Speaking of satellites, it can be said to represent the strength of a country, but also represents the highest level of technology of a country, but it is also a bridge connecting space and the earth, but for the mainland, it is not only so, after the successful launch of the first satellite on the mainland, the next year we broke the United States' 20-year barrier to China, so that China re-assumed permanent membership.
So why, after the successful launch of the Dongfanghong-1 satellite, why did the attitude of various countries toward the mainland change so much, and what kind of magic did it have?
furthermore! With the technology of the mainland at that time, from the successful launch of the satellite in 1970, until now, why can the Dongfanghong-1 satellite still operate normally in orbit? It should be known that the soviet union's first artificial satellite only stayed in space for ninety-two days before it deorbited and fell off orbit, and the longest Japan, its first artificial satellite, only stayed in space for 33 years.
So more than 50 years ago, with the level of science and technology on the mainland at that time, how did such a powerful satellite be designed? Is it really just a satellite that can only play music? How many difficulties have been encountered in the process of studying the mainland? Hello everyone, I am Guan Qi, today we will talk about China's first satellite, Dongfanghong No. 1.
One day in January 1958, Premier Zhou was immersed in a briefing on the situation between the United States and the Soviet Union, which recorded the process of the United States and the Soviet Union launching their first artificial satellite into space in October 1957 and November 1958.
Before Premier Zhou received the briefing, Chairman Mao telephoned and said that he hoped that after reading the briefing, Premier Zhou would be able to organize experts to discuss the situation on the mainland and the development of artificial satellites as soon as possible, and that satellites represented the strength of a country and also represented some levels of our scientific and technological technology, and that we could do what the United States and the Soviet Union could do, and that we should also have our own satellites.
In this way, the national scientific and technological circles quickly took action, and soon, the Chinese Academy of Sciences listed the launch of artificial satellites as a major key task in 1958, and replaced the number 581, which represents the first major task in 1958, but with our science and technology at that time, gas vehicles were difficult, let alone satellites, so where should we start?
If you want to launch satellites, you should always have the launch tools! What is the means of delivery of the satellite? Of course, this is a carrier rocket, and the technology at that time, not to mention the launch vehicle, even the rocket is still in the imitation stage, and the carrier rocket is developed on the basis of missiles, so everyone should be able to imagine how difficult it is for the mainland's satellite development to start.
But to fall behind is to be beaten, and this lesson is really too profound! Therefore, the launch of satellites, no matter how difficult it is to do, but just when the scientific research team is thinking hard, a sudden three-year natural disaster has brought the entire research and development work to a standstill, which has caused the national economy to be deeply hit, the growth rate of gross domestic product has dropped to the lowest point, technical problems have not been solved, and there is a dilemma in the economy, which can be said to be worse.
There is no way but to make adjustments to the original satellite plan, stop the research and development of large launch vehicles, and shift energy to the two technologies of missiles and sounding rockets, but this does not mean abandoning the development of carrier rockets and satellites, because this sounding rocket is the basis of the carrier rocket, its size is a little smaller than the launch vehicle, the cost of research is also lower, it can carry scientific instruments, fly at an altitude of one hundred to three hundred kilometers from the earth, and can provide the necessary high-altitude environmental parameters for the development of the carrier rocket.
But in terms of the environment at that time, even this was difficult, and at the most difficult time, it was even difficult to imagine that the rocket was filled with propellant with a bicycle pump. But it was in this environment that on February 19, 1960, after hundreds of experiments, the first liquid-fueled sounding rocket on the mainland was finally successfully launched, and after the successful launch of the sounding rocket, there was also a major breakthrough in the missile.
On November 5, 1960, the first missile independently developed by China, the Dongfeng-1 missile, was also successfully launched, so since the missile and the sounding rocket have made breakthroughs, can we restart the artificial satellite program?
This is certain, but not in 1960 but in 1965, after the successful explosion of the first atomic bomb on the mainland, Academician Zhao Jiuzhang and Academician Qian Xuesen could no longer sit still, they all believed that the technology for launching satellites on the mainland had become nearly mature, not to mention that launching satellites was a systematic and complex project, and it was necessary to start as soon as possible, otherwise it would be difficult to come up with something.
So the two people at the end of 1964 and January 1965 respectively sent reports to the central government, suggesting that the central government restart the satellite development mission, and finally in 1965, the satellite development task was finally restarted, and was named the 651 project, so where should the 651 project start?
This is first of all the development of satellites, for this! The Chinese Academy of Sciences concentrated the strongest lineup at that time, and it took only 10 days to come up with the planning plan for the first artificial satellite, and named it Dongfanghong No. 1.
An unprecedented, 42-day brainstorming has also officially begun, what satellite size, size, orbital altitude and so on! As long as the issue of satellites, large and small, was discussed, and before that, Chairman Mao also put forward four requirements, that is, to be able to go up, to be able to grasp, to see, and to hear.
What does that mean?
The so-called up means that this Dongfanghong-1 satellite can be sent to the established orbit by the carrier rocket, and in order to accurately send the satellite to this orbit, the carrier rocket responsible for carrying the satellite must have a strong propulsion capability, but with our rocket technology at that time, it simply could not meet this requirement, so what to do? The experts proposed a "two-in-one" approach.
That is, the use of medium and long-range missiles as the first stage and the second stage, the use of sounding rocket technology to develop the third stage, through the continuous transmission of these three stages, the satellite into the predetermined orbit, and the rocket formed by this two combination scheme is the famous Long March 11 carrier rocket, on January 30, 970, the Long March 11 with an order, the rocket roared up, this time the test flight finally as expected, the Long March 11 rocket test flight was successful, but then greater difficulties are still waiting for them.
After solving the problem, then let's take a look at the grasp - to grasp is to grasp the position of the satellite in space at all times, which needs to calculate the distance between the satellite and the ground, at that time the United States built a variety of monitoring stations in the world, monitoring stations can be a full circle around the earth, but we don't say to build a station in the world, even if it is difficult to build a station in China, for this reason! At that time, people used hand-cranked computers to calculate for a year to solve this problem.
Third, to see, that is, on the earth, we must be able to see the satellites in space with the naked eye, because Chairman Mao hopes that all Chinese can see the satellites of their own countries and tell people that our country is strong, in order to do this! The developers found inspiration from the shrinkage and opening of the folding umbrella and decided to install an "observer" made of highly reflective materials on the third stage of the launch vehicle that could be propped open in space.
When the satellite is in the sky and separated from the rocket, the observation umbrella will prop up in the same direction, thus forming a huge sphere that exceeds the satellite body, and because this "observer" is huge and uses extremely reflective materials, people can directly observe.
Finally, it was heard that the music of "Dongfang Hong" was played in space, and passed to the tape surface by satellite, so that all radios could receive it, and "Dongfang Hong" was played all over the world, and finally on April 24, 1970, with the first artificial satellite and the first carrier rocket being transported to the Jiuquan Launch Base, ready to launch.
But at this moment, the soldier in charge of inspecting the ground suddenly came to report that the rocket that was about to be ignited, from top to bottom, made a grunting sound, which frightened everyone, if there was really something to do, it would be a failure, but fortunately, all this was just a false alarm, with the end of the investigation, the time also came to the launch point, April 24, 1970 at 11:35, with a command, the Long March 1 carrier rocket, carrying the Dongfanghong I satellite, dragged a huge tail flame to rush to space.
Fifteen minutes later, the music of "Dongfang Hong" was broadcast on the global radio, and China was accompanied by loud music, and China became the fifth country in the world to launch satellites independently from the Soviet Union, the United States, France, and Japan, which announced China's rise to the world and stimulated national self-esteem and self-confidence.
And in the second year of the successful launch of the Dongfanghong I satellite, the United States gave up its 20-year obstruction of China, let us re-serve as permanent members of the security council, and returned to the United Nations, because the success of the Dongfanghong I represents that the mainland can achieve long-range strikes, and under the blessing of atomic bombs, hydrogen bombs and other large weapons, it is even more so that we have achieved a strategic threat.
It made the United States abandon the policy of isolation, let the Soviet Union abandon the nuclear threat, but also improved the international environment in which China is located, and the reason why the Dongfanghong I satellite can still sail in orbit is because the life of the satellite is divided into service life and orbit life, the service life is the working time, and the orbit life is the time when the satellite runs in orbit under the action of inertia.
What is the impact of orbital life? This is mainly the atmosphere, so if there is no special reason, the Dongfanghong-1 satellite can still operate for many years.
All right! I'm amazed, so we're here today, let's see you in the next issue.