Chapter 339 - 331 Reunion_1

"De Lu" hardly had any functions beyond essential components; even its structure was extremely crude—the astronaut’s "seat" was actually just a foldable stool, and it even had an open-top design.

Why send the plain "De Lu" up first, which lacked any detection capabilities? Of course, it was still useful.

While "De Lu" was rudimentary, it had reserved basic automation interfaces, allowing it to be remotely controlled or connected to the signal port of the Explorer II robot, which was designed with data ports to facilitate astronauts in modifying programs during maintenance.

Explorer II could pull out a communication cable from the bottom chassis of "De Lu" and plug it into its own port, allowing it to download updated firmware and then operate the lunar rover at speeds more than ten times that of unmanned probes.

If it ran out of electricity, it would be pulled back to the lander to recharge using its solar panels and battery, increasing its operational radius by at least 30 kilometers with great efficiency.

Moreover, the two "De Lu" vehicles also had simple cargo beds that could hold about 150 kilograms of samples, used to store valuable resources dug up from various locations.

When human astronauts finally went up, the "De Lu" would still be usable, and moreover, they were cheap to produce because they didn’t have any expensive scientific research equipment, costing less than ten million.

On the other hand, during the Apollo program, NACA had once built a handcart to facilitate the collection of samples by astronauts. It was the kind of cart commonly seen on construction sites, which cost tens of millions of US dollars and was particularly difficult to use—it couldn’t even get over a small pit without two astronauts carrying it, aptly named the "two-wheeled human-powered daddy."

However, the plan to drive lunar rovers using Explorer robots had not yet been announced; at first glance, the outside world hadn’t noticed anything special about "De Lu"—they appeared to be just ordinary transportation vehicles like those used during the Apollo era.

...

"It’s hard to imagine that ’Zhurong Star’ would see the day of reboot again."

Alexander Maximovich stood on Red Square, which had just been swept clean only to be quickly covered again by a thin layer of snow, expressing his mixed emotions alongside a dozen elderly people, recounting the years of change.

Alexander Maximovich, the last chief engineer of OKB-586, the former head of the "Makarov Southern Machinery Production Consortium."

In 1954, the OKB-586 design bureau was established in Dnepropetrovsk by Khrushchev, and the booster for the Energy series, which was the world’s first liquid oxygen-kerosene rocket engine RD170 mounted on the "Zenith" rocket, was designed and manufactured by them.

When Russia seriously started to prepare for the revival of the "Energy 2" project, they immediately realized two difficulties. First was the engine; the critical RD170 and booster research were in Ukraine’s hands—the core stage’s RD0120 was manageable, as its design bureau OKB154 (Alliance Chemical Automation Design Bureau) was still in the country, albeit severely declined.

The second was the assembly line in Kazakhstan, which, even if recovered now, would definitely not be usable; however, this problem was not significant.

The biggest problem was Ukraine’s reckless spending over the years; OKB-586 had long become a thing of the past, and it took Russia great effort to secretly find back the once-former engineers and scientists from various corners and concentrate them in Moscow for reorganization.

The "Zhurong Star project" was the old people’s name for the "Energy" series of rockets, a codename set during the Union period and that had long since disappeared into history.

These former OKB-586 elders were strikingly uniform in their attire, all wearing thick black or grey coats topped with fluffy felt hats, standing there as if time had rewound back to that era.

Those with agile minds from OKB-586 had fled to Europe or America after the breakup of the Union, and the majority were left to accept unemployment and barely survive—like Alexander himself, who had been working at a local agricultural machinery factory when he was approached by a KGB agent.

No one remembered that this old man had been part of the team that developed the world’s first carrier rocket; no one knew that this skilled old master was actually a great rocket engineer.

The experiences of others were even worse, but those standing here were still considered lucky. Some had entirely disappeared without a trace, even beyond the reach of the KGB.

After a short wait in the square, a convoy led by a Great Wall Haval H6 and composed of minibusses came to a stop in front of them. Miklin jumped down from the vehicle and began to identify the faces that had aged over two decades.

"Andrei, Ivan, Joseph... Alexander, oh, thank God, thank goodness, most of the people I know are still alive."

Miklin warmly embraced these old friends from the past, although many of them had only exchanged greetings; reuniting now was truly cherished.

Finally, he gripped Alexander’s hand tightly, repeatedly saying, "It’s great, it’s great, you’ve arrived just in time."

Alexander: "Miklin Yevgeny, it seems you’ve encountered a lot of trouble."

Miklin shook his head with emotion:

"Trouble is an understatement. I originally thought OKB586 would be the hardest to get together, but your situation is much better than I imagined. The core team is basically still there, and their physical condition seems not too bad either. OKB154 is the real disaster.

Though their organization still exists, they have pretty much lost all high-end research capability. I asked them to resume production of the RD0120 engine, but do you know, they now even lack the capability to develop a 10-ton thrust-level hydrolox engine!"

"Has it really declined to such an extent?!"

Alexander was shocked but quickly understood the reason. OKB154 was more glorious and more conspicuous than his OKB586 and was definitely the target that the West closely monitored for poaching talent.

Miklin: "Alexander, I need your support. Russia has now restored the production capacity for the RD170; you need to help with the resumption of the RD0120 and to improve it for deep reuse capabilities."

Alexander first nodded, then shook his head.

"Hydrolox engines are very expensive, and a lot of equipment and data have been lost over the years. Can the current Russian Federation still afford it?"

Miklin: "Director Borisov has already secured the first budget of 15 billion rubles, that should be enough."

billion rubles? That’s about 250 million US dollars.

Alexander thought it over, indeed it was enough to start preliminary research, but during the era of Energy 2’s development, the Union had invested about 20 billion pounds in total, now the money provided was less than one percent of that time.

Moreover, Energy 2 was a successful project, and the research foundation for "Hurricane" was still solid. He hoped all would go as desired.

Before getting into the vehicle, Alexander asked Miklin one last question:

"The Dawn 2 mission from Khitan should be almost finished by now, the Dawn program... does Russia have any participation?"

What he saw was Miklin’s bitter smile.

"We participated, but their attitude towards us isn’t one of partnership but rather charity. However, we indeed don’t have much to offer anymore."

"I understand. I hope we still have the chance to complete our unfinished business. From 1967 to now, it’s been 50 years, the 50th anniversary of the Union’s lunar mission launch. From the N3 to Zhurong Star, we’ve spent 50 years preparing for the moon landing. Let’s hope for a good outcome now."