Jinling Institute for Advanced Study.

Dean's Office.

Lu Zhou, who was sitting at the desk, was also meticulously reviewing the documents on the table.

Since becoming the chief designer of the lunar orbit construction committee, his work has suddenly become busy.

The entire Chinese country's funding for the lunar construction project has to go through this pen in his hand.

In short, the elders who serve as chairmen are responsible for checking the total amount of funds and deciding how much money will be allocated for the entire lunar orbit construction project based on its scientific, economic, and cultural value.

As for Lu Zhou, as the chief designer, he is responsible for deciding which part of these funds to spend on, or in other words, which research and development projects to use.

If the entire outer space exploration program is likened to a small ship sailing on the sea, then his place is the helmsman. If something goes wrong with him, the whole ship has to go wrong with it.

Therefore, even if he is not interested in these trivial things, he can only sit here patiently, tirelessly read each document from beginning to end, identify those reliable projects or plans, and sign his name on them.

Just as Lu Zhou was in deep thought in front of a report on the technical feasibility of lunar mining engineering equipment, there was a knock at the door.

Stopping the pen in his hand, Lu Zhou looked at the door, cleared his throat and said.

"Please come in."

The door opened, and a young female assistant in professional attire walked in from the outside, holding a thick stack of papers.

"Professor, here are the documents sent from Huanong University and the Aviation Bureau, and I was asked to send them to you from the External Development and Liaison Office."

Lu Zhou nodded and said.

"I see, you can put it on the table first."

"Okay," the assistant nodded, walked over to the desk, took the file out of the folder, placed it in the corner of the desk, and asked softly, "Is there anything else I can do to help you?" ”

"Just pour me a cup of coffee."

"Okay, Professor."

The young female assistant nodded, turned around and walked to the water dispenser, helped Lu Zhou make a cup of instant mocha and brought it over, and then left the office lightly.

While sipping coffee, Lu Zhou simply flipped through the two documents sent from the External Liaison Office.

Overall, both documents are good news, especially the one sent by the space agency, which highly praises the outstanding contribution of the Jinling Institute for Advanced Study in the construction of lunar orbit.

The successful launch of the Yuegong core module has not only established a first-mover advantage for Huaguo in the development of lunar resources, but also won a huge reputation for Huaguo in the world.

At the same time, in this document, there is also a conceptual drawing of the first phase of the space station project sent by the Hangke Group, as well as a timetable for the completion of the remaining components.

Based on these materials, Lu Zhou will decide on the launch schedule of the node module, energy module, experimental module, working module and other space station components through the discussion of the meeting of the Lunar Orbit Construction Committee.

On the other side, not only did there come from the Yuegong, but also from the Gurbantunggut Desert.

As early as a month ago, when Lu Zhou was still studying how to send the Moon Palace to the lunar orbit, the "Tinder Project" completed the construction of the first phase of the project, and under the leadership of Professor Hu Yang, the operation of Biosphere A was started.

So far, Biosphere A has been successfully running for a month, and in the course of this month, the volunteers enclosed in the artificial biosphere have successfully achieved the desired goal, and the initial recycling of living materials has been achieved through limited water input and small amount of waste discharge.

"Closed-loop life support technology" is one of the most important pre-technologies for colonizing the moon and even Mars, and it is also an important part of the entire lunar orbit construction plan.

At present, the United States, which once led the "Biosphere 2" experiment in this field, has gone relatively far, and the Ares life support unit, which has been launched to Mars, is an application of this technology.

If Hua is planning to build a colony on the moon or beyond, unlocking this branch of the tech tree is essential.

After reading Professor Hu's report at the end, a look of relief appeared on Lu Zhou's face.

If everything goes well, maybe next year, China will be able to send its colonists to the surface of the moon.

Just then, there was another knock on the door.

Pointing to the document in his hand, Lu Zhou looked in the direction of the door.

"Please come in."

Pushing open the door of the office, Hou Guang, the director of the Institute of Aerospace Science and Technology, walked in quickly with a serious face, and before Lu Zhou could ask what was going on, he got straight to the point.

"Good news and bad news, which do you want to hear first?"

Seeing the serious expression on Hou Guang's face, Lu Zhou was slightly stunned, and then said with a smile.

"When did you learn to sell guanzi?" After a pause, he said casually, "Then ...... Let's start with the good news. ”

Hou Guang: "The good news is that the planting unit we deployed on the moon has successfully harvested the first batch of potatoes!" ”

Hearing this, a touch of surprise gradually appeared on Lu Zhou's face.

"Already harvested? So fast? ”

Although he had never planted or studied the field, he had heard that it usually takes three months for potatoes to mature from sowing to maturity.

Now, it has only been less than two months from the successful start of the planting unit to the harvest, and I have to say that the speed is really a bit amazing.

Sensing Lu Zhou's surprise, Hou Guang smiled and explained: "It's okay, we originally used improved potato seeds, and the constant temperature system of the planting unit has kept it at the most suitable growing temperature, and two months is not an exaggeration." ”

The cost of potatoes grown in space is undoubtedly several times more expensive than on Earth.

But even so, at a time when the cost per kilogram of launch is more than tens of thousands of dollars, the cost of growing food on the moon is far cheaper than growing it on Earth.

And even if the economic cost is aside, the psychological satisfaction of being able to achieve self-sufficiency in living materials on the moon cannot be exchanged for money alone......

"This is indeed good news," after a pause, Lu Zhou smiled and continued to ask, "What about the bad news?" ”

"The bad news is that we received the news this morning......" After hesitating for a moment, Hou Guang took a deep breath and said, "The BFR rocket launched by Space-X last month has landed on the surface of Mars at 13 o'clock Beijing time today. ”

Already landed?!

His expression gradually became serious, and Lu Zhou, who was sitting upright in the office chair, immediately continued to ask, "How is the landing?" ”

Hou Guang looked at him with a solemn expression and spoke.

"It is said that ...... And they succeeded. ”