Chapter 668 - 649 Test Drive

"Five probes, five exploration points."

Zhong Cheng rested his hands on the conference table as a vastly detailed, highly intricate, and colorful laser-projected map of Mars floated before everyone.

The whiteboard, once frequently used for PowerPoint presentations, had become seldom used as most people preferred the more sci-fi laser projectors.

This table, donated by New Yuan after the Skylight-3 mission, employed the newest laser technology and made a large area three-dimensional color projection possible for the first time—its precision already at the level of mid-to-high-end projectors.

There were no market equivalents, and Zhong Cheng could tell from the rich and precise components he saw during the installation and the terrifying amount of electricity it consumed when switched on that its value was undoubtedly high.

But the advantages were obvious. Now, during meetings, there was a feeling of commanding the stars from amidst them, a flick of the finger could bring up a vast star map of the Solar System, and operators could even feel a transcendental lightness, as if they had left Earth behind.

The floating map of Mars highlighted five locations, each the result of meticulous selection by groups of experts.

Lin Ju glanced over them, then slightly furrowed his brow.

These probes were all too far from Zero Plain, especially the Tianwen-5, on which the base had pinned high hopes; it was assigned to the south polar ice caps due to its importance.

That area of Mars was considered the most likely to contain water, and water was the cornerstone for the operation of the full set of chemical equipment carried by Zhu Rong.

The base still planned to send probes to Zero Plain, not by separate launch but stowed in Zhu Rong’s cargo hold, which could carry 60 tons—fitting a Mars rover within was an easy task.

The added Mars rover weighed around four tons, was nuclear-powered, and equipped with both robots and drones, allowing for extremely wide detection ranges.

The original plan was for Zhu Rong to land on the fringe of the south pole and then the newly added large Mars rovers would slowly make their way to the vicinity of Zero Plain.

But the south pole was too far away; even if the nuclear-powered rovers could make the journey, there was a high risk they might break down en route due to mechanical failures.

However, he had no intention of changing the goals the space agency had already set. After thinking a moment, he added, "The landing site for Zhu Rong is right above the south pole, where the terrain isn’t suitable for constructing habitat zones and the value isn’t particularly high. We should look for future habitation spots at slightly lower latitudes around the south pole."

As he said this, he placed his hand near the midpoint of the line from Zero Plain to the south pole, where the terrain shown was relatively flat.

"Let’s add another Mars rover, under the name of our university-corporate partnership. The R&D costs are mostly shared already, so it won’t cost us much more."

Lin Ju had prepared to drive the initiative independently, to avoid being stalled by budgetary rejections, but the reality was beyond his expectations.

After listening, Zhong Cheng seriously looked at the area where Lin Ju was pointing for a short while, then looked around and asked, "What does everyone else think?"

After a few scattered responses, Zhong Cheng decisively made his decision, "When you’re covered in fleas, you don’t notice a few more bites, five probes or six doesn’t make much difference. Let’s just go ahead and assign Tianwen-6’s serial number. Lin, can New Yuan deliver in time for launch?"

"Um..." Lin Ju, still in shock from his decisiveness, hesitated before replying, "Of course, no problem. All of these use a standard chassis."

In fact, from the nuclear-powered ice mining vehicles on the Moon to the "Firefly" series of Mars rovers in the Tianwen series, although there was some variation in volume and weight, the chassis as well as the structure and components were essentially universal designs. This not only reduced costs but also greatly increased delivery speed.

"Then there’s nothing to debate," Zhong Cheng continued, "Many of us here have also been involved in the deep space exploration plan’s validation studies. We must understand that the space race has now reached a fever pitch, and our goal has shifted from merely touching the unknown to understanding it.

The first factor to consider isn’t money but how far and wide we can expand our horizon."

...

In the northwest, at some digital code-named base.

While the Capital was abuzz with discussions of the Mars project, Xie Liaofu was experiencing the sandstorms of the Great Gobi firsthand.

Rong City, the major city closest to the western region, also experienced strong winds in the spring and autumn, but compared to the real gales of the vast northwest, they were downright tame.

In one sentence: The sandstorms of the northwest are strong enough to kill!

Even if you’re lucky enough not to be buried by sand, just breathing in the sand-laden storms for a bit longer could cause serious respiratory illnesses.

Fortunately, Xie Liaofu was well-protected, rarely venturing outside needlessly.

Now, wrapped in the kind of scarf common among the local minority, he followed a local major to a nearby test site.

This place was once an underground nuclear test facility that had not been put into use, but later it was converted into a nuclear engine testing ground where every A100 engine had to be fully tested before leaving the factory.

The weather today was not good, but the testing work still proceeded as scheduled.

Because the engine being tested today is codenamed "Mount Everest," its internal name is NPAE.

After more than two years of development, this engine, which together with the A100 locks down the upper limit of the fission engine, finally made its debut.

When the first two prototypes were shipped out, the Space Agency was still somewhat in disbelief that their development was completed.

Now, only one engine is installed on the test bench, and it has completed the pre-test preparations and is about to start its trial run.

Accompanying Xie Liaofu was Dou Ping, who had been promoted again and had begun to be responsible for the vast majority of key national defense equipment; he arrived at the scene in person this time.

"Mr. Xie, this time we have set up a new test bench for you guys. I hope it won’t disappoint us," Dou Ping said.

Nuclear engine test benches are all built on the foundations of underground nuclear test pits. The A100 had already taken one, leaving the base with two more test benches.

The reason for deploying a new test bench was because New Yuan promised that the radiation value of the NPAE’s exhaust was so low that it met the requirements for direct emission into the atmosphere, and using a test bench previously occupied by the A100 might affect pollution measurement results.

But failure to meet the standard would mean that the last test bench would need to be used for another test, and the amount of engineering work required to construct a new nuclear engine test bench in the northwest was clearly not small.

"Don’t worry, I’m still counting on you guys to modify Project 909," Xie Liaofu said.

Xie Liaofu, with a smile hidden beneath his scarf, was hopeful as New Yuan planned to also pitch the NPAE to the military, and they were the last ones who wanted to see any negligence.

In Project 909, the military ordered five H2N aero-space planes at once, but their enthusiasm waned quickly after the advent of the aero-space plane, with the funds for the four remaining H2Ns essentially coming from the original order for four more H2N aero-space planes.

However, they were only asking to "slow down" on the remaining four, as the payload capacity of the aero-space plane was far less than that of the space plane, and they were still in a wait-and-see phase.

Just one week ago, on the 10th day of the Lunar New Year, the "Liuyun" aero-space plane was officially delivered to the military and had already flown to Qiongzhou to join the "Cloud Ascend" in starting its flight plan.

According to the base’s previous sales plan, Xie Liaofu took the opportunity of the NPAE endurance test to draw up grand visions for the NPAE-powered aero-space plane.

After the nuclear propulsion modification, the increased payload capacity to 65 tons was extremely tempting. Aside from cargo with special size requirements, it would effortlessly outclass all space planes and rockets smaller than the heavy-lift class.

In the future, a single aero-space plane could carry two to three hundred people into space with ease, the cost of deploying various military satellites would plummet, and armed with laser weapons, it was virtually the perfect prototype for the future Space Force.

According to the military’s latest theories on space stations, the development of the Space Force would go through several phases, from near-Earth space to the Moon, within the asteroid belt, and finally toward deep space.

The first priority was, of course, near-Earth space. Then, based on the A100, the feasibility of a military presence within the asteroid belt had become a basic consensus among relevant researchers.

The prospects for the nuclear-powered aero-space plane were very promising, so much so that the military was even willing to assume the huge risk of nuclear pollution and public opinion pressure.

But it all hinged on the premise that the NPAE truly achieved the claimed radiation values, reduced to the point where even direct release into the atmosphere would be harmless. A more specific benchmark was the capability for conventional airport takeoff and landing, with no need for special protective gear for the operating personnel.

Previously, attempts were made through the Space Agency channels to equip a large number of atmospheric vehicles with NPAE, resulting in ambiguous outcomes or potential resistance. Now, the hope was to leverage the power of the military to overcome these obstacles.

Dou Ping was quite trusting of Xie Liaofu, after all, New Yuan’s technical prowess was consistently reliable, hardly ever failing.

He had been in charge of the Xuehu project which had produced its third prototype, and once this passed its test flight, the subsequent production would be of mass-production models.

The Air Force was quite satisfied with the performance of the Xuehu, planning to place one squadron each in the northeast and southeast, maintain two squadrons in the western region, and station one squadron in Jibutiwei and at the base for a total combat sequence of 20 planes, with a total procurement of 36 planes for nine squadrons. The rest would be used for training and mobile deployment.

The first squadron would be delivered first to the southeast, and then they would start carrying out cruising missions that would encircle the entire Pacific Ocean, at which time the whole world would be able to hear the huge noise of the hypersonic wave every day.

Thinking about this lightened his mood, and he said:

"So I’ll also give you a heads up. As long as the pollutant standards of the NPAE hold the line, the Air Force is 70% confident about progressing with the nuclear power conversion."

"Don’t think we’re being too cautious, because if we aren’t careful, we’ll face accusations and pressure from the entire world including our own country, and being extra prudent is never excessive. The military faces more hurdles than you could imagine," Dou Ping added.

But it was only the military that had the capacity to overcome these obstacles.

As Xie Liaofu thought this to himself, the two had already arrived at the test bench where more than a dozen engineers were finishing up. Once confirmed, they would all evacuate to the safety zone.

Inside the structure of the test bench, what could be seen was a tightly arranged, square-shaped, compact, and highly precise machine with hardly any gaps visible from the outside, surrounded by various components.

Xie Liaofu and Dou Ping, following the procedure checklist, conducted a comprehensive re-inspection. Once everything was confirmed to be correct, they allowed the engine’s control signal to be connected.