Chapter 246: West Prosperity Satellite Launch Center's Long March Three

This satellite navigation system cannot be hidden; once it's in orbit, its signals will be received, and then the whole world will know.

So there's no need to hide it now; we can speak openly.

Speaking of satellite navigation, the United States already had it; in 1964, the Meridian Instrument Satellite Navigation System existed, but its error could be several hundred meters or even over a kilometer, and it wasn't continuously available—only every few hours could a new fix be obtained.

A truly modern GPS navigation satellite wasn't launched until 1978 with the first test satellite, and the network wasn't completed until 1989; by comparison, the East can finish its satellite network this year, potentially even faster than the United States.

We in the East also have advanced technology!

"Do you really need to build a satellite navigation system? That's completely unnecessary—we Americans are developing GPS navigation satellites; later, the signals will be shared for your use." William Perry waved his hand.

"I'm just worried your satellite network will be too slow—we're about to launch navigation satellites soon, and before your system is networked, we'll also share our signals with you. Although we can't cooperate on the Great Armory Plan, we can still collaborate with you in other fields."

William Perry widened his eyes: "Launching imminently?"

"Yes."

Princess Tomb, Airplane Building.

"Hmph, those Americans sure have no good intentions!"

"Yeah, they even want to command us—clearly they're treating us as cannon fodder!"

"Old Lin, your guess was right; we were wrong!"

Old Lin's face fell: "Relying on others is unreliable; we must rely on ourselves! Even if our equipment is backward, it's still ours—we won't be constrained by others, we won't be short‑mouthed from taking others' food or soft‑handed from taking others' things; we still have to improve our technology through our own efforts… By the way, our most advanced technology lately is the Beidou navigation system, right?"

"Exactly. Once this satellite navigation system goes into orbit, it will bring a revolution to our military's informatization."

"When will it go up? I want to see!" Old Lin eagerly said, "By the way, has Qin Miao been in the Capital lately? Call him over! This Beidou navigation is our East's military‑industry prestige project!"

"This Beidou navigation is a joint effort of Ha Gong Da and the Space Institute, Qin Miao…"

"It's Qin Miao who's pushing it—best to find him!"

"Yes."

The next day, at the Capital's Nanyuan Airport.

Three rear‑mounted engines, a T‑tail, single‑layer windows—just one glance and you recognize it: the Trident!

This aircraft became famous because of that 1971 incident; after importing four used Tridents from Old Ba in 1970, the Air Force developed a preference for it, buying several batches over time, eventually forming a fleet of thirty‑nine Tridents, making it the largest operator outside the UK.

However, these aircraft are in poor condition and fly few missions—especially the six Tridents assigned to the Air Force's special flight unit, which barely fly once every ten days or so, a clear waste.

"San Shui, you've finally arrived! Come on, board the plane!"

Qin Miao glanced around at the twenty‑plus people from the Space Department and Ha Gong Da's Aerospace Department—no one greeted anyone else, they just focused on me? I'm the real outsider here.

"Old Lin…"

"Come on, go up—tell me the details of the Beidou navigation along the way."

"Um… Qin Miao glanced aside: 'Senior sister, you'll handle the introduction from now on.'"

Yang Can smiled: "Junior brother, we've been debugging the ground station in the Capital and are already exhausted; on the plane we need to hurry up and get some sleep."

The Beidou navigation uses two satellites in orbit and requires a ground receiving station; after the satellites are delivered to the West Prosperity Satellite Launch Center, the team has been busy debugging the ground station, and now they're truly worn out.

"Come on, what are you all standing around for? Get on the plane!"

The cabin was clean and tidy, the seats hardly worn—since it's rarely used for passengers, Qin Miao's mind raced; he really didn't know the latest Beidou developments, so… he changed the subject.

"Old Lin, I don't know how our Transport 10 airliner development is going."

The East can't do without a large airliner; historically, for various reasons, our homemade Transport 10 was shelved, and we've spent huge sums buying foreign airliners each year. Only after the C919 project launched in the new millennium did the East finally re‑enter the large‑airliner industry.

Now that we're back, we should give it a push if we can.

"Transport 10? It's already had its maiden flight, but… the outlook is uncertain."

"Why?"

"This aircraft was originally the project of those few people…"

Qin Miao was speechless; the resistance is truly enormous—for now, let's first get the Air Force's approval.

"I think a large airliner is hugely important for our Air Force—the US E‑3 is basically a modified airliner, after all; the imported airliners we buy can only be civilian, not military, so we still need our own…"

Old Lin nodded.

At two o'clock in the afternoon, the airliner descended gently onto Green Mountain Airport; the big bus was ready, loading everyone and heading straight for the West Prosperity Satellite Launch Center sixty‑five kilometers away.

Surrounded by mountains and shaded by green trees, on the bus the West Prosperity Satellite Launch Center staff who had come to greet us began their introductions.

"Our West Prosperity Satellite Launch Center began construction in 1970; it is our country's third satellite launch base. Compared with Wine Spring and Great Origin, it has many advantages—for example, its latitude is only 28°, and in low‑latitude regions a launch can better exploit Earth's rotation, saving fuel and increasing payload capacity…"

"Covering eighty thousand li a day while sitting still, our ancestors were wise—they knew the Earth rotates!"

At the equator the linear speed reaches 1,670 km/h; at 30° north latitude it drops to 1,447 km/h; at 60° north it's only 837 km/h.

When launching rockets, they always fly west to east to harness Earth's rotational speed; the US launch sites are near the equator, European sites are built in Africa, all to exploit that rotation—poor Russians, they can't make use of it!

For the East, Hainan Island would naturally be better, but after weighing various issues we still chose an inland location.

The bus swayed as it entered the West Prosperity Satellite Launch Center.

This place lies in a valley, surrounded by mountains, lush and green; tall steel towers seem to pierce the clouds, and the lightning‑over‑three‑hundred‑metre‑high tower is truly spectacular!

However, what attracted Qin Miao most was, of course, the rocket on the launch pad; the scene, the large characters "CZ‑3", indicate its model.

Long March Three, the newest product, can launch geosynchronous satellites!

But as Qin Miao strode confidently forward, he heard a few people arguing.

"No way—if there are problems in the tests, we can't launch; we must carry out a full‑scale inspection!"

"Old Xie, the rocket's already erected—taking it apart just to check would be a waste of time; besides, the subsequent tests have been fine, maybe that was just a fluke? Everyone back in the Capital is waiting for our good news—let's go ahead and launch!"