Chapter 89 Restarting the 'Mars Project'
The United States, the capital.
"Mr. President, what do you think of the Xingyun-9 rocket launched by Xinghai Technology not long ago? It is understood that the payload of this rocket exceeds that of Spieth's Hunter-20 rocket by nearly 400 tons, and the weight of the ship is also reduced by tons. Has Daxia completely surpassed the United States in aerospace?"
Wells faced the densely packed microphones in front of her and the flash lights that occasionally went on. She had originally managed her facial expressions very well, but after hearing this question, her face turned grim.
"Reporter, this is a question from Spieth & Co., please hand it over to Mark. Next."
She forced a smile on her face and raised her hand to a reporter.
"Hello, President. After our space station is retired, does Nasa have any new plans? Daxia's Asgard space station has been fully built and put into use."
Hearing this, Wells took a deep breath and tried his best to keep smiling.
"I have issued a presidential decree, ordering the authorities to make a new space station construction plan as soon as possible. Don't worry, during my term, the United States will be great again. Next one."
"Hello, President. I am a reporter from South Island. I would like to ask when your support plan for Sanxin Group will be implemented. As far as I know, in the share structure of Sanxin Group, a large number of shareholders from the United States enjoy the right to dividends. However, under the sanctions of Daxia, Sanxin Group is already in danger and on the verge of bankruptcy."
Wells frowned. Why did the reporters keep asking tricky questions at today's routine press conference?
She thought for a moment and replied, "The relevant assistance plan has entered the final discussion stage and I believe it will be implemented soon. As a strategic partner of Baiyue, our support for Sanxin is necessary."
She didn't mention a specific time, and the reporter wanted to ask further, but unfortunately Wells had already announced the end of the press conference.
At the same time, at Spieth's company, President Mark was replaying the launch and recovery process of Starlink-1 over and over again.
Beside him, a group of company engineers were also present. The atmosphere was serious and no longer as relaxed as before.
"Tell me, Daxia, oh no, how much more advanced is the technology of this carrier rocket launched by Xinghai Technology than our Hunter 9."
Mark pressed the pause button, his tone unable to hide his fatigue.
On the big screen not far in front of him, the company's stock price chart was plummeting.
A white engineer with a Mediterranean hairstyle stood up and lowered his head.
"President, Xinghai Technology did not research this rocket alone. They had Daxia behind them. In addition, their company's high-voltage radio technology and super-powerful chips contributed to the current results."
He paused and continued, "But our Hunter-9 spacecraft is actually not bad. We were the first to invent technologies such as rocket recovery and black barrier removal. I don't think we need to be discouraged. We are not far behind in this regard."
Another slightly younger engineer also stood up and said, "Yes, President, but I think we should increase investment in aerospace projects. The 'Mars Project' that was proposed earlier should also be officially launched."
Mark looked up at the engineer and understood what he meant. This was the only way to regain investors' trust and stop the downward trend of the company's stock price.
His eyes returned to the display screen again. Xingyun No. 1 opened its support frame and landed steadily on the recovery point marked with a cross.
This recycling technology was first proposed by him and was successfully researched after several failures. Now Daxia's Xinghai Technology has completed it in one go.
This huge contrast made him feel despair in his heart.
He knew that the huge computing power provided by the graphene chip played a decisive role.
Thinking of this, he turned his gaze to the secretary behind the crowd.
"How's the progress with Xinghai regarding the export of chips and high-voltage radio technology?" Without resolving these two issues, Spieth's rocket will always lag behind Xingyun-1.
The secretary had hidden himself at the back, but was discovered by the boss unexpectedly. He had no choice but to stand up.
"President, Xinghai said that these technologies are subject to export control by the Daxia government and are only open to civilian companies. However, our company has many cooperative projects with the military, and the Daxia government strictly prohibits the export of these technologies to us."
Mark looked at the secretary's head almost buried in his chest and waved his hands in annoyance.
Although I had guessed this would be the outcome, I still get very angry when I think about it.
He could never have imagined that the high-tech embargo regulations of the White Alliance had taken so many turns and would backfire on him.
"Make arrangements. I have to go to Daxia. I'll be back later."
Mark didn't finish his words, but stopped the secretary who was about to go out to make arrangements. He thought for a while, and finally showed determination on his face.
"Daxia will not be going there for the time being. We will make an announcement to the public. The 'Mars Project' will be officially launched in a month. We will invest 100 billion initially, and 500 billion will be invested in the next three years. We will send our astronauts to Mars and establish a Mars base in the launch window in four years!"
"It's the president!"
The secretary quickly went out to make arrangements, and the other engineers around couldn't help but show excitement on their faces when they heard what had happened.
As Spieth's company has grown to its current stage, President Mark has gradually turned his attention to rocket transportation and his whimsical "Starnet" plan.
Not to mention the former, no matter what we say about the latter, the huge delay compared with traditional wired networks has always limited market promotion.
Although these two projects brought the company a significant increase in stock prices, the Mars plan that was originally proposed was shelved for a time.
And now, these engineers who were only interested in deep space exploration finally had a place to use their skills again, and they were inevitably excited.
Daxia, Xinghai Space Base, equipment training room.
"Boss, how is it? Are you used to it?"
Liu Jun enthusiastically handed water to Li Jian, who had just come out of the simulation chamber and taken off his heavy space suit.
Li Jian didn't think there was anything wrong with it. He took it, took a gulp, and then sighed, "It's very good, but it's a pity."
"What do you mean?" Fan Ren, who was standing by, couldn't help but become puzzled upon hearing this.
Unlike traditional spacecraft, their spacecraft is equipped with a series of star-computing chips, and the voice intelligence system developed by A-Dai is also installed inside.
Many operations have been fully automated, unlike traditional spacecraft, which require astronauts to perform a lot of manual operations.
Even after voice recognition, astronauts with relevant authority can perform simple operations of the spacecraft just by speaking.
This made all their previous operational training useless.
After Li Jian explained this, Fan Ren burst into laughter.
But then he said seriously: "Boss, you are wrong about this. Although I have great confidence in our technology, space is a very unfamiliar area for us. When you are driving the spacecraft in the future, anything can happen. This is a test of your proficiency in manual operation of the spacecraft."
(End of this chapter)
