Above: Chen Deming, who is obsessed with scientific research, often works late into the night and forgets the time to go home. Photo by Li Yujian
The wind in the desert is cool and bright. Chen Deming, dressed in a uniform, has a slight frown, deep eyes and a serious look. Talking about the topic of life, he has a calm tone and is rigorous with scientific researchers; But when he talked about his missile career, his eyes suddenly filled with brilliance, his tone was forceful, his thinking was extremely agile, and his gestures were enriched.
49 years of Chunhua Qiushi, 26 years of Dan Xin casting sword. In the past 26 years since he joined the desert missile industry, the smooth and stretched missile flight trajectory has been printed in his mind, and thousands of test data have flowed in his mind. The sword has been integrated into his pursuit and his blood. His life path is also like a missile, with clear trajectory and precise target.
Relying on the heavenly sword, witnessing his solemn oath of loyal mission — —
"It is better to work for eight years than to wait for eight years."
Everyone has a dream kingdom in his heart, which may be a fascinating scenery in the movie or a swaying picture in the dream … … In the eyes of young Chen Deming, that sacred land is in the distant western desert, and it is a place that makes his blood boil every time he thinks about it.
In 1986, Chen Deming, who was still a high school student in his hometown of Hunan, watched a movie called Flying to the Pacific Ocean. Staring at the magnificent picture that China’s first long-range launch vehicle roared off and pierced the sky, he quietly buried a dream of "fighting for the country" in his heart. For this dream, he applied for the only National University of Defense Technology that offered aerospace dynamics and flight test.
In the year of graduation, with his love for the missile cause, he declined the opportunity to stay in school and resolutely set foot on the train bound for the northwest desert. There is no "lonely desert" scenery, only endless yellow sand. "This is a place that is not suitable for human habitation!" Some colleagues complained. Chen Deming said: "This is a sacred place. There is the national defense cause that the motherland needs most. It will definitely be fertile ground for us to make contributions!"
The endless desert is the easiest way to kill people’s fighting spirit and courage. However, what worries people is not only the hard and closed living environment in Gobi, but also the scientific research environment with relatively backward facilities at that time.
"There are more than 60 people in a technical room, and there is only one computer that can be used. Looking at this computer, my heart is cold." Chen Deming said that what made him even more at a loss was that the only reference he could find on his first mission turned out to be a paper with several pages missing.
At that time, there was an "unwritten" rule in the base, and college student cadres who joined the army could choose to leave the army after working for more than 8 years. Go or stay? Chen Deming encouraged himself: "It is better to work for eight years than to wait for eight years."
At that time, Chen Deming was still a student with red epaulettes. In order to dabble in more scientific research knowledge, he never missed every technical seminar and began to learn missile knowledge.
There is a project, and experts think that "the research value is not great" during the evaluation. Chen Deming, who was auditing, raised his hand boldly and made a deduction of his own ideas on the spot. Just after Chen Deming finished speaking, Du Zhiming, a senior engineer at the base, made a decision on the spot: "Let Deming participate in this project."
In those days, Chen Deming often came to the Gobi and stared at the Populus euphratica struggling to grow and take root in the desert: fighting against the desert for a thousand years, standing for a thousand years after death, and immortal after falling for a thousand years … … "These ‘ Stubborn life ’ Just like the astronauts who took root in the desert, it was their selfless dedication and sacrifice that made the earth-shattering ‘ Two bombs and one satellite ’ Weiye. "
Yes, the desert can be deserted, but life can’t. In these eight years, it is with such an "initial heart" that Chen Deming rose up instead of waiting, drawing a shining track for his scientific research life and turning his solemn oath into a magnificent footprint — —
In 1994, he became the first group of scientific researchers to participate in the demonstration of the launch site of a certain missile weapon flight test mission; In 1996, he was the first to start the planning and evaluation of cruise missile shooting range, and took a new step in the research of new quality combat effectiveness … …
Eight years have passed, and another eight years have passed. Chen Deming is like a Elaeagnus angustifolia tree that thrives in the Gobi. The deeper its roots are, the more fruits it bears!
Vast territory, witnessing his vast life creed — —
"Always staring at fame and fortune, the door of scientific research will be closed sooner or later."
Anti-missile is known as the most advanced technical confrontation in the world.
However, due to the difficulties in tackling key problems, China’s anti-missile road is very difficult. At the beginning of this century, China officially launched the anti-missile project, and built China’s first anti-missile test range in a base in the northwest where Chen Deming works. Chen Deming was hired as an expert of the project expert group to take the lead in tackling the test technology of the anti-missile range.
In those days, Chen Deming led the team to draft the experimental instruments day and night, and broke through the major core technologies such as real-time target recognition, precise orbit determination and prediction, and rapid analysis and evaluation of experimental results.
Behind the success, in addition to the joy, there are also the hard past events of "getting carried away and working hard" for scientific research: for many years, Chen Deming’s alarm clock has always been set at 11: 30 at night, with the purpose of reminding himself that it is time to go home from work; He even worked overtime for three days and nights in order to draw up a test plan, and finally fainted in the office … …
"I think he is tired and happy." Xu Chunguang, a base researcher who has been working with Chen Deming for scientific research all the year round, said: "People who engage in research sometimes have to enter the realm of selflessness. That feeling is very wonderful. It is sweet to engage in a career that you like, no matter how hard and tired you are."
Anyone familiar with Chen Deming knows that there is no word "fame and fortune" in his world.
"If scientific research cadres always stare at fame and fortune, the door to scientific research will be closed sooner or later; It is impossible to achieve great results if you always aim at personal interests. Only when researchers have no distractions, stay away from fame and fortune, and calm down for a few years or decades can they make a name for themselves. "
This is Chen Deming’s life creed and his struggle experience.
In 2008, an "explosive" news sensationalized the whole base — — Chen Deming resigned from his administrative post in order to devote himself to scientific research. In fact, this is the third time that he has resigned as the director of the technical office.
As early as 2003, Chen Deming, who had served as the director of the office at that time, suddenly found the leader of the base and expressed the idea of quitting his administrative post, but he was rejected by the leader. Chen Deming persisted for another two years, but his desire to concentrate on scientific research became stronger and stronger. He went to the leader for the second time and said, "My specialty is research. The post of director of the room can be arranged for energetic young people. " Because of the need of work, the leader still didn’t agree.
A few years later, Chen Deming once again sincerely requested: "There is indeed a contradiction in the allocation of time between management and project research, so I can only choose one, so that I can devote myself to scientific research … …” Seeing that he was so persistent, his request was finally approved.
On another occasion, the superior assigned the development task of an impact prediction system to Chen Deming’s technical office. In order to train and exercise young people, he asked Zhao Hailong, then an engineer, to take the lead in this work. After accepting the task, Zhao Hailong felt "great pressure" and asked Chen Deming to be the head of the research group several times to carry out auxiliary programming work by himself. Chen Deming encouraged him to say, "Just do it, and I’ll help you solve any difficulties."
At the moment when the results were finally declared, the members of the research group unanimously elected Chen Deming as the first person to complete the project, but he resolutely disagreed and crossed out his name.
In recent years, Chen Deming has become more and more famous. Some well-known domestic scientific research institutes want to "dig" him away with generous treatment, but he refuses one by one.
Someone asked him: "Others really want you to start a business. Don’t you regret refusing such a high income?" He replied: "There are too many such things. If you want to regret it, your intestines will regret it long ago."
You know, in Chen Deming’s mind, this Gobi has long been his second hometown, and the missile industry has long been his lifelong dream.
Wan Li desert, witnessing his down-to-earth scientific research spirit — —
"Under the guidance of the goal of strengthening the military, national defense science and technology innovation can never stop."
The world of scientific research is colorful, and the boring figures and cold models people see on weekdays are all "life-rich landscapes" in Chen Deming’s eyes. He said: "It’s like God deliberately hides the truth of a thing. When you try your best to get closer to the truth, the inner ecstasy and love are often fascinating and even more awesome."
Over the years, Chen Deming, who is obsessed with scientific research and exploration, has a habit that he always likes to ask, "Why?"? Can there be another way to answer? "
When Chen Deming began to study the missile precise orbit determination prediction technology, it was found that the problems of poor accuracy of real-time trajectory estimation and low utilization rate of measurement data were not well solved in the field of shooting range measurement and control in China. These "common" problems affect the accuracy and stability of real-time precise orbit determination prediction. To this end, he accurately docked the anti-missile test with the operational target, and made continuous exploration, and achieved a series of innovative achievements with domestic leading level.
"I can’t remember how many flight test evaluation methods and evaluation reports I have completed." Chen Deming said that he was never satisfied with copying the documents he had drawn up before, and even the evaluation methods he proposed in his early days, he never "painted a tiger as a cat" in practical application. "This is like a spinning top. Only by constantly giving external forces can the top keep turning."
In the face of scientific research, Chen Deming is always full of confidence, and all this is due to his down-to-earth attitude.
Xu Chunguang, a researcher who has worked with him for many years, said that Chen Deming’s greatness lies in his "drilling strength" and his ability to find problems from details. "Many problems ordinary people may not pay attention to. However, Chen Deming believes that scientific research should first be good at ‘ Drill ’ Only when you go in can you achieve results ‘ Jump ’ Come out. "
Engaged in scientific research, Chen Deming always maintained an optimistic attitude. One year, Xu Chunguang took over a basic research project. After a busy year, he was very frustrated to see that others had achieved a lot, but he had no breakthrough. Chen Deming advised him: "It is not a matter of one or two days to engage in scientific research. Setbacks are not terrible in themselves, but they are afraid of being devastated."
A few years later, Xu Chunguang made rapid progress in his business and became a new star of science and technology in the base. He said with emotion: "It was Chen Deming’s scientific research spirit that inspired me, following ‘ Niuren ’ Together, my potential has also been stimulated. "
In recent years, Chen Deming has undertaken more and more projects, and he has carefully calculated every expenditure, using precious funds to improve scientific research conditions and carry out scientific research work. He has led and participated in more than a dozen major research projects, but he has never been named on scientific research achievements that are not specifically responsible. Even though he is responsible for scientific research projects from concept presentation to scientific research guidance, he also thinks that it is a "internal matter" and resolutely does not hang on to a "false name".
Nowadays, Chen Deming has long regarded innovation as a pursuit: "Scientific research and innovation is sometimes an idea that makes your heart hot. As long as you persist for years, there will always be a time when things turn out well."
It is with such a belief that innovative kindling is lit in his heart, which not only illuminates his scientific research road, but also leaves a shining footprint on the road of missile weapon test development in China.
Chen Deming was not satisfied, and his eyes looked further: "Now the atmosphere of scientific research and innovation is very good. As a worker fighting in the front line of national defense scientific research, only by being down-to-earth, optimistic and confident, and never giving up, can we break through the difficulties one by one and reap fruitful results. Under the guidance of strong military goals, national defense science and technology innovation can never stop. "
