Chapter 116 - 112 Shenlong_1

On October 19, the Aerospace Development Committee internally initiated a tender for the lunar rover.

In 2013, the space agency had already sent Chang’e 3 to the Moon, carrying the Yutu lunar rover, which was a very successful lunar surface exploration.

However, manned landing required even more careful confirmation of the landing site, especially for the selection of the scientific research station. With the start of Project 2921, the goal wasn’t just to send a few people and then stop, but to move forward with the lunar surface construction plan.

That required finding valuable landing areas that could generate power on the lunar surface, synthesize fuel, etc. The most valuable of course was the Lunar South Pole, which the scientific community has long rumored to possess precious water resources: ice.

Therefore, the Aerospace Development Committee proposed the "Chang’e 4" plan, to launch another unmanned probe to the Lunar South Pole in search of resources.

Since the landing site was on the far side of the Moon, a relay satellite was also needed, which was named "Magpie Bridge."

The Magpie Bridge relay satellite was scheduled to be launched before April 2016, and the Chang’e 4 mission was decided to be launched before June 2016.

Then, New Yuan Aeronautics put forward their own suggestions.

First is the Magpie Bridge relay satellite. The Aerospace Development Committee’s specification was only 400 kilograms, with limited transmission capacity. New Yuan suggested increasing this figure to 3 tons. Launching it with the New Yuan 5A, which was just at its maximum lifting capacity.

Such a large satellite would have increased communication capabilities and could also carry out exploratory missions. New Yuan would fund half of the satellite, which could be shared in the future.

Additionally, for Chang’e 4, a mass of 3.7 tons was too conservative. Doubling it to 8 tons, adding a lunar rover from Xinyuan Company on top, would also facilitate data sharing. The rover could carry out missions independently without interference, launched by the New Yuan 5B.

The revamp of these two plans mean that the space agency’s expenditure, compared to the original, wouldn’t increase by much and it would benefit both parties.

After all, Xinyuan Company had no experience with the Moon. By leveraging these two projects, they could acquire lunar exploration data from the space agency, which would be beneficial for subsequent work.

In the end, these amendment suggestions were all approved by the Aerospace Development Committee. The Fifth Academy and Xinyuan Company would jointly develop the Magpie Bridge relay satellite and the Chang’e 4 mission.

Beyond that, the Aerospace Development Committee’s Tiangong Phase One project was also making rapid progress.

Since the core module of Tiangong Phase One, now named the "Cloud Palace" tourist space station XS-62 had not yet been launched, Tiangong No.2, already in space, had not had any astronauts on board and was only completing some unmanned minor tasks.

The Cloud Palace space station was preparing to launch in the middle of the next month. At that time, it was still being manufactured at New Yuan’s B-level Base and would only be airlifted out around November 5.

Once Cloud Palace entered orbit, Tiangong No.2 would first dock with it. Then the space agency would launch the Shenzhou No.11 spacecraft for docking, and lastly, the Unity would send a crew of six astronauts to the space station, completing the manned space mission a year ahead of schedule.

All these projects would be heavily promoted to the world afterwards, and they would all be displayed at the aerospace exhibition.

New Yuan Aeronautics Power will attend the 2015 Zhuhai Airshow.

Although the airshow is ostensibly an aviation display, it is actually a platform for major enterprises to sell their products. Missiles, fighter jets, tanks, rifles, rockets, radars... even tractors can be displayed here.

The purpose of the displays is sometimes to sell, sell, sell, while others are merely showcasing their technological strength to gain fame. Anyway, just showing up there is right.

New Yuan would not only attend the exhibition but also had a big thing to show off.

On October 28, Progress, carried by an Il-76, arrived at Zhuhai Airport carrying its load on its back.

This was the first time a genuine spacecraft was displayed at the Zhuhai Airshow, and people thronging on both sides were enthusiastically taking photographs.

Since Progress’s main role was cargo transport, it did not have many flight missions. Its greatest use was actually supposed to be the maintenance of orbital spacecraft, like space stations or large satellites, and it just so happened to be available for static display.

Xinyuan exhibited only this one spacecraft, but they managed to secure a fairly large and prominent booth at the fair.

Various models of rockets and spacecraft, even if they were still at the PPT stage, were enough to keep visitors rooted to the spot, with random drawings for model giveaways.

Lin Ju had also wanted to go, but he simply couldn’t get away. He was now flown to the desert.

In the large base built deep in the Gobi Desert, Lin Ju and Guo Shen followed the director of the Desert Base, Dou Ping, standing in the control room of the airport tower.

As the call sign echoed, a small plane approached from the distance, slowly landing on the runway, and then Lin Ju followed Dou Ping down to the side of this small aircraft.

This was clearly an aero-space plane. Its lower fuselage was made of black heat-resistant material, about 3.5 meters wide with two small wings on each side and without any windows, indicating an unmanned spacecraft.

This was the military’s internal Aerospace Fighter project, weighing around 8 tons and featuring reconnaissance capabilities. Its heat-resistant tiles were also produced by New Yuan.

The base internally codenamed it Shenlong, clearly holding high hopes for it, but it had not yet been flown in space and was still in the atmospheric testing phase.

The existence of Shenlong was highly classified. In the past, only a brief notification was sent to the international community when it was about to enter space flight. Apart from being able to estimate its weight and size based on rocket capacity, no pictures were available.

But now, it was right beside Lin Ju, within reach.

Dou Ping patted the body of "Shenlong" and said to Lin Ju and Guo Shen:

"This project has been underway for 9 years since its inception. Its purpose is to explore future aerospace battlefields and verify reusable spacecraft technology. We thought it was second only to America’s advanced products, you see, but your H1 came out and swept it into the scrap heap.

Its aerodynamics is not as good as H1’s blended wing body, with a take-off weight and volume nearly three times that, and its materials are also somewhat outdated, even the heat-resistant tiles are produced by you guys."

As he spoke, Dou Ping sighed, like scolding his own underperforming child, and lightly kicked the surface of "Shenlong":

"Shenlong, you’re not worthy of the name."

"So, Director Dou, that’s why we are here."

Dou Ping nodded, "Yes, you are reliable and trustworthy enterprises. The country needs your strength. We can’t stop just because of affiliations. In fact, starting twenty years ago, excellent private enterprises have been involved in military projects, and quite deeply too."

It was only a few days ago that Lin Ju learned the military had given up on "Shenlong," but the order for the heat-resistant tiles was still going strong. Surprisingly, they invited New Yuan to join in the development of their new generation Aerospace Fighter.

It was no surprise that "Shenlong" was discontinued as H1 completely outperformed it in both design and capabilities. Transformed into an unmanned space aircraft like "Shenlong," H1’s combat abilities would increase by at least four to five times.

So, after careful consideration, New Yuan was invited to join the program as a national defense contractor, to co-develop the new generation of Aerospace Fighters.