Go back in time and be a chaebol

Chapter 2639 Space Industry (First Update, Please Subscribe)
"The military's strikes against Thangyong continue today. According to reliable sources, advance troops of the South Korean army have entered Chenla, but this information has not yet been confirmed by the Ministry of Defense..."

"Yesterday, hundreds of thousands of people gathered at Sungnyemun Gate in Seoul to celebrate Your Excellency's agreement in principle to Korea's accession to the Nanyang Free Trade Area. Many people in Korea do not merely see it as joining a trade area, but as integrating into the Nanyang whole; some even claim it is equivalent to 'orphans returning home'..."

Listening to the news coming from the car radio, Zhao Xiangming didn't think much of it; he was more concerned with science than politics or international affairs.

And so, listening to music and news interspersed throughout the journey, Zhao Xiangming drove his car into Wanhujiao. Soon, he parked the car by the seaside highway. In the distance, a rocket awaited launch on a launch tower, with a space shuttle atop the rocket.

Today marks the launch of Lunar 75. Looking at the massive rocket and space shuttle, Zhao Xiangming couldn't help but recall the scene when SpaceX first completed its lunar landing mission.

The lunar mission team at the time consisted of only three people.

And now?

The space shuttle will carry 12 astronauts into space, and then they will take the "Earth-Moon Express" from the International Space Station for 5 days along the Earth-Moon orbit before finally arriving at the Moon.

"Once the 'Pathfinder' space shuttle is successful, the mission of the space shuttle will be almost complete!"

Pioneer is a spaceplane currently under development, and it is also a research mission led by Zhao Xiangming.

Although the Pioneer is theoretically the most advanced spaceplane in the world, Zhao Xiangming sees it as merely a means of transportation.

"It's just an upgrade to the Prometheus rocket..."

He said that because their missions were the same: to enter space from Earth.

All of this is to transport personnel and supplies into space, but it only completes the first phase of the mission from Earth to low Earth orbit.

Compared to the space shuttle, which relies on rocket launches, the spaceplane may be the most suitable reusable shuttle for the human body, operating between the Earth's surface and near-Earth orbit.

However, in any case, he can only complete the transportation task from the Earth's surface to low Earth orbit.

It is not possible to truly embark on interstellar travel with just this.

"What we need is a new type of propulsion, not a chemical energy rocket with a predictable end."

Once again, gazing at the distant rocket, this thought popped into Zhao Xiangming's mind.

Although the lunar base has been established for many years now, and hundreds of Earthlings are already working and living on the moon.

The Soviet Union has even launched spacecraft to Mars, and humanity is moving towards becoming a multi-planetary species.

But humanity is still nothing more than the Austronesians of the space age.

Just like tens of thousands of years ago, when the Austronesians launched their canoes onto the shore, the space technology that humanity is so proud of today—rockets, spaceships—is nothing more than the Austronesian canoes.

Humanity wants to conquer space.

We must have galleons, like those of the Age of Exploration, to conquer space.

It was only after the invention of galleons that humanity began the Age of Exploration and subsequently conquered the oceans.

The same applies to conquering space.

"Starship...a ​​real starship."

Zhao Xiangming muttered the word, his brows furrowed.

What should future interstellar spaceships use as their power source?

SpaceX is currently researching these areas.

For example, electric propulsion technology, represented by ion thrusters and Hall thrusters, uses electrical energy to accelerate propellants. It is highly efficient but has very little thrust, making it suitable for long-term missions.

They are mainly used for orbit maintenance on the International Space Station and for satellite and probe propulsion.

Although electric propulsion technology is relatively mature, its thrust is small and it is not suitable as a power source for interstellar spacecraft.

Therefore, compared to electric propulsion technology, SpaceX prefers nuclear power—utilizing the enormous energy generated by nuclear reactions, which is currently the most promising technological path to achieve manned Mars missions and further deep space exploration.

This leads to two paths: one is nuclear thermal propulsion, which uses a small nuclear reactor to heat propellants such as liquid hydrogen, causing them to expand and be ejected at high speed. The thrust is less than that of a chemical rocket, but the specific impulse is more than twice as high, which can significantly shorten the time to Mars—from about 6-9 months to 3-4 months.

This project is under active development at SpaceX, and NASA in the United States and the Soviet space agency are also researching this technology.

In addition, there is nuclear electric propulsion technology, which is essentially a combination of a nuclear power plant and electric propulsion. A powerful space nuclear reactor provides sufficient power for large ion or Hall effect thrusters, enabling extremely efficient long-distance flight.

"But they are all very dangerous."

Zhao Xiangming muttered to himself, explaining that both nuclear thermal and nuclear electric power systems require launching a nuclear reactor into space from Earth.

If the launch fails, the resulting nuclear leak would be catastrophic.

"The best option is still—"

Looking up at the sky, Zhao Xiangming muttered to himself.

"We should build it in space. Only by building a nuclear reactor directly on the moon can we avoid such an accident."

Build a nuclear reactor directly on the moon!
Even just having this thought in his mind, Zhao Xiangming could imagine how enormous this project would be.

First, they need to build a large factory on the moon, a large assembly plant, to assemble large nuclear reactors on the moon.

"Oh dear, achieving this goal will be no easy feat! It will require deploying at least several hundred engineers on the moon and transporting thousands of tons of engineering machinery..."

Thinking of this, Zhao Xiangming's brows immediately furrowed, and he stood by the roadside, staring at the rocket in the distance.

“Well, at least from now on there are factories on the moon.” He said this because the space shuttle was carrying more than just 12 astronauts who wanted to go to the moon.

There is also an industrial piece of equipment—a furnace, which is used to produce crystals.

"This is at least a good start!"

Just as Zhao Xiangming was watching all of this, the rocket launch countdown began.

The instant the countdown reached zero, dozens of engines roared simultaneously, and the shockwave even caused the coconut palm leaves on the beach to shake violently.

The crimson flames surged like magma, creating a cloud of white mist on the launch pad.

We're going to space!

Inside the Space Shuttle Enterprise, the astronauts felt the push-back sensation and seemed somewhat excited.

Among these people, Pang Guoxi, who was going to space for the first time, appeared extremely excited. His heart was pounding wildly as he experienced the G-force of being pushed back into space.

Outside the porthole, the land shrank rapidly, and the blue of the ocean gradually blended with the white of the clouds.

"I'm actually going into space, and to the moon no less..."

Sometimes life is just so surreal. Pang Guoxi, a materials engineer, originally planned to join a company to engage in crystal production research. Logically speaking, he never thought he would have the opportunity to go to space.

But who would have thought that a year ago, when SpaceX publicly recruited astronauts, it was actually recruiting materials engineers, specifically those in the field of crystal production research.

Faced with such an opportunity, Pang Guoxi signed up without hesitation. After rigorous selection, Pang Guoxi and several other engineers joined the astronaut team from among hundreds of candidates.

It was from that day that Pang Guoxi finally learned about his mission.

"We will produce crystals on the moon."

Producing crystals on the moon—that must be X crystal.

In fact, as early as two years ago, SpaceX sent a furnace about the size of a microwave oven into low-altitude orbit. It took them almost a year to successfully heat the furnace to 1 degrees Celsius, successfully verifying the technology of manufacturing semiconductors in space.

The semiconductors they manufacture in their orbital factory on the International Space Station will have a purity 4 times higher than those manufactured on Earth. This results in an unprecedented performance boost, especially for X-crystals, whose performance far surpasses that of crystals produced in space.

Faced with exponential performance improvements, SpaceX naturally wouldn't miss this business opportunity.

This led to the plan to establish a crystal factory directly on the moon. This would not only further improve the performance of the crystals but also significantly reduce transportation costs, since the cost of transporting minerals is vastly different from that of transporting finished raw materials.

Therefore, a lunar crystal factory became an inevitable choice, and naturally, the factory would need engineers.

"I will be the first engineer at the lunar factory."

The mere thought filled Pang Guoxi with barely suppressed excitement. After all, there were many astronauts on the moon, but only one engineer in the factory. In a sense, he was making history, and how could that not be exciting?

At that moment, he felt a sense of weightlessness.

We've entered space.

At that moment, they all applauded.

After the space shuttle separated from the rocket, the space shuttle, piloted by the captain, began to fly toward its target.

It's not a destination, but a home port.

After years of construction, the International Space Station has long since become the world's largest space dock.

It is a giant space homeport.

It is a transit station for humans traveling from Earth to the Moon. The reason it is called a transit station for all of humanity is because—it is the International Space Station.

Soon, the International Space Station came into view.

"International Space Station, this is the Space Shuttle Enterprise. We are about to enter our home port. Please grant clearance."

The International Space Station responded to the captain's calls.

"Enterprise, clearance to dock, please dock with the German cabin."

The Deutsche Bundestag is one of several modules on the International Space Station. It is also one of the few modules capable of docking with the Space Shuttle.

In addition to the main module, the International Space Station also has the British module, the Canadian module, the Australian module, the German module, and the Europa module. These modules were all built with funding from their respective countries.

To some extent, the International Space Station's initial success as a PowerPoint project was due to the substantial funding provided by European countries.

For this reason, the International Space Station has been known for its international cooperation for many years, with astronauts from more than a dozen countries around the world having entered the International Space Station.

Even now, the 45 astronauts on the International Space Station come from 7 countries, and they are engaged in various research missions here.

After obtaining permission to enter the port, the captain immediately activated the autopilot to begin the automatic docking process.

A few minutes later, as the electronic sound of successful docking rang out, a round of enthusiastic applause finally broke out at the Wanhujiao Launch Center.

At this point, the chief commander of the launch team finally breathed a sigh of relief, because every launch is fraught with danger.

"Alright, the next step is to head to the moon."

(End of this chapter)