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

After recalling the past memories, the boss woke up from those years more than ten years ago and made a joke to Lin Ju.

"Then you might as well build one yourself. The Concorde flies at Mach 2, but the XW-9 can fly at Mach 3."

But he regretted it as soon as he said it. Last year, Androv told his superiors that they were developing a super transport aircraft just to transport rockets.

Sure enough, Lin Ju actually seriously considered the feasibility of this joke, because Xinyuan did seem to have such an ability?

Ordinary business jets are only required to carry a dozen people, and a take-off mass of 30 to 40 tons is enough, which is the mass of a third-generation heavy fighter. Two XW-9s can fully push it for supersonic cruise, and it does not Requires maneuverability...huh? There seems to be something going on?

Seeing that Lin Ju's eyes were getting worse and worse, the boss hurriedly coughed and changed the subject. Don't let Xinyuan turn his head to engage in supersonic aircraft because of his words.

He didn't know that this year's base budget was basically divided and it was impossible to start another aircraft project, so he turned to talk about recent events.

"There's something wrong with the Lunar Research Station again. If you say this American guy is going crazy, he's going crazy, and it's spreading to Europe. If ESA wasn't more independent and partially dependent on us, it might have gone bankrupt.

Damn it, this John did such unreliable things as soon as he took office. No wonder he had an accident within a few days of taking office. How could he be so reckless? "

Lin Ju: "In fact, we should also be prepared. From the moment the Dawn Project was launched, confrontation was destined to come. This is inevitable."

Boss: "But we are not an alliance. Foreign export trade accounts for too much of the economy. In turn, Aramco is no longer the world's factory. Without the products we provide, more than 60% of Wal-Mart's shelves will be out of stock! Even if they produce, The cost will also increase several times.

Cutting off trade is bullshit. If it really cuts off trade, the world will be in chaos. Even an economics student who has not graduated from college knows this. If he imposes tariffs on us, do we have to obey? Without our products and raw material output, how many Aramco companies can function normally? "

Lin Ju: "But maybe it's also a good thing? We are too dependent on foreign markets. Now most inland and coastal companies are engaged in foreign trade. Have you ever thought that our foreign trade output has surpassed Aramco, but we have not been able to maintain trade? What about stabilizing forces?

There is our port at the Mukara Space Launch Complex, and the escort fleet should dock there. "

"Well...there are considerations in this matter. The things involved are very complicated. For a while..."

This time Lin Ju rarely interrupted others: "If there is no safety guarantee, we will have no alternative location for the launch mission in the second half of the year."

The boss was convinced now, because the weather at the Qiongzhou launch site was unstable in the second half of the year. At that time, the Aviation Development Committee was considering alternative plans, and finally thought of the Mukala launch site in Aber, which has a lower latitude than Qiongzhou and the rocket flight path The area is all ocean, so there is no need to worry about the debris landing area, and the Xinyuan-2 class rocket can be maintained without modification.

Naturally, Abe would not have any objections to borrowing the launch site, but there was no guarantee that unexpected situations would not occur. After all, it was thousands of kilometers away from the country's border, and many things were beyond his control.

The boss suddenly remembered the 707 project of that year, which was the aircraft carrier development plan equipped with vertical take-off and landing fighter jets. In fact, the reason was very simple.

Because the Dongfeng 5 carrier rocket needs to conduct a full-range launch test, it requires an ocean-going fleet to retrieve the warhead.

If the fleet does not have the ability to take off and land helicopters and protect the impact area from interference, the data of the rocket warhead will be taken away.

The current situation is similar. If you want to use overseas launch sites, you must have the ability to ensure launch safety.

"Okay, I will mention it to the above. The priority of aerospace engineering is also very high."

…

Cape Calaveral Air Force Base.

An Atlas V rocket with floating mist is ready for launch. Its fairing has a small diameter, making the rocket as a whole look beautiful.

Inside the fairing is the payload of this mission: the ISIS nuclear-powered lunar rover.

This Mars rover, which was supposed to be named "Perseverance" a few years later, became a lunar probe under the concentrated efforts of NACA, and was successfully completed before the beginning of March.

It is now February 28. In the past two months, NACA has spent an additional US$1.9 billion on the Isis and carried out renovations overnight, causing the total planned expenditure to increase from about US$2.5 billion to US$3.4 billion.

Among them, US$250 million is the rocket launch fee paid to ULA, and US$300 million is the operating cost of the first phase (two years). The cost of Isis is still close to US$3 billion.

Although it cannot jump around like the Explorer series, its lifespan and advanced equipment are incomparable to the latter, even if the premium is not low at all.

Jim Free, deputy director of NACA and the direct person in charge of the Isis, stretched out without any image. His bones were almost broken in the past two months.

Changing the work location from Mars to the moon is not an easy task. In addition, NACA has not conducted a lunar surface exploration mission for many years, so many parts were extremely rushed.

Especially the most critical temperature problem requires resetting the program and temperature control system. Because there is no time to optimize, a lot of unnecessary dead weight is added.

There are also follow-up arrangements for the "Mars Rover" plan. If Perseverance is diverted, it will have to build a new Mars rover. There are also the Mars flight tests of the "Intelligence" drone that was originally planned to be carried, etc., etc., all must be re-planned.

The big boss has also been thinking hard about Ares's plan to land on Mars. This is still a bigger challenge than Artemis. The Mars Rover plan must also be taken into consideration. All kinds of work can make Jim Fury's head explode.

Jim just thought that if he sent the Isis to the sky now, he would be clean for a few days, but a phone call made him break his guard and curse.

"What? what have been done! how you...holy shit!"

Jim's gaffe alarmed others, who couldn't understand what could make the NACA deputy director so embarrassed.

Faced with other people's concern, Jim raised his phone angrily and somewhat annoyed, quite angrily.

"The director requested to accelerate the development of Blue Origin's lunar surface lander and gave them additional funds. However, during a ground simulation experiment just now, BE7 experienced a shutdown failure and broke the test machine!

Damn it! It is now less than nine months before the official delivery of the lander. The engine actually fails. This is just a gadget with a thrust of more than 20,000 pounds. Why does it have problems? Now we have to devote more energy to solving this problem, otherwise astronauts will have to jump from orbit to the moon! "

Jim greeted the Bezos family warmly in F language, and then immediately asked someone to ask for the failed test report. This was a key part of the moon landing. If something went wrong, it would be great fun.