BSI Chapter 189 Technical Standards
Chapter 189 Technical Standards
The International Commercial Space Conference is held annually in Geneva. This year's invitation was sent to Room 402 three months in advance, and Zuo Cheng's name was listed in the opening speech guest list. This is the first time in the history of the conference that a founder of a private enterprise has been placed in this position.
Li Guodong arrived in Geneva a week early, bringing with him the final draft of the standards. The draft is divided into three parts: safety standards, launch procedure standards, and recovery and reuse standards. Among them, the recovery and reuse standards are unique to the 402 Institute and have no precedent in the world.
On the first day of the conference, the venue could seat eight hundred people, but more than a thousand were present, with the back rows filled with people. Zuo Cheng walked onto the stage, and without exchanging pleasantries, immediately opened the first document.
"Over the past three years, the number of commercial space launches worldwide has quadrupled, but industry standards remain stagnant, unchanged from twenty years ago. There are no unified safety standards, no unified interface specifications, and no unified recovery certification process. What does this mean? It means that every company is reinventing the wheel, and every international collaboration requires renegotiating technical integration."
He paused for a moment, his gaze sweeping across the entire room.
"402 has completed 89 launches in the past twelve months, 73 of which used recovered rockets. We are releasing this data not to showcase achievements, but to demonstrate that recycling is not an experimental project, but a mature industrial process. Mature industrial processes require standards, and standards need to be written down first."
Someone raised their hand; it was a technical representative from the European Space Agency. He asked whether the 402 standard took into account the existing systems of European companies.
Zuo Cheng said that the draft's interface specifications adopt a modular design, allowing existing systems to be gradually migrated without needing to be completely rebuilt. We have conducted tests, and the existing processes of the three major European launch service providers have an integration time of less than two weeks.
The technical representative nodded and didn't ask any more questions.
Following the presentation, the standards working group held a closed-door meeting. The working group consisted of twelve members, representing major spacefaring nations and companies worldwide. Zuo Cheng distributed the draft; the meeting room was silent for ten minutes, save for the sound of pages turning.
The first to speak was the US representative. He asked whether the data from 402 was sufficient to support global applicability regarding the engine life assessment clause in the recycling and reuse standards.
Li Guodong opened his laptop and pulled up the complete maintenance records for Cangqiong-1 and Cangqiong-2. He said that Cangqiong-1 had been reused a maximum of seven times, while Cangqiong-2 had been reused three times so far. All the data, including engine endoscopic images, nozzle wear curves, and structural stress changes, were all there. If that wasn't enough, data from Cangqiong-2's fifth recovery next month could supplement it.
The American representative flipped through a few pages and said, "The amount of data is larger than I expected."
Zuo Cheng said that standards are not written down, but measured. We are willing to contribute this data as a benchmark for standard setting.
The second speaker was the Japanese representative. He asked whether the countdown protocol in the launch procedure standards conflicted with the existing framework of the International Space Coordination Committee.
Zuo Cheng said, "We've created a comparison table. All the clauses in the existing framework are retained, and the addition in section 402 are the specific testing points for recovered rockets. There are no conflicts, only additions."
The Japanese representative nodded and made a mark on the document.
The meeting lasted six hours. There were two breaks in between, during which the delegates called back to their companies for instructions. Zuo Cheng didn't leave the meeting room; he sat in a corner replying to a few messages from home, then continued reviewing the documents.
By evening, the working group had reached a preliminary consensus. The recycling and reuse standards would be based on Draft 402, and the safety and launch procedure standards would integrate Draft 402's technical parameters within the existing international framework. Zuo Cheng was elected as co-chair of the standards committee for a two-year term; this is the first time a representative from a private enterprise has held this position.
When the news reached China, it generated a much larger response than the market share report. CCTV devoted two minutes to reporting on it in its evening news, commenting that Chinese private enterprises had achieved a historic breakthrough in setting global commercial aerospace standards. Industry media headlines were even more direct: 402 not only won the market, but is also setting the rules.
Zuo Cheng stayed in Geneva for two more days. On the second evening, the founder of SpaceX posted a message on social media saying that standardization is good for the industry and he looked forward to cooperating with 402 within the standard framework. Zuo Cheng saw it while having dinner in the hotel restaurant and handed his phone to Yu Ying to show her.
Yu Ying said, "He gave in?"
Zuo Cheng said it wasn't about admitting defeat, but about recognizing the situation. Once the standards are established, everyone has to play within the framework, and the person who sets the standards first will always have the advantage.
Yu Ying asked, "What's the next step?"
Zuo Cheng said, "Let's go back to China. The standard has been set, and the seventh branch should be lit up now."
He didn't explain what the seventh branch was, and Yu Ying didn't ask.
The day after returning to Hangzhou, Zuo Cheng convened a meeting with the core team. Han Lu was responsible for standard adaptation with domestic enterprises, Chen Hao was responsible for documenting the technical interfaces, and Fang Ze spearheaded the development of an open-source toolkit to allow small and medium-sized enterprises to access the 402 standard system for free.
Zuo Cheng said that the value of standard setters lies not in the standard itself, but in the ecosystem it creates. When enough companies use our interfaces, our processes, and our certification system, 402 will no longer be a company, but a platform.
Liu Wei asked, "What happens after platformization?"
Zuo Cheng said, "I'll tell you what happens next when the seventh branch lights up."
That night, Zuo Cheng stayed alone in his office. He opened the system panel; the final node of the commercial spaceflight mission chain was flashing, indicating that the standards had been set and were awaiting final confirmation. He clicked confirm, and a notification popped up on the panel: the mission chain was complete, and the reward was ready to be claimed.
He didn't collect it immediately, but instead closed the panel and walked to the window. The night view of Hangzhou was completely different from that of Geneva; it lacked the outline of the Alps, but had the shimmering waters of West Lake.
From telecommunications engineering to aerospace communications, from the Internet of Things to AI, from unmanned systems to new energy vehicles, and then to space photovoltaics, six branches light up sequentially on the panel. The seventh branch, commercial aerospace, will be activated tomorrow.
He returned to his desk, picked up his phone, and sent Yu Ying a message: "Are you free tomorrow night?"
Yu Ying replied quickly, "Yes." "What's wrong?"
Zuo Cheng said he wanted to treat you to a meal to celebrate.
Yu Ying asked, "What are we celebrating?"
Zuo Cheng said, "Let's celebrate that we've reached a new starting point."
He put down his phone and opened the system panel again. This time, he clicked to claim the reward. The light on the panel flickered a few times, and the seventh branch slowly lit up, its leaves unfurling, and eight new leaves appeared on the branch tips.
Commercial spaceflight branches, activated.
Zuo Cheng looked at the panel, a slight smile playing on his lips. From the first day of his rebirth until now, every step had been planned, yet each step brought a sense of grounded satisfaction.
Outside the window, the lights of Hangzhou remain lit. Tomorrow will be another new day.