Chapter 301 - 294: Dance Party_1

On January 6th, a New Yuan-2B rocket was launched at the Qiongzhou Launch Site, sending another six Explorer IIs to the Moon.

The six Explorer II rovers are expected to land around Kuom Impact Crater at three locations between the 9th and 11th, to further explore the extent and depth of the ice layers.

Due to the rushed launch, this batch of rovers didn’t have time to update their detection equipment and had some redundancy, but it wasn’t a big issue.

By this launch, the aerospace community around the world had been desensitized.

Mass-producing lunar rovers like cars, while astonishing to everyone before the discovery of ice layers at Kuom Impact Crater, was considered a little foolish—possible, but not particularly meaningful.

But now it’s different: every additional rover means another plot of land circled, accelerating the development pace.

NACA was doing alright; their next nuclear-powered lunar rover, the ISIS Rover, was set to launch in March. Although there was only one, its weight was said to increase to 1.8 tons, making it the heaviest and most powerful rover on the lunar surface. After switching the destination from Mars to the Moon, the rover’s speed also increased to 300 meters per hour, sufficient for rapid exploration.

Moreover, NACA was semi-publicly soliciting more lunar rover bids; they didn’t lack lunar exploration capabilities, with plenty of rockets and rovers at their disposal.

The European Space Agency, however, was a different story. Their Veneto rocket was still in basic configuration design, the Ariane series rockets were too expensive, and they had no available lunar rover. The UK was the one doing the research in this area, as they had been working on a Mars rover project but had now shifted to lunar rovers.

To pursue water, which is the least valuable on Earth at a mere 0.0004% of Earth’s abundance, space agencies from various countries were all striving hard—such is the appreciation of resources due to the 380,000-kilometer distance.

However, for Lin Ju and other higher-ups at the base, this day was not wonderful.

On the 6th, the Aerospace Development Committee invited him and several senior executives from the base to a meeting in Capital, which was said to be very important, dealing with changes to the Committee’s subsequent extraterrestrial colonization development plans, and they needed to gather as many opinions as possible.

For this reason, the Aerospace Development Committee actually borrowed an A320 and a 737 from Eastern Airlines to pick up people from the base, ensnaring the six System people who were just discussing the Zero Plain exploration plan, and six flights took the figureheads and five highest-level technical vice presidents to Capital.

Those who were somewhat gloomy about Zero Plain were thinking something really big had happened and remained serious throughout the journey until they arrived at a high-end guesthouse.

Wait, something’s not right about this guesthouse!

As soon as Lin Ju stepped out, he realized this wasn’t the guesthouse he usually went to, but the familiar faces greeting him all acted officially, so it didn’t seem appropriate to say anything, and the six of them went in together.

Then, instead of the aerospace leaders and experts from the Committee they expected to see, what came into view was a dance party, predominantly filled with gaily dressed ladies; all eyes turned to them as they entered.

Suddenly, Lin Ju recalled the common method of pairing individuals within organizations in the last century: dance parties.

In the last century, as ballet became popular among the general population due to the Learning Union, various dance parties were also fashionable in our country.

At times, to facilitate the younger generation in finding suitable partners, various dance parties were organized to increase opportunities for men and women to get acquainted, and attending various dance parties was a unique memory of that era.

Of course, now it has evolved into team-building activities, but obviously, Lin Ju and the few executives didn’t have time to unwind.

"I came here for a meeting, what is this..."

Lin Ju was shocked and didn’t know what to say immediately, but the black-clad security officer greeting him simply smiled and said, "Mr. Lin, the meeting has been postponed to the 9th, so you don’t have to go back for these few days. You might as well participate in the dance party tonight; this is currently a networking event for young talents in the country.

Also, the higher-ups have a message for you: ’Young people should make more friends and relax appropriately to better pursue their careers.’"

The guard finished speaking and hastily left under Lin Ju’s hesitating gaze; the latter could only turn toward the five system lackeys with a pleading look.

Guo Shen and the other four still looked somewhat embarrassed, but Xie Liaofu had already adjusted, thinking that as for dancing, the Union people were not yet familiar with it. Union people could endure hunger, but they could not skip dancing or watching movies.

Xie Liaofu naturally relaxed his body and walked over; the remaining five were also quickly surrounded and dragged into the venue like marionettes by women whose eyes seemed ready to devour them.

In an inconspicuous corner, Big Shot nodded in satisfaction.

After realizing the significant loophole in New Yuan’s senior management, he immediately reported to his superiors, and under their command, a special task force was established to solve their personal problems, choosing the traditional route among various solutions.

Things went just about as planned; although the approach was old, the six did not show any obvious rejection, which meant that the work went smoothly!

...

Chang’an.

In the vast workshop, a huge triangular aircraft was fixed on a test stand, then followed the movement of hydraulic components and withstood various tremors, the body wobbling unsteadily.

The "Xuehu," a near-space aircraft, though it was a research mission undertaken by Desert Base, its research and manufacturing capabilities were respectively sourced from the Aerospace Fourth Academy, Chang’an Institute, and Rong Institute.

One year since the project started, the overall design of Xuehu was finally completed.

To combat the intense friction at 10 times the speed of sound and to obtain sufficient lift in the thin atmosphere above fifty thousand meters, Xuehu’s body was designed as a triangular shape, an ideal model for hypersonic aircraft around the world.

Xuehu’s triangular body was very simple; the main fuselage was a triangle plank. At the front, protruding and smoothly transitioning into the main body, was the space designated for the cockpit and payload cabin. At the rear underside were mounted three WCR-12 combined power engines, and at each side of the triangular wings was a small vertical tailfin mounted both above and below.

The WCR-12 was an improved model of the WCR-09—New Yuan had not been idle that year, having made significant enhancements to the original model. With an increase of less than 20% in overall weight, the thrust was increased by 33%, from 90KN to 120KN.

The original four WCR-09 engines were replaced with three WCR-12s, which considerably reduced the size and weight, reduced fuel consumption, and extended the range to 36,000 kilometers. It was capable of taking off from the desert and undertaking missions to the Atlantic and back, an unprecedented strategic stealth high-speed bomber.

After careful study, Desert Base relocated the bomb bay from the fuselage’s belly to its back.

A bomb bay located at the belly would increase the lower surface area, affecting both the engine intake channels and the landing gear design. It would also require consideration of fuselage strength adjustments and the radar cross-section when the bomb bay opens.

A bomb bay on the back would avoid sudden changes in the radar reflectivity seen from the ground and also facilitate the arrangement of laser weapons for attacks on outer space.

For Xuehu’s combat philosophy, Desert Base envisioned it as an undefendable striking force, capable of penetrating heavily defended depth areas. In the absence of satellite networks, it could conduct close reconnaissance and precision strikes, with a 12-ton payload capable of carrying 80 warheads with a megaton TNT equivalent each, making its striking power incredibly terrifying.

Watching the Xuehu static engineering prototype test on-site, Dou Ping’s smile nearly split his face ear to ear. In the most optimistic estimates, Xuehu might complete its first flight of the prototype by 2018.

America had first the SR-71, then they boasted about the Goddess of Dawn and SR91, with similar specifications to Xuehu, shrouded in mystery and unsettling the outside world.

Now, whether they were real or fake, it didn’t matter; Xuehu was already here, and real or not, SR91 was nowhere as powerful.

The sixth-generation fighter jets? Let them choke on the exhaust of the WCR-12!