Chapter 270
Rong Yu was the chief designer of the Hawkeye space debris collection project, but her true identity was only known to the core team members.
Naturally, Cui Xiao, the chief engineer of the rocket launch base, was also informed.
In his fifties, Cui Xiao looked exactly as his name suggested—gentle, refined, and every bit the highly educated intellectual. Wearing thick-lensed glasses, he was deeply immersed in reading orbital data.
Hearing a knock on the door, Cui Xiao immediately looked up.
He knew Rong Yu was young, but he had not expected her to be this young. She looked like she was not even twenty.
But then he smiled. Back in the day, at the age of eighteen, he too had been entrusted with a heavy responsibility by the country, coming to this land to build a rocket launch base right in the middle of the desert.
Every generation produces its own talents. There was him, and now there were newcomers.
Cui Xiao stood up, walked over, and shook her hand with a firm grip. Engineer Rong, you have had a long journey. I am Cui Xiao, the chief engineer of the base. Welcome to Rocket Launch Base Four.
Rong Yu returned the handshake. You are too polite, Chief Engineer Cui. I am here to learn.
Last night, I read the aerospace institute's internal report on the application of the element Shi, Cui Xiao motioned for her to sit down, smiling. I really did not expect the person who broke through this technical bottleneck to be so young.
Rong Yu replied, Actually, I really admire your early research on suppressing the coupled vibration of liquid rocket engines. That was truly groundbreaking work.
Cui Xiao shifted to the main topic. The national aerospace industry is developing rapidly, and the funding gap is growing. Most of the state budget is allocated to the first and second bases. Our fourth base is like an unloved child, relying entirely on our own thick skin to beg for funds... Fortunately, someone anonymously donated a huge sum of money this time, enough to update the base's equipment and carry out the orbital calculations for the Hawkeye project...
Rong Yu nodded.
Updating the equipment was the base's business. Her mission was to complete the orbital simulation calculations for the Hawkeye project ahead of schedule, which was the key step to shortening the entire project cycle.
Cui Xiao raised his voice and called two people in.
Let me introduce you. This is Rong Yu, Engineer Rong, and this is Dr. Wang Xiaoli, he said. These two are the base's senior engineers. This is Zhao Mingzhe, and this is Jiang Si. They will assist and cooperate with you to complete the main tasks this time.
Zhao Mingzhe, who was in his forties, frowned. Did the aerospace institute just send a young girl to be a consultant? She probably just graduated from college, right?
Jiang Si pushed up his glasses and said, If I am not mistaken, Engineer Rong should be that highly popular celebrity on the internet. If that is true, Engineer Rong has not even graduated from high school. How can a high school student bear the title of Engineer Rong?
Cui Xiao frowned and was about to speak.
Then Rong Yu smiled and said, I have not graduated from high school, yet the Fourth Aerospace Institute made an exception to recruit me. Engineer Jiang, what were you doing when you were in high school?
Engineer Jiang froze instantly.
Rong Yu continued, Chief Engineer Cui, I would like to first see the raw data from the most recent failed launch.
Zhao Mingzhe and Jiang Si exchanged a glance.
On what grounds did this high school girl demand to see the most core launch data the moment she arrived?
Cui Xiao spoke in a calm voice, Please remember, Engineer Rong has the highest authority on this project. Execute the order immediately.
Twenty minutes later, dense streams of data scrolled across the large screen in the base's data center. Over a dozen engineers gathered around, curiously watching this new, overly young Engineer Rong.
Rong Yu stood before the screen, her fingers typing rapidly on the virtual keyboard. She brought up a three-dimensional coordinate system, which plotted the deflection angles of various control surfaces during the rocket's flight.
Here. She suddenly stopped and pointed to an almost imperceptible fluctuation. 0.8 seconds before the separation of the second-stage rocket, the right servo response was delayed by 12 milliseconds.
Zhao Mingzhe was stunned.
Such a tiny error, and she was able to find it so accurately in such a short time?
In the entire base, the only person with such strong abilities was Chief Engineer Cui.
After pondering for a moment, Rong Yu said, Actually, this variance is within the allowable range, but the problem is that this delay is not random. Look at this peak; it is exactly a quarter of the control system's sampling frequency. This is not a mechanical delay, but a phase lag caused by the accumulation of numerical integration errors in the software algorithm...
The solution is not actually that difficult. Just add a feedforward compensation term to the control algorithm. She picked up an electronic pen and quickly wrote down a series of differential equations on the screen. This compensation function can offset the phase lag caused by the numerical integration, but the exact values will require a massive amount of calculation...
Jiang Si stared at the string of equations, his face gradually changing. This... this is almost identical to the solution Chief Engineer Cui proposed at last week's meeting.
Cui Xiao was full of admiration. The solution I proposed was an integration of all the engineers' suggestions. But for Engineer Rong, it is the result of her independent thinking.
Indeed, young minds work best.
If only he could be a dozen years younger, he could probably break through many more major difficulties and make even greater contributions to the aerospace industry.
Zhao Mingzhe reached out his hand. Engineer Rong, looking forward to working with you.
Jiang Si also reached out. I am very much looking forward to doing the orbital simulation calculations with Engineer Rong. It should be very interesting.
Rong Yu shook hands with them one by one. I look forward to it too.
Cui Xiao smiled and said, Let's go, let's grab a meal first to get to know each other. It will make working together easier.
Having witnessed Rong Yu's abilities, Zhao Mingzhe and Jiang Si had put away their contempt. Over a simple meal, the group ate very happily.
Next, the staff led Rong Yu and Wang Xiaoli to the dormitory building.
The dormitory building was built twenty or thirty years ago and was very old. However, since Rong Yu was an old antique from seventy years ago, she did not find it backward at all.
On the other hand, a group of four almost went crazy after entering their dormitory.
The room was very small, with two iron-framed beds. The mattresses were as thin as paper, covered with washed-out military bedsheets. In the corner was a wooden table with peeling paint and a missing piece on one of its legs.
Can people even live here? Zhou Shiyu picked at the peeling wall paint in a breakdown. The walls are crumbling!
Seeing a gecko actually clinging to the window, Tang Mi screamed in terror and jumped onto Hai Chang'an.
Si Lin took a deep breath, trying to maintain his composure, but when he discovered there was not even a private bathroom, his last shred of sanity collapsed.
There was only a rust-stained sign with an arrow pointing to the end of the corridor, reading: Public Toilets and Showers.
The four of them were about to lose their minds.
Zhou Shiyu squatted on the ground and burst into tears. There is not even internet here. I want to go home; I want to go home right now...
Si Lin gritted his teeth. I refuse to believe Rong Yu would live in a place like this...
As soon as his voice fell, Rong Yu's figure appeared in the corridor.