Chapter 502 - 493 Stirring the Waters_1

"Do you support using hydrogen bombs to assist mining on the Moon?"

John opened today’s hot searches on Baidu, and the first item was an anonymous poll initiated by the officials.

After he clicked to support, the results up to now were displayed:

76.4 million votes in favor, 8.74 million votes against, with an approval rate of 90%.

Hmm, it seems that the Chinese people quite like the proposal.

John put down his phone and fell into deep thought.

Mining on the Moon with hydrogen bombs might sound like a joke at first, but after a recent live connection with experts from the Sandia National Laboratory, they had confirmed the feasibility of this approach.

Not only is it feasible, but it is also indeed cost-effective. Even for a super hydrogen bomb weighing 50 tons, the cost, including transportation expenses, is cheaper by two to three orders of magnitude than conventional methods.

And strictly speaking, transporting hydrogen bombs is quite simple: existing missiles will suffice.

Intermediate and intercontinental ballistic missiles can reach low Earth orbit on their own, and it’s even more convenient to collect them there and send them to the Moon.

The Pentagon also conducted an in-depth analysis of this matter, but mainly to analyze the intentions behind China’s government doing this.

First was the military threat, the Pentagon did not believe that deploying nuclear weapons on the Moon would create any significant power situation changes, hence it wasn’t worth breaching taboos, so this project could essentially be confirmed as only for its stated purpose and not for any ulterior motives;

The second was the attitude of putting it out for tender. Anyone with a slight understanding of international relations could comprehend its true purpose: to drag others into the fray.

Their government didn’t want to become the target of public criticism and might want to pull closer allies like Russia and France into involvement, possibly everyone, but in any case, they didn’t want to shoulder the blame alone.

So, what was the stance of the other four parties?

John felt there were still plenty of tricks being played, although there was significant external criticism, the other three hydrogen bomb-possessing countries had not made a peep, which in itself was telling.

America remained silent too because this wasn’t necessarily without benefits for itself.

The American military thought it was worth a shot, having conducted one outer atmospheric hydrogen bomb airburst test, but there had been no attempts at nuclear blasts on extraterrestrial bodies. If they could obtain some data that would be nice as they had plenty of nuclear bombs to spare. Using a couple could also be a good way to check their maintenance status.

In any case, United Mining was calling for bids and was definitely going to pay, so selling hydrogen bombs would surely be profitable.

Of course, there was another little thought hidden away that they couldn’t speak of openly, which was the hope to gradually militarize space through this opportunity. Previously, opposition to space armament was due to terrestrial confrontations exhausting all efforts, but now space is the future trend, and the Air Force... no, the Space Force wanted to turn its literal meaning into reality.

For John, this matter... he didn’t have a strong opposition to it.

Previous failures of America on the Moon had put it temporarily at a disadvantage, but detonating a few hydrogen bombs on the lunar surface, if nothing else, would certainly serve to deter wavering allies. Plus, could they perhaps learn something from the Chinese people’s experience?

While he was contemplating, the office door was pushed open by Sullivan, followed by a soldier and an old man in a suit.

"This is Naldo, Space Force Colonel; Jon, director of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory."

Sullivan introduced the two men behind him, then continued:

"Jon and Naldo have established... the Alabama Engineering Machinery Technology Company, a company with DARPA support that can participate in the United Mining tender."

John: "..."

While he was still undecided, the military had already made a decision.

"Exporting hydrogen bombs, do you know what that means? Congress would definitely need to have several inquiries, and you’ll have to convince the senators, then persuade the public before you can go out and participate in the bidding. After winning the bid, the procurement agreement would require Congressional approval, which is very complicated."

Naldo stepped forward and replied:

"Maybe it doesn’t have to be so troublesome. If United Mining chooses to package the blasting part of mining to let us take on the contract, then there would not be an issue of exporting hydrogen bombs. The hydrogen bombs have always been ours, to use them is our business, and it has nothing to do with anyone else."

John: "So how many do we sell? A few? Or do we supply a sufficient amount?"

"This..."

"I hope I’m not too late."

Claire, who had evolved into a staff officer, rushed in, closed the door, and said with a burning gaze:

"NACA supports this project, and we must win the bid, we must be involved."

John, unable to deny, spread his hands to signal him to continue.

Claire: "First of all, our hydrogen bomb detonators must be in our hands, right? Others know nothing about our hydrogen bombs, don’t know how to protect them, don’t know their precautions, and even if the yield is the same the explosion models are different; these are facts."

The senior insiders, Naldo and Jon, nodded in agreement, and John and Sullivan also acknowledged that the entire process, from transportation to detonation, must be under our strict supervision; this condition is non-negotiable.

Claire: "Therefore, we would rather not take money for free—or sell it to them at a low price, but to ensure safety, we must let our technical experts inspect the site and participate throughout the process."

"Oh, oh, oh!"

John understood and couldn’t help but cheer.

Claire continued to press:

"The Chinese are progressing much faster on the Moon than us; we must understand and master more information about the Moon and space. It will be a long time before the next Artemis mission, but with this event, we can send our people up to obtain a lot of valuable firsthand information.

For example, how to build a base on the Moon? How to plan the locations of various systems? What are the technical challenges of lunar mining? The more detailed geological composition of the Moon? There’s nothing like going up and seeing for yourself.

This will also greatly enhance our presence; we cannot let the Aerospace Development Committee take all the glory."

Naldo clapped his hands in excitement; although the military had similar ideas, they were not as concrete and had not thought so much. At a glance, it was clear that there were many benefits to participating if we could take a few people along.

Having hydrogen bombs in storage was only a waste of millions of dollars on maintenance every year; taking them out could reduce the burden and gain lots of benefits—it seemed like a great idea.

John: "Do we provide all the hydrogen bombs to the Chinese? Do we have the capability?"

He looked at Joan, who confidently replied:

"Although we don’t have a super high-yield hydrogen bomb ready for immediate use, we can disassemble the core from the existing bombs and retrofit it. Without the constraints of size and weight, this process is very fast and will definitely be on schedule; 20 hydrogen bombs is not a lot at all."

Sullivan, after careful consideration, also felt there was no big issue and spoke up:

"Then I’ll go contact the Chinese to test the waters, ask how much they are willing to spend, then we’ll adjust our price."

John immediately instructed him to go ahead, while the remaining people began discussing in the office. This was no small matter; there were many specific aspects to consider.

Detonating hydrogen bombs on the Moon was much more interesting to John than a mess of trivial tasks. After two hours of discussion, they saw Sullivan re-enter the door.

"How did it go?"

All four pairs of eyes looked at Sullivan, but the latter’s expression was somewhat subtle:

"The Chinese embassy told us to contact United Mining directly; United Mining welcomed our bid and hoped that we would quickly become the third bidder."

John: "The first bidder must be their own company, and the second? Russia or the Frenchman?"

"The first is indeed Huaxia Nuclear." Sullivan first confirmed John’s guess, then with a constipated expression, said:

"The second is Rolls Royce; they submitted their bid 10 hours ago!"