"China will spend tens of billions of dollars a year on this big project, led by Lu Qiujian, the most brilliant scientist of the new century, which will undoubtedly disrupt the existing space competition pattern, I wonder how the politicians in the White House will respond?" On the television screen, the CNN host pointed to the renderings of the lunar base displayed by Lu Qiujian at a press conference.

President Xiao Shu Cong picked up the remote control and turned off the TV, crossed his hands on his chest, and looked around at the staff in the conference room, "Ladies and gentlemen, what do you think of this press conference in Huaguo?"

The number of people attending the meeting today is much higher than last time, except for John Marberg, science and technology adviser to the president of the United States and director of the White House Science and Technology Policy Office, In addition to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other old acquaintances who attended the last meeting, this time there are Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, the newly appointed Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Michael Mullen, the current director of NASA, Michael Douglas Griffin, and the also newly appointed NASA Chief Scientist Waled Abdrady, in addition to Wendell Mendel, a scientist who once served as the head of the Houston Space Center and proposed the lunar base plan of the United States。

The position of NASA's chief scientist has been vacant for a long time since 2005, and it was not until Lu Qiujian proposed a space exploration program in a speech at the University of Tokyo and received a positive response from the Chinese government that NASA felt the crisis and went through a series of formalities, and Waled Abdrady, a remote sensing expert who led the cryospheric science division of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, became the new owner of the position.

"Professor Marberg, Mr. Mendel, Director Griffin, and Dr. Abdrady, I wonder how feasible this plan is? Could this be a smoke bomb released by the Chinese government? Just like we used the Star Wars program to bring down the Red Empire, you want us to invest a lot of money in the space race to weaken the influence of the United States in other fields?" Condoleezza Rice first asked Xiao Cong's most concerned point, "You are experts on this issue. I'd like to hear your opinions!"

The president's science and technology adviser on the side, Ma Berger, was full of depression, he thought that even if Lu Qiujian returned to China, he would only continue to devote himself to basic research, but he did not expect that he has now become the host of the Xihe plan, and it seems that he did a good job some time ago, and those few games between artificial intelligence and professional chess players proved the problem.

The White House's trust in him has weakened a lot, if it weren't for his words at the time. The United States will definitely increase its efforts to woo him, and will create all kinds of obstacles for him to return to China, and will definitely not let him become the person in charge of Huaguo's space exploration program so smoothly; compared with the distant future in the basic field, the United States is more concerned with the immediate application breakthrough; they do not want Lu Qiu to become a Qian Xuesen-like figure.

Judging from the blueprint he sketched at the press conference, if he can really help the Chinese government achieve all this, then his power is much greater than the five big red divisions combined.

President Grove and Gates, Admiral Mullen and others also set their sights on the people named by Rice, and they also wanted to know the answer to this question.

"I think from the current technical point of view, it will be very difficult for China to achieve this!" Mendel, who has the most say on the subject, was the first to speak, shrugging his shoulders. "Seventeen years ago, we put forward a trilogy plan to conquer space: building the Liberty space station, establishing a lunar base, and landing a manned person on Mars, and now seventeen years later, we have only completed the first mission, and the last two are still very far from being realized!"

"It's true that we've cut the budget for the space exploration program since the fall of the Red Empire, but more importantly, the current level of human science and technology is not enough to meet the needs of building a lunar base!" he explained his opinion while his mind was spinning, pondering how to use this incident to get more funding for his Mendel program, so the conversation changed here, "But the style of the Chinese government has always been pragmatic. Their space technology also has its own advantages, coupled with the leadership of Professor Lu Qiujian, a genius scientist. I think any Nobel laureate would think that his reputation is extremely important, and if he is not sure, he will not come up with this plan!"

Out of self-interest, Mendel praised Lu Qiujian a lot, which made Marberg's somewhat dark face even more unsightly.

"I remember that Mr. Mendel had a budget of 100 billion dollars. I know how the budget of Hua Guoxi and the plan is allocated, if they put most of the budget into the lunar base plan, then maybe they can really do miracles!" Director Griffin had the same mind as Mendel, "The Apollo program back then seemed like an impossible task, but we still did it after paying a huge amount of money! As long as there is sufficient budget investment. Nothing is impossible to happen in science!"

"The government of the United States gives you a budget of tens of billions of dollars every year! Last year alone, you submitted a budget of $16.25 billion, and next year it will only exceed that number! According to the latest exchange rate, you have received more funds than Xihe planned! Why can't you do what they want to do?" As soon as he heard that he wanted money, President Xiaoshucong couldn't help but start complaining.

In the face of President Xiaobush's questioning, Griffin, a high-IQ talent with a bachelor's degree in physics, a doctorate in aerospace engineering, a master's degree in electrical engineering, a master's degree in business administration, and a master's degree in engineering, was extremely calm, "Compared to this insignificant budget, NASA is responsible for too many research tasks, such as the space laboratory program, the drone program, the International Space Station program, We are encountering more and more problems in our research, but the funds are never sufficient, and if the Congress of the United States can increase the same funds for the Xihe Project, we are absolutely confident that we will complete the establishment of the lunar base before China!"

If you want us to win Huaguo, no problem, just take the money! That's what Griffin wants to say, and whether the money can produce results after it is actually in hand, that's another question! )

PS: Thanks to Akfeister, Quiet Handsome Sling, njice1203, Looking up at the starry sky into stardust, 28643368, ykwfox711, Mercedes Lot, cc popular all over the world, Book Friends 150908223026447, God-level hero fans, Flowing Moon Cold Shadow, Fairy Xiaoqi, Ben Ah Brother, General Capture, Book Friend 151217144447788, Hug Rou Shouyi, Pegasus Chunqiu, 569939.qdcn, Harmless Son, Yi Rui OL, Drunk and not disorderly, Xuanyuan Changlei, and Chengxiang on a moonlit night.

Thanks to Wang Yushi, Yaya Tengteng, One Night Lonely Boat ¥, Ji Yantian, Falling Leaves Love 89 and others for their monthly passes.

The last two chapters are incorrectly written, but it doesn't affect the reading, and I'll ask the editor to change it back tomorrow