I live in the Martian wilderness!

Immediately afterwards, a young engineer in charge of deep space strategy stood up, looking excited.

"Report to the Commander-in-Chief! Based on the success of the lunar 'Xihe Project,' we have revised the deployment plan for the 'Vega 2' relay satellite constellation."

He projected a brand-new interstellar logistics map onto a large screen, drawing a zigzag line between Earth, the Moon, and Mars with his finger.

"The moon has now become a super refueling station, which has completely unleashed the potential of the Long March 9 heavy-lift launch vehicle!"

"We plan to use the existing, mature Long March 9 heavy-lift rocket. It only needs to carry enough propellant to the moon and the Vega 2 deep-space high-throughput satellite constellation to fly to the moon."

Three enormous satellite models, even larger than Tianwen-1, appeared on the screen. They featured huge deployable phased array antennas and laser communication modules.

"In lunar orbit, the Guanghan Palace base will use its stored liquid oxygen and methane to refuel the upper stage of the Long March 9 rocket."

"The Long March 9 rocket, fully fueled, will launch from the moon, using its gravitational pull to accelerate, and head straight for Mars!"

"This capacity redundancy is enough for us to send these three heavy relay satellites into Mars orbit in one go and deploy them in an equilateral triangle constellation."

The engineer's voice rose a few decibels, his eyes gleaming: "Once deployed, they will provide 24/7, all-around coverage of the Martian surface."

"At that time, we will no longer be subject to the 33-hour window of the 'Tianwen-1' mission, nor will we be subject to terrain obstruction."

"But esteemed leaders, one thing must be clear—we are addressing 'connectivity,' not 'speed of light.'"

He pulled up a dynamic distance delay curve, explaining, "Due to Einstein's ironclad laws of physics, there is an insurmountable 'hard delay' between us and Mars."

"Since Mars' second jump 16 days ago, the distance between Earth and Mars has increased from the initial 6000 million kilometers to 7280 million kilometers."

"This means that it takes 4 minutes and 02 seconds for a radio signal to travel one way. The fastest the Earth's information will be received is 4 minutes later."

"And this time barrier is constantly widening! Every day, the signal delay increases by about 2.7 seconds. In six months, the one-way delay will be close to 15 minutes!"

"This physical hard delay completely kills the possibility of real-time remote control."

"Just like the 'seven minutes of terror' that we are familiar with, there is an insurmountable time black hole in the communication chain between Earth and Mars."

"The Earth can't help him pilot the Sky Shuttle, nor can it help him correct the millimeter error of the mechanical arm. For the Fire Seed Squad, all decisions that require millisecond-level reactions can only be made by themselves."

At this point, the engineer changed the subject, projecting a comparison chart of the old and new solutions onto the large screen, his eyes regaining their sparkle:

"However, esteemed leaders, please look at this comparison!" He pointed to the red data on the left, "Currently, Lieutenant Colonel Gu Yu is constrained by the rolling posture of Tianwen-1."

"He could only get a 14-minute communication opportunity every 33 hours. He had to hold back his words for two days and then send them out in a hurry, like sending a telegram."

"Once the Vega 2 constellation is deployed, this restriction of once every 33 hours will be lifted."

"If Lieutenant Colonel Gu Yu wanted, he could contact us countless times a day! He could even maintain a 24-hour uninterrupted audio stream!"

"Although limited by the speed of light, each sentence takes several minutes to travel, the path is always open! We will achieve true 24/7 support."

A low murmur of discussion filled the conference room as the experts quickly digested the strategic significance behind the data.

"As long as the moon can supply oil, this is feasible." Zhang Zixuan quickly completed the final capacity calculation on the terminal, looked up, and said with a determined look in his eyes.

"The heavy-duty version of the Long March 9 rocket has more than enough capacity. Although it can't break the barrier of light speed, it's still better than making Gu Yu wait for that 33-hour window!"

[Time: November 10, 2047 Earth Time]

The sea breeze howled, and the heatwave rolled in.

A giant rocket, entirely silver-white and 10.6 meters in diameter—the Long March 9 (Y3 Heavy Resupply Fully Reusable Configuration)—stands on the launch pad.

This is Earth's response to Mars.