Chapter 820 - Lunar Mass Driver
Chapter 820: Lunar Mass Driver
Beijing.
A conference room at Chang’an Avenue.
Academician Wang Rongjun was wearing a gray coat. He slowly walked into the conference room and found his seat. He placed his vacuum flask on the table.
He looked at the table and tried to find the conference documents, but he couldn’t find anything at all.
Academician Wang Rongjun was confused, and he was about to ask a staff member when he heard a voice next to him.
“Old Wang, what are you doing here?”
Wang Rongjun looked over and saw Chief Engineer Academician Li Qingquan from China Railway Group. Academician Li Qingquan began walking over.
When Wang Rongjun saw his old friend, his eyes widened!
“I was going to ask you that! Last time I asked you to go drinking with me, you said you were at a meeting in another city; how come you’re in Beijing now?”
“Yeah, I had a meeting in another city, but suddenly, the State Administration for National Defense called me and told me there was a secret meeting here. They even bought me the flight tickets. I thought this meeting was confidential, so I didn’t tell you.” Academician Li Qingquan coughed and said, “I didn’t expect you to be invited as well.”
“If even you were invited, then of course they would invite me.” Academician Wang picked up his vacuum flask and unscrewed the lid. He took a sip and looked around the crowded conference room. He said, “There are quite a few big names here.”
Not only were there academicians from the China Railway Company, but the academicians from the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation and China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation were also invited.
Other than that, there were also some unfamiliar faces. They didn’t look like they came from the industry, nor did they look like they came from academia. They seemed like they came from a military research organization.
He began recalling the phone call he received two days ago.
During the phone call, the person didn’t tell him what the conference was about. However, by looking at the big names here, it seemed like this was going to be an important conference…
“Yeah,” Academician Li Qingquan nodded and said, “all of the transportation industry big names are here… Maybe our country wants to plan a new super-high-speed railway project?”
Academician Li Qingquan’s eyes lit up, and he became extremely excited.
The super-high-speed railway was a concept proposed by the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation. It used “magnetic levitation and vacuum tubes” technology to achieve supersonic speeds. It had a theoretical speed of 1,000 kilometers per hour.
When China’s high-speed railway trains reached 350 kilometers, there had been plans about building a super-high-speed railway system. The technology had been proven to be feasible, and many academicians had supported it. However, the project was never initiated.
One was due to safety reasons, and the other was because China already had a 350 kilometers per hour railway system, so there wasn’t much demand for a much faster railway.
It was more profitable and meaningful for China to export its railway technology to other third world countries such as Africa.
However, on this day, the State Administration for National Defense suddenly invited many big names from the transportation industry to this conference. People couldn’t help but get excited.
“Who knows…” Academician Wang Rongjun shook his head and said, “We’ll see what the State Administration for National Defense has to say.”
“You’re right.” Academician Li Qingquan smiled and said, “The conference is about to begin, surely they will tell us what this conference is about.”
It was exactly 10 o’clock in the morning. All of the attendees were in the conference room. The conference room staff closed the main entrance doors, and the meeting officially began.
Director Li from the State Administration for National Defense was the meeting host. When he walked on stage, all of the chatter in the room disappeared. Many people had a serious look on their faces.
“Thank you all very much for taking time out of your busy schedules to participate in this meeting.” Director Li cleared his throat and said, “The reason why we invited you today is that we have an important matter that needs to be consulted with experts.
“Due to the confidential nature of this matter, we were not able to disclose any information prior to this conference. I hope you all understand.
“Also, I hope you can keep the conference content strictly confidential. At the same time, do not hesitate to give your own opinions. If you have any good ideas, feel free to share them.”
A projector shined on the projector screen in the conference room.
Once everyone saw the projected picture, the previously quiet conference room started to become noisy.
People looked at each other with astonished eyes.
Lunar mass driver!
People had their own guesses on what the State Administration for National Defense wanted to talk about today, but none of them expected the conference to be about the mass driver.
Academician Li Qingquan was slightly disappointed that the conference wasn’t about the super-high-speed rail. Academician Wang Rongjun, who was sitting next to him, had his mouth wide open.
After a while, Wang Rongjun asked, “Are they building a high-speed rail on the Moon?”
Director Li cleared his throat and spoke in a serious manner.
“According to the construction plans provided by the Lunar Orbit Committee, we plan on building an acceleration track on a lunar crater…
“By using electromagnetic acceleration, the object will be accelerated to the Moon’s escape velocity, then launched into lunar orbit through another inclined track…
“The construction will begin at the same time as the lunar research facilities. The first-phase project budget is 200 billion yuan. More than 70 universities, research institutes, and companies will be involved.”
As Academician Li Qingquan listened to the State Administration for National Defense director speak, he had a slight smile on his face.
200 billion yuan for the first phase of the project!
They’re basically building another Moon Palace on the Moon!
Academician Wang Rongjun frowned at the PowerPoint on the screen, and he suddenly said, “Building this thing will probably be extremely difficult. Even if we do build it, the power consumption will be astronomical! I’m afraid we’ll have to build a fusion reactor on the Moon just to supply this big cannon.”
“Big cannon?” Academician Li Qingquan raised his eyebrows. “What do you mean?”
Academician Wang Rongjun replied, “It is basically a big cannon.”
The electromagnetic acceleration could accelerate an object to a speed of more than two kilometers per second.
That was much faster than any cannon projectile.
Li Qingquan stared at the PowerPoint and spoke with emotion.
“They’ve been putting off the super-high-speed rail project for at least half a decade by now.”
Academician Wang Rongjun didn’t know why his friend was bringing this up, so he looked at him and asked, “I think so… Why?”
Academician Li Qingquan said, “There were a lot of academicians who supported the project, right?”
Academician Wang Rongjun: “What’s your point?”
Academician Li Qingquan sighed and said, “Nothing, I’m just feeling a bit emotional.”
The super-high-speed railway project would also cost a couple hundred billion, yet it was never approved. This “Moon cannon” project was approved with just the support of one person.
Countless academicians were no match against one person.
There would never be a scholar with as much influence as Lu Zhou…