Facing President Albert's question, Morton shook his head palely.
"No... I don't know."
"The Hall thrusters previously developed by NASA definitely don't have this much thrust!"
"How about...I ask Professor Austin, who was in charge of the Hall Thruster Project?"
Albert glared at Morton hatefully and growled in a low voice: "Why don't you go and ask?!"
Morton's face turned bitter, with a hint of grievance in his eyes.
"You were the one who said at the beginning that we didn't need to ask the professor..."
"Huh? What did you say?" Albert's face suddenly turned dark.
Morton didn't dare to retort, so he silently took out his cell phone and called Professor Austin.
The call was connected quickly.
"Professor Austin, this is Moulton."
As soon as the call was connected, Morton turned on the hands-free function and asked directly: "I would like to ask, can the thrust of the Hall thruster reach 50 tons?"
No sound came out of the microphone.
Morton frowned and asked softly again: "Professor Austin, are you listening?"
Professor Austin's faint voice came from the microphone: "Director Morton, are you kidding me?"
"That's not funny at all!"
Morton glanced at the president beside him with an embarrassed look on his face, coughed lightly and said, "Ahem! Professor Austin, the president is with me."
"I hope you can think about it carefully!"
After hesitating for a moment, Morton spoke again and added: "Xiaguo already has a Hall thruster with a thrust of 50 tons, and it has been installed on an aerospace plane."
"What?! This, this is impossible!" Austin exclaimed from the other end of the microphone, "The current generator power is definitely not enough to support such a Hall thruster!"
Morton's eyes moved slightly, and he asked in a deep voice: "What if... Professor Austin, I mean, what if Xiaguo combines small nuclear fusion and Hall thrusters?"
Austin fell silent.
From this silence, Morton and Albert both got the answers they wanted.
"Okay, Professor Austin, I understand. That's it..."
Morton hung up the phone helplessly, then turned to look at Albert beside him: "Mr. President... Perhaps, in this competition, we have completely lost."
"No!" Albert showed a bit of unwillingness in his eyes, "We still have the Pathfinder Project!"
"As long as we occupy Mars first, we haven't lost yet!"
…
Inside Xuannv No. 1.
Bai Yixiuan and the other two were wearing flight suits and sitting quietly in their respective driver's seats.
On the control console in front of him, various indicator lights flashed with their own unique lights.
"call..."
Hong Fan, who was sitting in the left passenger seat, took a deep breath.
"What? Are you nervous?"
Bai Yixiuan's voice came from the side.
Hong Fan smiled bitterly and shook his head: "Brother Xuan, aren't you nervous?"
"This is the first time we've driven a real machine!"
Bai Yixuan shrugged and said nonchalantly, "It's okay. I've never had any accidents in simulation training."
Hong Fan's face suddenly became a little stiff.
His simulation training...
Although he only crashed once, the feeling of powerlessness from that crash left him with a huge psychological trauma.
"Don't worry..." Xia Wanyi, who was sitting in the right passenger seat, chuckled, "This is different from the simulation training. We are three people driving together now, so nothing will go wrong!"
"That's right. Even if you don't believe in yourself, you have to believe in my skills." Bai Yixiuan said seriously, "When I come back successfully this time, I will..."
"Shut up!"
Before Bai Yixiuan could finish his words, Hong Fan and Xia Wanyi stopped Bai Yixiuan's "flag-raising" behavior in unison.
Bai Yixuan realized it later and an awkward smile flashed across his face: "Ahem, I didn't mean it..."
"Xuan Nu No. 1, attention, ten minutes countdown for takeoff!"
Just as the three of them were chatting, Cao Liangcai's voice was heard from the built-in headphones in the helmets.
Bai Yixuan's face turned serious, and he immediately pressed the radio switch and responded: "Xuan Nu No. 1 received it!"
"Start the small fusion reactor now!"
As he spoke, Bai Yixiuan pressed a few buttons on the console in front of him.
A fusion reactor requires a certain amount of warm-up time before it can be started.
Therefore, Xuannv-1 needs to start the small fusion reactor ten minutes in advance.
After completing the operation, Bai Yixiuan suddenly realized a problem.
"Where's Professor Lu?"
"Why isn't Professor Lu in charge?"
When Hong Fan heard Bai Yixuan's question, a hint of doubt flashed across his face.
"Hey, now that you mention it, I've noticed it too."
"Isn't Professor Lu in charge of this kind of thing? Why is it that at such an important moment today, Professor Lu is not in charge?"
…
at the same time.
Inside the institute's temporary command center.
Cao Liangcai gently covered his right eye.
For some reason, his right eye had been twitching since a few minutes ago.
Left eye twitching, right eye twitching...
Cao Liang shook his head and threw away the thought.
Pooh!
It's all feudal superstition!
"Are all the data of Xuannv No. 1 normal?"
Cao Liangcai asked the staff beside him anxiously.
"Everything is normal. The fusion reactor is being preheated and is expected to be started within five minutes."
"What about the ground crew?" Cao Liangcai pondered for a moment and asked loudly.
The next moment, a voice came: "Everything is normal!"
"The fuselage of Xuannv No. 1 is in good condition. The ground crew has checked it twice!"
Cao Liangcai's right eyelid twitched twice again.
"We still have a few minutes, check again."
"Make sure there are no mistakes!"
As he spoke, he raised his wrist and looked at the time.
Eight minutes left.
"What's going on with this kid Lu Yongchang..."
"At such an important moment, he actually went to the bathroom?!"
Cao Liangcai frowned, turned around and said to a researcher beside him: "Go, go and get Professor Lu!"
"No matter how urgent it is, he has to wait until Xuannv No. 1 is launched into space before he can take a shit!"
"He is the person in charge of this project after all. How can he just walk away at such a critical moment?"
Hearing Cao Liangcai's scolding, the researcher's face turned bitter and he quickly turned around and ran to the toilet of the institute.
Five minutes later.
The researcher ran back in panic.
"Cao, Academician Cao, something bad has happened!"
"What's wrong?" Perhaps because Xuannv No. 1 was about to take off, Cao Liangcai's temper also became worse. "Xuannv No. 1 is about to take off, don't say such depressing words!"
"Tell me, what happened?"
The researcher stammered, "Professor Lu, he's gone!"