Chapter 838: Making up for the situation (Second update, please subscribe)
How big is "Sputnik-1"?
Diameter 0.58 meters, mass 83.6 kilograms.
In terms of size, it is simply not worth mentioning. The satellite shell is made of two aluminum alloy hemispherical shells butt-sealed, and the interior is filled with nitrogen. Installing battery packs, radio transmitters and other instruments and equipment inside the casing is technically extremely simple.
Although it is extremely simple, this artificial satellite, which is not much bigger than a basketball, has caused unprecedented waves around the world.
It not only caused European and American countries to fall into chaos in a short period of time, but also revealed a future to the world, mainly to the United States - the sky is no longer safe!
Although the Soviet Union's successful test launch of the R7 rocket more than a month ago made Americans feel threatened, the threat was not intuitive. After all, it was just a report in the newspaper, but what about now?
The Soviets sent an artificial earth satellite into space!
The so-called advantages of the United States - the air force, science, advantages of this and that. It disappeared overnight and disappeared completely.
For people born in 1954, entering space is simply a fantasy!
The sudden news even made Americans mistakenly believe that aliens were coming, causing American officials to consider whether people on Earth would become Indians.
When they found out it was a Soviet satellite, not only did it not ease the panic of the Americans, it even made them more nervous!
On this day, more than 200 million Americans have fallen into a deep panic - panic.
After all, the aliens may be friendly, but the Soviets sure know how to grow mushrooms!
The next morning, the U.S. stock market plummeted, and it lasted for two days. It seemed that the end of the free world was imminent. Fortunately, the market was closed on Saturday on the third day.
If it hadn't been for it, I don't know what kind of bear it would have fallen into.
The stock market is plunging and the newspapers are asking questions.
"The New York Times" directly asked: "The Soviets can't even make a good refrigerator. How can they send satellites into space? How is this possible?"
1954 The United States is full of pride. After all, it is the number one blue star, a city on a mountain, the leader of the free world, and the overlord of science and technology. In short, at this time, all Americans think they are The most awesome.
As for the Soviet Union?
The Soviet Union was a garbage industrial country that couldn't even build refrigerators. As a result, in their eyes, it was a country that was inferior to the United States in everything. The launch of mankind's first satellite was like a monkey launching a rocket, which had a psychological impact on Americans. The huge blow can naturally be imagined.
Now that they have heard that the Soviet Union launched the first artificial satellite into space, are the Americans not just confused?
Faced with reporters’ inquiries, Eric Walker, the president of Pennsylvania State University, said in a serious tone.
“From today on, the United States has been reduced to a secondary world power.”
“I think the consequences are very clear, the Soviet Union will dominate the world.”
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When Lieutenant General Doolittle, the Foreign Intelligence Advisor to the President of the United States, said these words, there was a lot of worry behind the lens. The Soviet Union's artificial satellite was not only the first glorious moment of human exploration of space, but also brought a huge military threat and confidence blow to the entire Western capitalist camp.
American public opinion regarded it as the "Pearl Harbor incident in the space world"; a Washington newspaper designated October 7 as the "National Humiliation Day" of the United States; a science fiction fan angrily jumped into the Mississippi River and gave Eisenhower Leave a suicide note.
In the United States, public opinion was in an uproar. People walked to the yard and stared at the star that flashed and flashed through the space without saying a word, against the motionless stars in the sky. People just stared at it. .
Man-made satellites circle around in space, and on this day, the earth is changed.
Its radio signals are easily detectable, and during its orbit it is angled so that its flight path covers nearly the entire inhabited Earth. Radio monitors all over the world can monitor the signal on it. Listening to the "beep, beep, beep" sound in their earphones, countless people fell into silence.
And among these silent people, Li Yi'an is not included - in fact, he was the first person to blow the whistle to march into space.
But now, the Soviet satellite... this is a slap in the face!
"Alien invasion... Americans can really think of it. I'm afraid my face will hurt even more now!"
Looking at the reports on the Soviet artificial satellite in American newspapers , Li Yian couldn't help laughing.
In this world, the sensation caused by artificial satellites is far greater than that in another world. After all, in another world, as early as two years before the launch of the satellite, the United States announced that during the International Geophysical Year, That is, the first artificial satellite was launched in 1957. Four days later, the Soviet Union followed suit and announced that they would also launch a satellite.
Therefore, Americans are mentally prepared. When electronic signals appear in space, their first reaction is that a Soviet satellite has gone up to the sky!
But this time, they were not mentally prepared. Just like the other world, the Soviet Union reacted very low-key to Sputnik 1 at first, fearing that secrets would be leaked. As a result, within a few hours after the launch, European and American countries were confused, thinking that aliens were coming.
The chaos caused by this has intensified the reaction of Americans, and of course aroused people's anxiety. I don't know how many politicians have satirized the tragic situation of the United States.
But Li Yian knows that this is only temporary. Once the United States adjusts, it will definitely catch up. The premise is that it needs to invest more power, which simply means spending more money.
In fact, the reaction of the United States is a bit of a "stress reaction" - it is simply that the United States is used to being arrogant and believes that it is ahead of any other country in science and technology.
However, after being severely slapped in the face by the Soviet Union, it suddenly became a bit extreme, and it elevated the Soviet Union's advantage in aerospace out of thin air. Of course, this advantage was a matter of life and death for the United States, even when Kennedy won the presidential election. At that time, he regarded narrowing the missile gap as his policy agenda, that is, deploying more ballistic missiles, exceeding the number of ballistic missiles possessed by the Soviet Union. However, unlike the panic in the United States, Moscow and the entire Soviet Russia were excited at this time. Khrushchev finally achieved his goal - scaring the Americans to death in the cheapest way. While frightening the Americans half to death, the Soviet authorities began to encourage people to listen to the satellite signal on the radio - the periodic "beep" sound. They also encouraged their allies to mobilize their own people to Search the night sky for artificial satellites. While the satellite itself is highly polished and so small that it is nearly invisible to the naked eye, most observers are actually seeing the R-7's more conspicuous 26-meter core stage.
This time, the United States was really frightened so much that it even had a stress reaction, and then started the space race.
In fact, Nanyang was also shocked. Just when Li Yian was lamenting that the United States was frightened into a stress reaction, Yuan Jialiu walked into Li Yian's study.
“Now the Americans are definitely going all out to launch their satellites, and we should also launch our own satellites.”
In the study room, as the person in charge of the Nanyang Satellite Project, Yuan Jialiu said.
"Perhaps, our artificial satellite is not yet able to relay TV signals, but we need it, and Nanyang needs it!"
Like many people, after learning that the Soviets launched an artificial satellite In the end, what Yuan Jialiu felt was not shock, but loss. The feeling of missing out had always dominated his emotions.
“You mean, we are also going to launch satellites?”
Looking at Yuan Jialiu, Li Yian asked.
"But are our satellites ready?"
Actually, Li Yian knows the answer - Nanyang's satellite is the world's first communication satellite, and its complexity and difficulty can be imagined. The weight alone is almost a ton, and the basic design has just been completed.
This...
Yuan Jialiu answered truthfully.
“There are still some designs that need to be improved. We need to solve the long-term operation of the satellite and let it operate in space for as long as possible. Only in this way can the launch cost be balanced.”
Then he emphasized it again.
“But considering the mood of the people and the needs of scientific exploration, it is necessary for people to launch our satellite as soon as possible. After all, now our people are also asking-where is our satellite!”< br>
Although Yuan Jialiu is very clear that the cost of launching a rocket is expensive, sometimes, many things cannot be described in terms of money.
His question made Li Yi'an fall into silence, thinking about some of the questions in the newspaper. In fact, it was not only the Americans who were stimulated, but the Nanyang people were also stimulated in some way. In recent days, the newspapers The reaction was also a bit exciting!
Looking at Yuan Jialiu and thinking about people's reactions in recent days, Li Yian realized that he had made a mistake of the times - he thought that the first artificial satellite was not a big deal.
After all, in another world, the news about artificial satellites, spacecrafts, lunar exploration, and humans going to Mars only made him glance at it.
A man-made satellite has little impact, right?
In fact, it was not just Li Yi'an who made this mistake, but Eisenhower also did the same - his reaction was very calm, and he just held a press conference, where he said: "As for the satellite In itself, it doesn’t worry me, not at all.”
In the end, Ike, who was a soldier, still underestimated the reaction of the Americans. He ignored one thing-the fragile self-esteem of the Americans was affected. caused harm.
What about yourself?
Always think about practicality...economics. Sometimes, some things cannot be measured by money alone!
“Perhaps our communication satellites are not ready yet, but we can definitely launch a scientific exploration satellite. Not only can it enter space and complete space scientific exploration missions, but it can also carry out some corresponding The experiment is used on communication satellites, which will help us with our next plan. After all, the cost of communication satellites is also very expensive, and we need some corresponding time.”
It is different from others. Yes, Yuan Jialiu came here with a plan, a design plan for the artificial satellite.
This is also the biggest difference between scientists and ordinary people. When ordinary people are disappointed and envious of it, what do scientists think of? Just catch up from a scientific perspective.
In the following time, Yuan Jialiu took out a sketch and introduced the scientific exploration satellite he designed.
"Although there are some technical difficulties, some components are already mature. After all, we were originally planning to install those equipment on communication satellites. If everything goes well, we can complete the design of the satellite within two months."
Okay, let’s make up for it!
Nodding, Li Yian said.
"In that case, let's launch it!"
Well, Nanyang's will also join this competition, but it's just... the kind that competes without competing!
(End of this chapter)