Chapter 104: Response Solution
Li Jian did not agree to building ordinary non-confidential satellites, but he also did not deny it.
Fan Ren observed his expression and instantly understood what he meant, so he did not continue the discussion.
Five days later, a new batch of Xinghai spaceships responsible for transporting supplies and carrying ore back to Earth arrived at the landing field.
After Fan Ren and Liu Jun bid farewell to these respectable astronauts, they boarded the transport spaceship again.
As for controlling the spaceship, he, as a designer involved in it, understood it better than most astronauts, even if not like the back of his hand; otherwise, he would not dare to come here with Liu Jun.
“Rocket body check complete, payload 75 tons, current fuel remaining 40%, status good, ready for take-off.”
Fan Ren turned to look at the astronauts standing in a row outside the base and waved his hand.
He knew they could not see this action.
“Brothers, my buddy and I are leaving, you’ve worked hard, remember to find me after returning to Earth, I’ll treat you to a good drink, don’t forget!”
Liu Jun connected the intercom system and shouted loudly, met with waves of friendly responses.
“Ready to ignite, target Earth synchronous orbit.”
Fan Ren smiled slightly, the rocket immediately began to vibrate, and then he and Liu Jun were firmly pressed into their seats by the huge thrust.
The rocket ascended toward the pitch-black night sky until it disappeared from everyone’s sight.
“Safe travels.”
Li Jian murmured a blessing and then led everyone to start the new day’s tedious work.
Kyoto, Kyoto.
After returning to Earth, Fan Ren bid farewell to Liu Jun and took a private jet directly to military headquarters.
Liu Shengzhan was covered in sweat, clearly just coming down from the training field, and directly led Fan Ren to sit in the office.
“Kid, you’ve got some nerve, going to the Lunar Base without a word and not thinking to take me along; who knows when I’ll get to go to the Moon next time.”
He grabbed a towel and simply wiped the sweat from his face, looking at Fan Ren with full envy.
The other’s open and cheerful personality immediately infected Fan Ren, and he knew Liu Shengzhan was not joking.
But there was really nothing to be done about it.
Liu Shengzhan bore heavy responsibilities, and every move of his was significant, so he was prohibited from wandering without permission.
“Commander Liu, don’t joke about me. But rest assured, when you retire, I’ll arrange for someone to take you sightseeing in the Solar System every day.”
He half-jokingly said this; when the elderly person retired, it would be at least ten years from now at the earliest, and he did not know what level Xinghai would develop to in ten years.
But one thing was certain: by then, aerospace would no longer be a domain that ordinary people could hardly touch.
“Good, I’ll be waiting for that day. Trying to jinx me? Already thinking of having that kid Li Jian take over from me? You’ve got a long wait, haha.”
Liu Shengzhan laughed and countered him.
Fan Ren smiled awkwardly and introduced the basic situation of the Lunar Base to him, finally stating the purpose of this trip.
“Commander Liu, based on what I saw this time, I believe our astronauts should not be wasted on boring and tedious mining operations that many ordinary people could handle.”
“No need to worry about that. Soldiers carry out missions; which one isn’t tedious? Just rotate them on schedule. What, feeling sorry for the young guys up there? Heh.”
Although Liu Shengzhan directly refuted him, his eyes looking at Fan Ren carried appreciation.
As long as he was not an ungrateful wolf.
Fan Ren shook his head and said softly: “Not afraid to tell you, Liu Jun and I stayed up there for a week. I was fine, having a task at hand, so I did not feel much. But Liu Jun started having emotional issues starting from the third day. The environment there is really too oppressive.”
Upon hearing this, Liu Shengzhan frowned, his face turning serious.
“The situation you describe does happen, like in some of our remote outposts, where the desolate surroundings cause garrison personnel to feel lonely. But astronauts won’t have this issue; they are elites from military headquarters, strictly selected in the process, and as long as they rotate every few months in the future, there won’t be any problems.”
Seeing his confident tone, Fan Ren did not continue to refute and directly stated his idea.
“Here’s what I’m thinking: for mining and other professional projects involved later, Xinghai will recruit professionals from relevant industries worldwide, provide them with certain assessments and training to replace our astronauts in completing the corresponding production work.
Our astronauts, due to their training content, are more specialized in manned spacecraft, space stations, and control of such equipment.
They even have involvement in physics, mathematics, life science, environmental science, and so on; what they learned is more applicable to space navigation, space station garrisoning, and maintenance of space equipment.
Using them for mining and future projects like constructing the Lunar Space Elevator would undoubtedly be a huge waste of resources.”
Fan Ren paused, noticing the other’s serious expression as he listened, and continued.
“You also know that due to the above reasons, military headquarters’ astronaut cultivation cycle is very long. Once large-scale space construction begins in the future, the astronauts trained by military headquarters will not keep up with the speed.
After saying this, he stopped and quietly watched Liu Shengzhan, waiting for him to digest the content.
After a long time, Liu Shengzhan looked at him gravely and asked: “Is the Lunar Space Elevator project inevitable?”
Fan Ren nodded without any hesitation.
Hearing this, Liu Shengzhan sighed: “Then we really can’t keep up with your speed; what you said makes sense. Specialized talents should be used in their professional domains. Currently, using our rigorously selected astronauts for mining operations is indeed a waste of resources.”
He closed his eyes and pondered for a while; Fan Ren’s Space Elevator plan was already under construction on Earth, and now they had decided to build one on the Moon as well.
Moreover, the Lunar Base expansion plan would follow next.
These projects all required professional-level construction engineers, and military headquarters’ astronauts had little training in this area.
It really was not suitable.
He opened his eyes, nodded, and said: “In that case, from now on, military headquarters’ astronauts will handle their specialized work. For other talents, Xinghai can recruit independently and handle the relevant training.”
Hearing this, Fan Ren smiled; that meant no problem.
“Also, Commander Liu, I’m considering having Great Xia’s astronauts, after retirement, enter Xinghai to handle astronaut training work. If you agree, we can sign a cooperation agreement between our sides.”
This proposal hit Liu Shengzhan right where he wanted.
He could hear the respect in Fan Ren’s words for these astronauts, and he also knew Xinghai’s salary was very high.
He immediately said solemnly: “On behalf of Great Xia’s astronauts, I thank you for your decision.”
