This star is going to the moon

Chapter 544 The exciting manned lunar landing time!
The Zhuhai Airshow, held every two years, is actually a comprehensive exhibition that now includes not only traditional sea, land, and air equipment but also space-related items.

Of course, there will be a lot of real objects on display for the air and land, while the sea and space will mostly be models.

There are many highlights at this exhibition, but if we're talking about the most anticipated ones, it has to be the J-20 "Mighty Dragon" fighter jet making its first public appearance.

That's related to space.

Or rather, it was a press conference for aerospace projects by both state-owned and private companies.

The J-20 "Mighty Dragon" fighter jet's performance and subsequent exhibition was already amazing enough, thrilling both the audience at the venue and those watching the live stream.

Unexpectedly, there was an even bigger surprise at the subsequent aerospace press conference.

Initially, the space pavilion at the Zhuhai Airshow was not very large, but as the space race has been brought to the forefront in recent years and China's own space capabilities have become stronger, the airshow has attached more and more importance to it, and the venue allocated to the space pavilion has become larger and larger.

The Zhuhai Airshow lasts for five days. The first three days are professional days, mainly for exhibitors, professionals, journalists, and enthusiasts with connections. Various press conferences are also held during these three days.

The event will be open to the public for the next two days, at which time the venue will be packed with people.

On the opening day, the space museum hosted a press conference for the national team, and the venue quickly filled with spectators. The organizers had to increase security personnel to maintain order on site.

After all, the stampede at Ritaiwon in the country of shabby was only a few days ago.

The national team has many space missions at the moment. They started by introducing the operation and later missions of the Tiangong space station, and also had the "Xiancha R2" crew, who had just entered the space station a few days ago, say a few words via video link.

Next is the situation of the "Starry Sky" space internet constellation.

Currently, the satellites launched by "Xingdou" are all first-generation satellites. Including the sub-satellites and the node satellites launched recently, there are a total of more than 4800 satellites in orbit.

These nearly 5,000 "Star" satellites are already sufficient to support the global demand for space-based internet.

Of course, the main reason is that there were few users in the early stages.

As the number of users increases, so will the number of satellites, so there won't be any problem.

Currently, Laos and China are cooperating with countries around the world that have relatively underdeveloped network infrastructure, not only in Africa and South America, which are traditionally perceived as having poor infrastructure, but also in Europe and North America.

It's obviously impossible with the US, given their current sanctions against China, but Canada and MIT are open to discussion.

After all, MIT is a vast, sparsely populated country with a high latitude and cold environment. Apart from some major cities where the network infrastructure is passable, the network infrastructure in most places is actually terrible.

In many places, there is no network access.

There's no other reason than that: there are few users and the costs are high, so big investors won't lose money to provide you with internet access.

The same applies in Europe.

Oh, and Oceania too.

However, these areas are all within the traditional sphere of influence of the United States. Although the number of Starlink satellites currently deployed by Elon Musk is relatively small and unable to provide international services, it will not be easy for China to negotiate with them.

Of course, that doesn't stop the Chinese from causing them some trouble...

Well, I'm not trying to cause trouble, I'm just giving local consumers and taxpayers a "shop around" option, letting them know that there is such a thing as affordable, convenient, and fast space-based internet.

It's just that the leaders you've chosen don't want you to use them.

In addition to these places, space-based internet coverage has been fully extended to the North and South Poles, and the network latency at research stations there is no longer comparable to that on the moon.

Of course, ships on international maritime routes and aircraft on international flight routes have also passed the testing period and are now fully eligible to install antennas.

Although the nodal satellite that allows direct connection to smartphones has already entered orbit, this is just the beginning, and it will be a long time before it is fully open.

Moreover, they are all on the same plane, which obviously means that the plane is equipped with a "star" antenna and then the data is transmitted to the mobile phone via WiFi for greater convenience.

Searching for space networks directly on your phone will increase battery consumption.

However, although everyone knows that the Chinese "Star" is easier to use and cheaper, choosing the right one is still a very difficult question.

After all, the United States still has the world's strongest military.

The reins of global hegemony remain in its hands.

After the morning session, the national team began to focus on introducing the manned lunar landing mission in the afternoon, which is something the whole world wants to know.

As the spokesperson for Laos and China's manned lunar mission, Lu Yun took the stage again to introduce the situation.

Then the "radical" task list of the Lao-Chinese was formally introduced.

"...Everyone should already know when we will have a manned lunar orbit mission next year, so let me now talk about the final manned lunar landing time." Upon hearing this, the room suddenly fell silent.

No one expected that such a major announcement would be made at this airshow.

"That's 2024!"

"And it was the first full moon night of that year's Lunar New Year—the Lantern Festival!"

"We will realize our millennia-old dream of a manned lunar landing on the Lantern Festival two years from now!"

"Om-"

The atmosphere instantly shifted from silence to frenzy, with the shouts and chatter of the audience nearly lifting the roof off the venue.

"Fuck!!"

“Awesome!!!”

"The Lantern Festival two years from now? Holy crap! They really know how to pick a date!"

"Haha, the Lantern Festival has a long-standing tradition of going out to admire lanterns. I guess it will be replaced by going out to admire the moon two years from now!"

"Estimate? Absolutely!"

"I guess the authorities must have considered the Mid-Autumn Festival in 2024, which would have been the real festival for moon worship and moon appreciation. But they realized that was too far away, so they moved it to the Lantern Festival."

"Hahaha, I think so too."

"It's okay, we all get together to eat during festivals anyway, it's all the same."

"That's right, just wait and see. During the Lantern Festival in 2024, big screens will definitely be set up at the places where people enjoy the lanterns to broadcast the event live. After watching the live broadcast, we can have a meal together, which can also boost consumption."

"Haha, definitely. If that day hadn't been postponed and we had actually achieved a manned moon landing, I would definitely have a big meal."

"When that day truly arrives and a manned moon landing is achieved, the Lantern Festival will have an added layer of meaning..."

Lu Yun's announcement of the specific timeline for the Lao-Chinese manned lunar landing not only shocked China, but also the entire world.

Although the whole world was paying attention to this airshow and looking forward to seeing more space news, no one expected it to be this big!

Other foreigners only know about the Lantern Festival in 2004 and don't know what it is; they need to look it up carefully.

The "World Space Enthusiasts Group" knew the approximate dates quickly because many members were learning Chinese and many Chinese language tutorials taught traditional Chinese festivals.

By precisely checking the calendar, they immediately knew the exact time.

[The Lantern Festival will be held two years later, on February 24th, 2024!]

Good heavens, this isn't two years from now, it's less than a year and a half!

[One year and three months!]

[Is this timing really okay for the generous crab gift?]

That's too radical!

The US just chose the conservative Blue Origin program for its return to the moon, but unexpectedly, China has chosen a more aggressive timeline!

[Yes, it will be one year and three months. I wonder if Elon Musk's rocket will still explode by then? I have a feeling the Lunar Hawk rocket definitely won't meet the flight requirements!]

[Let alone the radical "Lunar Eagle" lunar rocket, even the less technologically challenging and more conservative "Blue Moon" lunar lander wouldn't be capable of landing on the moon within one year and three months.]

It's all too late. If NASA hadn't had internal strife with space service providers, and if Blue Moon had been chosen from the start, things might have turned out much sooner.

[Impossible! Haven't you grasped the situation? The US's problems aren't just NASA's problems; they're problems for the entire nation.]

Yes, the Federation is no longer the Federation of the last century; its technological innovation and industrial manufacturing capabilities have completely declined.

Now, China is the country whose technological innovation and industrial manufacturing capabilities are constantly reaching new heights!

[Ugh! How did the Federal Space Agency end up like this?! I was planning to join NASA after graduation!]

I wonder what the staff of NASA's Artemis program would think if they heard about China's manned lunar landing timeline?

[I guess she's not feeling well...]

(End of this chapter)