A global dust storm?

After hearing Hou Guang's words, Lu Zhou subconsciously looked at the calendar in the corner of the table and confirmed that this year's year was 2021.

Noticing Lu Zhou's movements, Hou Guang probably guessed what he was thinking, so he spoke.

"I know you're surprised...... In fact, astronomical observers at the Qianzhou Radio Astronomy Observatory were also surprised that it stands to reason that a global dust storm will occur on Mars only once in five to six years on average. ”

When he said this, Hou Guang's tone was a little complicated.

While it's a good thing for their opponents to get into trouble, just as NASA doesn't want to see their misfortune so thorough, it's not in their interest if Project Ares goes bankrupt like that.

After listening to his report, Lu Zhou pondered for a while and spoke.

"Is the reason clear?"

Hou Guang was stunned for a moment, and then smiled bitterly.

"How can this be clear......

The climate change on the surface of Mars has always been very mysterious, and due to the thin atmosphere and severe desertification on the surface, there are basically no reliable observation methods to accurately predict its climate change.

One can only infer more empirically that summer is a time of frequent dust storms, with global dust storms occurring every five to six years, lasting months or even a whole year, and accompanied by lightning from the collision and friction of gravel.

If you want to make an accurate prediction of climate change on Mars, you have to throw at least a few weather satellites into Mars' low-Earth orbit.

Lu Zhou: "If there is a global sandstorm, what will be the impact on the colonists on Mars?" ”

"Generally speaking, sandstorms mainly affect the normal operation of solar power generation equipment, but the New Virginia colony should be equipped with backup power supply equipment, so it should not be a big problem...... Of course, no one can say exactly what the situation is, only NASA knows what the situation is above. ”

The life support unit basically embodies the most advanced technology from many space companies such as Space-X and Blue Origin, and although the Ares program was launched quite hastily, if Musk has been preparing for the colonization of Mars for ten years, it is impossible for his technicians not to consider the situation of a sandstorm.

It is not even excluded that they have already done rehearsals on Earth for a similar situation.

Of course, these are just Lu Zhou's own speculations.

As Hou Guang said, what it looks like is clear only to people on Mars.

Lu Zhou nodded, agreed with his words, pondered for a while and continued.

"Let the Qianzhou Radio Astronomy Observatory continue to pay attention to Mars...... The rest, depending on what NASA says. ”

At present, his focus is still on the moon, and he can only pay attention to the situation on Mars. It would be a good thing for him to be able to see through this sandstorm how far the Americans have come in terms of Mars colonization technology.

After reporting the incident, Hou Guang left the office and closed the office door.

Looking at the closed door, Lu Zhou thought of the meeting with the director of ESA in the afternoon, and was about to stand up and prepare.

But at this moment, he suddenly stopped as if he thought of something, thought for a few seconds, and then spoke into the closed computer.

"Xiao Ai, adjust the order of file decryption, and crack the latest numbered communication file first!"

The signal light flashed, which was a response to him.

Lu Zhou nodded, got up and walked out of the office.

……

As the controlled fusion negotiations have entered the final stage, the relationship between China and other countries in the world is in the honeymoon stage, and the cooperation in the economic field and the scientific and technological field has reached a fairly close level.

China's participation in the International Space Station program and the cooperation agreement between the EU and China on the cooperation of the Yuegong space station are the best proof of this.

In the control tower of the Jinling Space Launch Center, Lu Zhou met with Mr. Owens, the director of ESA.

After the meeting in Beijing, he made a special trip to Jinling to include his visit to China with the EU delegation, and one of the main reasons was to meet Lu Zhou, the chief designer of the Lunar Orbit Construction Committee who led the Chinese aerospace industry to catch up with NASA, the legendary great scientist......

"Hello, Professor Lu, it's a pleasure to meet you!"

As soon as they met, Owens, who looked tall, warmly shook Lu Zhou's hand and shook it vigorously. For Mr. Owens, who was full of smiles, Lu Zhou also responded with a polite but enthusiastic smile and said.

"It's also a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Owens! Please be seated. ”

Owens was followed by officials from ESA's secretary's office, as well as journalists from major media outlets in Europe and China.

The meeting will be open to the public, and the two sides will exchange views on concrete cooperation options, while at the same time sending a signal to the international community.

That is, this time China has made good progress in the negotiations with EU countries on the lunar issue.

During the meeting, Director Owens, who was sitting on the sofa opposite, expounded his views in a humorous tone.

"If we divide the history of human exploration of space in the past, I think it can be divided into three stages."

Lu Zhou smiled and asked, "Which are they?" ”

Owens smiled and continued: "In the Space 1.0 phase, humans mainly study astronomy and astrology, and religious and cultural factors occupy a large part of it. And in the Space 2.0 phase, we went into space, stepped on the moon, and entered the 'Apollo' era. In the Space 3.0 stage, space has become another dimension of human development, and commercial launch missions are becoming more and more frequent, and our civilization has entered the era of the 'International Space Station'.

Lu Zhou smiled and asked, "It sounds like an interesting statement, but what do you think the Space 4.0 era will be?" ”

Owens thought for a moment and said with a smile.

"I think the Space 4.0 era is the age of the moon, and it is also the age of the moon palace."

"Oh?" Lu Zhou smiled and jokingly asked, "Why not the Ares era?" ”

Director Owens smiled and shook his head.

"Mars is so far away, it takes months to make a round trip, and Europe is not in a position to get involved at the moment. Perhaps the next era will be the Age of Ares, but for now we are more optimistic about the Moon, which is just around the corner. ”

Hearing this, Lu Zhou's heart couldn't help but sigh.

That's really a drop in the water.

Even if he licked them and didn't lose face with the Americans, it wasn't that he wasn't optimistic about Ares' plan, but he didn't have enough strength and couldn't participate in it.

By the way, is this guy really a German written on the material?

Lu Zhou always felt a little different from the few German friends he knew......

Without stopping, Owens smiled slightly at the camera in the reporter's hand and continued.

"In this new era, our civilized mankind will establish a new space order, pay more attention to social exchanges and internationalization in the field of space, and in the future, more countries will participate in space projects, and more people of different colors will be active in spacecraft in outer space, and a common destiny will connect us."

"If you are willing, we hope to work with you to develop lunar resources and build a 'lunar village'."

Lu Zhou smiled and stretched out his right hand.

"Our position is, of course, the same as it has always been, and we are pleased to reach a consensus with you."