Tech Hammer

China, Qingshan International Airport.

Cheng Xiaolu was sitting quietly in the No. 1 dock, waiting for the CZ36119 spacecraft. Her trip this time was to an industrial base in West China. Her main task was to witness the launch of the Kuafu on behalf of the Qingshan Fundamental Physics Research Center.

It was originally a very ordinary mission, but it had a somewhat weird flavor.

For example, her mentor, Professor Luo Zhiqiang, specifically told her that when she met Professor Ning, she must help him find out why the moon base plan had to be postponed. He also said that he should not talk about the reasons mentioned in the meeting, but his mentor didn’t believe him.

Cheng Xiaolu has been at the Qingshan Fundamental Physics Research Center for three years and is already very familiar with her mentor's character. If there weren't something more important in a situation like today, Director Luo would definitely have rushed to the aviation industry base in the west to find Academician Ning. Ask clearly. This is another deadlock, because Academician Ning seems to be one of the few academic masters who can make his director Luo busy with just one sentence.

In other words, if his mentor and Academician Ning have different opinions, and Academician Ning doesn't want to quarrel with his Director Luo, there is always a way to make Director Luo stay at the Qingshan base.

But Cheng Xiaolu couldn't figure it out either.

The lunar base plan was originally proposed by Director Ning. The most important function of Kuafu's original design was to serve as a large transport ship between the earth and the moon. Transport various base-building materials to the moon and turn the moon into a port, resource star and space-related heavy industry base for the earth.

Most spacecraft in the future will be built on the moon and then begin to explore the solar system and find suitable solar system port locations.

It was only three years ago that Academician Ning first overcame all the opposition to preside over the civilian use of Mir's production technology to replace the aircraft. Then Academician Ning began to spend time at the Kuafu's production base when he had nothing to do, and conducted two initial designs of the Kuafu. major changes. Generally speaking, the Kuafu's survivability and voyage capabilities will be greatly increased at the expense of load capacity.

To be honest, many people did not understand this decision at the time. After all, ferrying between the earth and the moon can only be regarded as short-distance transportation within the same city for space exploration technology, so the requirements for the ship itself are not that high.

Ning Wei's idea also caused a lot of controversy at the time, until Ning Wei frankly told everyone that he hoped that the plan to build a base on the moon would be temporarily postponed, which was also opposed by countless people at the time.

After all, once the construction of the lunar base begins, it will represent the first time that human civilization has truly begun to transform another planet. It can be regarded as the starting point for human beings to conquer the universe, and it is of extremely great significance. It would be fine if we didn't have this ability, but now that we have this ability, no one is willing to give up on realizing this big thing as soon as possible. However, Ning Wei's request for the modification of the Kuafu Hao was approved.

After research and judgment, although the payload is sacrificed, for Kuafu it is just a matter of traveling to the moon a few more times. Moreover, increasing the strength of the hull and giving it the capability of long-distance voyages will also have guiding significance for the next generation of exploration ships.

But who knew that just before the Kuafu was about to take off, Ning Wei proposed to postpone the construction of the lunar base because the Kuafu would have other uses in the future. The construction of the lunar base can wait until the next generation Nuwa is successfully built before starting preparations.

One can imagine how much resistance Ning Wei encountered after putting forward this opinion. Fortunately, Ningwei had taken the lead in unifying the internal opinions of the basic laboratory before this. In other words, it is difficult for experts within the laboratory to give opinions that contradict Ning Wei's decision, especially when Ning Wei expressed his unprecedented firmness.

There is also a very interesting phenomenon. The foreign professors and researchers recruited into the laboratory are more supportive of Ning Wei's choice than the domestic professors. Even though Ning Wei gave the reason for making this decision, after simulation on the intelligent platform, the conditions for building a human lunar base are not yet mature. The model shows that the cost-effectiveness of building a lunar base at this time is not high, because the lunar heavy industry base cannot be completely eliminated. Humanization, when there are not enough professionals stationed, temporary suspension is the best option.

After several improvements, the Kuafu has initially acquired the capability of space voyages, so Ningwei hopes to use the Kuafu's voyage capabilities to record more space coordinates and complete coordinate tests. This can lay a more solid foundation for the drawing of the star map of the future universe, and is more conducive to mankind's conquest of the universe.

The most important thing is that although the Kuafu has been modified to be smaller than the Mir, it has the ability to travel through spaces as short as feet. This provides a realistic basis for accurate calculation of dual-space coordinate exchange.

At this stage, the coordinate calculation of the two spatial transformations relies on estimation from the microscopic to the macroscopic direction.

Obviously, in Ning Wei's view, finding the accurate formula for spatial coordinate transformation is more important than building a lunar base.

This is actually incomprehensible to many people.

Because in fact the two are not contradictory.

For example, Luo Zhiqiang suggested to Ning Wei that Kuafu should mainly undertake the task of transporting materials to the lunar base. For dual-space shuttle tests, small unmanned ships can be built and tested slowly. Anyway, it doesn’t matter how many years earlier or later the dual-space precise coordinate calculation is. This technology is mainly the basis for space navigation and even inter-space navigation. It is enough to wait until there is a breakthrough before the construction of the solar system port in the thirty-year plan begins.

The two sides also had arguments over this issue, but Ning Wei remained unmoved.

This is what makes Cheng Xiaolu feel the strangest. In fact, in her opinion, Academician Ning is indeed a little eager for success.

After all, even if we have a complete star map of the universe at this stage, it doesn't mean much to humans. Because the entire human civilization currently does not have the ability to mass-produce large-scale exploration ships suitable for space voyages.

The entire construction period for an airship with preliminary long-distance voyage capabilities like the Kuafu is as long as five years, and there are only two large shipyards that can assemble this size. In other words, even if China increases its production speed to the extreme, every day A maximum of two long-distance aircraft carriers can be produced in five years. Even if new production lines are being built, it will be good to reach three or five ships in ten years.

There are only three or two small ships, and they can't even make a splash when sent out. This is also the reason why the Lunar Heavy Industry Base should have been built first. The moon, with a gravity of only one-fifth, makes it easier to produce materials for ship hulls and build fully automated large-scale production docks.

According to the original plan, the lunar base will be constructed in five years, and will then be able to produce five Kuafu ships per year. With the increase in the lunar transport ships and the continued expansion of the industrial base, the production capacity will be able to produce three more ships per year. The speed of production docks increased, which meant that fifteen years later, the lunar base would be able to produce dozens of Kuafu ships per year.

By that time, the entire solar system will be filled with large transport ships belonging to the Earth, which also means the complete utilization of the resources of the entire solar system. Humanity will have the ability to develop space mining and space transportation chains.

With the support of these resources, the lunar base can be further expanded, followed by the livable transformation of the planet, the construction of major mining star cities, and the construction of solar system ports...

These are all part of the original thirty-year plan. Now that Academician Ning has strongly requested that the plan be changed, it means that the construction of the lunar base will be delayed by at least three to five years. This also means that the implementation of the entire plan may be delayed by three to five years. .

Cheng Xiaolu thought that it was normal for her tutor to be unable to understand Academician Ning's thoughts. In fact, she couldn't understand it either.

What's even weirder is that this time the Kuafu was launched, the older generation of professors and mentors were not invited. They all invited young people like her to go to the base to observe... This was because they were afraid of causing a quarrel during the launch ceremony. What?

"Cheng Xiaolu, phew... you came so early."

A sudden shout interrupted Cheng Xiaolu's contemplation. When she looked up, she saw Zhu Xudong walking towards where she was sitting, carrying a bag. He must have been running for a long time, and there were still beads of sweat on his forehead. Although it is summer, the air conditioning in the airport lounge is still very powerful. If you don't run around, at least you won't sweat.

"Eh? Xiao Zhu, are you going to watch the ceremony at the West China Base too?"

"Yes, I received the notice at short notice. Professor Angus originally wanted my senior brother to go, but the senior brother had a dispute with Professor Angus for some reason, and then Professor Angus informed me this morning that he would immediately I packed my luggage and went there on behalf of my senior brother, and specifically told me to express less opinions when I went, and to watch more and listen more."

"Well, the senior brother you are talking about is..."

"Senior Brother Tan, Tan Jingrui!"

"Well, I understand. Your senior brother Tan seems to have never understood why he gave up the moon base plan. He even gave two speeches at the research center, hoping to make Academician Ning Wei change his mind."

"Well, probably for this reason, Instructor Angus thinks he is not suitable to participate in the Kuafu's launch ceremony."

"What about you? Do you think Senior Brother Tan is right?"

"Me? Well... I think since Academician Ning made this decision, he must have his reasons, right? Anyway, I think it shouldn't be wrong to listen to Academician Ning. As for the senior brother who doesn't understand now, there may be some things that he doesn't quite understand. Clear reasons.”

"Ha... As expected, you guys still support Academician Ning as a class."

"Um, what about you? Do you also think we should start the moon base plan first?"

"I don't know either, but Director Luo feels that Academician Ning made a mistake this time."

"Hmm... Haha, by the way, are we the only ones going to the Qingshan Research Center to watch the ceremony this time?" Zhu Xudong put down his luggage, sat down next to Cheng Xiaolu naturally, looked around, and then asked.

At this time, there were not many passengers waiting for the ship in dock No. 1, and there were only more than ten minutes left before boarding.

"A group of people went to help three days in advance. I postponed it for two days because of my homework. As for Professor Angus, it may be because Senior Brother Tan's statement has not been reassuring, so I postponed it until today. Another temporary substitution?" Cheng Xiaolu guessed.

"That's it, hehe, Xiaolu, actually, because I knew you were leaving today, I asked Professor Angus to attend the ceremony on behalf of Senior Brother Tan." Zhu Xudong hesitated for a moment, and then suddenly said.

"Huh?" Cheng Xiaolu turned her head and glanced at Zhu Xudong beside her, and asked, "Classmate Xiao Zhu, what do you want to express?"

"Actually...well, we've known each other for almost four years, right? Although we don't meet much in the institute, we usually chat a lot on WeChat, and, and, actually, the first time we met, I I think you're pretty good. I'm about to graduate now. My family has been thinking that I can bring a girlfriend home a few days ago. It's not just for this reason. Hey, let me tell you straight, Xiaolu, what do you think of us? Is it possible to live together in the future?"

Cheng Xiaolu tilted her head, looked at Zhu Xudong who was slightly embarrassed, and asked in a dumbfounded way: "Classmate Xiao Zhu, is this how you express your love?"

Zhu Xudong said with a slight guilt: "Actually, I have read a few books about confession, but I think they are not suitable for me. You know, we study those equations in the laboratory every day, and the whole group is full of seniors. My junior brother and I couldn’t find anyone to give me any advice, and even if they came up with ideas, I didn’t think they were reliable, so I just wanted to be direct, because that’s what happened anyway.”

Cheng Xiaolu felt speechless, and then she glared hard at the class boss whom she had met on the first day she came to Qingshan Research Center, and said dullly: "Now, I will give you a chance to reorganize your language. Let me ask you , why do you hope we can live together in the future?"

"Probably because I actually liked you when I first saw you, and then as I got to know you more over the years, I felt like you even more."

"Then why have you never said anything in all these years?"

"I don't know what you think? I read in a book that if a boy confesses his feelings casually, he might not even be able to be friends."

"Then why do you have the courage to speak out today?"

"If nothing else happens, I will graduate in October this year. Professor Angus also said that I am probably determined to work at the West China production base after graduation. By then, I may not be able to see each other as often as before. I'm afraid I won't have a chance in the future."

"Oh, the reasons are so intertwined! This thinking is very thorough!"

"Well, Xiaolu, what do you think of me?"

"I just don't feel like long-distance relationships!"

"Ah...what should we do?!"

"Are you really stupid? Don't you know how to tell Academician Ning about the practical difficulties when you go to West China this time?"

"But, Xiaolu, my research is no longer of much help in the laboratory. It can only play a greater role in the production base. I still hope to make more contributions to the future lunar base."

"Are you really a pig? Can Director Ning just ask him to keep you in the research center? Can't you transfer me to the production base? Who doesn't want to witness the first lunar landing ship being produced from scratch? Woolen cloth?"

"Ah... Xiaolu, I am indeed a pig, that's great! Thank you!"