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Chapter 1648 Countdown to Moon Landing (Second update, please subscribe)
Almost every day is a countdown.

At Wanhu Cape, ever since SpaceX released the launch schedule, people have been working hard for the launch day every day.

In the rocket assembly building, the giant rocket has been assembled and technicians are conducting the final inspection of the rocket.

In addition to 27 rocket engines, the entire rocket also has an extremely complex control system inside the rocket, which involves thousands of sensors and tens of thousands of electronic components. Any problem with any of these components will lead to the failure of the launch.

So, they have to conduct a comprehensive inspection of the rocket before launch to avoid the possibility of failure.

While engineers were conducting final checks on the rocket, scientists on the other side were still having final discussions on the landing site.

"There are perpetual night zones in the craters at the lunar south pole, from which water ice may be collected; there are perpetual day zones on the surface of the lunar south pole, which result in smaller temperature differences and longer power generation time for solar panels."

While experts were introducing the advantages of Antarctica, Yuan Jialiu just smoked one cigarette after another. Landing in Antarctica was already a decided choice.

What lay before him was to choose that place as the moon landing point.

"Shackleton Crater."

A space geologist said:
"Shackleton Crater was formed by an ancient asteroid impact. It is about 21 kilometers in diameter and 4.2 kilometers deep. Even if you throw the entire Himalayas in it, it won't fill up. The bottom of the crater has not seen sunlight for more than a billion years. The temperature here is as low as -238℃ to -247℃, which is lower than the temperature of Pluto. We think there may be water ice in this deep pit."

"That's obviously not realistic."

Another geologist objected:

"The pit is deep and steep, and there is loose gravel and lunar soil all around. No probe can safely descend to the bottom. You can easily guess what would happen if someone went down there. We can't put our chips on this."

"But it is precisely because it is deep and cold enough that sunlight cannot reach the interior of the crater, so there is the possibility of water ice."

As we all know, there is no water anywhere else on the lunar surface. If the water ice in the permanent shadow area can be collected and decomposed, hydrogen and oxygen can be obtained, which can be used as rocket fuel, and oxygen can also be used for human breathing. From this perspective, Shackleton Crater is undoubtedly the best choice.

But Shackleton Crater has various limitations.

"There is no sunlight in the crater, so we can't use solar power. The biggest problem is actually the low temperature. So far, no electronic equipment can work stably for a long time in an environment close to absolute zero,"

Zhou Zhonghui, a space geologist, objected directly:
"So, we can't just see its advantages and ignore its problems. Maybe it has a greater development prospect, but now, the most important thing for us is to solve the problem of standing on the moon first, and then we can consider other problems. So, my suggestion is to use Sverdrup-Hansen Crater as the landing point!"

After looking through the information in his hand and comparing it repeatedly, Yuan Jialiu asked:
"It looks like there's only Sverdrup-Hansen crater!"

"Yes, first of all, it is relatively large, with about 5 square kilometers of space, which is enough to accommodate the landing of lunar spacecraft and the construction of bases. In addition, the terrain inside the crater is relatively flat, which provides convenience for landing and construction,"

Zhou Zhonghui continued:

"Although its area is small, the eternal night zone inside it may contain water ice resources, and the large area of ​​sunlight is very suitable for the construction of solar power generation facilities. At the same time, the crater terrain is also suitable for the construction of ground antennas for communicating with the earth and maintaining contact with the earth."

These are its advantages. Of course, it also has disadvantages - it is too small, only 5 square kilometers in size, and the small area restricts its development.

But as Zhou Zhonghui said, what needs to be solved now is the issue of having or not having.

After thinking for a while, Yuan Jialiu said:
"Okay, here it is!"

Then he raised his head and said:
"Our moon landing this time is not to go to the moon for a trip, like the Soviets and Americans did - in the past year, after completing the first moon landing, they carried out another moon landing mission, which cost them hundreds of millions of yuan. What kind of mission did they carry out?"

Yuan Jialiu asked back:

“It’s just putting a flag on it and writing a message saying ‘I was here’!”

"Visited here", this is the "game" of the Soviet Union and the United States in landing on the moon. To a certain extent, this is also the level that human technology can reach. If we want to have any more long-term breakthroughs, further technological breakthroughs are needed. However, compared with the Russians and Americans, here we have more long-term goals.

After saying this, Yuan Jialiu looked around and said:
"What we have to do is to create a real future. We don't want to just visit the moon like Sun Wukong, but to explore the possibility of permanent human settlement on the moon. Yes, we want to conquer the moon. So, if possible, Sverdrup-Hansen Crater will be our outpost for conquering the moon."

As soon as he finished speaking, everyone present was excited. Even several British scientists who participated in the project clenched their fists excitedly.

Compared to others, these British scientists have a more intuitive feeling about conquest. After all, the British Empire once conquered almost half of the world, and now they will challenge space.

Will space in the future be the new place of glory for the British Empire?

Although SEA is only part of the Commonwealth, these British scientists inadvertently integrated it with the British Empire.

Sometimes, glory can make up for everything. When facing glory, people are always accustomed to ignoring some things.

If there is anything common in this world, it is the desire for glory.

From the day SpaceX announced its "Moon Plan", almost the whole world, from SEA to Europe, has been paying attention to Cape Wanhu.

"This will certainly break the monopoly of the United States and the Soviet Union on lunar landings."

Even the European countries that could not share the glory of the moon landing described it in this way. It can only be said that all European countries have "rebellious hearts."

After all, these old Europeans are not willing to be America's yes-men. They are very happy to see the monopoly of the United States and the Soviet Union broken.

To some extent, the world's attention to SpaceX's moon launch now even exceeds that of the US Apollo program.

Even Li Yian himself felt this. In November, he visited many countries and regions in East Asia and Southeast Asia. In these countries and regions, he felt the welcome and naturally felt their attention to the moon landing.

For these Asian countries, they also hope to see Asians conquer the moon.

"This will surely be a glorious moment for all of Asia!"

It was not just Asian countries that paid attention to the launch. After Li Yian finished his visits to neighboring countries and returned to Chang'an, he also received calls from other countries. In the calls with the heads of state of various countries, they all congratulated the launch on its success.

"The whole world is watching this launch!"

After hanging up the phone call from France, Li Yian couldn't help but feel a little emotional.

“Perhaps, this is the charm of the times!”

The reason why he said this is that in this era he truly felt mankind's yearning for space.

Unlike another era, in this era, space exploration carries various dreams of human beings to break free from the constraints of the earth.

Human beings have been bound to the Earth since the day they were born. Only a few years ago did humans enter space. Then, thanks to the space race between two major countries, humans set foot on the moon in just a few years.

People nowadays have all kinds of fantasies about space. They imagine the coming of the Age of Interstellar Navigation and imagine that humans will conquer space in the future just like they conquered the New World. They believe that they can see all this in their lifetime.
It is also for this reason that people pay much more attention to space than a few decades later. After all, to a certain extent, people can't see the future in space that they dream of, so the enthusiasm for space naturally fades.

But now everything is just beginning, and people are still full of aspirations for the future.

"Well, our moon landing this time is likely to push human exploration of space to a new climax."

Thinking of the several tasks that needed to be completed in this moon landing plan, Li Yian's mouth curled up and the smile on his face became more intense.

While chuckling, he took out the plan from the drawer, looked at the contents of the plan, and said to himself:
"Once water ice is discovered on the moon, everything will change."

This is exactly the difference between the SEA lunar program and those of the United States and the Soviet Union. The United States and the Soviet Union just wanted to plant a flag on the moon, while SEA aims to turn the moon into an outpost base.

"It's just been in the last few days..."

And just like that, under the watchful eyes of everyone, the launch day finally approached.

On December 12, the giant Prometheus 23 rocket was transported out of the assembly building by a rail car. The escort personnel moved forward along the track. The huge rocket approached the launch pad little by little under the watchful eyes of the people.

It took several hours to cover a distance of several thousand meters. After the rocket was fixed on the launch pad, the engineers conducted a final inspection of the rocket. At the same time, the engineers checked the fuel filling system. As long as the order was given, they would fill the rocket with fuel.

In addition to liquid oxygen, the methane used by rockets is actually high-purity natural gas, which is extremely cheap. In fact, according to the standards for methane used in rockets, Sarawak’s 99.5% high-purity natural gas only needs to be desulfurized to meet the standards.

Among all rocket fuels, methane is the cheapest. In comparison, the unit production cost of liquid methane is less than 1/3 of kerosene and only 1/300 of liquid hydrogen. Not only that, its fuel filling is also very simple and can be directly filled through pipelines.

After two days of inspection, the rocket began to be refueled.

At the same time, people from all over the world have begun to arrive at Wanhu Cape, where they will witness the rocket launch with their own eyes.

At the same time, they will also go to nearby Semporna to enjoy the beautiful natural scenery there while waiting for the rocket launch.

(End of this chapter)