"I assure you, John...... The artificial sun must have been put into operation much earlier than Chengdian-1, and we only need one launch and a few days of commissioning to be ready. ”

In John's office, Robert was swearing in front of the president:

"The artificial sun has entered the manufacturing stage, and it is very safe to make two at a time, and it will definitely shine on Ami before October."

John raised his eyebrows: "Really, the construction of Chengdian No. 1, which is heavier and more complex than you, has already begun, I hope you will not delay this time." ”

"Of course, the artificial sun technology is destined to be very reliable and never go wrong."

Robert is confident that in order to hurry up and reduce the difficulty, the artificial solar project is structurally simple.

A mirror with a diameter of 1,100 meters and an unfolded area of more than 1 million square meters sounds exaggerated, but its main body is rolled from ultra-thin aluminum foil, with an average thickness of 0.0045 mm, and the total weight of such a large area is only 130 tons, and the folded state is a large cylinder 50 meters high.

Pieces of oversized aluminum foil are mounted on a folding skeleton made of memory alloy, so there is no need to worry about the reliability caused by repeated folding.

After all, the artificial sun project itself does not cost much, and compared with the huge social effect it produces, it is even more cost-effective.

"Isn't it normal for something old from the last century to malfunction? Our Chinese friends have been going so well, and now we can finally calm down a bit, haha, I'm going to tweet, it's so interesting! ”

Haha, this is the second good news, is this a new missile, what does the failure say? ”

"Thank you, Robert, this is the good news I'm looking forward to."

"Mr. President, I saw another message before I went in here."

Even John didn't see McMaster so flustered during the M incident, and when he suddenly saw him like this, he even wondered if the third season was playing.

……

But apparently John didn't think that much, and even joked with a smile:

As long as the sun shines, the aluminum foil body will heat up rapidly, so that the memory alloy stretches outward, and there is no need for an extremely complex mechanical unfolding structure, and a small part of the deformation can be repaired by the space shuttle, which is not too difficult in theory.

The rocket that launched it is an SLX Block2 rocket with a capacity of up to 180 tons and a total weight of only 160 tons of artificial sun.

McMaster, whose clothes were a little disheveled, appeared in the doorway panting, his bald head was also covered with beads of sweat, and he did not look like his old appearance at all, gasping for breath, and his uncalm face was a pair of frightened eyes.

"Herbert, what's going on to make you so flustered!"

"Let me see."

John finally got a taste of the legendary "new far-speed", and the artificial sun project was only a few months from the actual preparation to launch, which was absolutely efficient.

McMaster was like a drowning man who had just climbed ashore, his body trembling slightly, apparently emotionally suppressed.

The missile was still a little more than a moment to be launched, and around the demarcated square warhead landing area, two Y-9 modified electronic intelligence planes were constantly hovering, and from time to time deliberately approached the anti-submarine helicopter that drove the Aramco destroyer to take off, but only for pretense.

But this was insignificant in the face of the goal of applying it earlier than Chengdian-1, and both John and Robert happily accepted the problem.

Compared to what was envisaged in the last century, advances in electronics have easily solved the difficulty of real-time orbit adjustment, but the fuel consumption is higher and needs to be replenished regularly.

The reason why the last time China conducted sea tests was in the 80s, and the reason why the number of launches to the sea is so small is that the sea launch needs to organize a fleet to salvage warheads to collect data, but if the landing point is outside the target area or there is no strong fleet protection, it may be taken away by others first.

This is a test launch at sea, flying 1,000 kilometers from inland to attack sea targets, this kind of experience is too rare, helicopter pilots can't wait to collect information, of course, it would be better if they could be able to salvage the experimental warhead first.

"Oh, what's that, you think it's good?"

"What?"

Although the counterparts on the helicopter were surprised that the resistance was extraordinarily small today, they were also very close to the bottom line.

John asked with interest, but Robert scratched his head and thought about something, and after a while replied:

Robert took the intern's mobile phone and quickly found the source of the message, which was actually sent by CGTN himself.

“…… At 18:39 on June 8, Beijing time, a DF15B ballistic missile lost signal at the end of the sea test launch, and the wreckage fell in the *** area of the South China Sea......

Both electronic warfare planes have undergone temporary modifications, and the pilots know what their real mission is, so they deliberately let Aramco's helicopters get very close to them and not drive them away, in order to let them see them.

Robert was still reading, but John suddenly remembered something:

"I remember, the day before yesterday, or yesterday? McMaster told me that the Chinese were preparing to conduct missile tests in the South China Sea, and that he had sent two warships to monitor them, and that they hadn't conducted similar firing tests for a long time.

John and Robert were a little surprised that the Chinese missile test failed, which is really rare news.

Robert was about to speak, but was interrupted by a knock on the door, which turned out to be an intern delivering a daily message roundup.

John picked up his phone and edited it, and after satisfying himself to confirm the sneering in it, he was about to send it out, but was interrupted again.

The young intern is a young girl who has just graduated, and her job is to deal with the media at inconvenient times in addition to handing over documents, and whenever the official does not want to have to answer certain questions, she will let interns who don't know anything come out to fool around, which has become an old rule in the presidential palace.

The intern looked delighted, waving the materials in his hand.

It's only 6 o'clock in the morning and less than 7 o'clock in the morning, of course, it's not so early, and today is because John needs to attend the speaking event early, so he will go to work early to arrange some important business.

"Of course! Just a few minutes ago, Huaguo's missile launch failed, and the wreckage fell into the South China Sea! ”

Half an hour ago, the South China Sea.

"Trial...... Intercept...... Test ......"

Aluminum foil and RCS, these two systems make up almost the entire artificial sun.

"If I remember correctly, the DF15B is an old model of the last century, and it is a medium-range missile, its technology should be very mature, even if there is a problem, it is impossible to ...... Look at what the news says, the end crashes out of control? This mistake is too serious, they shouldn't make such a mistake, very not. ”

For the test launch in the 80s, the military prepared for 10 years, building a cutting-edge warship capable of taking off helicopters, a Type 1 survey ship, training salvage technology, and building a supply ship for ocean voyages.

It's just that the pilots on the anti-submarine helicopters don't know that this time the warhead is a counterweight, not a buoy, and the purpose of the test is not a landing area next to it.

(End of chapter)