Chapter 791: The World Will Witness Again
If someone wanted to understand the advantages and disadvantages of ion thruster and chemical propulsion, they would have to have a fundamental understanding of a high school physics concept—acceleration.
On a short distance scale, because of the huge thrust produced by chemical propulsion, s.p.a.cecraft could reach a very high speed in a short period of time, thus reducing the overall flight time.
However, if the distance scale was expanded to millions of kilometers or even tens of millions of kilometers, the situation would become drastically different.
Unlike ion thruster propulsion, chemical propulsion could produce a huge thrust in exchange for working medium consumption. However, ion thruster propulsion could reach speeds much higher than chemical rockets due to its continuous acceleration and large specific impulse.
It took the BFR rockets three months to travel to Mars.
However, for Starlight, which was...o...b..ting in lunar orbit, it would only take one month.
Not to mention this was without using the Hohmann transfer orbit. If Mars and Earth were at exactly the optimal position, it would take less than a month for the Earth to Mars journey.
In the empty and dark s.p.a.ce, the astronauts stationed on Moon Palace had just finished supplying Starlight with the working medium.
Sitting in the c.o.c.kpit, Xu Zhenghong reached out and pressed his helmet, and he reported to the ground command center.
“This is Starlight, we have completed refueling. Requesting further instructions.”
“This is the ground command center. Congratulations on completing the mission. Please switch to cruise mode and await further instructions.”
“Roger that, switching to cruise mode.”
Sitting in the co-pilot seat, Liu Biao watched Xu Zhenghong switch to cruise mode.
“Are we not returning to Earth?”
“The ground command center is telling us to stand by.”
“Is it because of the Americans?”
“Yeah.”
Liu Biao couldn’t help but feel emotional.
A couple of months ago, he saw the American s.p.a.cecraft flying across s.p.a.ce.
Before they could say h.e.l.lo, the s.p.a.cecraft was already gone.
He didn’t expect to meet the BFS s.p.a.cecraft so soon.
The c.o.c.kpit went silent for a while.
Xu Zhenghong closed his eyes and was about to take a nap when the c.o.c.kpit signal light flickered.
Liu Biao said, “Signal from the ground command center.”
“I see it.” Xu Zhenghong opened his eyes and stood up. He then pressed his helmet b.u.t.ton and said, “This is Starlight, heading to scheduled airs.p.a.ce, preparing to switch routes…
“5,4,3,2,1… Fire!”
Starlight’s five ion thruster propulsion engines burst into a faint blue arc as it slowly pushed the silver s.p.a.cecraft…
…
15 minutes ago.
Facing this dilemma, the White House finally made a decision. The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs received a phone call from the president of the United States. During this phone call, the POTUS formally requested help.
10 minutes ago, the news reached the Jinling launch site. The command center staff immediately started to get to work.
Starlight was performing a mission in lunar orbit. When they received the news, they immediately began to prepare for it. After they refueled their living and fuel supplies from the Moon Palace s.p.a.ce station, they began their journey toward Mars.
It took less than 15 minutes between the president formally requesting help and Starlight heading toward Mars.
The world once again witnessed the efficiency of China.
On the other hand, the Lunar Orbit Committee held a press conference at Jinling Hotel. They publicly reported the progress on the latest rescue mission to various media journalists.
This made the Americans furious.
The Americans wanted to keep this low-key.
Yet the Chinese even invited reporters to the press conference!
The White House wanted to keep this whole thing quiet. They didn’t expect China to make such a huge debacle over this.
The press conference made the NASA staff members’ faces turn red.
They spent three days a.n.a.lyzing all of their options and solutions. However, they weren’t able to make a final decision and missed the optimal launch window.
China, on the other hand, was able to send out a rescue team within 15 minutes of the president asking for help. China’s efficiency was on another level.
However, NASA knew the rescue plan obviously wasn’t made in 15 minutes. China was probably planning for this rescue mission long before the video call.
Even then, this type of efficiency was never seen before.
Not only that, but China’s open, transparent, serious, and responsible att.i.tude with regard to the rescue mission formed a sharp contrast with NASA’s image. The public opinion of the Ares program changed overnight.
[I am ashamed of NASA.]
[This is unbelievable. If it weren’t for the Chinese, we wouldn’t have even known what our Mars colonists are going through right now? Does the White House plan on burying their bodies?]
[They dispatched a rescue team within 15 minutes… Jesus, how is that possible?]
[I seriously doubt NASA had any intention to save those colonists at all!]
[Now I know why the Mars Diaries was suspended. It’s not because of communication costs, but purely because of the sandstorm. The White House wants to hide the truth from us…]
In order to save some face and demonstrate their determination in bringing the colonists home, the White House announced that they would bear the entire cost of the rescue mission.
In less than 15 minutes after the announcement, NASA received a bill from China.
US$1.7 billion.
China was asking for a wire transfer.
After seeing the bill, Director Carson nearly spat out blood.
US$1.7 billion!
They can build another d.a.m.n Starlight with this money!
Do they think we’re the ATM?
His a.s.sistant came over.
“Sir?”
“What now?”
The a.s.sistant looked at Director Carson and hesitated for a bit.
“I have some bad news…”
Carson said impatiently, “Hurry up, tell me.”
Seeing how his boss was irritated, the a.s.sistant said, “Okay! Half an hour ago, we found a doc.u.mentary on the official Chinese website.”
Director Carson’s heart sank, he could feel something was wrong.
However, he couldn’t describe this feeling.
He opened his mouth and asked reluctantly, “What kind of doc.u.mentary?”
The a.s.sistant replied, “I think it’s called… Mars Rescue.”
Carson: “…”
F*ck!