Chapter 739: Round Two?
NASA’s press conference was like a nuclear bomb. It received a strong international response.
The BFR rocket had a 550-ton low-Earth orbit carrying capacity!
The Ares was going to launch in a month, sending the life support system to Mars!
China wasn’t even a compet.i.tor!
All of Carson’s statements were well received by the Americans.
Media outlets such as The New York Times were criticizing NASA not too long ago, but now, their stance totally changed. They instantly praised s.p.a.ce-X and the Ares project.
Aeros.p.a.ce was the future of humanity; it was the pride and joy of Americans.
Ever since they defeated the Russians in landing on the Moon, China had been slowly creeping up.
People thought it was ridiculous that NASA sat around while China was catching up.
Now that NASA finally had something to respond with, the Americans didn’t criticize them anymore. Rather, they gave them applause and praise.
China landed on the Moon?
Taking away our pride and glory?
Sorry, but we did that sixty years ago, our new goal is Mars!
China can’t even send a s.p.a.ce probe to Mars!
After the NASA press conference, s.p.a.ce-X, Blue Origin, and other high-tech aeros.p.a.ce held their own press conferences, presenting their unique skills in the field of aeros.p.a.ce.
For example, Elon Musk’s BFR rocket was being tested. Blue Origin’s BE-4 rocket was in development.
Many pharmaceutical companies also joined in on the fun. Johnson & Johnson announced a “frozen slow-release agent” project, which was designed to prevent cell fluid from freezing and puncturing under low temperatures.
This project was supported by the United States Department of Health and NASA as a sub-project of the frozen chamber project, which was jointly being developed by NASA and s.p.a.ceWorks.
The market cap of the s.p.a.ce companies reached an all-time high, and people felt nostalgic about the night sixty years ago.
One year, Yuri Gagarin went to s.p.a.ce on Vostok 1. Seven years later, the Americans landed on the Moon…
British media outlet BBC also reported on NASA’s press conference.
Compared to the American’s enthusiasm, the BBC report looked at the situation from a more objective angle.
After all, the s.p.a.ce race was between China and the United States. It didn’t have anything to do with the UK. Even if they wanted to partic.i.p.ate, they couldn’t.
In contrast to America’s enthusiasm, after NASA’s press conference, Chinese media outlets were silent.
Chinese media outlets received instructions by the state to promote the moon landing, but no one expected NASA’s response.
They didn’t know if they should report on NASA’s plan or just ignore it.
If they were to report it truthfully, it would undoubtedly cast a shadow on the national moon landing success. However, ignoring it seemed a bit petty.
They also thought about briefly reporting it and trying to sweep it under the rug.
Regardless, this wasn’t the choice of major TV stations and newspapers.
This was decided by the state!
While the mainstream media outlets stayed silent, online media outlets captured this opportunity and reported this news online.
The United States was going to execute the first stage of the Ares project next month, and the news of the life support system caused a sensation on Chinese social media sites.
Most people were still immersed in the victory of the manned moon landing, but now, they were wide awake.
China’s opponent had begun the preparation to land on Mars.
This news left a distaste in many people’s hearts.
They knew it was going to be difficult to defeat the Americans.
Some people were worried; some people were happy. The pessimistic people that were ridiculed because of Skyglow’s successful Moon landing, finally had a chance to speak.
Who cares about landing on the Moon!
The Americans are going to Mars!
This pessimism spread throughout the country…
[Ah… The Americans are planning to land on Mars, and we only just landed on the Moon. I thought we caught up with their footsteps, I didn’t expect us to be this far behind.]
[What happened to the people who said we could defeat the Americans? Where are they now? (laugh) (laugh)]
[I said a long time ago that landing on the Moon isn’t difficult anymore. The reason why western countries aren’t landing on the Moon is that their goal is Mars. We shouldn’t be proud of Skyglow for landing on the Moon.]
[Yeah, we should land on Mars as well.]
[Ah, I’m so jealous… I applied for Ares recruitment. Apparently, they recruit globally. I hope I get chosen.]
[Where are those people bragging about Skyglow? Where are they now? (laugh) (laugh)]
The discussion went beyond Weibo, and this topic began to trend on other social media sites as well.
For example, an anonymous user posted an article a.n.a.lyzing the reason why China lost the s.p.a.ce race…
[The successful test flight of the BFR super rocket shattered our dreams. The 42 Raptor engines have a vacuum thrust of 138 Meganewtons and can be reused more than a thousand times. It’s on a completely different level than Skyglow.
[This is a slap to the face. The Americans are showing us that chemical rockets are not outdated at all. Liquid oxygen methane engine with a full-flow staged combustion cycle is still the preferred propulsion scheme for interplanetary travel. That’s how they are going to colonize Mars.
[Actually, we can think about it this way. If ion thrusters are good enough, why are the Americans still using chemical propulsion? It’s not because they can’t create ion thrusters, it’s because they know it’s not necessary.
[The so-called success of Skyglow is making us arrogant and ignorant. China is too focused on the Earth-Moon system.
[Inventing new technology is always good, but sometimes, new technology can be tricky…]
The article received tens of thousands of likes. It was reposted on We-media, Weibo, and other social media sites.
Even though some people thought this article was biased against China’s aeros.p.a.ce industry because of the pessimistic atmosphere, it resonated with a lot of people.
People thought, We are losing this race.
Chemical propulsion is going to destroy us.
Even though the Americans hadn’t launched their rocket yet, China was already losing hope…