The third Monday in October.
This was an extraordinary day for the two space race super countries.
According to the Mars Rescue plan announced in the previous press conference, today was the day the two astronauts would return to their respective countries.
The greatest human rescue in history would finally come to an end.
The two astronauts had suffered greatly over the past couple of months, and they were both mentally and physically exhausted.
After asking the astronauts for their own opinions, Julia, a Dutch citizen, would return to Amsterdam directly on a flight provided by the Dutch government, while Johnson, as an American, would return to his home country on a flight arranged by the White House.
Beijing International Airport.
The Chinese government arranged a grand handover ceremony.
When Johnson stood at the special security entrance, he saw the person who established the rescue plan, the chief designer of the Lunar Orbit Committee—Lu Zhou.
“Thank you.” Johnson trembled as he shook Lu Zhou’s hand. He said, “Thank you for bringing us back from Mars!”
Even though Lu Zhou was probably the biggest competitor to NASA, this didn’t prevent Johnson from giving Lu Zhou the utmost respect and gratitude.
“You’re welcome.” Lu Zhou smiled as he shook this astronaut’s hand. He said, “Come visit China again some time.”
“I will.” Johnson let go of Lu Zhou’s hand and looked at the American diplomat next to him. He took a deep breath and said, “Ok then… It’s time for me to go.”
“Ok, go on.” Lu Zhou waved his hand and said, “Tell Carson I said hi.”
“I definitely will!”
Johnson picked up his carry-on luggage and boarded the plane.
After a while, the hatch was closed, and the flight took off.
The engine roared as the plane disappeared into the skyline.
Lu Zhou looked at the plane fly away and squinted his eyes. He then turned around and was about to leave.
The American diplomat standing next to him smiled.
“Thank you for everything you did for the Americans. This moment will be remembered in history.”
“No need to thank me. Even though we are from different countries, we are all humans.” Lu Zhou shook the diplomat’s hand and said, “We should work as one nation.”
The diplomat smiled.
“We should!”
There was a banquet scheduled after the handover ceremony.
Lu Zhou didn’t like this kind of occasion, so he decided not to attend the Mars Rescue banquet.
As for himself, he returned to his hotel.
In the hotel lobby, Lu Zhou asked to borrow the hotel printer. He told the staff members to send the printer to his room. He then went into his room and took out an unfinished mass driver thesis from his suitcase. He sat at his desk and contemplated it for a while before he began to improve the thesis.
Actually, he had thought about this lunar mass driver idea for a while.
All the way back in 2012, NASA had a similar idea. They even did a technical demonstration, and the relevant theses could be found online.
In theory, the acceleration technology used in this device was similar to maglev trains.
By using a long and narrow track with electromagnetic acceleration, the ore or spacecraft could be accelerated to orbital velocity speeds, then directly “shot” into orbit.
Of course, even though this sounded easy in principle, it was very difficult to execute.
As the chief designer of the Lunar Orbit Committee, Lu Zhou didn’t need to create a detailed drawing of the entire project. Instead, he just needed to conduct an overview assessment of the entire project.
For example, how long should the track be? What was the cost per meter of track length? Would it be technically feasible? What were the risks? More importantly, which crater should they build it on?
Lu Zhou already asked the researchers on the Moon Palace to collect all of the relevant resources.
Because he had a level 5 in engineering, and he was the chief designer of the Lunar Orbit Committee, it wasn’t very difficult for him to complete the entire thesis.
Lu Zhou clicked his mouse and pressed the printing option.
Soon after, the printer in his room began to hum and spit out freshly printed pages.
Lu Zhou looked at the newly-printed pages and began double-checking the thesis. He felt a little hungry. Suddenly, he heard knocking sounds at his door. Wang Peng came in while carrying a plastic bag.
“You’re still working?”
“Yeah.” Lu Zhou put down the thesis, and when he noticed the plastic bag, he asked, “What are you holding?”
“I went to the headquarters in the afternoon, and I brought you back some local specialties.”
Wang Peng placed the plastic bag on Lu Zhou’s desk.
“Is it Peking duck?” Lu Zhou’s eyes lit up, and he said, “Delicious, where is it from?”
“Oh, I bought it from this local shop.” Wang Peng smiled and said, “It’s not very famous, but I think the flavor is authentic.”
“It does smell nice.” Lu Zhou opened the plastic bag and took a whiff. He looked at the delicious crispy roast duck and said, “If only there were some beer as well.”
Wang Peng, who had just sat down on the sofa, stood up.
“What do you want to drink, I’ll buy it for you.”
“No, it’s fine, I can just call the hotel for room service.” Lu Zhou opened the drawer and took out a folder. He placed the freshly printed thesis into the folder and said, “Rather than buying beer, there is something I need you to deliver.”
Wang Peng immediately asked, “Deliver to where?”
Lu Zhou gave Wang Peng the folder.
“Chang’an Avenue.
“You should know who to give it to.”
