Chapter 372 - 364 Utilization of Waste_1

"Mr. Lin, congratulations to your team."

"Hehe, Commercial Aviation should be the one congratulated. We’re just one link in the production chain."

"..."

The inaugural flight of C832 was supposed to be heavily emphasized, but who could outshine the imminent first flight of the Storm? A nuclear-powered spacecraft is far more intriguing than a passenger jet.

The passenger jet’s successful maiden flight yesterday, followed promptly by a spaceflight mission while the excitement still lingered, was quite logical.

With less than six hours to the first flight of Storm, the launch tower was getting ready to load it with liquid hydrogen fuel for the nuclear engine.

Even though the weather was not particularly good, Storm still managed to stand out conspicuously.

When it was decided to launch before Labor Day, the base unanimously agreed to give Storm a special paint job.

It was a colorful pattern that almost covered the entire tail fin and rear section, consisting of a hammer and a powerful arm, with the main color being bright red, conferring a sense of strength.

Although the paint job was somewhat rushed, the quality was genuinely not bad. Even if it was scorched by the atmosphere upon reentry, the outline should still be visible, especially since it’s on the back of the craft, which doesn’t endure severe ablation.

Near the launch tower, more than a dozen military green decontamination trucks were on standby, and the radiation dosimeters placed at various locations were the basis for determining if the reactor was out of control. In case of any issues, they were ready to take action.

The personnel preparing the space shuttle were almost half more than usual, with the checking procedures far more complex and rigorous compared to the H2M.

Lin Ju stood not far from the launch platform, including himself and the entire spacecraft in the camera’s frame, searching for the right angle.

"Hey! Lin, you’d better keep your distance. If you catch some radiation, that would be the end of it."

Academician She and Academician Yu walked over, one after the other, with the latter kindly reminding him.

The A100 managed not to significantly alter the center of gravity control of the H2 without having a protective layer made of thick concrete and lead plates. A leak would have very severe consequences.

But Cheng Nankai did guarantee that nothing could go wrong with the core reactor, and even if something did go awry, the protective mechanism would trigger, providing ample time to escape.

Lin Ju smiled and took a selfie with the two academics next to Storm, uploading it to both Twitter and Weibo.

"I trust the engineers at our base, and besides, the seven astronauts who are part of this mission will be living in the space shuttle for more than ten days. As the boss, I definitely have to go first.

Moreover, ’Storm’ offers me an experience no other spacecraft can: it’s nuclear-powered, making me feel like we’re truly taking a giant step into the space age."

Academician She: "The real giant step forward was made by March, which is about to get its second habitation module installed. You could get it spinning already, right?"

"Yes, but for the time being, we won’t make it spin," Lin Ju explained:

"Right now, the cabin is in a state of construction chaos with plenty of supplies piled up. When it’s time to spin officially, everything has to be arranged according to special design requirements. Structurally speaking, the current strength is indeed sufficient."

Academician She: "There are at least 20 tons of supplies stored on March; Storm doesn’t need to carry all that."

"Just in case..."

"..."

Academician Yu, noticing the somewhat perplexing reactions of both, furrowed her brows slightly, then quickly understood the situation.

tons of liquid hydrogen fuel isn’t a lot, but it’s enough for Storm to take a detour to the Moon.

If the cargo hold wasn’t filled with trusses and space station connection passageways, it would be entirely possible to stuff in the "Full Moon" landing pod. We could go straight to the Moon right now.

So, you’re saying that if Lin Ju wanted to be the first man to land on the Moon, he could’ve just started the lander project earlier, and he’d be on his way to becoming the first person to return to the Moon by now?

Actually, this is no secret; the nuclear-thermal powered spacecraft moon landing plan had appeared in a multitude of PPTs on the New Yuan official website. However, at the time, everyone thought nuclear-powered spacecraft were unreliable and impossible to achieve, so no one delved deeper into it.

Academician She, of course, was aware of this, and there were smarter people at the Space Agency. Seeing the Storm erected in Qiongzhou, they began to wonder: The landers for the Dawn III and IV missions were almost completed, so couldn’t they just be put into the spacecraft to achieve a moon landing more than half a year earlier?

The leaders of the Aerospace Development Committee could only ignore such suggestions. The idea of the first Chinese astronaut coming out of a private space company’s spacecraft was just too outrageous, even terrifying to contemplate.

However, there was a sense of walking down a dead-end street by following the traditional rocket path when there was clearly more advanced technology available, and this made Academician She feel it might be time to retire.

Luckily, Lin Ju showed a confused expression that cooperated with the situation, and both sides tacitly skipped over this topic.

"By the way, those two spies have almost spilled the beans. They’re both agents developed by the IAA, one code-named Ox and the other Nightingale.

Nightingale hasn’t been here long, but ’Ox’ has been lurking for over a decade, causing us considerable damage. Following his trail, we’ve already identified over a dozen traitors. The higher-ups are furious and are planning a thorough internal purge."

Lin Ju wasn’t surprised by this; after all, a spy bold enough to break into a heavily guarded base must be skilled, and their identity had been within expectations.

"What’s going to happen to those two spies?"

"Happen?" Academician She hadn’t expected Lin Ju to ask this question.

"Given their crimes, they’ll definitely not be released. Ox is involved in many secret cases and is very likely to face execution by firing squad. Nightingale is looking at a decade or so in prison. Why do you ask?"

Lin Ju looked rather helpless, expressing with some difficulty:

"If that ’Ox’s case is cleared up, can he be sent to us? We have some use for him."

"Use? What use could he possibly be?"

"No. 304 Injection human experimentation volunteer. Our lab director is so eager to conduct human experiments he almost tested on himself until he was stopped by others."

Academician She: "..."

Academician Yu: "..."

...

"Mankind’s first nuclear-powered spacecraft launched from Qiongzhou."

"The Pentagon criticized ’Storm’ for refusing inspections by The International Atomic Energy Agency and claimed that a radiation dust collection machine in the South Sea had collected a large amount of pollution residue."

"Annan fishermen refute rumors that the South Sea’s fish products will be contaminated by nuclear pollution."

"Experts claim that nuclear-powered spacecraft could travel to and from the Moon within 20 hours, an incredible feat."

"The paint job on Storm sparks controversy."

"Aerospace Development Committee: Storm’s nuclear engine will not be started inside the atmosphere and will not cause any pollution."

"..."

The entire launch of Storm was live-streamed, and although its nuclear engines would not start within the atmosphere, it still attracted record-breaking viewership.

The New Yuan-2A Rocket underwent adjustments to the throttling valves of its first-stage engine, ultimately placing Storm into a 180KM orbit. Then, three A100 engines would start for the first time in space, propelling the spacecraft weighing over 120 tons toward the orbit of the March station.