Chapter 494 The Beginning of the Mars Plan

"Take a look quickly, what is the thing sticking out of their Tiannian?"

Inside the White House, after seeing the photos sent from NASA, the president's eyes widened immediately, and then he quickly asked Eisenberg next to him.

Eisenberg took one look and was stunned.

Because the photos taken by satellites are not particularly clear, although they are high-definition, it is difficult to capture everything that is more than a hundred kilometers away, so they started from the current photo. In the photo, you can only see six strange things that seem to be waving around the Tiannian, like tentacles.

After a moment, Eisenberg frowned and then said: "Mr. President, this may be a robotic arm."

"Robotic arm? What does it do?"

Eisenberg replied: "What the Chinese want to implement is a lunar transformation plan. According to the information they announced, they want to build a lunar base on the moon."

"When building a lunar base, the robotic arm can help them with the construction work very well."

"Of course, on our space station and on some other spacecraft, there are usually such robotic arms to replace our astronauts for extravehicular inspections."

"However, these robotic arms have an obvious problem in various aspects, and that is that they are not flexible enough."

"Now the Chinese want to rely on their six team members to build this lunar base in a short time on the moon, basically relying on their robotic arms."

"I just don't know if their six robotic arms are that flexible, or can they only do some carrying work?"

After Eisenberg thought for a while, he then said: "Mr. President, let them record the video. Only by recording the video can we see the performance of this robotic arm more intuitively."

The president nodded slightly, and then conveyed the order to NASA.

NASA quickly replied: "Okay, Mr. President, but because our highest-definition satellite capable of video recording can no longer take pictures of the moon's south pole, it will take about half an hour to take pictures again." To reach the South Pole of the Moon, it will take about fifteen minutes to finish shooting the video and transmitting the video back, so please be patient. 』

"It actually takes so long." The president frowned, a little impatient.

But he also knew that there was nothing he could do about it, so he could only wait calmly.

Eisenberg smiled and said: "Don't worry, Mr. President, it's only forty-five minutes, and their astronauts will need some time to adapt to activities on the moon after landing on the moon, so there will be at least It will take half an hour for them to officially start the construction activity, and then we will be able to better observe their construction speed."

"What's more, after they have been active outside for a period of time, they need to return to the spacecraft to rest. Otherwise, long-term extravehicular activities will seriously affect their health."

"I think Armstrong and Aldrin developed coughing symptoms after only being active outside for an hour, so according to me, it will take them at least forty-eight hours to build their lunar excitement!"

The president nodded, then said, "God forbid, let all six of them get sick and abandon their moon landing plans."

"Originally, we should be the first country to build a lunar base on the moon, and the south pole of the moon should also belong to us."

After hearing the president's words, Eisenberg was silent. Originally, according to the plan they announced in the last century, they would build their base on the moon in 2007. However, until so many years later, the Chinese were allowed to precede them. One step is completed.

Afterwards, Eisenberg smiled and said: "Mr. President, don't worry. At least, aren't we about to go to Mars and build our base now? The Mars base is far greater than their moon base."

The president shook his head. Although he said that, he knew very well that the Mars base to be built in their Mars plan was not actually a "base".

A base can definitely accommodate a large number of people to survive, but obviously, their Mars base can only survive a few people.

This is also limited by the payload weight of their rockets.

After all, their rocket is not like the Tiannian, which can easily carry a lot of things to the sky.

In order to solve this problem, they actually arranged two rockets. The first rocket will be launched half a month later, carrying the cargo of the Mars base and other resources. The second rocket will be launched in March. The Saturn 9 launched on the 31st was their official landing rocket.

However, even if this is the case, they can only provide the goods for five people to survive, and the cost is huge.

But China is different. Their Tiannian can travel between the earth and the moon from time to time. The cost is pitifully low, and it only takes more than seventy hours to arrive.

Generally speaking, it takes more than a hundred hours for a rocket to reach the moon from the earth, but Tiannian reached the moon in just over 70 hours, which really shocked them.

But precisely because of this, the president knows very well that if China wants to build such a large base on the moon, it will be much easier than building a Mars base on Mars.

By then, China's lunar base will be the real base. Through continuous expansion, I am afraid that it will be able to easily accommodate dozens or even hundreds of people in the future, and maybe thousands of people are not impossible.

Thinking of this, the newly elected president felt helpless.

I really don’t know what his predecessor did. It would be better to change a dog than his predecessor.

In this way, they waited for more than forty minutes.

Finally, NASA sent them a message, and it also attached a video that was more than a minute long, but the text included in the message made them a little confused.

[Mr. President, and Mr. Eisenberg, this is the video we shot, but the content in it is really shocking! 】

Seeing the last paragraph, the president and Eisenberg were both stunned.

What does it mean?

Too surprising?

What’s so surprising about this video?

With a hint of doubt, they opened the video and started watching it.

Then, both of their faces showed extremely surprised expressions for a moment.

Because at the beginning of the video, they saw a capped building on the land at the south pole of the moon.

The Chinese built a base building in more than forty minutes?

how did you do that?

Then, the things in the video once again brought them a visual impact.

I saw a total of six mechanical arms extending out from both sides of the car, as if they were alive, they reached into the cargo hold very flexibly, and then took out six parts from it.

With vague recognition, among the six parts, some are plates, some are pipes, and some are even just a screw. Of course, this kind of screw is very large, and it is the kind used to fix two large structures.

After taking out all these parts, the six robotic arms quickly placed these things on the base being built, and then began the construction work. The whole process was precise and fast, as if they were a skilled craftsman.

Of course, a robotic arm with this level of precision can naturally be built on Earth. After all, whether it is a photolithography machine or a top-level machine tool, their robotic arms can be accurate to the nanometer level.

But the problem is that the robotic arm on the Tiannian is not these robotic arms. This robotic arm seems to be at least more than thirty meters long, and the weight of each robotic arm is probably also very high. In this case, it is How can this kind of flexibility and precision be achieved?

"And it still has seven degrees of freedom... Even Canadarm 2 can't do this. When will the Chinese robotic arm be able to do this?"

Eisenberg's eyes widened in disbelief.

Canadarm 2 is a super robotic arm on the International Space Station. It weighs 1.8 tons, is 17 meters long, and has a payload of up to 116 tons. It can be said to be the superstar among spacecraft robotic arms.

Even the "big arm" of the robotic arm on the Tiangong Space Station is only 10 meters long and has a load of 25 tons.

For these robotic arms, lack of flexibility is their main problem.

Just when they were still looking surprised, the six robotic arms had completed their own assembly, and then flexibly reached into the cargo hold and grabbed six parts again.

At this time, the video, which lasted for more than a minute, was over.

After reading it, Eisenberg just felt crazy.

Why the hell does this still need forty-eight hours?

Twenty-four hours... No, I'm afraid they can build it in less than eighteen hours!

At this time, the president next to him said quietly: "Eisenberg, is this the forty-eight hours you just mentioned?"

Cold sweat suddenly broke out on Eisenberg's forehead, and he quickly explained: "Mr. President, this is really unexpected, and I didn't expect that their robotic arm technology has reached this level. .”

"But please don't worry. Their robotic arms must be operated by humans. Whether it is the International Space Station or their Tiangong Space Station, the robotic arms need to be operated by professionally trained people."

"They are definitely no exception, especially since their robotic arm is so flexible, it definitely needs people to control it, and people need to rest. In this way, they want to rely on this robotic arm to complete all the construction work If so, it will take at least twenty-four hours.”

In a hurry, Eisenberg thought of using this to explain.

At this time, he also suddenly realized, yes, as long as their operators still need to rest, then they will definitely not be able to complete it within eighteen hours. After all, even driving a tractor requires a rest, which is even more difficult. Needless to say, operating a robotic arm on the moon.

Working in that kind of low gravity puts a heavy burden on astronauts. They certainly cannot support long-term work, not to mention that they have just arrived on the moon and are not familiar with all aspects.

"Oh? Really?" However, the president just snorted and said, "Didn't you see in the video just now that their six astronauts were carrying out activities outside the cabin, and no one was staying in their celestial vehicle? Inside the number?"

Eisenberg was stunned for a moment, and then showed an expression of disbelief: "What?!"

Then he quickly watched the video again, and sure enough he found that the six members of China's lunar transformation project were all moving outside the Tiannian... or to be precise, were they playing? !

…

"Hahaha, let's see who puts the national flag on the hill in front first!"

"Okay! Let me show you the strength of your captain! Back then, I, your captain, was able to fly the J-20 with one hand and do the falling leaf lift maneuver!"

"Captain, I have recorded what you said about flying a fighter jet with one hand. When the time comes, I will send it to the trainer and ask him to give you a lesson!"

"Hey! Zhang Wei, you want to carry weight on the moon, right?"

"You catch up with me first!"

"Good boy, just wait!"

On the moon, three lunar rovers are racing on the surface of the moon.

On the three lunar rovers, there were six Chinese lunar landing team members, two on each vehicle.

These lunar rovers use proton batteries, which have extremely strong endurance, and the wheels are also specially designed to avoid the problem of slow acceleration and possible slipping caused by the low friction between the wheels and the ground due to the light gravity of the moon.

And because the air on the moon is thin, there is almost no wind resistance, which saves even more power.

So as long as this lunar rover can be fully charged, it can easily run four thousand kilometers on the moon!

You must know that the circumference of the moon is only 11,000 kilometers.

Moreover, the batteries of their lunar rover can be replaced, which means that they only need to carry three sets of batteries to run around the moon.

So in a way, with this lunar rover, they almost conquered the moon.

In this way, the three cars arrived at the destination they had set, and the first place was the car driven by Zhang Wei.

"Hey, Captain, it seems that facts have proven that being good at flying a fighter jet does not mean being good at driving a car."

After planting the national flag on the hill, Zhang Wei said with a smile to Zhu Xiong, who had just arrived.

Zhu Xiong glared at him angrily and said, "I think you just need to be dealt with."

Zhang Wei chuckled, then looked at Tian Nian again, and sighed: "The intelligence on our Tian Nian is really awesome. The speed of building the lunar base is actually so fast. The most important thing is that it is all completed We don’t need to do anything yet.”

Others also expressed their agreement.

They basically just circled the ground, and then determined the model through the corresponding software. Then there was nothing left for them to do, and the six huge robotic arms could complete all the work.

"Okay, it goes without saying these things. Don't forget our true purpose." Zhu Xiong said again at this time.

"Yes!" The other five team members responded one after another.

Their real purpose is the mysterious moon monument!

It was only after they completed eighteen months of training that they suddenly learned the real purpose behind this lunar transformation plan.

It is precisely because of this that they have three super lunar rovers next to them. These three lunar rovers help them search for things related to the mysterious moon monument everywhere on the moon.

"Yeah." Zhu Xiong nodded, and then said: "Okay, let's make good preparations in the past few days and plan our next route. In addition, before the Tiannian leaves, make sure that we have all the power we should have. They are all full, otherwise, when the Tiannian leaves later, we will not have this nuclear fusion power bank and can only use solar energy."

When everyone present heard Zhu Xiong's words, they all showed helpless expressions.

Indeed, if the Tiannian is here, they can also use the controllable nuclear fusion on the Tiannian to provide unlimited power, but unfortunately the Tiannian has to leave. After all, this is the only one they have in China. aerospace plane, and the second aerospace plane is still being built.

"Okay, let's go back and take a look. The living cabin is almost ready. Let's prepare and move all kinds of living utensils into the living cabin."

"yes!"

With that said, they all returned to their cars.

Zhu Xiong was the fastest. After he and another team member were ready, they quickly shouted: "Let's see who gets there first!"

After shouting, he stepped on the accelerator and rushed out.

The other two cars were not ready yet. When they heard Zhu Xiong's words, they all laughed and cursed: "Captain, you don't have martial ethics!"

…

Just like that, as time passed, in less than twelve hours, under the high-intensity and non-stop work of six robotic arms, people all over the world saw with their own eyes that a building covering an area of ​​more than 400 square meters The lunar base was thus completed.

This lunar base has multiple functional activity areas such as living cabins, experimental cabins, work cabins, and rest cabins. At the same time, there are hundreds of proton batteries inside to store and provide electrical energy, as well as solar panels outside.

Because it is in the permanent daylight zone, the solar panels can continuously generate electricity.

In addition, in order to cope with emergencies, they also have enough hydrogen to recharge all proton batteries twice. After all, proton batteries can not only be charged through electrolytic cell reactions, but can also be directly charged with hydrogen to ensure sufficient power. .

All in all, Zhu Xiong's life on the moon is almost as comfortable as on the earth.

Probably their food is still a little bit simple.

And when these living conditions were announced to the earth, the space agencies of various countries became sour.

Even China's first man to land on the moon said in an interview: "I never thought that landing on the moon would lead to such a rich battle." 』

The astronauts on the International Space Station next door are even more jealous. Their living conditions were slightly worse than those on the Tiangong Space Station. But now their lives on the moon are better than theirs, and they can even live on the moon. Play "Go Kart" on the moon.

This has also drawn comparisons with Project Mars.

But obviously, judging from the current public information, the Mars base planned to be built by the Mars Project is obviously not as good as the lunar base of the Lunar Transformation Plan in any aspect.

As a result, foreign netizens, especially American netizens, felt sorry for their five astronauts who were about to go to Mars.

Six people went on vacation, and five of them went on an adventure.

As for whether vacation or adventure is more interesting, obviously, most people will choose the former.

But no matter what, the time for the Mars planned manned rocket launch has finally arrived.

Although the lunar transformation plan is very attractive and has stunned everyone in the past month, when faced with the Mars plan to go to another planet, people still invariably turned their attention to This project is also a historical milestone.

On March 31, the Kennedy Space Launch Center in the United States.

A super giant rocket that looks much larger than the Tiannian is standing on the launch tower. As an upgraded version of the Saturn V, the Saturn 9 has a height of 148 meters and a diameter of It is an astonishing fifteen meters tall, and the nine huge blowholes below it are even more surprising.

After all, Mars is different from the moon. It is easy to return to the earth from the moon, but it is difficult to return to the area from Mars. This requires the preparation of sufficient fuel. Of course, this also increases the extremely huge weight.

Therefore, the maximum take-off mass of Saturn 9 reached 5,600 tons!

When this data was released, the whole world couldn't help but be amazed.

At this moment, the United States seems to have returned to the glorious era of the last century, the era of the world's beacon during the Cold War and before the 21st century after the end of the Cold War.

"Everyone, the 20th century is the century of the United States, and the 21st century will also continue to be our century!"

"Destiny has revealed our destiny to expand our territory across North America and all the way to the Pacific Ocean; today, destiny has revealed our destiny to expand our territory to another planet!"

"God bless America!"

On the podium, the president's impassioned pre-launch speech aroused the emotions of all Americans present.

Then, the president turned to the Saturn 9 behind him and shouted: "So, next, please turn your attention to our Mars ship!"

The Ship of Mars is their other name for this behemoth.

And on the field, cheers from all the onlookers erupted again.

Afterwards, everyone turned their attention to the super rocket that was ready to go, waiting for its launch.

Of course, the eyes of the whole world are also focused on this place.

In the PK between the Lunar Transformation Plan and the Mars Plan, another player finally appears!