Those who face the wall, but are in the Nascent Soul stage.

Chapter 76 Space Tower

"Go to hell, you bitch!!!!!"

Zhang Beihai, who had just come down from the International Space Station, looked puzzled as he saw the advertisement that popped up on his phone.

What's going on? I've been in space for over a month, why is my phone automatically cursing at me after I came down?

Fortunately, the pop-up window disappeared quickly and didn't linger for long. Zhang Beihai didn't pay much attention to it and went to his destination according to the address his father had given him.

Unlike the cold space and the space capsule that maintains a constant temperature, Beijing in July was scorching hot. Even Zhang Beihai, who was wearing summer clothes, had a little sweat on his forehead. But fortunately, the destination was finally in sight. In fact, Zhang Beihai had seen it more than ten kilometers away. The towering buildings of Beijing could not hide its sharpness.

Given the Chinese tradition of being reserved and modest, preferring to forge the hilt of a sword rather than its tip, this spire-like building does indeed possess a sharp edge that seems to pierce through the weight of history, which is quite incredible for the people of this land.

Of course, the building's name remains as simple as ever:
China Aerospace Development Center Building

Some people gave it a more widely known name: Space Tower.

This concise and straightforward name, which carried a strangely bold and imposing air, was quickly accepted by the world. Over time, even journalists reporting from the tower would habitually refer to it as the Space Tower, and the tedious and uninteresting old name was soon relegated to government reports.

The Space Tower, standing in the new district of Beijing, has an overall shape that resembles a rocket about to soar into the sky. The rocket is none other than the renowned "Long March 5" carrier rocket in the history of China's space development.

The space tower is a sculpted version of the Long March 5 rocket, but the architectural form of the Long March 5 is more slender. Its silver-gray streamlined appearance is more futuristic than the living Long March 5. The spire reaches straight into the clouds, and the sky cannot bind it. It seems that only the universe can support it.

Standing downstairs, Zhang Beihai genuinely felt a cool breeze, which made his brows relax a little.

"Is it cool?" a clear voice asked.

Zhang Beihai stopped and turned around. Standing in front of him was a girl wearing the summer uniform of the Space Force. From the epaulets on her shoulders, he could tell that the girl in front of him was also from the Space Force, a third-term member, and her rank was major.

Zhang Beihai was in the first cohort.

"It's very cool," Zhang Beihai said.

The clear, lively voice explained, "The exterior of the space tower is made of a large area of ​​nano-film glass interwoven with a movable metal mesh. The former reflects more light and automatically adjusts its transparency, while the latter adjusts the angle of all the glass, allowing the light to be reflected back into space. Unlike traditional glass curtain wall buildings, which accumulate a lot of light and heat on the ground, standing under the space tower, you can see gentle light and enjoy the cool shade." The girl then pointed to the ceiling.

Zhang Beihai looked in the direction she was pointing.

The towering space station seemed to be slowly expanding in size—Zhang Beihai quickly confirmed that it wasn't an illusion. The nanofilm glass, enclosed by countless metal meshes, began to slowly rise and adjust its angle to cope with the gradually setting sun. This scene resembled a fish spreading its scales—well, that's a bit of a disgusting analogy, but that's the general idea.

Zhang Beihai said, "This is the most futuristic building I've ever seen."

The girl said, "The most futuristic building is in Taiyuan. A huge black coal is placed on top of a thousand-meter-tall building. It's so futuristic that even science fiction writers couldn't come up with such a building."

Zhang Beihai was momentarily at a loss for words, so he could only ask, "You are..."

"Dongfang Mingxi, you can just call me Mingxi." The girl smiled brightly: "Your father and my father are old comrades-in-arms. Uncle Zhang asked me to wait for you here, because he was afraid you would get lost."

“I’m not a child.” Zhang Beihai shook his head.

"Hey, as long as they're not buried, we're all still kids. Let's go, I know the way!"

It was Zhang's father who strongly suggested that Zhang Beihai attend the special meeting on China's space program at the Space Tower. Coincidentally, Chang Weisi also happened to have a spot for this side-by-side participant. He hesitated for a long time, but in the end, he gave the spot to Zhang Beihai.

Upon entering the tower, the central hall was a hundred meters high, with a red star on the dome at the top, followed by a jumble of stars scattered in other places. However, Zhang Beihai was so familiar with stars that he was tired of them, and this unattainable thing was hard for him to be interested in.

The China Space Program Special Meeting and Space Path Discussion Meeting were held in the conference room on the second floor.

As advisors representing the Space Force, Zhang Beihai and Dongfang Mingxi were theoretically best advised not to express their opinions, as it is highly taboo for military representatives to express certain biases to interfere with scientific research.

The two sat side by side in the shadows at the edge of the spotlight, watching the delegates engage in a discussion that was bound to be a heated debate.

"Thrust-to-weight ratio, thrust-to-weight ratio! Seniors in the aerospace field! I admit that chemical fuel spacecraft are quite mature at this stage, but the problem is that their limit is that they can only perform well in low Earth orbit. Let alone serving as the mainstream spacecraft in the solar system, even making a round trip to Mars is difficult." A young aerospace researcher shouted, slamming his fist on the table.

The thrust-to-weight ratio is the ratio of engine thrust to its own weight. In aircraft and rockets, the thrust-to-weight ratio is crucial: a high thrust-to-weight ratio makes the aircraft more agile in acceleration, climbing, and turning; a low thrust-to-weight ratio makes takeoff difficult and flight slow.

The young researcher continued, "Let me use the Highfrontier and Open Skies space shuttles as examples. These two aircraft are essentially winged rockets. Of course, I don't mean to question the work of our predecessors; they are, after all, remarkable technological achievements. Let's assume these two aircraft are headed to Pluto and need to travel there and back. Okay, so how much chemical fuel would we need? The answer is five times the weight of the space shuttles—and that might not even be enough. The thrust-to-weight ratio would soon be negative. Relying on these spacecraft that are practically at our doorstep? How are we going to contend with the Trisolaran fleet in the future?"

While the young researchers on stage were shouting, most of the experts in the audience were whispering among themselves.

An experienced aerospace engineer, seemingly unfazed, said: "Chemical fuels are more stable and controllable. Although their prospects are limited, we humans may not need so many prospects. With the current development of materials technology, chemical fuels still have room for development. If the main goal is only the defense of the solar system, then chemical fuel spacecraft may be sufficient."

The young researcher nodded: "Senior, you're right. The limits of chemical fuel spacecraft may indeed reach the edge of the solar system with the development of fuel technology. But have you considered what will happen in the future if we resolve the threat of the Trisolaran fleet? Will we just let the Trisolarans accumulate strength four light-years away for a second invasion? Humanity's fleet should also be able to conduct interstellar voyages, and humanity's fleet should also head to the Trisolaran system!"

The old astronaut looked displeased: "Xiao Zhang, you're thinking too far ahead. The choice facing humanity is survival or destruction, not revenge and aggression. Your thinking is dangerous."

“Senior, I’m only thirty years old. It’s normal for me to have some risky thoughts.” The researcher, referred to as Xiao Zhang, spoke calmly, showing no sign of falling into the other person’s logical trap.

The veteran aerospace engineer said, "The maneuverability of a propellantless spacecraft is also insufficient, which goes against the original intention of the mainstream solar system defense plan of being light, small and fast."

"That's true, but at least the theoretical potential speed of a propellantless spacecraft is much faster than that of a chemical fuel spacecraft. A propellantless spacecraft is fully capable of continuously accelerating at 1% of the speed of light—which is almost the same as the speed of the Trisolaran fleet and the spacecraft of the Stairway Project. But chemical rockets can't do that. Even without considering the thrust-to-weight ratio, with the propulsion efficiency of propellants, reaching one ten-thousandth of the speed of light would be considered extremely lucky."

As the discussion deepened, arguments began to erupt in the room. While the two sides appeared to be evenly matched in number, the propellant-less spacecraft faction, led by Researcher Zhang, was at a significant disadvantage in terms of seniority and status. This debate between the two factions could easily turn into a one-sided reprimand of a student by a teacher. Under these circumstances, it was particularly commendable that Zhang was able to stand on the stage and argue his case.

The discussion ended with a remark from the veteran aerospace engineer, who looked at the young people with a cold smile: "Fine, then you can go and build a propellantless spacecraft. You don't need to build one that can fly. Just build an engine and ignite it in front of me, and I'll follow your path."

The propellantless spaceship faction immediately fell silent.

In these challenging times, whoever produces tangible results has the right to speak.

Now, the scales of technology are clearly tipping in favor of the old aerospace industry.

This chapter is from yesterday.

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(End of this chapter)