Free Web NovelChapter 1429: Chapter 677 Announcing the Grand Plan!_2
The Aerospace Bureau and Yixing were also in continuous communication, discussing the Lunar Base Project.
The Lunar Base Project, which sounds like it’s just about building a base, actually involves a vast amount of technology, difficulty, and engineering. Thinking in the long term, it might even exceed the spacecraft project.
The spacecraft project is just about building a spaceship, whereas the Lunar Base Project requires the construction of a base that must include a massive energy transmission center, large radar facilities, and enough space for humans to carry out normal activities.
When humans work on the moon for extended periods, they’ll need a wealth of spacesuits, lunar rovers, ample food reserves, and various high-tech devices, as well as experimental and research equipment.
And so on.
"This is a project even more enormous than the spacecraft." freeweɓnovēl.coɱ
"It will be a super huge project, which may surpass the spacecraft in the future,"
concluded Zhao Yi.
Although the project might indeed exceed the spacecraft in prospect, the base could be built up gradually, not just fabricated completely before use. This would allow for incremental investment instead of having to come up with a massive sum of money all at once.
Therefore, Yixing’s funds are, for the moment, still sufficient.
Soon enough,
the sightseeing ship was about to start its fifth round of testing, a secret test not announced to the public, mainly because senior leaders, alongside Zhao Yi, were going to board the ship and join the test.
This had been decided long ago.
Although many advised him not to board, given that it was just an experimental test and safety couldn’t be completely guaranteed, they ultimately decided to board together.
They all understood that even if the sightseeing ship commenced operations, there would definitely be a multitude of people dissuading them from boarding easily. After all, it was brand new technology, not yet developed for many years, and space always entails risks that no one can absolutely safeguard against.
Although the fifth test wasn’t publicly announced, a small group inside was aware, especially those participating in the tests. Once it was confirmed that the senior leaders and Zhao Yi would board, suddenly a great number of people clamored to join, proclaiming quite loudly,
"We want to contribute to the test, even at the risk of our own lives!"
"The sightseeing ship project is too important; I need to go up myself to know where the problems lie."
"I don’t trust those so-called experience officers, especially with technical stuff. How would I know without going up and seeing for myself?"
"I want to go with Academician Zhao. If there’s any danger, I’ll be the first to rush to the forefront!"
Zhao Yi wanted to retort, "We’re not going to war, and even if we were, you’re not a professional bodyguard. You wouldn’t even have time to react if you wanted to be a bullet."
"Now, we’re going to space to test the sightseeing ship. Why would you rush to the forefront? If you rushed out without a spacesuit, I’d raise both hands and give a double thumbs-up!"
Of course,
no matter what he thought, a large number of people still wanted to go. Some indeed were for protection, but most just wanted to experience the sightseeing ship.
This was a chance to go to space!
Even for experts from the Aerospace Bureau and employees from Yixing, there was no guarantee of such an opportunity in the future.
If the sightseeing ship went into regular operation later, ticket prices would surely be prohibitively expensive. Now, it was free and came with the grand reason of contributing to the sightseeing ship’s test and taking on great risks—there would never be a better opportunity.
So, the number of participants for the sightseeing ship became quite substantial.
More than thirty were personnel from the Aerospace Bureau, with the Bureau’s leader Zheng Long internally declaring, "This time it’s also a work privilege; no other organization offers such a benefit."
There were also over twenty employees from Yixing, including Yuan Haitao, Zhou Kai, and even Li Jianming.
Li Jianming had only participated in the design work of the sightseeing ship, and his reason was, "Only after experiencing the sightseeing ship firsthand will we know how to improve it further."
Indeed, the justification was powerful.
Zhao Yi wanted to kick the man directly, because he had completed the main design alone. Of course, considering Li Jianming’s age, it was indeed inappropriate to actually kick him, so he could only add the other party’s name to the project.
After the spots for boarding were confirmed, everyone was extremely excited and looking forward with anticipation, seemingly having forgotten the original purpose of participating in the tests and treating it entirely as a job perk.
----
The job perks would have to wait until the fifth test.
In the meantime, the Aerospace Bureau and Yixing Company jointly announced a major piece of news, "We have determined a major project, called the Lunar Base Project."
"This will be humanity’s first time constructing a base on another celestial body and will be an important step for humans in exploring the universe."
"Regarding the Lunar Base Project, the Aerospace Bureau and Yixing Company will hold a joint press conference and we welcome the international media to come and report on it."
After this news was released, it immediately caused an international sensation.
A mass of media flooded into the capital to attend the pertinent press conferences, hoping to confirm the news about the Lunar Base Project and to understand the related details.
As stated in the announcement, building a base on another celestial body, even on the Moon, signifies to a degree the beginning of interstellar colonization.
This is not just space exploration anymore; instead, it’s the transition past the exploration phase and entering the early stages of colonization.
As soon as the press conference began, the venue was already packed with reporters, many of whom had to stand in the aisles, resulting in an extremely crowded scene.
Fortunately, there were plenty of security personnel to maintain order, which did not affect the progress of the press conference.
Zhao Yi sat in a central position, with Zheng Long, a direct leader from the Aerospace Bureau, sitting next to him.
At the start, the host of the conference gave a brief introduction, "This press conference concerns the Lunar Base Project. First, the internationally renowned scientist and President of Yixing Company, Academician Zhao Yi, will introduce the project!"
The auditorium immediately filled with applause.
Zhao Yi turned on the microphone and addressed everyone, "The Lunar Base Project is a plan that we have discussed and determined with the Aerospace Bureau. It’s also a project that will involve ongoing investment in the future."
"Currently, there are two main points we hope to achieve: first, we aim to use the Moon as a springboard to establish a major space route to the universe."
"The second point is in the realm of scientific research; we will build a large radar facility on the Moon. In the vacuum conditions on the lunar surface, the efficiency of the radar telescope will be dozens or even hundreds of times higher than those built on Earth."
"At the same time, we will construct the corresponding enclosed activity areas for scientists and personnel to live and work on the Moon."
After Zhao Yi briefly finished detailing the main plans, it was time for others to speak.
The Manager from Yixing, Zhou Kai, discussed the space route plan, "We will not build high-powered routes and hope to send probes to other star systems."
"When it comes to distances measured in light-years, it will require a very large amount of power to support space shuttle."
"If we can complete this project, we will first send probes to neighboring star systems to really have a look at the environment of other star systems and see how they differ from the solar system."
"This kind of detection is very important and can be considered vital preliminary work for the operation of spacecraft."
"At the same time, we will rely on the related space route technology to explore a relatively safe passage to other star systems."
"This is not the space route but the route for spacecraft. Our plan is to explore safe routes so that future spacecraft can follow these routes to travel to other star systems for exploration."
The representative from the Aerospace Bureau spoke about the radar project, "If we can build large radar facilities on the Moon, we will gain a better understanding of the stars and the universe. Many astronomical mysteries require more precise radar telescopes to determine."
"We have observed gravitational waves, but there are many undiscovered things in the universe that we need to observe with higher precision and clearer instruments."
"So, we are executing this plan, hoping to bring humanity a better understanding of the cosmic sky."
"Also, I am here to announce that we will establish a Super-Large Space Center to be used by numerous space workers. With the existing data and future equipment, we will work together to compile and produce a map of the universe."
"This will become a main focus of the Space Center’s work."
