Chapter 160: Sneaky Development of Moon City_1

Previously, from heads of state to ordinary citizens, it was universally believed that the Mars mission should not present any significant technical challenge, as Mars was just a bit further away than the Moon.

Most scientists also thought that humanity's technology was sufficient to send humans to Mars.

They always felt that if satellites and probes could be launched to Mars, what difficulty could there be in sending a few people over?

It was only after nuclear fusion technology stalled the design work of the spacecraft that people realized the propulsion system used in the Moon landing program was liquid fuel rockets.

This type of rocket's theory was proposed as early as 1903 by the Russian scientist Tsiolkovsky. After more than half a century of improvement and application, by the time of the Apollo program, the technology was already very mature.

However, nuclear fusion technology was an out-and-out new technology, and like the steam engine or internal combustion engine, had to be improved step by step through practical exploration. It was difficult to achieve an instant technological revolution.

If traditional liquid fuel rockets were used, the amount of fuel the Mars spacecraft would have to carry was simply too much. Such a power system was only suitable for short-distance space missions.

For example, the Moon landing program required only three accelerations in space: one to leave Earth orbit for the Moon, one to enter Moon orbit, and the last to accelerate away from Moon orbit for the return voyage.

Aside from the first acceleration, the other two did not require much fuel.

But a Mars mission would need six accelerations in space: an initial acceleration towards Mars, another during the journey, a third upon arrival to enter Mars orbit, and possibly a corresponding deceleration.

Upon return, another acceleration to leave Mars orbit, one more during the trip back, and if necessary, an additional acceleration to dock into Earth orbit.

Even if the fuel consumed for the two orbit insertions was not much, the other four accelerations would consume a lot of fuel, which greatly increased the burden of the mission.

Jiang Yu listened to the discussion at the meeting with continuous yawns, almost falling asleep several times.

Just when he was about to speak up and remind everyone, finally, someone remembered the achievements of the "Step-ladder Plan."

To land on Mars, it was not necessary to reach one-hundredth of the speed of light because according to the results of the "Step-ladder Plan," the acceleration process was too long, needing to fly all the way to Jupiter to attain such speed.

It was only necessary to use the method of the "Step-ladder Plan" to propel the spacecraft to Mars.

At that time, the yield of the hydrogen bombs could be adjusted to be larger, providing the spacecraft with more than enough power, thus allowing for more supplies to be carried.

However, after a simple calculation, everyone was a bit dumbstruck, realizing that the area of the space sails required to tow the spacecraft might be extremely large.

And the needed yield of the nuclear bombs was bigger than they had imagined.

Just when the theorists were at their wits' end, the engineers who were to build the spacecraft started to press them.

The big shot on Mars had only given them a year's time, with the journey from Earth to Mars taking about six months.

At the very least, three months had to be reserved for the astronauts to search for intelligent signals on Mars.

So the engineers had only three months to build the spacecraft. The thought of such a short construction period was quite despairing.

And these theoreticians, sauntering about like old men taking a walk, hadn't even settled on the power source for the spacecraft to this day. How were they expected to build it?

Ding Yi, as an expert in nuclear fusion, had also joined the theoretical work on the spacecraft.

Seeing Jiang Yu sitting quietly in a corner of the conference room, he went over to ask him, "What are your thoughts?"

In Ding Yi's memory, Jiang Yu often had some unconventional ideas, and perhaps Jiang Yu might have a solution.

Moreover, he always felt that Jiang Yu was too honest for his own good.

It's not that Jiang Yu was usually restless. In these significant events, Jiang Yu always had his own strong opinions, often providing a clear direction amidst chaos and disorder.

Jiang Yu thought for a moment: "My idea is to tell the representatives of the PDC countries about our difficulties."

Ding Yi smiled and shook his head; they would be grateful if those politicians just kept out of the way and didn't mess things up, let alone expect any help from them.

However, even if they hadn't reported the difficulties they were facing in a timely manner, the PDC would have taken the initiative to inquire. After all, the intelligence signals from Mars left humanity with little time.

Only after learning the ins and outs did the representatives from various countries realize that the process of going to Mars seemed to be a test for humanity imposed by the other party.

While the representatives of the PDC and the scientists wallowed together in dismay, Jiang Yu quietly sent a message to Bil.

So, a little over two hours later, the Moon City project team declared to the PDC from the Moon that they had long planned to land on Mars, with a Planetary Spaceship nearly two months from completion on the Moon.

This news surprised the PDC greatly; Bil's team's mission to land on Mars had received Jiang Yu's support and had been reported to the PDC.

However, this issue went without further development, and the PDC had investigated, finding not much research on Mars in the "Moon City project" team.

So, when searching for a feasible Mars mission earlier, Bil said nothing, and the PDC's audit team thought they didn't have any significant results.

Who would have thought that they took the project to Moon City and had already achieved no small measure of success?

What also surprised the PDC was the excellent secrecy of Moon City; it already had its first residents, all of whom were supporters of Jiang Yu.

Especially when the "anti-defection" sentiment was so strong, besides Jiang Yu's supporters, no one was willing to go to the Moon.

As long as the first residents of the Moon kept silent, even if they detonated a nuclear bomb on the Moon, nobody would know.

The rotating chairman of the PDC had a bad feeling that Moon City might have slipped out of humanity's control.

And indeed, as the rotating chairman had predicted, it wasn't long before Bil requested negotiations with the PDC for more autonomy.

The rotating chairman immediately sought out Jiang Yu, asking him to rein in his own project team and warning him that his actions had violated the principles of the Facing the Wall Plan.

But Jiang Yu, looking like the aggrieved party, said, "The control of the project team lies in the hands of the PDC; what do my words count for?

"Besides, I haven't seen Bil in three years. We have no interaction beyond work. Why would he listen to me?"

The rotating chairman didn't know whether to laugh or cry; Jiang Yu clearly had no intention of helping!

Jiang Yu then asked, "Otherwise, shall I go to the Moon and try to persuade them?"

The rotating chairman quickly said, "No need to trouble yourself with the journey."

He dared not let Jiang Yu go, for that would leave Bil with no worries at all.

After leaving Jiang Yu, the rotating chairman even immediately restricted Jiang Yu's travel.

Not to mention returning to his country, he couldn't even go out for a walk.

The representatives from various countries expressed one after another that they would sanction Jiang Yu after this affair was settled!

The Mars spaceship on the Moon was exactly what the PDC needed; reluctantly, they had to start negotiations with Bil.

Meanwhile, the PDC was also making other preparations; the J55s equipped by various countries in space began to assemble, ready to rush to the Moon immediately if negotiations failed.

It was at this time that everyone learned that the space station's last lunar spacecraft had just set off for the Moon an hour before Bil's announcement.

The representatives from the various countries felt a toothache coming on; over the years, they had been so preoccupied with building space elevators and Space City that they hadn't focused on developing the Moon.

Up to now, humanity had a total of just three spacecraft going to the Moon, all in the hands of the "Moon City project" team.

The operational range of the J55s was only two thousand kilometers, while the Earth was 380,000 kilometers away from the Moon; the two were not even on the same level.

Now, with the J55s out of reach, they couldn't even get to the Moon, let alone pick a fight with anyone there.