Chapter 72 Oh no, Professor Lu is missing
Faced with President Abbott's question, Moulton looked pale and shook his head.
"No...I don't know."
"The Hall thrusters previously developed by NASA definitely did not have such a large thrust!"
"How about... I ask Professor Austin, who was previously in charge of the Hall thruster project?"
Albert glared at Moulton hatefully and roared in a low voice: "Why don't you go and ask?!"
Moulton looked bitter, with a hint of grievance in his eyes.
"You obviously said you didn't need to ask the professor at the beginning..."
"Huh? What did you say?" Albert's face suddenly darkened.
Moulton did not dare to reply, so he silently took out his mobile phone and dialed Professor Austin's number.
The call was answered quickly.
"Professor Austin, this is Moulton."
As soon as the call was connected, Moulton turned on the hands-free function and asked directly: "I would like to ask, can the thrust of the Hall thruster reach 50 meters?"
No sound came from the microphone.
Moulton frowned and asked softly again: "Professor Austin, are you listening?"
Professor Austin's faint voice came from the microphone: "Director Moulton, are you kidding me?"
"That's not funny at all!"
Moulton glanced at the president beside him with an embarrassed look, coughed slightly and said, "Ahem! Professor Austin, the president is with me."
"I hope you'll think about it!"
After hesitating for a moment, Moulton spoke again and added: "Xia Guo already has a Hall thruster with a thrust of 50 miles, and installed it on an aerospace plane."
"What?! This, this is impossible!" Austin exclaimed from the other end of the microphone, "The current generator power is absolutely unable to support such a Hall thruster!"
Moulton's eyes moved slightly and he asked in a deep voice: "What if...Professor Austin, I mean what if, Xia Guo combines small nuclear fusion with Hall thrusters?"
Austin fell silent.
From this silence, both Moulton and Albert got the answers they wanted.
"Okay, Professor Austin, I understand, that's it..."
Moulton hung up the phone feebly, then turned to look at Abbott: "Your Excellency, President... perhaps, we have completely lost this competition."
"No!" Albert's eyes showed a bit of unwillingness, "We still have the Pathfinder plan!"
"As long as we take the lead in occupying Mars, we haven't lost yet!"
…
Inside Xuannv No.1.
Bai Yixuan and the other three were wearing flight suits and sitting quietly in their respective driver's seats.
On the console in front of him, a variety of indicator lights flashed with unique light.
"call……"
Hong Fan, who was sitting in the passenger seat on the left, took a deep breath.
"What? Are you nervous?"
Bai Yixuan's voice came from the side.
Hong Fan smiled bitterly and shook his head: "Brother Xuan, aren't you nervous?"
"This is our first time to use a real machine!"
Bai Yixuan shrugged and said nonchalantly: "It's okay. I've never had any accidents during simulation training."
Hong Fan's face suddenly became stiff.
His simulation training…
Although he only crashed once, the powerlessness of that crash caused a great psychological shadow on him.
"Okay..." Xia Wanyi, who was sitting in the passenger seat on the right, chuckled, "This is different from simulation training. There are three of us driving together now, so nothing will happen!"
"That's right, even if you don't believe in yourself, you still have to believe in my skills." Bai Yixuan said seriously, "When I come back successfully this time, I will..."
"Shut up!"
Before Bai Yixuan could finish his words, Hong Fan and Xia Wanyi stopped Bai Yixuan's "flagging" move in unison.
An embarrassed smile flashed across Bai Yixuan's face after he realized it: "Ahem, I didn't mean it..."
"Xuannv No. 1, pay attention, there is a ten-minute countdown to takeoff!"
While the three of them were chatting, Cao Liangcai's voice came from the built-in earphones in the helmet.
Bai Yixuan looked solemn and immediately pressed the radio switch to respond: "Xuan Nu No. 1 received it!"
"Start the small fusion reactor now!"
As he spoke, Bai Yixuan turned a few buttons on the console in front of him.
A certain amount of warm-up time is required before the fusion reactor is started.
Therefore, Xuannv-1 needs to start the small fusion reactor ten minutes in advance.
After completing the operation, Bai Yixuan suddenly realized a problem.
"Where's Professor Lu?"
"Why isn't Professor Lu in charge of the command?"
Hearing Bai Yixuan's question, a trace of doubt flashed across Hong Fan's face.
"Hey, I noticed it when you said that."
"Wasn't this kind of thing under Professor Lu's control before? Why didn't Professor Lu stop taking command at such an important moment today?"
…
at the same time.
Inside the temporary command center of the institute.
Cao Liangcai gently covered his right eye.
For some reason, his right eye has been twitching since a few minutes ago.
The left eye jumps for money, the right eye jumps...
Cao Liangcai shook his head and shook off his previous thoughts.
Pooh!
It’s all feudal superstition!
"Are all the data of Xuannv No. 1 normal?"
Cao Liangcai asked the staff aside nervously.
"Everything is normal. The fusion reactor is being preheated and is expected to start within five minutes."
"What about the ground crew?" Cao Liangcai pondered for a moment and asked loudly.
The next moment, a voice came: "Everything is normal!"
"The fuselage of Xuannv No. 1 is in good condition. The ground crew has checked it twice!"
Cao Liangcai's right eyelid twitched twice again.
"There are still a few minutes. Check it again."
"Make sure there are no mistakes!"
As he spoke, he raised his wrist and looked at the time.
There are still eight minutes.
"What's wrong with this kid Lu Yongchang..."
"At such an important moment, he actually went to the toilet?!"
Cao Liangcai frowned, turned around and said to a researcher beside him: "Go, go and pull Professor Lu over!"
"No matter how urgent it is, he has to wait until Xuannv No. 1 is launched before he can go to the toilet!"
"He is the person in charge of this project after all. At such a critical moment, what does it look like for him to just throw his sleeves and leave!"
Hearing Cao Liangcai's scolding, the researcher's face turned bitter, and he quickly turned around and ran to the toilet of the institute.
Five minutes later.
The researcher ran back in a panic.
"Cao, Academician Cao, it's not good!"
"What's wrong?" Perhaps because Xuannv No. 1 was about to take off, Cao Liangcai's temper also became worse, "Xuannv No. 1 is about to take off, don't say these depressing words!"
"Tell me, what happened?"
The researcher stammered: "Lu, Professor Lu, he's gone!"
