Chapter 329 - 321 ISIS_1

After a moment of reminiscing, Big Shot woke up from the memories of the years more than a decade ago and cracked a joke at Lin Ju.

"Then why don’t you just build one yourself? Concorde was at Mach 2, but the XW-9 can fly at Mach 3."

But as soon as he said it, he regretted it, as Androff’s comment last year to the higher-ups about developing a super transport plane just to transport rockets surfaced in his mind.

Sure enough, Lin Ju took the joke seriously and began to ponder its feasibility because New Yuan seemed to actually have the capability?

A standard business jet only needs to carry a dozen people. A takeoff weight of 30 to 40 tons is sufficient, equivalent to the mass of a third-generation heavy fighter jet. Two XW-9 engines could definitely provide enough thrust for supersonic cruise, and it didn’t even require maneuverability... Hmm? Seems feasible?

Seeing Lin Ju’s expression growing more serious, Big Shot quickly coughed to change the subject, hoping to prevent New Yuan from getting sidetracked into developing supersonic aircraft because of one offhand remark.

He didn’t know that all of this year’s base budget had already been allocated, and it was virtually impossible to start funding a new aircraft project. He shifted the conversation to recent events.

"There’s another snag at the lunar research station. Those damn Americans just go crazy without warning and it’s even affecting Europe. If it wasn’t for the European Space Agency’s strong independence and some reliance on us, the whole thing might have fallen through.

Their grandmother, this John, started off with such unreliable antics, no wonder there was an accident just days after his inauguration. Who does things like this?"

Lin Ju: "Actually, we should have been prepared for this. From the moment the Dawn project started, a confrontation was inevitable and unavoidable."

Big Shot: "But we’re not the Union. External trade makes up too much of our economy, and America is no longer the world’s factory. Without the products we supply, over 60% of the shelves in Walmart would go empty! Even if they started producing, the cost would skyrocket by several times.

What kind of nonsense trade cut-off is this? If they really cut it off, the world would descend into chaos. Even an economics student who didn’t graduate from college knows this. They impose tariffs on us, do we just have to comply? Without our products and raw materials, how many American companies can operate normally?"

Lin Ju: "But maybe it’s also a good thing? We rely too heavily on foreign markets. Now, most inland and coastal companies are involved in foreign trade. Have you considered that even though our foreign trade surpasses that of America, we do not have the power to maintain trade stability?

Mukala Aerospace Launch Site has our port, and the escort fleet should dock there."

"Hm... The higher-ups have their own consideration of this matter; it’s very complicated, and cannot be settled in a short time..."

This time, Lin Ju rarely interrupted someone else’s words: "If we don’t have security assurance, we will have no alternative for our launch missions in the second half of the year."

Big Shot was now persuaded, because the Qiongzhou Launch Site was predicted to have unstable weather in the second half of the year. At the time, the Aerospace Development Committee was considering alternative plans, and finally thought of Abe’s Mukala Launch Site, which was situated at a lower latitude than Qiongzhou, and the entire flight path of the rockets was over the ocean so debris falling areas were not a concern, and it could maintain rockets of the New Yuan-2 class without any modification.

Abe naturally wouldn’t object to lending the launch site, but accidents could happen since it was thousands of kilometers away from home, and many things couldn’t be controlled.

Suddenly, Big Shot remembered the old Project 707, which was the development plan for aircraft carriers equipped with vertical take-off and landing fighter jets. The reason was simple.

Because the Dongfeng 5 carrier rocket needed a full-range test launch, the ocean fleet had to retrieve the warhead.

If the fleet lacked helicopters capable of vertical take-off and landing and the ability to secure the landing area from interference, the warhead’s data could be stolen.

The situation now was similar. Wanting to use an overseas launch site meant having the strength to ensure launch security.

"Alright, I’ll discuss it with the higher-ups. The priority of aerospace engineering is also very high."

...

Cape Canaveral Air Base.

A Cosmos God V rocket, shrouded in mist, was fully ready for launch. Its fairing wasn’t very large, giving the rocket an overall sleek appearance.

Inside the fairing was the payload for this mission: the ISIS nuclear-powered lunar rover.

This vehicle, initially set to be named "Perseverance" for the Mars mission, was repurposed as a Moon explorer by NACA’s concentrated efforts and completed just before the beginning of March.

It’s February 28th. Over the past two months, NACA had injected an additional 1.9 billion US dollars into the Isis project, working around the clock on modifications, increasing the total project expenditure from the original estimate of around 2.5 billion dollars to 3.4 billion dollars.

Of that, 250 million dollars were paid to ULA for the launch of the rocket, 300 million dollars for the first year (two years) of operations, and the cost of the Isis rover approached 3 billion dollars.

Although it couldn’t hop around like the Explorer series, its life span and advanced equipment were incomparable to the latter, even if the markup was not small.

NACA’s Deputy Administrator and the person directly in charge of the Isis project, Jim Frey, stretched languorously with no concern for his image. The past two months had worn him down to the bone.

Moving the work location from Mars to the Moon was no easy task, and NACA hadn’t conducted lunar surface exploration missions in many years, resulting in extremely hasty preparations.

Especially the crucial issue of temperature, requiring reprogramming and temperature control systems. Due to the lack of time for optimization, unnecessary dead weight was added.

Then there were follow-up arrangements for the "Mars Rover" program. Since Perseverance was repurposed, a new Mars rover had to be built. There was also the need to replan for the original "Ingenuity" helicopter drone for Mars flight tests, and so on, all requiring replanning.

The big boss kept harping on the God of War Ares mission to land on Mars, an even greater challenge than Artemis, and the Mars Rover project had to be considered, which could blow Jim Frey’s mind.

Just as Jim was hoping that launching the Isis would give him a few days of peace, a phone call had him breaking down and swearing loudly.

"What? What have been done! How you... holy shit!"

Jim’s outburst alarmed others, as they didn’t know what could cause the Deputy Administrator of NACA to be so discomposed.

Facing the concern of others, Jim irritably and somewhat regretfully held up his phone, exuding a sense of indignation at the lack of competition.

"The Administrator is asking us to accelerate the development of Blue Origin’s lunar lander and has allotted additional funds, but in a recent ground simulation test, the BE7 engine stalled and crashed the test machine!

Damn it! With less than 9 months to the official handover of the lander, the engine fails. It’s just a small thing with a thrust of over twenty thousand pounds. Why does it have problems? Now we have to divert more effort to solve this problem, or astronauts might as well jump from orbit to land on the Moon!"

Jim colorfully expressed his feelings about Bezos and his entire family using the F language, then immediately asked for the failed test reports. This was a critical link in the Moon landing, and if there was a problem, there’s going to be big trouble to see.