China used the moon's gravity as a slingshot to help get a pair of damaged satellites into the correct orbit after the launch failed to do so.
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00:00China now launches dozens of rockets every year, each one a testament to precision engineering.
00:10But in March 2024, a routine mission went off script.
00:16Though the rockets soar perfectly from the launch pad,
00:19its precious cargo, two satellites named DROA and DROB,
00:25didn't reach their intended orbit.
00:27Tumbling uncontrollably, the satellites were over 100,000 kilometers away from their flooded destination,
00:36in a dangerously low orbit, and almost out of juice.
00:41In other words, they were stuck.
00:44Perhaps other teams would write it off a bust and go back to the drawing board,
00:49but for the team at China's Technology and Engineering Center for Space Utilization, or CSU,
00:55this wasn't just about hardware.
00:58It was years of work, millions investment, and dreams of a crew who refused to give up.
01:07Their first challenge was stabilizing the satellites before they ran out of power completely.
01:14We split into two teams.
01:17One focused on firing thrusters in short bursts to slow the spin.
01:22My team, we had to calculate a new path to orbit.
01:26For two sleepless nights,
01:29Johnstein crunched the numbers,
01:31testing every possible route.
01:34The satellites were too damaged for a direct fix.
01:38They needed a miracle.
01:40And then,
01:41they found it.
01:45With their solar panels damaged,
01:47the satellites couldn't generate enough power for a traditional course correction.
01:52So the engineers turned to nature's oldest of force.
01:57Gravity.
01:58We used the moon's gravity like a slingshot.
02:03When we got close to the moon,
02:04its pull was strongest.
02:06It basically flung our satellite toward the next destination.
02:10Then Earth became another slingshot.
02:12And the sun,
02:13with its enormous mass,
02:15acted like a third slingshot even further away.
02:18That's how we completed the entire orbital transfer.
02:218.6 million kilometers over 123 days.
02:26After four grueling months,
02:29the impossible became reality.
02:32The satellites not only survived,
02:34they reached their target,
02:36a distance retrograde orbit,
02:39or DRO,
02:41a cosmic sweet spot between Earth and the moon.
02:47It's the crossroads to deep space
02:49and a transport hub to even further.
02:54The low Earth orbit is a full of satellites
02:57because of those large constellations.
03:00But the Earth's moon space is about 10,000 times larger.
03:05We see it as a new unknown frontier.
03:09This rescue wasn't just a victory for engineering.
03:12It secured China's next leap into deep space.
03:16The two DRO satellites,
03:17together with the previously launched DRO-L,
03:21form a navigation network
03:23that enables autonomous spacecraft,
03:26turning the DRO into humanity's first space harbor.
03:31You can see it as an autopiloting space.
03:35We only need to specify the destination,
03:38and the spacecraft will automatically find a path to go there,
03:41just like when we use car-hailing apps.
03:45Ultimately, the story isn't just about math,
03:48gravity, or even satellites.
03:50It's about the people who refuse to accept failure,
03:54who turn desperation
03:55into one of the space history's greatest rescues.
03:59Call the comuns to see it as a powdery.
04:06Good night.
04:06All right.
04:07We'll see you next time.
04:09We'll see you next time.