The control terminal of the industrial robot was connected to Xiao Ai's server. Lu Zhou told it not to touch the things in the laboratory without permission. He then turned around and left the underground laboratory.
The things on the list given to him by Xiao Ai weren't particularly difficult to obtain. Lu Zhou didn't have to go through the trouble of buying them online.
After ordering a copy in the name of the Institute of Computational Materials, Lu Zhou moved the things to the underground laboratory.
Xiao Ai didn't even have time to thank Lu Zhou. It immediately began to play with the "new toy".
Lu Zhou stood next to it and watched it operate a six-axis general purpose robotic arm. It skillfully opened the toolbox and took out a hammer. Then, it used another robotic arm to pick up an aluminum alloy plate delivered by a logistics truck. It then pressed it against the concrete floor and began to hammer it.
Lu Zhou didn't know what it was doing.
Hearing the thumping sound, his eyebrows twitched, but after thinking for a while, he decided not to stop it. He simply told it not to damage the floor, then turned around and left the laboratory.
He had to go to Beijing for a meeting in two days. He didn't have time to deal with this.
The only thing Lu Zhou wanted was to hope that when he came back, this guy wouldn't mess with his laboratory too much …
…
Morning of March 6th.
A red banner was hung at the entrance of the Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, welcoming the start of the Moon Landing Project Conference.
Both the organizers and the participants of this conference were influential. Naturally, the topics discussed at the conference were extraordinary. The security was extended from the school's auditorium to the school gate.
Two young girls passing by the library looked at the explosion-proof police car parked on the asphalt road. They whispered to each other.
"Is some big shot inspecting the school?"
"No way, I heard it's a conference about the manned moon landing or something."
"Landing on the moon?" The slightly taller girl was puzzled. "When will we be able to carry people to the moon?"
"I don't know … But because we can't land on the moon right now, they're having a meeting to discuss how to do it."
Suddenly, a gentle voice came from the side.
"Student, may I know the way to your school's auditorium?"
Hearing this voice, the two girls stopped in their tracks.
The slightly taller girl looked at him with an inquiring gaze.
"You're here for that meeting?"
Lu Zhou nodded. "Yes, I guess so."
The tall girl pointed to the road on the right and continued.
"… Go straight down this road and turn right at the second intersection."
Lu Zhou looked in the direction she was pointing and was about to thank her when a petite girl beside him suddenly exclaimed.
"Wait, you, you, you, are you God Lu?"
Seeing her excited reaction, Lu Zhou paused for a second and then smiled embarrassedly.
"Just call me Lu Zhou or Professor Lu."
He didn't expect to meet his Weibo fans here. It was such a coincidence.
The petite girl looked at him and said excitedly, "It's quite far from the auditorium. If it's your first time here, I'm afraid it won't be easy to find it. How about I take you there?"
Seeing how enthusiastic she was, Lu Zhou didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "Don't bother, I can walk there myself."
With that said, he thanked the two of them, then turned around and walked in the direction that the girl had previously pointed.
"… It's God Lu!" The petite girl sighed emotionally as she watched the figure gradually walking away. However, at this moment, she seemed to have suddenly thought of something and her emotional expression instantly turned into regret. "Ah! I forgot to ask him for an autograph! "
The taller girl looked at her and said, "What's the point of asking him for an autograph?"
"Do you even have to ask? Please bless me that I won't fail! "
"…"
…
It didn't take long for Lu Zhou to find the auditorium following the direction the student was pointing at.
Lu Zhou showed his conference card and passed the security check. He then walked into the venue.
From the logos in the venue, Lu Zhou could see that it wasn't just the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation and the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation. He even saw the three giants of Alibaba, Alibaba, and other private high-tech companies.
Due to the influence of Space-X, private aerospace companies around the world were gradually gaining popularity, and China was no exception.
Even though aerospace technology was basically monopolized by the two state-owned enterprises, China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation, in fact, after a meeting in 2015, it was proposed to promote military-civilian integration as a national strategy, and the relevant policies were gradually liberalized.
For example, onespace, the first private aerospace company in the country, and Satellogic, which Penguin had quietly invested in, as well as the "Tianmao International" communication satellite and "Candy Jar" mini space station that Ali was expected to launch. In the exploration of aerospace technology, the role played by private enterprises was gradually becoming more and more important.
One had to admit that in terms of exploring new technologies and fields, the performance of private enterprises was indeed better than the performance of state-owned enterprises.
It was obvious that the higher-ups were aware of this, which was why they gradually liberalized the relevant market.
Lu Zhou was about to find a place to sit down when someone suddenly called his name from behind.
Lu Zhou stopped walking and looked back. He saw a man in his fifties or sixties in a suit walking toward him with a smile on his face.
Lu Zhou stared at him for a while and gradually remembered his name.
Xu Yuanming, the second-in-command of the Ministry of Science and Technology.
He chatted with him for a bit at the controllable fusion project commendation conference.
"Secretary Xu?" Lu Zhou smiled and shook Xu Yuanming's hand. He said, "Long time no see."
"Haha, it's only been two months," Xu Yuanming said as he shook Lu Zhou's hand enthusiastically. He then smiled and said, "The conference is about to begin, let's talk while we walk."
With Xu Yuanming's invitation, Lu Zhou walked toward the auditorium with him.
Along the way, Lu Zhou had a preliminary understanding of the current situation of the Chinese aerospace industry through his conversation with Secretary Xu.
Especially when it came to the budget aspect, which he was most concerned about.
Overall, the situation was not optimistic.
Currently, China's aerospace budget was only about US $2 billion per year, and this included the Long March, Big Dipper, Chang 'e, Shenzhou, Tianzhou, and Tiangong.
The total cost of the Apollo program by the United States was US $22.5 billion. It was hard to calculate how much US $22.5 billion was worth now, but it was more than enough to build an aircraft carrier battle group.
You could see how much money aerospace was burning!
Not to mention, there was also the industrial foundation and the accumulation of engine technology … These were all problems that couldn't be solved with money.
Secretary Xu's seat was next to Lu Zhou.
After he sat down with Lu Zhou, he slowly spoke.
"In terms of small rockets, we are not inferior to the Western countries. However, in terms of large rockets, there is a big gap between us and the United States and Russia.
"The low-Earth orbit carrying capacity of the Long March 5 is only 25 tons, the geosynchronous orbit carrying capacity is only 18 tons, and the Earth-Moon transfer orbit carrying capacity is only about 8 tons. Our Shenzhou 11 manned spacecraft has a take-off mass of about 8 tons. Considering that the lunar spacecraft must be redesigned for the Moon's magnetic environment, and it must carry a lunar module weighing at least 3 tons and a living cabin weighing more than 5 tons, the final weight of the entire lunar spacecraft may exceed 20 tons.
"With our current rocket technology, it is almost impossible to complete a manned lunar landing."
Lu Zhou nodded thoughtfully.
Engines were involved in an entire industrial system. This kind of thing couldn't be solved overnight. If they wanted to overtake the Moon, they had to find another way.
At this moment, he suddenly had a thought and said.
"Why don't you consider electric thrusters?"
"Electric thrusters?" Xu Yuanming paused for a second and smiled. He shook his head and said, "The thrust of electric thrusters is good for orbit transfer, but it's far from enough to launch a rocket."
Lu Zhou said, "We can build an electromagnetically accelerated land-based mass launcher on the ground to deliver unmanned components to low-Earth orbit, then use a plasma engine to send it to the Moon."
Since the controllable fusion power station was already built, the cost of electricity wouldn't be too high. It would be a waste not to use it. Even though this sounded like a science fiction device, it was technically possible.
After all, across the Pacific Ocean, they considered using cannons to shoot satellites …
Xu Yuanming: "How do astronauts get there?"
Lu Zhou: "Get on the spacecraft from the space station."
China didn't have the ability to send people to the Moon, but sending people into space was no problem.
Xu Yuanming was stunned by this amazing proposal. He paused for a while and didn't say anything. After a long time, he smiled and said, "This sounds interesting, but it's a bit weird."
Lu Zhou smiled and didn't deny it.
"Think boldly, but carefully verify. How do we realize it if we don't even dare to think about it? "
After all, Xu Yuanming wasn't a technical person. He only knew a little bit because of his work experience. Therefore, he didn't continue to discuss this issue with Lu Zhou.
He paused for a second and spoke.
"Right now, our strategic focus is still on the construction of cross-regional power grids and controllable fusion power stations. The higher-ups agreed that it is more important to be down-to-earth and focus on the current benefits.
"A lot of people suggested delaying the moon landing plan until 2030, but the higher-ups felt that your opinion was equally important. Therefore, they discussed a compromise plan at the meeting."
Lu Zhou asked, "Compromise plan?"
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
