Chapter 739 NASA Press Conference

9 a.m. Washington time.

The lounge behind the scenes at the NASA press conference.

Director Carson, who was standing in front of the mirror, stretched out his hand to tighten the tie on his chest, adjusted his appearance, and said suddenly.

"Gerstenmeier, do you believe in God?"

Sitting on a chair not far away, Deputy Director Gerstenmayer was slightly stunned when he heard this, and spoke after a moment of hesitation.

"I... sorry, I'm not a believer."

"Are you a materialist?"

"That's right." Deputy Director Gerstenmeier shrugged. "After all, dealing with rockets and satellites every day, no matter how devout a believer is, he will have doubts about his faith."

"It seems that we are not the same kind of people," Director Carson said slowly, smiling at himself in the mirror, "I am an idealist."

"...so you believe in theism?"

"No, my so-called idealism is not the idealism you understand, but a spiritual awakening. How to make our country great again? The most important thing is not how to make it great, but how to make our people great Believe we can do it, and we are doing it."

At this point, he stopped talking, looking at the bewildered deputy director Gerstenmeier, Carson rolled up his cuffs and glanced at his watch.

"It's almost time, the reporters are still waiting for us, it's time to go."

...

The lights come on.

Director Carson, who was dressed in formal attire, stepped onto the stage, nodded to all the reporters and the cameras in their hands, and then announced the start of the press conference.

Originally, this kind of press conference should be handed over to a special spokesperson, but considering the incident caused by the poor performance of the press conference in the previous press conference, Carson felt that it was better to do it by himself this time. .

"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to join us for this press conference. Just over a week ago, the Congressional Budget Committee approved our budget line for the first part of the Ares plan, with a total weight of The BFR super rocket with a 25-ton life support unit will be launched to Mars in a month, sending our future new home to the surface of Mars."

With that said, Director Carson looked at the big screen behind him.

"The life support unit I'm talking about, that's it."

The moment the voice fell, the screen switched.

I saw a hemispherical white building in the center of the big screen.

According to the illustration in the perspective drawing, this hemispherical white building is divided into two parts, the inner circle and the inner circle are divided into four blocks, two of which are living quarters, which can accommodate up to four colonists, and for Each colonist provides 5.3 square meters of living space per capita. The other two living blocks are the experimental area and the public living space, which meet the needs of scientific research on the one hand and the living needs of the colonists on the other.

As for the outer ring of the life support unit, that is, the inflated and expanded part of the entire life support unit after landing, it is a circle similar to a vegetable greenhouse. It is used to try to breed some drought-resistant crops to provide colonists with additional food, so as to reduce the cost of transporting materials from Earth to Mars.

In addition to this, there are conceptual drawings of a Mars colony.

I saw rows of hemispherical white "yurts" connected together through transparent pipes, 3D modeling villains shuttled between the pipes, and a Mars rover with huge tires was driving on the nearby red desert.

When seeing this scene, the media at the scene suddenly let out a voice of amazement.

Although NASA has previously announced relevant information on its official website and Twitter account, it did not disclose more details about the Ares project, nor did it explain the specific situation of the life support unit.

Standing here now, looking at everything on the big screen, even though they were prepared to be surprised again before, many people couldn't help showing shocking expressions on their faces.

Especially the BFR super rocket displayed in front of people's eyes!

You must know that before, the Saturn V launch vehicle with the largest load capacity was only 118 tons, and this could only be delivered to low-Earth orbit. If it is to be transported to the lunar orbit, the carrying capacity will be reduced to 47 tons.

However, the destination of the Ares project is not low-earth orbit or lunar orbit, but the surface of Mars, which is 55.76 million kilometers away from the earth!

The reporters were all shocked by NASA's grand plan, and suddenly the hall with more than 300 people fell silent.

Carson was very satisfied with the quiet scene. After coughing lightly, he continued to introduce.

"...the life support unit successfully launched on the surface of Mars will be able to sustain the living needs of 5 astronauts on the surface of Mars for 2 to 5 years at most. During this long period of time, the astronauts will perform multiple tasks on Mars. A scientific research activity, exploring the mineral deposits and water resource reserves on Mars, collecting first-hand information for our scientific researchers on the earth, and paving the way for the follow-up projects of the Ares plan. Eventually we will be on the red planet Go up and build a self-sufficient Martian village!"

As Director Carson's voice fell, the atmosphere at the press conference was pushed to a climax in an instant.

Soon into the on-site questioning session.

All the reporters raised their hands high, as if they wanted to stick their fingers into Carson's nostrils.

Director Carson looked around the venue and naturally chose the Washington Post.

As a newspaper with a long history, the "Washington Post" has a relatively conservative view, and generally will not throw a sharp question to make things difficult for him at the very beginning, so this is also the safest choice.

Under the gesture of Director Carson, Ham, a well-known veteran reporter of the Washington Post, got this precious opportunity.

It took him two seconds to consider his words, and he quickly stretched out the recording pen, and asked: "Hello, Mr. Director, we all know that the Ares project has only recently started, and compared to our grand goal In other words, there is only a small amount of preparation time left for us, do you think this plan is safe? Or let me put it another way, how sure is NASA of realizing the goals of the first phase of the Ares plan?"

As expected by Carson, the entry point chosen by the Washington Post really focused on "preparation time" and "success rate".

Raising his eyebrows, responding to a pair of eyes eagerly looking forward to the answer, Director Carson said kindly: "It is true that the Ares project was restarted recently, but we have been preparing for landing on Mars for a long time before that. For example, the life support unit has been established as a research project ten years ago. And Space-X’s BFR super rocket has completed its first test flight as early as two years ago.”

"The project of colonizing Mars is not our temporary idea, but has been carefully planned! Regarding the safety issue, I can assure you that we will make all safety work perfect before letting our colonists go !"

Director Carson's voice fell, and deafening applause quickly filled the venue.

After a round of warm applause, the British reporter from the BBC was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to ask questions and stood up to speak.

"Mr. Director, we all know that just a week ago, the Huaguo manned moon landing project achieved great success. What I want to ask you is whether NASA's decision to launch the Ares program in such a hasty A response to Moon's behavior?"

Do you still need to ask this question?

If it wasn't for Hua Guo to send astronauts to the moon, Congress would be crazy to approve their crazy and money-burning plan.

Speaking of this, NASA actually has to thank the Chinese people.

After all, if it weren't for Huaguo's pressing step by step in the aerospace field, the gentlemen of the Congressional Budget Committee would never open their pockets so happily.

Of course, the truth is the truth, Director Carson of course would not admit it, and refuted it very simply.

"This statement is groundless. We sent our astronauts to the moon half a century ago. It is affirmed that Huaguo has successfully done this, but it is not enough for us to put them on the moon. Put it in your opponent's place."

"Remember, landing a man on the moon is our past achievement. There is nothing or glory on that land to commemorate. Now, our goal is even more distant Mars, where there are infinite possibilities."

Whoo-ho--!

There was a sound of amazement at the scene.

The expression on the North American reporter's face was full of excitement, as if he had been beaten with chicken blood. The British reporter looked very interested, as if he had seen the big news. The expression of the Russian reporter was a little complicated, and the expression of the Chinese reporter was a little ugly.

No matter how you interpret it, the information revealed in the speech of the director of NASA is not very friendly to China.

We have never regarded you as an opponent!

While you are chasing the footsteps of our past, we have set our sights to the farther side!