The news broadcast on CBS TV station continued, but Musk was no longer in the mood to watch any more.

Not only because of the reports about SpaceX, his glory has passed. It is also because of the sudden news of manned landing on Mars, which shocked him.

Despite various previous statements on social media, SpaceX will launch a manned mission to Mars in 2030, and even stated that humans will immigrate to Mars within 20 years.

But in fact, Musk himself knows very well that this is just a way to stimulate the stock market.

Not to mention the manned mission to the moon, even a month ago, the United States' return to the moon was something that all the people were looking forward to.

The failure of the Artemis moon landing has plunged the country that was once the largest space agency into deep doubts.

If it weren't for the perfect success of the Artemis 2 lunar module's manned lunar landing and return plan, few people in the United States would be paying attention to matters in the aerospace field.

In the previous somersault, they fell really hard.

But just as people's confidence in the aerospace field was being boosted, it was revealed that their competitors were already preparing to land humans on Mars.

This is definitely a huge blow to the aerospace development of the United States.

The stock market, which has not yet improved, may have been smashed to the floor by now.

After taking a deep breath and regaining consciousness, Musk took out his phone from his pocket and opened Twitter.

Unsurprisingly, China’s upcoming manned mission to Mars has already topped the hot search list.

Almost everyone is discussing and lamenting this matter, and a small number of people are angrily criticizing NASA and the authorities, saying angrily that they receive so much funding every year but do nothing, handing over the space industry.

status.

[Damn, what on earth is our NASA doing? The Chinese are starting to prepare to land on Mars! 】

[Xie Te! Can we still catch up with China? They are all starting to prepare to board the fire!]

[Shit NASA, shit authorities, with tens of billions of dollars in funding every year, have even failed to land on the moon. Not only have they not made progress, they have regressed!]

[One second I was still happy that Artemis 2 returned to the moon, but the next second I couldn’t laugh. While our eyes were still on the moon, China was already aiming at something more distant.

Mars.】

[To be honest, I am very pessimistic. We are no longer the number one country in the field of aerospace. Please wake up NASA and stop living in history with the glory of the past!]

[Damn it, isn’t it enough that they occupied the moon? Now they have extended their claws to Mars! The moon also has the "Convention" that stipulates that it belongs to all mankind, but what about Mars? Mars has nothing! Just wait and see, otherwise

In a few years, Mars will completely fall into the hands of those Chinese people!]

[One of the most important steps for human civilization on Mars to step out of the earth and solar system, we must stop those Chinese people!]

【......】

As he expected, almost everyone who paid attention to this news talked about the manned mission to the moon in a tone of exclamation or shock.

Staring at the hot search messages and comments on his phone, Elon Musk's face was full of complicated expressions.

He and Professor Xu are both competitors and partners.

The two also reached a cooperation deal worth billions of dollars.

If it weren't for lithium-sulfur batteries, Tesla wouldn't be able to have strong competitiveness in the market, and it would even be hailed as the hope of all-American new energy vehicles.

However, in the aerospace field, whenever SpaceX's business and stock price start to improve, this person will always come up with some other news or things.

SpaceX seems to have a natural personality conflict with him, and the two sides will collide every time.

And every time they collided, it was his SpaceX that failed miserably.

Musk knew that Professor Xu was not actually targeting him, but the entire American aerospace enterprise.

But SpaceX itself is part of the U.S. aerospace industry, and it is also a leading company. It is the first company to face the impact.

Unless, he is willing to give up SpaceX.

Or choose to cooperate with Professor Xu.

But no matter which option he chooses, it is almost impossible for him.

SpaceX is his ideal and he cannot give up.

And choosing to cooperate with Professor Xu Chuan is even more impossible.

Currently, SpaceX relies on domestic aerospace orders in the United States. To be precise, most of their aerospace resources are obtained from NASA.

When NASA and the space agency are at loggerheads with each other, and both parties are at odds with each other and are competing, it is impossible for SpaceX, NASA's top horse, to cooperate with its competitors.

Sighing in silence, Musk subconsciously raised his hand to take a sip of Coke, only to realize that the Coke in his hand had already fallen to the ground.

...

At the same time, on the other side.

Because of this sudden news, NASA Director Bill Nelson, who had just gotten off work, urgently returned to the headquarters and held a temporary meeting to face this unexpected situation.

The Xinghai Research Institute, China's most powerful institution in the aerospace field, is a thorn in their side and will officially launch the manned mission project in four months.

For them, who are now basically focusing their energy on the moon, this is simply a dimensionality reduction blow.

If China takes the lead in achieving manned landing on spacecraft, it will definitely be an unacceptable thing for the United States, which has always regarded itself as a space power.

However, for NASA, it held an emergency meeting but could not come up with any effective way to deal with this crisis.

It is not that no one has proposed the idea of ​​sending astronauts to Mars via the Falcon Heavy rocket before the Xinghai Research Institute.

This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! But it was rejected as soon as it was proposed.

A serious accident occurred when the Artemis lunar module was the first to land on the moon. In the end, they had to ask for help from their competitors to allow the two astronauts trapped in the lunar module to return to Earth smoothly.

That time, the United States was embarrassed in front of all countries in the world.

If a manned landing on Mars is forcibly carried out this time and another accident occurs, let alone a blow to the credibility of NASA, the entire United States may not be able to bear the price.

Because allowing astronauts to carry out such a mission with almost no return will arouse strong opposition among the people.

If astronauts, the country's top elites, can be sacrificed at will, then ordinary people like them may have even less protection.

Especially in a country like the United States that values ​​human rights.

But apart from forcibly launching a spacecraft and trying to get a manned mission ahead of their opponents, they also have no other way to stop their opponents' actions.

Launch missiles to knock down the opponent's spacecraft?

This is simply impossible.

Not to mention NASA, even the president does not have this right now.

public opinion?

The other party won't care anymore.

Especially when facing that person, public opinion is of no use to him at all.

...

Just when the eyes of the whole world were focused on the news of manned missions to space.

On the other side, far away in the starry sky 380,000 kilometers away.

On the moon, in the laboratory at the Yuehuatai Qianshao Research Station base, Liu Wenkang, wearing dark blue casual clothes, was lying on a chair, leisurely browsing entertainment videos on his tablet computer.

As a professor at the School of Materials Science and Engineering at NTU, he originally thought that his life should have been spent in school.

In the end, no one expected that the big boss in the school would actually create a new world in the field of aerospace and build a scientific research base on the moon.

With the mentality of giving it a try, Liu Wenkang submitted an application to Xinghai Research Institute.

Unexpectedly, the application was approved, and just like that, he was granted a six-month scientific research period on the moon.

After a series of exercises and training, he arrived at the Yuehuatai Outpost Scientific Research Base on the moon.

Although he was not the first scientific researcher to arrive on the moon, he adapted quickly to the work and life here.

The low-gravity environment does bring considerable interference to scientific research work and life, and even has a certain impact on the body.

But the scientific research work on the moon is actually not very busy. They work on average only three to four hours a day.

The rest of the time is basically personal.

Whether it's going to the gym to exercise and adapt to a low-gravity environment; or like him, lying in the lab watching videos and playing games on your phone.

At this moment, the tablet in his hand suddenly lit up with a caller ID.

He quickly connected to the video call, and a colleague wearing dark blue casual clothes on the opposite side caught Liu Wenkang's eyes.

Seeing this man, Liu Wenkang smiled and said hello: "What's the matter, Lao Wang?"

On the other side of the video call, the middle-aged man named Lao Wang smiled and said: "There is a sample of native lunar samples collected yesterday, which is being sent to you via the 06·A base vehicle. It should be arriving soon."

"As always, you do a basic test first, check the situation, and record it."

When he heard that there was a scientific research task, Liu Wenkang sat up straight, nodded with a smile and said: "Okay, I understand, we will process the samples as soon as they arrive."

"Okay, hang up."

"bye."

A brief work chat, this is the normal communication between the scientific researchers on the moon.
To be continued...