously threaten the safety of orbiting spacecraft. However, the report was not very certain, so before It was not reported as a formal content..."

This statement was mentioned publicly at the press conference, and of course everyone knows it.

However, it is one thing to talk about it in public opinion, but another thing to actually understand it.

At that time, the issue of space junk was highlighted mainly to leave room for related tests in the future.

Zhou Pingjian touched his chin:

"A kinetic energy collision of this scale will inevitably produce some space debris, but you said large space debris..."

He raised his head involuntarily and confirmed the measurement and control situation.

But it’s only been ten minutes since the collision, and of course there won’t be any new results:

"It depends on how big it is and what kind of orbit it is running in... I can only say that from a probability perspective, the density and threat of space junk are not as outrageous as the outside world renders..."

Li Zhongyi felt a little unsure, so he had to look around and tell him:

"No matter what, this test by the Americans is not a bad thing for us... At least the test plan of Kinetic Energy 1 can be made more targeted, and the public opinion storm caused will be much smaller."

"Speaking of Kinetic Energy 1, what are your specific preparations..."

Qiao Qingchen originally wanted to ask when the aerospace science and engineering department was going to conduct the test.

But before he could finish speaking, a staff member wearing light blue work clothes trotted all the way from the back door and came behind several people.

The messy footsteps made everyone turn around.

Zhou Pingjian showed a somewhat unhappy expression.

On this occasion, it was a bit embarrassing for his subordinates to behave so uncontrollably:

However, in the next second, he forgot all about this emotion.

"Moscow announced that just now, astronauts on the International Space Station visually spotted a huge solar panel that flew over about 2-3 kilometers away from the space station."

"It has been determined that the source of the battery panel is the UARS satellite that was just shot down!"