"Five detectors, five detection points."

Zhong Cheng propped up the conference table with both hands, and in front of everyone floated a large laser projection of the color map of Mars, and the precision was super high.

The whiteboard that used to be used to put PPT is rarely used, and most of the time people prefer to use a more sci-fi laser projector.

This table was donated by Xinyuan after the Tianmu No. 3 mission, and the latest laser technology was applied to achieve a large-scale three-dimensional three-dimensional color projection for the first time, and the fineness has reached the level of mid-to-high-end projectors.

There is no product of the same level on the market, and Zhong Cheng can know that it is definitely worth a lot just from the rich precision components that he accidentally saw during installation and the terrible power consumption when he turned it on.

But the benefits are obvious, now when the meeting is held, there is finally a feeling of waving Fang Xuan in the starry sky, and the finger pulls is a huge star map of the solar system, and the controller will even have a sense of wandering beyond the earth.

The suspended map of Mars highlights five locations, all carefully selected by a team of experts.

Lin Ju glanced at it, then frowned slightly.

These probes are too far away from the Zero plain, especially Tianwen-5, which has high hopes from the base, because it is the most important to go directly to the ice sheet in Antarctica.

This is where the whole of Mars is considered to be the most likely to have water, and it is an important basis for the operation of the full set of chemical equipment carried by Zhurong.

The base still intends to launch a probe to the Zero Plains, but not alone, but into the cargo hold of Zhurong, which can carry 60 tons of cargo, and by the way, it is easy to stuff a rover.

The new rover has a mass of about 4 tons, is nuclear-powered, and is equipped with robots and drones, and has a wide detection range.

The original plan was for Zhurong to land on the edge of the South Pole, and then the two new large rovers slowly moved to the vicinity of Plain Zero.

But the South Pole is too far away, and even if the nuclear-powered rover were able to run through it, it would most likely fall on the road due to mechanical failure.

However, he had no intention of changing the goals that the space agency had set, so he thought about it and interjected:

"The place where Zhurong landed is exactly on the South Pole, where the terrain is not conducive to the construction of residential areas, and the value is not high, we should look for a suitable place to live in the future in a slightly lower dimension around the South Pole."

As he spoke, he placed his hand near the midline from Plain Zero to the South Pole, where the terrain was shown to be relatively flat.

"Add another rover, it will be carried out in the name of our school-enterprise alliance, anyway, the research and development expenses are almost amortized, and it won't cost much more."

Lin Ju was ready to push on his own to avoid being rejected because of the budget, but the truth was beyond his imagination.

After hearing this, Zhong Cheng looked seriously at the place where his finger was for a short while, then looked around and asked:

"What do you think?"

After a few scattered answers, Zhong Cheng directly clapped the board:

"If there are more lice, they don't bite, and there is not much difference between five and six, let's just give Tianwen No. 6 the serial number, Xiaolin, can Xinyuan deliver and launch in time?"

"Uh......" Lin Ju was still shocked by his decisiveness, and he was stunned for a moment before he reacted:

"Of course no problem, it's all a universal chassis."

In fact, from the ice mining on the moon, the nuclear power generation vehicle to the Tianwen series of "Firefly" Mars rover, although there is a slight difference in volume and weight, the chassis, structure, and parts are basically a common design, which not only reduces the cost, but also greatly improves the delivery speed.

"Then there is nothing to dispute, there are many people here who have also participated in the demonstration and research of the deep space exploration program, we must understand that the current space competition has entered a white-hot stage, and our goal has changed from touching the unknown little by little, to understanding the unknown.

The first factor to consider is not money, but how wide and far our horizons can be extended. ”

……

Northwest, a digital code base.

While the Mars plan was being discussed in the capital, Seryov was personally feeling the wind and sand of the Great Gobi.

Rongcheng is the closest major city to the western region, and exaggerated winds can be felt in spring and autumn, but they are simply powerless compared to the winds of the real northwest.

In one sentence: the wind and sand in the northwest can blow people to death!

Even if you are lucky enough not to be buried in the sand, your breath will be greatly restricted in a storm mixed with yellow sand, and if you stay a little longer, you will leave respiratory diseases.

Fortunately, Seryov has done a very thorough job of protection, and he generally does not go out easily.

And now he is wrapped in a gauze scarf commonly used by the young people, and is following the local major stationed on the test site not far away.

Once an underground nuclear test site that was not in use, it was later converted into a nuclear engine test site, where every A100 engine was fully tested after leaving the factory.

The weather was not good today, but the test work was still going on as scheduled.

Because the engine tested today is codenamed "Everest", and the internal name is NPAE.

After more than two years of development, the engine, which together with the A100 locks the upper limit of the fission engine, is finally available.

When the first two prototypes were shipped out together, the space agency still couldn't believe that its development was complete.

Only one engine is now installed on the test bench and has been prepared for the test and is about to be put into trial operation.

Along with Seryov was Dou Ping, who had been promoted to the next level and had already begun to take charge of most of the key defense equipment, and this time he was on the scene in person.

"Chief Engineer Xie, we have opened a new test bench for you this time, I hope you won't let us down."

The nuclear engine test benches are all built on the basis of underground nuclear test potholes, one of the A100 has already been used, and there are two test benches left in the base.

The new test bench was commissioned because the NPAE had a very low ejecta radiation content to meet the requirements of direct air exhaust, and the test bench used with the A100 could affect the contamination measurement results.

But if it doesn't meet the standard, it means that the last test bench will need to be used for retesting, and the amount of work to build a nuclear engine test bench in the northwest is obviously not small.

"Don't worry, I'm counting on you to change Project 909."

Seryov's face hidden under the scarf smiled, Xinyuan could also sell NPAE to the military, and the last thing he wanted was to make any mistakes.

In Project 909, the military ordered five H2N space shuttles in one go, but the enthusiasm faded rapidly after the appearance of the space plane, and in fact, the money for the purchase of four space planes basically came from the original four H2N.

However, they only asked for the remaining four to "slow down", after all, the load capacity of the space shuttle is far inferior to that of the space shuttle, and it is still in the wait-and-see stage.

A week ago, on the 10th day of the Lunar New Year, the "Liuyun" aerospace plane for the military was officially delivered, and it had already flown to Qiongzhou to begin the flight plan with the "Tengyun."

According to the base's previous sales plan, Seryov took advantage of the NPAE test run to start painting the NPAE powered version of the aerospace aircraft.

The rapid rise of the 65-ton payload after the nuclear power modification is extremely tempting, except for cargo with special requirements for size, it is almost impossible to hang all space shuttles and rockets below the giant.

When the time comes, an aerospace plane can easily carry two or three hundred people into space, and the cost of laying various military satellites will also be rapidly reduced.

According to the military's latest theory of the space station, the development of the space force needs to go through several stages of development from the near Earth to the moon, to the asteroid belt, and finally to deep space.

The first priority is, of course, near-Earth space, and then based on A100, a military presence in the asteroid belt can be basically realized, which has become the basic consensus of relevant researchers.

The prospect of a nuclear-powered aerospace aircraft is so wonderful that the military is willing to take the huge risk of nuclear contamination and the pressure of public opinion for it.

But the premise of everything is that NPAE is really as claimed, and the radiation level is reduced to the point that even if it is directly discharged into the atmosphere, it will have no effect, and a more specific indicator is that it has the ability to take off and land at conventional airports, and the operators do not need special protective facilities.

In the past, the space agency's channel base has tried to equip NPAE intra-atmosphere vehicles on a large scale, and the results have been ambiguous or potentially resistant, and now it hopes to use the military to break down the obstacles.

Dou Ping believes in Seryov more, after all, Xinyuan's technical strength has always been online, and he has almost never dropped the chain.

The Snowbird project he was in charge of had already built a third prototype, and it will be a production machine after it has passed the test flight.

The Air Force is quite satisfied with the performance of the Snow Birds, and is ready to place one squadron in the northeast and one squadron in the southeast, two squadrons in the western region, and one squadron is also stationed at the Jibuti Peacekeeping Base, with 20 aircraft in the combat sequence, and a total of 36 aircraft and 9 squadrons will be purchased, and the rest will be used for training and mobile stationing.

The first squadron would be the first to deliver to the southeast, and then begin cruising missions around the entire Pacific Ocean, when the world would hear a loud noise of hypersonic shock waves every day.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but feel better, and said:

As long as the NPAE pollutant standard is stuck in the prescribed line, the Air Force will be 70% sure that it will promote nuclear transformation.

Don't think that we are too careful, after all, we are facing accusations and pressure from all over the world, including our own own, and we cannot be too cautious, and the military needs to face more obstacles than you think. ”

But only the military has the capacity to address these obstacles.

While thinking in his heart, Seryov thought that the two had already walked to the test bench, where more than a dozen engineers were putting the finishing touches on the work, and when it was confirmed, they would all be evacuated to the safe zone.

Inside the test bench building, you can see a tightly arranged, square-shaped, and small precision machine, which looks almost empty from the outside, and is full of various components.

Seryov and Dou Ping carried out various re-inspections according to the list of procedures, and only after confirming that they were correct did they turn on the control signal of the engine.

(End of chapter)