Chapter 1298 Return to Mars!

Jinling Space Launch Center.

A huge and magnificent aerospace plane is already crawling on the launch runway, ready to go.

Its name is the Xiaguang, but it is somewhat different from the Xiaguang a few years ago. In order to adapt to long-distance flight and more flexible launch missions, the Institute of Aerospace Science and Technology of the Jinling Institute for Advanced Study redesigned its fusion power supply unit and high-power Hall thrusters, at the expense of the ultimate speed, improving the Its cruising range and engine stability.

Now let alone Mars, even the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter can be easily reached within a month. However, the Lunar Orbit Construction Committee does not have a realistic need to send people so far away. If it is just collecting rock samples, it can be achieved through unmanned probes.

As for the pilot of this flight, he was also the original crew of Mars Rescue, and also the only astronaut in the astronaut brigade who had experience in Mars orbit cruising.

As an experimental equipment packaged in a metal cubic cargo box was sent into the cargo compartment, the entire aerospace plane has completed its final launch preparations.

Liu Biao and Xu Zhenghong, who had already put on the spacesuits in the cabin, boarded the gangway under the watchful eyes of the ground crew, entered the interior of the aerospace plane, took their seats in the main and co-pilot seats respectively, and connected the spacesuits to the cabin life support. on the system.

"The long-lost trip to Mars."

"I don't know if I can still see the wreckage of the BFS spaceship in the past,"

Grinning, Xu Zhenghong, who had checked that all the instruments in the cockpit were normal, smiled and said: "Haha, it's been more than a year, probably I can't see it anymore"

Liu Biao joked, "If the situation permits, maybe we can get it back."

During the last rescue operation, NASA was worried that Huaguo would obtain the secrets on the BFS spacecraft, and voluntarily crashed the BFS spacecraft hovering in orbit when the Xiaguang arrived at Mars.

But having said that, the coordinates of the crashed spaceship were still recorded by them. If the fuel is sufficient, it is really not difficult to land on Mars and get some "souvenirs" back by the way.

"The situation probably won't allow it. Why do we have to deal with a bunch of junk, and it's still troublesome junk," Xu Zhenghong opened the power output gate, watching the rising magnetic counter, Xu Zhenghong pushed the ignition switch and at the same time Switched to the communication screen of the ground command center, and said in a serious tone, "This is Xiaguang, we are entering the take-off orbit."

"Received, this is the ground command center, everything is normal in the sky, the launch plan continues, I wish you good luck!"

The black engine was instantly lit by blue flames, and driven by the high-temperature plasma beam, the huge fuselage began to slide forward, and finally pulled the azure blue light into the sky. Together with the expectations of the people on the ground for the future, it led to the fiery red planet tens of millions of kilometers away.

In the auditorium outside the launch center.

Seeing the aerospace plane disappearing at the end of the cloud, physicists and journalists from all over the world made exclamations of amazement.

With their backs facing a clear sky, the reporter of BBC TV reported the scene to the camera with a shocking expression that was almost exaggerated.

"An aerospace plane, about two-thirds the size of a Boeing 777, lifted off the runway with a blue light and disappeared into the sky behind me."

"I can't use words to describe the shock in my heart, not because of its speed, but because it subverted my understanding of space launch."

"Maybe it's too late to say this now, but I never thought about it...maybe NASA people never thought about it, under the action of the catalyst of controllable fusion, even electric propulsion can explode out to be not inferior to chemical propulsion." The power of the engine!"

"I almost forgot to mention the real thing. IMCRC's Z particle clock has successfully passed through the troposphere and is heading towards the edge of the atmosphere. If all goes well, it will reach the orbit of Mars within two weeks. Put down the Z particle clock and test Professor Lu Zhou The hyperspace theory of..."

not far away.

A slightly younger man who looked like a student stood beside Professor Witten.

As if he was afraid of missing a moment, he stared at the sky for a long time without blinking. He didn't look back until the people started to leave, and he looked at Professor Witten and asked.

"professor……"

"What's wrong?"

"If he really managed to exceed the speed of light, what does it mean?"

"This means that he may be greater than Einstein..." Pausing for a while, as if he felt that his statement was not accurate enough, Witten added in a serious tone, "Correct, it's not possible, but yes. "

The news of the launch of the Z-Particle Clock spread across the world through the news.

According to the voyage plan, after arriving at the synchronous orbit and putting down the first Z particle clock detector, the Xiaguang will go to the Moon Palace, and after completing the "fuel" replenishment there, continue to fly to Mars to orbit.

When the eyes of the whole world were focused on the aerospace plane passing through the edge of the atmosphere, not far away, in the office of the president of the Jinling Institute for Advanced Study, Lu Zhou was thinking quietly about the calculations on the whiteboard.

At this time, the sound of knocking on the door sounded from the door.

"Please come in."

The door opened, and a familiar figure walked into the office.

"You're actually here," Luo Wenxuan said curiously, looking at the calculation formulas that he couldn't understand written all over the whiteboard, "I thought you would at least be standing in the command tower of the launch center at this time."

"What's the point of standing there?" Without taking his eyes off the whiteboard, Lu Zhou smiled lightly, and replied casually, "Whether I'm on site or not won't affect the success rate of the launch. Besides, it's just a trip to Mars It’s just that it’s not the first time we’ve been there, so there’s nothing memorable about it.”

Luo Wenxuan: "What are you doing?"

"Do a final check on the calculation results..." After adding a few lines of calculations on the whiteboard, Lu Zhou pondered for a while, and then said, "Or, find a way to make it more perfect."

Luo Wenxuan: "Surprisingly, I didn't expect you to be not excited at all, and even have the mood to count these things."

Lu Zhou: "Is there anything exciting?"

Luo Wenxuan teased and said: "It feels like a physicist greater than Einstein is about to be born, and every explorer in the new sailing age will shout his name before setting sail, praying for safe travel. In the future, if If a spaceship breaks down outside the solar system, the passengers will definitely not call God by his name, but shout 'GTMD, Lu Zhou'."

Hearing this interesting statement, Lu Zhou couldn't help but smile.

"This is too exaggerated. The Z particle is just a breakthrough in our hyperspace theory. Whether it can become the key to solving interstellar travel in the end depends on how people in the future understand this theory. It is not necessarily the first move at this time. It means advantages, just like direct current and alternating current, although the former was born first, it is the latter that wins people's favor in the end."

"But Faraday's contribution to the world will be remembered by all."

Lu Zhou: "I don't deny this. For such a useless thing, the discoverer must be rewarded with some reputation."

Luo Wenxuan shrugged his shoulders and asked, "Then why do you do such a thing that is not beneficial and involves huge risks?"

Lu Zhou: "Frankly speaking, it's because of interest."

Luo Wenxuan was slightly taken aback, then smiled.

"It really looks like your answer."

Lu Zhou: "Did you come here to find me just to chat with me?"

"of course not."

Speaking, Luo Wenxuan took out a card from his pocket and handed it to Lu Zhou.

Looking at this beautifully crafted card, Lu Zhou raised his eyebrows curiously, put down the marker pen in his hand, took it, unfolded it along the folding line, and glanced at the content on it.

"This is?"

"An invitation letter." Looking at Lu Zhou, Luo Wenxuan shrugged his shoulders and explained, "I don't know if you are interested, but I happen to be here in Jinling, so I brought it for you along the way."