As the last alloy plate was welded, the mechanical arm that stretched outward from the Moon Palace was finally retracted, and the true face of the entire Xufu colonial ship was finally revealed to the world.

Overall, it's shaped like a top-heavy dumbbell.

The larger end is located at the forward end and is the core area of the entire colony ship - the part of the colony compartment that has not yet been deployed. The smaller end is located at the rear end, which is mainly composed of a series of complex and sophisticated aerospace components such as power system, interplanetary communication system and energy unit.

When the colony ship enters the orbit of Mars, the massive front structure will be separated from the entire colony ship and plunged headlong to the surface of Mars with the help of chemical thrusters.

The remainder will remain in orbit around Mars as a communications satellite and meteorological observation satellite, providing interplanetary communications, meteorological observations, positioning and navigation services for ground colonists for at least 20 years.

Although this design does not conform to the principles of aerodynamics, it is natural that these things do not need to be considered in space. On the contrary, because of this unique design, it looks quite cyberpunk.

Looking at the majestic spaceship, Professor Pearson, who was standing next to the porthole, had lost his words in surprise, and only muttered in a difficult tone after a long while.

"How many tons of ...... is this?"

"I don't know......" Professor Yan Xinjue's face was also full of shock, and he swallowed his saliva before he spoke, "But looking at this volume, it already has to be twice the size of the Queqiao, and the tonnage must be at least twice as much, right?" Forget it, I still don't guess...... Let's wait for tomorrow's news. ”

It wasn't just the staff on the Moon Palace who were shocked.

There are also astronomical observers from the Arizona Astronomical Observatory, as well as astronomical observers located in other countries that have been tasked with tracking the Huaguo Landing Program.

Since the establishment of the Guanghan Special Economic Zone, in order to learn from the successful experience of the lunar landing project from China, almost the vast majority of countries and organizations that have made achievements in the field of aerospace have upgraded the lenses of optical observation satellites.

Even if you can't go up for the time being, you have to find a way to steal something from Guanghan City and the Moon Palace.

It is precisely because of this that the actions on the Moon Palace naturally did not escape their eyes.

Whether it was the flexible robotic arm or the behemoth named Xu Fu after the assembly, they were deeply shocked by their eyes.

This is probably the largest spacecraft with long-distance navigation capability in human history, and if the Apollo spacecraft and the BFS spacecraft are compared to the Galen ship and the sail warship respectively during the Voyage of Discovery, then this Xu Fu is like an aircraft carrier sailing in space.

If there were doubts about the success of this fire-boarding plan......

Almost no one now doubts that there is any possibility of failure in this expedition, which has a total distance of more than tens of millions of kilometers.

Just when those space agencies who were fortunate enough to witness the scene were shocked by the amazing operation on the Moon Palace, the atmosphere at the Jinling Space Launch Center was also in full swing.

Almost as soon as the news of the successful "launch" of the Xufu colonial ship returned to Earth, excited cheers erupted in the ground command center.

Whether it was the staff standing in front of the console, or the CCTV and CCTV reporters waiting on the side, everyone's faces were filled with excitement and joy.

Quite a few people waved their fists excitedly, unable to control the excitement in their hearts, and even took off their hats and threw them on the ceiling.

The "Xu Fu" colonial ship was successfully assembled!

The first phase of the manned landing program has been successfully completed!

While this is only a small step towards Mars, it is also the most difficult one. After that, they only need to load the astronauts and the materials needed for the production and life of the colony onto the colony ship, and then ignite the engine of the colony ship, and they can wait for the good news from tens of millions of kilometers away.

"Everything is ready, only the east wind is owed."

With a relieved smile on his face, Lu Zhou looked at the majestic spacecraft on the big screen in the command room, nodded with a smile and said, "The next step is to send our astronauts up." ”

Staring intently at the majestic starship on the screen, Director Li couldn't help but speak with an unfinished expression on his face.

"How much does this thing have to weigh?"

"About five hundred tons."

Hearing this number, Director Li took a hissed breath and said in a stammer.

"Five hundred tons...... This is almost larger than the low earth orbit payload of our Long March series rockets combined! ”

"The tonnage doesn't say much, and there is no comparison between chemical rockets and starships. For Xu Fu, these 500 tons are just the net weight, and when our astronauts board the ship and the spacecraft completes the supply, there is no problem with the weight exceeding 1,000 tons."

Speaking of this, Lu Zhou smiled, looked at the screen in the command room, and continued in a somewhat fascinated tone.

“…… However, it is estimated that it will not be long, and the thousand-ton class is nothing. ”

"In the future, there will be two situations for spacecraft scoring, one is an aerodynamically designed space plane that sails between low-earth orbit and the planet's surface, and the other is a large and medium-sized spacecraft that only shuttles outside the atmosphere."

"The former, our Jinling High-tech Park, has been ahead of the world, and the latter, when our Guanghan Special Economic Zone develops and takes shape, let alone a thousand tons, even if it is a 10,000-ton or million-ton giant ship, it will not be a problem!"

Tens of thousands of tons of spacecraft ......

When he heard this, Director Li opened his mouth and didn't close his jaw for a while.

Even the Saturn V, known as the largest rocket in human history, has a total weight of only 3,000 tons from head to toe. And such a rocket, when it stands upright, the huge volume is already comparable to a 100-meter-high building!

A 1,000-ton spacecraft was approaching the boundaries of his imagination, and as for a spacecraft of 10,000 tons, he couldn't imagine what it would look like.

As for the megaton ...... that Lu Zhou talked about later.

He ignored it entirely.

Looking at the ground command center that had fallen into the sea of jubilation, Lu Zhou didn't pay attention to Director Li, who was already so surprised that he couldn't speak, but looked at Director Chang who was standing on the side and spoke.

"Preparations can begin for the last launch mission."

"If a CCTV reporter plans to interview me in a while, you can help me deal with it, or ask them to go to my office and wait for me for a while."

"I'll go to the bathroom."

With that, Lu Zhou turned around and left the ground command center.

However, when he had just walked to the first floor and was about to turn around to the bathroom for convenience, he saw Director Li chasing him from upstairs.

At first, Lu Zhou didn't pay attention to it, but when the old man also wanted to be convenient, he didn't care about him.

However, when he came out of the bathroom, he found that wherever he went, the old man was following not far behind.

Finally couldn't help it, Lu Zhou stopped, turned around and asked.

"Is there something wrong with you?"

I didn't realize how lame my tracking level really was.

Director Li, who was arrested, wanted to try to quibble, so he pretended to be stupid and said.

"Huh? What the...... What's the matter? I'm just going to go-"

"You're almost a mile away from me, this is called a casual walk?"

Seeing that he couldn't hide it anymore, Director Li finally gave up his quibbling and said with a dry cough.

"That, Academician Lu......"

"What's wrong?"

"You've been going well lately, aren't you?"

"It went so well."

"What about the emotional aspect? and your ...... The subject didn't have a conflict, right? ”

"Nope."

"Where's the mood? Is there anything you can't think of? ”

Hearing this, Lu Zhou's expression suddenly became serious.

"I'm in a very bad mood, and if you go around in circles with me again, I might not be able to think about it at any time."

Hearing this, Director Li seemed to finally realize how bad his behavior was, and the expression on his face gradually turned into embarrassment, and he said embarrassedly.

"There's really nothing going on on my side...... Just some time ago, I heard Director Chang say that you adjusted the number of the first batch of colonists in the Ascending Fire Project from three to five? ”

“…… So what's the problem? ”

Reading the speechlessness in Lu Zhou's expression, Director Li hurriedly waved his hand and said with a smile.

"No, no, no problem! I'm definitely rooting for you! That's it...... The conditions on Mars are difficult and, crucially, unsafe. You also know that only astronauts who have been rigorously screened and trained can be qualified for such a dangerous mission. Even if you're probably interested there, my advice is to wait until the time is right to consider it. ”

Speaking of this, the old man changed his tone to a consultative tone.

"Or ...... Would you like to go for a walk around the moon first? It's also a lot of fun there. ”

Lu Zhou: "......?" ”

What's that?

Lamp pen