Chapter 67: Landing
In uninterrupted study and waiting, several days passed quietly.
Waking up early this morning, Jiang Yang immediately saw the countdown hanging on the wall.
It was now 8 a.m. on the ninth day of this cycle. There were still 40 hours until midnight on the tenth day.
After having breakfast with Zhou Yu, the two left Apocalypse Base No. 7 again and flew toward the Rocket Launch Site by helicopter.
Today, the intercontinental ballistic missile loaded with the lunar impactor was about to launch.
Jiang Yang saw that this intercontinental ballistic missile now looked somewhat different from what he had seen in his previous life.
In the previous life, the intercontinental ballistic missile had a slender streamlined shape, and just looking at it conveyed its majestic killing intent.
But in this life, after emergency modifications by scientists and engineers, four small boosters were attached to the tail of the intercontinental ballistic missile, making the entire missile appear somewhat bulkier.
Its launch location was no longer a special missile vehicle or launch silo, but openly standing upright in front of the Launch Pad.
Under the tense gazes of a group of scientists and staff, the ignition command was finally issued.
Much smaller than the Giant Spirit God II Rocket, yet appearing more solid and brighter, the tail flame jetted out, propelling its body to rise rapidly, with a speed faster than that of the Giant Spirit God II Rocket.
Jiang Yang knew that during the ascent phase, the overload pressure on the intercontinental ballistic missile could reach up to 20 G, far exceeding the limits of the human body.
If not for that, these intercontinental ballistic missiles, which were clearly more reliable than the hastily manufactured Giant Spirit God II Rocket, could have taken on the task of sending astronauts into space, and there wouldn’t have been so many deaths.
Thinking of the heroic sacrifices of those astronauts, Jiang Yang sighed softly in his heart.
The large screen clearly displayed the flight trajectory of this intercontinental ballistic missile.
Under normal circumstances, it would change its direction within the atmosphere. After all, its target was on Earth, and it only needed to orbit Earth.
But now its trajectory was completely different from normal.
Within the atmosphere, it only made a slight adjustment to its heading, and after breaking out of the atmosphere, the fierce jetting continued, with the direction always pointing toward space.
Survey ships from various sea areas of Earth, bases on the ground, navigation satellites in space, and existing satellites orbiting the Moon, among more than a dozen facilities, together formed a large net.
They served as “base points.” The positions and speeds of the base points were fixed. Thus, by measuring the distances between multiple base points and the missile, the missile’s current location, speed, and direction could be precisely determined.
Guided by these base points, the payload bay carrying the impactor broke free from the Earth Gravitational Field at nearly a vertical angle and flew swiftly toward space.
“Disaster No. 1 Rocket Launch successful!”
The originally solemn atmosphere in the Command Hall eased slightly, followed by applause.
Jiang Yang knew that this Disaster No. 1 Rocket, modified from an intercontinental ballistic missile, was not just about launching a single impactor.
It was also a comprehensive project verification, providing testing and technical support for the potential subsequent lunar bombardment plan.
Of course, the reason Jiang Yang came here today was not just for this matter.
There was another, more important matter.
After several days of flight, those lunar exploration satellites were finally about to reach their target.
Jiang Yang looked up and, through the lens of Satellite No. 1, saw the huge, gray-black planet ahead, full of impact craters.
Compared to what was seen from Earth, it now appeared unprecedentedly massive and unprecedentedly bright. In contrast, Earth behind it was small, like a glowing blue ball, quietly suspended in the vast and deep space.
At this moment, having reached the apogee of its Earth orbit, this lunar satellite’s speed had also reached its lowest point, only about 200 meters per second relative to Earth.
Without the Moon, it would leisurely fly past, then begin approaching Earth, continuously accelerating under Earth’s gravity, and reach its highest speed at perigee.
But due to the orbit set at launch, this satellite was now approaching the Moon, with a speed of about 800 meters per second relative to the Moon.
To orbit the Moon, the detector’s orbital speed needed to be about 1.2 to 1.7 kilometers per second relative to the Moon.
The detector’s current speed was clearly insufficient; purely from numerical comparison, it seemed it should accelerate.
But the reality was the complete opposite. It not only could not accelerate but needed to decelerate.
The reason was simple: as this detector approached the Moon, the Lunar Gravitational Field would also accelerate it. Thus, as it approached the Moon, its speed would far exceed the orbital speed, making it impossible for the Moon to capture it.
Therefore, under the calculations of scientists at the ground base, a deceleration program was uploaded to the satellite and began execution at the specified time.
The satellite’s thruster reignited in this vast, cold space, jetting fierce hot flames.
Under the retro-thrust force, like a car slamming on the brakes, its speed toward the Moon suddenly slowed, and it completed a series of orbital adjustments.
The uneven Lunar Surface rapidly expanded and finally stabilized.
Jiang Yang breathed a soft sigh of relief in his heart.
He knew that this lunar satellite had successfully achieved orbital insertion.
Following this satellite, the remaining 3 satellites followed similar processes, one by one occupying different lunar orbits, completing preliminary preparations in the shortest time, and beginning high-precision observations of that area on the Tranquility Plain.
After the satellites came 15 lunar rovers in succession.
Compared to satellites, lunar rovers were more complex. The reason was simple: they had an additional landing program.
Through the same orbital insertion program, the first lunar rover suit to reach the Moon separated its lander from the orbiter, then the lander began decelerating, slowly descending toward the Moon with the lunar rover.
Jiang Yang checked the time and saw that it was now 1 p.m.
It would take about another 3 hours to complete all landing tasks and officially begin detection.
Excluding the 22 hours of flight time reserved for the intercontinental ballistic missile, the satellites and lunar rovers had 10 hours left for lunar observation deployment.
The struggles of countless people, the sacrifices of countless people, and the astronomical supplies and manpower invested had finally exchanged for these short 10 hours of observation time.
The future fate of human civilization and the next decision depended on the observation results from this period.
The Author plans to change the update time from now on, combining the two daily updates and releasing them together at noon 12 o’clock.
There’s one more chapter after this.
