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

Chapter 624 Chiwu-3

"Jeremy, can you see us?"

"Of course, I'll wait here for you to go home."

"We will take off in an hour, thank you for waiting."

Victor hung up the phone and began to check various parameters of "Origin" and make final preparations before takeoff.

It is now January 4th, Aramco Central Time. The Artemis 3 crew stayed on the moon for a full eight days and more than 10 hours, setting a new record for the longest human stay on the moon.

Since the second Jiuzhang landed more than 200 kilometers away, they were not able to meet the payload experts they brought with them, which was a small regret.

Of course, there are other regrets, such as the secret mission required by NACA.

Victor and Wiseman tried three times in a row to enter the Qom Impact Crater and to search for clues near Yushu and Guanghangong bases, but either there was no trace or they were politely stopped by spider robots. Overall, they gained nothing.

But they are not disappointed. Finding aliens is an impossible task at this stage anyway.

For Artemis 3, its mission has been successfully completed, sweeping away the haze of the failure of Artemis 2, setting a new record for the length of stay on the moon and the New Year (Gregorian calendar), and once again injecting confidence into the Aramco space community. A shot in the arm.

Wiseman was counting the supplies in the cabin and suddenly said:

"Glover, are the two lunar rovers confirmed to have lost power?"

"Uh... I think so. At least the 'Black Mamba' is definitely turned off and won't run out of power."

"Well, let's hope the spacesuits of the next batch of astronauts are light enough, otherwise a motorcycle won't fit two people."

If they were asked what impressed them most about this mission, there were many answers, but the "Pioneer I" passive exoskeleton spacesuit was one of them. What they wore looked like a big potato compared to it.

NACA has been conducting research on similar space suits for more than three months, and it will take at least several months to produce a batch for astronauts to use.

"Reed, the next landing mission should be three or four people."

"Then maybe we have to learn from the Indians. You must have seen their performances. Does every Indian know how to do motorcycle acrobatics, just like Chinese Kung Fu?"

"I don't think so... Hey, I'd like to tune into the public channel and say goodbye to our miner friends, Houston, and I'd like permission."

"...Houston receives it, you can say goodbye, but don't make it too long."

…

"Yang Zhongkai."

"Ding Bijun."

Two middle-aged people of similar age introduced themselves to each other, but to onlookers, the latter looked at least ten years older.

Ding Bijun is still working at the test base at the foot of the Qinling Mountains. For the aerospace industry, the local Environmental Protection Bureau cut down a large area of ​​economic forest after careful consideration. The central government will issue special subsidies for the lost economic benefits.

After more than three months, a larger and more complex microwave receiving antenna array was built here. The center consists of horizontal antennas of different heights, surrounded by a ring of parabolic reflectors.

When Yang Zhongkai rushed here, the No. 2 microwave test base had just passed the acceptance inspection, and Ding Bijun rarely had time to leave the construction site to greet him.

He was absorbed into the base in a wonderful way more than a month ago, and his full-time job is to form a cosmic sociology research team to study the basic norms of interstellar civilization and the types of technologies that must be mastered.

It's a complex undertaking, and the team is slowly filling in with linguists, astrobiologists, physicists and even retired military officers, trying to be ready to face aliens.

Feeling deeply pressured, Yang Zhongkai also began to work hard to learn scientific knowledge on his own, and soon became very interested in various space projects, observing and experiencing in depth everywhere.

"Teacher Yang, what you are about to see is an amazing miracle."

Ding Bijun was not too curious about Yang Zhongkai's work. Anyway, Boss Lin always had his own reasons to spend money everywhere, as long as the daily project budget was not reduced.

It just so happened that Base No. 2 had just been completed, which was when he was eager to announce the results.

He proudly pointed to the magnificent white steel buildings outside the window:

"Base 2 can withstand up to 50 megawatts of power. Have you seen the snow outside the window?"

Yang Zhongkai nodded. The forest at the foot of the Qinling Mountains was completely covered with white snow at this time of year. From the base built on the top of the mountain, you could see a vast snowfield. It would be very uncomfortable to look at it for a long time without wearing sunglasses.

"Then let me tell you, when Chiwu-3 transmits power here, the snow on the surface may be evaporated, and the temperature around the antenna will rise several degrees."

"Chiwu No. 3?"

"Yes, the second-generation Zhuri Engineering space power transmission test satellite has a total power of more than 2,000 kilowatts, which is four times that of Chiwu-1!"

Ding Bijun looked at the sky from the window and introduced with longing:

"The total power of Chiwu-1 is only over 400 kilowatts. Originally we planned to launch the same Chiwu-2 and Chiwu-1 for network operation, but with Xinyuan's heavy investment... you can't even imagine their How fast are technological breakthroughs? One month’s efficiency is comparable to others’ one year!

Our K2 battery is ready half the time than expected! Then it only took them 40 days to build Chiwu-3 equipped with K2 solar cells.

Chiwu-3 has a total of 24 K2 batteries. The expanded area exceeds 5,000 square meters and can generate 2,500 kilowatts of power. The conversion efficiency of transmission to the ground is as high as 92%, which is 2,300 kilowatts of electricity.

Chiwu-3 has a total weight of only 19 tons and costs 1.8 billion yuan. As long as it operates successfully, we can realize Chengdu's super space power station and bring 160,000 kilowatts of clean energy to this land! "

"...Tsk."

Yang Zhongkai didn't quite understand the meaning of these numbers, so he just calculated them in his mind and said:

"This satellite costs 1.8 billion yuan. Is the power generation cost too high?"

“No, it’s just the price of a trial.

The current cost of K2 batteries per square meter is 260,000 yuan, but after mass production, the scale will be 100 times that of today. We now estimate that the cost per square meter will not exceed 9,000 yuan. Even if all is taken into account by then, it will be a good deal.

Come on, let's go to the safe house over there. We're going to conduct the first test at 17 o'clock. "

"Wait, can I put something in here?"

Yang Zhongkai touched his body for a long time and finally took out a plastic bag.

"The turtle dove I bought at the market is already cold. Can I put it on the antenna to warm it up?"

"...I'll find a place for you."

Ding Bijun didn't expect this person to be so dishonest. He took him outside, only to find that his student Xiong Cheng sneaked over and bumped into him. He couldn't hold the thing firmly and dropped it.

He picked it up first and found that it was a piece of stuff wrapped in tin foil. His face immediately darkened. When he opened it, he saw that it was a marinated chicken.

"Teacher Ding..."

"Forget it."

Ding Bijun waved his hand to interrupt Xiong Cheng's sophistry, put Yang Zhongkai's things in and rewrapped the tin foil, walked to the fixed base in the center of the antenna array and put it down.

"Let's go, if your chicken is roasted just right, our experiment will be successful."