Jinling Institute for Advanced Study.
Dean's office.
Lu Zhou was sitting in front of his desk, meticulously reviewing the documents on his desk.
Ever since he became the chief designer of the Lunar Orbit Committee, he had been very busy.
All of China's funding for the moon construction project had to go through his pen.
Basically, the chairman of the committee was responsible for determining the total amount of funding. Based on the scientific, economic, and cultural value of the lunar orbit project, the chairman would decide how much funding the entire lunar orbit project would receive.
As for the chief designer, Lu Zhou was responsible for deciding where the funding would be spent. In other words, which research and development projects would be used.
If the entire outer space exploration project was like a boat sailing on the ocean, then Lu Zhou was the helmsman. If something were to happen to him, the entire ship would be in trouble as well.
Therefore, even though Lu Zhou wasn't interested in these trivial matters, he had to sit there patiently and read every document from beginning to end. He had to identify the most reliable projects or proposals and sign his name on them.
Lu Zhou was deep in thought while reading a report on the technical feasibility of lunar mining equipment. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.
Lu Zhou put down his pen and looked at the door. He cleared his throat and spoke.
"Come in."
The door was pushed open, and a young female assistant in a business suit walked in with a thick stack of documents.
"Professor, these are documents from China Agricultural University and the China Aviation Administration. The Foreign Liaison Office asked me to bring them to you."
Lu Zhou nodded and spoke.
"I got it. You can put it on the table first."
"Okay." The female assistant nodded and walked to the desk. She took out the documents from the folder and placed them on the corner of the desk. She then asked, "Is there anything else I can help you with?"
"Just pour me a cup of coffee."
"Okay, professor."
The young female assistant nodded and walked to the water dispenser. She made Lu Zhou a cup of instant mocha and quietly left the office.
While drinking coffee, Lu Zhou briefly flipped through the two documents sent from the external liaison office.
Overall, both documents were good news. The document from the China National Space Administration highly praised the Jinling Institute for Advanced Study for their outstanding contributions to the lunar orbit project.
The success of the Moon Palace core module not only gave China a first-mover advantage in the development of lunar resources, but it also earned China a huge international reputation.
On the other hand, this document also contained the concept map of the space station phase 1 project sent by the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation, as well as the completion schedule of the remaining components.
Based on this information, Lu Zhou would discuss the launch schedule of the node module, energy module, experiment module, work module, and other space station components through the Lunar Orbit Committee meeting.
On the other hand, it wasn't just the Moon Palace that received good news. There was also good news from the Dourbantunggut Desert.
A month ago, when Lu Zhou was still researching how to send the Moon Palace into lunar orbit, the first phase of the "Garden" project was completed. Under the leadership of Professor Hu Yang, Biosphere A was launched.
So far, Biosphere A had been operating successfully for a month. During this month, the volunteers enclosed in the artificial biosphere had successfully achieved the expected goal. Through the limited input of water and the discharge of a small amount of waste, the initial cycle of daily necessities had been achieved.
"Closed-loop life support technology" was one of the most important prerequisites for colonizing the Moon and even Mars. It was also an important part of the entire lunar orbit project.
In this field, the United States, which led the "Biosphere 2" experiment, was relatively far along. The Ares life support system that was launched to Mars was a manifestation of this technology.
If China wanted to build colonies on the Moon or even more distant planets, unlocking this branch of the technology tree was essential.
After reading Professor Hu's report, Lu Zhou had a gratified look on his face.
If everything went well, China might be able to send its colonists to the surface of the Moon next year.
Suddenly, someone knocked on the door again.
Lu Zhou put down the document in his hand and looked at the door.
"Come in."
Hou Guang, the director of the Aerospace Science and Technology Research Institute, walked in with a serious look on his face. Before Lu Zhou could ask what happened, he went straight to the point.
"I have good news and bad news, which one do you want to hear first?"
Lu Zhou looked at Hou Guang's serious face and paused for a second. He then smiled and spoke.
"When did you learn how to keep people guessing?" He paused for a second and said, "Then … Let's start with the good news."
Hou Guang: "The good news is that the planting unit we deployed on the Moon has successfully harvested the first batch of potatoes!"
When Lu Zhou heard this, a look of surprise appeared on his face.
"Harvested already? That fast? "
Although he had never farmed before, nor had he engaged in research in this field, he had heard that potatoes generally took three months to ripen from sowing to the time it took for them to be planted.
It had only been less than two months from the successful activation of the planting unit to the harvesting. This speed was indeed a little shocking.
Hou Guang noticed Lu Zhou's surprise and smiled as he said, "It's okay, we originally used improved potato seeds, and with the constant temperature system of the planting unit, it has always been at the most suitable growth temperature. Two months isn't a big deal."
The cost of growing potatoes in space was undoubtedly several times more expensive than growing them on Earth.
But even then, with the launch cost of tens of thousands of US dollars per kilogram, the cost of growing food on the Moon was much cheaper than growing food on Earth.
Even putting aside the economic costs, the psychological satisfaction of being able to achieve self-sufficiency on the Moon was not something that could be bought with money alone …
"This is indeed good news." Lu Zhou paused for a second and smiled. He then said, "Then what's the bad news?"
"The bad news is that we received news this morning …" Hou Guang hesitated for a second and took a deep breath. He then said, "The BFR rocket launched by Space-X last month has landed on the surface of Mars at 13 o 'clock Beijing time today."
Landed?!
Lu Zhou's expression gradually became serious. He sat upright in his office chair and immediately asked, "How's the landing?"
Hou Guang looked at him with a serious expression and spoke.
"Apparently … they succeeded."
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