Technological power starts with upgrading lenses.

Chapter 461 Project Artemis
"Then let them scold!"

Before Musk finished speaking, a deep voice suddenly came from outside the door.

He immediately recognized the person coming as his old friend Chuan Pu.

"We have to do something, even if it's just giving them a chance to vent their anger. Otherwise, people will keep holding it in and it will lead to bigger problems."

Musk didn't give his good friend any face after hearing this. He just snorted coldly: "So I have become a prop for you to calm your anger?"

"No, I believe our Iron Man will not let you down."

Chuan Pu stretched out his right hand and gestured to Musk.
"NASA will next fully promote the 'Artemis' plan to return to the moon, which includes three phases: manned lunar landing, lunar gateway space station and lunar surface base construction. The entire plan is expected to invest more than one trillion US dollars."

"If SpaceX succeeds in this mysterious planet exploration program, I promise to secure more than 80% of the launch missions for SpaceX to return to the moon."

Musk laughed immediately.

It has been a long time since the United States has called for a return to the moon.

As early as 2004, NASA proposed the Constellation Program to meet the space needs after the retirement of the space shuttle.
At the same time, the plan also aims to take into account manned lunar landing and prepare for long-term residence and lunar development.

However, due to budget overruns and delays, the Constellation program was canceled in 2010.

It was not until 17 that the plan was restarted under the strong promotion of Chuanpu.
The Constellation Project was also officially renamed the 'Artemis Project'.

But the restarted Artemis project has been even more bumpy.
The SLS rocket project assigned to Boeing, even though it basically used the technology of the previous space shuttle, took a full 10 years to finally complete the development and assembly of the rocket and spacecraft.

However, this was just the beginning of the plan going wrong.
The assembled Artemis 1 was originally scheduled to be launched at the end of 21, but due to various problems such as fuel leakage, the launch plan was repeatedly postponed.
It was about to be launched, but it was held back.

There's no need to explain how uncomfortable this feeling is, right?
And they have experienced this feeling so many times that they can't even count on their fingers.

At most, we even canceled two or three times a week.

It makes them feel numb!
It was not until December 22 that this "difficult to produce" stock rocket was finally launched and successfully completed the unmanned circumlunar flight test mission.
Otherwise, NASA and Boeing, I really don’t know how it will end…

But then the problem came again,

Between 2011 and 2022, the SLS project burned a total of 238 billion US dollars!
The original plan was to cost $4 million for one launch.
After calculation, it was found that it actually costs almost 40 billion for each launch!
NASA looked at the bill and
I immediately cried out I couldn’t stand it!
The plan progress bar has only increased a little, why did so much money get burned?
You have to know that it only cost them 4.5 million US dollars to launch a space shuttle back then.

With this rate of money being burned, even the printing press can’t keep up!
"There must be something fishy going on. They must have embezzled the money to get subsidies!"

However, in the face of NASA's harsh accusations and complaints, Boeing also expressed its grievance.
Who has hollowed out the manufacturing industry in Country M?

Who is sitting back and watching the global industrial chain shift to the East?
Now most of the industrial chain is in the hands of others, so naturally we no longer have the final say on the costs in many places.

NASA got even angrier after hearing this.
Good man, I never thought that I would be strangled by the neck.
If we go ahead with the plan, wouldn't that be just giving money away for nothing?
What's the point of playing ball?

So NASA sent people overnight to dismantle the lunar rover 'Viper' that cost $4 million to build!
Can't we just not go back to the moon?
Of course, although they had already canceled the plan in their hearts,
But I still can't admit defeat on the surface.

So they announced that the launch of Artemis 2 was postponed from 24 to 25 due to progress issues.
In the 25th year, they said it would be postponed to the 26th year... In fact, they had no intention of advancing the progress at all.
If SpaceX's Starship hadn't been increasingly reliable in recent years, giving NASA a glimmer of hope, they would probably have pushed it back to the next century...

This is why Musk sneered when he heard the words "return to the moon".

"It seems that NASA can't find any other options besides us that are capable of carrying out this project? So... is there any difference?"

Seeing Musk's smug expression, Chuan Pu did not feel the slightest bit of embarrassment at being exposed. Instead, he prepared to flatter him and then coerce him with their years of friendship.
Musk then changed the subject and said, "But you said something right just now. Iron Man will not let us down, because what he is best at is making the impossible possible."

"So, let's meet on October 1st, Mystery Star!"

After that, he solemnly called together a team of engineers to discuss how to speed up the flight speed of the Guimi-1 probe.

In order to ensure the smooth progress of the plan, they had actually made sufficient preparations.
Especially after learning the lessons from Lucy and Tianwen-2, in order to save space on the spacecraft and carry more fuel to improve the spacecraft's ability to change orbits, in addition to simplifying the modules of the spacecraft itself, they even castrated some of the probe's functions.

Therefore, regarding the matter of slightly increasing the speed, Musk believes that the risk will increase a little, but overall it is still controllable.

But what they don't know is that

There was a big pit waiting for them...

……

Soon, NASA and SpaceX issued a joint statement, claiming that they would broadcast the entire detection process of the Mystery-1 probe as it approaches Mystery Asteroid, revealing this mysterious asteroid to the world.

Of course, due to the limitations of communication technology, this live broadcast certainly cannot be a real-time video broadcast, but a picture broadcast with a delay of nearly one hour.

But even with a delay in the live broadcast of the pictures, it still attracted a lot of attention.

The main reason is that everyone is too curious about this asteroid that the scientific community unanimously believes is "impossible to exist" but actually exists...

In this turbulent atmosphere, the time finally came to October 1st.
The eyes of the whole world are now focused on both ends of the ocean.

Because there is a time difference of more than ten hours between the two places, the live broadcast of the detection of the mysterious star actually began in the evening of September 30th, local time in Country M.

The first thing shown on the live broadcast screen was the images taken by the cameras on both sides of the probe. One of them captured the Sun-Jupiter L4 region, and the other captured the Earth.
There is also an animated simulation window that demonstrates the probe's current position in the solar system and its flight trajectory.

To be honest, although they were the first to start broadcasting, the audience was somewhat disappointed after watching the show because the pitch-black screen was really not interesting.
Fortunately, the scene quickly cut to the studio.
Musk and several engineers, experts and professors began to explain the live broadcast, and in the form of a documentary, gradually introduced the "past and present" of the mysterious planet, as well as the key points, challenges and significance of this exploration mission, which made the live broadcast more interesting.

However, this kind of attraction suddenly seemed pale and powerless after the picture on the other side was released...

For most people, the Mysterious Planet is too far away and seems to have little to do with their lives.
But the upcoming military parade is actually taking place on Earth.
and,

Who can resist the parade that is unique to the East, full of oppression, and so satisfying to those with obsessive-compulsive disorder?
By the way, you can also see various advanced weapons and equipment, which will broaden your horizons and satisfy your eyes...

can only say,
It’s so difficult to come up with a show that’s more eye-catching than China’s military parade!

(End of this chapter)