This star is going to the moon

Chapter 318 Intercepting the Little Life and the US Space Mission

Since the UAE's payload was launched by the second "Wanhu" rocket at the end of 2018, the cooperation between the UAE and BlueStar Space has become increasingly close.

Especially since Lu Yun had just announced the "Wooden Kite" project at that time, the other party immediately wanted to buy it.

Now that the "Wooden Kite" has made its maiden flight, Abdul, who wanted to buy the "Wooden Kite" at the press conference, is in increasingly frequent contact with Lu Yun.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, the space shuttle that Bluestar Space is selling should be for the UAE Space Agency.

Recently, Abdul brought the UAE's first Mars probe, "Hope," to the coastal space city. Upon arrival, he immediately went to the space airport to see the "Wooden Kite" spacecraft.

After all, the "Hope" was just a machine going to space, while the "Wooden Kite" could go to space on its own!

He clearly distinguishes between what is important and what is not.

Lu Yun was speechless as he looked at Abdul, whose eyes were shining.

“Mr. Abdul, didn’t I already say that we would wait until the Manned Spaceflight Office granted the Space Shuttle manned qualification and the ‘Wooden Kite’ made its first manned test flight before we sold it? Can you please not do this every time?”

Because they wouldn't approach the "Wooden Kite" being inspected, but only watched from the aisle, Abdul's attire was the classic white robe, white headscarf, and sandals.

Upon hearing Lu Yun's words, Abdul immediately put his arm around Lu Yun and said, "Oh, my dear Lu, it's not my fault, it's just that it's so beautiful!"

"I can only feel at ease when it flies to the UAE, appears on our space airport runway, and carries me into space!"

Abdullah is no ordinary space agency employee. He can act as a representative to handle many matters because his father is the Emirate of Azabi, which, according to some, is equivalent to a king, making him a prince.

It's just that it's not ranked very high.

However, Azabi is the largest emirate in the UAE, so it wields considerable power.

Despite being a wealthy oil-producing country, the UAE is also very aware of the crisis and knows that its economy is overly reliant on crude oil production, so it is actively seeking other solutions.

One path is to create wonders and develop tourism, while the other is to invest in high technology and turn the UAE into a "city of technology".

Well, although the United Arab Emirates is called a country, its main presence is actually in a few cities, with Azabi being the largest city in the country.

The groundbreaking space tourism model developed by Lu Yun, centered around a space shuttle, is practically tailor-made for the United Arab Emirates.

The high-tech industry and the spectacle tourism industry have come together!

Therefore, the UAE Space Agency is determined to buy back the space shuttle, and not just one, but at least five.

There should be "cheap" tours for six people, as well as luxurious tours for two people, and even lavish private charter tours for one person.

The United Arab Emirates is well aware of the current international situation. Even if China and Laos launch "cheap" space tourism, people from some countries will most likely not buy tickets to ride it.

Therefore, it would be very suitable for the UAE to purchase space shuttles for space tourism, as it is a transit point that can benefit both sides, and there would be a large market for it.

With this cooperation, the UAE's Hope Mars probe will have a basis for collaboration.

Exploring Mars is not a spur-of-the-moment decision by the UAE. As early as the mid-70s, the first Great Sheikh of the UAE became interested in space after talking with several Apollo astronauts in the palace and sent students to study at relevant institutions in the United States.

The First Chief passed away in 2004, but the seeds he planted 40 years earlier began to take root and sprout, becoming the starting point for this nation's journey into space—the Mars Science Mission.

Currently, the project consists of more than 150 researchers from the United Arab Emirates.

Initially, this project was a collaboration with Americans, since many of the project managers had studied in the US. It was pretty much a case of "a few years studying in the US, a lifetime of friendship with Americans."

However, space exploration is one thing, but it still requires government funding, and as is well known, any cooperation with the United States comes with political conditions.

Whether it's economic cooperation or military cooperation, the US will force you to take sides and make a choice.

They might even try to interfere in your internal affairs.

This is something that the national level is very unhappy about.

Even a small, marginalized country like the United Arab Emirates has dignity.

The UAE originally wanted to collaborate with China on rocket launches, but the US used the Wolf Act to block China from cooperating with any country that possesses its space technology.

With no other option, the UAE decided to turn to India again, since India is also adept at playing both sides, having extensive cooperation with the US in the aerospace field.

However, due to the instability in India in recent years and the somewhat mysterious nature of its aerospace technology, it was abandoned.

Then he planned to find a quiet life within the American space system.

This is because, for reasons such as energy, a certain person with a broad mind in the future frequently travels to Middle Eastern countries, actively cultivating an image of friendly cooperation with Middle Eastern countries.

In addition to its efforts in diplomacy and other areas, Japan has also made significant achievements in the aerospace field. In terms of payload capacity, Japan's H-2B rocket has a low Earth orbit carrying capacity of over ten tons, ranking among the top in the world's spacefaring nations.

It's similar to the "Wanhu" rocket when it's in full exhaustion mode.

It's not quite as good as the Long March 3B rocket, which is considered a model of hard work in China.

But it's perfectly fine for launching the planned 1.5-ton Mars probe.

The negotiations had almost reached an agreement two years ago, but things changed when the UAE discovered that Lu Yun's space shuttle project was very much in line with its country's future development strategy.

After lengthy meetings and analysis of the strengths of Luyun, Blue Star Aerospace, and Laos and China, the United Arab Emirates ultimately sided with Laos, China, and Luyun with the "Hope" spacecraft!
Does using American aerospace technology mean we can't cooperate with China?

Damn it, just replace all the technology with Chinese technology!
What kind of rocket is this?
Let's just switch to the "Wan Hu" rocket!
Although the UAE is not short of money, it cannot spend it recklessly. The "Wanhu" rocket recovery mode has a ground-to-Mars transfer orbit capacity of 1.8 tons, and the "Hope" rocket with a launch plan of 1.5 tons is no problem at all, and it is also cheaper.

Of course, that was the original plan of the Americans.

I wonder what will happen after the old Chinese are replaced?
completely fine!
The UAE isn't trying to build a Gundam. "Hope" is just a hexagonal prism, 2.37 meters wide on each side and 2.90 meters high, made of honeycomb aluminum panels and composite material panels, with three solar panel wings fixed to the top platform.

(Hope Mars Orbiter)
Its overall mass is only 1.5 tons, and it is just a Mars orbiter with one high-resolution camera and two spectrometers.

In other words, the Hope probe can only take pictures and measure the composition of Mars' atmosphere while in orbit.

China's Tianwen-1 Mars probe weighs 5 tons.

It consists of an orbiter and a lander. The lander also includes two Mars rovers, and it is required to complete the three tasks of "orbiting, landing, and roving" in one go!
The orbiter carries seven scientific payloads, the large rover carries six scientific payloads, and the small rover carries three scientific payloads.

Therefore, the UAE's "Hope" is nothing special.

After being fully integrated into the Lao-Chinese space program, the "Hope" project's progress not only did not delay, but was even accelerated.

Launch at 10:00 AM on July 19th!
Not far from it is the launch pad for the Long March 5 rocket, where the Tianwen-1 spacecraft is also ready to launch.

(End of this chapter)