On the morning of 3 July, Dawning 3 detected some radio signals.

The source of these signals is not far from them, and they are very regular call signs, which can be identified and played without cracking the FM modem.

"Dawn Three, it's Artemis, Reid Wiseman

Dawn Three，it‘s Artemis，Reid Wiseman”

It looks like these aliens not only send radios to international standards, but also speak English...... Of course not, the signal is from Artemis II, and Commander Reed Wiseman is calling Aurora 3 on the public channel.

Zhang Zhiguang picked up the microphone and stuck it on his chin under the gaze of Fang Lin and Ding Jihua, and also adjusted it to the same frequency:

"This is Aurora 3, and I greet you on behalf of everyone on board."

Time goes back to half an hour ago.

Both the Orion and Aurora spacecraft are equipped with synthetic aperture radars with extremely high detection range and resolution, which are used not only for docking missions, but also for detailed exploration of landing sites on the lunar surface during circumnavigation of the moon.

Space is not like the atmosphere is affected by the curvature of the earth and the air and mountains, as long as the radiation and clutter are dealt with, the empty vacuum is very friendly to radar, and the detection range can be easily increased dozens of times.

Artemis II and Aurora III had anomalous signals on their radars at about the same time, and they quickly understood who the anomaly was.

Reed Wiseman called directly over the radio without permission from the ground, and Dawn 3 responded quickly after holding a branch meeting.

No one on Artemis II spoke Chinese, and the Dawning III crew, although they could, apparently did not intend to respond in English.

Reed Wiseman's words were easy for Aurora 3 to understand, and on the other side of the Orion spacecraft, all four had to surround Victor Glover's translator.

Each astronaut departed with a certain load to carry personal belongings, and Victor chose to put a translator in it.

Although the machine translation looks a bit laborious, it can still be understood, but you have to wait for a while.

"Victor, are you a genuine iFLYTEK product, why is it so slow?"

"Dude, this is space!"

"But it's propaganda and it's used offline."

Jeremy Hansen was arguing with Grover as he glanced out of the porthole.

From the moment communication with Aurora 3 was established, the atmosphere on the Artemis II spacecraft was much more relaxed.

Compared to Aurora 3, they have been very stressed in the past few dozen hours, and they have been more or less anxious.

Who would have imagined that they would have to repair the lander before landing on the moon? According to the information provided by the ground engineers, the entire repair process will last between 3 and 6 hours, which is a severe test of their physical fitness and spirit.

The communication with Houston has almost always been about how the "Blue Moon" will be repaired, and now the communication with the Dawning 3 is like the crew of a broken ship encountering a passing cruise ship, and knowing the existence of the other party can be a lot more reassuring.

Through the change of the relative coordinates on the radar, Wiseman analyzed the approximate orbits of the two spacecraft, and learned that it should be the closest meeting point, which is less than 2,000 kilometers away at the closest time, and can maintain stable communication for at least 1 hour.

The four of them took turns talking on the radio, all but the mission itself, leaving the three people on Dawn 3 confused.

Are foreigners so enthusiastic? It's only been two days since everyone left, so you don't miss humans so much, right?

It wasn't until the distance became farther and the signal became weaker and weaker that Koch finally hung up the communication.

Zhang Zhiguang sorted out the whole communication recording and sent it back to the ground, and he always felt that something was not right.

Astronaut training must have included extremely rigorous psychological tests, and it was clear from the call that the Artemis II crew was somewhat ...... Anxiety? Or is it a concern?

This should not be on the astronauts selected for the moon landing, something must have happened.

……

Huayin.

"Badis, how is the progress of the Veneto rocket?"

"Uh, progress...... Ongoing ......"

Looking at the other party's slurring answers, Seryov felt a little uncomfortable.

This was his first day in Huayin, where he provided technical advice as a representative of a major domestic private aerospace contractor, and as soon as he arrived in the locality, he first conducted a thorough survey of the aerospace scale and technology of the major technical cooperation countries.

First of all, starting from the Veneto rocket jointly developed by Italy and Hair, 5 months have passed, as a "quasi-successful" rocket whose engine, rocket body, and recovery technology have been solved, it will not be long before the first rocket makes its first flight, right?

However, Bardis's evasive expression made him frown, and he was forced to tell the truth after questioning.

"Now... We are manufacturing a first-class prototype arrow housing for testing. ”

Seryov: "The 5.4-meter diameter arrow body is a mature technique of Ariana V, and you should have carried out this work three months ago!" ”

Baddis: "That's true, but the body is time-consuming to make, and it requires German help to carry out the tests, which often need to be coordinated before three countries......

But the first flight will definitely happen next year, and we're already working on efficiency. ”

The thought that the 18 engines built last year would have to sit in the warehouse for another year, Seryov did not know what to say.

He looked at Antoine, the representative of the aerospace industry, the progress of the core stage has been delayed, so it is impossible for EAP to have problems, right?

Under Selev's burning gaze, Antoine was a little embarrassed:

"The EAP will be completed this year according to our plan, the combustion chamber is being built, it should be in time, and for the time being our main focus is on the space shuttle Hermes."

"What about the Space Shuttle?"

"Last month we started building a prototype for static testing."

“……”

Seryov left the makeshift conference room in despair and ran into Shen Zuozhou, who had just finished docking with Lucia.

The two walked into the room where their superiors were resting together, and each sat down on the sofa.

"How? Tomorrow we are going to start with the size of the lunar base and the distribution of the share of launch missions, got an idea? ”

Shen Zuozhou: "According to my communication with Director Borisov, the only large launch vehicles that can be determined in service are the 'Proton' and the Angara A5 rocket, the former still has a lot of inventory, and the latter can be launched twice a year, but they can only launch unmanned probes or small payloads.

The large rocket under development is the Hurricane rocket, which they say will make its first flight in mid-2018, and if it is put into use, it will be the same giant rocket as the Long March 10, and it can be recycled and launched with a high frequency. ”

Superior: "Do you think they'll be able to put it into use on time?" ”

Shen Zuozhou was hesitating, but Seryov took the first step and said: "Maozi's words, I can't believe it." ”

“……”

“……”

"Let me talk about the two countries, my opinion is that their launch capacity will be close to zero in two or even three years, and at most they will launch satellites to lunar orbit, in fact, Lucia is almost in this state, and small and medium-sized rockets that can be launched frequently are useless for lunar missions.

In fact, if we only consider the degree of help to the moon base, the combined strength of the three countries is not as good as Aberdo to give us some more money. ”

Ignoring the helpless expressions of the two, Seryov continued:

"We are the only one of the four countries that has the ability to build and land people on a large scale, and at most they can provide some equipment, such as Lucia can provide some cheap isotope batteries or European chemical equipment...... In fact, it is not too much, and the main thing we lack is probably money rather than technology. ”

Superior: "But if that's the case, they may not be very willing to accept such cooperation." ”

Seryov: "Then promise them, anyway, no one can complete the tasks except us, and the result will be the same; The only one in the world who can stand on the same echelon as us is Ami.

They will accept cooperation, definitely. ”

The words obviously meant something, and the superiors quickly figured it out.

"You mean Skydome Two."

"Yes, not only do we have to complete the Tianmu-2 mission, but we also have to publicize it so that they know that we can carry out large-scale lunar operations without relying on cooperation, and it has never been Su ...... We're looking for cooperation, but they need to rely on us to keep up with the space age.

Before the breakthrough of the giant launch vehicle, there is not much difference in the voice of these countries, and we do not discriminate equally. ”

(End of chapter)