This star is going to the moon

Chapter 358 Elon Musk announces the start of Starlink testing; Huayao's new mobile phone, previously sanctioned, can now directly connect to satellites.

Dibai, October 22nd.

The third day of the 71st International Astronautical Congress.

The SpaceX booth was packed with people today because, as one of the world's top commercial space companies, its launch event was quite significant.

Standing on the stage, Ma Yilong was beaming, as if the return to the moon program, which was affected by the delay of the SLS rocket launch, had nothing to do with him; he really had put all his energy into Mars.

“Hey guys, remember when I said I was going to turn humans into an interplanetary species? I wasn’t kidding.”

“Last month we conducted a test flight of the primary prototype of the Super Falcon second stage rocket, and I’ve heard many people say it looks like a big boiler.”

Ma Yilong shrugged helplessly: "Okay, it does look very similar."

"Fortunately, that's all in the past, because we've ushered in the advanced prototype of the Super Falcon second stage rocket!"

(Image of the SN8 second stage rocket)
Ma Yilong changed the picture on the big screen and said with a smile, "Look how beautiful she is!"

"It is 50 meters tall and 9 meters in diameter, making it the largest two-stage rocket in human spaceflight history to date."

"It's very close to my dream. My dream is to ride it in 2024, be lifted out of Earth's atmosphere by the first-stage booster rocket, and then have it carry me to Mars!"

"But before that, guys, we need to test it on Earth first."

"So we decided to have it conduct a 12.5-kilometer high-altitude test flight in December..."

Lu Yun was also following Ma Yilong's press conference, but he wasn't there in person.

After all, he has security personnel around when he holds his own press conference, but if he goes to Ma Yilong's place, he can only be in the messy audience seats.

Moreover, he had a live broadcast event that required him to appear on camera later, so he sneaked into the live broadcast room of a foreign space enthusiast in the lounge to watch.

Lu Yun remembered that in his previous life, when Old Ma's big rocket was still called "Starship", it took off normally during its first test flight at an altitude of 12.5 kilometers, but it exploded upon landing.

Although many of Elon Musk's fans claim that it was a successful test flight, Musk was aiming for reusability, and failure to reusability would definitely be a failure.

Fortunately, that was just an initial test, and Lao Ma was very confident.

Lu Yun wondered if, with his own unique existence in this life, and the fact that he had preemptively added the name "Starship" to his 10.6-meter diameter super rocket, Old Ma's rocket development would undergo any changes?

As a result, he saw the English comments in the live stream attacking him.

[Old Ma's 9-meter diameter rocket has already started test flights, but Lu Sheng's 10.6-meter diameter rocket is still nowhere to be seen.]

[What kind of "Lu Sheng" is this? Perhaps the 10.6-meter diameter "starship" you're expecting is just a PowerPoint presentation!]

I agree. I've always felt that Elon Musk's "Super Falcon" should be called a "Starship," not a completely invisible "King's New Rocket."

[Lu Yun? He's nothing but a clown who plagiarized Ma Yilong!]

[I heard that his Wooden Kite space shuttle was made by stealing technology from X-33, and that he destroyed the original technology while stealing it, which is why X-33's progress is slow.]

The blueprints for the Saturn V have been lost, and they might have been stolen by the Chinese. This country's technological development relies entirely on espionage, theft, and inferior imitations...

Lu Yun was angry, and even felt sorry for these people.

Based on the experience of the previous life, it is clear that the US high-ranking officials will become increasingly unethical in the coming years, and life will likely be difficult for ordinary people like them.

Some of these people posting comments are even "converts" studying in the US, who may be expelled from their beacon in a few years.

Just thinking about it makes me... cough, sad.

In this lifetime, with him around, China will develop even faster, and may even surpass the United States in the aerospace field. If the United States wants to win back in other areas, it will have to think twice.

Hopefully, they can stay in America well in this lifetime.

Lu Yun's main concern was that, like in his previous life, a large number of Runren people would return to Laozhong. However, Lu Yun noticed that the live stream wasn't entirely one-sided; quite a few people were defending him and arguing with those others.

After all, his title "Saint Lu" wasn't earned through self-praise.

Fortunately, everyone's attention was quickly diverted because Ma Yilong started talking about something new.

"...Through a high-density launch schedule, our Starlink has deployed more than 800 satellites, reaching the standard for trial operation in North America."

"Therefore, we have decided to launch a trial program. Starting tomorrow, anyone who registers on our official website can participate in the test."

"We'll give you a dish antenna, it's very small, about the size of a large pizza, and with it you can connect to Starlink satellites and surf the internet even in the wilderness where there's no signal."

"Of course, that's assuming you have a power source."

"The Starlink kit includes a router and antenna and costs $499. A monthly subscription fee of $99 provides internet speeds between 70 and 130 Mbps..."

Upon hearing the price, the live stream chat responded enthusiastically.

Considering the ability to use the network in the wild where there is absolutely no signal, this price is acceptable.

Yes, I can install it in my car, then I'll have a network signal wherever I go.

[Great! As long as I have internet access, I won't be afraid of running into a psychopathic killer even if I'm driving on a desert highway in the west...]

Although China has a high base station coverage rate, the country is too large, and many remote areas are without network or signal. Therefore, this price is also very competitive in these remote areas.

After all, compared to building signal base stations and towers to run power lines in remote corners, it's much more convenient to simply install a set of solar panels and batteries, and then attach the Starlink kit.

Moreover, $499 is equivalent to just over 3000 RMB, and $99 per month is only about 600 RMB.

It might be too expensive for an individual family, especially since it's practically useless in the city, but it would be cheap to provide internet access to an official agency in a remote corner or a village committee in a remote mountain village.

Fortunately, the Lao-Chinese "Zhou Tian Xing Dou Da Zhen" is also keeping up in this regard.

Lu Yun calculated that "Xingdou" has deployed 600 satellites. He will announce the trial operation of "Xingdou" to the authorities at the Zhuhai Airshow next month. At that time, there will be 660 satellites, which should be enough.

Thinking of this, Lu Yun looked at another live stream on a mobile phone, which was the launch event for Huayao's new Mate40 phone.

At the same time, he also received information from China.

[Hua Yao: Mr. Lu Yun, we are about to start a video call with you as planned. Is now a convenient time for you?]

[Lu Yun: Convenient, I can start a video call anytime according to plan...]

………………

"Our Mate40 phone... is far ahead!"

"Because our Mate40 phone is equipped with our self-developed mini satellite antenna and we have cooperated with the 'BeiDou' navigation system, you can send accurate coordinates to your friends even in a desert where there is no signal."

"This isn't over yet; it's far from being far ahead."

"The reason why our Mate40 phone is so far ahead is because we have also cooperated with the 'Zhou Tian Xing Dou Da Zhen' (a system for studying the stars in the heavens and the earth)."

"With the addition of the 'Starry Sky' satellite, you can also directly connect your mobile phone to the 'Starry Sky' network to send him text messages in the wilderness."

"Even sending voice messages and photos!"

"Everyone knows we've been sanctioned, but our innovation never stops!"

"However, this idea came from a friend of ours who was also sanctioned, and he was also the one who named the 'Zhou Tian Xing Dou Da Zhen' (Great Array of the Heavenly Stars). He is Lu Yun!"

(End of this chapter)