Chapter 386: What is a Satellite?

"Sigh, it's good for young people to have drive, but one must also be realistic." Dean He shook his head, his eyes full of worry, "Li Mingyuan is too rash; the Mushroom egg only just succeeded, and he wants to go to the sky right after?"

On the other side, several Military Representatives were also whispering in discussion.

"Have you heard? Chief Engineer Li wants to start some kind of satellite project." One of the Colonel military representatives curled his lip.

"It wouldn't be another one of those wild, fantastic ideas, would it?" another frowned and said in a low voice, "We haven't even built many jet aircraft, and now he wants to launch things into space?"

"Hmph, scientists, they always love to indulge in flights of fancy." The military representative sneered, "Stop daydreaming, let's finish the Missile first. If you ask me, it's more practical to keep our feet on the ground and research how to mass-produce the Mushroom egg."

In the center of the conference room, several experts from the Academy of Sciences were flipping through the brief materials Li Mingyuan had distributed in advance.

"I can understand a rocket, but a satellite? This concept is too advanced." An elderly professor with white hair shook his head and said.

"We haven't even built a rocket, isn't it a bit early to talk about satellites?" another expert questioned, "Some of the data in this document seems to have been imagined out of thin air."

"Don't be in such a hurry to draw conclusions, let's hear what Chief Engineer Li has to say." A third expert tried to remain neutral, but his tone also carried obvious skepticism.

Li Mingyuan pretended not to hear these discussions and focused on setting up his presentation materials. He had long anticipated encountering skepticism, or even ridicule, but these were not important—every major technological breakthrough in history was initially considered a pipe dream.

At nine o'clock sharp, Minister Zhang and the Director of the Military Department walked into the conference room together, and all whispering stopped immediately. Minister Zhang's gaze swept across the room full of experts and officers, finally landing on Li Mingyuan.

"Chief Engineer Li, I heard you have a major proposal to report?" Minister Zhang asked, getting straight to the point.

Li Mingyuan nodded: "Yes, Minister Zhang. I have prepared three technical proposals: the '3 Micron Chip Production Line', the 'Dragon Nation Space Program', and the 'Tianyan No. 1 Project'."

There was a slight stir in the conference room. Everyone could still understand chip production, but as soon as the term "Space Program" came out, many people showed undisguised skepticism on their faces.

"Good, then please begin." Minister Zhang signaled for Li Mingyuan to start his report.

Li Mingyuan took a deep breath and decided to change the order of his report, starting with the Space Program that could most shock people. He walked to the podium, took out a roll of carefully prepared charts from his briefcase, unfolded them, and pinned them to the blackboard—it was an exquisite diagram of the Earth and its orbit, marked with rocket launch trajectories and satellite orbits.

"Distinguished leaders, distinguished colleagues," Li Mingyuan's voice was clear and firm, "Today I want to propose an unprecedented plan—to let the Dragon Nation build and launch the world's first artificial satellite."

The entire conference room became terrifyingly quiet, as if time had stopped.

The teacup in Minister Zhang's hand almost slipped; he widened his eyes, looking incredulous: "Xiao Li, what did you say? Launch what? An artificial... satellite?"

Dean He's mouth opened into an "O" shape, his eyes almost popping out: "A satellite is a star in the sky? Can humans build one?"

Doctor Liu exclaimed in a low, disbelieving voice: "Orbit? Leaving Earth? Xiao Li, are you serious?"

Li Mingyuan looked at the shocked expressions of the crowd and felt a secret thrill. This was exactly the effect he wanted—to let these people from the 1950s experience a true "dimensionality reduction strike."

"Yes, that's right." Li Mingyuan repeated calmly, "An artificial satellite."

He picked up a pointer and pointed to the Earth model on the chart: "We all know that the Earth is round, and the stars in space, including the moon, are all rotating around the Earth."

The crowd nodded; everyone knew this common knowledge.

"So, if we can build a device, send it to a high enough altitude via a rocket, and give it enough horizontal velocity, theoretically, it could rotate around the Earth forever like the moon and not fall down. This is the basic principle of an artificial satellite."

Li Mingyuan deliberately used the simplest language to explain, but even so, the people in the conference room still looked blank.

"An artificial satellite refers to us using a rocket to send instruments into space to rotate around the Earth continuously, which can transmit signals back, scout enemy situations, and even broadcast weather." Li Mingyuan explained further.

The military representative was dumbfounded: "Rotate around the Earth? How high does the rocket have to fly? Can it come back?"

A returned expert stood up excitedly: "Xiao Li, are you playing an international joke? No one in the whole world has ever done this!"

Another elderly Academician of the Academy of Sciences shook his head, as if doubting reality: "Even if it can fly out, how do you control it? How do you keep it from falling down?"

Li Mingyuan smiled slightly; this was exactly the reaction he expected. He took out the second set of drawings from his briefcase, which was a rocket design and a satellite orbital mechanics calculation table.

"We can use a three-stage rocket structure," Li Mingyuan said, pointing to the drawings, "The first stage provides initial lift to send the entire device to the edge of the atmosphere; the second stage continues to accelerate to reach near-Earth orbital velocity; the third stage performs precise orbital adjustments to send the satellite accurately into the predetermined orbit."

He continued to explain: "The satellite will be equipped with a radio transmission device, which can send signals to the ground. If we build a receiving station on the ground, we can receive various data transmitted back by the satellite."

The conference room was silent; everyone stared at Li Mingyuan with wide eyes, as if he were speaking an alien language.

Minister Zhang opened his mouth and finally found his voice: "Three-stage rocket, three hundred kilometers? Xiao Li, aren't you dreaming?"

Dean He couldn't help but touch his forehead, as if confirming he didn't have a fever or hallucinations: "Can radio travel that far? Can signals still be received in space?"

Doctor Liu muttered to himself: "This... if this can be built, our Dragon Nation will become the world number one!"

Li Mingyuan looked at the crowd's reaction and decided to add more fuel to the fire. He took out the third set of drawings, which showed the internal structure and functional description of the satellite.

"In addition to the basic radio transmission function, the satellite can also be equipped with camera equipment to photograph the Earth's surface." Li Mingyuan continued to explain, "We can see the Star-Spangled Country's military bases from space, monitor their troop movements, and know their any military actions in advance."

This sentence was like a bomb, detonating even greater shock in the conference room.

"Looking at the ground from space?" a military representative exclaimed, "Can you see clearly?"

"Theoretically, it can reach meter-level resolution, enough to identify large weapons and equipment such as tanks and aircraft." Li Mingyuan answered confidently.

The Director of the Military Department finally couldn't help but ask: "Chief Engineer Li, where did this technology... come from? Technology that even Beijixiong Guo hasn't achieved yet, how did you..."