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

The loyal patriot and the great astronaut helmsman arrived at his loyal base.

Before landing, he saw a huge white object shipped out from the assembly hangar, which was the fuel storage part of the lunar orbiting space station.

At present, the production capacity of the base is relatively full, mainly the remaining 8 large cabins and 12 connecting pipes of the Qianjin. However, the trouble is mainly with the former. The latter has relatively simple technology and manufacturing, and even four of them are outsourced. The space agency.

After getting off the plane, he went straight to the office. Many senior engineers at the base had gathered together to prepare follow-up plans based on the new system rewards.

"One hundred and seventy tons! Even the No. 3 rocket is not enough."

After Guo Shen finished looking through the data of the laser smelting satellite, the first thing that came to his mind was the issue of sending it to the moon.

Androv: "There is no need to hit it all at once. You can send it to low-Earth orbit first and then use thrusters to push it. Don't we have a shuttle ship plan? Just send it there slowly. It won't take long."

They are majoring in aerospace, and their main concerns are launch and positioning issues, while others are more concerned about the technical characteristics of the smelting satellite itself.

Space smelting technology is not a new concept. The Alliance conducted relevant experiments in space in the 1970s and is quite optimistic about its prospects.

In space, due to the lack of oxygen, it is easier to obtain high-purity metals, especially many elements that are easily oxidized; if they are non-metals, such as semiconductors represented by silicon, the earth is limited by gravity and environmental factors. The monocrystalline silicon rod can be made into a circular interface and has an upper limit on its size. In space, it can be made into a square shape to reduce wasted area. At the same time, it is easier to improve the purity of the silicon wafer and thereby increase the yield rate.

There are more factors to consider on the moon than in space, but one-sixth gravity can still significantly reduce the difficulty of many aspects. Generally speaking, space metallurgy is a quite advanced and efficient method.

If the heat source is made into a satellite, far fewer facilities will be required on the lunar surface, and the power supply pressure will be greatly reduced. The main task is mining and refining concentrates.

Moreover, the temperature of traditional electric arc furnaces is only around 4,000 degrees. Laser satellites are very powerful and can provide ultra-high temperatures of more than 12,000 degrees. In this way, the process of separating elemental substances at such high temperatures will be streamlined a lot, reducing the types of chemical raw materials required, while increasing efficiency. It has also been greatly improved. One satellite is completely enough to meet the demand for smelting in the next few years.

Imagine that the mined ore is crushed and screened, then melted and separated under the ultra-high temperature of the laser to form regular pieces of metal, which are then ejected to low orbit by an electromagnetic acceleration orbit at ultra-high acceleration.

After all, it is not a satellite spacecraft. The metal block does not need to consider the issue of acceleration and overload. After it is launched into orbit, it will be collected by a professional spacecraft; and then sent to low-Earth orbit, there are many ways to bring it to the ground.

The two technologies of the system plus the parts already mastered by the base are completely sufficient to start the mining plan.

The engineers attending the meeting were extremely excited, thinking enthusiastically about the prospects and what technologies could work in their areas of responsibility.

…

New York.

The fourth demonstration meeting for the expansion of the International Space Station was held.

Since Montal first proposed the expansion of the International Space Station, the ISS member states have been arguing chaotically for several months, and now it has finally been settled.

Montal stated that Aramco’s expansion plan will be temporarily delayed and will give priority to supporting Lucia’s small centrifuge cabin plan, as well as requiring Europe and island countries to build two and one cabin sections respectively.

The two experimental modules, a living module and a centrifuge module have a total mass of 80 tons, which basically reaches the limit of the International Space Station truss without expansion, and can increase the total weight to 500 tons.

The total investment is expected to be US$11 billion, which will be shared among all countries, with Aramco even taking the bulk.

Even though the expansion cost was not a small figure, a consensus was finally reached this time and the formal expansion agenda was basically determined.

Of course, Montal was willing to give in not because John was a good person, but because NACA had no time to take care of the ISS's affairs now. They were going all out to prepare for the moon landing.

Claire once again adjusted NACA's schedule, temporarily postponing the FATS and MSP space shuttle programs, allowing Boeing to devote all its efforts to the manufacturing of the SLS rocket.

Anyway, the progress of the nuclear engine at JFT is still far away. Although it was required to be put into use in July last year, in fact, it cannot be earlier than October, so it is better to retreat for the time being.

The ISS expansion task will be carried out by other member states first, and then NACA will be free to compete with the Advance.

This plan was something that Claire finally managed to persuade John to pass, as the latter hated spending these "unjust money".

For more than four months since he took office, John has been feeling aggrieved. It has not been going well since he took office. He has been in a passive state for almost the entire first half of the year.

If someone overtakes the moon landing on his watch, there is no doubt that it will leave a very bad reputation in history, so he, who has always liked to interfere randomly, has basically followed Claire's suggestions in aerospace, and his attitude is much better than his own. The staff is much better.

However, even though he kept telling Claire that he would give NACA all his support, when asked whether he could guarantee the moon landing first, he never got a definite answer.

The latter instead advised the president to conduct preliminary research on the Ares project, almost reminding him to be prepared for a failed moon landing and a rocket landing.

John dared to promote the plan to land on Mars, but the funds were difficult to solve. Printing money was not a panacea. He still understood this truth.

If we want to land on Mars, where can we save some money?

John took last year's fiscal expenditure statement and carefully flipped through it, scanning each section.

Social Welfare? This definitely cannot be cut. The interests of the unruly people must still be safeguarded, otherwise their re-election will be in danger;

Public health...hiss, pharmaceutical giants are not easy to deal with;

The government manpower budget is a good place to start. Previous bosses have always been correct in streamlining the administrative system. It can indeed save some money, but it is too little;

Investment in education, well, this cannot be touched either;

Military spending...$770 billion!

John became excited when he saw the last large expenditure. Although his rationality told him that there were many twists and turns, it was US$770 billion!

Even if two to three tens of billions of dollars are transferred to NACA every year, NACA will be very wealthy. This only accounts for two or three percentage points, which is really annoying.

But you must not act rashly. Let’s look at the specific military branches: Navy? This won't work, this is the most important force and the budget cannot be reduced. We, Ami, built our country on the sea, and the laws of our ancestors cannot be abolished;

air force? The AAF controls space, is closely connected with NACA, and is the strongest force surpassing the Navy since World War II. It cannot be touched;

Then only the Army is left. In John's impression, Army operations seem to involve calling the Air Force and Navy to bomb, and then occupying points to fight small-scale wars. Why do you need so much money!

Looking at so many overseas bases, the annual material supply and troop investment are astronomical. They are all poor places. How can they be worth spending so much money?

The Air Force is the eagle in the sky, the Navy is the shark in the ocean, and the Army? You mean the third class of criminals, black men, and gangsters?

John drew a circle on this item, saved money, and started with the third class.