"A new space race has begun."
In the Russian Federal Space Agency, Director Dmitrit looked at the latest report and said with emotion.
Deputy Director Vyacheslav on the side nodded in agreement and replied:
"Yes, their tentacles are expanding very quickly."
"From Africa at the beginning, to Europe, the Middle East, America, and even space, their footprints are all over basically every piece of physical space."
"Maybe they will become the new empire on which the sun never sets - in another form, of course."
Hearing this, Demirit couldn't help but feel a little funny.
He shook his head and was silent for a moment, then sighed and said:
"This is the true empire on which the sun never sets. Do you know what those old men from the Ministry of Social Sciences judge? They say that China may become the first 'stellar empire' in human history."
"Well, the term Empire may not be accurate. Their description is 'Star Federation', but I think the title Empire is more suitable for them."
"And in fact, they have never given up their pursuit of the so-called 'grand unification' and the so-called 'community of a shared future for mankind'. This is probably the courage that only a true empire can possess."
"In short, we have been left far behind, and there is no hope of overtaking us in the foreseeable future."
Vyacheslav gave Demirit a cryptic look, and then said:
"Unless it's war."
"Unless it's a war, yes. But we're not that stupid."
"If China's development path is still within the scope of human understanding, hot war and cold war can be considered options."
"But what now? Even the top scholars cannot explain their continuous technological breakthroughs. They can only regard it as some kind of mysterious force that has not been observed by us."
"In this case, there is no point in confrontation. Let's get down to business first."
Having said this, Demirit turned the document in his hand to the first page again, then pointed to the table of contents above and said:
"We currently receive three main demands from China."
"The first one is to open technical cooperation in space station construction."
"The second is to conduct exchanges of talents related to solid rocket fuel technology."
"The third"
Before Demirit finished speaking, Vyacheslav interrupted and said:
"The first two are very reasonable, so the third demand is what they really want, right?"
"That's right."
Demirit nodded slightly and continued:
"RD-180 engine technology framework - not just the engine itself, nor just the technology related to this type of engine, but covers all technologies including this type of engine."
"Including the RD-191 engine that we will test later."
"They have probably found a shortcut. Now they are just like bandits."
"Only solve core technical issues. As for the foundation and framework, you can either ask us or ask the United States for it."
"I have to say, this method of operation is so efficient, I really envy it."
Vyacheslav laughed and replied:
"This is just a part of their globalization strategy - in short, it is impossible for us not to give it to them."
"The construction of the Project 2013 CNF fusion reactor is about to begin. We cannot have problems at this critical moment."
"Compared to the pressure from superiors, the resistance from Isotov is nothing at all."
"It's just a few conservative old men clamoring for so-called 'self-reliance' using outdated concepts. I can solve it."
"You have to deal with it."
Demirit repeated his words and continued:
"According to the information I have, China is expected to complete the launch of Chang'e-5 within six months, and the Long March-9 rocket used by Chang'e-5 will be equipped with the latest LITV engine."
"This engine must be built on the frame structure of the RD-180, and we also need to provide them with corresponding system engineering technical support."
"So, objectively speaking, we are also the key to the moon landing project. If the progress of the project is slowed down, they will inevitably recover the losses from other places."
"Whether it's a metallic hydrogen plant, a natural gas pipeline, or a power station, these are consequences we cannot afford."
"So, let's cooperate - anyway, we can still rely on this thing to get the quota to participate in the subsequent space station."
"This is not a loss at all. You must know that the Arab Federation has paid hundreds of billions of dollars just to get two quotas every year."
"Hundreds of billions? Are they crazy?"
asked Vyacheslav, stunned.
"They are crazy to begin with - maybe they think they can hear the voice of Allah there."
Demirit said teasingly.
"If they want to hear the voice of Allah, they might as well go to North America with a few hydrogen bombs. If they don't have any, we can help."
"The world would be a much better place without that annoying country."
Vyacheslav muttered.
In fact, his grievances against the United States are almost equal to his grievances against the Arab Commonwealth.
Needless to say, the United States has been fighting for decades.
As for the Arab Federation, they are dissatisfied with their crazy efforts to raise market prices, making their negotiations with China more and more difficult.
In his opinion, this behavior is no different from fishing out the last fish in the river to feed a bear. Not only does it fail to develop a relationship with the bear, it may also make the bear become more greedy after it is full.
——
Yes, like most Russian senior officials, he has always been wary of China, but relatively speaking, his wariness is more obvious.
"Don't be so resentful. Think on the bright side. It is precisely because the Arab Commonwealth has squeezed out the last of their fossil energy potential that we have a chance to keep up with China."
"Otherwise, we will have to fill this part of the cost gap."
"Okay, I admit what you said makes sense."
Hearing Demirit's authority, Vyacheslav could only nod helplessly.
After a few seconds of relative silence between the two, he stood up and planned to leave.
Before turning around, he asked:
"Should we leave this exchange to Marokov?"
"Leave it to him. At least for now, he is quite trustworthy."
"He is a more determined warrior than us. Everything he does is just for the goal in his heart."
Vyacheslav nodded thoughtfully.
That goal in mind?
At one time, most of the top decision-makers in his country were like Marokov.
But now, such a trend of thought may only be found in China.
——
But, who knows?
Integration has begun to take shape, and perhaps soon, this thing that has almost disappeared will spread rapidly.
"Is the RD-180 matter settled?"
Walking on the trail inside Chengfei, Chen Nian asked Chen Guo who was standing beside him.
"It's basically no problem. Marokov just flew to the Imperial Capital today. He will negotiate with representatives of the Great Wall Industrial Group to discuss the specific quotation and exchange conditions."
"However, this negotiation is basically a formality. Most of the issues have been discussed before."
"The most important issue is the space station and lunar base seats. We plan to give them 2 to 5 seats, depending on the specific development."
"This condition can be said to be quite generous. After all, we are in a straight-A situation, and they don't have many chips to exchange for."
Not much leverage.
Hearing this, Chen Nian couldn't help but feel a little emotional.
You know, in the last generation, China paid an unknown price for this RD-180 engine. It was even thanks to the tightening of the global situation and the closer cooperation between the two parties that Dongfeng finally won it.
And if we don’t talk about the price, but just discuss the RD-180 engine itself, we definitely can’t make the judgment that “there aren’t many chips.”
After all, this engine is famous all over the world for its high reliability and high technical level. Even the United States calls it a "technical miracle that is difficult to copy."
Coupled with the innovative design of the tandem combustion chamber + main turbine pump, it can be easily adapted to various modifications. Lockheed Martin has modified a number of different models based on this framework, including solid-liquid coupling. Load rockets.
Therefore, Chen Nian had actually included RD-180 among the product goals that must be obtained from the very beginning, and things developed even more smoothly than he expected.
With the support of this framework, the design and manufacturing of the new LITV engine will become much simpler, and the assembly speed of the Long March-9 rocket will also be greatly accelerated.
Going to the moon in 6 months?
I'm still being conservative. Under the best circumstances, it might be completed in 4 months.
After all, the equipment other than the main transmitting unit is almost ready by now.
Once the rocket is in place, it can take off immediately.
Thinking of this, Chen Nian said:
"The RD-180 itself is a good target. After all, our technology is lagging behind. This is different from the aviation industry. The short-term technical advantage of relying on LITV engines to pull it up is not sustainable. We can get a complete The available framework will be of great benefit to our future development.”
"The era of rocket engines will last for a long time. This is not a waste."
Hearing Chen Nian's words, Chen Guo on the side smiled and said:
"Just talking about this, I heard some interesting news recently."
"Great Wall Industries is working on an inertial rocket launch project - they plan to build a very large electric fan in the Gobi? Then tie the rocket to the fan blades and fly out."
"Do you think this idea is feasible? It looks like it's unreliable but also somewhat reliable."
Chen Nian couldn't help but laugh out loud. He never expected that the plan he had previously ruled out would be preempted by Great Wall Industry.
However, Great Wall Industrial Group has already undertaken a considerable part of the construction work of metallic hydrogen plants in cooperation with Russia, and is more familiar with the characteristics of new materials, so it is not surprising that this plan was produced.
However, a slap on the forehead is a slap on the forehead. In fact, Chen Nian also knew that the real solution could not be as simple as the "big electric fan" that Chen Guo said.
"The solution of vacuum ducts, high-speed motors, and highly sensitive control systems is feasible, but it is not that simple to implement at present."
"To be honest, it is a 'beggar's version' at this stage. You can say it is useless. A few small satellites are more than enough."
"But if you say it's useful, first of all, people will definitely not be able to be sent up. If it accelerates to the first cosmic speed, people will be crushed by the centrifugal force."
"This kind of plan is only suitable for Great Wall Industries. After all, they have a relatively high degree of commercialization and can be directly converted into civilian profit-making projects."
Chen Guo nodded and said casually:
"Yes, they plan to use it to throw star chains."
"Oh, that's okay - wait a minute? Our Starlink project will be launched so soon?"
Chen Nian was a little surprised.
In fact, China certainly has its own Starlink project, but for a long time, he had never heard of this project being put on the agenda.
It only exists as a vision for the future. Whether it will be useful in the end is still a matter of debate.
"Yes, several domestic private enterprises are currently doing it. It is considered a kind of exploration."
"Of course, what they want to do is not traditional electromagnetic wave communication, but quantum communication. They mainly want to take advantage of quantum computing."
"Understood."
Chen Nian nodded thoughtfully and secretly sighed at the efficiency of domestic enterprises.
This layout can really be said to be quite early - but from another perspective, it can also be seen that domestic private enterprises are gradually becoming richer.
This is a good sign, indicating that after the emergence of fusion, the overall economic environment has indeed accelerated.
I don’t know what Musk’s expression will be like when he hears this news. We are realizing the bullshit he boasted one by one. This feeling probably won’t be too good.
The two continued to walk forward, chatting about recent project progress, SpaceX's actions, and Musk's nonsense at the press conference.
They didn't take the phrase "certainly before China" to heart. After all, they all knew that even if they could launch it first, it would only be an extra metal satellite in the lunar orbit.
The only way to truly take that "big step for mankind" is through China.
"The space age is really coming."
Chen Nian said suddenly.
"Yeah, I always talk about the stars and the sea, but I didn't expect that it would get lazy faster than we thought."
“It seems like we haven’t even sat in a flying car — or even an electric car — and we’re going to the moon.”
"Speaking of which, have you thought about what we are going to say after landing on the moon?"
"This is no small matter. We have to suppress what Armstrong said."
"I've thought about it a long time ago."
Chen Nian replied.
"Have you thought about it before? Qi Qi. Tell me?"
Chen Guo looked at Chen Nian curiously, and the latter replied without any hesitation:
“That’s one giant step for me, but one small step for mankind.”
"Very seconds!"
Chen Guo's face immediately showed a smile.
Although only the order of two words has been changed, the momentum and pattern have completely changed.
Yes, landing on the moon is just a small step.
Humanity's journey is still far away.
While they were talking, a heavy transport plane was flying over the Arctic Ocean from an altitude of 10,000 meters, heading towards Chang'an.
Under its wings, a bright moon is rising slowly
(End of chapter)
