This star is going to the moon

Chapter 407 "Wu Gang" Lunar Resource Probe No. 1, the God in Charge of Lunar Resource Exploration

"The Long March 10 rocket is truly magnificent; its takeoff posture is even more awe-inspiring than that of the Long March 5!"

(Simplified comparison chart, approximate proportions)
"Indeed, according to the previous introduction, the two rockets have similar takeoff thrust, both around 1,000 tons, but the Long March 10 rocket is more beautiful and more impressive!"

"It's beautiful, that's right! Beautiful means the technology is advanced enough!"

"As the Admiral once said, good looks are a fighting force!"

"I also read the previous introduction, which said that the Long March 5 uses a traditional configuration and that all the sub-technologies were pre-researched in the last century, while the overall project was approved in 2006, so the technology is already very outdated."

"Yes, the Long March 10 goes without saying. It was only officially launched a couple of years ago. It used some of the mature new technologies that evolved from the Long March 5, as well as advanced reusable technology, and a little bit of new technology researched and developed. Its late-mover advantage is obvious."

"You remember it so clearly. It is indeed the case. The technology of the clustered rocket is indeed relatively outdated, and the four extra boosters added a lot of structural weight, which made the Long March 5's payload ratio not high. The current Long March 10 has a takeoff mass that is about 100 tons lower than the Long March 5 rocket, but a higher payload."

"The key is its simple and elegant bare-rod design. At 70 meters tall, it is the tallest rocket in China. Its takeoff posture is like a sword soaring into the sky—it's beautiful!"

"It seems like takeoff is no problem now, but I wonder how the recovery will go?"

"As expected of the God of the Road, he dared to recover such a large rocket on its first launch, especially since it was a national project."

"I think it's fine. Rocket recovery is one of Lu Shen's specialties. What I'm focusing on now is the 'Wu Gang' Lunar Resource Probe inside the fairing."

"Why is he called 'Wu Gang'? Wasn't he punished for making a mistake by being forced to chop down the laurel tree? It feels unlucky."

"Hey, you guys didn't read the previous introduction at all."

"Haha, you guys should watch the live stream. I guess they knew you weren't watching, so they're saying it again on the live stream..."

Ancient myths are constantly evolving; even Chang'e has changed many times.

Throughout history, Chang'e has not only changed her name and position many times, but also her image has changed many times.

Some say that Chang'e turned into the medicine-pounding toad on the moon, while others say that Chang'e had a human head and a snake's body.

It was only after the Northern and Southern Dynasties that she was basically recognized as an unparalleled beauty.

Wu Gang is the same.

In the eyes of the Tang Dynasty people, Wu Gang was an immortal who lived forever and maintained his youthful appearance, but he could only lonely chop down an immortal tree in the moon palace.

He was forced to "atone" for himself with this futile work, suffering not only physical torment but also mental anguish, in a never-ending cycle.

The original romantic ideal of "living as long as heaven and earth, shining as brightly as the sun and moon" has become a great irony, signifying endless suffering.

During the Song and Yuan dynasties, due to the constant warfare and years of war, "Wu Gang chopping down the cassia tree" was given strong practical significance, representing a spirit of resistance and unwillingness to be driven and enslaved.

For example, Lu You's "Drunken Song Upstairs" contains the lines: "If we cut down Junshan Mountain and the Xiang River, the moon will shine even brighter."

In the hearts of the Song people, Wu Gang's chopping down of the cassia tree was a struggle against the dark, corrupt, capitulationist faction and traitors. Everyone should learn from his brave and fearless spirit and strive to recover the lost land as soon as possible.

In addition, the "jade axe" used by Wu Gang to chop down the tree has a new interpretation: it is used by the vast number of scholars who rose and fell in the imperial examinations to refer to their own beautiful and elegant writing.

Yang Gongyuan's "Poetry Craftsmen" says: "Wu Gang wields his axe to repair the moon, and Wheelwright Bian skillfully carves the wheel. Good lines need no laborious chisels, for they are naturally genuine without any trace."

Those aspiring to officialdom especially hoped to be like Wu Gang, wielding their "jade axe" to write naturally beautiful and unadorned articles.

Even Xi Shen, a scholar from the Jin Dynasty, used the phrase "a branch of cassia from Guilin, a piece of jade from Kunshan" to describe himself as a hero among men, thus giving rise to the idiom "to pluck the cassia in the moon palace." Since the Tang Dynasty, "to pluck the cassia in the moon palace" has been widely used to refer to passing the imperial examinations and achieving official rank.

This custom persisted into the Qing Dynasty, and Wu Gang was even transformed into "Emperor Wenchang," in charge of scholars' fame and fortune.

At this point, the story of Wu Gang chopping down the cassia tree had completely shed its original tragic tone, and Wu Gang had become a beloved deity.

He "cuts down the cassia tree in the moonlight," just like a hermit woodcutter in the human world, noble, elegant, and unrestrained.

Furthermore, because "Gui" is a homophone for "Gui" (meaning noble), the ancients, who were fond of auspicious words, also associated him with the God of Wealth.

It is said that every year on the sixteenth day of the eighth lunar month, a leaf will fall from the osmanthus tree, and whoever gets this leaf will have endless wealth.

They not only seek wealth, but also marriage.

As early as the time of the Book of Songs, people used the "axe for cutting branches" as a metaphor for a matchmaker.

During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the phrases "Old Man Under the Moon - Wu Gang - Wu Gang's Axe - Axe for Cutting Axe" were used interchangeably, and Wu Gang became known as "Old Man Under the Moon".

"Wu Gang repairs the moon, and they are united in marriage with the immortals."

The story of Wu Gang chopping down the cassia tree was originally a tale about punishment, supposedly used to warn those who did not cultivate properly in the Daoist path.

As history progressed, poets transformed him into a beloved figure as a hermit, a god of wealth, a literary genius, and a matchmaker, completely shedding his original tragic image and even securing a place in the Mid-Autumn Festival. Perhaps this is what is meant by "turning misfortune into blessing"!
Now, he has been given a new identity.

How to put it? He is "the god who controls lunar resource exploration".

The Long March 10 rocket carrying the first lunar probe was the "Wu Gang"-1 lunar resource probe. It was based on the Chang'e-3 and Chang'e-4 landers, and after equipment reduction and technical upgrades, it was finally transformed into the "Wu Gang" probe.

For example, the Chang'e-3 lander has a lunar-based optical telescope used to detect the Milky Way, active galactic nuclei, binary stars, short-period pulsating variable stars, novae, quasars, and blazars, and it can detect objects with a brightness as low as level 13.

The purpose of the "Wu Gang" probe is very clear: it is to explore lunar resources and find suitable landing sites for later manned lunar missions and lunar surface research stations, so this thing is definitely not needed.

In order to minimize weight and reduce costs, the Chang'e-3 and Chang'e-4 landers did not carry the plutonium-238 radioisotope heat source for insulation.

After all, the main detection method of the "Wu Gang" probe is not the lander itself. After it lands, it does not move and cannot play the role of large-scale detection. Therefore, Lu Yun's positioning of it is as a lander carrying a lunar rover.

Once the lunar rover is delivered to the lunar surface, the lander will be basically useless. It will survive the lunar night if it survives, but it won't have much of an impact if it doesn't.

The overall "Wu Gang" lunar resource exploration system mainly relies on the two lunar rovers it carries.

After so many years of technological development, the lunar rover's antenna has also acquired the ability to transmit information directly to Earth, albeit with a smaller data rate.

Once the lunar navigation system is established, these systems can also serve as signal transmission tools.

There's not much to say about the lunar rovers. Both the large and small ones inherited the names of the lunar rovers from the "Chang'e" project. The large lunar rover, weighing 140 kilograms, is called "Yutu-3," and the small one is called "Yutu-4."

The small lunar rover in the "Wu Gang" system is relatively small; it weighs 60 kilograms!

Moreover, the two lunar rovers have undergone technological upgrades compared to "Yutu" and "Yutu-2", making them more capable of exploration and allowing them to operate for a longer period of time.

After all, they also have a mission: to "map" the moon and then "capture" points.

(End of this chapter)