North America, Florida.

On the central launch stand of Cape Canaveral Air Force Base stands a super rocket as tall as a 32-story building.

On the side of the rocket are the flag of the United States, the badge of NASA, the logo of Space-X, and the three large letters of BFR. At the same time, in order to take care of a few generous funders, several investment banks on Wall Street that sponsored the plan are also printed under these logos.

With such a huge rocket, it took the staff here nearly a month just to get him to Cape Canaveral Air Force Base and assemble it. It took another week to complete the final preparations for launch.

Now that the life support unit has been loaded with rockets, all preparations have been made, and the moment has finally come for the expedition to begin. A pair of looking up eyes were cast from the direction of the audience, and countless people were looking forward to this moment.

The countdown to ignition began soon.

As the ten-second countdown ended, billowing smoke swept away in an instant.

The 42 Raptor engines consumed liquid oxygen and methane in the fuel chamber at a terrifying rate, providing 128 megaN of terrifying take-off thrust for the entire spacecraft, pushing the rocket more than 100 meters long to slowly break away from the launch frame and launch platform and gallop towards the blue sky.

The roar of the engine was like the roar of a giant beast.

This behemoth is called Chemical Propulsion.

Infused with state-of-the-art liquid oxygen methane propulsion technology, this behemoth once again showed the world its thick and powerful arms......

Looking at this scene from a distance through the binocular, the corners of Musk's mouth curled, he put down the telescope in his hand and handed it to his assistant, looked at Director Carson who was staring at the smoke column in the distance motionlessly, and said with a smile.

"As I said, there's nothing to worry about, we have the best aerospace technology R&D team in the world, and the most extensive launch experience, you just have to wait for the good news to come from the desert 60 million kilometers away."

"I hope it's good news," Director Carson said, pausing as he lowered the telescope on the bridge of his nose, "what about the BFS spacecraft?" Ready to get started? ”

If the life support unit unfolds smoothly on the surface of Mars, the three lucky ones selected will embark on the ship in June to embark on the greatest expedition in human history.

The BFS spacecraft, which is the supporting facility of the BFR super rocket, will play an equally important role in the entire Ares program, which is to send astronauts to Mars safely.

Elon Musk: "We don't use BFS spacecraft. ”

Director Carson looked at Musk and said, "But what you said in the PPT is ......"

Musk smiled and waved his hand: "That thing is a carrier ship of 100 people, and by the time we use it, it will be the last stage of Project Ares." Just send three astronauts aboard, and we'll use a smaller, more stable and reliable delivery vehicle, guess what's it called? ”

Director Carson: "...... What is it called? ”

"Heart of Gold!"

Director Carson hesitated for a moment before he realized the old stalk.

"The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy?"

If he remembered correctly, the book was probably called that. It's just that the golden heart in it is not used for chemical propulsion, but for the puzzling "infinite non-probability drive", which can theoretically reach any corner of the universe in an instant.

A smile appeared on Musk's face.

"That's right, Glass Adams' science fiction masterpiece, and I intend to make it the first manned spacecraft to fly to Mars!"

Director Carson smiled and shook his head.

“…… I think it's a bit more appropriate to choose a name with a more historical feel. ”

Musk said disapprerovingly: "History is written by people, and when we succeed, whether it is a sense of historical weight or something else." ”

While the two were talking, a deafening cheer erupted not far away.

Standing there were people from all walks of life, representatives of civil society, and journalists from major media companies invited by NASA. At this moment, everyone's faces were full of excitement.

Amid the cheers, the BFR rocket, carrying the life-support unit, sped towards Mars, more than 60 million kilometers away. If nothing else, a month would be enough for him to land on the surface of Mars.

Standing at the designated shooting location, the reporters excitedly finished filming the rocket take-off and were fiddling with the camera while leaving the launch center.

They can't wait to get back next to their work computers and start editing tomorrow's headlines.

Wait until after the end of the day.

The whole world will be blown away by America's achievements......

……

The news of the successful launch of the BFR rocket made headlines the next day without any suspense.

According to a NASA report, the Golden Heart spacecraft, which is carrying a life-support unit, has successfully accelerated to the second cosmic velocity and is leaving the Earth-Moon system for the New World.

The United States has once again demonstrated its ambition and strength in the field of space to the world, and at the same time, relevant reports have also been swiped in major newspapers, television news, and talk shows.

As one of the protagonists of Ares' plan, Space-X's stock price began to rise uncontrollably after a brief shock.

According to a financial practitioner working on Wall Street, this launch plan has not only brought more than a billion dollars of direct revenue to Space-X, but also brought tens of billions or even tens of billions of dollars in market value growth to the US stock market.

Considering the expansion of the electric vehicle market with the innovation of lithium-sulfur batteries and controlled fusion technology, it may not be long before Musk's name rises to the top 10 of the world's richest list.

At the same time, with the successful launch of the BFR rocket, the criticism of the lunar orbital space station in domestic public opinion has become more and more intense.

Many people even jumped out to sing the praise, believing that this project worth tens of billions of dollars was doomed to failure from the beginning, and it was a success, and it was useless except for the glory of face.

Ignoring these voices, and not even noticing what those people said, Lu Zhou, who came back from Shangjing, had almost not been idle for a day.

The core difficulty in the construction of a space station in lunar orbit lies in how to transport the finished space station components from the surface to lunar orbit.

At present, there is no one else who can do this job except Star Technology.

Therefore, it is no exaggeration to say that the victory or defeat of this competition is all tied to him.

In the conference room of the Jinling Institute for Advanced Study, the Institute of Aerospace Technology, a meeting on lunar orbit engineering is underway.

“…… If we want to complete the construction of the lunar orbit space station, we need to project at least 500 tons of heavy objects into the lunar orbit," looking at the concept map on the screen, Lu Zhou lightly tapped the table with a ballpoint pen, "And this is only the most basic phase of the project, there are at least 2,000 tons of orders waiting for us in the future, we must maximize our capacity." ”

The project manager of the lunar orbital space station settles the launch fee of Star Technology in kilograms, and the payment is settled every six months. Because it is a key project directly under the central government, there is no common problem of arrears in local infrastructure projects, and it is quite convenient to apply for a loan from a bank.

Although the project has not yet begun, Lu Zhou has already applied for a loan of 50 billion yuan from the four major banks, part of which will be used for the construction of the new Xiangrui space aircraft, and the other part will be used for the research and development of new space vehicles.

Speaking of this, Lu Zhou paused for a moment and continued.

"I think we can study a spacecraft specifically designed to travel between Earth-Moon transfer orbit and geosynchronous orbit."

The room was filled with the sound of whispered discussions.

The idea of building a spacecraft designed to travel between Earth-Moon transfer orbit and geosynchronous orbit is so avant-garde that many experts who have been in the field for decades can't make up their minds.

Hou Guang frowned, thought for a moment and said, "What do you mean...... Use the Xiangrui to complete the transportation from the surface to the synchronous orbit, and then transfer the space module that needs to be transported to a specialized spacecraft, and complete the transportation from low-earth orbit to lunar orbit through a specialized spacecraft? ”

Lu Zhou nodded: "Yes." ”

Hou Guang said in a deep voice: "It is theoretically feasible, but there may be a lot of technical risks in the stage of cargo transfer. ”

Lu Zhou smiled and continued: "Aerospace itself is a risky thing, and every orbit change is an adventure. The right risk is worth it, and if it can be done, we can not only increase the carrying capacity of the Earth-Moon transfer orbit by a notch, but also outsource the launch mission from the surface to the geosynchronous orbit to other qualified space companies to share our costs. ”

After listening to Lu Zhou's thoughts, Hou Guang fell silent and spoke after a long while.

"I'll go back and study and give you a detailed report by tomorrow night."

Lu Zhou nodded solemnly.

"Well, I'll leave it to you."

This kind of thing itself is not something that can be easily decided at a meeting, he just opens his mind and uses his mouth, and the expert in charge of the specific problem may have to break his leg.

However, Hou Guang did not directly deny his idea, and even said that it was theoretically feasible, so the problem should not be very big, at least the trade-off between the pros and cons made this big bull in the aerospace field a little moved.

The meeting lasted until noon.

After the meeting, Lu Zhou went to the cafeteria of the Jinling Institute for Advanced Study, and was about to find a corner to sit and eat after eating barbecue bibimbap, when a call came to his mobile phone.

glanced at the screen, and saw that it was Director Li calling, so Lu Zhou pressed the connect button, put the phone to his ear, and didn't want to speak.

"Hello? What's up? ”

Director Li on the other end of the phone did not say hello, his tone was serious, and he only said one sentence.

"The BFR rocket of the Americans was launched!"