Chapter 720 - 696 Failed, Haha

"I assure you, John, the artificial sun will be operational far earlier than the Chengdian-1. We only need one launch, and after a few days of testing, it will be ready to go."

In John’s office, Robert was earnestly pledging to the president:

"The artificial sun has entered the manufacturing stage, and we are making two at once for added assurance. They will certainly shine upon America before October."

John raised an eyebrow, "Really? Chengdian-1, which is heavier and more complicated than your project, has already begun construction. I hope there won’t be any delays this time."

"Of course, the artificial sun’s technology ensures it is extremely reliable; there won’t be any problems."

Robert was very confident. To save time and reduce complexity, the structure of the artificial sun project was indeed straightforward.

A reflector with a diameter of 1100 meters and an unfolding area of over 1 million square meters might sound exaggerated, but its main body was made from ultra-thin aluminum foil with an average thickness of 0.0045 millimeters. Despite its large size, it had a total weight of only 130 tons, folding into a large cylinder 50 meters tall.

Pieces of giant aluminum foil were installed on a folding frame made of memory alloy, so there was no need to worry about reliability issues due to repeated folding.

Once sunlight hit, the aluminum foil main body would heat up quickly, causing the memory alloy to stretch and unfold. There was no need for an extremely complicated mechanical unfolding structure. Small deformations could be repaired by space shuttles, which theoretically wasn’t too difficult.

The rocket that would launch it was the SLX Block2, a Centaur IV upper stage rocket with a lift capacity of 180 tons. The total weight of the artificial sun was only 160 tons; once it reached low Earth orbit, it could slowly use fuel to ascend to geosynchronous orbit on its own.

Aluminum foil, RCS—these two systems practically made up the entirety of the artificial sun.

Compared to last century’s plans, advancements in electronic technology easily solved the difficulties of real-time orbital adjustments, though fuel consumption was considerable and required regular replenishment.

But this was insignificant compared to the goal of deploying it before Chengdian-1, and both John and Robert readily accepted this issue.

After all, the artificial sun project itself hadn’t cost much, and compared to its massive social effects, it was incredibly cost-effective.

Finally, John too had experienced the legendary "New Yuan speed." The artificial sun plan went from preparation to launch in just a few months, an epitome of efficiency.

"Thank you, Robert. This is the best news I’ve been waiting for," said John.

Robert was about to speak when he was interrupted by a knock at the door—it was an intern delivering the daily message summary.

It was just past 6 a.m., not yet 7 a.m. Normally, it wouldn’t be so early, but today John needed to attend a speaking event early, so he had arrived at the office ahead of time to arrange some important matters.

The young intern was a fresh graduate girl. Her tasks involved delivering documents and dealing with the media at inconvenient times. Whenever the officials did not want to but had to answer certain questions, they would send the intern, who knew nothing, to muddle through. It had become an old rule at the Presidential Palace.

The intern looked very pleased, waving the documents in her hand.

"Mr. President, I saw another piece of news just before I came in here," she said.

"Oh? What is it that seems to make you so happy?"

"Definitely! Just a few minutes ago, China’s missile launch failed, and the debris fell into the South China Sea!"

"What?"

Both John and Robert were somewhat startled—failure of a Chinese missile test was indeed rare news.

"Let me see."

Robert took the intern’s phone and quickly located the source of the news, which, to his surprise, had been broadcasted by CGTN itself.

"...Capital time June 8th, 18:39, a DF15B ballistic missile lost signal in the final stage during a sea trial and its wreckage fell into the South Sea *** area. Recovery operations are underway with ships already on the scene. The relevant sea area will be under regulation for the next three days, with ships advised to detour..."

While Robert continued reading, John suddenly remembered something:

"I recall now, was it the day before yesterday, or yesterday? McMaster told me the Chinese People were preparing to conduct a missile trial in the South Sea. He even deployed two warships to monitor it. It’s been a long time since they conducted such a test.

Ha-ha, this is the second piece of good news. Is this a new missile? What does this failure imply?"

John asked with interest, but Robert scratched his head in contemplation before answering after a moment:

"If I remember correctly, DF15B is an old model from the last century, and moreover, a medium-range missile. Its technology should be quite mature by now. Even if there were issues, it shouldn’t be possible... Look at what the news says, ’lost control and crashed in the final stage’? This mistake is too serious; they shouldn’t make such an error. It’s very uncharacteristic."

However, obviously, John hadn’t given it that much thought and even chuckled jokingly:

"Isn’t it normal for old stuff from the last century to malfunction? Our friends from China have been too lucky for too long. Now, they can finally cool down a bit. Ha-ha, I’m going to tweet about this; it’s too amusing!"

John picked up his phone and started composing his tweet, satisfied with the subtle mockery before he was about to send it out, only to be interrupted yet again.

McMaster appeared at the doorway, disheveled and panting heavily, his bald head dotted with beads of sweat, a far cry from his usual composure. He was breathing heavily, his unsettled face framed by eyes that betrayed panic.

"Herbert, what has happened to make you this frantic!"

Even during the M incident, John hadn’t seen McMaster so flustered. Seeing him like this now made him even wonder if the third season had kicked off.

McMaster, resembling a drowning person who had just clambered ashore, tried to act calm, but his body trembled slightly, clearly under extreme emotional strain.

"The test... the interception... the test..."

...

Half an hour earlier, in the South Sea.

The missile was still minutes from launch. In the defined square target area for the warhead, two Y-9 aircraft, modified for electronic intelligence, were loitering relentlessly, occasionally and deliberately drawing close to the American destroyer’s launched anti-submarine helicopters, though it was just for show.

Both electronic warfare planes had been temporarily modified, and the pilots were aware of their true mission. That’s why they let the American helicopters get very close without driving them away, the objective being to let them have the sighting.

Though the companions on the helicopter were surprised by the unusually little resistance they faced today, they took advantage of it to edge closer to the limit.

This trial was a sea-targeted launch, traveling 1000 kilometers from inland to hit a maritime target, a rare experience. The helicopter pilots couldn’t wait to gather information, and of course, if they could salvage the experimental warhead first, that would be even better.

The last China sea-targeted launch was in the 1980s. Such launches were infrequent because sea launches required organizing a fleet to salvage the warheads and collect data. But if the landing zone was outside the target area, or without the protection of a strong fleet, others might retrieve it first, thwarting the effort.

For the sea launch in the 80s, the military took 10 years to prepare, building the latest warships equipped to launch helicopters, the first type of survey ship, training in salvage techniques, constructing supply ships for transoceanic voyages, and so on.

However, what the pilots in the anti-submarine helicopters didn’t know was that this time, the warheads were not markers but counterweights, and the objective of the trial was not the nearby landing zone.