Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Global sandstorm?
After hearing Hou Guang’s words, Lu Zhou subconsciously looked at the calendar at the corner of the table. He saw that the year was indeed 2021.
Hou Guang guessed what Lu Zhou was thinking, so he spoke.
“I know you are surprised… In fact, the observers at the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope are also surprised. On average, a global sandstorm occurs on Mars every five to six years.”
Hou Guang sighed.
Even though it was a good thing for their opponents to be in trouble, they didn’t want NASA to be completely obliterated. It wasn’t in their interest for the Ares program to go sideways.
After hearing Hou Guang, Lu Zhou contemplated for a bit.
“Is there a reason?”
Hou Guang smiled and replied, “What reason could there be…”
The climate on Mars was a complex system. Because of the thin atmosphere and extreme terrains, there were no reliable methods that could accurately predict climate change.
The only inference people could make was that global sandstorms occurred every five to six years. Each sandstorm lasted for months or even an entire year. This was often accompanied by lightning and tornadoes.
If someone wanted to make accurate Mars climate predictions, they would have to send at least a few weather satellites into Mars’ low-Earth orbit.
Lu Zhou: “If a global sandstorm happens, what does that mean for the colonists on Mars?”
Hou Guang: “Generally speaking, the sandstorm will affect the solar power generators, but they should have a backup power supply. It shouldn’t be a big problem… Of course, only NASA knows how bad the situation is.”
The life support system embodied the most advanced technology of many space companies such as Space-X and Blue Origin. Even though the Ares program was executed hastily, Elon Musk had been making preparation to colonize Mars for decades. There was no way he didn’t take sandstorms into account.
Musk might have even practiced sandstorm drills on Earth.
Of course, these were just Lu Zhou’s speculations.
Like Hou Guang said, only the Mars colonists and NASA knew what the true situation was like.
Lu Zhou nodded and went silent for a while.
“Ask those at the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope to continue observing Mars… I guess we’ll wait for NASA’s announcement.”
Lu Zhou’s focus was still on the Moon. He only paid a little attention to what was happening on Mars. It would be a good thing if this sandstorm revealed to Lu Zhou how advanced NASA’s Mars technology was.
Hou Guang left the office and closed the door on his way out.
Lu Zhou looked at the door and remembered he had a meeting with the director of the European Space Agency. He stood up and was about to prepare for the meeting.
However, he suddenly stopped and spoke to his computer.
“Xiao Ai, change the file decryption order. Crack the most recent files first!”
The computer signal light flashed, indicating that Xiao Ai had heard him.
Lu Zhou nodded and left the office.
…
The controllable fusion negotiations had come to an end. China and the rest of the world were at the honeymoon stage, and they had started to work closely in both academic and industry fields.
China’s entry into the International Space Station program and the European Union and China cooperation on the moon space station were the best examples of this.
Inside the command center at the Jinling launch site, Lu Zhou met Mr. Owens, the director of the European Space Agency.
Owens just came from a meeting in Beijing. He flew to Jinling mainly to see Lu Zhou. He wanted to meet the leader of China’s aerospace industry, the chief designer of the Lunar Orbit Committee, a legendary scientist…
“Hello, Professor Lu, it’s a pleasure to meet you!”
Owens was tall and lanky. He enthusiastically shook Lu Zhou’s hand. Lu Zhou smiled politely toward Owens.
“It’s nice to meet you too, Mr. Owens! Take a seat.”
Officials from the European Space Agency and journalists from European and Chinese media outlets followed Owens’ footsteps.
This meeting was open to the public. Both sides were going to talk about cooperation plans and portray an image to the international community regarding their cooperation.
Which was, that the negotiations between China and the European Union had been going smoothly.
Owens, while sitting on the sofa, explained his viewpoint in an interesting manner.
“If we look at the history of human space exploration, I think it can be divided into three stages.”
Lu Zhou smiled and asked, “Which three?”
Owens smiled and said, “In the first stage, space 1.0, humans studied astronomy and astrology and cultural and religious factors played a big role. In the space 2.0 stage, we went into space and set foot on the Moon. This is the ‘Apollo’ era. In the space 3.0 stage, space became another area for human development. Commercial space launch missions were becoming more frequent. This is the ‘International Space Station’ stage.”
Lu Zhou smiled and said, “Interesting, so when do you think we’ll enter space 4.0?”
Owens thought for a bit and smiled.
“I think space 4.0 is the era of the Moon Palace.”
“Oh, really?” Lu Zhou smiled and asked, “Why isn’t it the era of Ares?”
Owens smiled and shook his head.
“Mars is too far away, and it takes months for a round trip. Europe doesn’t have the capability to participate yet. Maybe Ares will be the next space era, but so far, we are more optimistic about the Moon.”
Lu Zhou couldn’t help but think.
He’s really thinking about this from all angles.
It’s not that they don’t want to join the Ares program, it’s that they don’t have the capabilities to join.
Is this guy really from Germany?
Lu Zhou felt like Owens was different from his other German friends…
Owens smiled toward a reporter’s camera.
“We’re in a new era where civilization will become more and more integrated with aerospace. In the future, more and more countries will participate in aerospace projects, and people of different skin colors will all fly on spacecraft.
“I would like us to develop lunar resources together, to build a ‘lunar village’ together.”
Lu Zhou smiled and reached out his right hand.
“We are happy to cooperate. I’m glad to reach a consensus with you.”