Chapter 581 - 569 Ignition

With the command from mission control issued, the explosive bolts on the uppermost gate of the fixed launch box were electrified, causing the gate to be blown off the box, revealing the densely packed water injection ports reserved on the side walls.

The surging seawater immediately poured into the launch box through the injection ports; however, it was divided by the baffles in the pipelines as it exited, clinging to the walls as it flowed downward.

To prevent any accidents before launch, all the gates were secured with explosive bolts and once triggered could not be closed.

So, once the flooding began, the rocket’s launch sequence could not be stopped, and failure would result in colossal financial loss.

Sitting in the first row, seat C of mission control, Xie Liaofu stared solemnly at the monitoring screen inside the launch box. He had never designed a rocket to be launched in such a manner, and with a lack of system backups, the probability of an accident was not low.

To reduce the risk as much as possible, the sequence of opening the water injection gates was from top to bottom to control the water pressure.

But the actual deluge when flooding was beyond imagination. The seawater gushing from the injection ports to the sides due to the intense pressure was so fast that it generated a mass of bubbles almost white in color. From the monitors, a white line suddenly appeared in the upper half of the launch box, then quickly formed a rectangular ring along the steel walls, covering downwards at an alarming speed.

The drop from the A zone injection ports to the bottom was nearly 150 meters, but most of the kinetic energy dissipated due to friction with the rough steel surfaces. The footage from the bottom cameras became blurry for about 7 or 8 seconds after flooding began, then the screen quickly fogged up with mist, and immediately after that, the water level visibly started to rise.

The A zone injection ports were projected to complete the predetermined volume of water in 40 minutes, meaning nearly 12 tons of seawater had to be added every second, and until the booster was submerged, the water level would rise at approximately 4 centimeters per second.

This rate was terrifyingly fast, the lowest cameras were promptly inundated by seawater, and the 39 H280 hydrogen-oxygen engines and the booster nozzles were also rapidly completely submerged.

As spectacular as the scene inside the launch box was, the outside scene was equally magnificent.

Standing on the mast of the "Yuanwang No. 7" survey vessel 10 kilometers away from the launch area, Lin Ju used the mounted telescope to observe the condition of the launch box.

The influx of tens of tons of seawater every second caused the surrounding water to converge towards the launch box as if it were being sucked into a vortex. Fortunately, the design of the injection ports was sensible enough to prevent the formation of a real whirlpool, which could have exerted a terrifying torsion potentially capable of wrecking the launch box outright.

Even so, there was a noticeable drop in water level around the launch box, and the resulting currents attracted everything nearby.

However, there was nothing in the vicinity at that time that could be sucked in; all the floating docks and small boats had been previously cleared from the surface, so it wasn’t a big problem.

"Mr. Lin, Mr. Lin!"

Lin Ju covered the eyepiece of the telescope and looked down to see several crew members and his own entourage squeezed together looking up at him:

"Please come down, there’s a synchronized recorder in the cabin, it’s too dangerous up there!

The Big Shot has already said, if you don’t come down right away, they’ll hold you responsible for trespassing into a sensitive equipment area!"

"..."

...

"I’ll listen to the sounds inside."

Academician She picked up a headphone, pressed it to one ear, and then heard the sound of countless giant waterfalls intertwining.

Launching a rocket submerged in water, particularly in untreated raw seawater, was still breathtakingly nerve-wracking even with preparations in place.

He couldn’t help but look back at Xie Liaofu, who was seated behind him. That young face was still resolute, eyes focused intently on every move inside the launch box.

As seawater was injected, the buoyancy of the CZ-18 steadily increased. The stress sensors on the steel base connected to the bottom of the rocket kept fluctuating, the numbers shrinking continuously.

From handling a downward force of over 15,000 tons to creating an upward buoyancy of 10,000 tons with nearly 30,000 tons of seawater added, the force on the steel base was completely reversed, posing a test for both the base itself and the rocket.

However, the buoyancy exerted on the rocket was much more even than its own thrust, offering some reassurance.

Xie Liaofu was not overly worried: at least before the launch, several teams had inspected the system according to a strict quality monitoring system, ensuring nothing as chaotic as what had happened with the Union before.

"Water level at 25 meters!"

"Water level at 35 meters!"

"Water level at 45 meters!"

Twenty minutes passed quicker than expected. At 5:48 a.m., the tensile force data transmitted from the base under the rocket exceeded "100,000 KN."

Now, a tensile force of 10,000 tons was pulling the rocket upwards, and it was still increasing.

This was a minute earlier than anticipated, and Academician She was stunned for a second before he realized that it was time to enter the official launch protocol.

But the rest of the crew, as faithful to their duties as programmed, issued the next instruction as soon as they saw the tensile data meet the standards:

"Open the sluice gates in Zone B, and start venting the main engine!"

The gates on the submerged lower half of the external wall of the launch box were activated. These gates, much larger than those in Zone A above, had far more water injection points, so the moment they were blown off by explosive bolts, the rate of water flow surged at two to three times the previous speed.

The thirty-nine engines at the bottom of Core Stage One also began preparations for ignition. The liquid oxygen from the fuel tank was first pumped through the pipelines by a turbine pump, then expelled from the combustion chamber, pressing out all the seawater and filling the interior of the engines with pure, clean oxygen.

As for the combustion chambers of the four solid rocket boosters, there was no need for this. The composite propellant inside them contained its own oxidizer; they simply needed to be ignited.

The bottom of Core Stage One, due to the forceful expulsion of a vast amount of pure oxygen, produced numerous bubbles. The underwater cameras could no longer see any valuable images, but that was unimportant; their life span was now only a matter of seconds.

At 5:53 a.m., about 37,000 tons of seawater had surged into the launch box. The buoyancy effect on the CZ-18 surpassed 20,000 tons. The operator’s screen in front of the launch technician issued an alarm 15 seconds ahead of schedule, indicating the base and the rocket body were nearing the design limit of what they could bear. The flight control computer was ready to fire and disconnect the link; it was time to start the countdown.

"10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, two, one, ignition!"

In reality, during the countdown at six, the thirty-nine engines of Core Stage One had already begun to ignite in sequence. They ignited successfully one after another in the oxygen-rich environment, but all the monitors showed was a sudden surge of massive white bubbles.

At the same time, the explosive bolts connecting the rocket to the steel base activated, and the CZ-18 was completely disconnected from the launch box.

As the countdown reached zero, the thirty-nine engines finally ignited successfully in the order from inside to outside. The throttle valves opened to 45%, but by this time, the rocket had already risen about 20 meters, driven by a buoyancy force stronger than its own thrust, and was accelerating due to the seawater that was still pouring in furiously.

It was only when the rocket rose from 180 meters below the surface to 10 meters underwater that the throttle valves of the liquid engines of the core stage quickly increased to 100%, and the four solid rocket boosters ignited. Once the rocket fully emerged from the water, the 22,000 tons of thrust were completely unleashed.