A week later, NASA headquarters.

Musk sat with Nelson, and the screen in front of him was playing a live broadcast of preparations for the launch of Chang'e-3.

A specially invited simultaneous interpreter stood in front of the screen, following the content of the TV and translating the interview of the reporter on the spot, word by word.

The fuel filling has been completed, and sure enough, it is still liquid hydrogen + liquid metal hydrogen, and the matter of Lasrackela has no effect on them at all, I have to suspect that this is self-directed and self-acting."

"After all, their recent moves in the Middle East are not small, and it is said that the armies of several countries have already taken action and intend to cooperate with the 'United Nations' anti-terrorist operations in the Middle East."

"I can't imagine that one day, they will take the lead in doing this."

"It's normal."

Nelson replied calmly.

"In order for them to advance their Arab integration strategy, they must ensure the basic stability of the situation in the Middle East, and to ensure the stability of the situation, in addition to binding them by economic and technical means, cultural 'secularization' is also very important."

"Are they against KBISM? Wrong, they are against extreme beliefs"

"Besides, with this operation, they can really intervene in that land, why not?"

"In short, they did take a big advantage, but we can't be sure whether they are self-directed or not."

"According to the current intelligence, the probability of self-directing and self-acting is very low, but it is more like some kind of coincidence."

"Well, I don't care anyway."

Musk spread his hands and continued:

"The most important thing for us now is how to land on the moon before them."

"According to the original plan, Artemis was supposed to land within a week, but the timing was a bit awkward. If we don't want them to get ahead of the curve, perhaps, we should land in the next one or two days. ”

"Is it difficult?"

Nelson asked.

"This is what you NASA need to worry about, why are you asking me?"

Musk rolled his eyes and asked.

The technology used in the lander belongs to SpaceX, so you should certainly have a basic judgment."

"My judgment is that you can log in at any time, and the reason why it has been delayed for so long is not your problem?"

Musk's tone was a little impatient.

In fact, he does disagree with NASA on the question of "when to land on the moon".

He advocated landing as soon as the orbit of the moon was completed, after all, according to the design of the lander, although it could not meet the requirements of directly entering the Hohmann transfer orbit to land on the moon, it would not need to go around the orbit for several weeks to slowly lower the orbit like the Indians' plan.

But NASA rejected his offer — and gave no convincing reasons.

Musk is well aware that the reason for the delay is essentially a political and propaganda appeal, and he has no say in this field.

So, I had to let it go.

But now that he has let go, Nelson still wants to ask himself "whether it is difficult" at this time, which is somewhat unclear.

After seeing his expression, Nelson had nothing to say, and the eyes of the two moved back to the TV, and the host at this time had shifted from specific preparations to introducing the "project vision" of Chang'e-3.

The Chang'e-3 mission will develop and launch the Chang'e-3 probe, which will achieve a soft landing and roving exploration of the lunar surface, and carry out activities such as lunar surface topography, geological structure, mineral composition and chemical composition, lunar internal structure, exploration of the Earth-Moon space and lunar surface environment, and moon-based optical astronomical observation."

"As the main task of the second phase of the lunar exploration project, it will be the first time to achieve China's soft landing and patrol survey of extraterrestrial objects, and carry out three types of scientific exploration: lunar surface morphology and geological structure investigation, lunar surface material composition and available resources investigation, earth plasma layer exploration and lunar surface optical astronomical observation."

"The Chang'e-3 probe, consisting of a lander and a rover, will be launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center by an improved Long March-3B carrier rocket"

"Long-winded!"

Musk's brow furrowed slightly.

"Why didn't they just say that Chang'e-3 was going for helium-3?"

"Because they really didn't just go for helium-3."

Nelson explains:

"To be precise, Chang'e-5 is only going for Helium-3, and No. 3 is only for verifying the lunar landing technology."

"In addition, there is information that they will explore special ilmenite areas in lunar surface craters, collect helium-3 foam samples, and possibly even return with samples."

"But judging from the current situation, it seems that the design of Chang'e-3 does not include this part of the function."

"The most likely thing is to achieve this goal in Chang'e-5, and the Long March-9 rocket is prepared for this goal."

"Okay, okay - I know what you're saying, I just think they're too hypocritical."

Musk said mockingly:

"Listen to what they said, 'The main purpose of this mission is to conduct experimental verification,' and 'Chang'e-4 will be used as a backup for Chang'e-3.Obviously, they don't have much confidence in this launch."

"But this is also normal, after all, they don't have any reliable technology accumulation in the aerospace field at all, and it's already very good to be able to do this."

"But they have LTV technology."

Nelson interjected.

"Technology is a whole, LTV stands for engine technology, but what about the rest?"

"No matter how powerful a car's engine is, if there is no steering wheel, no brakes, no suspension system, it is impossible to run on the road, and even if it can run, the final result can only be a car crash."

"I don't want to argue too much with you, anyway, let's watch the next live broadcast."

"It would be really interesting if the metallic hydrogen fuel was blown up before they went into outer space."

Hearing Musk's words, Nelson shook his head silently.

On TV, the host continued to broadcast.

"The launch tower is slowly opening, and we are entering the thirty-minute preparation phase."

"Comprehensive inspection of the launch site begins."

"In 15 minutes of preparation, the rocket power-up test has been completed, which also means that Chang'e-3 has officially entered the countdown before launch."

"After 5 minutes of preparation, we saw that in the command room, all the staff were in place at their respective posts."

"1 minute to prepare. Audience friends, exciting times are coming! ”

"10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 - ignition!"

In the picture, the Long March 3 rocket ignited violently, and at this moment, even Musk, who was on the other side of the ocean, couldn't help but sit up a little straighter.

The flames are soaring, and the simultaneous interpretation has gradually failed to keep up with the translation of professional terms, but at this time, even if they don't need to translate, they can actually roughly guess the content of the voices broadcast in the news.

"The telemetry signal in Xichang is normal! Xichang tracking is normal! Flight normal! ”

"Program Turn!"

"Booster separation!"

"The booster is detached and it looks like it's going well."

Nelson spoke.

"Yes, 5 minutes, the most dangerous moment has passed."

Musk said with some disappointment.

In fact, as one of the de facto "leaders" in the industry, he knows all too well how dangerous the various stages of a rocket launch can be.

If the most dangerous time is the ascending phase, then in the ascending phase, the most dangerous phases are around 10 seconds, 50 seconds, and 300 seconds.

Ten seconds after launch, the rocket shifted from vertical ascent to the programmed turning stage, and the Russian Proton-M rocket launch accident that occurred just last year was caused by a gyroscope failure in the programmed turning stage.

In addition, there is the maximum dynamic pressure of about 50 to 80 seconds, or MAXQ phase, which is the most famous Challenger accident in history.

And about 300 seconds, the rocket needs to carry out multiple actions, including throwing fairing, booster separation, primary and secondary separation, etc., although each action is "not limited", but the complexity is high, superimposed, the probability of accidents is not low.

But now that Chang'e-3 has crossed these three stages as it is, expect them to have problems after the third level of separation?

That's basically impossible.

"Three-stage secondary ignition."

"Level 3 secondary shutdown."

"The Yangtze River No. 6 is tracking normally. The telemetry signal is normal. ”

On the TV screen, the shadow of Chang'e-3 is no longer visible from the surface perspective, but the camera on board the rocket is still transmitting the latest footage in real time.

"Separation of weapons and arrows."

Along with the broadcast from the command platform, Musk and Nelson sighed at the same time.

"It's over."

"Next, it is to change orbit several times, enter the Earth-Moon transfer orbit, and start flying around the moon."

Musk said.

"It's a pity that there were no accidents at all, and I thought that even if there were no major accidents, at least there would be some minor problems."

"It's really no fun at all."

"Even if they had, they wouldn't show it on the air."

Nelson answered.

"Anyway, the next thing is to see if they can land in a few days-—— according to the plan they disclosed before, it will be about one to two weeks?"

"At this point, there is enough time for us."

"I'll arrange it later, Artemis officially launches the moon landing, and we want to take advantage of the heat of Chang'e-3 to make a big news."

"I don't know what they're going to think. After paving for so long, we finally took the lead. ”

"Maybe it's going to be devastating."

Musk said with a smile.

Nelson shook his head.

"The official will not collapse. After all, they never explicitly said in their public statements that they wanted to 'go to the moon' before us, and that was their caution. ”

"Well, maybe it's better to call it timid?"

"Maybe, but that's not what we should be concerned about."

The expressions of the two relaxed.

Yes, for them, for the United States, the successful launch of Chang'e-3 into orbit is a big deal, but not so big that they will be frustrated.

What about orbiting?

We're about to land on the moon.

Thinking of this, Musk picked up the remote control at hand and planned to turn off the TV and leave the office.

But at this moment, he suddenly found that the picture on TV was a little unusual.

It was a 3D simulated trajectory map, and the trajectory map showed a bit of a problem with the lander's track.

Lack of a range around the moon.

He couldn't help frowning, then turned to Nelson and asked:

"Did we miss something?"

Nelson shook his head blankly, looked at the simultaneous interpreter who was still standing in front of the screen, and asked:

"What are we missing?"

The simultaneous interpreter looked confused, and he didn't know where to start.

After all, his job is not to record, but to translate.

But fortunately, not much time had passed, and he could still roughly recall what he had just seen.

So he replied:

"Eh, let's start with the separation of the arrows?"

"Start with the separation of the arrows!"

Nelson said immediately.

"Well, after the separation of the arrows, they continued to track for a while, mainly tracking data from various regions."

"BJ flew normally, Yangtze River 5 found the target, Yangtze River 6 tracked normally, up. Uplink."

"Uplink carriers."

Musk prompted.

"That's right, send the uplink carrier, and then the probe establishes the cruise normal"

"The cruising attitude is normal, and then what?!"

Musk's tone became a little urgent, because from the live TV footage, he could already clearly see that things had begun to exceed his expectations.

"The lander buffer mechanism deploys and enters the transfer orbit."

"It should be to enter the transfer orbit first, and then deploy the buffer mechanism, etc., what about the solar wings?"

At this time, Nelson also realized the problem.

"The sun wings are not deployed?!"

The expressions of the two were extremely stern, and the simultaneous interpreter could not help but be afraid, and after hesitating for a long time, he stammered:

"No, I didn't hear the sun wings spread."

At this time, a long and boring science popularization was still going on on the TV, and Musk pointed to the screen and asked:

"What are they talking about now? Tell me! ”

"Transfer the track! The transfer orbit is said to be a method of changing the orbit of a spacecraft, with only two engine propulsions on the way."

Hohmann transfer orbit.

Musk froze in place.

And the expression on Nelson's face was like mourning.

Everything is clear.

The Huaxia did not intend to land according to the normal method at all.

The "experiment" they are talking about turns out not to experiment with a "technology to land on the moon" at all, but to experiment with a "technology to land on the moon with maximum efficiency"!

If the moon landing directly through the Hohmann transfer orbit is analogous, it is equivalent to a car passing through a narrow gate at a high speed of 200 miles without any adjustment.

Why? Why not choose the safer way?

There is no doubt that this is a foreshadowing of a technology

Sure enough, Chang'e-3 is not that simple at all.

It is a pioneer, but not a pioneer of lunar exploration, but a pioneer of the "great development of the moon"!

What it verifies is the first problem that needs to be solved for the large-scale development of the moon.

As for those so-called sensors, those so-called lunar soil analysis instruments, in fact, they are secondary.

In front of it, Artemis, like a joke.

Musk and Nelson looked at each other, and neither was speechless.

At this time, Artemis, who they had high hopes for, was still in the orbit of the moon, spinning in circles

(End of chapter)