Scholar’s Advanced Technological System

by Stayrr

After suffering from a heat stroke while working under the scorching heat of summer, Lu Zhou, a hardworking but poor university student, somehow becomes the owner of an advanced technological system. With the cheat given by the system, his university life changes overnight. A Master’s degree? Easy. PhD? Not a problem. From a nobody, he quickly becomes a huge celebrity in the wor

22. 683

Read Scholar's Advanced Technological System - Chapter 683 - Night On Purple Mountain online free - Novelfull

Chapter 683: Night On Purple Mountain

During the afternoon, the sun was less piercing. When cool autumn winds blew through the mountains, everyone felt relaxed and comfortable.

The afternoon activity was still hiking, but unlike the morning hike, this hike was divided into six groups, and each group was made up of five or six people.

Wang Peng was obviously in Lu Zhou's team. Luo Wenxuan only came to Jinling half a year ago, so he didn't know a lot of the other faculty members. Plus he didn't want to try and pick up girls, so he joined Lu Zhou's team.

Han Mengqi, Assistant Lin, and another lady from the foreign language department also joined Lu Zhou's team. The lady from the foreign language department had luscious long black hair. She majored in Spanish and became a counselor last year. She was bubbly and extraverted. Even though she was the only one from the foreign language department in this group, she seemed to fit in well.

"Oh yeah, Professor Lu, is this your first time coming to Purple Mountain?"

Lu Zhou thought for a bit and said, "Not quite."

After all, his mansion was at the bottom of the mountain, taking a stroll outside his house counted as walking up the mountain.

"Us locals rarely come here."

"You're from Jinling?"

"Yeah, what about you?"

"I'm from Jiangling."

The counselor from the foreign language department smiled and said, "Jiangling, sound pretty similar. Haha, it seems like we're quite destined for each other."

Lu Zhou: "…?"

You count this as destined?

With someone constantly talking along the way, the hike wasn't too boring. They took some breaks and walked for around an hour. They passed by a beautiful maple tree forest and decided to stop and rest.

Before Lu Zhou could find a place to sit down, the female counselor held his arm and gave Wang Peng the camera. When Wang Peng looked at Lu Zhou, Lu Zhou gave Wang Peng a helpless expression and smiled. Wang Peng shook his head and took a few steps back to take the picture.

Han Mengqi was sitting on a bench nearby. Her legs dangled off the bench as she looked at the two people taking the photo. There was a glimpse of envy in her eyes.

She wanted to be in the photo as well.

However, for some reason, whenever a thought like this came to mind, she would choke up and couldn't say anything.

"Do you like Professor Lu?"

Han Mengqi nearly jumped off the bench. She turned around and saw that it was Assistant Lin. She gave Assistant Lin a death stare.

"No, no! What are you talking about?"

Lin Yuxiang smirked and blinked innocently.

"Nothing, it's just that you've been staring at him the whole day. I'm just curious."

Han Mengqi stared at Lin Yuxiang and didn't say anything.

After a while, she coughed.

"Forget about me… What about you?"

"Me?" Lin Yuxiang smiled and said, "Professor Lu is not my type, I don't like him."

That frivolous reply made it difficult to tell if she was lying.

After all, this was how she normally spoke.

Han Mengqi stared at her for a while and couldn't tell if she was lying. She pretended as if she saw through Assistant Lin.

"Liar."

Lin Yuxiang smirked with a hint of ambiguity as she said, "Why would I lie to you? Hmm… I guess I wouldn't mind if something were to happen between us."

Han Mengqi instantly blushed. She was like a frightened rabbit, and her entire demeanor changed.

"Isn't that weird?! You don't like him, why would you… want anything to happen?"

Seeing how flustered the little girl was, Lin Yuxiang couldn't help but tease her.

"It's not weird at all. He's handsome, rich, he doesn't have any bad qualities. He's quite charismatic as well. It's not just me, a lot of other people think the same, just like… that lady who's dragging Professor Lu for a photo. Her eyes are glowing with lust."

"Well…"

Han Mengqi stared straight at Lin Yuxiang. She puckered her lips and didn't say anything.

Lin Yuxiang looked at her and suddenly felt a twinge of resentment.

However, this resentment quickly disappeared. She smiled at the little girl and said, "I think you're the weird one, you clearly have feelings, but you don't want to admit to it."

Before Han Mengqi could reply, Assistant Lin turned around and took two steps. She then stopped and said, "However… if you want to be more straightforward toward Professor Lu someday, I can help you."

She turned around and walked away.

Han Mengqi looked at Lin Yuxiang walking away and muttered to herself, "Why would I believe you…

"Wait no, I don't like him!"

Han Mengqi stomped her feet. She didn't know why she was angry. She got up and walked away.

…

In the evening, the sun started to disappear behind the mountain.

The six teams arrived at their destination. They were at one of the Purple Mountain peaks.

Even though this was supposed to be the peak, Lu Zhou felt like they could walk a little further. However, there weren't any smooth roads ahead. Only a few well-built male teachers and some other female teachers continued to explore the mountain. The rest stayed at the gathering point and set up a charcoal grill.

This was a dedicated barbecue spot, so it was fine for them to have an open flame. However, they had to take away their rubbish and make sure to be safe.

Wang Peng walked over holding a plastic bucket. When he saw Lu Zhou sitting there quietly, he smiled and asked, "Why aren't you choosing your fish for grilling?"

"You can choose for me, I like eating, not grilling."

"Okay then." Wang Peng threw a few catfish into a plastic bucket and stood up. "I'll go get some more."

The sky was filled with a deep shade of orange as the golden ginkgo leaves in the distance blended seamlessly into the sky.

The flames on the charcoal grill burned slowly. Some of the ladies from the foreign language department took out their phones and excitedly took group photos in front of this beautiful scenery.

As for Lu Zhou, he wasn't interested in photos. He sat down comfortably against a parasol tree and took out his phone to read a thesis.

The area was soon filled with the scent of barbecued fish.

Wang Peng was holding a couple of catfish skewers. He smiled and said, "Barbecue is not my only cooking skill."

Lu Zhou asked, "What else can you cook?"

"Hotpot."

Lu Zhou: "That counts as cooking?"

Wang Peng smiled and said, "Anything related to food is cooking!"

The barbecue party was held until 8 pm.

They picked up their rubbish and went on a bus, which sent them back to their hotel.

Lu Zhou wanted to rest in his room, but Old Tang suggested that he experience the hotel's hot spa.

Lu Zhou had to admit, the hot spring was pretty nice. He didn't even care whether or not it was manmade or natural.

Lu Zhou wiped himself dry and put on some clean clothes. He bought a can of coffee at the vending machine and was about to return to his room. He then saw Han Mengqi with her wet hair. She was sitting on a chair nearby.

Lu Zhou looked at the vending machine and contemplated it for a second. He then bought a small carton of warm milk and walked toward her. He sat down next to her.

"Your hair isn't dry yet, you're going to catch a cold." Lu Zhou gave her the carton of warm milk. He opened his can of coffee and took a sip.

Han Mengqi avoided eye contact as she gently nodded.

"Oh, okay, I'll dry it later."

Lu Zhou nodded and didn't say anything.

He looked at the view outside the window. He then stood up and was about to leave.

However, before he could take a step, Han Mengqi suddenly stopped him.

"Wait a second."

Lu Zhou turned around and asked, "Why?"

Han Mengqi grabbed her knees and curled into the seat. She then asked quietly, "Can you sit here with me for a while?"

Lu Zhou thought for a bit and nodded.

"Sure."

He sat back down and the two stayed silent.

Lu Zhou drank his coffee and looked at Han Mengqi.

He felt like there was something Hang Mengqi wanted to say.

However, he didn't take it too seriously, nor did he ask her.

Everyone had their own worries and secrets. It wasn't a polite thing to ask about them.

A few minutes went by.

Han Mengqi held her knees tightly and looked at Lu Zhou. She quietly asked a question that surprised Lu Zhou.

"What do you think about my sister?"

"Chen Yushan?"

Lu Zhou looked at the city lights in the distance and felt the evening breeze on his face. He thought about this question for a while and said, "She's a close friend with whom I get along with."

There were two types of friends.

One was the type of friend with common interests, like Luo Wenxuan.

The other was the one without any common interests, but they could get along well.

For him, Chem Yushan was the rare kind, the ones he got along well despite not having common interests.

As for his other feelings…

He carefully thought about it and didn't think he had any.

Han Mengqi looked a little disappointed, and she looked down as she quietly muttered, "That's it?"

Lu Zhou looked at her and said, "Why, what's wrong?"

"Nothing…"

Han Mengqi buried her chin between her knees and lowered her head.

Because of the lighting, Lu Zhou couldn't see her face. He could only hear a soft whisper.

"Nothing…"

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They didn't speak again that night.

The next morning, which was also the last day of the field trip…

According to the itinerary, the squad was originally going to go sightseeing, pay a visit to the pagoda, and visit the Tibetian Pavilion.

However, some of the Jinling local teachers weren't interested. Lu Zhou had already been here twice before, so he wasn't interested either. Hence, some of the newly-recruited staff members and other assistants packed their bags early in the morning and went about their way.

As for the old professors who didn't plan on going, they set up some card games in the hotel lounge.

The female counselor, who kept chatting with Lu Zhou yesterday, knocked on Lu Zhou's door early in the morning. She invited him to visit the pagoda together, but Lu Zhou wasn't interested at all. She ended up having to go with her female friends.

Lu Zhou ate some breakfast and walked to the hotel's activity room. Since Luo Wenxuan and Dean Qin were also here, they started to play cards.

"A pair of aces."

"Pass pass!" Luo Wenxuan waved his hand and smiled. He clearly couldn't beat Dean Qin's aces.

Dean Qin smiled and looked at Lu Zhou.

"Then it's still my turn…"

"Bomb."

The four-of-a-kind "bomb" was thrown on the table. Luo Wenxuan nearly slid off the sofa.

"F*ck me! You still have some cards up your sleeves."

Lu Zhou smiled and didn't say anything. He dropped the pair of Jacks on the table and threw down the remaining 10.

Dean Qin looked at his cards and frowned. He sighed and said, "I shouldn't have thrown the pair of queens."

"Maybe if you didn't play your pair of queens, I would have played differently."

"You know what cards I have?"

"Looking at it from a probability perspective, I can calculate the chances of every card in your hand." Lu Zhou smiled while shuffling. "Actually, this is just a number game, I prefer to play blackjack."

"I'm not playing anymore," Luo Wenxuan said while leaning back on the sofa. "This guy is ridiculous. No one could beat him in Princeton, much less here."

He lost twelve times in a row, and his mentality had completely exploded.

He finally decided not to play cards with the Fields medalist anymore.

Lu Zhou looked at Luo Wenxuan and smiled.

"Last round, I'll show you my cards."

Luo Wenxuan bounced up from the sofa and immediately threw two hundred-dollar-bill on the table. He rubbed his hands and smiled.

"Okay, let's bet big this time."

Lu Zhou: "…"

Dean Qin: "…"

They were playing for a few yuan earlier, but now, there was suddenly two hundred yuan on the table…

…

In the end, Lu Zhou still won.

Even though the technique was one aspect, luck still played a huge part.

And Lu Zhou was obviously a lucky guy.

He had both of the jokers and three of the aces. His luck was through the roof. Forget about showing his cards, he could have won with his eyes closed.

Lu Zhou wanted to lose and send his winnings back, but Luo Wenxuan wasn't having a good day.

Lu Zhou waved the cash in his hand and stood up. He let Old Tang, who just got out of the spa, take his spot.

Lu Zhou left the activity room and went out of the hotel. He was about to go shopping nearby when someone called his name.

"Wait a second, Professor Lu."

Lu Zhou looked back and saw the little teenage girl he met yesterday. She half-ran toward him while holding a book.

"Um, about yesterday, I'm sorry…" the little girl said while looking down at the floor.

Lu Zhou looked at the girl and smiled.

"It's fine, I understand."

After all, he had a lot of fans on Weibo. There was bound to be some that were jealous of his looks.

Once the haters started to form an opinion, more and more people would jump on the bandwagon even though it didn't represent their real thoughts. Therefore, Lu Zhou never took the haters' comments seriously.

The little girl sighed in relief and took out her math textbook and a pen. She passed it to him and asked, "Um, I want to apply to the city's top high school… Can you sign this for me?"

"No problem."

Lu Zhou took the pen and signed his name.

After thinking about it, it felt too shallow. In the end, he neatly wrote down a line of words and gave the book back to the girl.

"Education is our passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today."

The girl quietly read out the line. Suddenly, she looked up at Lu Zhou happily and said, "Thank you! Your handwriting is so nice."

Lu Zhou smiled and said, "Make sure to study hard."

"Yeah! I will."

When the little girl went back into the hotel, Lu Zhou turned around and started to walk down the mountain. However, he happened to meet an acquaintance.

"Professor Lu! Haha, what a coincidence seeing you here."

Liu Wanshan's face was bright red. Lu Zhou was surprised to see him.

"Manager Liu? What a coincidence, you're here as well?"

Liu Wanshan smiled and shook Lu Zhou's hand.

"Yeah, what a small world. I'm on vacation at the nursing home next door. I know a good teahouse near here, do you want to go?"

Since Lu Zhou didn't have anything else to do, he nodded and replied, "Sure, you know the way?"

Liu Wanshan smiled and said, "Haha, of course I do. It's not easy to find that place, come with me."

It wasn't as difficult as CEO Liu had said. The tea house was halfway up the hiking trail. It was a place for the visitors to rest and look at the beautiful Purple Mountain scenery. It was also a good place to take photos.

The pair found a quiet place with a good view to sit down and ordered some tea.

"How's your business?"

"It's all going great, thanks to you!"

Liu Wanshan took a sip of the Longjing tea and moistened his throat. He smiled and began to talk with Lu Zhou about how Zhongshan New Materials was doing.

Ever since Star Sky Technology bought their shares, Zhongshan New Materials had also received technical support from Star Sky Technology, which reduced their patent licensing fees. Zhongshan New Materials had been rapidly growing in the Chinese market.

Particularly, after they recently acquired two local battery factories and updated the production line, Zhongshan New Materials now had control over a full lithium-sulfur battery production line. They had been receiving orders from many electric vehicle and phone companies.

Due to the impact of the controllable fusion technology, the entire Chinese battery market was expanding. Zhongshan New Materials was CEO Liu's most profitable venture, turning over billions of yuan per month.

There was also the SG-1 superconducting material. Even though the chance of it being regulated by the government was high, the Americans and the Europeans were desperate to get a piece of this thing, which would make them a hefty profit.

"What about you? You're still researching aerospace?"

Lu Zhou took a sip of the tea and said, "I guess so."

Liu Wanshan nodded and didn't ask anymore.

After so many years in business, he knew exactly what he could ask and what he couldn't.

It was obvious that Lu Zhou was reluctant to speak about this, so he changed the topic.

"Oh yeah, speaking of batteries, there's a new electric vehicle industry summit in a few days. Apparently, they will discuss the new unified battery standard. A high-level official from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology is going to be there."

Electric vehicle summit?

A light bulb suddenly flashed in Lu Zhou's mind, so he asked, "Where is this summit?"

"It's right here in Jinling, what, are you interested?" Liu Wanshan smiled and said, "Well, if you're interested, I have some invitations that I can send you."

Lu Zhou smiled and replied, "Thanks so much."

"No worries! This is nothing."

The two sat there and kept drinking tea until noon.

Lu Zhou looked at his watch and saw the hotel lunch buffet was about to open, so he said goodbye to Liu Wanshan and left the tea house.

While walking back to the hotel, he felt like someone was following him. He frowned and glanced back, but he didn't see anything.

"Is it just an illusion?"

Lu Zhou looked ahead and continued to walk toward the hotel.

Once he arrived at the hotel, the buffet had already begun.

Lu Zhou happened to bump into Wang Peng, so he sat across from Wang Peng.

Lu Zhou suddenly remembered his weird feeling on his way here, so he told Wang Peng.

"You feel like someone is following you?" Wang Peng frowned and said, "Maybe they're from the Army General Staff Department?"

"General staff?"

"Yeah, there are two security departments in charge of your safety. I'm from the state security side, but I'm not sure about the general staff side. However, you don't have to worry about your safety. Security has been patrolling this area ever since you've been on this mountain. If you're still worried, I can call the general staff side."

Lu Zhou said, "I don't think it's necessary. If I knew it would be this troublesome, I wouldn't have come on this field trip in the beginning."

Wang Peng smiled and said, "No, please, we don't want your normal daily life to be affected. Do as you wish."

Not to mention…

Lu Zhou never goes out, he stays in the laboratory with a bunch of older men all day. If he never goes out, he'll spend the rest of his life as a single man.

If this were anyone else, the government wouldn't care.

But Lu Zhou's love life…

This was something the government officials are concerned about.

Lu Zhou shook his head and didn't say anything.

He didn't like to trouble others. He rarely delegated work to others.

However, even if he didn't want his security to be so extensive, the Ministry of State Security wouldn't agree. After all, his personal safety wasn't just his own business, it was also the country's business.

Suddenly, Lu Zhou had a weird idea.

Why not get a "terminator" bodyguard?

With Xiao Ai's current intelligence and the manufacturing abilities of the space shuttle assembly center, it might be possible.

However, he quickly gave up on this idea.

Xiao Ai was like his child; what kind of person would let their child be their bodyguard?

Besides, Xiao Ai's mind was like a blank piece of paper. Lu Zhou didn't want to fill it with violent things.

Otherwise, Xiao Ai could become really scary, really fast…

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Chapter 685: Only Kids Do Multiple Choice Questions

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

The faculty field trip lasted two days. On the morning of the third day, the bus stopped at the hotel entrance. The faculty members then went on their way back to Jin Ling University.

Lu Zhou didn't do any research over the past two days, and his trip to Purple Mountain relaxed him quite a bit. His stress from the beginning of the year was finally relieved.

As Lu Zhou sat on the bus with his head leaning against the window, he began to reminisce about this field trip. He heard Dean Qin and the dean of the foreign language department talk about something in the back of the bus.

"Around five to six couples."

"Five to six, not bad."

"Looks like we'll be attending some weddings next year."

"Oh yeah, did Professor Lu from the mathematics department find a partner yet?"

"I don't know, the female counselor from your department seems to like him, who knows if they're a thing or not."

"I'll go ask."

Lu Zhou was sitting in front of them. His eyebrows furrowed, and he coughed heavily.

The two old men didn't realize Lu Zhou was sitting so close to them. They then laughed awkwardly and stopped talking.

After Lu Zhou got out of the car, he went straight to the mathematics department building. On his way there, he called Chen Yushan.

She quickly picked up. A pleasant voice traveled through the phone.

"How was it? Did you have fun?"

"It was fun."

Chen Yushan smirked and said, "That's good, you're always in the laboratory, I'm worried that something is going to go wrong."

Lu Zhou: "Nothing is going to go wrong, when I was in Princeton, I stayed at home for a month or two at a time. Nothing happened other than my skin getting paler. Oh yeah, when I went to the Purple Mountain hotel this time, I ran into Liu Wanshan."

Chen Yushan curiously asked, "Liu Wanshan? The boss of Zhongshan New Materials? You guys are talking business again?"

"Not quite, we just chatted." Lu Zhou paused for a second and said, "There's going to be an alternative energy vehicle summit in Jinling in a few days. I want to go, try to see if you can get me an invitation."

Even though Liu Wanshan had spare invitations, Lu Zhou didn't want to use them.

It wasn't like Lu Zhou couldn't get an invitation himself.

Chen Yushan replied concisely, "Ok, I'll ask them, there should be no problem."

Lu Zhou nodded and said, "Okay, thanks."

After the phone call ended, Lu Zhou arrived at his office.

Unsurprisingly, Luo Wenxuan was already here. He was talking with Kong Jie about the various methods of processing coffee beans. Kong Jie had a professional smile on her face, and she clearly wasn't interested in talking with Luo Wenxuan. Unfortunately, Luo Wenxuan didn't notice this.

Lu Zhou shook his head and interrupted Luo Wenxuan's chattering.

"Stop interrupting my assistant's work."

Luo Wenxuan realized what he was doing, so he looked at Assistant Kong and smiled awkwardly.

"Oh? I'm sorry."

"It's fine, enjoy your coffee."

Kong Jie smiled conservatively and didn't say anything else. She then turned around and left.

Luo Wenxuan looked at her walking away and reluctantly glanced at Lu Zhou. He lowered his voice and said, "This is not a good time to come here."

Lu Zhou rolled his eyes and said, "Are you crazy, this is my office, your office is in the building next door."

"No, I meant, couldn't you have gone home and put your luggage there?" Luo Wenxuan scratched his head and said, "I thought you weren't coming here today."

"Unfortunately, I don't have that much free time." Lu Zhou sat down at his desk and tapped on his keyboard. Soon, the printer next to him began to hum.

Several warm sheets of paper with freshly printed ink on them were pushed out of the printer. Lu Zhou grabbed the stack of papers and patted it on Luo Wenxuan's shoulder as he said, "However, congratulations to you, your vacation is also over."

"What's this?" Luo Wenxuan took the stack of A4 papers from Lu Zhou and glanced at it. He looked shocked. He said, "East Loop project… is about to begin?"

The so-called East Loop project was to build a large circular orbital hadron collider in outer space. Lu Zhou was the project sponsor, and the project had already passed the preliminary review stage, and it was now entering the review stage.

So far, there were two plans. One was to find a suitable area on the surface on the moon, and the other was to build it in geosynchronous orbit. The former depended on their ability to deliver payloads to the moon, while the latter depended on their ability to construct large orbital space stations. Neither of them was easy.

However…

This project passed the preliminary examinations.

Luo Wenxuan was astonished.

Lu Zhou looked at him and chuckled as he said, "When have I ever joked about academic things with you? I talked the talk, now I'm walking the walk."

Lu Zhou paused for a second. He then continued, "This project has already entered the design stage. We will cooperate with many units, like the Institute of Physics and the Institute of Mathematics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, as well as the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation, Institute of High Energy Physics, etc. I want you to work in Beijing for a while."

"Beijing… Like a business trip?"

"Yeah, what, you don't want to go?"

"Not that, it's just…" Luo Wenxuan looked a little distressed as he said, "You're not going to send me away just for a little matter like this, right?"

Looking at how uncomfortable Luo Wenxuan was, Lu Zhou smiled in his mind.

It's your fault for drinking coffee in my office all day, now are you happy?

Of course, Lu Zhou didn't purposely want to ruin Luo Wenxuan's potential love life… He didn't even have time to take care of his own love life.

However, Luo Wenxuan's actions had been starting to get a little ridiculous.

Just in case, Lu Zhou felt like it would be good for him to leave and calm down for a while.

"Come on, it's Beijing we're talking about. This is just a business trip, you'll be back in six months. I think going away and calming down is good for you," Lu Zhou said as he looked at Luo Wenxuan's reluctant face. He knew Luo Wenxuan wasn't going to be obedient, so he said, "If there's any work progress, you can report it directly to Assistant Kong."

Luo Wenxuan paused for a second. He suddenly smiled, and he looked grateful as he said, "Bro, thanks!"

Lu Zhou frowned and warned him.

"I'm warning you, work is the most important thing."

Luo Wenxuan smiled and said, "Rest assured, I know exactly what's important!"

Lu Zhou: "…"

I hope so.

However, even though Luo Wenxuan spoke frivolously, he had never let Lu Zhou down.

When Lu Zhou thought about this, he felt a little more confident.

Luo Wenxuan: "Then I'll leave… Oh yeah."

Lu Zhou: "What?"

Luo Wenxuan stared at the A4 papers in his hand and hesitated for a bit before he said, "The 750 GeV signal… It's been so long, have you still not given up?"

Even though the 750 GeV signal wasn't on the East Loop project plan, Luo Wenxuan's intuition told him that this project was made for the 750 GeV signal.

Or at least part of the project was for this signal…

Lu Zhou paused for a second and smirked.

"Have you seen me ever give up on anything?"

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Chapter 686: Alternative Energy Vehicle Summit

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

Lu Zhou was indeed a little selfish when it came to the East Loop project.

The reason why he tried so hard to realize this project, was partly because of the 750 GeV signal.

He knew that his own calculations didn't lie. And the "errors" that appeared on the two detectors weren't just a coincidence. Even though the LHCb experiments had found nothing, he believed that the experimental method was wrong.

He couldn't rely on CERN anymore.

He needed a large hadron collider that was his alone. Or at least one that he had total control over. Only then, could he conduct experiments exactly how he wanted.

Of course, before making these blueprints a reality, he had to face the things in front of him.

It was the middle of October when the Alternative Energy Vehicle Summit was held.

Big names in the automobile industry, academic leaders, and other capitalists who were interested in this industry all gathered in this city.

With the invitation that Chen Yushan was able to get, Lu Zhou arrived at the summit.

After he showed his invitation letter to the reception, he was about to walk inside the venue. However, he was stopped by a lady standing at the entrance.

"Sir, your seat is over there."

Lu Zhou looked at the corridor the lady was pointing at and asked, "Isn't the auditorium over there?"

The lady politely said, "You have a special expert-only invitation. It's on the right side of the auditorium, please use the right corridor to enter the venue."

Lu Zhou looked at his invitation letter, which had the words "Special Expert Invitation".

"There are special invitations?"

The lady was baffled, and she said, "Sir, did you not realize this prior to receiving your invitation?"

Lu Zhou smiled awkwardly and said, "I… My company's CEO helped me get this invitation, I didn't look at it carefully."

"I'll take you there then."

Lu Zhou nodded.

"Okay then, thanks."

Alternative energy vehicle was the first application of the new controllable fusion technology. After the standardization of vehicle batteries, a large amount of capital would be invested in alternative energy vehicles. This would accelerate the Chinese automobile market and eventually eliminate traditional gasoline cars.

The fact was, this trend had existed before the lithium-sulfur battery breakthrough.

For high-tech companies focused on research and development, like Star Sky Technology, this summit was undoubtedly a valuable opportunity. After all, after the battery standards were set, battery research and development would change.

Even though Lu Zhou wasn't interested in making money, he was a bit short on cash.

He burned hundreds of millions of yuan into the space shuttle project and only made a little progress. Who knew how much he would have to spend in the future.

Soon after, the summit began.

Lu Zhou opened the recording app on his phone and asked Xiao Ai to organize the conference contents into notes. He then focused on the presentation.

The first to walk on stage was the second-highest-ranking official from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Secretary Yang Zhongyuan.

After a round of applause, he began to give a normal conference opening speech.

Honestly, there wasn't anything particularly important in this speech. However, there was one thing that attracted Lu Zhou's interested. During his opening remarks about alternative energy vehicles, Secretary Yang mentioned the keyword "smart city" multiple times.

Generally speaking, speeches like this often conveyed the Communist Party of China's true intentions.

"The development of science and technology is rapidly changing our society. With the rapid growth of the Internet, the Internet of Things, big data, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, etc, smart cities will slowly emerge into our lives. Controllable fusion has brought us cheap and clean energy. This new energy allows us to realize everything in our blueprint for the future."

Secretary Yang paused for a second before he continued, "We have clearly seen that our economy and society are racing toward 'artificial general intelligence', and in some cases, we are at the forefront of the world.

"Informatization and electrification of cities will be our focus for the next five years. I hope you all can continue to use this momentum to build a future that is full of prosperity."

Secretary Yang nodded in midst of the applause and announced the start of the summit.

When the summit host walked on stage, Lu Zhou seemed to be in deep thought. He wrote down a line in his notebook.

[Lithium-air battery.]

Lithium-air batteries were more futuristic than lithium-sulfur batteries as they relied on external oxygen to generate oxides. Theoretically, they would have a higher volume energy density than lithium-sulfur batteries. In fact, the first debris he got was of a lithium-air battery. Therefore it shouldn't be difficult to reverse engineer the technology.

Actually, he didn't even need to completely reverse engineer the technology. He just had to follow the technical routes seen on Debris No.1 and let the Institute of Computational Materials of the Institute for Advanced Study do the rest.

However, Lu Zhou wasn't sure if he should create this technology right now or later.

"I'll let Yang Xu start a research on oxygen molecular gas exchange membranes first."

Lu Zhou's eyebrows furrowed as he began to think. He crossed out the words "lithium-air battery" and wrote the words "gas exchange membrane". He then closed his notebook.

He heard a voice beside him.

"Isn't this speech interesting?"

This person was clearly talking to him.

Lu Zhou looked across and was suddenly surprised.

The man sitting next to him, who looked a bit like ET, smiled kindly and reached out his right hand.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Professor Lu."

Lu Zhou shook his hand and gave a simple response.

"Hello, CEO Ma."

Jack Ma smiled and said, "I'm not a CEO anymore, you can call me Jack Ma."

Lu Zhou was thinking about his own problems, so he didn't even realize that he was sitting next to the boss of Alibaba. However, this wasn't a huge deal. Lu Zhou was just slightly surprised.

In terms of money, Lu Zhou definitely had less than Jack.

In terms of status…

That wasn't easy to compare.

"Mr. Ma, you're also interested in alternative energy vehicles?"

"I'm not interested in alternative energy vehicles per se." Jack Ma shook his head and said, "I'm interested in this industry."

"The alternative energy industry?"

"Nope, the future industry." He paused for a second and said, "Just like Secretary Yang had said, electricity will become cheaper and cleaner. Many costly ideas that couldn't be realized, might become a reality. Not just alternative energy vehicles, but many other great inventions will come to life."

Jack Ma suddenly turned his head and smiled at Lu Zhou.

"For example, the logistics drones you proposed six or seven years ago was definitely unattainable back then. But in four to five years, our streets might be filled with flying drones. In the future, our cities will be more like an information-based community, people will only need to connect to the Internet and will be able to do everything through the Internet. People released from repetitive manual labor will be able to do creative work, enriching our civilization."

Lu Zhou smiled and said, "I thought you weren't a manager anymore."

Jack Ma smiled and said, "I'm not a manager, but I'm still an investor. Even though I can't get to space, that doesn't mean I'm not interested in space. Of course, I'm more interested in you, Professor Lu."

"Me?"

"Yeah, I have a lot of ideas. But not only do you have ideas, but you also have the ability to realize those ideas," Jack Ma said while staring at Lu Zhou with a twinkle in his eye.

Lu Zhou went silent for a while.

He suddenly smiled and replied, "I'm a little embarrassed you think so highly of me."

Jack Ma smiled and said, "You're too humble."

He took out a business card from his pocket and handed it to Lu Zhou.

"If you have any interesting projects that need investment, you can always contact me. Even if I can't help you, I can introduce you to someone who can."

I see…

That's why you started to talk to me, you want to invest in me?

Lu Zhou took the business card and nodded as a show of thanks.

"If necessary, I'll definitely call you."

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Chapter 687: Lithium-Air Battery Project

Jinling Institute for Advanced Study.

Institute of Computational Materials.

Because it was already lunch break, the people in the office were quite relaxed. Other than Qian Zhongming, who was still reading through theses, most of the people were either browsing the latest industry news or chatting while drinking coffee.

"I heard Jin Ling University had a group date a few days ago?"

"Yeah, I heard about it as well. I think they had an autumn field trip with the foreign language department. They stayed at the Purple Mountain hotel for two nights."

Liu Bo sighed and said, "Damnit… How come the chemistry department never hosts events like this?"

Most of the researchers at the Jinling Institute for Advanced Study had faculty positions at nearby universities, most of them being Jin Ling University, followed by the Jinling University of Science and Technology. After all, the head of the institute was Lu Zhou, Nobel laureate in chemistry and the founding father of computational materials science. Even in the international field, the Institute of Computational Materials was one of the top research institutes in the materials science field.

Therefore, no university would refuse to hire researchers from an institute like this.

Hence, they should also receive a share of the faculty benefits.

Unfortunately, the chemistry department didn't have any activities this year, and October was going to pass by quietly.

Yang Xu laughed when he heard Liu Bo's sigh. He made himself a second cup of coffee as he said, "Don't count on it. Even if the chemistry department did have a group date, you think those foreign language girls will be interested in us? Forget about the rest, just our hairline alone will kill our game."

Not only did the people in the natural sciences, such as biology, chemistry, environment, and material sciences, not make any money, but they didn't have good hairlines either.

In order to accurately measure a set of data, they often had to stay in the laboratory until after midnight. The old professors were fine, after all, they could delegate the work to noob researchers. However, this meant that the noob researchers had the short end of the stick.

Of course, one should stay hopeful.

Liu Bo wasn't happy, and he immediately refused.

"I mean, it's not like our hairlines are much worse than those from the mathematics department, right?"

Yang Xu casually drank his coffee and shook his head as he said, "Not quite, have you seen Professor Lu's hair?"

Liu Bo was speechless, and it took him a while to think of a comeback.

"I think he's an exception."

Yang Xu smiled and said, "Okay then, when you get off work, take a stroll around the chemistry department and mathematics department buildings. Find staff members who are around the same age and compare their hairlines."

Qian Zhongming, who was scrolling with his mouse wheel, couldn't help but join in on the conversation.

"It's probably not easy to find staff members who are around the same age…"

The office became silent.

No one said anything.

In the end, Liu Bo broke the silence.

"Let's not talk about this sad topic…"

This time, everyone in the office agreed with one another, and no one said anything else.

When it came to their actual age and biological age…

This topic was too heavy for these noob researchers to talk about.

The lunch break was quickly over, and at around one o'clock, the crowd sitting at their desks began to start working. By half-past one, everyone was working on their tasks.

Yang Xu returned to his office and sat down. He opened his laptop.

He suddenly saw a new email message in his mailbox. It was from Lu Zhou.

"The application of high permeability oxygen molecular membranes to the lithium-air battery?"

After glancing at the email title, Yang Xu raised his eyebrows. He quickly downloaded the attachment in the email and opened it carefully. The more he read, the more shocked he was.

Lithium-air batteries had always been a controversial topic in the academic world. Many people supported the idea, but many people also questioned it. The most basic reason was that the extremely reactive nature of lithium metal made it reactive with almost all gases in the air except for the noble gases.

If someone wanted to solve this problem, they would have to separate out the oxygen in the air and only allow oxygen gas to enter the reaction system.

The most realistic method was to add a layer of molecular sieve or membrane that only allowed oxygen molecules to contact the lithium metal surface. This might sound simple, but this was extremely difficult to achieve.

However, in this email attachment, not only did Professor Lu point out a clear research pathway, but he also listed several seemingly feasible technical ideas.

"Did he do this while studying the Yang-Mills equations?" Yang Xu said after reading the last line of the attached document. He sighed softly, leaned on his chair, and stared at the ceiling. He couldn't help but say, "This guy really is a monster…"

He did this while researching a world-class problem, is he even human?

Of course, Yang Xu didn't know about one other thing.

If he knew that in addition to solving the Yang-Mills Equations, Lu Zhou also solved the miniaturization of controllable fusion problem, Yang Xu would begin to have doubts about his life…

Regardless, the technical ideas were there. Whether or not it would work, that would depend on them experimenting.

Yang Xu selected the email Lu Zhou sent him and forwarded it to his colleagues. He then stood up from his chair.

He walked to the cubicles and knocked on a door.

"New mission, guys, time to get to work."

The researchers in the office looked up at him.

Qian Zhongming was the first to speak. He adjusted his glasses and said, "New mission? Is there a research project?"

Yang Xu said succinctly, "A high permeability oxygen molecular separation membrane. As for the technical information and experiment methods, I have sent them to your emails."

High permeability oxygen molecular separation membrane?

The second Qian Zhongming heard this, he looked astonished.

Liu Bo, who was sitting at a desk nearby, also looked shocked. He spoke with a hint of excitement in his tone.

"High permeability oxygen molecular separation membrane? Is this research project about…"

"Yeah," Yang Xu nodded and said, "our next research project is… lithium-air batteries."

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Chapter 688: New Way to Eat Bacon Sandwiches?

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

If lithium-sulfur batteries were like the nuclear fission of batteries, lithium-air batteries were like the nuclear fusion of batteries. The method of obtaining oxides from the outside air was the upper limit of the energy density of the lithium-anode battery.

Compared to traditional lithium-ion batteries, the energy density of lithium-sulfur batteries was an order of magnitude higher. Compared with lithium-sulfur batteries, lithium-air batteries were also an order of magnitude higher, in terms of energy density. Both the volume-energy density and mass-energy density were the same, a magnitude higher.

The only downside was that it probably wasn't suitable for mobile phones or satellites.

After all, the reason why the energy density of lithium-air batteries was high was that its oxides weren't integrated inside the battery, but were located outside the battery. Therefore, the battery needed to "breathe".

Mobile phones were often kept in tight pockets and satellites were kept away from Earth's atmosphere, making these devices difficult to take advantage of lithium-air batteries. However, for alternative energy vehicles or small drones, there wasn't a better energy storage device than lithium-air batteries.

Because of this, lithium-air batteries were much more difficult to create than lithium-sulfur batteries.

Not only was there the lithium dendrite problem, which plagued all lithium anode batteries, but lithium-air batteries also had extremely demanding material requirements. After all, lithium itself was a super reactive metal. Exposing it to the atmosphere meant one would have to make it react only with the oxygen in the atmosphere.

Not to mention numerous other complex side effects.

The key to solving this problem was to find a thin film that could filter out water vapor, carbon dioxide, and other gases in the air and can accurately and quickly screen through oxygen molecules.

In fact, this technology was present in Debris No.1.

Unfortunately, the damage done to Debris No.1 was relatively large, and the layer of film was located on the surface of the debris. Even using the data collected with a scanner gun, there would still be a certain degree of difficulty to reverse engineer this technology.

Fortunately, Lu Zhou could rely on his intuition in the field of computing materials and his understanding of carbon-based materials to narrow down several technical routes that seemed more feasible. He then handed these technical routes to the researchers at the Institute of Computational Materials.

Since he was an academic leader, he didn't need to work on every project himself. All he had to do was plan the research direction and find a reliable technical route.

If this technology succeeded, its impact would spread beyond the battery field.

From manufacturing to medical devices, a lot of fields would benefit from this technology.

The Alternative Energy Vehicle Summit in Jinling was held for a total of two days, during which Lu Zhou received a lot of business cards. Even though he rarely contacted people in the capital investment field, people in the field were extremely interested in him.

Whether it was because of the Ling Yun medal or because of Star Sky Technology's research and development advantage, many people had exchanged business cards with him.

And no matter their intention, Lu Zhou responded politely to everyone who was interested in him.

Even though he didn't need their help right now, who knew what the future could hold?

After all, not all projects could be funded by the state.

A week after the summit had ended, at the end of October…

Autumn was the perfect season for Lu Zhou to sit in his office and study mathematical problems. He unexpectedly received an email from Switzerland.

It was from Edward Witten.

In this email, in addition to his greetings, Witten walked about CERN's latest research progress.

Especially regarding the "M particles".

[In regards to the "M particles" you predicted in your thesis, an exploration project has been scheduled in this month's experimental plan. If everything goes well, we will receive the results at the end of the month. We have held many meetings for this experiment, and we are all looking forward to seeing interesting things in the experiment.

[Finally, I hope you stay healthy and work hard. If there are any updates, I will tell you as soon as possible, even though I think CERN's press releases are faster than my emails.

[Also, do you know about a kind of tofu that looks like cheese? I'm not sure if it's a Jinling specialty, but putting that in bacon sandwiches is very delicious, I recommend you to try it. Unfortunately, I haven't found it in any supermarkets here… Can you send me some if you can? I'll pay you back of course. ]

The emoji at the end nearly made Lu Zhou spit out his coffee.

What the hell is chess-like tofu?

Is it fermented tofu?

Lu Zhou tapped on his keyboard and sent an email back.

[I think I know what you want.]

Lu Zhou clicked "Send" and closed the webpage. He was about to read a new thesis he just downloaded when his student Wu Shuimu walked in.

"Professor, are you going to eat at the cafeteria?"

"No, I have some documents to read… Oh yeah, if you can, bring me a bacon sandwich."

"Bacon sandwich? Sure," Wu Shuimu said as he nodded.

Lu Zhou said, "Also bring me a bottle of fermented tofu."

Wu Shuimu: "…?"

Regardless, he had to follow the professor's demands.

Wu Shuimu went to the supermarket and came back with a plastic bag.

"I brought you the sandwich… And the fermented tofu."

"Thank you."

Lu Zhou transferred Wu Shuimu some money for the food. Hesitantly, he spread some fermented tofu on the bacon sandwich and took a big bite.

The pungent, salty smell filled his nostrils. He leaned on his office chair and contemplated it for a bit. He looked at the tofu jar and threw it aside.

For f*ck's sake!

It's just salty as f*ck, how does this taste good at all?

…

The days quickly passed by, and it was soon the end of October.

Lu Zhou was preparing for the upcoming bidding conference for the moon landing project. He almost forgot about Witten's email when he suddenly heard exploding news from CERN.

In CERN's latest round of collision experiments, they tested the M particles predicted by Lu Zhou in his electrostrong interaction theory. Surprisingly, they were able to observe the existence of the particles from both the ATLAS and CMS detectors!

However, it was just a "signal". The standard deviation was 2.5 and 2.7 sigma, so it was far from being classified as a "discovery"; however, it was still very exciting!

If this signal could be confirmed as a discovery, the physics community would finally find a piece of the puzzle that was outside of the standard model. The so-called "new physics". People could finally give a clear explanation for things like the Yang-Mills existence and mass gap!

Also, this would become a major discovery, second only to the Higgs particle. It would be in the top ten greatest physics discoveries of the century!

Even if this century had only just begun…

Ever since this news was announced, it attracted a lot of attention from the international physics community.

The Brookhaven National Laboratory in the United States jumped on the bandwagon and announced that they were preparing to repeat the experiment and check CERN experimental results. Other high-energy physics laboratories around the world had also started to prepare for the arrival of this new particle.

High-energy physics institutes weren't the only ones that were ecstatic, the entire theoretical physics community was overjoyed at the possibility of a particle bridging the gap between the strong interaction and electromagnetic force.

Particle physics theses on arXiv reached a record high. Many PhD students were eager to use this potential discovery as their graduation thesis.

All of the physicists around the world were looking forward to this. The experiment at the Brookhaven National Laboratory was about to be carried out, and CERN's second experiment was carried out as scheduled.

However, China wasn't too excited about this news. The positron collider in Beijing didn't have the capability to repeat high-energy particle experiments.

However, even though the Chinese physics community stayed relatively calm, the aerospace field was blossoming.

On the first Friday of November, all the way in Harbin, a bidding conference for the manned moon landing project was held as scheduled…

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Chapter 689: Secret Chapter

Five o'clock in the morning.

Harbin International Airport.

A bright silver plane slowly landed on the runway.

Lu Zhou looked at the city covered in the morning mist as he said, "This is my first time being up north."

Wang Peng looked outside the window and said, "It's my second time."

"Oh yeah?"

"Last time was around six years ago, we went to the border for a mission. On the way there, we stayed here for a day and a half."

"There's a mission up north?"

"There are missions everywhere."

Lu Zhou nodded and didn't ask what kind of mission it was.

First of all, Wang Peng probably wouldn't tell him, and secondly, it didn't have anything to do with him, so he wasn't interested in knowing.

After Lu Zhou got off the plane, a silver Buick was parked at the entrance. A man dressed in casual clothing got out of the car and opened the door for Lu Zhou. They drove to a hotel near the Harbin Institute of Technology.

This time, Wang Peng wasn't the one driving. Instead, the driver was from the State Administration for National Defense.

Unlike the conference in Beijing last time, the participants of this aerospace conference all had high statuses.

Because some of the content discussed at the conference was temporarily confidential to the outside world, both the identities of the participants and details of the conference were strictly confidential.

Therefore, Lu Zhou's excuse for coming to Harbin was to give an academic lecture at the Harbin Institute of Technology.

After they arrived at the hotel, two men, who were waiting at the hotel entrance, walked up to greet them.

One of them smiled and reached out his right hand.

"Professor Lu, long time no see!"

Lu Zhou shook his hand and smiled.

"Long time no see, Director Li."

Director Li looked at the old man standing next to him and began to introduce him.

"Please allow me to introduce the principal of Harbin Institute of Technology, Academician Zou Yu."

"Pleasure to meet you."

"It's my pleasure." Academician Zou shook Lu Zhou's hand and said, "I've heard many rumors about how young Professor Lu is, I guess the rumors are true!"

"You're too kind."

Director Li smiled and said, "Okay, enough small talk. You just got off the plane, so you didn't eat breakfast yet, right? We haven't eaten either, so let's grab a bite at the hotel?"

The group of people quickly reached a consensus.

Especially Lu Zhou.

He spent the night on the plane and didn't sleep well, and he had been starving this whole time.

Soon, breakfast was ready.

A bowl of steaming lamb soup was served first, followed by a flatbread filled with kebab meat. Even though they were simple dishes, it was surprisingly delicious. Especially the bowl of lamb soup. When Lu Zhou took a sip, he felt his whole body warming up. Even though he was way up north, he didn't feel cold anymore.

The group of people sat at the table, eating and chatting. Soon, they began to talk about academic matters.

During their conversation, Lu Zhou heard that Academician Zou was studying ceramic composite materials and bio-composite materials. Academician Zou was a big name in the materials science field. When Lu Zhou heard about bio-composite materials, a light bulb went off in his head.

"Bio-composite materials?" Lu Zhou smiled and asked, "Which field are you in?"

Academician Zou smiled and said, "Me? I'm mainly concerned about hydroxyapatite and titanium."

Hydroxyapatite and titanium composite materials?

Lu Zhou had a look of interest on his face.

Even though he hadn't researched this field extensively, he had a certain amount of understanding.

Hydroxyapatite and titanium composite materials were some of the more advanced research directions in the field of materials science. They were generally regarded as the next-generation material for artificial bones. If the research on this technology was successful, it would have a huge impact on industries such as medical care and bionic machinery.

"We are now working with Aurora University to develop a bionic artificial bone that can replace human bones, in which it can be controlled by neural electrical signals. If this technology becomes a success, the problem of mutilation will disappear."

Lu Zhou: "Controlling them using neural electrical signals? That's not easy, right?"

Academician Zou nodded and said, "Of course Professor Lu is able to instantly recognize the most important problem. In fact, the biggest problem we are now facing is the acquisition and feedback of neural signals. Especially for the feedback part, it's not easy to trick the brain by using simulated neural signals."

"This sounds interesting."

However, Lu Zhou wasn't thinking of bionic prosthetics; he was thinking about something else.

Academician Zou said with a smile, "It is interesting. If you're interested, you can come to visit our laboratory; I'll give you a tour."

Lu Zhou: "I'll probably go after the moon landing bidding conference is over, thanks in advance."

Academician Zou jokingly said, "You're welcome. If you become interested, you'll probably end up helping us big time."

Whenever someone couldn't solve a problem, the easiest way to solve that problem was to get Professor Lu interested in it.

This saying, which was originally spread within the mathematics world, had now spread to all corners of academia…

…

The beginning of November.

The moon landing project bidding conference was held in a low-key manner at the auditorium of Harbin Institute of Technology.

After presenting the invitation letter and his ID card to the staff at the door, Lu Zhou handed in his electronic devices. He followed the reception staff into the venue and sat down at his seat, which was marked with his name.

In addition to the inspection at the venue entrance, there would also be a second inspection 15 minutes before the conference would begin. Other than checking the identities of the attendees, they would also check if any electronic devices were sneaked through.

After all of the inspections were done, it was ten o'clock in the morning.

After someone from the State Administration for National Defense came to read the confidential agreement, a high-ranking official from the State Administration for National Defense announced the start of the bidding conference.

This bidding conference was different from the other project bidding conferences. The buyer didn't explain their specific requirements for the project. Instead, it was the bidder who had to demonstrate their own technological capabilities.

Of course, the demonstrations were in the form of PowerPoint presentations. Other than some sensitive data, the contents of the PowerPoint presentations were non-technical.

In fact, the two Chinese aerospace giants were quite strong. Even though they were far from being aerospace leaders of the world, they still presented a lot of dazzling technology.

For example, the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation demonstrated a 500-ton liquid oxygen kerosene engine.

Even though the technology was only demonstrated on a PowerPoint presentation, according to the statements made by experts appointed by the Aerospace Corporation, the high-powered turbopump, high-flow gas generator, high-pressure low-temperature valve, and high-precision flow regulator had all been developed. Prototypes had also been produced and were currently in the testing phase.

On the other hand, China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation also showed its strengths. They demonstrated the latest high-temperature and wear-resistant ceramic coating technology, which solved a key technical problem of liquid oxygen and kerosene dynamic sealing under high-speed and heavy-load conditions. This technology could be applied to the 120-ton liquid oxygen kerosene high-pressure turbopump engine. This can improve the performance and safety of the rocket engine.

Finally, after the technical director from the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation completed their demonstration, it was Star Sky Technology's turn.

Lu Zhou walked on stage and began to show the PowerPoint presentation that he prepared a week ago. He showed them the latest ion thruster system developed by Star Sky Technology.

The second he flipped to the second page of the PowerPoint presentation.

The entire auditorium fell silent…

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Chapter 690: Let's Make A Bet

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

Ion thruster propulsion system in space?

Space?

F*ck, am I reading this correctly?

Whether it was the experts or the company representatives, they all subconsciously rubbed their eyes. However, no matter how many times they rubbed their eyes, the data on the powerpoint didn't change.

An expert from the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation shook his head.

Another private aerospace company representative, who just received funding from Penguin, was baffled.

We all exaggerate in our PowerPoint presentations, but this…

But this is outrageous!

The silence ended and in came the discussions.

"Unbelievable…"

"This isn't just unbelievable, this is impossible! I've never heard of an ion thruster propulsion system that can reach kN levels of thrust! Even the latest AEPS XR-5 ion propulsion system designed by Lockheed for NASA only doubles the thrust from the Hall-effect thruster."

"…"

The staff members were about to ask the audience to calm down, but Lu Zhou gestured them not to.

He quietly waited for the commotion to die down before speaking in a relaxed tone, "Feel free to ask any questions."

Even though this wasn't a designated QA time, technology demonstrations like this didn't allow the audience to ask questions. However, Lu Zhou knew that if he didn't explain himself, no one would believe him.

Soon after, someone raised their hand.

"I have a question."

Lu Zhou nodded toward the old man.

"Please go ahead."

The old man slowly stood up from his seat and stared at the PowerPoint for a while. He looked at Lu Zhou before asking cautiously, "I have never heard of an ion thruster propulsion system that can reach kN magnitudes of thrust. I have to ask, Professor Lu, is this a typo?"

Lu Zhou smiled and said, "I can assure you that this is not a typo. We have proven through reliable experiments that its thrust can indeed reach kN magnitudes. Of course, I have to admit that using the maximum thrust level consumes a large amount of fuel. However, compared to traditional chemical rockets, the fuel weight is still decreased by 90%."

The old man shook his head and sat back down.

Soon, another expert from the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation stood up.

"500-1000 MW miniaturized reactor… I haven't heard any rumors about this kind of technology before, so I won't make any comments. But the question is, how do you plan on accelerating the outflows of ionized matter to one-thousandth of the speed of light?"

An RD-170 rocket had a power of 192 MW, and most of this power was used to propel the liquid fuel carried by the rocket itself. If the total power of the ion thruster propulsion system could reach the power of 1000 MW, theoretically, it was possible to send a 50-ton load to low-Earth orbit.

However…

Power alone wasn't enough.

Applying this power into the working medium was the key.

Lu Zhou knew someone would ask this, so he smiled and changed the page on his PowerPoint presentation.

"I was about to say this next."

The PowerPoint switched to the next slide.

A cylindrical object appeared in front of everyone's eyes.

Even though they couldn't see the internal structure, the text nearby listed its experimental parameters in detail.

However, after seeing these parameters, the now-calm attendees once again fell into a wave of intense and heated discussions.

"Hall-effect thruster unit? What the hell is this?"

"I don't see anything special about the design of this Hall-effect thruster unit. If it's so amazing, why not just make a bigger one? Instead of integrating countless so-called propulsion units in the same engine?"

"This is impossible! It's ridiculous!"

Director Li saw that the situation was going out of control. He was about to speak, but an old man sitting in the front row of the auditorium stood up.

"Let me say something."

The commotion in the auditorium gradually subsided.

The person who stood up was Chief Engineer Yuan Huanmin from the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation. He was head of the latest large-thrust rocket project. After seeing the old gentleman stand up, a lot of people stopped talking out of respect.

Lu Zhou looked at the old man while the old man looked back at him.

"I understand that Professor Lu, as an expert in the field of controllable fusion, has a soft spot for the technical route of ion thrusters. I acknowledge that controllable fusion has changed our lives and that ion propulsion technology has a lot of potentials."

Whispers were heard in the auditorium.

A lot of people were confused.

This doesn't sound right…

How come this big name in the field of chemical rockets is agreeing with Lu Zhou?

However, Lu Zhou didn't relax at all.

Because unlike the other attendees, he could clearly see the old man's face.

And the old man's eyes were filled with doubt and suspicion.

As expected, after a pause, the old man continued, "Maybe someday in the future, your proposed ion thruster system will change the aerospace industry. But I don't think that time is now."

Lu Zhou: "Oh, really? Why?"

The old gentleman smiled and said, "The development of any technology is a gradual and slow process. New technology cannot be developed in a day or two. It's just like quantum computers, which obviously already exists, but we are still putting energy into improving traditional computers. Not because quantum computers are not good, but because they are not good enough… Do you know what I mean?"

Before Lu Zhou could speak, the old man continued, "It is clearly too early to adopt ion thruster propulsion technology. We should focus our limited resources on chemical rockets and complete the first step of the manned moon landing before trying to develop any unknown technology. If we implement the ion thruster propulsion you proposed, we will have to bear all the risks that new technology brings. Can you guarantee that your ion thruster propulsion system is reliable? Can we afford an accident? Can our country afford to have an accident?"

A lot of people agreed with the old man's words.

Even though Lu Zhou was the chief consultant for the moon landing project, he didn't have any real authority. Also, his specialty was controllable fusion, not aerospace engineering. A lot of people viewed him as an outsider.

And when it came to the field of chemically powered rockets…

Obviously, this old gentleman was more authoritative.

And Lu Zhou was well aware of this.

It was normal that he wasn't the crowd favorite.

After all, for people who had researched chemical rockets their entire life, not only was this unbelievable, this was hard to accept.

In fact, when the structure diagram of the Hall-effect thruster propulsion unit was recovered from Debris No.3, Lu Zhou was full of doubts about whether or not this thing could really push a space shuttle to low-Earth orbit. After all, according to NASA's information, their strongest ion propulsion system could only lift an egg.

However, after completing the assembly and testing of the Hall-effect thruster unit, all of his doubts had disappeared.

People were in disbelief, only because that was their first intuition.

However, the development of science and technology wasn't based on intuition. It was based on facts.

Lu Zhou knew that after these people witnessed what he had witnessed already, they would be equally as shocked.

So that Lu Zhou wouldn't have to explain anything himself, he had to show them.

Lu Zhou shrugged and said with a poker face, "So, I just have to prove that this ion thruster propulsion system can send a 50-ton load to low-Earth orbit, right?"

Academician Yuan said with a smile, "I'll eat a vacuum flask if you can do it."

"There's no need for that." Lu Zhou smiled and sighed. He then said, "People have said that to me before, yet no one has ever fulfilled their promise."

Director Li, who was in charge of the meeting, coughed and tried to diffuse the situation.

"Everyone, let's just have a friendly discussion… This is a public tender conference, and we're here to see everyone's technical routes and materials. And us, as the State Administration for National Defense, will also look into various aerospace agencies and look at all sides of the story."

Director Li was in a hard spot.

Even though the ion thruster propulsion system was good, he was more inclined to choose the chemical rockets from the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.

It wasn't because of his bias against new technologies. It was merely for practical reasons.

After all, China Aerospace Corporation had always had ties with National Defense. The reason why countries were willing to spend money on rockets was due to the development of rocket technology, which not only enhanced their aerospace capabilities but also strengthens the country's military strike capabilities.

No matter how strong the ion thruster propulsion system was, due to the working medium limit, the thrust wasn't as strong as chemical rockets. Even though ion thrusters had long-distance advances, that wasn't applicable to ballistic missiles.

Besides, they couldn't just throw controllable fusion machines on missiles.

Miniaturization of controllable fusion technology was important, but was ion thruster propulsion systems equally as important?

Maybe it would be in the future, but not now, not yet…

Lu Zhou saw Director Li's face and knew that the State Administration for National Defense was probably unwilling to invest in ion thruster propulsion technology and that Director Li just didn't want to embarrass Lu Zhou by saying this out loud.

Actually, Lu Zhou wasn't very concerned about whether or not other people were optimistic about his research, but he did care about money…

This research is going to cost billions of dollars…

Even if Lu Zhou cashed out all of his East Asia Energy shares, he couldn't afford this on his own.

What should I do?

Lu Zhou thought for a bit. He suddenly looked up and smiled at Academician Yuan.

"Ok then.

"Since you're so sure that I can't do it, let's make a bet."

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Chapter 691: Competitor

The bidding conference was finished.

After Lu Zhou's presentation, many other research institutes and aerospace companies demonstrated their technology in the form of a powerpoint. Even though there were some designs that were even more ridiculous than Lu Zhou's presentation, no one had any desire to complain.

Just like this, the bidding conference came to an end.

After the conference ended, Lu Zhou went into his hotel room and took a shower. Then, he made phone calls to all the business cards he was given a while ago. Finally, he called Chen Yushan and told her about the bet he made at the conference.

Strictly speaking, this wasn't an official bet with Academician Yuan. After all, it was meaningless to make a bet with a chief engineer. Even if he won, it wasn't like he could take over China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.

Instead, this was just an oral agreement that had a gambling nature.

Which was, for the bidding scheme of the 50-ton low-Earth orbit delivery, the "finished product" would be used instead of the bidding documents. Or in other words, the first person who proved that they had the ability to put a 50-ton load into low-Earth orbit could win the project bidding, provided their price was reasonable.

This funding would probably be around 9-12 billion yuan.

Even though this was only an oral agreement, it was acknowledged by the leadership teams from the State Administration for National Defense and the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation, and it was written into the conference transcript. In some sense, it was enforceable.

After all, aside from the bet being made in front of so many colleagues, if Star Sky Technology could really produce an advanced ion thruster propulsion like the one shown on their PowerPoint presentation, there was no reason for the State Administration for National Defense not to choose Star Sky Technology.

No matter which bidder would win this competition, the buyer would always win.

Of course, it wasn't easy for Star Sky Technology to face off against such a giant aerospace company. Because the 500-ton liquid oxygen kerosene engine had been basically developed, if they worked hard enough, they might be able to build the Long March 9 in advance.

Regardless, Lu Zhou still had a chance to win.

Now that the miniaturized controllable fusion technology and Hall-effect thruster propulsion units had been completed, the design of the space shuttle had entered its final stage. As long as Lu Zhou had enough funding, he was certain that Xiao Ai and his assembly center could live up to his expectations.

However…

After he told Chen Yushan what had happened, he started to get criticized by her.

"Why didn't you tell me this in advance?"

Lu Zhou sighed and said, "I couldn't make a call at the conference venue since they confiscated my phone. There was no way I could contact you."

Chen Yushan sat in her office chair and said, "Your decision is too hasty… Do you know what this means for us?"

Even though Star Sky Technology's research and development prospects seemed pretty good, they were inferior when compared to the giant that was the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation. Especially when it came to the aerospace field, they simply weren't in the same weight class.

Forget about the technical reserves and industrial production capabilities, in terms of launch experience alone, China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation had a huge advantage over Star Sky Technology.

Otherwise, why would other companies give up so quickly? Instead, other companies placed their focus on other smaller bids, such as the lunar module, the astronaut life-support equipment, etc.

In terms of low-Earth orbit delivery capabilities, there wasn't a single company that had the confidence to defeat the "500-ton-class liquid oxygen kerosene engine", let alone the confidence to defeat the "Long March 9".

This was the power of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation!

Lu Zhou's finger gently tapped on his armrest. He finished listening to Chen Yushan's complaints before saying, "But this is the best way, if this were a normal bid, unless we heavily reduced the price, it would be difficult to beat them."

Actually, it wasn't just difficult, it was near-impossible.

Most of the experts and scholars in the aerospace industry didn't believe Lu Zhou could do it.

Most importantly, the State Administration for National Defense was obviously not as interested in the ion thruster propulsion system as they were in the miniaturized controllable fusion devices…

Chen Yushan sighed and couldn't help but say, "The best way is to abandon this bid. If you want to build a space shuttle… we can slowly accumulate experience from smaller launch missions. After that, we can think about participating in large projects like this."

From the perspective of a CEO, this was the most appropriate approach.

There was no reason to pursue a project with risks that outweighed its benefits.

As a matter of fact, being able to create the miniaturized controllable fusion reactor was amazing enough.

After the Navy Equipment Research Institute finished improving the small controllable fusion reactors, many military companies would pay to get this technology in their hands. Even though their income from the national defense patents was limited, they could easily earn back their research cost.

Also, there was something else that Chen Yushan was worried about.

After hearing Lu Zhou's explanation, she sighed and said, "What kind of bank will grant an 8 billion yuan loan for a project like this! Unless you want to sell your East Asia Energy shares, there is no way we have that kind of money."

"Uh… I actually already solved the money part, you don't have to worry about it."

"I'm telling you, without money… Wait, what?" Chen Yushan paused for two seconds before gasping in disbelief. "You solved it?"

"Yeah." Lu Zhou nodded and said, "Alibaba is willing to contribute part of it… in the form of an investment."

Accepting this investment meant that after the project was completed, Alibaba would recover their investment and also take a certain percentage of the funds given by the State Administration for National Defense. However, Lu Zhou wasn't very concerned with the profits.

After all, there were plenty of space activities to be done in the future, and the moon landing was only a tiny portion.

The phone went silent for a few seconds.

After a while, Chen Yushan murmured, "Are they crazy…"

"Maybe," Lu Zhou shrugged and jokingly said, "but I think they're quite confident that we can win this bet, so I think you should be more confident as well."

Actually, even if Star Sky Technology lost this bet, they wouldn't lose too much.

After all, in the early days of the aerospace industry, the state announced policies in regard to aerospace investment funding. Funds invested in aerospace projects were able to enjoy tax deductions.

Since Lu Zhou didn't want to change his mind, Chen Yushan didn't try to convince him. She sighed and said, "Okay then, I won't convince you otherwise. Just… I will help you cut down costs as much as possible… without affecting the quality and progress of the project."

Lu Zhou smiled and nodded.

"Okay, thanks."

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Chapter 692: Do You Need Help?

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

The day after the bidding conference.

That same auditorium.

Lu Zhou stood in the front of the auditorium and spoke in a loud and steady voice. He was giving a computational materials science lecture to some Harbin Institute of Technology students.

"The advantage of computational materials science is that we can avoid many unnecessary mistakes through calculation, and get rid of human scientific bias, and use a more pragmatic approach to find the answers we want.

"Take the Theoretical Model of the Electrochemical Interface Structure as an example. I will briefly explain the application of mathematical methods such as functional analysis into the field of computational materials science…"

The venue was fully packed, shoulder touching shoulder, and some people were even sitting on the ground.

After hearing about the conference, students from Harbin Institute of Technology and other nearby universities as well as some researchers who graduated years ago, who were working in nearby research institutes, all came to this seminar.

In order to maintain order at the venue, Harbin Institute of Technology placed almost half of their security guards around this venue. Even though this added a lot of trouble to the teachers at Harbin Institute of Technology, judging by Academician Zou's face, he was quite happy.

In response to their enthusiasm, Lu Zhou gave his 110% into this lecture.

The Theoretical Model of the Electrochemical Interface Structure had caused a huge sensation in the fields of computational materials science and surface chemistry. Because of this theory, Lu Zhou was awarded the Hoffman Prize by the German Chemical Society and the joint nomination of several Nobel Prize laureates.

Both the theory itself and the mathematical methods he described in the report was inspiring, both for people in materials science and applied mathematics.

Therefore, everyone in the venue listened carefully.

Regardless of whether or not they understood what was going on, they all wrote their own notes.

Both the students and the professor.

Both people from the chemistry department and the mathematics department…

The lecture was held from 10 am to 1 pm.

The lecture was originally scheduled to end at 12:30 pm, but it was extended by half an hour. Less than ten people left the lecture before it was finished.

After the lecture was finished, the entire auditorium was filled with thunderous applause.

Lu Zhou looked at the teachers and students in the crowd. He nodded and began to walk off the stage.

He spent the entire morning lecturing, and by now, everyone in the venue was hungry and tired.

Lu Zhou followed the staff member and went to the school cafeteria.

The school prepared a table of food for him at the faculty dining floor.

"Professor Lu, on behalf of the students at Harbin Institute of Technology, I'd like to thank you! Thank you for bringing your wonderful lecture to our students!"

"Academician Zou, you're too kind." Lu Zhou toasted Academician Zou and humbly smiled. He said, "I wonder if you can give me a tour of your laboratory this afternoon?"

"Oh, I nearly forgot." Academician Zou put down his cup and patted his forehead. He smiled and said, "No problem, I'm happy you're so interested in my research! I'll take you there after lunch!"

Lu Zhou smiled and said, "Thanks, you're too kind."

After eating lunch, the group of people left the cafeteria.

As Academician Zou walked along the tree-lined path leading to the laboratory, he smiled and asked, "What do you think of the campus of our Harbin Institute of Technology?"

Lu Zhou walked along the tree shade and saw the library nearby. He smiled and replied, "It has a strong engineering atmosphere."

"That's our specialty. We are training the future national defense talents, and engineering is the strongest field in our school." Academician Zou paused for a second and smiled. He then said, "If you have the time, I hope you can give more lectures at our school."

Lu Zhou smiled and nodded.

"I definitely will."

Academician Zou didn't invite Lu Zhou to stay as a staff member. After all, he knew this wasn't realistic.

Even Yan University and Shuimu University weren't able to poach Lu Zhou, much less Harbin Institute of Technology. Inviting Lu Zhou for a few lectures was already more than enough.

Even Academician Zou was able to learn a lot from Lu Zhou's lecture.

Soon, the group of people came to a six-story tall building.

After they crossed the security gate, Academician Zou brought Lu Zhou into the laboratory.

"This is the thing I told you, the bionics prosthetic laboratory. My hydroxyapatite and titanium biocomposite project teams all work here. There is also a research team from Aurora University, and they would occasionally come here and collaborate with us. Of course, they are mainly responsible for the neural interface, and we are responsible for solving the material and mechanical problems… Right this way."

Academician Zou opened a door and brought Lu Zhou into the laboratory.

The two researchers standing next to some experiment equipment noticed the door opening.

The two researchers were about to say hello to Academician Zou when they noticed Lu Zhou. The researcher who was wearing a pair of glasses instantly looked surprised, and he excitedly took two steps forward and asked, "You… You are Lu Zhou?"

"Oh… yeah." Lu Zhou was a little embarrassed. He smiled and said, "I'm not disturbing your work, am I?"

"No, you're not, please sit down, I'll make a cup of coffee."

"No, it's fine, Academician Zou is just giving me a visit, I'm not staying for long."

The researcher finally calmed down, and Lu Zhou followed Academician Zou around the laboratory. They arrived at a transparent container around one or two meters long. Inside the container was a pair of mechanical arms, which were mounted on a metal base.

Lu Zhou looked at the robotic arms.

"Can this thing move?"

Academician Zou smiled.

"Of course it can! Some things have to be adjusted, but it's basically functional… Do you want to try?"

"Please, I'd be glad to."

The device used to control this robotic arm was a separate hollow metal ring. Lu Zhou placed his real arm through the metal ring, like a fencing guard.

After the researcher who was wearing glasses did some adjustments, Lu Zhou felt a slight tingling feeling in his elbow, but soon, the feeling disappeared. Two tiny probes were penetrated into his muscles, collecting neural signals transmitted from his arm.

"Is it done?"

"Should be fine." The researcher tapped a few buttons on the computer and a fluctuating electrocardiogram-like line appeared on the screen. He smiled at Lu Zhou and said, "Try to punch something."

Lu Zhou tried to punch the air.

Then, a miracle happened.

His real arm didn't move; it only slightly jittered forward. Instead, the robotic arm inside the container punched forward awkwardly.

Lu Zhou was intrigued. He looked at his "dead arm".

"Did it block my neutral signal?"

He pinched the palm of his right hand with his left hand.

Emm…

I still feel pain.

That's weird!

The researcher standing next to them said, "Actually, it's not blocking anything. After all, this is only used to collect experimental data, so it's not a fully-developed technology… In fact, as long as your nerve cells are healthy enough, you should be able to lift your hand. At most, they would feel a little weak, like you just finished weightlifting."

"I never weightlift… But this is an interesting invention," Lu Zhou said as he moved his arm, but only some of the movements were able to be replicated by the robotic arm.

Just like the researcher had said, this technology was in its early stages.

Even so, this technology was full of potential.

Unlike exoskeletons that amplified human movements, this kind of device allowed one to operate machinery that was far away from one's human body just by relying on transferring neural electrical signals into digital signals.

If this technology could be fully developed, not only would it be applied in the medical equipment field, but it would also play an unexpected role in many other fields!

Academician Zou shook his head and said, "Not really an invention. The neural bypass system appeared in Nature as early as April 2016. Our project is only a sub-branch of this technology. From what I understand, MIT is at the forefront of this technology, and they've already achieved some amazing results. We're just trying to catch up to them."

"It doesn't matter who's at the forefront." Lu Zhou took off the ring and touched the two tiny holes in his arm as he said, "If only it can be connected painlessly… This needle is quite long."

The researcher standing next to them made a helpless gesture.

"There's no need for that since this thing is originally intended for amputees. It generally won't be taken off."

Lu Zhou smiled and said, "I think this technology is applicable beyond amputees. If someone installs this on their spine, could they remotely control an entire robot?"

Academician Zou smiled and said, "That's an interesting idea, but probably too difficult to implement. The spinal neural signal is 100 times more complicated than limbic neural signals. Also, this is related to the overall health and comfort of the nervous center, it's not something we can do experiments on easily."

Lu Zhou nodded thoughtfully.

"You're right."

Lu Zhou returned the equipment to the researcher and walked around the laboratory.

Lu Zhou was at the entrance of the research institute, and he was about to leave. He suddenly stopped and looked at Academician Zou.

"Oh yeah, Academician Zou, I have something else I want to ask you."

Academician Zou asked, "What?"

Lu Zhou smiled awkwardly.

"Do you need help with this project?"

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Chapter 693: Experts Have the Final Say

Beijing.

Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

An old man with thin hair was sitting at his desk. After he finished reading the report in his hand, he shook his head and gently dropped the report on the table.

"This thing isn't handled properly."

Yesterday noon, the tender conference for the moon landing project came to an end. The conference information was quickly delivered to his desk.

Even though the moon landing project was being handled by a second-level government department, the Communist Party of China attached great importance to this project. The higher-ups had repeatedly asked about this project many times. Therefore, as the leader of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, he had to put 110% of his effort into this matter.

However, who would have thought that such a huge disagreement had already appeared…

Ion thruster propulsion or chemical rocket propulsion?

If possible, it would be better to go with both of those technical routes. Unfortunately, the moon landing project funding was limited. Even though the state's investment was large, it wasn't unlimited.

Choosing between these two was a difficult decision.

The middle-aged secretary looked at the leader sitting there in silence. He tried to figure out what the minister was trying to say.

Is he unhappy with Director Li's approach?

Or does he not know what to do?

The secretary paused for a second and asked, "There is no contract for this bet, it's just a verbal agreement… Should I discuss with both sides and let them take a step back and cancel the bet?"

The minister smiled and shook his head.

"There's no need to do that."

There's no need to do that.

But weren't you the one who said this isn't being handled properly?

The secretary was muddled.

However, even though he didn't know what to do, from his past experience from working in the department, he knew that his best option was to shut his mouth.

The minister glanced at the secretary and said, "Secretary Li, this thing isn't being handled properly, but it's not entirely wrong. The academic experts can argue however they want. We can decide after the argument ends."

"Are you saying to leave them alone?"

"Not exactly." The minister shook his head and said, "Compared to China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, Star Sky Technology is still too small. To be fair, we should help Professor Lu."

Because of Professor Lu's reputation, he wasn't worried about China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation using malicious strategies.

Letting the two companies compete fairly was beneficial.

The most important thing was that, no matter what, the state would still come out on top in the end…

The minister couldn't help but smirk.

The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation had been cruising along for too long; it was time to give them some pressure.

The secretary immediately asked, "How do you plan on helping them?"

The minister thought for a while before saying, "Contact the Air Force Equipment Department and ask if they're interested.

"I don't know a lot about space shuttle and ion thruster propulsion systems, and neither do you.

"Whether or not it is worth researching…

"Let the experts have the final say!"

…

Academician Zou obviously welcomed the cooperative research proposal from Lu Zhou.

The Institute of Computational Materials of the Jinling Institute for Advanced Study was well-known in the field of materials science. Whether it was the facility, equipment, or the professionalism of researchers, it was ranked among the top in the world.

Not to mention the tremendous achievement of helping in the controllable fusion project, there was no reason for Aurora University and Harbin Institute of Technology to refuse the collaboration.

Also, aside from these resource advantages, being able to have a Nobel laureate involved in the project would mean more support at both the enterprise and national levels. This was much better than letting a single academician lead the project.

After signing a cooperation research and development agreement with the Harbin Institute of Technology, Lu Zhou got on a plane and returned to Jinling the next day. On his way back, he sent his researchers the information about the research project and assigned tasks to each research team.

Generally speaking, the research projects that were taken on by the Institute for Advanced Study could be divided into two parts. One was the "neural interface" and the other was the "bionics bone".

The former was jointly handled by the Institute of Computational Materials and the newly established Institute of Information Engineering. This had the same priority as the "carbon-based chip" project that began a year ago. The latter was a cooperative project between the Harbin Institute of Technology and the Institute of Computational Materials and had a lower priority than the "lithium-air battery".

As for the projects such as the servo motors and the neural electrical signal processing used in the robotic arms, the Jinling Institute for Advanced Study hadn't recruited experts in this field, so Lu Zhou decided to step aside.

Even though these technologies were equally as important, they didn't interest him.

There were so many research projects, it wasn't like he could take on all of them, right?

Even if other people didn't mind, his energy would be drained from all of these projects.

Of course, even though these projects were immensely interesting, most of his energy was still focused on aerospace.

After Lu Zhou's flight landed in Jin Ling City, he didn't even return home. He immediately went to the space shuttle assembly center and found the person in charge—Hou Guang.

Lu Zhou saw this the lanky chief engineer and was about to speak, but the chief engineer spoke first.

"I've heard CEO Chen talk about the bet you made."

"Good, that saves me from explaining it." Lu Zhou thanked Chen Yushan in his heart and said, "The schedule is tight, I know this is very difficult, but this is integral to our project. I hope we can get a working prototype by January next year."

"January next year?" Hou Guang nodded reluctantly as he said, "I'll do my best."

Even though this task was difficult, it wasn't impossible.

After all, he had personally witnessed the processing capacity of this factory.

Also, most of the engine components had been developed, and they could refer to the 863 plan technical reserves for the remaining technical problems. As long as the few key problems were solved, building a prototype shouldn't be a big problem.

At most…

I'll just spend a few nights in the office!

Hou Guang clenched his teeth and said, "There's one more thing."

Lu Zhou said, "What?"

"We are still missing an astronaut to test the prototype." Hou Guang paused for a second and said, "Of course… There are a lot of things the astronaut needs to do, so it's best if we get two."

Lu Zhou patted his head.

"I nearly forgot about this… Okay, I'll find a way to solve this. Is it urgent?"

Hou Guang said, "Not super urgent, but preferably within a month."

Within a month?

Lu Zhou rubbed his chin.

There's no way I can train astronauts in time.

Space shuttle pilots were much more in demand than ordinary pilots. Not only did they have higher physical fitness requirements, but they also had higher mental capability requirements. Finding or training a person capable of a flight mission like this was going to be difficult, especially because of the limited time and capital.

Lu Zhou looked a little awkward.

I don't want to trouble him…

But it looks like I'll have to use my connections…

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Borrowing two pilots from some departments would be the easiest way to go about this.

However, the cumbersome part was that he wasn't familiar with the Air Force. He didn't know where to borrow the appropriate pilots. However, the problem seemed to solve itself.

The second week after the moon landing bidding conference, after Lu Zhou had finished writing the letter, the space shuttle assembly center welcomed several special guests.

Inside the reception room at the aerospace assembly center…

The secretary of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology introduced Lu Zhou to the chief engineer of the Air Force Equipment Department, Academician Wu Kang, as well as the minister of the Air Force Equipment Department.

This old man in a military uniform looked serious and stern. He gave off a solemn vibe.

"This is the head of the Air Force Equipment Department, Minister Qin Zhuangyan."

"Minister Qin, nice to meet you."

Lu Zhou wasn't sure if he should shake the minister's hand, but the minister reached out his hand first.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Professor Lu."

After Lu Zhou shook hands with several other experts from the Air Force Equipment Department, Minister Qin spoke to him.

"Professor Lu, I'm sure you're a busy person, so I won't waste your time. I apologize in advance for being straightforward."

Lu Zhou smiled and nodded.

"No, it's totally fine, I don't like small talk anyway."

Minister Qin nodded and spoke in a serious manner.

"I'm sure that the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has already contacted you before I came here. I only have one question, can your ion thruster propulsion engine really produce 200 kN thrust?"

Lu Zhou thought for a bit and said, "I'm not sure about your stability requirements… but it should be fine if you're using it to send space shuttles into low-Earth orbit."

The experts standing behind Minister Qin looked shocked.

Even though they had seen the data sent from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, seeing it on the PowerPoint was far less shocking than hearing Lu Zhou say it in person.

Especially Academician Wu, who was even more excited.

According to usual aerospace engine standards, 200 kN of thrust wasn't very large. Even the Trent-800 from the Boeing 77 had double the thrust.

However, if someone were to take the continuous flight time into account, very few conventional fuel engines could stand up against the ion thruster propulsion engines equipped with small nuclear fusion machines. Even though the 200 kN thrust was much lower than traditional jet aircraft, the extreme endurance of the nuclear fusion propulsion can outlast any traditional aircraft…

Instantly, an idea popped into his mind.

Airspace strategic bomber jet!

If this ion thruster propulsion engine is really as magical as Lu Zhou describes it to be, then this would be perfect for bombing planes!

He wasn't the only one that had this idea.

Obviously, Minister Qin, who was standing beside him, also had this idea.

After hearing Lu Zhou's explanation, Minister Qin instantly looked a little excited. He looked at Lu Zhou and asked sincerely, "I wonder if you can show us the ion thruster propulsion system?"

Lu Zhou looked at Minister Qin's eager face and smiled.

"Of course I can, you guys happened to come here at the right time. We just finished assembling a Hall-effect thruster yesterday, and now, the thing is lying on the rocket engine test bench, waiting for testing. If you guys are interested, just follow me."

Right after Lu Zhou finished speaking, Academician Wu replied, "Please, we'd be glad to see it!"

"Okay then, right this way."

Lu Zhou took the group of people to the rocket engine test bench, which was located at the corner of the assembly center.

In the center of the test rig, there was a cone that was a couple of meters tall, which was securely attached on a steel alloy stand. The cone was densely packed with hundreds of fist-sized propulsion units. Right in front of the cone's opening was a concrete wall.

Lu Zhou noticed that Academician Wu was very interested in the concrete wall, so he said, "The temperature of the Hall-effect thruster jet stream is very high, so we have to put it in front of a concrete wall to avoid accidents." He looked at the staff member who was adjusting the equipment and nodded. He said, "There's going to be an experiment on the thrust and jet plume stability; I think you'll be very interested."

Half an hour quickly passed by.

The experiment officially began.

Maintenance personnel located near the thruster began to evacuate. The staff members finished the final adjustments and pulled down the lever. Huge amounts of electricity began to flow inside the engine ionization chamber. The temperature on the screen began to rise, and the air around the engine condensed into a clear blue cone as an orange thruster shell was pushed outward.

The plasma was continuously being ejected out of the thruster. The thrust value on the screen gradually began to rise. After it reached 198.68 kN, it began to fluctuate up and down over a range of 10 kN.

"The plasma output is stable!"

"The ionization chamber temperature is normal!"

"…"

After Academician Wu listened to the staff member, he glanced at the plume speed on the screen.

"What material does your engine use? How is it able to withstand such high temperatures?"

"It's not the material that is resistant against high temperatures, it's the magnetic field… But that concrete wall isn't so lucky."

The concrete wall behind the thruster had melted, creating a one-meter wide concave dent in the wall.

Even though the total amount of working medium ejected wasn't large, the concrete wall wasn't able to bear the temperature.

The experiment went on for about an hour.

In addition to the maximum thrust, Lu Zhou instructed the staff to conduct experiments on the orbital change speed at 15% of maximum power and the outer space cruise speed at 3% of maximum power.

After the entire set of experiments were completed, the power consumption alone was close to 100,000 kWh.

Minister Qin was standing on the reinforced steel platform, looking over the engine. He was totally astonished.

After a while, he looked at Lu Zhou and took a deep breath.

"This ion thruster system… How long before it's complete?"

Lu Zhou said, "This ion thruster propulsion system is already complete, but it's still sitting on the rocket engine test bench. Before we complete space shuttle test flights, I can't guarantee that its operation in the sky is reliable."

Minister Qin looked at Lu Zhou and said seriously, "If you encounter any difficulties in your research, please tell us, we'll try our best to help!"

Lu Zhou smiled and said, "I actually do have some things I need help with. I need two aviators."

Minister Qin paused for a second before asking, "Are two enough?"

Lu Zhou: "Yeah."

Minister Qin didn't expect this request. He said, "I heard you were having a funding problem."

Lu Zhou said, "Oh, funding problem? We've already solved that."

"Oh, you solved your funding problem. Good, good…" Minister Qin nodded. He was relieved.

He knew that the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology wanted the Air Force Equipment Department to pay for the research and development of the ion thruster propulsion system.

If it weren't for the fact that the ion thruster system was so strong on paper and because Lu Zhou was Nobel Prize and Ling Yun winner, he would not have brought so many experts here. Nor would he had given so much support to this project.

But now that the funding problem was solved, they could just spend money on buying the final product.

As for buying the two aviators…

Given that this technology was going to change the entire future of air combat, two aviators were a piece of cake.

Minister Qin looked at Lu Zhou and solemnly said, "I'll arrange the aviators. As for the Hall-effect thruster research… I'll leave that to you, thanks!"

Lu Zhou gently smiled.

"Rest assured, I'm confident about my research."

Lu Zhou was quite relaxed.

There are bound to be people who would like a technical route.

Unfortunately, the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation experts aren't here…

Lu Zhou was looking forward to seeing the haters' faces when they see his plane in the sky.

Minister Qin suddenly remembered something, and he said, "Oh yeah… Does the space shuttle have a name?"

Name?

Lu Zhou hadn't thought of this before. It only had a code name at the moment.

But…

I guess I can name it.

The perfect name came to mind.

He looked down at the huge silver engine under the steel platform and said, "The Hall-effect thruster jet plume can reach hundreds of millions of degrees when it's in the air, and it'll leave a red and blue glow in the clouds."

Lu Zhou paused for a second and smile.

"It's nearly Chinese New Year soon, so let's call it Skyglow!"

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Chapter 695: Astronaut Team

Above the blue sky.

Two fighter jets soared through the sky, gliding back and forth between the clouds, leaving behind the roar of their engines.

Nie Yun was closely behind the other aircraft, and the missile targeting mechanism was locked on the fighter jet in front of him. He took a deep breath and pressed the launch button on his joystick.

Right after, he heard a command from his headset.

"Target destroyed.

"Prepare for the next exercise."

I won!

Nie Yun sighed in relief and loosened his helmet. He then replied calmly, "Roger that."

They couldn't fire live ammunition in training exercises obviously. Instead, optoelectronic transmitting and receiving devices were installed on the fighter jets. The light beam emitted acted as substitute missiles. If the target was hit, the optoelectronic receiving device on the target would receive the signal and notify the ground command post. The aircraft that was "hit" would then exit the exercise.

Of course, this type of fighting simulation exercise was only one section of the entire training course. They had to complete the training course before they could touch down at the airbase.

After the ground command post announced that the losing jet had been shot down, the two fighter jets changed their formation and started to fly to their next designated airspace, in preparation for their next exercise.

Just when Nie Yun was mentally preparing himself for the next exercise, he heard a command in his ears.

"Exercise terminated, return immediately."

Exercise terminated?

Nie Yun paused for a second.

Even though he was surprised, he still replied calmly, "Roger that, exercise terminated, returning now."

Nie Yun gave one last look to the blue sky and gave a thumbs-up to his friend in the other fighter jet. He used the joystick to control the J-20 and flew back to the airbase.

…

The silver-gray fighter jet steadily touched the runway. After a short taxi, the parachute was ejected and the fighter jet came to a stop.

The ground crew came forward and the cockpit hood was opened.

After Nie Yun handed the ground crew his helmet, he followed the flight test captain's footsteps and walked toward the senior officer. He then performed a military salute.

The serious-faced senior officer saluted as well before turning his attention to Minister Qin.

"This is Nie Yun, the one I told you about, J-20 test pilot, and the best of our flight team."

Minister Qin looked away from the J-20 jet and looked at the test pilot. He slowly nodded.

"Nice to meet you, Nie Yun, I'm sure training was exhausting."

Nie Yun said, "Not at all, this type of training is very common for our flight team."

Minister Qin looked at the energetic man standing in front of him and nodded.

After a while, he put on a more serious face and said, "Our Air Force Equipment Department has a critical mission that requires two outstanding pilots. Commander Sun recommended you to me. Now all you have to do is tell me if you want to go or not."

Air Force Equipment Department mission?

Testing some kind of new weapon?

Nie Yun suddenly became intrigued.

"I'll go wherever my country needs me to go."

Minister Qin smiled and said, "Are you sure? You're not even going to ask what it is about?"

Even if I asked, you wouldn't tell me…

Nie Yun answered decisively.

"I am certain!"

Minister Qin nodded.

"Okay then."

"From now on, you'll be moved from the test flight team to the astronaut team."

Astronaut…

Astronaut team?!

Nie Yun was dumbfounded.

…

He definitely was a little disappointed.

Nie Yun never thought that the Air Force Equipment Department would assign him to the astronaut team. The so-called mission turned out to only be a test of a space shuttle made by a private company that cooperated with the national defense team, the so-called Skyglow.

Even though the astronaut team wasn't shabby at all, they were all elites, but whenever he remembered that he could no longer fly the J-20 through the blue sky, he couldn't help but feel a little lost.

However, the duty of a soldier was to follow orders, so even though he was lost, he had nothing to complain about.

He threw his thoughts aside and looked at the young man standing in front of him.

Is this the legendary Professor Lu?

He's just… a bit more handsome than I had imagined. He doesn't seem special.

While the two pilots were secretly looking at Lu Zhou, Lu Zhou, who was holding a document, watched the pilots carefully as well.

Of course, he wasn't concerned about their appearances. He was concerned about whether or not they had the qualities to become qualified astronauts.

[Nie Yun, male, age 32, jet model J-10, J-20…]

[Nie Yan, female, age 29, jet model Xi'an Y-20, Shaanxi Y-8…]

Lu Zhou looked up from his document and asked a question.

"You guys are siblings?"

The two said in unison, "Yes."

Lu Zhou was curious, and he asked, "Why were you guys selected?"

The female with short hair said, "The chief asked me if I wanted to fly higher in the sky, I said yes, so he told me to come here."

There was nothing wrong with this answer, but Lu Zhou laughed a little.

He coughed and looked at Nie Yun.

"What about you?"

Nie Yun said, "Orders from the higher-ups."

Lu Zhou could tell something was different with this guy.

He looked at the file in his hand and turned to the next page while speaking.

"Even though Skyglow is neither a fighter jet nor a bomber jet, I promise that flying it will be more interesting than either of them… It'll also be more meaningful. I promise that many people will be envious of you two, and your teammates will be proud of you. Therefore, it doesn't matter what you guys think, just follow my orders."

Honestly, if it weren't because of the State Administration for National Defense calling him in the middle of the night asking if he was crazy, Lu Zhou would have become the test astronaut himself. His physical fitness was just as good as normal pilots.

However, this didn't matter too much.

He could always fly after the technology was fully and safely developed. He didn't have to be the first to fly.

Lu Zhou finished reading through the material and cleared his throat. He looked at the two and asked, "How much do you know about space shuttles?"

Nie Yun: "It's an aircraft that can travel to and from outer space and atmosphere."

Nie Yan's reaction was slower, and she said, "I agree with my brother."

Lu Zhou smiled and nodded. "Correct, but there are a lot more than that. Before boarding the space shuttle, I hope you guys can have a comprehensive understanding of the characteristics of a space shuttle.

"In the next three months, there will be dedicated people teaching you guys what exactly the space shuttle is, how to operate it, and most importantly… how to save yourself in the event of an accident.

"This mission is very crucial, and we only have three months, so I hope you guys can do your best."

The two aviators stood up straight and answered in unison.

"Yes, sir!"

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Chapter 696: Nobel Prize Season

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

Even though Lu Zhou could feel that the two new pilots were somewhat reluctant to accept their new identities, fortunately, they didn't bring their emotions into their work. They completed each task meticulously.

What satisfied Lu Zhou the most was that these elite pilots achieved excellent results in all of their tasks, whether it was underwater weightless training or high-G centrifuge training.

They obviously nailed other tasks such as skydiving and outdoor survival training.

Since they were formal aviators, they had already completed those training missions before.

In fact, compared with the chemical high-thrust manned rockets, the Skyglow didn't have particularly tough physical fitness requirements. Its acceleration in the atmosphere was only 2 g. After entering low-Earth orbit, the Hall-effect thruster would switch to outer space mode and fly with a lower engine thrust. Therefore, even ordinary people could handle flying in this spacecraft.

However, they still had to prepare accordingly.

The days quickly flew by, and it was soon December.

Another year of the Nobel Prize dinner was held in the Stockholm Blue Hall.

Even though Lu Zhou, like previous Nobel Prize laureates, received an invitation from the Swedish royal family, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also asked if he was interested in attending diplomatic occasions, after some careful consideration, Lu Zhou politely declined the invitation.

First of all, he was too busy with his research. Secondly, it was pretty boring to sit on the sidelines. Rather than watching other people receive awards, he much preferred to receive the awards himself. Even though the food in the Blue Hall was quite memorable, it wasn't good enough to make him want to go back.

Also, this year's winners of the Physics award were David O'Sharon and Arthur C. Gossard, and the reason for their award was because of their research in the field of semiconductor spin electronics.

The former had a Ph.D. in physics from Cornell University and was a professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of California, Santa Barbara. The latter was a big name in the field of materials science and computer engineering, who was also teaching at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

In this day and age, it was very rare to find scholars who were proficient in two fields at the same time. It was even rarer for those scholars to achieve outstanding results in two different fields. Because of this difficulty, their research results were regarded as prominent.

In particular, the discovery of the quantum-restricted Stark effect and the fractional quantification of the Hall effect was a huge physical breakthrough. It also had profound impacts on the computer chip industry.

In fact, many years ago, many people predicted that these two would win the prize.

Now, this award had finally fallen into the hands of these two.

It was worth mentioning that people had been predicting whether or not Lu Zhou would win this year's Nobel Prize in Physics, and people even began to place bets online.

Just like Lu Zhou had predicted, even though the controllable fusion project was excellent, the Nobel Prize Committee did not consider giving awards to group research projects.

However, Lu Zhou thought that this was only one of the many reasons. The main reason was probably that he had just won a Nobel Prize in Chemistry not long ago. Otherwise, the theoretical model of plasma turbulence in the application of controllable fusion engineering would be more than enough to win him the award.

Not to mention there was also the He3 atom probe technology.

As a generous person, he would have gladly shared the millions of krona prize money with Professor Lazerson.

The same day when Lu Zhou decided to reject the Nobel Prize dinner invitation, he heard news from East Asia Energy.

After a year of construction, the Xihe fusion reactor in Daya Bay was finally completed. The final commissioning would be completed before the end of the year. On New Year's Day, it would begin to deliver clean and cheap electricity to the Guangdong, Shenzhen, and Xiangjiang area.

So far, the installed capacity of the power station had reached 11,000 MW, which had exceeded the total installed capacity of the original Daya Bay Fission Nuclear Power Station. The new reactor would continue to expand its electricity generator, eventually matching the Pangu 100,000 MW capacity.

In the month of December, the Southeast Asian cross-regional power grid project had entered its final phase. The Jinwu and Houyi reactors, which were located in the north and central regions, had also completed their first project phase and could be put in use as soon as next fall.

By then, controllable fusion would supply power to East China, South China, North China, and Central China. The high pollution thermal stations would gradually be phased out.

Apparently, because of the Houyi reactor, some people proposed to dismantle the Three Gorges Dam. This matter was heavily debated in the academic world and was still unresolved.

On the other hand, after the Xihe reactor began its construction, the other ITER member states had begun to negotiate.

One year ago, they were confident that they could replicate the success of Pangu rector in five to six years. Now, regardless of whether they were still confident in their scholars and ITER itself, the gap between them and China would slowly increase. China would go through an energy revolution. The other countries couldn't stand waiting anymore.

Lu Zhou wasn't very certain about the specific negotiation progress and what the Americans and Europeans had offered in exchange. However, due to the fact that the Sweden Ministry of Foreign Affairs invited him to Stockholm, the negotiations should be going smoothly.

After all, if the negotiations weren't going well, the Chinese government wouldn't risk letting him set foot on foreign soil.

Lu Zhou was standing at the training room entrance. He thought about all of the interesting experiences he missed out on and couldn't help but sigh.

He looked at the two people laying on the vibration training machine with their teeth trembling, and he muttered, "I'm so jealous…"

Wang Peng, who was standing beside him, paused for a second.

"Jealous?"

Wang Peng looked at the two pilots on the vibration training machine, then looked strangely at Lu Zhou.

What is there to be jealous about?

"Yeah," Lu Zhou nodded and said, "don't you want to fly?"

Wang Peng: "Fly… You mean in space?"

"Yeah."

Wang Peng shook his head and said, "I've never thought about flying so high before."

Lu Zhou sighed and said, "What was your maximum skydiving height?"

Wang Peng: "The highest was probably… six thousand meters."

Generally speaking, airborne parachuting was completed at heights of less than one thousand meters. At this height, the temperature and air pressure outside the aircraft were at normal levels, and the parachutists wouldn't have to risk the lack of oxygen or freezing conditions.

Skydiving above five thousand meters was extremely dangerous, even for special forces. It was only used as an absolute last resort, like when an aircraft was in a critical area and couldn't descend. Otherwise, no one in their right mind would skydive at those heights.

"Six thousand meters?" Lu Zhou smiled and said, "Once you return to the army in a few years, thousand-kilometer skydives will be the norm."

A thousand kilometers?

Wang Peng chuckled.

I never thought the rigorous Professor Lu would make mistakes with his units.

A person jumping from a thousand kilometers would become popsicles.

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Time quickly flew by.

As the end of the year was getting closer, the aviators and engineers were like tightened clockwork gears as they put all of their efforts into their jobs.

As for Lu Zhou, since the project was getting closer and closer to an end, all of the work had already been arranged and delegated. He, as the leader of the project, had actually had less work to do.

Hou Guang had previously participated in the 863 Program, and he was responsible for the design of the space shuttle. Xiao Ai, on the other hand, could precisely use the five-axis CNC machine tool to process the required parts and use various automated machines such as logistics vehicles and robot arms for assembly. The Skyglow space shuttle was moving from blueprint to reality.

As long as Lu Zhou could ensure the funding was coming in, this aircraft would be a done deal.

Of course, this was no easy feat.

Even though Xiao Ai's industrial performance with a full set of processing equipment was sufficient, there were still many things that Lu Zhou couldn't manufacture. For example, the flight control system was purchased from China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation. Also, while the surface coating material was designed by the Institute of Computational Materials, the production was outsourced to a professional chemical materials company.

Then there were a series of cutting-edge materials such as high-temperature surface insulation tiles, reinforced CC composite materials, and even the special steel used in the main structure of the aircraft. These were all uncommon materials. They had to ensure that these materials stayed relatively light while maintaining tensile strength, fracture toughness, corrosion resistance, and high-temperature resistance.

Because of its excellent performance capabilities, it also had a complicated and cumbersome processing technology.

It was no exaggeration to say that the per square meter material cost was higher than Jin Ling City's downtown per square meter housing cost.

These materials weren't produced by Star Sky Technology itself, but rather, they were produced by an upstream supplier in the industrial chain. A large part of the space shuttle cost came from this area, with orders in the tens and hundreds of millions of yuan range. The entire Skyglow space shuttle was built with cash.

It was no exaggeration at all to say that aerospace was a money-burning industry.

However, compared to the Americans, Lu Zhou was still quite comfortable.

Before the Columbia was retired, the United States government spent hundreds of billions of dollars on the space shuttle. Each launch cost was as high as US$500 million, and there were all kinds of problems.

On the other hand, Lu Zhou referenced and improved the design from the 863 Program, eliminating the need for large amounts of money that would have been thrown in research and development. The Hall-effect thruster design came from the scanner gun, so he reverse-engineered the technology without spending a dime.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to build a space shuttle even if he invested and liquidated all of his assets.

Nie Yun was standing in the space shuttle assembly center. As he looked up at the ginormous space shuttle and its five sturdy ion thruster engines, he couldn't help but exclaim, "Unbelievable."

Lu Zhou was standing next to him. He smiled and asked, "What's unbelievable?"

Nie Yun: "It's unbelievable that you built this thing in two months."

Nie Yan didn't say anything, but her expression was similar to her brother's.

Compared to Nie Yun, who flew fighter jets, she flew large military transport aircraft such as the Xi'an Y-20. Therefore, she was more excited at being able to fly in this gigantic spacecraft. She was disappointed at the beginning, but she was now looking forward to boarding the flight.

Lu Zhou could tell that the siblings were shocked. "It is not just two months. The production preparation work started half a year ago. The energy supply components were prepared a year ago."

Nie Yun said, "But I still think this is amazing…"

"Yeah?" Lu Zhou looked at the space shuttle and thought seriously for a moment. He then said, "I think compared to the Yang-Mills equations, this is a lot simpler."

Nie Yun: "…"

Nie Yan: "…"

Lu Zhou was probably the only person on Earth that could make a comparison like this.

…

Actually, Lu Zhou wasn't bragging when he made this comparison; this was his true opinion.

After completing the Yang-Mills equations and establishing the electrostrong interaction theory, he easily calculated the theoretical model of the sound fusion machine. The Hall-effect thruster was obtained through the scanner gun, and the design and manufacture of the space shuttle were mostly done by other professionals. When he thought about it carefully, he didn't actually have to do that much work.

Chief Engineer Hou Guang was leading a number of technicians. They were conducting a comprehensive inspection of the various space shuttle components. In order to eliminate the chances of an accident, he divided the maintenance staff into two teams and began to inspect the space shuttle from two different starting positions. They were extra careful with this process.

"Are you done with the inspection?"

Technician: "Yes, sir!"

Hou Guang: "What about the ionization chamber and working medium interface compartment? And the hydraulic pump and thermal cycle device, have those been checked?"

The technician nodded and said, "They've all been inspected! Everything is normal!"

Hou Guang: "Are you sure?"

Technician: "Certain!"

Hou Guang nodded and said, "Then double-check it!"

"Okay!"

Even though repeated inspections was a torturous process, the technicians didn't complain about Hou Guang's orders.

The space shuttle was a large and sophisticated piece of equipment. They had to ensure that each of the 100,000 or so components were working properly. Only then, could the astronauts be safely sent and brought back from outer space.

Any tiny mistake, even if one screw wasn't tightened properly, could have serious consequences.

Therefore, just like China's great aerospace experts said, every successful launch was one small mistake away from failure, and every failed launch was one small correction from success.

The maintenance work lasted for three whole days.

Finally, on the day before New Year's day, all of the inspections were completed. Hou Guang brought the maintenance report to Lu Zhou.

Lu Zhou glanced at the report and asked, "Is everything ready?"

"It's ready!" Hou Guang looked at Lu Zhou and said with excitement, "Now we just need to find a way to transport it to the launch base, which is more than ten kilometers away, then do one more inspection. After that, we can schedule the launch!"

Transporting this big guy for more than ten kilometers was no easy piece of cake.

Especially since they had to keep everything confidential.

However, even though this might be difficult for others, it wasn't difficult for Lu Zhou.

Lu Zhou said with a smile, "No problem."

He took out his phone and walked to the side. He then dialed a familiar number.

"Regiment Commander Dai, there's a favor I need from you."

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Chapter 698: Are We Overthinking?

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

The United States.

California.

Space-X headquarters building, press conference site.

Elon Musk was wearing a classical silicon valley outfit, jeans and a t-shirt. He was facing the audience at the press conference and various reporter cameras. He spoke in his unique, stuttering voice regarding Space-X's future.

A futuristic bright silver bullet-shaped spaceship was being displayed on the screen behind him, and the spaceship left off a trail of light, with the blue earth and boundless space as the background.

The words BFR and Space-X were printed on the side of the spacecraft.

The theme of this press conference was the BFR.

"The first section has the main thrust rocket, which will be powered by 31 Raptor methane rocket engines, the second section has 2 sea-level engines and 4 vacuum engines. The fuel tank can store a total of 240 tons of methane, and the maximum thrust is in the magnitude of kilotons… Of course, this is not my main point. Our focus is on a series of plans surrounding the BFR rocket."

Musk paused for a moment. He then looked at the audience and camera.

"We will launch two manned spacecraft to Mars by 2024!"

There was a commotion in the audience as the reporters frantically pressed their camera shutters.

Aerospace wasn't anything new for Americans.

However, the exploration of Mars and the colonization of outer space was still fascinating.

Otherwise, Star Wars wouldn't be such a cultural icon in the United States.

Musk smirked and raised his volume.

"Once the BFR research and development is complete, it will replace all of our current launch devices. It will allow spacecraft to perform various space missions. Whether it's the Moon or Mars, we can achieve all kinds of things with this power."

"It will redefine our understanding of aerospace."

"It will change our future!"

Later on, Musk continued to talk about the advantages of the BFR spacecraft as well as Space-X's plans for Mars.

In the midst of the applause, the press conference came to an end.

The reporters rushed up to the stage, surrounding Musk.

Musk finally finished all of the interviews.

After getting rid of the reporters, he went back to his office and sat in his office chair. He couldn't wait to take out his phone.

Musk looked at the rise of his stock price on his phone and relaxed a little.

The feedback from his stock price told him that the press conference went well.

The concept of the BFR gave the aerospace investors hope.

Of course, now was not the time to celebrate.

The stock market was a volatile animal, especially for high-tech companies like Space-X.

Whether or not the wealthy investors would still be willing to support Musk's vision, didn't depend on the type of profit returns Musk could give them, but was rather dependent on Musk fulfilling his promises.

Fortunately, due to controllable fusion and lithium-sulfur batteries, the overall performance of the alternative energy industry was good. Tesla's stock price was rising, and compared to a few years ago, the investors' confidence in him had greatly increased. However, aerospace was a brand new field; even he himself wasn't 100% certain that everything would go smoothly.

He heard a knock on the door, and a female secretary wearing professional attire walked in.

"Sir, there's someone asking for you."

Musk was about to take a break.

His eyebrows furrowed as he asked, "Who?"

The secretary said, "They claim to be from the CIA…"

"CIA?" Musk hesitated for a bit and played with the pen in his hand. He said, "I don't remember…"

The office door was aggressively pushed open, and two men wearing black jackets walked in.

Musk looked dissatisfied as he looked at the two rude men who walked in without permission.

"I don't recall allowing you guys to come in, do you have a warrant?"

"My apologies, Mr. Musk, but the situation is urgent, I hope you can forgive us." the African American agent showed his credentials and said, "You can call me Aiden."

Musk looked at the African American agent and leaned back in his chair.

"I'm Elon… You guys know who I am anyway, do you want some coffee?"

The agent standing behind Aiden said, "No need, we're in a hurry."

"Okay then." Musk looked at the female secretary standing next to his desk and said, "Alyssa, bring me a latte."

"Okay, sir." The secretary nodded and walked out of the door.

Aiden: "…"

Agent: "…"

After five minutes, the coffee was finally served.

Aiden didn't want to waste any time, so he went straight to the main topic.

"We heard that around two months ago, Star Sky Technology purchased a US$20 million order from you guys, is that correct?"

Musk thought for a while and nodded.

"Yeah… But I remember those orders aren't regarding banned items, is there a problem?"

Aiden said, "The problem isn't with those parts, but what those parts are being used for."

Musk wasn't frightened by his tone. He said impatiently, "We are not concerned with what our customers do with our products. If there are any problems, I suggest you consult customs."

Aiden didn't say anything. He took out a blurry photo and placed it on the table.

When Musk saw the space shuttle in the photo, he immediately sat up from his chair and asked, "What is this?"

"Your customer, or your future competitor. It's called Skyglow." Aiden shrugged and said, "Apparently, they're using a cutting-edge ion thruster electric propulsion system. We're still investigating this matter."

"Wait a second, electric propulsion?" Musk opened his mouth and looked at the man standing in front of his desk. "Ion thrusters? Are you sure?"

"We're certain." Aiden nodded and said, "Our sources are reliable, but it's not detailed."

Musk smiled and shook his head. He then sat back down.

Suddenly, Musk's look of interest became a look of mockery.

"Aiden and Mr. Agent, even though I'm not sure what the CIA investigation process is, as a taxpayer, I hope you guys can be a little bit more professional… Ion thrusters? Using electric propulsion to send space shuttles to the sky?" Musk shook his head and smiled. He then said, "This is ridiculous."

Aiden said, "Is ion thruster propulsion unrealistic?"

"It's impossible," Musk answered without hesitation. "Even with our most advanced ion thruster propulsion technology, the thrust is merely on the order of Newtons. Sending a spacecraft to outer space orbit requires at least the order of kilo Newtons!"

Aiden looked at the agent next to him.

The other agent said, "NASA also said this… Are we overthinking this?"

Aiden was lost in his thoughts, and he didn't say anything.

He hoped that he was overthinking this whole thing.

But whenever he thought of the name Lu Zhou, he couldn't help but feel nervous…

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Chapter 699: Responsible for the Countdown

China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.

Chief engineer's office.

When he heard that Star Sky Technology planned to conduct a test flight on New Year's day, Secretary Yu immediately rushed over in order to bring this news here. Yuan Huanmin was reading a thesis, and after hearing about the situation, he froze for a few seconds.

Once he realized what was going on, he had a look of disbelief on his face.

"Test flight?"

"Yeah! Who knew they were moving so fast!" Secretary Yu was worried. He sighed and said, "Ah, we were one step behind, what do we do now?!"

Actually, unlike the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation never took this bet seriously.

Ion thruster propulsion…

Everyone knew that it would be impossible to overcome gravity with that small amount of thrust. Otherwise, the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation leaders wouldn't have agreed on this bet so easily. They would rather let Professor Lu self-destruct.

Now…

Who would have thought that they were starting their flight tests?

When Yuan Huanmin saw how anxious Secretary Yu was, he was astonished.

However, his worries were different from Secretary Yu's worries…

After staying silent for a while, he spoke in a suspicious tone.

"They're sending people on their first test flight?"

Secretary Yu paused for a second and said, "There are two pilots in the launch plan…"

"This is outrageous!"

Yuan Huanmin slapped the table with his right hand, causing the teacups that were on it to shake. He stood up angrily from his chair and grabbed his coat from the back of the chair. He then started to walk out of the office.

Secretary Yu quickly caught up to him.

"Chief Engineer Yuan, where are you going?"

Yuan Huanmin said without hesitating, "Do you really need to ask? I'm going to Jinling's launch site!"

Secretary Yu said, "But Jinling didn't invite us, wouldn't it be embarrassing for us to show up like this…"

"Is this the time to feel embarrassed?!" Yuan Huanmin's eyes were wide open as he said, "Which one's more important, human lives or pride?!"

Two astronauts!

Not to mention they're the elites of the test flight team!

Yuan Huanmin was furious, he shook his head.

As expected, Lu Zhou is too immature.

His ego is through the roof.

Using novel technology is whatever, but now he's putting the precious lives of the two astronauts at risk!

Yuan Huanmin's opinion was that Lu Zhou was blindly abusing the country's trust in him!

Yuan Huanmin was fine with Lu Zhou spending money on the project, but now that lives were at risk, he had to do something.

I have to stop him!

Yuan Huanmin called his assistants and asked him to book him a train ticket from Beijing to Jinling. He then went downstairs to the parking lot.

Secretary Yu was walking right behind Mr. Yuan. He wanted to persuade him not to go, but in the end, he decided against it.

Maybe it's a good thing for him to prevent this test launch?

Regardless of whether Mr. Yuan can stop the launch, it's worth a try…

…

Outside the Jinling aerospace launch site.

A heavy rocket transport vehicle was being escorted by several military vehicles, and it slowly entered the launch site.

Yesterday, the Jin Ling city council blocked this section of the highway and used police forces to temporarily block all sections of the road leading to the launch site. This was for the protection of the citizens and also to keep this launch confidential.

However, it was obvious that many foreign countries had their eyes on this launch.

But that didn't matter.

Nothing could be kept secret forever. Moreover, it was actually quite amazing they were able to keep this confidential until now.

Regiment Commander Dai got off a military green jeep and walked in front of Lu Zhou. He then firmly shook Lu Zhou's hand.

"Professor Lu, we meet again."

"Good to see you, Regiment Commander Dai," Lu Zhou said while shaking his hand.

These two had known each other since the controllable fusion project. They had always had a good relationship. This test launch was very important to the higher-ups; therefore, the China Eastern Military Division was responsible for security, which meant that Regiment Commander Dai was in charge.

After some small talk, Regiment Commander Dai said, "Let's catch up after the launch is over, I won't bother you anymore. This area is guarded by our soldiers. You just have to focus on the experiment!"

"Okay," Lu Zhou nodded and said, "thank you guys so much."

"No need to thank us, this is our duty."

Regiment Commander Dai waved his hand and walked back to his jeep.

The moment he picked up his walkie-talkie, he spoke in a dignified manner.

"Squadron 1, Squadron 2, begin patrol of the launch site!

"I don't want to see a single fly within a 500-meter radius!"

…

After saying goodbye to Regiment Commander Dai, Lu Zhou found the two test pilots. They were preparing to board the flight. Their instructor was giving them some last-minute advice.

When the instructor saw Professor Lu coming, he stopped talking and gave Lu Zhou the opportunity to speak.

Lu Zhou walked next to the two test pilots and reached out his fist. He then gave Nie Yun a fist bump.

"You got this!"

Nie Yun took a deep breath.

He didn't talk a lot. He smirked and replied, "Ok!"

Lu Zhou walked in front of Nie Yan and reached out his fist. He suddenly remembered that Nie Yan was a girl, so he awkwardly touched her shoulder instead.

Nie Yan noticed Lu Zhou's movements, so she smiled and began to flirt.

"Actually I don't mind fist-bumping."

"Are all the women in the army so masculine?"

"Not quite, there are many types of girls in the army. What type do you like? I can introduce some to you."

"I'm good…"

Does everyone know I'm single?

Lu Zhou put on a more serious face and looked at her solemnly as he said, "Do your best."

Nie Yan did a military salute. Her expression was fearless and strong, and she looked exactly like her brother.

"I will!"

Lu Zhou nodded and started to walk toward the space shuttle. He suddenly turned around and looked at the two pilots again.

"This is going to start a new age of aerospace, and you guys will be the first people to take that step.

"I won't waste your time.

"But just know that history will remember this day, they will remember you guys, and everyone else standing here."

Lu Zhou paused for a second and looked at the silver spaceship.

"See you guys later."

All of the engineers and technicians at the scene were touched.

No one noticed that Lu Zhou, who was looking at the space shuttle, had a beaming smile on his face.

After a while, Lu Zhou yelled out a name.

"Hou Guang."

"Yes, sir!"

"You'll be responsible for the countdown!"

Hou Guang excitedly nodded his head.

"Yes, sir!"

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Chapter 700: Ignition! Take off!

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

"5

"4

"3

"2

"1

"Ignite!"

The circulating liquid lithium began to tumble in the reactor.

A series of dense bubbles were injected, and the energy of a star was ignited in the invisible atomic nuclei. The moment the solid-state xenon in the working medium compartment was injected into the ionization chamber, the high-temperature plasma began to emit light and heat. While constrained by the magnetic field, the plasma was sent to the engine exhaust nozzle…

A light blue arc could be seen from the bottom of the space shuttle, pushing the giant space shuttle forward…

The speed gradually became faster and faster, and the tires left the runway as the landing gear retracted into the space shuttle.

That blue arc of light represented humans' vision of space. The silver bullet disappeared into the clouds, heading toward space…

The technicians standing near the runway were watching the whole thing unfold as they cheered and threw their hats into the sky, celebrating with excitement.

At the same time, in the ground command center less than 500 meters away from the runway, sounds of cheering were heard.

As Hou Guang listened to the deafening cheers, he took a deep breath and took off his headset. He wiped the tears from his eye.

It had been so many years.

His dream finally became a reality.

At last, he didn't disappoint his teachers…

Those designs that were considered useless at the time, was finally reborn.

Outside the launch site.

The soldiers guarding the launch site also saw the blue arc of light disappearing in the clouds.

Even though their jobs didn't allow them to show excitement, everyone's face was full of pride and joy.

Regiment Commander Dai looked into the direction the blue light disappeared to, and his expression didn't change much. He silently raised his right hand and did a military salute.

God bless this country.

May you return safely!

…

Meanwhile, outside the launch site.

An SUV came to a stop.

Yuan Huanmin, who was authorized to enter the site, quickly walked toward the main entrance of the launch center. Secretary Yu followed him closely.

The security staff at the entrance noticed the two men approaching, and he immediately stopped them.

"Stop right there, this is a restricted area!"

Secretary Yu immediately presented their authorization documents.

"This is our authorization documents from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, get out of the way."

The security guard took a close look at the documents, then returned the documents to Secretary Yu.

"Sorry, this authorization is only a permit to enter the perimeter, you can stay in this area, but you may not enter."

Yuan Huanmin squinted his eyes and said, "What do you mean?"

The security guard said, "This is a private area."

Secretary Yu's eyes widened. "What!"

This was correct.

Even though this was a controlled airspace area, the land was ultimately owned by Star Sky Technology. The documents from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology allowed them to pass through the restricted area, but if they wanted to enter the private area, they would have to have a court warrant or authorization from a special department…

Suddenly, there was a commotion on the launch site.

A team of army soldiers ran across the launch site, toward the command center.

The security guard was stunned. He obviously didn't know what was going on. He saw Regiment Commander Dai and Chief Engineer Hou Guang walk out of the launch site.

Yuan Huanmin noticed the commotion, and he immediately asked Regiment Commander Dai.

"What happened? Is there an accident?"

Regiment Commander Dai was about to speak, but Hou Guang shook his head and spoke first.

"Not quite, the launches have been successful, it's just…"

Secretary Yu gulped and said, "Just what?"

Regiment Commander Dai sighed and said, "Professor Lu has disappeared, and we're not sure why. We're trying to find him. If you guys have any clues, please tell us as soon as possible…"

"Disappeared?" Yuan Huanmin had his mouth open, and he asked, "Where is he?"

"He was just on the launch site a second ago… maybe…"

Hou Guang suddenly had a strange expression on his face.

Regiment Commander Dai noticed his change of expression, and he immediately asked, "Maybe what? Where is he now?"

Hou Guang still had a strange expression on his face.

"I'm not sure, but maybe, and just maybe… He's on the flight."

Yuan Huanmin: "???"

Secretary Yu: "???"

Regiment Commander Dai: "???"

The soldiers on duty: "???"

On the space shuttle?

F*ck!

…

Meanwhile, above the clouds.

Nie Yun was sitting in the cockpit. His entire hand was shaking.

He looked at Lu Zhou, who appeared out of nowhere, and asked, "Why are you here?"

Lu Zhou leisurely made himself a cup of coffee. He said while sitting in the crew seat, "It's my plane, why can't I be here?"

Nie Yun: "…"

Nie Yan: "…"

Lu Zhou did seem to make sense, so they didn't know how to respond.

Nie Yan looked at Lu Zhou's coffee and couldn't help but ask, "Is now the best time for coffee?"

"It's the only time for coffee." Lu Zhou stirred his cup with a spoon and said, "Once we fly to the stratosphere, I won't be able to drink anything."

Ion thruster propulsion acceleration was much slower than chemical propulsion. Even under ideal conditions, it would take two hours to reach orbital velocity. Using the wings to provide an upward force in the ozone layer meant a stable flight.

Because of this, he could enjoy his cup of coffee while they were still in the ozone layer.

Also, carrying one extra person wouldn't impact their safety. The Skyglow was designed for a maximum capacity of ten people. They could have seven more people on this flight if they wanted to.

Nie Yun and Nie Yan looked at each other. They gulped and communicated with their eyes.

"Brother, what do we do?"

"I don't know! Should we go back?"

"But the launching cost is probably astronomical, we can't just go back…"

"But think about how much Lu Zhou is worth?"

Nie Yun began to clench his teeth.

This guy…

Has no awareness regarding how important his safety is.

Honestly, the moment Nie Yun stepped on the space shuttle, he was putting his life at risk. He even placed his own testament in his drawer. But now, failure wasn't an answer.

He had to do everything to land this spacecraft safely.

Nie Yan, while sitting in the co-pilot's seat, looked at her brother.

"You're right… I'll talk to ground command."

Lu Zhou saw the siblings communicating with their facial expressions, and he could probably guess what they were planning, so he coughed and said, "I know what you guys are thinking, but I advise you against it.

"If we land now, not only will that destroy thousands of researchers' efforts over the past year, the entire project will also be at risk of bankruptcy."

Lu Zhou paused for a second before adding, "Also… I didn't just come here for fun, I have my reasons.

"No matter what the reasons are, you guys are soldiers, right? So you will listen to orders. The military sent you guys to me, so you have to listen to my orders. Right now, I want you guys to concentrate on completing your own tasks. Don't worry about anything else, don't worry about me. I run for an hour every single morning, and I'm in better physical shape than you think. Just pretend like I don't exist."

Is this about physical health?

What do you mean to pretend like you don't exist?

Nie Yun hesitated for a bit and decided not to land this flight.

Like Lu Zhou said, his mission was to follow orders.

The moment his senior officer sent him here, Lu Zhou became his superior. Even though Lu Zhou was not a soldier, he still had the power to command him.

Therefore, even though there were a million reasons to land this flight, he had to follow orders…

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"This is Skyglow…"

"We have a… problem."

Nie Yun hesitated for a bit before deciding to report the situation to the ground command center.

"Professor Lu is here."

The ground command center went silent for a bit.

Hou Guang's voice came through after a while.

"Okay, we understand."

Understand?

That's it?

Nie Yun hesitated on whether he should ask what to do, but Hou Guang spoke first.

"Continue flight, flight plan remains unchanged… Make sure Professor Lu is safe."

Changing the flight plan would increase the mission risk.

Nie Yun was well aware of this, so he nodded.

"Roger that."

Nie Yun took a deep breath and looked at Lu Zhou, who was putting away his coffee cup.

"We're approaching a critical altitude value, flight mode is about to change."

Due to the pressure and temperature curve, when the altitude reached more than 20 kilometers, the outside atmospheric density would drop to a relatively low value. At this altitude, it was no longer possible to rely on the wings to provide upward power. Therefore, it was necessary to rely on the thrust of the engine to counteract the gravitational force. The space shuttle would begin to fly upward at a greater tilt angle.

At this altitude, the crew could no longer move around freely in the spacecraft.

"Okay."

There was no need for Nie Yun to remind him. Lu Zhou already walked next to the passenger seat and opened a metal door. He dragged out a bulky spacesuit.

As Nie Yun looked at Lu Zhou struggling with the spacesuit, he asked, "Do you know… how to wear a spacesuit?"

Lu Zhou skillfully put on the spacesuit, which had various bio-security systems and cabin environmental information panels. He looked at Nie Yun and raised an eyebrow.

"Of course, I've practiced this at home many times."

Nie Yun: "…"

Nie Yan: "…"

For f*ck's sake…

He had this planned from the beginning!

The acceleration of this space shuttle wasn't particularly high, so the spacesuit was only needed for protection during the landing phase. However, because this was the first flight test, there were many uncertainties, and they had to stay prepared.

In order to stay as safe as possible, they had to follow procedures. This bulky spacesuit could only be taken off after they were in the orbit.

Lu Zhou stood beside the passenger seat and looked at himself in the mirror.

Compared to the outer-spacesuit with its own power system and portable life support system, the in-cabin spacesuit was relatively lightweight but still bulky. The cost was much cheaper than outer-spacesuits, only around 10 million yuan.

Speaking of which, this was probably the most expensive piece of clothing he had ever worn before.

Lu Zhou had an idea in his mind.

Should I take a photo?

In the end, he decided not to take the photo.

As expected, it was difficult to use his phone while wearing this thing.

After reaching an altitude of around 20 kilometers, the engine output power of Skyglow gradually increased. The tip of the spacecraft began to rise, beaming toward outer space along a trajectory that was tangent to Earth…

…

Going to outer space was a long journey.

Strictly speaking, altitudes from 100 kilometers1 to 2,000 kilometers were counted as low-Earth orbital space. The height of this test flight was based on the International Space Station's orbital height of 419 kilometers. The total flight time was about two hours, and they were expected to return to Earth after staying in low-Earth orbit for 24 hours.

This altitude was pretty good for manned spaceflights like this. Generally speaking, most manned flight activities in low-Earth orbit were completed at an altitude below 400 kilometers. Lu Zhou didn't want Skyglow to fly too high for its first flight.

The five engines at the back of the spacecraft were all turned on, and like a meteor, it left behind a blue light arc. The altitude continued to increase. The three people sitting in the cabin could definitely feel the increase in g-force. However, the g-force was weak enough that they got used to it after a while.

Lu Zhou looked at the planet from the window, and his pupils dilated. As the azure sea and thick clouds blended together, thousands of manmade lights sparkled in the distance.

It took him a while to digest the shock in his heart, and he said emotionally, "This is the best place to witness the fact that Earth is round."

Nie Yun: "Can't you see it from a globe?"

Lu Zhou smiled and said, "That's a conclusion made by others, it's different seeing it with my own eyes."

Nie Yan also looked down at the planet, and she felt completely different from the two men. Compared to their rational thinking, she was appreciating Earth's beauty.

After a long time of staring at the planet through the window, she said, "It's beautiful."

Nie Yun nodded.

"Yeah… Beautiful."

After breaking the 100 km boundary, the spacecraft entered the thermosphere from the mesosphere. About 60 kilometers forward, they would have reached the lowest altitude for low-Earth orbit—160 kilometers.

At that point, even though they hadn't left the exosphere, the air resistance was at a negligible level.

The blue arc of light behind Skyglow began to weaken. It went from a bright beam to a swaying candle. Lu Zhou heard "successful entry into orbit" in his headset. The Skyglow's controllable fusion engines began to shut down and switched instead to a lithium-sulfur battery-powered system.

Even though Lu Zhou couldn't hear anything, he could almost feel the cheering sounds from the ground command center, as well as the national anthem, and the pride of all the people on the ground.

"We're in orbit… Jesus, this suit is easy to put on, but it's a pain in the a*s to take off."

Especially in a zero g-force environment…

Lu Zhou finally was able to get out of his passenger seat and take off his spacesuit. In a clumsy-looking manner, he floated off his seat and toward the space shuttle's window.

Lu Zhou looked at the blue Earth and held his breath. He took out his phone and took a picture.

The moment he pressed the camera shutter, a light blue panel appeared in his sight.

[Secondary mission: Overlooking Earth

[Description: Exploring science is more than excellent research, but also dedication and courage!

[Requirements: At an altitude of 100-2000 km, manually operate a camera and take a photo of Earth. (Has to be completed by the user himself)

[Rewards: 50,000 free experience points, one lucky draw ticket. (rewards are given after the first phase of the main mission is completed)]

This mission is…

It makes it seem like I'm dedicating my life to science.

Lu Zhou looked at the mission description and shook his head. He then shoved his phone back into his pocket.

Even though the mission description was strange, the rewards were quite satisfying.

It's just that…

The people in the ground command center are probably going crazy.

What do I tell them?

I can't just tell them that I flew up here to admire the view, right? Even though the view is pretty nice.

Emmmm…

Lu Zhou shook his head and decided to not think about it.

Forget about it, who cares.

He didn't have any obligation to explain himself.

You guys want a reason?

Well, think of one yourselves.

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California, United States.

Inside a mansion in Bel Air.

Musk took out two champagnes and half a box of pizza from his fridge. He placed the pizza into the microwave and sat down on the sofa with his champagne. He grabbed the robot control and turned on the TV, quietly waiting for the show to begin.

The most popular football game of the year was about to begin in an hour.

However, that wasn't where his attention was at.

Rather, it was the Columbia TV news that was playing before the game.

Even though most high-tech Silicon Valley people more often used trendy news sources, such as Twitter or Facebook, for Musk, the upcoming TV news was more important.

Because in a minute, the Space-X logo would appear at the center of the screen.

Soon the host of the Columbia TV news channel would report on his Space-X speech, well as his interviews after the press conference.

The BFR super rocket equipped with 42 Raptor engines would attract everyone's attention in Silicon Valley. The liquid methane engine technology would change the field of aerospace.

This type of feeling was more satisfying than becoming an international pop-star.

Even though he didn't know what it felt like to be an international pop-star…

"To space and beyond." Musk unscrewed the champagne bottle cap and filled his goblet. He looked at the Columbia TV news program starting to play and said, "Cheers!"

The news program began.

Just like he had expected, the concept image of the BFR rocket was placed at the center of the screen. After quoting an interview with NASA experts who had worked closely with Space-X, the program began to present a concept map of Space-X's lunar base and their plan to colonize Mars by 2024.

While Musk was drinking champagne and watching TV, he heard a ding over at the microwave.

Musk's pizza had finished heating. He reluctantly got up from the sofa and walked to the kitchen. He placed the pizza on a plate and quickly walked back to the living room.

However, the news program took an unexpected turn.

"Elon Musk, Chairman and CEO of Space-X, stated that they will conduct the first test of BFR rockets this year…"

The news reporter was cut off, and Musk could see someone hand the news reporter a piece of paper.

The news reporter read the content on the paper and looked surprised.

She took a deep breath and spoke slowly.

"Apologies, we have breaking news…

"Around two hours and 50 minutes ago, the Skyglow space shuttle carrying China's latest ion thruster propulsion system was successfully launched at the Jin Ling City launch site.

"This was first reported by CTV and has been confirmed by other Chinese media outlets such as Everyone Daily. We are contacting NASA to confirm the authenticity of the information. So far, we have not received a clear response… For follow-ups on this report, please keep an eye on our news…"

The hot slice of pizza fell, smearing the ground with cheese and sauce.

Musk looked at the TV with a blank face. He didn't even pick up the slice of pizza. He had no idea what was happening.

His brain was completely shut down; he was muddled.

Skyglow?

Ion thruster propulsion?

???

Did they make a mistake?

The news program continued, the subsequent reports were still regarding Space-X and his BFR spacecraft.

However, he didn't have an inch of interest in this news segment even though he was one of the designers of the ship…

He took out his phone and quickly went on Twitter. He began to search for information about Skyglow.

However, he wasn't able to find any additional information. After all, until a few hours ago, Star Sky Technology didn't even make any announcements about Skyglow. He couldn't find any content regarding Star Sky Technology.

Instead, all of the people in Silicon Valley were talking about Skyglow in an astonished tone.

Musk turned off his phone. The news broadcast had already ended.

He then muttered, "Jesus Christ…"

He tried to take a sip from the champagne bottle but didn't realize that the cap was still on the bottle…

…

The Americans weren't the only ones who were shocked.

The ones who were most shocked by this news was still the Chinese people themselves.

The moment Skyglow was safely put in orbit, the CTV reporter waiting at the Jinling ground command center sent the news straight to Beijing. After receiving approval from the Communist Party of China, CTV began to report and congratulate Skyglow on reaching low-Earth orbit. The broadcast was sent to the entire country, almost as a New Year's Day gift.

Of course, not everyone was cheering.

There were a lot of people who were having headaches over this matter.

State Administration for National Defense.

Director's office.

Director Li was holding his phone in his hand, and he was on a call with the Jinling launch site.

When he heard that Lu Zhou was also in the space shuttle, his smile disappeared. His phone dropped onto the table and nearly fell on the ground.

Director Li quickly picked up his phone and made sure that his screen wasn't cracked. He put his phone up to his air and spoke anxiously.

"What?! Professor Lu is on Skyglow?"

Hou Guang, who was at the other end of the phone, gulped and replied, "Yeah…"

"Did you guys even do any inspections? How did you miss a living person?"

"We did do inspections… But I think Professor Lu sneaked in."

Director Li's vision was becoming blurry, and he nearly passed out.

Thankfully, his hands were holding the table, preventing him from falling.

He sat back in his chair and asked, "Then where is he now?"

"He's on the flight."

Director Li couldn't help but say, "No sh*t! I know he's on the flight, where else could he be? I'm asking about his situation, is he healthy? Are there any problems?"

"Not really, Skyglow is very stable, and according to the pilot, Professor Lu… seemed to have trained himself at home."

Jesus…

Director Li had a throbbing headache.

He had authority over other people, but he couldn't control Lu Zhou at all.

"That's good, that's good he's safe…"

Director Li took a deep breath and hung up the phone.

He stood up and walked around the office. He slammed the table and grabbed his coat. He then looked at his assistant, who was muddled.

"Xiao Zhou, buy me a train ticket!

"I want it as soon as possible!

"To Jinling!"

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Chapter 703: It's Not A Bad Thing Anyway

The train ticket was bought.

However, Director Li wasn't able to make the trip to Jinling.

The moment Director Li stepped out of the State Administration for National Defense building, he received a phone call from the higher-ups. They asked him to attend an important meeting at Chang'an Avenue.

The meeting subject was obviously related to the successful Skyglow launch.

Inside a conference room at Chang'an Avenue.

By the time Director Li arrived at the scene, many people were already there.

Director Li greeted the heads of various departments before sitting down at his desk. He looked around the room and felt surprised.

What surprised him wasn't that there were leaders, but rather the number of leaders and high-ranking officials present. The people from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were here, but those from the Ministry of Science and Technology, Air Force Equipment Department… even the chief of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were here.

This lineup was quite impressive.

Director Li didn't waste time observing other people. He reached out and picked up the one-inch thick file in front of him.

When he saw the title of the file, he finally realized what was going on.

[Air and Space Strategic Bomber Project]

I see…

No wonder this conference happened so suddenly.

The conference soon began.

There weren't many opening remarks, and the conference soon got to the main point.

The first to speak was obviously Minister Qin from the Air Force Equipment Department.

This old man stood up and said in a steady and powerful tone, "The Skyglow launch was successful, and clearly, ion thruster propulsion technology has matured. I think that with the increase in outer-space activities, the current war model that we are familiar with will change drastically. Fortunately, we are ahead in this field. I think we should maintain our advantage and use ion thruster propulsion technology for national defense. We should develop military aerospace aircraft that can cruise above 100 kilometers!

"Regarding this proposal, I have already consulted experts at the Air Force Equipment Research Institute and summarized the content into the form of a report. This report is in section 3, page 24 of the documents in your hands.

"I hope you all can seriously consider this proposal."

Minister Qin's words were approved by some people.

But not by everyone.

After he sat down, a representative from another department stood up and spoke carefully.

"I think this matter ought to be considered more carefully. Right now, our stance in the international community is not optimal. If we choose to apply aerospace technology for military uses and develop outer-space weapons, this will alarm other countries."

Minister Qin's expression didn't change as he stood up and spoke again.

"Strategic deterrence is a part of national defense, not to mention that we are not the only ones researching aerospace weapons. The Americans have their X-37B and X-43 projects, and they even completed the first test flight years ago. The Russians have their codenamed 'H5' project, which also clearly states their intention of building an aerospace strategic bomber with requirements of Mach 10 speed and the ability to launch strategic strikes at ground targets at altitudes above 100 km.

"Even though we shouldn't try to give rise to military conflicts, we should still treat these weapons seriously!"

The discussion went on for about half an hour.

A slight cough interrupted the discussion.

The president, who was sitting at the end of the conference table, nodded and said, "I agree with Minister Qin.

"We have to develop aerospace planes.

"Of course, we have to comply with international treaties.

"We should limit our development of outer-space weapons and focus on conventional weapons. We do not want to be the first to develop and deploy unconventional weapons. We should never take the initiative to send unconventional weapons to space unless other countries do it first."

In fact, the difference between unconventional and conventional weapons was sometimes just a matter of changing the warhead, but claiming it as conventional weapons would help to reduce the pressure from the international community.

The president paused for a second before he continued, "Also, we have previously underestimated the importance of space exploration and placed a low priority on aerospace projects. I think we should make some adjustments to our strategy. Other than military-focused aerospace projects, we should prioritize aerospace-related projects, including the moon landing project."

Almost all of the participants agreed with the president's statement.

Even those who had doubts about the development of the strategic bomber, or those who questioned the significance of the space program, had no doubts about the importance of the moon landing project.

So far the controllable fusion negotiations had nearly come to an end. In exchange for controllable fusion, China had received many important technologies from other countries. There wasn't any point to use aerospace engineering as a tactic to scare the United States and Europe.

Especially because of Skyglow's recent success, anyone with half a brain could see that the space age was coming soon.

Now that the energy problem was solved, next up was the problem of resources.

Whoever controlled the moon had control of the future.

Many things were discussed in the meeting.

This included the establishment of new high-tech aerospace industrial areas along the river from Jinling to Xijiang, low-interest rates, supporting policies for private companies in the field of aerospace, etc.

Time quickly passed by, and the conference was near its end.

This time, the leader of the China National Space Administration was speaking.

The China National Space Administration was a second-level department and usually wouldn't have speaking rights. However, this time was a bit special…

"One more thing… it's about Professor Lu." The China National Space Administration leader coughed awkwardly and said, "A few hours ago, we've received information from the Jinling launch site command center. They said that… Professor Lu is on Skyglow."

Everyone: "…"

An old man in military uniform took off his glasses and muttered, "I think it's time to find him a partner."

Another kind-hearted looking old man sitting nearby shook his head and smiled.

"The times have changed, it's not the same anymore. I'm afraid that the young man wouldn't be interested. Whenever I ask my son about his partner, he gets angry at me…"

"W-why are you talking about this?!"

"What else can we do?"

The president sighed.

"Forget about it, let him do whatever he wants.

"It's not a bad thing anyway."

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Chapter 704: Celebrating New Year's Day in the Sky

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

Moscow.

Federal Security Service.

A man in a gray leather jacket was sitting behind an office desk. He held a fountain pen in his hand while reading a report.

Suddenly, he heard knocking sounds coming from the door.

The man looked toward the door.

"Come in."

The door was pushed open, and a skinny man walked in.

"We have our latest report from the Foreign Intelligence Service, as well as news from the Federal Space Agency," the skinny man said as he placed the document on the table. He said, "It looks like the Chinese have indeed succeeded."

The man sitting behind the desk began to tap his finger on the table. He picked up the document and began to flip through it.

A minute passed by.

He put down the document and looked at the agent standing in front of him.

"That's all the intel we have?"

The agent nodded solemnly and continued, "The local army patrols are too strict, there are also reconnaissance aircraft patrolling at high altitudes in the surrounding airspace. It's too dangerous to get close, so we can only observe at a distance."

The man in the gray leather jacket nodded and didn't ridicule his subordinate.

He paused for a second and stood up from his desk. He grabbed the new document, as well as the previous report he was reading.

"I will report this to Mr. Vladimir. Make sure the Foreign Intelligence Service is on the lookout. If there are any new findings, report them to me immediately.

"Especially what kind of propulsion system they're using…

"I want to know what it is!"

There was one thing Lu Zhou guessed incorrectly.

Even though the ground command center did go into chaos after discovering he was missing, after they heard that Lu Zhou was safe and sound in Skyglow, the chaos disappeared.

After all, he was already on the spacecraft, there was no point panicking.

It wasn't like they could turn the space shuttle around and make him come back?

Therefore, after Hou Guang confirmed Lu Zhou's safety, he readjusted his mindset and continued to lead the command center.

5 hours and 27 minutes into the flight.

When Skyglow was passing on top of China, they made contact with CTV through the ground command center. Just like they had planned, Skyglow sent a 25-second congratulatory video on New Year's Day.

This video was originally going to be filmed by the two astronauts. But now there were more than two people on the flight. Nie Yun and Nie Yan didn't want to pretend that Lu Zhou didn't exist, not to mention Lu Zhou was keen to participate in an interesting thing like this. Therefore, the two-person video was changed to three people.

Lu Zhou waved at the camera. On behalf of all of the astronauts and the ground command staff members, he wished everyone in China a happy new year.

While Lu Zhou was sending this video to the ground command center, America, which was 13 hours behind Beijing, finally stepped into the new year.

However, countless people lost sleep last night because of the sudden news report by Columbia TV.

According to Twitter's official statistics, during the SuperBowl, almost a third of Americans were discussing the aerospace spacecraft that was launched from the other side of the globe.

This was extremely rare…

For a long time now, aerospace was America's pride and joy, it was even part of their culture. This wasn't only because Hollywood produced so many science fiction movies, but also because ever since the cold war, no one had ever surpassed the United States in the field of aerospace.

However, the successful launch of this weirdly named aerospace spacecraft destroyed that pride.

Especially when people heard that the rumored Skyglow was using ion thruster propulsion!

Everyone was in shock and disbelief…

Especially people in the aerospace industry, engineers at Space-X, Blue Origin, and so on. When they saw the news broadcast, they could hardly believe their eyes.

NASA's most advanced ion thruster propulsion could barely send an egg into the sky. Yet, Star Sky Technology, a company that produced lithium batteries, was able to fly a rocket using ion thruster propulsion?

Could there be anything more science fiction than this?

They wanted to believe that this was just an early April Fool's joke…

In addition to the engineers at Space-X and Blue Origin, the NASA employees were also having a horrible time.

This was their time to enjoy their comfortable vacation, like taking their family to Hawaii to enjoy the warm sunshine. However, because of that damn aerospace spacecraft from the other side of the Pacific Ocean, their vacation abruptly ended.

Not just this, but ever since last night, there had been countless reporters gathered at the headquarters of NASA. People coming to work the next morning had to squeeze through the reporters and their microphones, just to get in the building.

In order to get rid of these annoying reporters, NASA held a press conference as a last resort. They invited all of the reporters to the building reception hall and gave this daunting task to a freshly recruited intern.

In the midst of the chaos, the conference began.

Because there were so many reporters there, the entire reception hall was a mess.

There wasn't any time for the presenter to speak. The reporters crazily shoved their microphones and recording pens in the presenter's face.

"Hello, I'm a reporter from Columbia TV. I want to ask you, is it true that China's latest space shuttle is using an ion thruster propulsion system?"

"Does the successful launch of Skyglow mean that China has caught up with us in the aerospace field?"

"I want to know where the taxpayers' US$40 billion per year is being spent on!"

"We did receive a briefing regarding the new space shuttle launch in China. However, they didn't specify what kind of launch technology they were using," the NASA spokesperson said. He twirled a pen in his hand and quickly said, "We will keep a close eye on this matter, but that's it for now.

"But I want to say that a successful initial launch doesn't mean anything. There's also the orbital operations, return to the atmosphere, etc. The entire launch has to be completed, for this to be regarded as a successful space flight."

There was a small commotion in the scene.

The New York Times reporter noticed a story he could twist, and he immediately reached out with his microphone and asked, "So what you're saying is that the ion thruster technology in Skyglow is going to fail on its return? Is this NASA's statement?"

"I never said that." The spokesman opened his mouth and expressed his views in an ambiguous way as he said, "We don't know whether or not Skyglow is actually using an ion thruster propulsion system. Also, the success of China's launch depends on whether the astronauts can make it back to Earth safely."

The New York Times reporter eyes' lit up.

It wasn't just The New York Times reporter, other media outlets reporters were doing the same.

The venue erupted in chaos.

Breaking news!

NASA predicts that there is a flaw in Skyglow's design, Skyglow will crash into the atmosphere?!

The spokesman on stage was sweating, he didn't know what to do.

As expected, this intern was too inexperienced.

Even though he tried to make his statements ambiguous, the reporters still decided to twist his words.

However, NASA wasn't concerned that the press conference was in chaos. Compared to how media outlets viewed this matter, they obviously cared more about how Skyglow was doing…

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NASA Headquarters.

Aiden was standing inside the satellite control room wearing a black suit. He slammed a stack of reports on the table and stood in front of a NASA expert. "Who told me that ion thruster propulsion systems can't send spacecraft to the sky, who told me it can't even send an egg?! Who! How about you explain this to me then!"

The NASA expert who previously vowed that using an ion thruster was impossible looked away awkwardly.

"We are still not sure what kind of propulsion system they're using. By looking at the engine plume, they might be using a hydrogen and methane mixture as their propellant…"

"Go eat sh*t!"

Bill Gerstenmaier looked at how emotional Aiden was. He coughed and adjusted his glasses.

"Mr. Aiden, gathering intelligence is the CIA's responsibility. We are obligated to cooperate with your work, but that doesn't mean we are responsible for the CIA's mistakes."

"You think this is our mistake?" Aiden glared at Gerstenmaier and said, "You guys told us that it was impossible for them to send a spacecraft to space using ion thruster technology."

"But we're still not sure what type of propulsion they're using, right? Maybe the situation isn't as bad as we think…" Gerstenmaier said awkwardly. He coughed and said, "Also, we didn't say anything wrong. Traditional ion thruster technology can't even send an egg to space. Its biggest advantage over traditional chemical rockets is its massive specific impulse… But maybe China found a more efficient way to accelerate the working medium? You would have to ask China about this, we're not researching ion thruster propulsion after all…"

Aiden uttered coldly, "Oh yeah? But as far as I'm concerned, you guys receive quite a lot of funding from Congress for the ion thruster propulsion research."

Gerstenmaier smoothly diverted the conversation away from funding.

"I'm not in charge of funding, go ask the director."

Aiden took a deep breath and walked to the satellite control console.

He looked at the green dot on the screen and wished there was a missile launch button nearby so that he could blow that thing out of the sky.

He had to admit, that was a tempting idea…

It was just a bit impractical.

Forget about whether or not those anti-satellite missiles could even track a spacecraft traveling at kilometers per second, even Trump wouldn't approve of such a stupid plan.

Not to mention that the controllable fusion negotiations were almost finished…

He only prayed for one thing, which was for Skyglow to have a faster than expected landing when returning to Earth.

Just like what happened to Space Shuttle Columbia.

Suddenly, the NASA expert, who was berated, muttered something, "I hope they succeed."

Aiden glared at him.

The expert noticed Aiden's glare, and he knew that it wasn't the right time for him to speak. He awkwardly began to explain himself.

"I mean that… If Skyglow succeeds, and they're really using an ion thruster propulsion system, that proved that ion thrusters' power is comparable to traditional chemical thrusters. Do you know what this means? It will completely revolutionize the aerospace industry!"

"Oh, really now? Too bad it's not going to revolutionize America's aerospace industry," Aiden said as he stared at the expert with a dead stare. He snorted, "I just hope that damn spacecraft and the astronauts burn to ashes on re-entry… Wait, what did you say?"

Suddenly, Aiden realized something, and he grabbed the NASA expert's collar.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Gerstenmaier said. He wanted to help but was stopped by Aiden's subordinates.

The expert looked muddled as he stared at Aiden and said, "What are you doing? You want to fight? I'm warning you, if you touch me…"

Aiden: "You said enough power?"

"What, what power…"

"Ion thrusters!"

"Yeah… Why?"

"How much electric power would it take to send a 10-ton spacecraft into space? Tell me!"

"100 MW? Maybe 1,000 MW? I don't know! We never even thought about putting a battery that size on a rocket, and satellites only need small batteries and solar panels!"

The moment Aiden heard the MW unit, his face changed.

He vaguely remembered a classified document.

That document mentioned that China might be researching the miniaturization of controllable fusion technology.

If Skyglow was really using an ion thruster propulsion system…

Forget about the ion thrusters, the huge energy supply device that could support the ion thruster power consumption was what they should be worrying about!

A drop of cold sweat rolled off Aiden's forehead…

…

Jin Ling City.

Star Sky Technology headquarters.

The sky was dark, only a few offices still had their lights on.

Chen Yushan was sitting in the CEO's office. She anxiously called the Jinling launch site. The phone rang for a while before connecting.

"What the hell is going on? Why is Lu Zhou on the space shuttle?"

Ten minutes ago, she saw the news broadcast regarding Skyglow's successful launch. Only then, she heard about Lu Zhou being on Skyglow.

Hou Guang nervously spoke with the CEO.

"We…"

Chen Yushan was on the verge of tears as she snapped, "Why didn't you stop him?!"

Hou Guang explained, "Who could stop Lu Zhou, he's the boss."

Lu Zhou had the highest security clearance in the launch site.

Lu Zhou could dismantle the space shuttle if he wanted, much less getting on the space shuttle.

Ordinary employees wouldn't dare to ask why Professor Lu was getting on the space shuttle, they would think that he was just double-checking the shuttle.

Ordinary employees would have never thought that Lu Zhou would have stayed on the space shuttle. They only found out he was missing after the launch was over, when the shuttle was already high in the sky…

After hearing Hou Guang's answer, Chen Yushan finally realized what was happening.

This guy…

This isn't even the first time he's done something like this!

Why does he never take his safety seriously?

Even though research is interesting, he shouldn't do something like this…

Chen Yushan's heart was thumping, and she leaned back on her office chair.

She took out her phone and began to scroll through Weibo, in hopes of calming down.

She saw the 30-second New Year's Day congratulations video shot in space, which was released by CCTV's official account. She read all of the exciting comments posted by netizens. She suddenly burst into a smile and felt a lot better.

She suddenly knew why Lu Zhou was doing this.

Maybe he wanted to show everyone that spaceflight wasn't an impossible thing for ordinary people, nor was it a dangerous activity… In the near future, spaceflight would be available for everyone.

There was nothing for Chen Yushan to be scared about.

She gradually calmed down. However, a news headline suddenly caught her eye.

After reading the news headline, she nearly fainted.

[Skyglow is suspected of major design flaws? Difficulties on re-entry?!]

This was the latest report from The New York Times.

Which came from the press conference at NASA…

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Chapter 706: Returning From Orbit!

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

On New Year's Day.

Almost half of China was celebrating the launch of Skyglow, regardless of whether or not they knew anything about aerospace. Most people didn't understand the difference between ion thruster and chemical propulsion, or what a Hall effect thruster was. However, Skyglow was the first spacecraft that could travel between Earth and outer space, and this was a huge victory for China.

But on this glorious day, the sudden report from The New York Times poured an ounce of worry into everyone's head.

In this report, The New York Times manipulated the NASA spokesperson's speech while also citing opinions from the Silicon Valley aerospace engineers, which all said that Skyglow had massive design flaws.

And because of these design flaws, re-entry on earth might be fatal.

The end result could be similar to the Space Shuttle Columbia, which disintegrated during atmospheric entry…

The moment this report was released, it spread quickly across Twitter and Facebook.

After this report was spread to China, people were outraged. Especially since the 25-second New Year's Day celebration video just came out, this immediately masked the successful launch.

No one was excited anymore.

A lot of people even began to pray for Professor Lu.

[For f*ck's sake! Americans are evil! They cursed our plane!]

[Is it even possible to curse a plane? I think they're just kindly reminding us.]

[I don't know! I think the Americans are scheming something, they're not going to strike it with a missile, right?]

[MiG-25: As long as I run fast enough, missiles can't catch me.]

[Pray for God Lu (candle) (candle) (candle)]

[I hope Skyglow and God Lu return safely. (candle)]

[…]

This topic quickly went on trending.

Fortunately, Lu Zhou couldn't go on his phone. Otherwise, he would burst out laughing.

Fatal re-entry?

Impossible…

Even if they couldn't return, there was a backup escape cabin available. Lu Zhou wouldn't risk his life like this.

400 km in the sky.

Skyglow was in low-Earth orbit. The crew had already completed numerous basic operations such as orbital flight, cabin pressure regulation, sanitary system testing, weightless sleeping, eating, etc. They also observed the possible effects of cosmic rays on 20 different plants and seeds.

After completing the series of flight tests and scientific experiments, the flight time was 23 hours 50 minutes.

Just like they had planned, the ground command center ordered Skyglow to restart its engine, in preparation for returning to Earth.

Nie Yan was sitting in the co-pilot's seat, checking the energy supply components, and she imitated the voice of a flight attendant as she said, "Professor Lu, please put on your spacesuit and sit in your seat. Our flight is landing soon…"

"I know, you don't have to remind me." Lu Zhou smiled and gave two thumbs-up as he said, "You got this, land this thing safely."

Lu Zhou was in a good mood.

This finally scratched his itch for space.

Of course, the most important thing was the 50,000 experience points and the lucky draw ticket.

The 50,000 experience points alone was worth the cost of this flight.

Nie Yun turned around and forced a smile, but his palms were drenched.

Re-entry was just as difficult as the initial launch.

Even though the Skyglow return path was theoretically safer than its launch path, there were no guarantees there wouldn't be any accidents. After all, this was his first time flying so high…

"Professor, can you promise me one thing?"

Lu Zhou: "What thing?"

"If we safely land…"

"Stop!" Lu Zhou raised his hand and interrupted Nie Yun as he said, "Don't jinx us. I'll promise you whatever you want once we land."

Just don't be too ridiculous.

Also, it can't be anything about my love life.

However, Nie Yun didn't listen.

Seeing how Lu Zhou was trying to dismiss him, Nie Yun removed his hands from the control console and spoke aggressively.

"No, I have to say it now!"

Lu Zhou: "…"

For f*ck's sake!

Can't you just wait an hour or two?

Lu Zhou sighed and said reluctantly, "Okay then… Say it, but I can't make any guarantees."

Nie Yun: "My request is simple, just promise me this is your last time going to space!"

Lu Zhou was stunned.

There's no way I'm agreeing!

I'm still young!

When Lu Zhou saw how determined Nie Yun was, he reluctantly compromised.

"At best, I can promise you that this is my last time flying with you."

Nie Yun thought for a second and nodded.

"Ok!"

Just don't be on my flight again.

If anything happens, my name will be shamed forever.

After spending so many years in the army, this was his first time afraid of dying.

"Okay, Brother, stop it!"

Nie Yan shook her head and pressed a few buttons on the control panel.

"Navigation system is turned on, confirm there are no malfunctions, energy supply machine has been turned on. Engine 1 and 2 are on standby.

"Ready to exit orbit."

Nie Yun was calm, cool, and collected. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he opened his eyes, he said, "Let's go home!"

…

Regardless of whether it was an aerospace plane or a space shuttle, returning from low-earth orbit was always a difficult task.

As the co-pilot, Nie Yan checked the "fuel" status of Skyglow. The remaining amounts of deuterium and tritium were sufficient. They had enough for a second round trip. The small problem was the xenon in the working medium compartment; there was only 21% remaining.

After all, they had to reach a certain amount of force to escape Earth's gravity. If they wanted to get in low-Earth orbit, they had to increase the amount of working medium ejection. They also had to lower the specific impulse but increase the engine thrust.

However, this amount of working medium was plenty for the re-entry.

With the ground command center's guidance and Skyglow's intelligent navigation system, Nie Yun successfully finished the orbital change and entered the transfer orbit.

At the same time, in NASA's satellite control room, exclaims were heard.

"Target began atmospheric entry"

"The Pacific Ocean is going to be their graveyard," Aiden said while staring at the green dot on the screen. He said, "I hope the spacecraft is the only thing salvageable."

Several workers monitoring the spacecraft movement frowned.

This was too devious for them.

Even though China was their competitor…

The engineer who was sitting in front of the console stared nervously at the green dot. When it was near the density boundary of the atmosphere, he spoke.

"Skyglow's trajectory is abnormal…"

Aiden slammed his hands on the table and said happily, "There's an accident?"

Did God hear my wishes?

If they really land in the Pacific Ocean, we will gladly help them salvage the spacecraft parts.

"Their return trajectory is different than what we expected…"

Aiden's excitement faded. He frowned as he asked, "What do you mean?"

"There's only one possibility."

"What is it?"

"They still have fuel left…" the engineer said in disbelief, "a lot of fuel left."

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Chapter 707: Triumphant Return

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

NASA engineers guessed correctly.

Compared to other spacecraft, Skyglow had a lot of leftover fuel for its re-entry trip.

The remaining 21% working medium might not be enough for them to fly from the surface to low-Earth orbit, but it was plenty enough for them to accelerate away from Earth-Moon's escape velocity and go to Mars or something.

From the altitudes of 100 km to 20 km, with the help of air resistance and the engine, Skyglow's speed decreased to Mach 7. It was flying over China's western airspace.

Because of this relatively slow speed, a successful landing was guaranteed.

Roscosmos.

A stern-looking man wearing a black suit looked at the green dot moving on the radar screen; there was a flash of disappointment on his face.

If Skyglow landed in Russia or the Pacific Ocean, he would have gladly "helped" the Chinese. Unfortunately, God didn't give him the chance to "help" his old Chinese friends.

There was nothing else left to see.

He was confident that at this height and speed, even he could land this thing safely.

"Cancel the Pacific fleet standby."

A man in military uniform saluted and responded.

"Yes, sir."

…

When the faint blue arc emerged from the clouds, the metallic silver Skyglow spacecraft appeared in people's sights.

Cheers could be heard at the Jinling launch site command center.

Chief Engineer Hou Guang, who was standing in front of the control console, took off his headset and broke out in celebration with the staff members.

They had been on duty for the better part of the past 24 hours. Most people slept less than 2 hours, and some didn't sleep at all.

After all, this was Skyglow's first flight.

For them, this aerospaceplane was like their child, carrying the world's most advanced fusion technology and ion thruster propulsion technology.

Not to mention that Professor Lu was on there as well.

A lot of people even dropped their headsets on the table and ran out of the control room, out to the launch site, waiting to meet their heroes.

Chen Yushan, who was here since last night, was in tears.

She was worried since last night.

Yan Yan was standing near the command room entrance, and she carried a portable medical box over her shoulder. She stared at Wang Peng, who was standing next to her, and asked, "That kid is a pain in the a*s for you, right?"

"It's alright." Wang Peng sighed and reached for the box of cigarettes in his pocket. He suddenly remembered that smoking was banned here, so he put the box of cigarettes away and said, "The higher-ups knew that this guy is difficult to control, so they're not blaming me."

At most, he was criticized over the phone.

Yan Yan looked at him in disbelief.

"That's it? You're not going to be punished? I don't believe it."

"I'm really not…" Wang Peng paused for a second and made a helpless gesture. "Okay, I'm probably going to lose my end-of-year bonus… But honestly, after spending this much time with this kid, I didn't expect a bonus anyway."

Yan Yan shook her head and looked at Chen Yushan, who was walking out of the door.

"Let's go as well… Hopefully, he doesn't have hemiparesis."

Yang Guangbiao, who was standing next to them silently this whole time, coughed and said, "Please don't jinx it."

He still remembered what happened at the controllable fusion reactor site last time.

…

The engine turned off.

The landing gear was released and made a heavy impact with the ground. The space shuttle rolled along the runway.

When the two deceleration umbrellas were released, Nie Yun's anxious heart finally relaxed a little.

He took his hands off the joystick and leaned against his seat. He suddenly realized that his entire back was soaking wet. Only then, did he realize what kind of responsibility and pressure he had to endure over the past 24 hours.

But at last, the victory was here.

He could faintly see people running toward the plane.

There were launch site staff members, headquarters engineers, CTV reporters…

He managed to squeeze out a smile when he suddenly reminisced back to the day he first flew the J-20 jet.

"This is like a dream…"

Unlike Nie Yun, Lu Zhou didn't spend time being sentimental.

He already left the passenger seat. He stood in front of the porthole and looked outside. It seemed like he was thinking about something.

Nie Yun noticed his expression and asked, "Is there a problem?"

"No problem," Lu Zhou said, "but the designs of the engine and the wing have to be changed."

"I think it's pretty good."

"But it can be better." Lu Zhou looked outside and smiled as he said, "As expected, I had to fly myself to get a better understanding."

Nie Yun: "…"

Nie Yan: "…"

These two had a bad feeling about the future…

…

The three helped each other take off their spacesuits.

The moment they stepped out of the cabin, the three heroes were immediately surrounded by people.

Lu Zhou let Nie Yun and Nie Yan handle the interviews. He was about to go to the ground command center and talk to Hou Guang about future Skyglow designs. However, he saw a man walk forward.

Lu Zhou stared at him for a while before saying in an uncertain tone, "Director Li?"

"It's me!"

Lu Zhou: "Oh Jesus, what happened to you? You look horrible."

Maybe a day in space means a year on Earth?

That doesn't make any sense.

Director Li frowned and sighed.

"It's all because of you!"

He was about to say something, but another old man walked forward.

Lu Zhou looked at him and cursed in his mind.

Yuan Huanmin?

The f*ck?

What is this guy doing here?

Lu Zhou was about to pretend he didn't see anything, but the teary-eyed old man shook his hand.

"I was wrong… Please let me apologize!"

Lu Zhou: "…?!"

Wrong about what?!

What is he talking about?

While Lu Zhou was still confused about it, a slim figure slipped through the crowd and hugged him.

"Thank god, you're okay!"

Yan Yan was watching this from a distance, and she suddenly stopped herself from walking forward.

She was happy that Lu Zhou was safe.

However, there was a twinge in her heart…

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Chapter 708: You're Half Correct

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

The biggest breaking news this year wasn't some celebrity's wedding, nor was it Daya Bay's power generation success, but instead, it was the successful launch and return of Skyglow.

Everything from the successful launch, to the 25-second congratulatory video, to The New York Times report, and the safe return of Skyglow. Every moment grabbed everyone's attention.

There are plenty of rocket scientists.

But Lu Zhou was probably the only rocket scientist who flew in his own rocket.

Even Elon Musk, who had been called the real-life Iron Man, said he would never fly on his Falcon 9 rocket.

This sensational flight completely changed everyone's opinions regarding aerospace.

2020 was going to be a new aerospace era.

This would revolutionize the aerospace industry.

Interestingly enough, if it wasn't for NASA's news release on Columbia TV, most people wouldn't have known that Skyglow was using an ion thruster propulsion system.

After the news came out, neither Star Sky Technology nor the Chinese government denied or confirmed the claims. For most people, this silently confirmed that Skyglow was using ion thrusters.

The people praying for Skyglow's safe return were ecstatic.

For a long time, China had been chasing the footsteps of the United States and Russia in the aerospace field. When it came to the design of high-thrust rockets and spacecraft, China was even behind Japan and Europe. When Skyglow successfully used ion thruster propulsion technology, it placed China five years ahead of everyone else.

The first step of the moon landing plan was a success.

Next was figuring out how to safely send people there.

Most people didn't care about those distant things. Skyglow's safe return proved many people wrong.

After Lu Zhou heard about what happened from Chen Yushan, he opened Weibo and posted the photo he took of Earth, along with a caption.

[Who said I'm not coming back?]

Less than 30 seconds after he posted the photo, there were hundreds of comments.

[Haha, what do the NASA experts have to say now? What happened to disintegrate on re-entry?]

[F*ck The New York Times, fake news!]

[I just want to say one thing, God Lu you're nutty!]

[Actually, Skyglow was supposed to disintegrate, but NASA jinxed it.]

[Haha, I knew that God Lu knew what he's doing!]

[God Lu, I want to have a kid with you in space ~~]

[Jesus Christ!]

[No one's talking about how handsome God Lu is, so I'll say it!]

[…]

Within half an hour, the retweets were in the tens of thousands. It was also retweeted by Everyone Daily, CTV, and other major media outlets. It quickly spread throughout Weibo and other social media sites.

A lot of people posted Lu Zhou's Weibo photo on Twitter and tagged The New York Times' account.

Interestingly enough, the first to respond wasn't The New York Times, but it was NASA's official account.

In NASA's tweet, they quickly clarified that they never said that the Skyglow could disintegrate on re-entry. And that The New York Times twisted their words at the press conference.

There was a lot of backlash on Twitter, and people were all tagging The New York Times' account.

Lu Zhou thought that this matter would be over. After all, in his opinion, this was only a test flight, nothing amazing. However, this matter was far from complete.

After interviewing the two astronauts, CTV used previously recorded material and made a documentary regarding the launch of Skyglow.

A classic CTV documentary style was used, and it highlighted the difficulty of research and the danger of the launch. The focus of attention was on Lu Zhou, who flew with the two other astronauts. He was depicted as a hero who risked his life for research.

They even quoted him.

"I'm the chief designer. If I want firsthand experience, I have to go!"

The quote made it seem like Lu Zhou was going to space to battle aliens…

Inside a special ward at 301 Hospital, Lu Zhou threw the half-read newspaper on the table and shook his head while sitting on the hospital bed.

The reason he was in the ward wasn't that he was sick. It was because just like the two astronauts, the higher-ups asked him to undergo medical inspections.

Even though he had repeatedly stated that he was healthy, he wasn't able to argue with the old 301 Hospital doctors.

Of course, Lu Zhou knew that they had good intentions; they were just scared he was secretly ill.

Therefore, he didn't resist.

"It's written pretty nicely…"

Wang Peng stared at Lu Zhou and had a weird expression on his face.

I've never seen you this humble before…

Yan Yan came over and said, "Objectively speaking, the news article is pretty touching."

"You guys don't get it," Lu Zhou said as he shook his head.

Chen Yushan, who was standing beside the hospital bed, asked, "Can I take a guess?"

Lu Zhou sighed and said, "Go ahead."

After their hug the day he returned to Earth, his relationship with Chen Yushan became more complex.

However, Lu Zhou didn't know how to describe this complexity.

Therefore, neither of them mentioned the hug. They merely pretended as if nothing had happened.

How do I describe this?

Lu Zhou didn't know what this type of feeling was.

Maybe I've never experienced this before…

"Well… Through this launch, you want to tell people that there is no difference between space travel and normal travel, and that it is less dangerous than they imagined?"

Lu Zhou went silent for a while as his eyes drifted aside.

"Okay, you're half correct."

Actually, she was only a quarter correct.

Half of the reason was because of Lu Zhou's system mission, the other quarter was purely because he wanted to see what exactly would happen when the spacecraft was flying. He wanted to know exactly where he could improve, instead of only hearing the aviators' suggestions and studying the data.

Even though Chen Yushan was only half correct, she still smiled happily.

Yan Yan, who was standing next to her, silently pouted. She picked up the medical inspection sheet and walked out of the ward.

Lu Zhou didn't notice her subtle change. He was focused on the snowflakes falling outside of the window.

I guess it's winter.

STAR-2 experimental reactor's successful fusion ignition was around this time last year.

Time really flies…

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While Lu Zhou was hospitalized, a lot of people came to visit him.

There were people from the State Administration for National Defense, China National Space Administration, and the military equipment department.

As well as higher-ups from the Communist Party.

Honestly, he could have been discharged after two days. After all, there were a lot of matters he had to take care of. 301 Hospital did a comprehensive examination as fast as possible. However, when the president came to see how Lu Zhou was doing, he smiled and said, "Stay here and rest a bit longer, remember what happened last time?"

So…

Lu Zhou's hospital stay was extended by a week.

Of course, Lu Zhou knew that the president had good intentions and only wanted him to rest instead of going back to doing research. However, staying in the hospital made him feel like his body was rotting.

Chen Yushan stayed with him in Beijing for a few days and made sure that his health was okay. She then went back to Jinling. In a sense, she was similar to Lu Zhou; she couldn't stop working.

Lu Zhou was bored staying at 301 Hospital, so he ended up playing cards with Wang Peng and Yan Yan.

Unfortunately, playing cards didn't help pass the time. Even though the two other people were pretty good, they were rookies when compared to Lu Zhou. Lu Zhou got sick of winning and let Yang Guangbiao take his spot.

At last, the week was over, and Lu Zhou only had one last round of inspections.

Coincidentally, the person who did his last examination was Academician Zhao Zhongji, the same person who led the international medical consultant team back when Lu Zhou was in a coma. The kind-hearted old man smiled at him.

"Professor Lu, we meet again."

Lu Zhou didn't know what to say, so he smiled and nodded.

"Yeah."

Academician Zhao Zhongji smiled and said, "The examination went well. There are no problems. But I still have to say that you're still young, you should take care of your body. Aerospace is suitable for people who already have kids. After all, there's no magnetic field in space, and no one knows how those cosmic rays can affect your body."

Lu Zhou: "I think science can solve those problems, but this is nothing important, there's no need to worry."

Actually, not all astronauts had kids. Astronaut Liu from China had a kid three years after her return to Earth. The claim that genetics could be altered by cosmic rays was debatable, not to mention that the current high-energy ray shielding technology was able to block most of the rays.

Zhao Zhongji had a helpless expression. He didn't try to persuade anymore.

"Okay then, I don't know as much as you, I'm just suggesting."

Lu Zhou nodded and said, "Thanks."

"You're welcome, fill out this form." Academician Zhao Zhongji handed Lu Zhou a form and said, "Oh yeah, it's almost the academician election season, are you ready?"

Lu Zhou, who was filling out the form, paused for a second before he said, "I… haven't been paying attention."

Academician Zhao Zhongji shook his head and said, "You're probably the only Chinese scholar who doesn't pay attention to this stuff."

Lu Zhou smiled awkwardly and said, "I'm not the only one. It's just that, this title doesn't matter too much for me."

Academician Zhao Zhongji: "Haha, you're right. Regardless, congratulations in advance."

Lu Zhou handed back the form and said, "You can congratulate me after I get elected… See you later."

The old academician smiled and waved his hand.

"Goodbye, hope I don't see you here again."

…

Lu Zhou handed in a form to the reception, which was on the first floor of the hospital. After he went through the discharge procedures, he went back to his ward to pack his luggage. The other two astronauts were also discharged today, but he didn't plan on going back with them.

Before going back to Jinling, he still had some things to take care of.

Lu Zhou opened the door of his ward and walked to his bed. He was surprised to see a person sitting on a chair near his bed.

"Director Li?" Lu Zhou looked at Director Li and smiled as he asked, "What are you doing here?"

"Coming to visit you before you leave the hospital, what, am I not welcome here?"

There was a tiny bit of resentment in Director Li's eyes.

It seemed like Lu Zhou's action of sneaking into Skyglow without telling anyone gave Director Li a lot of trouble.

Lu Zhou smiled and said, "What do you mean? I was just about to visit you after leaving the hospital. The ward is pretty crappy, so just sit wherever."

"This is crappy? This is the best room in the 301 Hospital!" Director Li sat down and said, "Do you plan on going back to Jinling after being discharged?"

Lu Zhou: "I'm staying in Beijing for a couple of days, why?"

Director Li: "Nothing, just wondering. Oh yeah, there's something I have to tell you."

Lu Zhou: "Aerospaceplane?"

Director Li: "Yeah."

Lu Zhou: "Okay then, I'll listen… Do you want anything to drink?"

"No, thanks. I'll keep it short." Director Li paused for a second before he said, "A week ago, after you boarded the spacecraft, the Communist Party of China had a meeting. The meeting was about placing aerospace engineering as a top national priority again. There are many specific policies. I'll only tell you the relevant ones. The specific documents won't be released for a while, so make sure you don't tell anyone."

Lu Zhou: "Go ahead."

Director Li looked toward the door and lowered his voice. He said quietly, "We plan on establishing an aerospace science and technology park from Jinling and Xijiang."

Lu Zhou looked strangely at this guy.

"Shouldn't this be a local policy? Why is the central government taking the lead?"

Director Li coughed and said, "Do you think a small local government can handle something related to the aerospace field?"

Lu Zhou nodded thoughtfully.

"You're right."

He didn't know a lot about politics, so he decided to stay quiet.

However, there was something else he didn't understand…

"What does the aerospace park have to do with me?"

"It has a lot to do with you." Director Li sat upright in his chair and said, "When all of the supporting policies are approved, that place will be the largest aerospace incubation area in China, and a large number of aerospace and military enterprises will move in. High-level officials want to focus on researching the ion thruster propulsion system you developed, as well as a wide range of fields such as aerospace and national defense."

He looked a little embarrassed as he smiled at Lu Zhou.

"We hope that you can provide technical support to the enterprises in the park. Of course, your profits will also be protected in the form of defense patents and research and development subsidies."

"Sure thing." Lu Zhou smiled and said, "Once the policies are approved, just call me. Is there anything else?"

Attracting a large number of aerospace companies was beneficial for Star Sky Technology. This meant that the space shuttle assembly center would no longer have to find parts from all over the country; they would have everything at their fingertips.

Lu Zhou had control of the core aerospace technology, but he didn't need to have total control over the entire space shuttle production process as it was neither realistic nor economical. He only needed to manufacture the most important components, such as the ion thrusters.

"Okay then, that's all." Director Li patted his thighs and said, "There's one thing people keep asking me. You're quite old now, there are 25-year-old adults with toddlers already. Aren't your parents worried?"

"Fate can't be rushed."

Director Li smiled and said, "Fate doesn't wait for you? Do you want me to introduce you to someone?"

Lu Zhou said, "Let's talk about it later."

Research is so fun, why would I want to do anything else?

If I really end up having a family…

I probably won't be able to spend as much time in the laboratory anymore.

He always tried to hide from this problem.

Director Li shook his head, but he didn't say anything else.

He was about to stand up and leave when he suddenly patted his head as if he forgot about something.

"Oh wait, I nearly forgot something. This morning, the China Western Military Division called us. The troops stationed in the Junggar Basin area found the thing you were looking for. Do you want them to send it to Beijing or directly to the Jinling research institute?"

Lu Zhou immediately became energetic, and he responded quickly, "Where is it approximately?"

Director Li paused for a second before replying, "I think it's on a hamada."

Lu Zhou said, "Tell them to stay where they are! I'll personally go there with some of my guys."

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Chapter 710: Desert in the Basin.

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

The wind howled along the endless wasteland, sand dunes, and a few oil wells that were barely visible. There wasn't any sign of living things.

Two desert-colored military jeeps drove on the sand-covered highway, one in front of the other.

This was the center of the Junggar Basin, the second largest desert in China—Dzoosotoyn Elisen Desert.

There was no life to be found here.

As Wang Peng looked into the distance, he squinted and said happily, "The weather is pretty nice today."

Lu Zhou: "… You call this nice?"

"At least there's no sandstorm, it's pretty nice," Wang Peng said while holding the steering wheel. He smiled at Lu Zhou, who was sitting in the back seat, and said, "Do you know what Dzoosotoyn Elisen means?"

Lu Zhou didn't know a lot about liberal arts, so he asked, "What does it mean?"

Wang Peng: "In Mongolian language, it means infested with wild boars."

Lu Zhou looked out the car window and said, "How come I'm not seeing any boars?"

Forget about boars, he couldn't even see a cockroach.

There were only camelthorn bushes and half-dead tree branches.

Wang Peng: "The meaning came from a long time ago."

Lu Zhou: "You know so much."

Wang Peng smiled and said, "I just heard about it from someone else."

Director Li was also sitting in the backseat with Lu Zhou. His face was tightly wrapped with a desert neck scarf. He coughed and said, "Are we there yet?"

Wang Peng looked at the car navigation system and said, "It says that there's ten kilometers left, so we'll be there soon."

Director Li sighed in relief.

His old body couldn't handle this trip any longer.

It took a whole day to take the train from Beijing to Wushi. Then it took another half a day to go from Wushi to this desert.

Honestly, Lu Zhou had never been to this area. If he didn't have something important to do, he would have gladly vacationed here for a bit. However, it was not the time for vacation yet; there was a very important research task waiting for him.

The jeep was borrowed from the local Wushi army. Wang Peng was in the driver's seat, Doctor Yan was in the passenger seat, Lu Zhou and Director Li were in the backseat.

The jeep in front of them was filled with soldiers from Regiment 150. They were here to lead the way and escort them.

Even though this area was rural, it wasn't safe.

Not only did Wang Peng have a QBZ-95 gun next to him, but even Yan Yan also had a pistol.

Lu Zhou wanted to borrow a pistol for fun. Even though he wasn't interested in weapons, he was still curious.

However, Wang Peng didn't let him. He insisted that it would be more dangerous for Lu Zhou to carry a gun, but he promised to let Lu Zhou play with the gun when no one else was around.

…

They quickly completed the ten-kilometer journey.

They got off the main highway and drove on the hamada until they reached a temporary campsite.

Wang Peng followed the jeep to the main gate. He then opened the window and took out his credentials.

After the gun-carrying soldier checked everyone's credentials, he saluted and pointed toward the direction of the checkpoint. After the boom barrier was raised, the jeeps drove inside.

On the way to the center of the camp, Lu Zhou looked out the window and saw soldiers patrolling. He then asked in surprise, "Why is the security here so strict?"

"It has to be strict," Wang Peng said as he followed the jeep in front of him. He skillfully parked the jeep and turned off the engine. He then said, "The Jinling launch attracted the attention of the entire world. The thing you threw from low-orbit couldn't be seen by ordinary people, but it didn't escape satellites and radar. Guess how much your stuff was priced on the black market?"

"How much?"

"Two hundred million."

"Two hundred million?!"

Lu Zhou couldn't help but think.

F*ck…

Is it really that expensive?

Why did no one tell me?

I would make a fortune selling it on the black market.

Wang Peng didn't know what Lu Zhou was thinking, but he did see how surprised Lu Zhou was as he got out of the car. He smiled and said, "It's also in USD."

"That's right," a man in military uniform said. He walked over to the jeep and smiled. He said, "Yesterday, we caught some criminals disguised as tourists."

Lu Zhou looked at him and said, "There are people that come here?"

"Ah, guess what we found in their van?" The man in military uniform smiled and gestured with his hands. "Two RPG-7s, quite a bit of firepower."

Yan Yan naturally asked, "No one was hurt, right?"

"No, of course not," said the man. He looked at Wang Peng and opened his arms. "Long time no see! It's been so long since you were discharged, how have you been?"

Wang Peng hugged his old friend and patted him on the shoulder. He said, "I'm good, I'm a lot paler now! You've been doing pretty well over the last four years, and you even made it to the battalion commander rank."

Lu Zhou wasn't very interested in their small talk, so he looked around and asked, "Where is the stuff?"

"It's in the middle of the camp, I'll bring you guys there." Battalion Commander Li smiled at Lu Zhou and reached out with his hand. He said, "Let me introduce myself. I'm Li Gaoliang."

Lu Zhou shook Battalion Commander Li's hand and said, "Lu Zhou. You can call me Professor Lu."

"I know, we all watched the news on New Year's Day, and I also saw you on TV a few days ago." Battalion Commander Li smiled and said, "How was space? Was it fun?"

"It's pretty interesting."

Battalion Commander Li was an interesting person. Even though he had been in the military for a long time, he was easy to talk to. They chatted while talking. Shortly thereafter, they arrived at the center of the camp.

In the center of the camp, there was a fenced-off sand dune. On the west slope of this sand dune, there was an "iron coffin", which was around 2.5 meters high.

Four parachutes of different sizes lay quietly next to the iron coffin. The troops tried not to touch the iron coffin, but in order to stop the sandstorm from blowing it away, the troops placed some fixed weights for stability.

Wang Peng looked at this strange thing and murmured, "What's this…"

Lu Zhou smiled and replied, "Lightning… Escape capsule. Remember when I talked about the thousand-kilometer sky-dive? This makes it possible."

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Chapter 711: "Lightning" Escape Capsule

"Lightning" escape capsule.

The whole capsule body was dark, and it was made of a titanium alloy. The surface was coated with a high-temperature resistant ceramic. It could allow one person to safely land from low-Earth orbit. There was a payload fairing at the top of the capsule, but it was abandoned on its way back to earth.

Even though the height of this test was not 1,000 kilometers, the 100-kilometer height was still record-breaking.

This escape capsule was installed on Skyglow.

On its re-entry, at an altitude of around 100 kilometers, Skyglow tested the escape capsule while it was flying over China's western area. It released the "lightning" escape capsule from the spacecraft, and it landed at the center of the Junggar Basin.

This was the final task in Skyglow's 24-hour flight.

This thing wasn't actually that high-tech; it was just a smaller version of a manned spacecraft return capsule. Other than accommodating an adult, it also stored some essential survival tools such as food, water, and medicine, which could help someone survive for ten days.

The shape was a bit peculiar, but it was nowhere near worth as much as US$200 million. Even though the data collected was important, it wasn't worth that much money, not to mention that it was a one-use item…

That was why Lu Zhou was so surprised when he heard someone was offering US$200 million on the black market to buy this thing.

It turned out that people were willing to pay for garbage.

Wang Peng stared at the iron coffin for a long time, and it took him a while to realize what Lu Zhou had said.

"… Wearing this?"

"Yeah."

Lu Zhou did not give much of an explanation, he put on a pair of gloves and walked forward.

Satellites that fell from the sky might contain a little bit of radiation, but they had been orbiting in space for a long time, which could cause radiation-related health damages.

Skyglow only spent 24 hours in orbit, and this thing was thrown out of the spacecraft at an altitude of 100 kilometers. Therefore, he didn't have to worry about any radioactive residue.

Lu Zhou didn't open the hatch just yet. He first observed the damage done to the parachute's connection port, as well as the damage to key components such as the high-temperature resistant ceramic shield and alloy protection plate. He then used the emergency switch on the outside of the capsule to open the hatch.

The sound of gas leaking was heard as the hatch slowly opened. A plastic dummy was lying in the protective cushion with its hands across its chest.

Yan Yan stared at the escape capsule and whispered, "You really do 'wear' it…"

Director Li didn't say anything. He merely stared at Lu Zhou's movement.

Lu Zhou didn't care about the people behind him. His attention was completely focused on the dummy lying on the air cushion. He took out his phone and connected the data capsule to the dummy. He then pressed his Bluetooth headset and spoke quietly.

"Xiao Ai, it's all yours now."

Soon a line of text popped up on the screen.

[Okay, Master! (๑•̀ᄇ•́) و]

The data transfer bar on the screen progressed quickly.

Various data, such as the temperature, pressure, G value, as well as the time and altitude changes, were all presented on the mobile phone screen. The phone automatically presented line graphs for these values.

Lu Zhou looked at the data and pressed the save button. He disconnected the data cable and plugged it into the capsule itself to copy its flight data.

"… Around 174 meters away from the original landing spot, an acceptable error."

Lu Zhou looked at the data on his phone and smirked.

Roughly speaking, this escape capsule did its job perfectly. However, it wasn't too comfortable for the astronaut lying inside. This was due to the large G values, which could cause vision loss or even coma. However, this could still save someone's life.

Also, these disadvantages could be corrected in future versions.

Director Li looked at Lu Zhou and quickly asked, "How is it? Does this thing work?"

Lu Zhou was in a good mood as he said, "It works, judging from the sensor data, if someone were actually sitting inside, they should be alive."

Director Li then quickly asked, "Are there strict requirements for the physical fitness of someone who wants to use the escape capsule?"

"Strict? Not too strict." Lu Zhou thought for a bit and said, "As long as they don't have heart disease or high blood pressure, after some training, they should be able to use this equipment. Depending on the individual, there might be some side effects, but there won't be permanent damage."

Director Li then asked, "Is it possible to use this to airdrop soldiers…"

Lu Zhou thought for a bit and smiled.

"It should be possible… but the cost is a bit high."

Director Li: "How much does this cost?"

Lu Zhou said, "Ten to twenty million USD."

This wasn't considered expensive for astronaut equipment, but it still wasn't cheap.

Using this to deliver special forces was still too expensive, not to mention it could only be used once.

Also, if they were to improve the capsule and use some kind of ion thruster deceleration technology, they would have to worry about keeping the equipment confidential.

However, mastering this technology was quite significant.

This meant that Chinese special forces could land at any corner of the earth within an hour… or even less. This equipment could be used for search and rescue, hostage, or terrorist situations.

Lu Zhou looked at Director Li and smiled.

"Let's go, there's nothing else to see here."

Director Li was stunned. "That's it?"

"Basically, my work here is done." Lu Zhou looked at the jeep and said, "Next, we have to wait for Jinling researchers to come here and do a more comprehensive inspection of the landing area and the escape capsule… That might take a couple of days. After that, you guys will have to find a way to ship this thing back to Jinling."

Director Li frowned and couldn't help but mutter.

"You came all the way here for this?"

Anyone could have copied the data for you!

"I didn't only come here for this." Lu Zhou stared at the distant yellow sands outside the camp and said, "I mainly came here to examine the environment of this desert."

Director Li paused for a second.

"Examine the environment?"

"Yeah," Lu Zhou nodded and said, "for the location of China's Biosphere 2!"

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Chapter 712: Garden Plan

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

In the 1990s, the Americans tried to build a miniature artificial ecological system in the desert north of Tucson, Arizona. Its purpose was to conduct ecological and environmental research in a closed environment as well as to help humans understand how Earth operates by simulating its ecological environment.

This plan was originally proposed by a rugby player and received investments from several consortiums, including Rockefeller, totaling US$150 million. It was quite a commotion at that time.

Unfortunately, the final experiment results weren't as sensational as the proposal. A year after the experimental team started their work at the Biosphere 2, they declared the project a failure. They had to withdraw from the project.

The only conclusion drawn from the experiment was that Earth might be the only suitable planet for humans.

Overall, this plan was undoubtedly a failure. Not only did Biosphere 2 fail to form a stable and independent ecosystem, but it was even transformed into an ecological hotel after the project was abandoned.

However, back then, this idea was quite groundbreaking. A lot of technologies were invented because of this project, which had been applied to many other fields.

Judging from the missions arranged by the system, there was a 90% chance that the third stage of the mission chain was to establish a permanent or semi-permanent research station on the Moon. Even though Lu Zhou hadn't completed the Moon landing yet, that didn't stop him from preparing for the future.

Not to mention that there were side missions in the first stage, such as "planting on the Moon".

Therefore, after some discussion with the experts from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the China National Space Administration, and the Ministry of Science and Technology, the "Garden" artificial biosphere project was born.

Compared to China's Biosphere 2, the "Garden" plan had a clearer goal, which was to pave the way for space colonization.

Based on a series of external factors such as climate and environment, the location of the Garden Biosphere A was chosen to be in the Dzoosotoyn Elisen Desert and at the center of the Junggar Basin. The biosphere would be contained in a semi-spherical building, and it would be completely isolated from the outside world.

Of course, because of various factors, Lu Zhou didn't plan on copying Biosphere 2's plan, which was to establish a complete ecosystem copy of Arizona. Instead, Lu Zhou's plan was to set "limited input of minerals, freshwater, and biological resources". The goal of his experiment was to reduce the input of resources by as much as possible.

Even though Lu Zhou had a specific implementation plan for this project, he wasn't personally responsible for this project. Instead, he chose to cooperate with several universities such as the Chinese Academy of Sciences and China Agricultural University. He also selected one person from China Agricultural University to be in charge of research…

After Lu Zhou stayed at the 150 Regiment Camp for the night, he met with Jinling researchers the next day. He gave them a brief explanation of the work. He received a call from China Agricultural University, which informed him that the researchers had arrived in Wushi.

Junggar Basin was quite far from Wushi, but Lu Zhou wasn't in a hurry. After lunch, Wang Peng drove Lu Zhou and an army guide around the desert area to examine the terrain around the area.

When it was almost night time, a desert-colored military jeep and water truck appeared on the desert horizon. They slowly approached the checkpoint.

Coincidentally, Lu Zhou just came back from his terrain examination. He got out of the car and walked toward the desert-colored jeep. When he walked up to the car, a slim, middle-aged man who was wearing glasses and a windproof coat walked out of the car while carrying a dirty rucksack.

The middle-aged man instantly recognized Lu Zhou. He threw his rucksack over his shoulder and smiled.

"Nice to meet you, Professor Lu! It's an honor!"

"You're too kind," Lu Zhou shook his hand and made an inviting gesture. "This isn't the place to talk, let's go inside."

Other than the guy carrying survival necessities and food, there were two other PhD students in the car. They didn't look very good, and it seemed like they didn't sleep well.

Due to the strong wind and sand outside, everyone in the group was tired. Lu Zhou invited them to a warehouse and went to find the tea set. Yan Yan, who was wearing a military green casual outfit, walked in the warehouse.

"The water is boiling, go sit down, I'll help you."

Lu Zhou nodded toward Yan Yan and said, "Thanks so much."

"No worries."

Yan Yan flipped her hair and poured a cup of tea for each of the four people sitting in the room. She then left the teapot on the table, turned around, and walked out of the door.

Lu Zhou was sitting at a desk. He pulled out a resume and looked at the middle-aged professor, who was sitting professionally on the sofa. He compared the professor with the photo on the resume.

The professor was somewhat embarrassed by Lu Zhou judging him, so he coughed and asked, "Is there a problem?"

"Nothing, I'm just confirming." Lu Zhou smirked and put down the resume. He looked at the professor and said, "Welcome to Dzoosotoyn Elisen Desert."

The Agricultural University professor sitting in front of Lu Zhou was called Hu Yang. He had a down-to-earth and diligent demeanor.

Lu Zhou hadn't met him prior to this; he had only seen Hu Yang's photo on the resume, and he had a brief understanding of Hu Yang's research direction and academic background.

Generally speaking, his resume was relatively standard. Just like most scholars who were in unpopular research areas, he wasn't in the Changjiang Scholars Program, nor did he have a chance of becoming an academician… But this wasn't the stuff Lu Zhou cared about.

After all, it would be strange for an agricultural researcher to have a stacked resume.

After Lu Zhou briefly looked at his resume, he decided to let him manage the project.

The reason was that not only was this area Hu Yang's expertise, but Hu Yang was able to stay in this research area for many years, which meant he had a certain amount of persistence and tenacity.

This job was very difficult, and one would have to stay in the hamada desert for years, which would take away their youth and life.

Other than him, no one else applied here.

Therefore, Lu Zhou didn't have a lot of choices.

After two minutes of small talk, Lu Zhou put down the teacup and went into the main topic.

"I'll skip the formalities, I'm sure the Agricultural University has already told you about the Garden project."

"Yeah," Hu Yang nodded and said in a serious tone, "I received the project two days ago, and I immediately came here."

"Thanks for coming in such short notice."

"No worries," Hu Yang smiled nervously and said, "I have to travel to test fields all the time, whether it's the desert or city, it's the same to me!"

Lu Zhou nodded and continued, "It's admirable that you think that way. It's not easy to make a decision like this, you must have thought about it for a long time. But I still have to emphasize some things. This project is important to China's future aerospace industry. It will not be easy."

Lu Zhou paused for a second before he continued, "Before you decide to take on this scientific research project, I hope you know that for the next few years, or even decades, you will be isolated from the world, and I'm afraid you'll only be able to take a vacation once or twice a year."

The two PhD students sitting next to Hu Yang held their breath, but they soon relaxed.

Even though they were in a difficult field, they didn't have to work as hard as their boss.

After all, they would graduate in a few years. At most, they would only stay here for two years.

As for Hu Yang, his expression didn't change.

He nodded and spoke without hesitation.

"I've thought it through."

Lu Zhou looked at him solemnly.

"Then… please take care of this project."

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Chapter 713: Academician Primary Elections

The entire Garden project was divided into three phases.

The first phase of the project was the foundation. Welded stainless steel was used to isolate the ground of the enclosed area. The second phase of the project was mainly regarding the construction part of it. A six-grid steel skeleton would be supported by compression-resistant steel for the entire hemispherical artificial biosphere. As for the third phase of the project, the hemisphere would be equipped with double-layered special glass, where the outer layer would be coated with a special coating material to control the temperature.

There would also be biosphere B, C, D, etc. This would be to simulate other special outer-space environments, such as Mars. It could also be used for developing life support devices for people to use on other planets.

Because any small amount of interference could lead to unpredictable results in the experiment, the biosphere must be built in a life-restricted zone, away from living things.

Fortunately, China was quite big, so it was easy to find a place like this.

There wasn't a better place for this artificial biosphere than the middle of the desert in the basin.

It took three days for Lu Zhou to inspect the nearby geological environment. After consulting Professor Hu and other geologists, Lu Zhou finally made a decision and chose the location of the Garden Biosphere to be near a road and a sand dune.

The total investment of the project was 1.5 billion yuan; 1.3 billion of which would be supported by 41 different government project funds, and the remaining 200 million yuan would be provided by Star Sky Technology. This funding was small compared to the entire moon landing project, but it was still significant.

After Lu Zhou finished planning the general outline for the Garden project, he didn't stay in the desert for too long. He still had things to do in Jinling. The next day he left the camp and boarded a train in Wushi, returning to Jinling.

Coincidentally, the second he got off the train, Lu Zhou received emails from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Academy of Engineering, and Jin Ling University. He read that his name was on the primary election list for the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Academy of Engineering.

Lu Zhou looked at these three emails and didn't know what to do.

His original idea was to be an academician at the Academy of Science. After all, he was a mathematician. However, he didn't expect that the old folks at the Academy of Engineering nominated his name.

According to the academician selection process, after the recommendation stage, the committees of the academic departments will review and select the candidates.

This selection process was standardized; it had to fairly and objectively evaluate one's scientific results.

As long as someone didn't violate academic conduct or break major laws, they should be able to pass the review process. After the review process was the anonymous voting stage. As long as the person received more than two-thirds of the votes, and there was space in the faculty, they would be elected.

The election results would then be checked and confirmed by the standing committees of the respective academic departments, which was the so-called "final review". After being reviewed and approved by the leadership team of the Academician Assembly, all of the successful academicians would be notified in writing.

Jin University hadn't had a new academician for many years, and the few academicians from the physics department were more than 70 years old. This time, Lu Zhou's name was nominated for two different academies; this was undoubtedly something worthy of Jin University's celebration.

Even though it was worthy of celebration, Lu Zhou didn't put much attention to the academician selection. He replied to the congratulation emails from Wang Zengguang, Li Jiangang, and several other old academicians from the Fuyang Institute Construction Material Laboratory.

There was no doubt that these people were the ones who nominated him.

Even though he didn't really care about the nomination, he still had to thank the people who nominated him.

Lu Zhou placed most of his attention on the space shuttle.

Even though the Skyglow launch was successful, there were still many things that needed to be improved.

The next launch was scheduled to be before the Chinese New Year, which was around two months away. He didn't have any time to waste.

Even though Lu Zhou casually placed the academician selection matter aside, a lot of other people were tangled with this issue.

Lu Zhou was in Jinling, conducting a meeting with the Skyglow designers. On the other hand, Academician Wang Shicheng, the director of the mathematical physics department, who was responsible for the academician elections, was inside the Chinese Academy of Sciences human resource department office.

Director Qian, who was sitting behind his desk, stopped writing and asked his assistant to pour a cup of tea for Academician Wang.

"What brings you here today?"

Wang Shicheng sipped some tea and sighed.

"What else can it be?"

"Let me guess…" Director Qian smiled and said, "It's because of Lu Zhou?"

Wang Shicheng didn't say anything. He placed the teacup on the table and spoke.

"This matter is not easy to deal with."

The academician elections were a troublesome matter for the standing committees of various academic departments.

The Chinese academic community was relatively isolated and had its own system. For most Chinese-grown scholars, it was quite difficult for them to obtain an international honor that was higher than the academician title. Therefore, the title of academician was the ultimate goal of 99% of domestic scholars.

Having the title of an academician doubled their power and status, and they could basically work at any research institute or university they wanted.

Not to mention that there were only a small number of academician spots available.

Therefore, there was a lot of fierce competition between the candidates.

However…

Lu Zhou's situation was different.

All of the candidates left him alone. In theory, this should be a good thing. Everyone would vote for him, and the title would be his.

However, the thing was that this guy was too nutty. He was on the primary election list for both the Academy of Engineering and the Academy of Science.

It went without saying that the chief designer of the fusion energy project should be in the Department of Energy. If everything went well, Lu Zhou would be the department's head after a few years, or at least the director.

After that, the problem was that, since the Academy of Engineering was definitely going to give him the academician title, was there still a point for the Academy of Science to give him one as well?

There had been scholars who held two academician titles, but to be awarded two in the same year…

That was a bit ridiculous.

There were many accomplished old professors still waiting in line, and some of them had produced major research results. It was a bit inappropriate to let someone else take two academician titles at once.

Wang Shicheng looked at Director Qian, who was sitting behind his desk, and said, "I heard that the people from the Academy of Engineering also elected his name. I wonder if we should ask them to stay low this year and elect Lu Zhou next time instead. This way, Lu Zhou won't receive both titles at once."

"Oh," Director Qian smiled and said, "then tell me, what young talent from Yan University is a better choice than Professor Lu?"

Wang Shicheng didn't say anything.

This was the other thing that was giving him trouble.

Deferring Lu Zhou for a term was a good idea…

But the Fields Medal and the Nobel Prize were too big to be ignored. Not to mention the Ling Yun medal. Lu Zhou couldn't be replaced. Forget about the domestic community, there wasn't anyone in the world that was a better candidate than him.

"I don't know what to do, so I'm here discussing with you. We'll do whatever you think is appropriate," Wang Shicheng said.

Director Qian shook his head and said, "I think you're overcomplicating this issue."

Wang Shicheng: "Overcomplicating?"

"That's right." Director Qian nodded and said, "This academician title isn't important for him. His opinions are highly regarded by the government. The academician title is at most the icing on the cake."

There was a flash in Wang Shicheng's eyes, and he said, "You mean… It's fine if we defer it until the next term?"

Director Qian: "No I mean… This doesn't matter to him, but it matters a lot to us."

Wang Shicheng: "…"

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Chapter 714: Blueprint for a Tiltrotor Aerospaceplane

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

After the Skyglow launch, Lu Zhou moved the space shuttle assembly center research department to the Jinling Institute for Advanced Study, turning it into its separate "Aerospace Science and Technology Institute". This research institute was responsible for researching aerospace-related technologies, including ion thruster propulsion systems.

Because there were many top-secret projects, the building of the institute had the highest level of security.

Unlike other institutes at the Jinling Institute for Advanced Study, the Aerospace Science and Technology Institute's main customer was the Star Sky Technology space shuttle assembly center. The vast majority of funding also came directly from Star Sky Technology's account. This was different from the Jinling Institute of Computational Materials, which received funding from other companies.

The director of the Aerospace Science and Technology Institute was obviously Hou Guang, the designer of Skyglow.

Because of his past experience in the 863 Program, there wasn't anyone else more suitable for this position than him. There wasn't anyone else in the entire research institute who was more familiar with the structure and overall design of Skyglow. Asking him to coordinate the project teams was undoubtedly a wise decision.

Hou Guang lived up to Lu Zhou's expectations. During the time when Lu Zhou wasn't in Jinling, not only did he speedily complete the relocation of the research institute, but he didn't stop researching.

On one hand, he organized technicians to modularly dismantle the Skyglow aerospaceplane, On the other hand, he evaluated the damaged equipment areas and systematically performed analysis on the test flight data. He summarized all of the data in a 20-page report.

After Lu Zhou spent two days reading the report and finished his PowerPoint presentation for the conference. He called Hou Guang and had a meeting with the people from the Aerospace Science and Technology Institute.

"First of all, I would like to thank you all for your hard work. I can't speak on behalf of this country, but as the president of the Institute for Advanced Study, I would like to give my most sincere thanks."

After the brief opening remarks, there was a round of applause in the conference room.

Lu Zhou nodded and the applause subsided.

He cleared his throat and gently placed the 20-page report on the multimedia desk.

"I have already read the contents of the report.

"The Skyglow design was successful, but I think there are many areas that can be improved.

"Looking at the analysis of the overhaul, the wing and the belly of the spacecraft received more heat than we expected during re-entry. Our brilliant engineers deduced that the main reason is that the spacecraft entered the dense part of the atmosphere too quickly.

"I've thought about this problem for a long time, and I have also exchanged opinions with experts. I think that because ion thruster is relatively 'stable' compared to chemical engines, we can abandon the 'rocket' design of traditional chemical rockets. We can move four of the ion thrusters to the wings of the shuttle, leaving only one main engine at the tail.

"Also, we should add a pair of bi-axle ailerons to the aerospaceplane. This can be used to suspend and control the engine's ejection direction."

Whispers were heard in the conference room; a lot of people looked surprised.

This design was nothing novel. It referenced the tiltrotor design, which had the advantages of both fixed-wing aircraft and vertical take-off aircraft. Even though this type of design wasn't rare, this was the first time someone had heard of using this design in the field of aerospace.

After Lu Zhou paused for a second, he continued, "By improving the design, we can use the deceleration engine to decelerate upon re-entry and balance out the effect of gravity. We can reduce the flight speed before the aircraft reaches the dense section of the atmosphere, which reduces friction."

After hearing Lu Zhou's explanation, Hou Guang stood up and spoke.

"This design is interesting… I will study the feasibility with my team."

"I've already studied the feasibility, but it was simulated." Lu Zhou smiled and clicked the mouse. He opened a folder and presented a 3D composition image on the projector.

He paused for a second and continued, "This is for reference only."

Shining on the center of the curtain was a professional conceptual graphic of this tiltrotor aerospaceplane. Next to it were the altitude of the aircraft, the atmosphere density, speed, and various other parameters, which were all presented in a graph.

These calculations were all done by Lu Zhou alone.

Xiao Ai helped him with the models and the flight simulation.

Hou Guang stared at the image on the projector and adjusted his glasses. He spoke in astonishment.

"Which… company's software is this?"

He had been in this industry for many years, and he had worked with many companies that made simulation software. However, he had never seen such precise physical dynamics simulation before… In his opinion, this software was perfect.

Lu Zhou didn't explain anything. Instead, he said, "I asked people from the Information Technology Research Institute to code it for me. I'll send you a copy after the meeting."

The second Lu Zhou finished speaking, his phone in his pocket began to vibrate.

Lu Zhou knew that it was Xiao Ai complaining.

However, there was no way Lu Zhou could disclose Xiao Ai's existence and give it credit.

After hearing Lu Zhou's explanation, Hou Guang mouth was wide open

Even though he wasn't sure what kind of person could make such a perfect simulation program, this program would make his work a lot easier.

Hou Guang said, "Forget about the software… If we move the engine from the tail to the wing, it will impact the failure rate. If we're just doing this to improve maneuverability, isn't this a bit excessive?"

Lu Zhou shook his head and said, "It's not just maneuverability. With this new design, we can significantly reduce the speed of an aerospaceplane at altitudes above 30 kilometers. Not only will this reduce the risk of re-entry, but it will also reduce each mission's maintenance costs.

"As for the failure rate, there are definitely risks, but I think we can solve them by improving the design."

Even though this sounded simple on paper, Lu Zhou was well aware that it was no piece of cake to make this blueprint a reality.

Adding two electric drive shafts to the aileron wings would significantly increase structural risk on the wing itself.

Also, in order to maintain coordination between the two engines, he also needed to develop a more sophisticated electric drive system to prevent the engine from deviating from the original course due to direction adjustment errors.

There was also the crucial junction materials, as well as the control system. These things all needed to be improved.

It was no exaggeration to say that this was as difficult as conducting the Skyglow project from scratch.

Hou Guang frowned and raised his hand. He then asked, "What about the bidding projects at the State Administration for National Defense and China National Space Administration?"

"We'll use Skyglow to bid," Lu Zhou said. "This is our new goal for next year. We're in no rush. We have enough time to prepare."

After hearing this, Hou Guang was relieved.

At last, Professor Lu set more realistic deadlines.

The manned moon landing project was happening soon. The State Administration for National Defense and China National Space Administration would announce their bidding results soon. Conducting new research was not a good idea, but it would be fine to take on this project next year.

Since Lu Zhou and Hou Guang were in agreement, there was nothing left to debate about.

Lu Zhou continued to present the PowerPoint, and he briefly talked about the new aerospaceplane design.

The engineer who was taking notes raised his hand.

"I have a question."

Lu Zhou said, "Go ahead."

Engineer: "What should the new design be called? Skyglow 2?"

Using the old name didn't sound nice.

Not to mention that the new aerospaceplane was unrecognizable from the old one.

What should I call it…

Lightning? The escape capsule is called that already.

Meteor? Sounds a bit tacky.

Lu Zhou contemplated for a while, and a light bulb suddenly went off in his head.

"… We'll just call it Starlight."

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