I ask you to build tractors, but you build rockets?

"ADC will launch the largest unmanned probe ever to Mars."

On January 17, B4043 launched the Lightning again in the South China Sea, successfully sending the fire detector into orbit.

The Aviation Development Commission notified the world of the launch a short time before the launch, but before the "nuclear power" in the content caused waves, the P3C taking off from the island nation discovered something was wrong.

Each time the Lightning launches, the formation is very large. Because transport aircraft are very flexible in air-launching, they always find the most fuel-saving place to launch on the high seas. Every time they launch, they are escorted by two to four fighter planes.

The huge radar emission area of ​​the An-1250 can appear on the USAAF radar as soon as it takes off, and this time was no exception. A P3C on a routine cruise quickly approached, and then the pilot discovered something was wrong.

Although the P3C is an anti-submarine reconnaissance aircraft, it carries a variety of payloads, including extremely sensitive radiation detectors.

Although the external radiation of the Lihuo reactor is below the safe range when it is operating, it can be detected by instruments from a distance. Based on the radiation amount and volume, nuclear experts can even know the power and type of the reactor.

B4043 moved very quickly. After launching, it turned around and returned to the mainland, and then the Hexagon exploded.

Before receiving the international notification from the Aviation Development Commission, they believed that the Lightning was equipped with a nuclear reactor. In addition to the nuclear-powered version H2 that Xinyuan had promoted to the outside world, they naturally thought that the Lightning had been transformed into nuclear power and was a shrunken H2.

More importantly, the world has not launched a nuclear-powered spacecraft for decades.

The isotope power generation of RTG is not included. It is simply small in size and low in power. The reactor is different. The huge power supply capacity is enough to support many kinds of space weapons envisioned by the AAF.

So before the Aviation Development Commission had time to send a message announcing the successful launch of the Lightning mission, the Hexagon took the lead and strongly condemned the Aviation Development Commission for launching a militarized spacecraft into space...

Although it was discovered a few hours later that it was an error. After all, Li Huo was flying to Mars and could not be a militarized weapon, but it still made the world tense by +10.

The two sides of the Pacific began to spit at each other again, and Xinyuan No. 5A launched the comet thruster at the Xinyuan launch site as quickly as possible in such a chaotic atmosphere to avoid exposing flaws.

And it docked with Lihuo in low-Earth orbit just two hours after launch. Otherwise, if a remote sensing satellite of some country happened to scan the comet thruster alone, it would ask "Why is a conventional power propulsion part so big?" The problem of "heat source and radiation" is very embarrassing.

Fortunately, no accidents occurred. After docking into a combination, the remote sensing satellites could not distinguish the two heat sources in a single photo. Even if they found something, they would not be suspicious.

However, the existence of "Lihuo" still adds a lot of pressure to the world.

…

"Why is their detector so big and weighs 20 tons? We have launched more than a dozen detectors to Mars, and the total mass is only this."

John questioned Director Claire, who was still a little in awe of the man who would become the boss one day.

"Mr. John, this is the advantage of latecomers. In the past, we did not have re-launchable rockets and naturally had to consider cost-effectiveness. Moreover, their detectors only had a mass of 10 tons. After deducting half of the reactor mass, it was only 5 tons.

Now we have Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy, which can also launch such heavy-duty probes to Mars cheaply. Moreover, the first part of the 'Gateway' is about to be launched. This is mankind's first space station orbiting the moon. "

John's expression softened a bit when he mentioned the "Gateway", and SpecaX wisely adjusted the launch date to January 22, which was scheduled after his inauguration speech like the Dream Chaser mission.

I have carried out two space launch missions at the beginning of my term. Who dares to say that I do not support aerospace and the development of science and technology?

Seeing that John was in a much better mood, Claire took out the carefully prepared "Ares" project demonstration results and budget trial evaluation report.

Although there was one bullshit after another during the election campaign, more than two months later, John was able to wake up a bit. He successively found many institutions to evaluate the Ares plan, and finally asked NACA to make a summary.

Although Claire is worried about the current affordability of the national power, NACA and the military-industrial complex are unlikely to give up on this order that will last for at least several decades, so they have made a lot of modifications and whitewashing.

In the revised Ares project, in addition to competing for the honor of being the first to land on Mars, more importantly, it must break through more than 60% of new technologies to achieve the goal of taking aerospace science to a new level.

The specific plan content is still being discussed, but several indicators have been set:

1. The Mars spacecraft must have a device that can generate artificial gravity above 0.3G to ensure the ability of astronauts to live for a long time;

2. The power source for personnel exchanges is determined to be nuclear power to save fuel and provide ample power;

3. The first batch of landing personnel must be at least 3 people;

4. Heavy-duty rockets and above must be reusable to minimize costs;

5. The manned Mars spacecraft will depart from Earth no later than 2024.

As for the investment in the Ares project, NACA estimates that the total investment in the eight years will be around US$120 billion, with no less than US$10 billion in each of the first three years.

US$120 billion seems quite small?

This is of course Aramco’s usual method of applying for budgets. The actual funding for a project is usually several times, or even ten times, the amount initially reported.

John naturally knows it well, but he doesn't care much about numbers. Even 300 billion US dollars is only a small part of his next series of actions.

He nodded: "NACA has done a good job, I understand, well, the moon, you will return to the moon next year, right?"

Claire: "The launch date for the third SLS will be no later than March 2018, I can tell you, yes."

John: "Can you tell me how much the Artemis project has cost so far?"

Claire: "Maybe... tens of billions of dollars?"

John said "Oh" and stopped talking. After a moment of silence, he asked Claire to leave. He flipped through the more than 100 pages of the report submitted by NACA and finally put it together with his speech.

He had already made up his mind about the Ares project, but Congress threw a hot potato at him: the ternary system.

Traditional electronics manufacturing giants have felt the full malice of the ternary system and smelled the risk of losing their dominance in the chip market, so they submitted a proposal that seemed a bit crazy to the senators.

From hardware to software, the implementation of blind-angle restrictive measures from any angle will definitely cause a strong shock if implemented, but we have to admit that it can indeed deal a devastating blow to many downstream manufacturers and the consumer electronics market.

John was also unable to make up his mind about this proposal, but he had to respond, otherwise Wall Street would rebound uncontrollably.

With 24 hours left before taking office, John finally felt the weight of his authority.