Chapter 667 - 648: The Ruses of the Martial World

The aerospace tribute on New Year’s Eve of 2018 seemed rather modest compared to the past three years, but it was much more approachable to the public.

This time, the demonstration took place in Qinling, where the local government organized thousands of participants who gathered in a suburban area.

Each person was given a lantern with differing designs that blended traditional and technological elements; none were particularly exquisite or beautiful, but they all shared one common feature:

They had no batteries, only a receiving coil connected to an energy-saving light bulb.

Once everyone was ready, Chiwu No. 3 transmitted microwaves over a wide area at very low power so that each lantern received no more than 1 watt, a power level that would not have any adverse effects on the human body or devices.

Still, when nearly ten thousand lanterns suddenly lit up in the darkness, accompanied by countless exclamations of surprise, it delivered a profound and direct shock to all participants.

Every pair of eyes inevitably looked up into the night sky, hoping to locate that magical man-made object that transmitted electricity from a distance of 36,000 kilometers—nearly 90% of the length of the equator.

There were also those technically adept who managed to combine the receiver with the newly released wireless charging smartphones, successfully charging their phones with "space power."

Originally, the Aerospace Development Committee had proposed allowing Chiwu No. 3 to alternately cover multiple New Year’s Eve celebration venues across the country, distributing low-power wireless chargers for people to experience wireless power transmission with their phones, but this was cautiously vetoed in the end.

The main concern was the unknown impact of such a wide coverage area; moreover, the demand for wireless communication at the event sites was high, and microwave transmission could potentially interfere with the normal functioning of a significant portion of electronic devices, forcing a downscale to a suburban demonstration.

As for the bold speculation by many netizens before the show that a nuclear bomb might be set off as a firework, it naturally didn’t happen. Instead, it was interesting when four astronauts from the Moon, representing United Mining, sent New Year’s wishes to the nation and showcased the cutting-edge T7 mobile Moon Base, even digging out a lump of turbid lunar ice from the ice mining site with a shovel on the spot.

The entire Year of the Dog Spring Festival was still celebrated within a high-tech atmosphere, but a small number of people noticed that the pace of aerospace developments seemed quicker than before.

...

February 22, the seventh day of the New Year, in the Capital.

For Lin Ju, the seven-day holiday flew by almost imperceptibly, and he returned to the Capital on the very day he resumed work.

One reason was that he himself was in charge of Project 210, which made it more convenient to conduct technical and other exchanges here; another was the preparations for the Mars exploration plan that were being pursued vigorously.

Tianwen-1 probe had been manufactured and was undergoing further testing and checks, while the progress of the three other similar probes was nearing completion.

As for Tianwen-5, also known as Chapter 9, its sister vessel that still needed naming, its framework had been completed at New Yuan, and it could finish fitting out by April, ready for launch.

However, compared to the relatively smooth technical aspects, the exploration program began to show the drawbacks of being hastily assembled, with discussions and adjustments of the specific landing site and exploration targets still needed.

Upon entering the Aerospace Development Committee office, Lin Ju heard Zhong Cheng on the phone, complaining about something without any attempt to hide it.

The latter gestured to him when he saw him arrive, said a few more words, and then hung up before rebuking:

"These scammers are at it again, using the aerospace industry as a front to deceive people!"

"What’s the situation?"

Confronted with the question, Zhong Cheng hesitated, but still gritted his teeth and explained:

"My mother-in-law got hoodwinked into buying an energy-saving lamp. The scammers told her it was the kind of space-powered lamp that had been featured on the Spring Festival Gala, with no battery needed for electricity—just press the switch, and it would light up for free.

They also peddled a power-saving device using the same principle, claiming it could save electricity bills by using "space electricity" when plugged into a socket, and it cost a full four thousand yuan!

It’s not that I care about the four thousand yuan, but this, this... this..."

Lin Ju: "..."

These "space electricity" lights are, of course, nothing but a scammer’s trick; in fact, we have seen this kind of thing before, but back then they would tell you straight up that the light doesn’t use electricity and just has a battery inside.

Now they’ve just updated their pitch; the product is probably still the same, but I still have to admire these scammers’ keen sense of chasing trends.

Even Director Zhong’s mother-in-law got duped, which shows that this trend is not small...

Zhong Cheng: "I’ve already asked someone to look into it, and there must be many people who have been scammed. We need to debunk this and issue a public notice immediately!"

After freaking out for quite a while, Zhong Cheng finally forced himself to calm down and started walking inside with Lin Ju, chatting as they walked:

"There are two candidates for the naming of the Tianwen-5 spacecraft, one is the human name ’Zhong Yao,’ and the other is ’Zhu Rong.’ Which one do you prefer?"

Lin Ju: "Let’s go with ’Zhu Rong.’ Human names should be reserved for probes or spaceships with more... profound significance. Chapter 9 was the first of the XH40, so that’s a different story, but for the Mars mission, ’Zhu Rong’ is more fitting.

Initially, when you designed the MTV it was also named ’Zhu Rong,’ so it’s fitting to use it."

"Then I’ll bring it up later..."

Zhong Cheng also favored the name ’Zhu Rong.’ In China, unlike abroad, there isn’t much of a tradition of using famous people’s names for things. That was the case before, and it still is now.

"There’s also something else: we’ve come to an agreement with Russia and Italy. In April, we will execute the first joint Moon landing by international astronauts, using the Dawn IV Spaceship, to begin construction on the Guanghan Palace Base.

They proposed to purchase a batch of Explorer II Model robots for exploration and construction tasks, and we agreed."

With the Dawn IV mission date set, it indicates that the benefit exchange was very satisfactory. Lin Ju was not too concerned about these matters, and of course, he had no objections to purchasing Explorer Series Robots.

"No problem, United Mining can also prepare to buy a batch; they can even ride them around."

The Explorer II hadn’t been manufactured in quite a while, not just because it wasn’t needed temporarily, but also because it was undergoing continuous improvements.

It has been proven that, although it is undoubtedly a consumable with heavy usage, it is cheap and versatile, and in the long term, it is an indispensable excellent labor force, especially when humanoid robots are temporarily inconvenient to be used publicly.

The biggest change in the latest modification plan is the folding seat, placed on the back of the Explorer, which lets astronauts traverse hills and valleys much more excitingly compared to using a Moon rover.

As for when humanoid robots will appear in front of the public, the base already has a plan for that.

In the original timeline, the trend for humanoid robot development wouldn’t start until after 2020, with OpenAI leading a significant revolution in the entire artificial intelligence industry. Tesla began promoting humanoid robots in 2021, and before Lin Ju’s rebirth, artificial intelligence models were already capable of controlling humanoid robots to follow commands and move fluidly.

In this timeline, thanks to Xin’an’s early-birth intelligent driving System, mainstream companies have been continuously increasing their AI investments, and overall, they are about a year and a half ahead of schedule.

Now it’s basically possible to start promoting the concept of "making humanoid robots" to the outside world and then gradually reveal them. By the eve of manned missions to Mars or Saturn, it will be appropriate to publicly disclose their historical significance to a limited extent.