The most explosive news on New Year's Day wasn't a celebrity's wedding, nor was it the Daya Bay's Xihe reactor being connected to the grid. It was the series of events that happened after Skyglow's successful launch and return.
From the successful launch of Skyglow to the 25-second video, to the New York Times report, to the safe return of Skyglow, every moment was eye-catching.
It wasn't like there weren't rocket makers.
However, he was probably the only one who dared to fly on his own rocket.
Even Elon Musk, who was known as the Iron Man of Silicon Valley, never said he would fly on a Falcon 9 rocket.
There was also the sensational innovative propulsion method, which completely subverted people's understanding of aerospace.
It was like this New Year's Day wasn't just about 2020, but the entire era.
From the old era to the new era.
From the past to the future …
Actually, this matter was quite interesting. If NASA didn't release the news through Columbia TV, most people wouldn't know that Skyglow was using an ion thruster propulsion system.
After the news came out, neither Star Sky Technology nor the China government seemed to have any intention of denying it, but they also didn't confirm the news. For the vast majority of people, this was tantamount to tacit approval without public acknowledgement.
It was this kind of power that made the people who prayed for Skyglow on the way back feel proud.
For a long time, China had been trying to catch up with the United States and Russia in the aerospace field. In terms of high-thrust rocket and spacecraft design, China was inferior to the United States, Russia, and Europe. Now that Skyglow was using ion thruster propulsion technology, China had a 50-ton low-Earth orbit delivery capability at least five years ahead of schedule.
The first step of the Moon landing plan had been achieved.
All that was left was to figure out how to safely send people to the Moon …
Not everyone cared about these things. In any case, Skyglow's safe return was a slap in the face to many people.
Especially Lu Zhou.
After he learned about the whole story from Chen Yushan, he posted a post on Weibo with the photo that the system asked him to take. He also attached a line of text below the post.
[I heard some people say I can't come back? (laughing face)]
Within half a minute, there were hundreds of comments on Weibo.
[Haha, where are the experts from NASA? Where are those lunatics? Why aren't you coming out to disintegrate?]
[What the f * ck is the New York Times? They keep spreading rumors and causing trouble! Don't you think it's a big deal?]
[I just want to say one thing, God Lu is awesome!!!]
[In fact, Skyglow was going to disintegrate, but NASA's poisonous milk stopped it. (laughing face)]
[Haha, does your face hurt? I knew God Lu would be fine!]
[God Lu, I want to have babies with you in space ~ (shy) (shy)]
[Reported by the higher-ups!]
[After looking around, no one has praised God Lu for being handsome. Let me do it. Brothers, follow the procedure and send me up! (dog head)]
[…]
In less than half an hour, this Weibo post had been reposted and liked by CTV, Everyone Daily, and other media outlets. The popularity of the post quickly spread from Weibo to the rest of the internet.
Many people posted screenshots of Lu Zhou's Weibo post on Twitter and tagged The New York Times.
Interestingly enough, the first to respond wasn't The New York Times, but rather, it was NASA's official account.
NASA quickly clarified on their official account that they never said that Skyglow might disintegrate in the atmosphere. The New York Times' report was a misinterpretation of the press conference. The entire report was untrustworthy.
When this news came out, it caused a lot of backlash on Twitter. The reputation of The New York Times was tarnished.
Lu Zhou thought that this was the end of the matter. After all, in his opinion, it was just a test flight. It wasn't a particularly big deal. However, he didn't expect things to be different.
After CTV interviewed the two astronauts, they made a special documentary about the launch of Skyglow based on the materials they had collected previously.
In this documentary, they used the usual filming style, highlighting the difficulties of the research and development work and the dangers of the launch process. As the focus of attention, Lu Zhou, who went up with the two astronauts, was portrayed as a hero who risked his life to challenge space …
She even added a line for him in the tone of a martyr.
"I'm the chief designer, there's first-hand information I need! If I don't go, who's going? "
It was like he wasn't testing a spacecraft, he was fighting aliens …
"… What a dumb teammate."
In a special ward at 301 Hospital, Lu Zhou threw the newspaper on the table and shook his head.
The reason why he was in a special ward wasn't because he was sick. It was because the government required him to undergo routine checkups like the two astronauts.
Even though he repeatedly said that he couldn't be healthier, he couldn't convince the experts at 301 Hospital.
Of course, Lu Zhou understood that they were doing this out of the kindness of their hearts. They were afraid that there would be any hidden dangers in his body.
Therefore, he wasn't as resistant as before.
"I think it's pretty well written …"
Wang Peng glanced at Lu Zhou and had a strange expression on his face.
I've never seen you be so humble before, but now you're complaining about how mushy it is …
Yanyan came over and took a glance, then coughed softly.
"Objectively speaking, it's actually quite touching."
"You guys don't understand." Lu Zhou shook his head.
Chen Yushan, who was standing next to the hospital bed, smirked and said, "Can I guess?"
Lu Zhou sighed and spoke. "Whatever."
Ever since the hug on the day of the return flight, the relationship between him and Chen Yushan became a bit more subtle.
However, Lu Zhou really didn't know how to describe the subtlety of it.
In short, from then on, neither of them mentioned that matter. It was as if nothing had happened.
Therefore, it became like this.
How should I explain it?
Lu Zhou didn't know what this feeling was.
Maybe this is the so-called knowledge blind spot …
"Yeah … You want to use this launch to tell people that in the near future, space travel is essentially the same as ordinary travel, or that it's not as dangerous as they think?"
Lu Zhou went silent for a while and looked away.
"… Okay, I'll give you half the answer."
Actually, he only got a quarter of the answer right.
At least half of it was because of the system's mission, and the other quarter was purely because he wanted to see how his plane was doing in the air. As long as he put himself in the pilot's shoes and understood the situation, he would know the specific areas that needed improvement, instead of just studying some pale data and the pilot's dictation.
Even though he only got half of the answer right, Chen Yushan still smirked.
Yan Yan, who was standing next to her, pouted and picked up the test report in her hand. She then walked out of the ward.
However, Lu Zhou didn't notice these subtle details. His attention was completely attracted by the snowflakes flying outside the window.
Speaking of which, it's winter again.
The STAR-2 experimental reactor was successfully ignited around this time.
Time really flies by …
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