Chapter 405 - 396: Sun Chasing Project_1

Great Hall.

Seven astronauts, dressed in their cabin spacesuits with the Skylight mission logo on their chests, stood on the stage to receive awards one by one.

A Space Hero Medal was pinned on each of their chests, and they had to exchange a few words with the leaders, which made the Southeast Asian group below green with envy.

Santosh said, "This is what a real great nation is like, even the Moon is within reach. When will we ever get to see it for ourselves?"

Ruan Liang, who was sitting next to him, kept shaking his head, but his eyes never left the scene in front.

"Our relationship is only significant enough for us to look up at the sky. Even a country like Russia has to pay a significant price to secure a few seats. I’m afraid we don’t stand a chance."

Santosh said, "If only we were Chinese. The Dawn project plans on sending at least 20 people to the Moon. Actually, our results are quite good."

Although the members of the Southeast Asian group indeed came from modest backgrounds, they were nonetheless the elite chosen by their countries. They had great learning abilities and physical qualities; they ranked above average at Institute 507. Besides intensive training, they also had to learn Chinese. Now they could communicate fluently in Mandarin.

They now rarely used their mother tongues, for only Chinese could harmonize with this world.

Bonkong remarked, "It’s not only Russia, right? France, Italy, and Abe seem to be planning on taking a ride on the Aerospace Agency’s spacecraft to the Moon. If you guys put together some money, maybe it’s possible."

Ruan Liang said, "You guys? Oh... Laos certainly can’t produce that kind of money."

Bonkong said, "No, we have Miao and Dai people living in our territory. Maybe in the future they’ll become incorporated, and then I’ll be a pure-blooded Chinese."

"..."

"..."

"..."

Lin Ju glanced at the four impoverished country astronauts making small commotions behind him and continued discussing with Professor Ding Biyun beside him.

The man was the professor from Chang’an Technology University who had persuaded the Sichuan government to start a space power station project. However, Ding Biyun’s real purpose was not actually to create a thousand-ton space power station.

Even though the technology was theoretically mature, there were still many technical difficulties to be overcome in practice, especially for scaled construction. One mistake could lead to a chain of errors, and the cost of failure was simply too high.

He didn’t need to start with a thousand-ton power station right away. If he could get a validation machine of about a dozen or several dozen tons, he would be satisfied. Being able to construct something above the 100-kilowatt level would be a victory.

What he didn’t know was that the provincial government would turn around, seek approval from the base, and even ask for Mr. Lin’s assistance.

Ding Biyun was also a part of the Dawn/Chang’e project and was present at the commendation ceremony with the team from Chang’an Technology University. Lin Ju, who had just received the system reward upon entering, saw his name and directly sat down next to him, hoping he could explain the project in more detail.

After the thought "You can’t possibly be serious" flashed through his mind, Ding Biyun began to discuss the project’s prospects with reserved excitement. After all, he was dealing with the head of a super aerospace company, not as easily swayed as a government official. It would be embarrassing if he pinpointed any flaws.

In reality, Lin Ju could hardly understand half of the content, but he maintained a calm demeanor, nodding slightly from time to time, which only increased Ding Biyun’s nervousness.

After a subtle exchange, Lin Ju felt that Professor Ding was composed and confident. There must be substance to his claims, and moreover, he had heard of his big name in the original timeline.

"Professor Ding, when do you think the first phase of the ’Sun Chasing’ project could be completed?"

According to Ding Biyun’s description, the 160-megawatt power station was just the beginning. The ultimate goal was to build the "Space Three Gorges" with a power output of 20,000 megawatts, expected to be part of the third phase of the project. It was an incredibly grand vision.

"Uh, roughly... four or five years?"

"Four or five years?" Lin Ju frowned, "Why so slow? Can’t it be done in one... two years? The Forward Space Station is only planned to be used for a little over a year, isn’t the Sun Chaser Project just about laying solar panels?

Didn’t you say that the domestic photovoltaic industry is mature and that adjusting the production line is easy? Don’t worry about the launch issues, last month we managed a 500-ton payload in just four days, four rockets would be enough for 1000 tons."

"..."

Ding Biyun really wanted to say that the preliminary testing phase alone would probably take about a year. To start building such a huge project straight away, has New Yuan always been this bold?

"Mr. Lin, actually..."

Lin Ju didn’t want to listen to any more technical jargon and somewhat impolitely interrupted him:

"To be honest, Professor Ding, New Yuan is very optimistic about this project, and the engineering difficulty is not considered high. If you can guarantee completion before 2019, I can directly submit a report to push this project forward. The province will resolve the funding issues, we’ll handle the installation and launch.

Just say the word, and the project will be approved."

Ding Biyun swallowed hard. The man before him, albeit less exposed, was known within the system to have the power to reach the skies. If he said it could be done, it truly could.

If he missed this opportunity, it would nearly be impossible for a university alone to take it to the stage of practical application.

He decided to take a big gamble.

"In a little over two years, more investment might be needed, the starting funds at a minimum..." Ding Biyun clenched his teeth and extended five fingers.

"50 billion. For such a large area of solar energy generation, cell maintenance will be a big issue. New research is necessary, along with large-scale production investment..."

Only 50 billion? As an infrastructure investment, Lin Ju felt that the amount was of a medium to low level. "Then you’d better start preparing the paperwork quickly, the higher-ups will probably want a detailed plan soon."

After the conversation ended, Lin Ju realized that the staff responsible for maintaining order on site were looking at him eagerly; only then did he realize he was in the front row.

Blame it on the habit of slacking off in various meetings before, he hoped the photographers hadn’t caught that on camera.

Why support a space power station? Aside from the systemic driving forces, if New Yuan officially starts the mining route, the scale of space construction would be extremely large. Better to pull up other projects to avoid drawing too much attention to oneself. After all, not every major space vessel could carry the XAP tag.

He had already sent a summary of the rewards he received back to the base via satellite; he estimated that Ye Changsi and Xie Liaofu were fully committed to devising plans.

...

"Should be able to eat today, right?"

Xie Miao carefully brought over a tray of food, meticulously prepared according to nutritional needs, ensuring both taste and nutrient intake.

Seven days had passed since Liu Si began his teeth replacement, and the teeth replacement period had taken just three short days, yet those three days brought great torment to Liu Si.

teeth were almost simultaneously jostling for position to emerge. Even though Han Zixing and a group of dental experts had loosened his original teeth beforehand, the immense pain of the new teeth coming in was almost no different from an extraction—without anesthesia!

After three days of continuous torment, although a set of healthy and aesthetically pleasing teeth finally came in, the excessive nerve stimulation had caused Liu Si to lose sensation in his mouth for a whole week, only able to consume liquid food. If it were not for Han Zixing’s assurances of a natural recovery, Xie Miao would have suspected something had gone wrong.

Yet, during these seven days, Liu Si’s physical condition had undergone an earth-shaking transformation.