Chapter 618 - 605: Docking

Up until now, all probes targeting the four giant planets were launched in the last century.

The absence of follow-up missions is essentially due to obsolescence. As the situation changes, people are increasingly unwilling to invest in these exploration programs that span several decades.

Moreover, after the information explosion, people have gained a profound understanding of technological development: rather than spending 30 years to send a probe that would be extremely outdated by the time it arrives, it makes more sense to wait 25 years and then spend five years to send one that is a hundred times more powerful.

Especially after missing the once-in-nearly-two-hundred-years opportunity of the alignment of the four planets, waiting for new space technology became an inevitable choice.

The emergence of A100 was exactly the revolutionary space technology that the IAU needed.

With just a little fuel, the nuclear propulsion system could work continuously for several days, and the reactor’s lifespan is up to several decades, which means abundant power redundancy and unimaginable electricity supply for deep space probes—crucial beyond the asteroid belt.

Voyager 1 needed several hours to transmit 1MB of data, and there was a significant chance of data loss, but with a nuclear reactor, increasing the transmission power by 100 times could be done effortlessly.

It also supported a dramatic increase in the mass of the probes. Previously, hundreds of tons of rockets were needed to send a probe weighing less than 1 ton; now, probes weighing dozens of tons could be sent to Earth’s orbit to make their way independently.

Coupled with the tremendous technological advancements, this represents an exponential increase in probing capabilities.

Such probes also have the great advantage of long lifespans; they won’t have to crash on the target planets due to limited maneuverability and can fly around with endless power.

The appeal to the astronomical community was undeniable, so the 15th and 16th Committees had no trouble getting academic support after making the rounds. The main challenge still lay with international borders.

Only now have they possibly convinced those with other objections and gained the confidence to approach New Yuan for collaboration.

Lin Ju wasn’t too doubtful about how much money they could contribute. As long as certain obstacles could be overcome, collecting several billion US dollars worldwide should not be a problem.

The last 17-nation joint deep space exploration project was the "Cassini" Saturn probe. As the largest and heaviest in history, with a mass of 5.7 tons and a sub-probe, its mission spanned 11 years and cost over 3.4 billion US dollars in total.

That was 3.4 billion US dollars before 1998!

Even if the world has somewhat degraded now, raising another 3.4 billion US dollars should definitely be feasible.

Assuming 2 billion US dollars is spent on scientific instruments, the remaining 1.4 billion would be equivalent to 9.4 billion RMB for the base, which would be enough to develop several sub-models based on A100 and manage the manufacturing of three or four platforms.

Lin Ju doesn’t plan to profit from this, so he is not stingy about doing a good deed. If the IAU really pushes the project forward, the results will be shared, which is already sufficient.

Moreover, if the IAU launches the fundraising, the domestic response will definitely contribute, and there might even be a considerable gain.

Having understood all this, he had already made his decision and instructed Xiao Okada:

"Have Qingshan Base calculate how much it would cost to develop a few low-thrust models based on A100, and then convert the unit cost to US dollars for their quote.

Tell them we just want the cost price like this, and we would even finance them if not for the myriad of other projects taking up our resources. Once the project is established, I will donate 20 million US dollars in my personal name as support for astronomy.

This matter has great potential. Think about how to manage it and report any troubles immediately."

"No problem, as our old saying goes, ’Borrow a hen to lay an egg’!"

"Oh? Xiao Xiao, you’ve made quite some progress!"

"All thanks to the wisdom of our ancestors, too much honor, too much honor."

...

"I’m back, little garbage station!"

Victor Glover pushed open the docking port’s hatch, spread his arms wide, and shouted into the empty space of the "Gateway" space station.

Clearly, this was what he referred to as the "little garbage station."

And it was a fitting description indeed; the evacuation during the Artemis II mission had been hasty, leaving the already cramped space station cluttered with unorganized packages and equipment floating around in the weightless environment.

It was now 23:14 in the evening of the 23rd, Capital time, and Artemis III had successfully docked with the "Gateway" in just an hour and a half.

According to NACA’s reports, Dawn One had arrived about six hours ahead of schedule and was probably still tidying up the Black Rabbit Space Station.

In comparison to that behemoth, the "Gateway" was pitifully small. Both the "Origin" lander and the OSS refueling pod were heavier than it, which had already been excluded from the space station’s roster by Victor.

"Make some room for Victor; Jeremy and I will go check the lander first. He’ll clean up here later; you move the landing supplies out of the spaceship."

Vice Commander Wiseman gave out orders without any regard for hierarchy, as if he were the commander himself.

But Victor harbored no feelings of rebellion. While this classic old white guy was dull, his military experience taught him that Wiseman was a trustworthy partner.

"Alright, alright. I know you want to save time."

"Actually, I think we can win."

While retrieving the lander’s data, Jeremy didn’t forget to express his opinion over the radio:

"Their battleship must take much longer to prepare than us; a destroyer has its own advantages."

The "battleship" was their nickname for Chapter 9, as it was a "Big Boat," abbreviated as BB, just like a battleship (naval terminology BB).

In contrast, "Origin" seemed petite like a destroyer (DD) next to it. This way of referring to spacecraft as naval ships had become popular within NACA.

"But the meaning of a battleship and a destroyer is different, isn’t it?"

Wiseman rarely made sarcastic remarks, but the technology gap between the two teams for this lunar landing, compared to five months earlier, was so vast that even he found it hard to accept.

"You both have good points, Jeremy. You have six packs of curry chicken in your supplies; I want to trade for three of them."

...

Meanwhile, at the Black Rabbit Space Station.

After a comfortable sleep, Deng Lei pushed open the sliding door of his bedroom and found Li Wei already awake, leaning against the porthole gazing at the moon, while the other two were still catching up on sleep.

They were also preparing for the landing mission, but the inspection of Chapter 9 did not require their involvement.

This time Dawn One brought three companions for the old Lunar 14 on the moon’s surface, who were under ground control settling supplies and conducting inspections, allowing the four astronauts to rest assuredly, preserving their energy to the maximum.

Deng floated over to the space station’s flight deck and pulled up the status of the Gateway Space Station detected by Laurel III, discovering that Artemis III had also successfully docked.

Chapter 9 decided to conduct the landing mission at 09:00 on the 24th, in over 9 hours. If Artemis III acted swiftly, they might land first.

However, he did not care about the order of landing. The outcome of the competition had already been decided.