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

Looking for Tiangong Space Station?

After hearing this explanation, the four people on the Dragon spacecraft thought for a while and felt that it seemed similar.

Orbit change is a very complicated process. Maybe the Storm just wants to stay farther away before slowing down. After all, the tail flame is so long that it may affect the Forward, which makes sense.

The rich man whose mind was filled with UFOs was greatly disappointed. He watched the video again, but he could barely make out the shape of a space shuttle.

Musk and the two engineers were interested. Among other things, the tail flame of the Storm was "so cool". It was long and bright, and it was almost like the tail flame of a spacecraft.

Wait, the Aviation Development Commission seems to have not announced the startup of the Storm's nuclear engine. The information he took is probably a first-hand picture!

Director Jim on the ground is also aware of this. In fact, NACA and the Air Force have tried their best to detect the Storm from the moment it entered space, but they have never been able to obtain such a direct and clear picture. It is estimated that the people in the Hexagon must have Will be extremely excited.

Director Jim also knows about nuclear propulsion. Based on the color of the tail flame, the temperature of the working medium can be inferred. Combined with the length, the approximate power and performance can be determined, and then a preliminary understanding of the overall technical level of its engine can be obtained. This picture information is indeed Very precious.

He congratulated the four lucky people in the sky, and then asked them to download the original video, which took about half an hour.

But just when he was about to contact the Air Force, Director Claire called first.

Claire: "Houston, who's here now?"

Jim: "It's me, Mr. Director, I have something to tell you."

Claire: "What a coincidence, I have something to do, Jim. Immediately mobilize the ground antenna array. The Air Force will cooperate with the opening of the satellite network later.

The Storm left the space station thirty minutes ago, and we need to lock its trajectory immediately, immediately! "

Jim: "That's what I plan to say... The C209 Dragon spacecraft used a telescope to capture the scene of the Storm leaving the space station, but this is not a big deal. They should be preparing to go to another space station."

"No, it's not." The other end of the phone paused:

"The Air Force noticed it when it set off, and it has been accelerating until now. It is now passing over Central Asia. I suspect they are going to the moon."

"What!"

Jim stood up from his chair and yelled at the bewildered staff:

"Look for the 'storm' immediately, we have to know its trajectory!"

…

Beijing.

"Storm, report current status."

"Report to the Commander-in-Chief, the engine is running well, the body feels normal, and the air pressure is normal. It's over!"

Academician She withdrew his gaze from the big screen, which displayed real-time simulation animations that were updating the orbital changes of the Storm.

"For a long time, Storm will probably be the fastest way for us to go to the moon; if we go quickly, we will return quickly."

Shen Zuozhou: "It will be faster to return. After all, the Earth's gravitational deceleration is much stronger than that of the moon. I estimate it will only take half the time."

Academician She: "It is also more comfortable, and the travel time has been shortened by nearly 70%. This is a remarkable improvement, not to mention the fact that it brings back a lot of fuel."

After he finished saying this, he looked at Lin Ju, who was full of pride, and suddenly thought of something:

"How about we modify the Shuguang spacecraft and use an A100 for the third stage. This can save at least several tons of weight. Install the A100 on the propulsion module, not only can the spacecraft be sent there, but it can also come back."

Shen Zuozhou: "..."

Mr. She's flexible and adaptable behavior reminded Lin Ju of the rapidly changing ideological concepts of his opponents in the original world. At first, he believed that rocket vertical recovery technology was impossible to succeed, but after the success of Falcon 9, he did not hesitate to switch to the recycling camp and engage in recycling. Rocket.

Now that I see the good performance of the A100, I immediately think of installing it on my own spacecraft, without any psychological pressure at all.

"Then the spacecraft can be used as a ferry, and the command module will not enter the atmosphere. It will only fly between low-Earth orbit and the moon. When the astronauts return, they will use another spacecraft to go down to Tiangong. This will save money."

Lin Ju quickly improved and supplemented this idea, and Shen Zuozhou simply joined in:

"Yes, just break down the round-trip mission between the earth and the moon. Instead of changing the Dawn spacecraft, just build a special ferry boat to avoid wasting a Long March 10."

"How big is it? 20 tons to 30 tons? You need to bring a lander..."

The three of them talked about this sudden inspiration for twenty or thirty minutes before giving up. After all, it was a conceptual discussion, so Lin Ju seemed to be comfortable in it.

In just a short while, the three of them planned several ferry boat designs and three types of reusable landers. Anyway, these are projects that will be launched in the future.

When they ended the topic without saying anything, Academician She had time to pay attention to the assistant who had been standing silently beside him for a long time.

"Commander in Chief, the IAF (International Astronautical Federation) just asked us if the Storm was conducting an unplanned flight."

"Report? Have we reported?"

Lin Ju immediately raised his question, and Academician She explained:

"As for nuclear-powered aircraft, they were notified when they were launched. How they fly into space is none of their business? I don't care. I won't reply."

After sending away the assistant, Academician She imagined that Amy's side must have fallen into chaos, and couldn't help but smile a little.

"Do you think NACA thinks we sneaked to the moon?"

"It would be weird if you didn't think so. Isn't that the purpose of doing this?"

Lin Ju also laughed along. The plan for Storm's lunar flight test was actually completed after it entered space, in order to catch NACA off guard.

It doesn't matter whether it's really a head start, but as long as it can put a little more pressure on the world's aerospace industry, Lin Ju will be happy to give it a try.

…

Claire didn't know that this was a targeted operation, but he was indeed disrupted at the moment.

Not only him, but also John in the Presidential Palace got up and urged them to figure out the situation, regardless of sleep.

It has been 100 minutes since the Air Force reconnaissance satellite discovered the abnormal movement of the Storm. Because it was locked in advance, NACA has firmly captured the Storm through ground antenna arrays and satellites around the world, and the latter is still in progress. accelerate.

By this time, the answer was obvious. It was impossible for the Storm to go to planets other than the earth. The only purpose of such acceleration was the moon.

The measured acceleration shows that the A100 data is correct. The speed of the Storm has now exceeded 9.5km/s. If the guess is correct, it will stop accelerating and enter the transfer orbit in more than an hour.

This is really an extremely bad emergency. The Hexagon is very suspicious that since the Storm will suddenly fly to the moon, it is entirely possible to secretly bring the lunar module with it. After all, the exaggerated cargo hold size of the H2 is completely sufficient.

Although Claire thinks this possibility is extremely low (after all, the Advance did carry out the construction of new trusses), there is no conclusive evidence for the time being, and even if they only go around the moon once, it will cause big trouble.

"damned!"