Chapter 717 The White House's Countermeasures

Central basin.

On the road that runs through the desert, a row of heavy engineering equipment is driving into the depths of the desert with billows of dust.

After the site selection of the Tinder Project was completed, the funds from the Ministry of Science and Technology were quickly put in place. Almost at the same time as the bidding work was completed, the equipment of the construction unit went to the construction site from the nearest Urumqi.

At this moment, on the construction site near the barracks, rows of mobile homes have been built. Workers wearing yellow hats quickly completed the loading and unloading of equipment and materials, and set up basic living facilities near the mobile home. In the open space not far from this, heavy equipment heading to the site has already begun to be in the construction area. Work inside.

Any great project starts with the foundation, and Biosphere-a is no exception.

Before erecting the steel support, the construction unit will first hollow out the area and dig a large pit three to four meters deep, then drive steel bars on the ground, pour cement, and finally lay stainless steel plates.

Looking at the engineering equipment being cultivated in the open space not far away, Professor Hu, wearing a hard hat, was meticulously looking at the engineering drawings and construction plans in his hand, and listening to the words of the person in charge of the construction site next to him.

"...This is our construction plan. It starts from the first phase of the project. Now it is laying the foundation. You can see if there are any problems. If there are any problems, you can mention them now. I will find a way to solve them."

After carefully reading the drawings and construction plan, Professor Hu nodded after confirming that there were no omissions.

"Basically there is no problem, when will it be built at the earliest?"

Squinting his eyes and looking at the tumbling yellow sand on the horizon in the distance, the person in charge said: "Three months are enough for the first phase of the project, and the completion of all three phases will take six months if it is fast, or seven or eight months if it is slow." It depends on the weather here. If sandstorms come every now and then, the construction period will definitely be delayed.”

Not just sandstorms.

There are also sudden high temperatures and so on.

There are many uncertain factors in the construction in the desert, any accident may happen, and the construction period is uncertain.

"Speed ​​is secondary, it doesn't matter if it's slower," Hu Yang returned the engineering drawings in his hand to the person in charge, and said with a serious expression, "Please be sure to work harder on the quality, and any tiny omissions could cause the entire experiment to fail."

"Don't worry," the person in charge joked with a relaxed tone after flicking the ash on the cigarette butt, "The quality is for sure. This is a national-level project. I can't possibly make fun of myself for the rest of my life, right?"

If he dared to cut corners for this kind of project, he would simply be bored.

Even if no one said it, he would treat it with one hundred and twenty points of attention.

At the same time, just when the Tinder project was on the right track, the news of Biosphere A also spread like wildfire.

Although the desert is located in the forbidden zone of life, it is almost impossible to keep such a huge project completely secret.

In fact, the Tinder Project is not a secret project, because it is completely unnecessary. After all, it does not involve any national defense technology. Many researches involving biology, ecology, meteorology and hydrology, etc., all belong to the category of natural sciences, and also need to cooperate with other international research institutions.

And just after Biosphere A was officially started, the news that the artificial biosphere was being built quickly spread throughout the international academic community, and caused a huge sensation in related research fields and ecological protection public welfare organizations.

Since the failure of the Biosphere 2 project in the United States, calls for the construction of Biosphere 3 have never ceased. However, no one has been willing to invest in such high-investment, high-risk, and low-return scientific research projects.

At least, it is absolutely impossible to expect the Americans to jump into this big pit again.

Now willing to pay for this "Biosphere 3", which is the Biosphere A under construction in the central government, is undoubtedly a shocking news for scholars and public welfare people who are committed to promoting the research of artificial ecosystems.

After all, investment in the field of natural science has always been extremely limited. This time, he was willing to invest so much capital in the research of natural science, and immediately won the favor of many scholars in the world.

However, what is interesting is that, unlike the positive comments made by the academic circles, the comments made by well-known international media are quite subtle.

Some people think that this is another brave challenge launched by human beings to control nature, and some people analyze the background of this plan in combination with the recent actions in the space field, and believe that it is very likely that it is for "space Expansion" paves the way.

Although these views sound absurd, they still attract NASA's attention.

Or rather, NSC's attention.

As early as about three years ago, after the United States announced its return to the moon, a president with a cool hairstyle signed the relevant decrees, and the National Space Council was rebuilt for the third time, also known as the NSC.

What is different this time is that the reorganized NSC is directly subordinate to the Executive Office of the President, and the Vice President is personally in charge. It is comparable in level to the National Security Council, the Office of Management and Budget, and the Intelligence Advisory Committee.

Obviously, the United States has shown its determination to re-emerge in the space field.

A meeting room in the White House.

After convening his own staff team and senior officials from relevant departments, the president clapped his hands on the table and said with a serious expression.

"With considerable ambition in the development of outer space resources, we must look at our own space program. No matter what we have achieved, it will be useless if we cannot maintain our advantages in space. significance!"

At this time, a voice came from the conference room.

"Can I say a few words?"

Looking in the direction where the voice came from, the president nodded.

"certainly."

Looking at the sights falling on him, the director of NASA slowly stood up and said.

"Currently catching up with us, I don't think there is any need to worry too much. Of course, I don't mean to relax our vigilance. We just need to speed up our own pace and maintain a leading edge."

After a pause, the director of NASA continued.

"I'm proposing to push our frontiers further afield, while keeping the 'Return to the Moon' going forward. For example, to Mars."

The president frowned.

"Mars?"

There were whispers in the conference room.

Not paying attention to those comments, the director of NASA nodded and said seriously.

"Yes, you heard me right, we already have the ability to explore Mars, and we have many excellent aerospace companies who are capable of this mission, we just need to provide them with a little help and integrate their forces together .”

Having said that, he paused for a moment, then raised his voice and continued.

"I propose to start the 'Aris' plan!"

"If they think they can surpass us by putting footprints on the moon, then we will send our people farther to Mars while they are printing footprints!"