Chapter 310 - 303 Artificial Moon_1

The press conference began, and Claire, as the highest authority of NACA, came forward to explain the reasons behind the Dream Chaser accident that occurred a few days ago and to answer questions about future space programs.

Firstly, the accident investigation report of the Dream Chaser was out. According to the engineers at Rom, the Dream Chaser had technical requirements for its docking interface to reduce weight by 20% than originally planned.

To meet the target, engineers had simplified some internal structures, which led to a slight insufficiency in strength at one spot. Coupled with an unfortunately chosen design location, this could result in deformation under vacuum due to pressure issues.

The solution was simple: revert to the original, proven design.

The Dream Chaser wasn’t troubled by the extra dozen kilograms at the docking interface, and modifying it wouldn’t take too long. However, the Dream Chaser still needed a full inspection, so the next unmanned test flight would be around the beginning of March, followed by a crewed flight.

As for rotating the nine astronauts...

Claire, "After internal discussions within the ISS, we’ve decided not to exclude the possibility of using vehicles other than the Dream Chaser for the subsequent crew rotation missions."

Reporter, "Will it be Russia’s Alliance Spaceship or New Yuan’s spaceplane?"

Claire, "The mission tender is a commercial activity; we’re currently unable to disclose more information."

Reporter, "Will the Dream Chaser accident affect the continuation of the Artemis program’s missions?"

Claire, "The Artemis program is currently progressing smoothly and is steadily advancing according to NACA’s plans."

Reporter, "So, is the Artemis II mission still set to take place in October 2017, carrying astronauts for a lunar flyby mission?"

Claire, "Yes, it will not be later than that date."

In fact, Claire was somewhat secretly pleased at this point. Everyone thought it would take a year to build one SLS, but who knew that the next SLS was expected to launch in August? The Aerospace Development Committee’s CZ-10, according to their manufacturing progress, wouldn’t be ready until June or July at the earliest. Plus, with the Heavy Falcon Rocket joining the Artemis program, the launch timeframe was shorter, and the actual progress would only be faster. NACA was about to overtake!

In the grand scheme of returning to the Moon, the minor setback faced by the Dream Chaser was insignificant, although it did slightly dent John’s pride. However, it didn’t have a disastrous impact.

The assembly of both Dream Chaser No. 2 and No. 3 was nearing completion. These small spacecraft could be built much faster than the old spaceplanes, which took years to construct.

However, the thought of large spaceplanes made him frown. The speed at which the private space company New Yuan was operating two H2Ms simultaneously seemed unbelievable to him, especially as they were each over a hundred tons.

Wait, isn’t today China’s Lunar New Year’s Eve? He seemed to have booked the YouTube premiere of the Forward Space Station’s first stay and the New Year’s Eve live broadcast.

A 14-meter diameter mega-module, what would it look like inside, and how spacious must it be?

It was said that they innovatively employed a concentric circle structure. Was this an optimization design for centrifugal rotation? No, he had to get more people to watch and analyze it, to accumulate experience for NACA’s centrifugal space station.

...

"Go for it, Deng Lei!"

"Li Sheng, cover bottom lane, bottom lane!"

Inside the Forward’s navigation cabin, a New Year’s friendly match was in progress.

Thanks to the 14-meter diameter of the mega-module, the navigation cabin, even with the central space occupied by equipment, still offered a broad area divided into two sections for personnel, slightly wider than the average living room. Over 40 meters in length, the activity space was excessively generous.

The Pioneer brought not only trusses and supply goods but also sports equipment like badminton, table tennis, and darts.

Due to the lack of gravity, Deng Lei and Li Sheng not only had to pay extra attention to the completely different trajectories from those on Earth during their badminton match but also had to stabilize themselves at all times.

Deng Lei, having hit the shuttlecock too hard while mid-air, lost his anchoring point and began to tumble in place without any regulation, but still managed to hit the shuttlecock back in an inverted position that would be impossible on Earth.

Meanwhile, the other three were preparing supplies under Li Sheng’s feet, in the other half of the space relative to them. In the two days they had been in space, they had installed less than 10% of the trusses and wouldn’t enter the rapid construction phase until after New Year’s Eve.

Of course, from tomorrow until the sixth day of the lunar new year, they would receive five times their regular wage for working overtime on holidays, as well as special New Year’s subsidies.

No one had any complaints about working overtime, as the astronauts at the Tiangong Space Station, thousands of kilometers away, had already expressed a strong desire to work, even without overtime pay.

Compared to conducting small experiments at the Tiangong Space Station, piloting an H2M to build a Centrifugal Space Station seemed much more interesting, but unfortunately, none of them had an H2M pilot license yet, and they would have to wait their turn to get certified.

The ground crew had already sent several H2M flight manuals to the Tiangong Space Station during the last supply mission, and ambitious astronauts would nibble at the 5-centimeter-thick manuals and equally thick emergency repair indexes whenever they could...

...

"Is it really not possible to use No. 3?"

"Mr. Lin, it really isn’t... If we let No. 3 come, it would be over a thousand tons. That’s not fireworks, that’s a small nuclear bomb..."

Director Huang was adamant, and Lin Ju could only reluctantly shift his gaze to the CZ-7 on the launch tower.

As per New Yuan’s tradition, this year they had planned to launch fireworks with the New Yuan No. 3 rocket, but the latter’s first-stage capabilities could lift nearly two thousand tons of mass to tens of thousands of meters in altitude. The Qiongzhou Launch Administration definitely would not approve this time, not even through backdoor channels.

Two thousand tons of fireworks—if it were TNT equivalent, it could flatten the city center. No, no, that was too exaggerated.

Of course, this didn’t mean the fireworks program was canceled; instead, the fireworks manufacturer had become the Aerospace Bureau. They took out a CZ-7 and planned to send a 50-ton special fireworks canister into the high atmosphere to detonate.

Unlike New Yuan, which was crude in handling matters, after the successful reuse of CZ-7, the Aerospace Bureau secretly contracted with manufacturers to custom order, planning several months ahead to present a gift for the Spring Festival. They claimed it could produce a rooster visible even across the strait, much more artistically meaningful than last year’s super illuminating shell.

But Lin Ju still felt somewhat unconvinced; New Yuan’s New Year’s gift was for Pioneer to grab a truss with its robotic arm and perform traditional martial arts, which was also quite creative, but he couldn’t watch it on-site from Earth!

It didn’t bother Ye Changsi though; he felt that using rockets, every launch of which had to be carefully budgeted back in their era, for building cultural spirit was already extravagant enough. Seeing that the Aerospace Bureau was also setting off huge fireworks, he couldn’t help but reflect:

"If Qian were alive to see this, I bet he would’ve been very happy."

Lin Ju: "If it were Qian, do you think he would find it more interesting to detonate a hydrogen bomb in outer space? It would be like a man-made mini-sun."

Ye Changsi looked up and pondered seriously: "The effect would definitely be better, but it might disrupt satellite and airplane communication systems. We might end up having to pay a lot of compensation, so never mind that. We can’t make a mini-sun now, but we can surely make a mini-moon."

Lin Ju: "What? A moon?"

Ye Changsi: "The government of Sichuan recently considered creating a sleepless city and planned to launch a reflector into space to cover the urban area with high-intensity lighting to save electricity and create a distinctive IP."

"..."