Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
After hearing that the payload had successfully been deployed, the ground command center erupted in deafening cheers.
People hugged and clapped, celebrating this hard-won victory.
1Director Li from the State Administration for National Defense stood in front of the console. His wrinkly face began to tear up.
“We did it…”
The silver-colored Moon Palace core module floated steadily above the moon, slowly drifting away from Skyglow.
As Lu Zhou looked at the exciting image on the big screen, he smiled with relief. His stiff shoulders began to relax.
“Yeah… We did it!”
From today onward, the Moon Palace would become the starting point for China’s lunar adventures. The surface and orbit of the Moon would soon be filled with Chinese satellites and equipment…
Journalists from various major media outlets were invited to a special conference room. A spokesman from the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation, as well as various representatives from Star Sky Technology and the State Administration for National Defense, answered questions from major media outlets.
On the other hand, the command center was still working.
Even though the Skyglow mission was already complete, for the staff at the ground command center, the mission had only just begun.
They were still responsible for the return of Skyglow, as well as remotely controlling the Moon Palace space station.
Lu Zhou stood in the command center for a while. He didn’t want to disturb their work, so he decided to leave.
He walked across the launch site runway and walked toward the launch site entrance. He happened to see a young journalist lady holding a microphone. She had just finished interviewing the runway crew.
The reporter’s eyes lit up when she saw Lu Zhou, and she immediately walked over with her cameraman.
“Hello, are you Professor Lu?”
Lu Zhou was in a good mood, so he smiled and said, “Yeah, do you need anything?”
“Is now a good time to talk? I have a few questions from our audience.”
Lu Zhou smiled and said, “I’ll try my best to answer.”
The reporter lady smiled professionally and said, “We all know that Star Sky Technology has become the most advanced aerospace launch technology company in China and even Asia. Will Star Sky Technology expand their business into space station construction or satellite design?”
Lu Zhou thought for a while and replied, “Not at the moment. My vision for Star Sky Technology is to create an interplanetary high-speed shuttle. Maybe our future project will be focused on Mars or even other stars, but right now our project is focused on the research and development of our spacecraft…”
The reporter’s eyes lit up.
Her instincts told her that there was a big story behind this.
Without any hesitation, she reached out with her microphone and asked excitedly, “What is the project? Can you disclose any information?”
Should I let the news out right now?
Lu Zhou contemplated for a second. He made up his mind and replied, “Considering the fact that future lunar launches will require thousands of tons of carrying capacity, we are researching a fast two-way transport system between the geosynchronous and the lunar orbit. This will be dedicated to sending materials and equipment between the Earth’s and the Moon’s orbits, and…”
The reporter excitedly asked, “And?”
Lu Zhou smiled and said, “And we will be able to send civilians to the moon.”
…
The same day as the Moon Palace launch, 7 pm Beijing time.
The success of the Moon Palace was officially announced.
After the confidentiality time period passed, major media outlets that participated in the State Administration for National Defense press conference began to publish the conference content to the public.
China’s Moon Palace success once again shocked the world.
Ever since the Cold War era, rocket launch technology had rapidly improved. The reach of extraterrestrial planetary probes was at record highs, while the number of satellites and space debris around the Earth had been increasing exponentially.
However, even then, no country had the power to send a ten-thousand-ton space station into moon orbit. Because not only did it require high-thrust rocket and satellite launch technology, but it also required sophisticated satellite control technology.
After all, the mass of the Moon was uneven. The Moon’s gravity was small, even compared to planets. Satellites orbiting the Moon would largely be affected by gravitational forces from other planets or stars.
Because of these two factors, it was difficult to maintain the same lunar orbit for a long time. One would have to continuously change the orbit according to the current gravitational forces.
Most lunar satellites had a fairly short life-span; they were usually single-use. However, the Moon Palace space station, which cost tens of billions of yuan, obviously couldn’t be abandoned like a normal moon satellite. The service life of the space station was at least 20 years.
It was obvious that without the excellent propulsion control technology acting behind the scenes, the space station would be short-lived. It would be as if the space station were a person with a strong pair of legs, but had a weak mind.
Fortunately, thanks to the Jinling Institute for Advanced Study and Star Sky Technology, China’s ion thruster propulsion technology was miles ahead of any other countries’ propulsion technology.
The Moon Palace space station was equipped with an ion thruster propulsion system that could continuously provide stable thrust, which reduced the difficulty of the control system.
Of course, even then, the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation had to pay a big price for this technology.
The core capsule consisted of the most advanced technologies from the two major aviation and aerospace giants. Not to mention that the main control computer was from the National Parallel Computer Engineering Technology Research Center.
Not only was this a symbol of China’s aerospace technology, but this was a symbol of Chinese technology as a whole!
In addition to the news reports, media outlets covered the entire story behind the design and implementation of the Moon Palace in the form of a ten-minute video.
Due to insufficient preparation for the manned moon landing, Skyglow wasn’t able to broadcast live footage to Earth.
However, this time was different.
The upgraded Skyglow communication system used the extra communication bandwidth to transmit high-resolution photos of the Moon Palace. It also recorded the entire process of the Moon Palace unloading.
After the video and photos were edited by professionals, the content was released on news programs and social media sites. The discussion of the Moon Palace exploded…