This star is going to the moon

Chapter 443 Lu Yun doesn't show his face, but he's everywhere.
China's manned lunar mission has been included in the previously announced International Lunar Research Station project, which is still a relatively early-stage mission.

After all, you need people to go there first before you can build a research station with people stationed there, such as an orbital space station and an Antarctic research station.

Therefore, the current manned lunar landing mission is now a comprehensive and large-scale project.

It is an early project of the International Lunar Research Station, and its own early projects include resource exploration and orbital navigation.

After all, China's space program funding is not as extravagant as that of the United States.

Therefore, it is hoped that the initial unmanned exploration will find a suitable location for the construction of a research station, and then the first manned lunar landing will be carried out there.

If a suitable "home" site is not found in the early stages, then the manned lunar landing of the new era will turn into the "flag-planting tourism-style" lunar landing of the United States in the last century.

The Chinese are certainly not satisfied with spending so much money and using so many resources only to end up just having a trip to the moon.

Resource exploration projects are already underway, but the climbing ability of the Yutu-3 and Yutu-4 lunar rovers is limited.

The edge of the "crater top" of the Sharkton crater is not flat, with many peaks that the lunar rover cannot cross, so it has to find a suitable "canyon entrance".

The lunar rover needs to pass through those intersections to get as close as possible to the edge of the crater, and then try to explore the interior of the crater from the edge.

After all, they cannot enter the impact crater; that would require additional equipment.

Fortunately, when the lunar rover is at the edge of the crater, it is only three or four kilometers away from the crater bottom. Compared with those orbital probes that are hundreds of kilometers high, the detection distance is "quite close", and it should be able to obtain more detailed data.

The two lunar rovers in the Sino-Lao "Wu Gang" project are currently searching for a suitable "crossroads" to approach the top edge of the Sharkton crater in order to further explore whether there is water inside the crater.

This is because there are no dedicated terrain exploration satellites in lunar orbit. Therefore, experts can only find suitable intersections bit by bit based on previous panoramic photos of the orbital satellites at a scale of a few meters and close-up photos taken by the lunar rover, and then direct the lunar rover to go and see, which takes a lot of time.

Fortunately, the remote sensing navigation satellites in the "Lunar Navigation and Resource Exploration" program are already in preparation. Once they are networked in lunar orbit, it will be much easier for the lunar rover to find suitable locations and routes.

In fact, the initial missions were all experimental in nature. For example, the Chang'e lunar exploration mission carried out by China was basically experimental in nature, so all the equipment was basically domestic and there was no international cooperation.

Once the odd-numbered mission is successful, the even-numbered equipment, which was originally responsible for backup, will be promoted to the main mission. Then, it will boldly seek international cooperation and finally take the equipment from foreign partners to the moon.

The meeting that Lu Yun participated in was very successful. All departments understood the situation and their cooperation will be smoother. The higher-ups are also more confident in their "covert goal" of a manned lunar landing in 2024, which they are going to confront the United States head-on. They even want to increase the funding.

Of course, China's funding is not as generous as that of the United States, and it will not be done in a grand manner. So the world's attention is currently focused on the fact that the founders of the two space companies, Dai Ying and the United States, are taking a suborbital journey in their own suborbital spacecraft.

Previously, everyone's appetite had been whetted by Lu Yun's commercial space shuttle flight, but after eating so many delicacies, it was quite refreshing to eat wild vegetables once in a while.

Wild vegetables are now sold at much higher prices than regular vegetables in city supermarkets, making them a true rarity.

In July, the film and television industry in China and Laos saw the release of new revolutionary historical dramas, but they all received mediocre ratings and had mediocre box office results.

The main problem is that there's a strange phenomenon in the Chinese film and television industry: older directors may not be as capable as they used to be, but they still hold onto their positions and resources, while young directors rarely rise to prominence like Guo Fan and Jiaozi.

However, almost all viewers could see that the new generation of young directors were clearly more cultured and more capable.

For example, director Shen Ao, who can only make short films and online movies now, will direct "All In" in two years, and "Nanjing Photo Studio" in another two years.

Conversely, the ranks of actors are dominated by young, popular idols, while veteran actors with superb acting skills can only play supporting roles.

This has resulted in either expressionless poker faces or large, scrunched-up faces with haphazard features and no trace of acting skill in film and television dramas. Actors like Lu Yun, who are both young and talented, are rare, especially since Lu Yun's current focus isn't even on the film and television industry.

In addition, some well-regarded young actors are unable to compete with popular young idols due to resource constraints.

Separating directors and actors is one thing, but the combination of a "decadent old director + a popular young idol" is truly...

Even before the work was released, the audience already knew it was historical!

Get away from here immediately!
Fortunately, everyone's attention is currently focused on foreign wild vegetables... oh, I mean foreign suborbital travel, and not so much on movies.

On the 11th, Virgin Galactic came first, and its White Knight 2 + Spaceship 2 combination was more interesting than ordinary rocket ships.

After all, the White Knight II, with its 43-meter wingspan, is known as the "world's largest aircraft made entirely of carbon fiber."

(White Knight No. 2 image)
At 10:30 a.m. in the US, it was midnight in China. The founder of Virgin Galactic and a few friends entered the cabin of SpaceShipTwo, waiting for takeoff.

This flight was also broadcast live, so the live stream was quite lively.

Ten minutes later, White Knight 2, aboard SpaceShipTwo, took off from Virgin Galactic's own Spaceport runway, drawing cheers from viewers in the live stream.

This is the advantage of aircraft and spacecraft combinations; they are more visually appealing and elegant than ordinary spaceships and rockets.

Once the massive White Knight II, carrying Spaceship II, reached an altitude of 15 kilometers, it released Spaceship II.

(Image of White Knight 2 releasing Spaceship 2)

SpaceShipTwo detached from its mothership, its engines ignited instantly, and it carried the company founder and several passengers toward the edge of the sky!

When the spacecraft reaches a speed of Mach 3.3 and approaches the Kármán line at an altitude of 100 kilometers, its rocket engines will shut down, and the spacecraft will climb to 110 kilometers under inertia, and then begin to re-enter the atmosphere after passing the highest point.

During this approximately 5-minute period, passengers can experience a precious feeling of weightlessness.

Seeing the happy smiles on the faces of Virgin Galactic's founder and other passengers, the live stream chat began to buzz with admiration.

It feels so nostalgic, just like the first time I flew on a plane – so exciting!

Indeed, I had the same expression when I first gritted my teeth and took the high-speed train; I even actually stood a coin upright on the windowsill for a moment.

[This founder is really something else. With his net worth, spending 1.5 million yuan on a commercial space tourism flight ticket for the "Wooden Kite" space shuttle would be a piece of cake, yet he's so excited about experiencing five minutes of weightlessness during a suborbital journey.]

There's no way around it; even if it's just average, it's still our own brand, so we have to show our support.

[The world's disparities are starkly apparent, like the contrast between the elderly and the young. The impetuous Lu Yun travels to space aboard his own "Wooden Kite," while this aging billionaire travels to suborbital space aboard his own "SpaceShipTwo."]

Okay, I've seen the one with Ying. Now I'll wait and see the American one in a few days.

[That bald guy Bezos is awesome, he's the world's richest man!]

His New Shepard suborbital travel rocket... has a pretty smooth nose too...

(End of this chapter)