Rebirth: Starting from Lighting Up the Tech Tree

Chapter 161 Production Capacity Layout

"The ground receiving station must meet three mandatory conditions," Zuo Cheng drew three horizontal lines on the whiteboard with a marker. "First, the annual sunshine hours must exceed three thousand hours. Second, there must be no large sources of radio interference within a radius of fifty kilometers. Third, the local government must be willing to provide land for construction."

In the conference room, Li Guodong rested his hands on the table, his gaze calm and collected. Behind him sat Qiu Pei and Wei Jia, their laptop screens filled with satellite maps.

"We screened for three weeks," Li Guodong said calmly, "from eighty-seven candidate sites nationwide to twelve, and then from twelve to three."

Zuo Cheng put down his marker and leaned against the whiteboard: "Tell me."

Qiu Pei opened the folder and pointed to the first photo. The picture showed an endless Gobi Desert, with the gray-yellow surface stretching to the horizon.

"Ninety kilometers west of Dunhuang in Gansu lies the Gobi Desert. It receives 3,200 hours of sunshine annually and less than 40 millimeters of rainfall. The nearest town within a 60-kilometer radius is in Dunhuang, and the radio environment is as clean as another world," Qiu Pei emphasized. "The biggest advantage is that the land cost is almost zero; the local government practically wants us to rent the entire Gobi Desert."

"What are the drawbacks?" Zuo Cheng asked.

"Transportation is inconvenient. The nearest highway exit is 60 kilometers away, and the infrastructure needs to be completely rebuilt. The power supply also needs to be started from scratch." Qiu Pei paused for a moment, "But precisely because of these disadvantages, there are no sources of radio interference in the vicinity. For microwave reception, this is a condition more important than anything else."

Wei Jia pulled up the second photo. The Qaidam Basin in Qinghai Province stretched as far as the eye could see, with the faint silhouettes of snow-capped mountains in the distance.

"North of Golmud in Qinghai Province, on the edge of the Qaidam Basin. It receives 3,100 hours of sunshine daily. Its advantages lie in its high altitude and thin atmosphere, resulting in lower microwave transmission loss."

This statement made Li Guodong nod slightly. The atmosphere is the first barrier to microwave energy transmission. The higher the altitude, the thinner the atmosphere it passes through, and theoretically, the transmission efficiency can be increased by one to two percentage points.

"What about the supporting facilities?" Zuo Cheng asked.

"Golmud has a railway hub, which facilitates the transportation of large equipment," Wei Jia said. "However, the cost of foundation treatment in saline-alkali soil is relatively high, and extreme low temperatures in winter may affect equipment operation."

Zuo Cheng wrote "Dunhuang" and "Golmud" on the whiteboard, with a question mark in between.

"The third point."

Li Guodong picked up the conversation: "Bayannur in Inner Mongolia, on the edge of the Hetao Plain. It gets about 3,000 hours of sunshine a day, which is a bit low, but its agricultural infrastructure is mature, and the photovoltaic industry already has a foundation. The local government is the most proactive; the deputy league head personally came to Hangzhou twice to discuss things."

Zuo Cheng pondered for a moment: "Choose all three. The first phase, the Dunhuang station, will be built first for technical verification. The second phase, Golmud, will utilize its altitude advantage to serve as an efficiency optimization test station. The third phase, Bayannur, will pursue an industrialization route."

Qiu Pei lowered his head and quickly took notes on the keyboard.

Li Guodong nodded slowly: "That's fine. From the start of construction to being ready for operation, the Dunhuang station will take eight to ten months."

"Too slow," Zuo Cheng shook his head. "The contract stipulates that ground verification must be completed within two years, leaving us with less than eighteen months. Ten months for infrastructure construction, and only eight months for testing—that's not enough."

"Compressing the cycle means adding more people and equipment; starting work at three sites simultaneously triples the workload," Qiu Pei said.

"Start with the Dunhuang station first, and proceed with the preliminary surveys for the other two stations simultaneously." Zuo Cheng wrote a few numbers on the whiteboard. "Han Lu will liaise with the Dunhuang municipal government, and we'll find a central state-owned enterprise with experience in large-scale projects to subcontract the infrastructure work."

Li Guodong looked at the whiteboard and said something unexpected: "I know the project manager for the project in Dunhuang. We've worked together in the aerospace system before. Contacting him will save at least two months of adjustment period."

Zuo Cheng's lips curled into a slight smile: "Then it's settled."

Three days later, Zuo Cheng took Han Lu and Li Guodong to Dunhuang.

As the plane landed, the view outside the window was an endless expanse of Gobi Desert. There were no trees, no buildings, only reddish-brown sand gleaming metallically in the sunlight. Heat waves rose from the ground, blurring and distorting distant scenery.

The Dunhuang municipal government sent a car to pick them up, and Deputy Director Zhou of the Development and Reform Commission introduced the local new energy plan along the way, his tone filled with barely suppressed excitement. The on-site survey lasted for two days. On the first day, Qiu Pei carried surveying equipment and walked 14 kilometers across the Gobi Desert to explore the terrain. On the second day, Wei Jia tested the atmospheric parameters, and the data matched the laboratory model by more than 95%.

"It can be built." Wei Jia handed the data terminal to Zuo Cheng. "The ground environment for microwave transmission is fully met."

Zuo Cheng turned to Han Lu and said, "Tell Deputy Director Zhou that the site has been chosen."

One month later, the Dunhuang ground station was laid.

A makeshift platform was erected in the Gobi Desert, red banners fluttering in the wind. The mayor of Dunhuang City attended in person, while the Provincial Development and Reform Commission participated via video link. A division chief from the Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation was also present. Zuo Cheng stood on the platform and delivered a brief speech to more than twenty cameras.

"The construction of the ground station is the first step in space photovoltaics. From today onwards, 402 Technology officially moves from the laboratory to the desert."

A thunderous applause erupted from the audience. Li Guodong stood in the crowd, his gray hair disheveled by the wind, his expression calm. What truly moved him was never the ceremony, but the moment the equipment would be powered on a few months later.

After the ceremony, Zuo Cheng stood beside the foundation stone, watching the construction team begin clearing the ground. The sun was slowly sinking on the distant horizon, turning the Gobi Desert a golden-red hue. The wind blew, carrying the gritty texture of sand, stinging his face slightly.

"Brother Cheng," Han Lu said, walking over and handing him a bottle of water. "The province hopes we can boost local employment. Also, Director Su from Aerospace Science and Technology privately revealed that the group is paying close attention to our project and may increase investment later."

"We'll hire locals, prioritizing those from Dunhuang for entry-level positions, and sending technical staff from the research institute." Zuo Cheng took a sip of water. "Let's leave the aerospace technology side for now; we'll discuss that once we have the data."

It was late at night when Zuo Cheng returned to Hangzhou. He went straight to the research institute. The lights were still on on the third floor, and Yu Ying was sitting alone at her desk, simulation data running on the monitor.

"You're back?" Yu Ying looked up at him.

Zuo Cheng sat down opposite her and placed a bag of local dried apricots on the table: "From Dunhuang."

Yu Ying took one and chewed it while looking at the data curve on the screen.

"Microwave transmission efficiency has increased by another 0.3 percentage points," Yu Ying said. "Shen Yiming's AI fusion algorithm has been iterated to a new version."

Zuo Cheng leaned over and took a look. 80.5. The simulation efficiency had climbed from 80.2 a month ago to 80.5, a figure that couldn't be found in any paper worldwide.

"The foundation excavation for the ground station has begun," Zuo Cheng said. "It will be completed in as little as seven months."

Yu Ying nodded without saying anything.

Zuo Cheng leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. Images flashed through his mind: the foundation stone in the Gobi Desert, Li Guodong standing in the wind, and the setting sun on the distant horizon.

Every step of the system plan is progressing as expected. Construction of the ground station has begun, simulation efficiency is increasing, and the cooperation funds from the aerospace technology company will arrive soon. The only thing that hasn't been touched yet is the satellite in space.

The ground station was completed seven months later. Before that, he had something even more important to do.

satellite.