Chapter 364 - 356 GSLV MK3_1

The middle-aged man chose Target Number Two for a reason: while Zhou Qingfeng was following his grandfather around the base, he accidentally overheard a researcher from Qingshan Base complaining in the restroom that China Power Investment Corporation’s construction did not follow their instructions, wasting nearly half a month repairing the wrong place.

The partially built test site had not yet been decided what to do with it and remained in a state of abandoned wasteland. Birds even attempted to nest there.

This indicated that the abandoned test site was not strictly guarded and seemed to provide a path into the interior of Qingshan Base, representing a vulnerable point that could be breached.

The middle-aged man did not believe it would be easy to sneak into the base through this gap, but he thought it might be possible to find a signal line or something to intercept and eavesdrop on communications.

The higher-ups were very keen to know the various actions of Qingshan Base and had provided a full one million US dollars in operational funds.

Filled with enthusiasm, the middle-aged man and the struggling Niu Aihua continued their trek through the forest without encountering any abnormalities.

"Move faster; we’re almost there."

"I’m a woman, okay? Carry this bag for me; I can’t carry it anymore. And I need water, where did you put it?"

"..."

If it were not for the fact that the equipment tuning was complex and required someone to cooperate, the middle-aged man truly did not want to bring a woman on this mission.

It was very inconvenient to walk through the forest at night, even with night vision goggles, it was easy to step into a void. The two were not moving fast, and the middle-aged man estimated that they could reach the destination in about an hour.

Meanwhile, in the security room of Qingshan Base, a researcher from the "Brave" project team was giving instructions to the guards.

"Oh, so just leave the door open for it?"

"Right, this week’s task is autonomous terrain mapping and environmental data collection. Robot Number 13 will come here to change its battery every two hours. It will manage on its own, you just need to leave the door open when it comes."

"Sure, no problem. Why do you call it ’One Three robot’ instead of thirteen?"

"One is for Series One, and three is the third unit, not the thirteenth... I’m off now, if there’s a problem just give a shout on the walkie-talkie!"

"Go on then; I hope One Three robot replaces us soon, haha."

"That’s still a long way off... See you."

The researcher checked the positioning on his phone; at this time, Robot Number 13 had already moved to the back of the base.

Number 12 was taken by the military to fly randomly across the country, while Number 13 synchronized learning data with Number 12 every day, enhancing each other.

Apparently, the Department of Electric Power Machinery is working hard on developing a new type of battery, hoping to rid Series One of their short-leggedness.

...

In Andhra Pradesh’s Sriharikota Island, at the Satish Dhawan Space Center,

the GSLV MK3 rocket stood on the launch pad, topped with a white slender cylindrical object—the escape tower, a hallmark of manned rockets.

Nazilaze, wearing a trench coat that stood out from the surrounding Indians, was receiving flattery from Samarkand.

The GSLV MK3 rocket is ISRO’s Gagan Yang spacecraft launch vehicle, designed in a very peculiar manner.

On the surface, this appears to be a bundled rocket with a central core stage one and two liquid rocket engines, flanked by a solid rocket booster on each side. In reality, it is not so.

At launch, only the two S200 solid boosters on the sides are ignited, providing about 1030 tons of thrust. The two engines of the core stage one do not operate at all but ignite only after the solid rockets have burned out.

Therefore, the core stage one is actually a "second stage," powered by two conventional liquid rocket engines with 140 tons of thrust each, while the stage above is powered by a 20-tonne class open-cycle hydrogen-oxygen engine.

Thus, in reality, GSLV MK3 is not the "two-and-a-half-stage" rocket it seems to be but is a three-stage rocket.

This peculiar configuration also results in its very low payload capacity; it can only carry up to 10 tons to low Earth orbit, and its launch weight is a hefty 640 tons, which means its payload coefficient is less than 1.6...

For comparison, the Long March 3B rocket with a similar LEO capacity of around 11 tons has a launch mass of only 430 tons...

One can see Nazilaze’s attitude of barely being able to look directly at the GSLV MK3—in its inferior state, it’s still the best launch vehicle India has, and the only one capable of launching the Gagan Yang spacecraft.

The Gagan Yang spacecraft is also peculiar. With its two-module configuration, the re-entry module and propulsion module together weigh 8.2 tons. The Shenzhou Spaceship weighs the same but includes an additional orbital module, indicating just how much weight the Gagan Yang wastes.

But Nazilaze has no intention of cutting weight; he’s just ensuring the maximum possibility that no one dies.

To be honest, he’s not optimistic about the GSLV MK3. This kind of design, bordering on a disgraceful spectacle, is a shame to those in the space industry.

Out of humanitarian concern, Nazilaze helped fix some minor errors in GSLV MK3, allowing the rocket to make its maiden flight two months ahead of schedule, and it even carried the first full-state unmanned Gagan Yang spacecraft.

This had made Xiven·Samarkand very grateful to Nazilaze. After all, he knew how valuable experience with manned rockets is; having someone to guide him was more than he could have asked for.

"I suggest you make some improvements to the configuration of GSLV MK3. If the core stage and boosters work simultaneously, with some minor modifications its payload capacity could be at least 17 tons, and it might even have the potential for 20 tons," Nazilaze couldn’t help but express his opinion of GSLV MK3 to Xiven, but Xiven·Samarkand just shook his head with a wry smile:

"We’re unable to solve the problem of first-stage tail flame backflow erosion that occurs when igniting everything at once. Have a look at the arrangement of the two Viking engines—it’s precisely because of this issue they are arranged in-line.

We’ve decided to let the Island Country solve this part of the H-X rocket; they’re the ones with the experience."

Nazilaze: "..."

ISRO isn’t composed of fools; of course, they’re aware of such a flawed design. However, what seems like trivial bothers to others can be insurmountable hurdles for some countries.

Just as he was about to offer some consolation, Xiven’s next statement immediately turned Nazilaze’s sympathy into helplessness.

"However, the GSLV MK3 is enough as it is. Its mission is to launch the Gagan Yang spacecraft, and we have no need to improve it. We’ll think about it when necessary," Xiven said.

Nazilaze shook his head expressionlessly, having completely lost any expectation for India’s space endeavors.

However, the people present were clearly not of the same mind; GSLV MK3’s maiden uncrewed test flight with the Gagan Yang spacecraft thrilled them, and they were waving flags and cheering enthusiastically while actively interacting with the great sage Modi, who was present.

Before authorizing the launch, Modi even delivered a speech.

The GSLV MK3, a monster that would elicit screams of horror from any space industry professional, rose rapidly with the help of its two solid boosters, carrying the dreams of Indian human spaceflight.

Its last launch was back in 2014. After looking at the flight data, Nazilaze thought that the overly conservative and poor design still managed to deliver a reasonably reliable stability; there shouldn’t be any problems.

However, he was a bit worried about the Gagan Yang spacecraft. Its solar panels, reportedly developed by a domestic company, hopefully wouldn’t cause any issues.