Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
NASA Headquarters.
Aiden was standing inside the satellite control room wearing a black suit. He slammed a stack of reports on the table and stood in front of a NASA expert. “Who told me that ion thruster propulsion systems can’t send spacecraft to the sky, who told me it can’t even send an egg?! Who! How about you explain this to me then!”
The NASA expert who previously vowed that using an ion thruster was impossible looked away awkwardly.
“We are still not sure what kind of propulsion system they’re using. By looking at the engine plume, they might be using a hydrogen and methane mixture as their propellant…”
“Go eat sh*t!”
Bill Gerstenmaier looked at how emotional Aiden was. He coughed and adjusted his glasses.
“Mr. Aiden, gathering intelligence is the CIA’s responsibility. We are obligated to cooperate with your work, but that doesn’t mean we are responsible for the CIA’s mistakes.”
“You think this is our mistake?” Aiden glared at Gerstenmaier and said, “You guys told us that it was impossible for them to send a spacecraft to space using ion thruster technology.”
“But we’re still not sure what type of propulsion they’re using, right? Maybe the situation isn’t as bad as we think…” Gerstenmaier said awkwardly. He coughed and said, “Also, we didn’t say anything wrong. Traditional ion thruster technology can’t even send an egg to space. Its biggest advantage over traditional chemical rockets is its massive specific impulse… But maybe China found a more efficient way to accelerate the working medium? You would have to ask China about this, we’re not researching ion thruster propulsion after all…”
Aiden uttered coldly, “Oh yeah? But as far as I’m concerned, you guys receive quite a lot of funding from Congress for the ion thruster propulsion research.”
Gerstenmaier smoothly diverted the conversation away from funding.
“I’m not in charge of funding, go ask the director.”
Aiden took a deep breath and walked to the satellite control console.
He looked at the green dot on the screen and wished there was a missile launch button nearby so that he could blow that thing out of the sky.
He had to admit, that was a tempting idea…
It was just a bit impractical.
Forget about whether or not those anti-satellite missiles could even track a spacecraft traveling at kilometers per second, even Trump wouldn’t approve of such a stupid plan.
2Not to mention that the controllable fusion negotiations were almost finished…
He only prayed for one thing, which was for Skyglow to have a faster than expected landing when returning to Earth.
Just like what happened to Space Shuttle Columbia.
Suddenly, the NASA expert, who was berated, muttered something, “I hope they succeed.”
Aiden glared at him.
The expert noticed Aiden’s glare, and he knew that it wasn’t the right time for him to speak. He awkwardly began to explain himself.
“I mean that… If Skyglow succeeds, and they’re really using an ion thruster propulsion system, that proved that ion thrusters’ power is comparable to traditional chemical thrusters. Do you know what this means? It will completely revolutionize the aerospace industry!”
“Oh, really now? Too bad it’s not going to revolutionize America’s aerospace industry,” Aiden said as he stared at the expert with a dead stare. He snorted, “I just hope that damn spacecraft and the astronauts burn to ashes on re-entry… Wait, what did you say?”
Suddenly, Aiden realized something, and he grabbed the NASA expert’s collar.
“Hey, what are you doing?” Gerstenmaier said. He wanted to help but was stopped by Aiden’s subordinates.
The expert looked muddled as he stared at Aiden and said, “What are you doing? You want to fight? I’m warning you, if you touch me…”
Aiden: “You said enough power?”
“What, what power…”
“Ion thrusters!”
“Yeah… Why?”
“How much electric power would it take to send a 10-ton spacecraft into space? Tell me!”
“100 MW? Maybe 1,000 MW? I don’t know! We never even thought about putting a battery that size on a rocket, and satellites only need small batteries and solar panels!”
The moment Aiden heard the MW unit, his face changed.
He vaguely remembered a classified document.
That document mentioned that China might be researching the miniaturization of controllable fusion technology.
If Skyglow was really using an ion thruster propulsion system…
Forget about the ion thrusters, the huge energy supply device that could support the ion thruster power consumption was what they should be worrying about!
A drop of cold sweat rolled off Aiden’s forehead…
…
Jin Ling City.
Star Sky Technology headquarters.
The sky was dark, only a few offices still had their lights on.
Chen Yushan was sitting in the CEO’s office. She anxiously called the Jinling launch site. The phone rang for a while before connecting.
“What the hell is going on? Why is Lu Zhou on the space shuttle?”
Ten minutes ago, she saw the news broadcast regarding Skyglow’s successful launch. Only then, she heard about Lu Zhou being on Skyglow.
Hou Guang nervously spoke with the CEO.
“We…”
Chen Yushan was on the verge of tears as she snapped, “Why didn’t you stop him?!”
Hou Guang explained, “Who could stop Lu Zhou, he’s the boss.”
Lu Zhou had the highest security clearance in the launch site.
Lu Zhou could dismantle the space shuttle if he wanted, much less getting on the space shuttle.
Ordinary employees wouldn’t dare to ask why Professor Lu was getting on the space shuttle, they would think that he was just double-checking the shuttle.
Ordinary employees would have never thought that Lu Zhou would have stayed on the space shuttle. They only found out he was missing after the launch was over, when the shuttle was already high in the sky…
After hearing Hou Guang’s answer, Chen Yushan finally realized what was happening.
This guy…
This isn’t even the first time he’s done something like this!
Why does he never take his safety seriously?
Even though research is interesting, he shouldn’t do something like this…
Chen Yushan’s heart was thumping, and she leaned back on her office chair.
She took out her phone and began to scroll through Weibo, in hopes of calming down.
She saw the 30-second New Year’s Day congratulations video shot in space, which was released by CCTV’s official account. She read all of the exciting comments posted by netizens. She suddenly burst into a smile and felt a lot better.
She suddenly knew why Lu Zhou was doing this.
Maybe he wanted to show everyone that spaceflight wasn’t an impossible thing for ordinary people, nor was it a dangerous activity… In the near future, spaceflight would be available for everyone.
1There was nothing for Chen Yushan to be scared about.
She gradually calmed down. However, a news headline suddenly caught her eye.
After reading the news headline, she nearly fainted.
[Skyglow is suspected of major design flaws? Difficulties on re-entry?!]
This was the latest report from The New York Times.
Which came from the press conference at NASA…