Chapter 89: Restarting The ‘mars Project’
United States, General Office.
“President, what are your thoughts on Star-2 launched by Xinghai Technology Company not long ago? It is understood that this rocket’s payload exceeds Hunter Nine from Spitz Company by nearly 20 tons, and the hull weight has also decreased by 400 tons. Has Great Xia completely surpassed the United States in aerospace?”
Wells faced the dense cluster of microphones in front of her, along with the flashing lights that lit up from time to time. Her expression, which she had managed very well, turned ugly after hearing this question.
“This reporter, this is a Spitz Company issue. Please direct this question to Mark. Next.”
She controlled her face to show a smile and raised her hand toward another reporter.
“Hello President, after our space station retires, does Nasa have any new plans? Great Xia’s Immortal Palace Space Station has now been fully constructed and put into use.”
Wells took a deep breath upon hearing this, trying her best to maintain her smile.
“I have issued a presidential order commanding the authorities to quickly develop a new space station construction plan. No need to worry; during my term of office, the United States will be great again. Next.”
“Hello President, I am a reporter from South Island Country. When exactly will your Aid Plan for San Xin Group be implemented? As far as I know, in San Xin Group’s share structure, a large number of United States shareholders enjoy dividend rights. But now, under Great Xia’s sanctions, San Xin Group is already in dire straits, on the verge of bankruptcy.”
Wells furrowed her brows. At today’s routine press conference, why were the reporters one by one posing such tricky questions.
She thought for a moment and replied: “The
There was no specific time mentioned in her words. The reporter wanted to follow up with more questions, but unfortunately, Wells over there had already announced the end of the press conference.
Meanwhile, at Spitz Company, President Mark was repeatedly replaying the launch and recovery process of Star-2.
Beside him, a group of company engineers were all present. At this time, the atmosphere was serious, without the relaxed scenes of the past.
“Tell me, Great Xia, oh no, the launch vehicle launched by Xinghai Technology, how much more advanced is its technology compared to our Hunter Nine.”
Mark pressed the pause button, his tone unable to hide his fatigue.
On the large screen not far in front of him, the company’s stock price chart was plunging all the way.
A white engineer with a Mediterranean hairstyle stepped forward, head lowered.
“President, this rocket from Xinghai Technology was not researched by them alone. Great Xia stands behind them, plus their company’s high-voltage radio technology and super-powerful chips, which led to the current results.”
He paused and continued: “But our Hunter Nine spaceship is actually not bad at all. The rocket recovery and black barrier breakthrough technologies were all invented by us first. I think there’s no need to be discouraged. In this aspect, we haven’t fallen behind by much.”
Another slightly younger engineer also stood up and said: “Yes, President, but I think we should increase investment in the aerospace project. The ‘Mars Project’ proposed early on should also be officially launched.”
Mark looked up at the engineer, knowing what he implied: currently, only this method could regain the investors’ trust and thereby halt the downward trend in the company’s stock price.
His gaze returned to the display screen again, as Star-2 extended its support frame and steadily landed on the recovery point marked with a cross.
This recovery technology, which he first proposed and successfully developed after repeated studies following numerous failures, was now completed in one go by Great Xia’s Xinghai Technology.
This huge contrast couldn’t help but make a sense of despair rise in his heart.
He knew that the massive computing power provided by the graphene chip among them played a decisive role.
Thinking of this, he turned his gaze to the secretary behind the crowd.
“How are the talks going with Xinghai regarding the export of chips and high-voltage radio technology?”
Without solving these two problems, Spitz Company’s rockets will forever lag behind Star-2.
The secretary had already hidden themselves at the very back, but unexpectedly was still discovered by the boss, and could only stand out helplessly at the moment.
“President, Xinghai side stated that these technologies are subject to export controls by the Great Xia government and are only open to civilian companies, while our company has multiple cooperation projects with the military, and the Great Xia government strictly prohibits exporting these technologies to us.”
Mark looked at the secretary’s head nearly buried in her chest and irritably waved his hand.
Although I had long guessed it would end like this, I was still very angry when I thought about it.
He never imagined that the Baiyue Alliance’s high technology embargo regulations from back then, after twisting and turning countless times, would boomerang back onto his own head.
“Make an arrangement, I need to go to Great Xia for a trip. Wait until I return.”
Mark hadn’t finished speaking when he stopped the secretary who was about to go out to make the arrangement. After pondering for a moment, a determined expression finally appeared on his face.
“Great Xia is temporarily off the table. Publicly release an announcement that the ‘Mars Project’ will officially launch in one month, with an initial investment of 10 billion, followed by an additional 50 billion invested over the next three years. We must send our astronauts to Mars during the launch window four years from now and establish a Mars Base!”
“It’s the President!”
The secretary hurriedly went out to make the arrangement, while the other engineers around, upon hearing this, couldn’t help but show excited expressions on their faces.
As Spitz Company developed to its current state, President Mark gradually turned his attention to rocket transportation, as well as his whimsical ‘Starnet’ plan.
The former need not be mentioned, and as for the latter, no matter how it’s put, compared to traditional wired networks, the huge latency has always restricted market promotion.
Although these two projects brought impressive stock price increases to the company, the Mars Project, which was originally proposed early on, was put on hold for a time.
And now, these engineers who were only interested in deep space exploration finally had a place to shine again, and inevitably, they all became excited.
Great Xia, Xinghai Aerospace Base, equipment training room.
“Boss, how is it? Are you used to it yet?”
Liu Jun attentively handed water to Li Jian, who had just come out of the simulation pod and taken off the heavy spacesuit.
Li Jian didn’t feel there was anything inappropriate about it. After taking it and chugging a big gulp, he sighed and said, “It’s good, very good, but it’s a bit of a pity.”
“How so?” Fan Ren, who was nearby, couldn’t help but feel puzzled upon hearing this.
Unlike traditional spacecraft, their spaceship is equipped with Star Calculation series chips, and the voice intelligent system developed by A’dai is also installed in it.
Many operations have been fully automated, and it does not require astronauts to perform a large amount of manual operation like traditional spacecraft.
Even, after voice recognition, astronauts with relevant permissions only need to speak to perform simple operation control on the spaceship.
This made many of their previous operation training sessions become useless efforts.
Li Jian explained it this way, and Fan Ren immediately chuckled speechlessly.
But he then said seriously: “Boss, you’re wrong about this point. Although I have unwavering confidence in our technology, space is a domain that is very unfamiliar to us. In the future, when you are piloting the spaceship, any situation could occur, and at that time, it will be a test of your mastery of manual operation of the spaceship.”
