Chapter 557 - 545 Choice of Treatment_1

The expansion of "U-Tu" is remarkably simple, merely requiring the addition of nearly identical compartment modules atop the original Core Module, allowing the space station’s permanent crew capacity to increase to around 10 people, and its operational mass to surge to over 200 tons.

As for the construction of the Lunar Residential Area, there was a debate between 3D printing and local manufacturing, but initially sending up ready-made habitat modules was the most convenient.

Eight standard modules, each weighing about 20 tons and measuring 14*7*5 meters, could be arranged internally to serve various functions. They would be divided into four living modules, one service module, one agriculture module, and two transitional/equipment modules.

The four living modules, connected in a cross layout via a node module, would provide a total living area of 300 square meters and 12 rooms, sufficient to accommodate 20 astronauts.

The other four functional modules would also dock to the node module, forming a shape like the character "米". This constitutes the main structure of Yushu No. 1 Base, all made up of prefabricated habitat modules.

The chosen location for Yushu Base was around the Kuom Impact Crater, where even the future detonation of hydrogen bombs would not cause any impact.

These matters were already on the discussion agenda of the Aerospace Development Committee; Xie Liaofu’s proposal was a bit more ambitious than what Academician She had envisioned, but they were quite similar overall.

Academician She, "So, how much do you plan to budget for this?"

Xie Liaofu, "Manufacturing of the modules will cost within 3 billion, three giant launch missions, and eight heavy launch missions, with a total not exceeding 60 billion yuan."

Academician She, "Then... the Space Administration will contribute 60 billion yuan. There’s a little left in this year’s budget, so let’s allocate it to this project.

The four functional modules will be manufactured by us, and we’ll add a science module to the expansion plan for U-Tu, with a total investment of 80 billion yuan."

When Academician She spoke, there was hardly any fluctuation in emotion. The basic budget of the Space Administration for the following year was around 160 billion yuan, of which about 50 billion could be allocated for new projects.

This roughly equates to 23.5 billion US dollars, which is not even half of what NACA had in 2016, but they could certainly accomplish much more with it.

...

Fugoka Town.

Tian Zhan was still dressed in the formal attire he had arrived in. He now stood on the second-floor balcony of the IAEA local office, watching the crowd shouting and raising banners outside, as they were held back by the soldiers... members of the Emergency Support and Rescue Team.

The plan to equip the Emergency Support and Rescue Team with uniform orange work clothes hadn’t been completed yet, and the teams from the other four countries were still in preparation, resulting in a situation that appeared somewhat like American troops suppressing democratic citizens.

However, Colonel Bailey, standing next to Tian Zhan, was far from tense. He was barely concealing a desire to laugh.

In stark contrast was Tian Zhan’s stern expression. The military personnel from the other three parties also sported peculiar looks.

The cause of all this was quite perplexing—the demonstrators insisted on accepting only America’s hydrogen bombs, objecting to donations from other countries, especially those from their neighbors.

One could imagine Tian Zhan’s expression upon learning the reason behind their protest. Aside from reporting it, he personally didn’t even know how to begin critiquing the situation.

The IAEA’s decision to use force to resolve the Fukushima nuclear accident had caused a huge stir on the island. A large number of officials, to avoid trouble, had fallen ill or resigned. It had gotten to the point where credible spokespersons were all but non-existent. Even Hao Gong had announced to the public that due to "health reasons," all responsibilities would be handed over to the cabinet.

A passive attitude in itself is a form of resistance. The opposing voices among the citizens were significant, but all were strictly suppressed. Still, the IAEA’s operations were advancing steadily forward.

Seeing that the IAEA had received authorization from the United Nations, and there was no stopping it, the public lowered their demands. They shifted from "opposing all nuclear weapons" to "at least don’t bomb us in turns, especially the two neighbors!"

Tian Zhan merely observed with detachment. Domestic survey teams had already arrived a few days earlier. They brought specially modified helicopters and detection vehicles to continuously carry out precise positioning of the designated Reactor Core No. 1 before adjusting the missile’s embedded coordinates.

Colonel Bailey, along with the UK delegates and the hair-brained chickens who were ready to stir the pot, was all too eager to escalate the situation, constantly egging Tian Zhan on:

"These protesters don’t understand IAEA’s struggles at all, Tian. They should be forcibly removed."

"Exactly, we are less than 10 kilometers away from the nuclear power station. Over a thousand people have traveled here by car specifically to protest. There must be a conspiracy, we must throw a heavy punch!"

"Why don’t you guys give up? Hand the funding over to Sandis National Laboratory. We also possess ground drilling bombs."

Tian Zhan ignored all the sarcasm and provocation, but the Russian officer beside him couldn’t hold back and said viciously:

"Tomorrow, when the Tu-95s are on patrol, they will pass by here. Our opinions will only be expressed by bomber planes!"

Then, he poked Tian Zhan who was standing beside him.

"Tian, how about we join forces and patrol together?"

"Sergey... this is all arranged domestically, and I’m not clear on it. I’m about to retire."

"..."

Sergey immediately lost interest in watching further and turned away. Tian Zhan followed him, but as soon as he turned around, he saw his aide-de-camp signaling from a distance that there was a response from the homeland.

He hurried back to his room to answer the call from his superiors, and his tightly furrowed brows suddenly relaxed in the middle of the conversation, unintentionally revealing a slight smile.

"Yes! I ensure the mission will be completed with guidance!"

...

Desert Base.

In the northwest early morning, the sunshine had already pierced through the cloudless blue sky, illuminating the earth, making it hard for the unfamiliar to discern the precise time.

Two months ago, "Xuehu," the aircraft that had made a notorious name for itself on its maiden flight, reappeared at the head of the runway. However, its appearance had undergone some changes since its first flight.

Firstly, the color had changed from a slightly dirty grey-white to a pure grey, and the prototype number on the nose had disappeared, replaced by the white numbers "55101" sprayed on the tail fin, indicating that it had entered service as the first H-10 bomber with a certain maritime aviation unit.

In the last two months, this Xuehu received several improvements. Not only were the previous defects thoroughly inspected and repaired, but it was also retrofitted with a set of experimental radar and electro-optical systems, gaining a degree of combat capability, and was coated with stealth paint.

During the last flight test, this prototype lacked both radar and stealth coating, and the pilots had to rely entirely on ground guidance. Once they crossed the border, they were flying blind.

A week ago, the higher-ups decided to let this prototype aircraft enter active service in advance, but it was still under the name of the maritime aviation unit and actually commanded by the Northwestern Command, to be improved while in service, first resolving any issues.

Mainly because Xuehu had caused quite the commotion. Recently, the frequency of spy activities had sharply increased. Instead of cautiously hiding it, it was better to flaunt it and scare people, and even a little exposure wasn’t necessarily a bad idea.

Now its combat power was only about one quarter of the mass-produced version, but it was still enough to complete a cruising mission alone in a single aircraft.

This flying mission was still piloted by Lei Qing, with the co-pilot and weapons officer being Huang Sheng, who had just transferred over as a test pilot. They would complete this flying mission together.