The afternoon meeting began.
Like Lu Zhou expected, the experts on Earth did not seem to have much to say here.
Led by Academician Yang Chongping, several major experts from the Tiangong Aerospace Science and Technology Research Institute took the lead to express their opinions, and after that, several other aerospace agencies and engineers from companies also expressed their views.
Generally speaking, most of the experts sitting at the conference table had no objection to the demonstration of technical feasibility. The aerospace companies from The Pan-Asian Cooperation were indeed capable of developing the resources on Europa. Also, the funding they would indirectly receive from the second half of the year would be fruitful.
As for Lu Zhou, his opinion was similar.
From a purely practical point of view, the development of water resources on Europa was indeed cheaper and much more environmentally friendly than transporting freshwater resources from Earth to Mars.
In fact, as early as a century ago, Lu Zhou had considered including this water-filled planet as part of the aerospace strategy.
However, the technical conditions back then were much worse, and he also did not expect that he would be able to solve the problem of faster than light speed so quickly, expanding the radius of human civilization from the asteroid belt to the world outside the asteroid belt, so this matter was put aside this whole time.
Now, they clearly had the conditions to move further out into space.
However…
When the meeting progressed to the next stage, the situation changed 180 degrees. The atmosphere at the conference table went from peaceful to intense in an instant.
Seeing the faces that had turned red from arguing, Lu Zhou wanted to express his own opinion, but when he thought about it, it seemed that it would only add fuel to the fire, so he gave it up for the time being.
An old engineer with a gray beard who was in his sixties stood up with his hands on the table, raised his volume, and said loudly, “We can select four points in the central area of the asteroid belt to establish freshwater resource reserve stations and transport the seawater resources extracted from Europa to the reserve station for rough processing. After that, the freshwater reserve station can deliver water to the Mars colony depending on the movement position of Mars.”
A man with his arms folded sneered and spoke with a mocking tone.
“Build a reserve station on the asteroid belt? Four of them? Haha, I’m afraid that you have forgotten about the active space pirates on the asteroid belt.”
“We have the most powerful fleet in the solar system that can provide us with security and protection! I don’t think this is a problem at all!”
“That is the fleet of the Pan-Asian Cooperation, not Tiangong City.” Academician Yang Chongping said blankly after interrupting that person, “Unless the Pan-Asian Cooperation allows us to have our own defense forces, your proposal will never be established.”
The red-faced person who had previously argued fiercely suddenly back down. He hesitated for a while and finally sat back in his seat.
Seeing that the atmosphere was a little stiff, the mayor’s secretary sitting at the conference table gave a light cough and began to play the role of peacemaker. He smiled kindly and said, “Don’t get excited, everyone… This idea does have certain barriers. We have been fighting for the right to self-defense for a long time, but there has been no progress.”
The man who raised the objection showed a smile on his face, he put down his arms and said in a pleasant voice.
“This matter doesn’t need to be so troublesome at all. The transportation capacity of our company is more than enough to maintain this route across the asteroid belt. We can transport the water extracted from Europa to Mars for processing. This is both efficient and avoids unnecessary risks—”
“Mr. Yu Zhenghui,” the mayor’s secretary glanced at him and interrupted his speech. The secretary’s voice also brought a hint of displeasure as he continued, “Please pay attention to your own words. We are discussing the public development plan, please don’t discuss private business.”
The man named Yu Zhenghui shrugged his shoulders, dropped an insincere apology, and stopped talking.
But the confident expression on his face made the experts here nervous.
Lu Zhou watched this controversy on the sidelines. He glanced at the man next to him and said in a low voice, “I thought that the academia on Mars would be more united?”
“That’s where you’re wrong.” Wu Qinglai said with a helpless expression, “Once there is an interest in anything, there is no unity.”
Lu Zhou nodded thoughtfully and gave an ambiguous view.
“That makes sense.”
Speaking of which, what is the opinion of Academician Yang Chongping?
Lu Zhou subconsciously looked in the direction of Academician Yang, but unexpectedly, he noticed that the middle-aged man was also looking at him.
Perhaps it was just a coincidence. The moment the two of them made eye contact, Academician Yang moved his gaze away from him.
Lu Zhou frowned slightly.
For some reason, I feel like this meeting may be more important than I thought…
Due to the disputing between several big names, the first day of the meeting ended in an unhappy atmosphere, and the unresolved disputes were left for tomorrow.
Perhaps because of the emotions at the conference table, Lu Zhou noticed that many faces did not appear at the banquet.
Mayor Xiao of Tiangong City even made a special visit to the banquet. After greeting the experts he invited, he pulled Lu Zhou aside and talked about his optimism for the future prospects of Mars and what he planned to do after his term.
It wasn’t until Lu Zhou looked at his watch for the tenth time that this conversation finally ended. Lu Zhou said that he still had work to deal with and quickly left the hotel venue.
After dinner, Lu Zhou returned to his room, flipped through the notes made during the meeting, and briefly sorted out some of the interesting ideas.
Although he had his own ideas on Europa’s development plan, this did not prevent him from learning from other people’s plans and perfecting his own plan.
Of course, this also included Academician Yang Chongping’s plan.
He could feel that this guy seemed to be inexplicably hostile or jealous towards him, but he had to admit that this guy must have some impressive abilities, seeing that he was an academician after all.
The doorbell rang outside the room. After Lu Zhou glanced at the picture on the holographic screen, he casually pressed the button to open the door.
The door opened, and Lu Zhou watched as Wang Peng came in from outside. He then asked casually, “Found any clues?”
Wang Peng sat on the sofa and said with a sigh, “It’s not that easy. I went to meet with my colleagues today. Those people from the foundation act very cautiously. If it weren’t for the case of East Asia Energy that forced them to show their faces, we might still be kept in the dark.”
Lu Zhou: “It seems that I was of help then?”
Wang Peng smiled and said, “Of course… Speaking of which, I heard some very interesting rumors while wandering around.”
Lu Zhou: “What rumors?”
Wang Peng: “Recently, several extraterrestrial galaxy colonization funds have been raising funds publicly, intending to build colonial ships to head to other galaxies. Has East Asia Heavy Industries already begun to industrialize warp drives? I haven’t heard any news at all.”
Colonial ships?
Hearing this word, Lu Zhou was slightly stunned.
What surprised him was not that someone had the idea of going outside the solar system, but that people actually took the initiative ahead of him.
“I don’t think so. The related technology is still in the experimental stage, but we do have plans to commercialize this technology.”
“I see, that’s weird then.” Wang Peng picked up the mineral water bottle on the table and took a sip. After a while, he continued, “At first, I thought it was a new type of financial scam, and I was prepared to report it to my colleagues in other departments, but later on, I found out that this matter is not that simple. Guess what, this project is actually endorsed by the Mars Academy of Sciences!”
“Oh, really?” Lu Zhou raised his eyebrows slightly and cast an unexpected glance at him. “Are you sure the source of the news is legit?”
“It hasn’t been verified yet, but it should not be wrong.” Wang Peng continued after thinking for a while, “I remember the expert who endorsed the colony plan. He seems to be called… Yang Chongping?”
