Chapter 413 - 404: A Small Breakthrough_1

In the 2010s, the aerospace bureau had roughly planned the future process of lunar development.

It began with early unmanned exploration, namely the "Chang’e" series, from Chang’e 1 to Chang’e 8 missions which were all about conducting scientific exploration of the Moon and sampling. Around 2025, missions 9 and 10 would be executed, starting the construction of preliminary facilities for the Lunar Scientific Investigation Station.

According to the original plan, the aerospace bureau would organize manned lunar landings at this time, neatly dovetailing with the concluded Chang’e program.

Now, however, the "Chang’e" and "Dawn" were being carried out concurrently, which meant subsequent Chang’e series would streamline exploration projects to focus primarily on supporting the construction of the Scientific Investigation Station.

Whether they were from the aggressive faction or the conservative faction, there was consensus on this matter.

The main disagreement lay in whether to plan a lunar landing in advance. The issue had been debated from the top down for about half a month, but now with the rockets ready to launch, a final decision was certainly due.

The aggressive faction believed that although the Dawn program did not have as many launches as the Apollo program, the technological advancements were substantial and the landers had already made one actual landing, so there was absolutely no need for a mission to orbit the Moon first.

The conservative faction, prioritizing stability, believed that they had already gained an advantage over America. They argued that the first manned flight of the Long March 10 involved too great a risk to land on the Moon, and at most, they should replicate Dawn 2 and bring back some Moon Soil.

Both sides were engaged in heated exchanges until Lin Ju walked into the room, and those who supported the lunar landing were visibly enlivened; Academician She followed, and the conservatives found their anchor.

Although theoretically, the Big Shot in the meeting room had the highest decision-making power, Academician She was appointed by those above as the chief designer of the Dawn project, so it was necessary to win him over.

After taking his seat, Lin Ju did not immediately express his thoughts but instead took a sip of water before asking,

"Regardless of whether Dawn III will land on the Moon, it’s definitely in optimal condition. I want to know if it were to land on the Moon, what specific tasks would they have?"

An expert from the Fifth Academy answered him, "The landing module already carries two moon rovers and four types of scientific equipment. If we choose to land, apart from the symbolic procedures, the task would be to transport this equipment there, then bring some samples back, leaving the lander on the Moon to provide power and navigation for future Scientific Investigation Stations."

It was obvious that the first moon landing was about "seizing the first," a quick trip to minimize risks.

Lin Ju nodded, "Firstly, I want to say that New Yuan will officially start constructing the Lunar rare metal smelting base next month and plans to realize a route that will transport finished metals from the Moon back to Earth in bulk within the next two years;

The first two segments of the lunar space station have been manufactured and are expected to be launched at the beginning of July."

As he spoke, he distributed the prepared documents to everyone. They contained detailed explanations.

The U-Tu Lunar Orbit Space Station, consisting of a power supply and fuel storage module and a living quarters module, both with a diameter of 6 meters. The latter also has a docking port that can extend three large modules and dock two Dawn spacecraft.

Their weights are 18 tons and 52 tons, respectively. A LZ-2 rocket and a LZ-3 rocket have been prepared at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, ready to be sent.

Lin Ju was expressing his stance unequivocally with this approach: If Dawn III doesn’t land on the Moon, these two segments will waste half a year’s lifespan.

"U-Tu" is also a project commissioned by the Aerospace Development Committee and contracted to New Yuan. The aerospace bureau is paying half the costs for joint operation, so it’s essentially in-house.

However, what shocked those present even more was the mention of initiating moon mining operations. The leap from landing on the Moon to mass mining was quite a stretch!

The focal point of discussion suddenly shifted from Dawn III to New Yuan’s lunar development plan. Academician She glanced at the situation and exchanged looks with the Big Shot.

Vice Chairman Lin’s tactical prowess was showing, and it seemed to be working effectively.

Upon reconsideration of the previous upper-level hints about lunar landing... well, now that there was widespread belief in the necessity of landing on the Moon, any further delay would likely evoke criticism.

...

"Are we really going to do this?"

After the meeting was dismissed, several members of the Development Committee stayed behind for a smaller gathering.

Although Lin Ju had revealed plans to develop the Moon half a month ago in Capital and had even briefed numerous private aerospace enterprises, Big Shot had not expected things to move so quickly.

"You know our capacity for action. From sending the equipment to bringing stuff back, the specifics of the plan are pretty much laid out.

The only thing we are missing in terms of landing on the Moon is a method for touching down on the surface, but we are already preparing one."

"Reusable?"

"Reusable, and with the capacity to carry at least a 15-ton payload for both ascent and descent, available in cargo, fuel transport, and manned versions."

To New Yuan, MTV is just a minor matter; Big Shot believes it will take at most a few months to develop and could even be commissioned before the end of the year.

Combined with a nuclear-powered spaceplane and the Lunar Orbit Space Station, this entire system is significantly more valuable than traditional rocket construction, especially in terms of the spaceplane’s atmospheric reentry and descent transportation capabilities, which are precisely what traditional methods lack.

So, how should the smelting phase be carried out?

Rare earth elements, due to their unique properties differentiated from common precious metals, require not only high-temperature electric furnaces for smelting but also a considerable amount of accompanying chemical raw materials and other facilities. Even for an extremely low annual output of 100 tons, the volume and mass of the necessary equipment present a challenge.

Is the plan to develop a new process on a different path, or make miracles happen with a gigantic rocket to brute-force the delivery?

In response to this question, Lin Ju had already prepared an extremely scaled-down feasibility report on the research of a laser smelting satellite.

The 170-ton behemoth provided by the system is too frightening, capable of supporting a converter that can produce a daily output of 800 to 1000 tons of pig iron. It’s far more than what we need at present.

To reduce the pressure of base development and cut costs, the laser power output of the smelting satellite actually planned for deployment is 1MW, with an overall mass of about 30 tons.

It will work in conjunction with two 30-ton class steel furnaces, with a maximum annual output of 10,000 tons.

The global demand for rare metals is limited, and so is the transport capacity, a few hundred tons at most annually, not exceeding a thousand tons. The remaining capacity is intended for producing construction steel.

A steel output of ten thousand tons is worth nothing on Earth; even a simple blast furnace can outperform it.

But on the Moon, even just producing a thousand tons of steel a year is excessively abundant for the construction needs of the base.

Academician She glanced at the proposed production date: around 2019.

"Well, Harbin Tech’s 3D printing moon soil construction technique can be halted. With ten thousand tons of steel, the Moon’s structures can simply be made with steel exteriors."

Big Shot: "Never mind an annual output of ten thousand tons, even a hundred tons would suffice. It could be used to repair the base, lay railways, and even the construction of lunar cities could start to take shape.

However, do you know how to smelt steel in space? Especially with this laser smelting satellite, a 1MW laser source, a high-power reactor—

These issues, let alone two years, might not be tackled even in five."

Lin Ju calmly took out a tablet and pulled up a paper.

"On the Feasibility of Using Gaseous Plasma as a Reflective Mirror to Enhance Laser Directivity and Focusing Accuracy (Ye Changsi)"

"We may indeed not be very skilled in laser technology, but we have made a bit of a breakthrough with other technologies."