Chapter 358 - 350 Venus_1

"Old Xiao, hey, the probe is about to be launched. Why are you so listless?"

Shen Zuozhou noticed Xiao Okada’s absent-minded appearance and came over with concern to ask.

Shen Zuozhou was a space technology expert from the Fifth Institute and had undergone the first batch of space training. His main field was deep space exploration.

After China’s Venus mission was hurriedly put together, he immediately led his team to the base, cramming equipment funded by the space agency into "Tai Bai" and "Morning Star No.1".

He acted quickly because there was no choice; mid-April was the latest time to launch the probe, or else the launch window would be missed.

"Tai Bai" was an orbital satellite probe, operating in Venus’ orbit and able to use the Hall Thruster to continuously adjust its orbit for observation; "Morning Star No.1" was an atmospheric probe of Venus that could even bring samples back, though not from the surface.

Morning Star No.1 was designed in a rush but was not compromised; it weighed a hefty 4.8 tons.

It was divided into two parts: the flyby sampling return and the landing part.

The flyby probe accounted for 1 ton of mass. It would separate from the rest of Morning Star No.1 while skimming Venus’s atmosphere to slow down. It would briefly "graze" the outer layer of Venus’s atmosphere, scoop up about 0.01 cubic meters of compressed gas samples, then activate a one-time solid rocket engine to escape Venus’s gravity and enter an orbit around it. At this point, it would only weigh about 300 kilograms.

Then, it would use the solar panels on its body to power a small Hall Thruster, continuously accelerating for about 60 hours, moving away from Venus towards the Sun to gain speed from the Sun’s gravity, making a big loop to fling itself back towards Earth.

This process would take about 8 months, and to achieve this speed, it would come extremely close to the Sun. Its functional parts would almost certainly be destroyed by the solar corona and high-energy radiation, leaving only the less than 10-kilogram return capsule unscathed. It would carry that 0.01 cubic meters of gas, accelerated by the Sun to an extremely high velocity, directly flying along its trajectory back into Earth’s atmosphere.

The only way for China to capture this return capsule was through a layer of special alloy on its surface, which could magnify and reflect radio waves of a specific frequency many times over. As long as satellites continuously probed the potential flight path at the predetermined time, there was a good chance of locating the return capsule and confirming its landing place when it returned.

Unfortunately, it was already difficult enough for such a small object to ensure it landed back on Earth after circumnavigating around the Sun from Venus; pinpointing the exact landing location was simply not possible.

Even after entering the atmosphere, it was difficult to predict, as this 10-kilogram object could easily be blown off course after releasing its parachute...

However, even if it might land on the White House lawn, China decided to launch it; this was a sample from a terrestrial planet—even if it was just a bit of gas.

The remaining 3.8 tons of the lander was purely a gamble. Venus’s atmosphere is incredibly thick; the pressure increases gradually from top to bottom, reaching nearly 90 times that of Earth’s at the surface.

Most of the surface comprises volcanoes and flowing lava, with a minority being deserts and wastelands, full of dangerous chemicals primarily composed of sulfuric acid and temperatures that could exceed 400 degrees Celsius.

The former Union’s Venus 8 took a full 50 minutes to pass through 250 kilometers of atmosphere and only sent back an 11-second signal before it "died" after landing.

The main goal of Morning Star No.1 was to land on a flat surface and drill into the soil as quickly as possible, also swiftly taking a photograph with its protected microscope to send back for analyzing the presence of organic matter and microbes. The whole process was expected to last no more than 15 seconds, which meant it had to survive at least 15 seconds after landing...

Of course, if it was lucky enough to live a bit longer, Morning Star No.1 would faithfully record and send back the composition of the atmosphere, natural phenomena, and more gathered during its descent.

Although he was pessimistic about the mission of Morning Star No.1, Shen Zuozhou was excited because this was not only China’s first Venus exploration but also its first Venus sample return mission; its significance was absolutely noteworthy.

Two probes are now undergoing their final tests for Venus, with Morning Star No.1 launched on a New Yuan 5B equipped with a third stage, while "Tai Bai" was sent to Venus via a 7-ton propulsion rocket launched by a bare-pole model of New Yuan 5B after being launched on Lightning Number, one after the other racing toward their destination, expected to arrive at Venus by mid-July.

Xiao Okada, the designer of the two probes, was actually daydreaming, which made Shen Zuozhou somewhat dissatisfied with the attention they were receiving.

"Zuozhou, are you aware of the space collaboration between the Island Country and us?"

"Ah?" Shen Zuozhou did not know why he asked that, but he still replied:

"I suppose so, Tiangong No.2 even has an instrument made by Tokyo University, what about it?"

Xiao Okada: "I’m wondering if there will come a day when astronauts from the Island Country will also enter space from this land."

"..."

"If that were to happen, I guess it would need to be something similar to ASEAN."

"ASEAN?"

"Yes, you may not pay much attention to these things usually."

The ASEAN that Shen Zuozhou referred to is an organization formed by a group of countries with large populations but relatively underdeveloped industries in the southeast area, encompassing several key nations.

They usually don’t have a strong presence internationally, mainly because they are weaker; however, this does not mean they are content living as the third world.

ASEAN members are relatively active in space endeavors, with China undertaking most of their commercial satellite launch orders, mostly for communications, agricultural, and meteorological satellites, considering their significant population and the substantial demand for agriculture and fishing.

After the second space race began, ASEAN observed the Dawn program and the Artemis program in their mighty showdown, as well as Europe’s ambitious Selene plan, and couldn’t help but feel envious. However, they quickly sobered up after checking their wallets.

Russia has the technology but no money, India and the Island Country’s Star of Asia have insufficient technology but enough money; they neither have the technology nor the funds, utterly unable to join the game; the Moon is beyond their dreams.

But low Earth orbit could be within their reach.

A few days ago, the Annan Institute of Science And Technology’s space center approached the Aerospace Development Committee, hoping to rent a spot on either Progress or Unity to send 2 to 3 Annan astronauts into space for extravehicular activities. The person leading the team was quite interesting, Fan Zun.

At 70, Fan Zun is still healthy and currently serves as the Director of Annan Defense Science and Technology Bureau. He was the first Asian astronaut to enter space aboard a former Union rocket.

He straightforwardly expressed Annan’s willingness to pool some money to send a few more astronauts into space. In addition, he hoped to expand cooperation further.

This matter was not small; it’s easy for foreigners to go into space on a spaceplane or spaceship - just buy a ticket, and as long as they have not broken any laws, there would be no problems, but those are tourists. What Fan Zun represented was Annan’s space center (they hadn’t established a space bureau).

When official participation is involved, the matters being discussed extend beyond the scope of just space affairs.