Chapter 677: Raise Your Hand
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
China National Space Administration.
Inside a conference room.
A title was shown on the screen.
[The feasibility of fusion battery technology and ion thruster propulsion in aerospace.]
The title of the thesis was also the subject of the conference.
Even though the title wasn’t very long, it contained a lot of information. So much so that even though the conference had begun a long time ago, no one has spoken yet.
Director Sun looked at the people in the conference room and contemplated for a bit with his eyes closed. He slowly opened his eyes and broke the silence.
“This thesis was written by Professor Lu around two days ago. After we received this thesis, the leaders from the Communist Party of China told me to discuss this with you guys.”
Director Sun paused for a second and made sure that he didn’t forget any details.
“About this thesis... Well, the space shuttle, I want to hear your opinions.”
The conference room remained silent.
After a while, a quiet voice spread through the conference room.
“The space shuttle program was dropped by Qian Xuesen for a reason... Should we do this?”
“Are we going to listen to Qian Xuesen forever? Also, that was a long time ago. If someone wanted to build a plane a hundred years ago, do you think people would have believed them?”
“I agree with Professor Yu, right now the NASP program and the Sanger program in Germany are focusing on reusable space shuttles for round-trip transportation systems. I’m sure the Americans have lost more on the space shuttle program than we have. There’s a reason why they’re choosing to go with the space shuttle. Therefore, we can’t ignore their decision!”
Director Sun was sitting at the end of the conference table as he quietly listened to their discussion.
Even though the discussion was somewhat sloppy, he had no other choice.
After all, since Professor Lu’s thesis mentioned a lot of sensitive technology, it wasn’t suitable for public discussion or even closed-door expert meetings. Therefore, the information sent to the conference attendees was altered. For example, the fusion battery was described as a hypothetical unfinished technology.
Therefore, most people didn’t take the fusion battery technology seriously.
Actually, similar things had happened before in this conference room. However, there weren’t advanced multimedia equipment back then, and the conference attendees had obviously changed.
Deputy Director Wang looked at the chaotic conference room. He then quietly said, “Director.”
“What now?”
“Is this discussion... necessary?”
Director Sun raised his eyebrows.
“What do you mean?”
Deputy Director Wang said, “The higher-ups want us to treat Professor Lu’s thesis seriously. Isn’t their intent obvious?”
Director Sun said with a blank expression, “We still have to discuss. Otherwise, do you want to be responsible when something goes wrong?”
The deputy director smiled and shut his mouth.
The discussion gradually became heated.
No one could convince anyone.
Director Sun looked at his watch and saw that it was about time, so he cleared his throat and raised his voice.
“In order to ensure this meeting can be held more effectively, I will disclose some private information. I want you all to make sure that you do not have any electronic devices and make sure that this stays strictly confidential.”
The conference room began to quiet down.
The experts in the room looked at each other. They all had thoughtful expressions on their faces.
Of course, some people were confused as they looked at Director Sun with suspicion on their faces.
Director Sun didn’t explain anything. He looked at his assistant next to him and nodded.
The assistant standing next to the multimedia desk immediately knew what was going on. The assistant placed a CD into the computer on the multimedia desk and quickly found the original thesis inside the CD. There was some sensitive data, as well as information regarding the fusion battery.
1The moment the information was projected on the screen, the conference room went dead silent.
A few minutes had gone by...
Suddenly, there was an uproar in the conference room.
“100 MW! This is impossible!”
“If the output power can reach 100 MW... then it could generate thrust on the kN magnitude...”
“This is ridiculous! If they can reach 100 MW of power, then the ion thruster can provide kN magnitudes of thrust?!”
So far the world’s most powerful ion thruster was NASA’s NEXT system, which had a power output of 6.8KW, with only a thrust of 0.236N.
A thrust that was in the magnitude of thousands of newtons...
It would require energy in the order of MW, but no ion thruster in this world would be able to use this energy.
An old professor with glasses looked at the data on the projector.
“What kind of ion thruster can achieve this level of power...”
“They’re not scamming for research funding, right?”
“Impossible, Professor Lu wrote this himself! Do you think he’s lacking in research funding?”
“I think he’s a fraud!”
1“But what if he actually did it?”
“Quiet!”
The loud voice interrupted the chaotic conference room.
The director looked at the experts in the conference room and said, “I’m a layman, so I can’t evaluate whether this is reliable or not. After all, I’ve been on many planes, but I’ve never been on a space shuttle.
“You are all aerospace experts. Over the past two decades, our country’s aerospace industry has made great progress with your help. Not only have we made technological breakthroughs, but we also completed things that other countries couldn’t dare to imagine.
“Therefore, I believe in your judgment.”
Director Sun only used one sentence to put an end to this argument.
“Put your hands up for a vote.”
The conference room went silent for a while.
The experts carefully looked at the data on the projector and began to contemplate.
Gradually, one hand went up.
Then the second...
Then a third...
After a while, Director Sun looked around the room and began to count.
Eleven of the twenty people raised their hands.
Even though some people didn’t want to vote, the majority was for the proposal.
Director Sun looked around the room and nodded. He stood up and spoke in a concise manner.
“Project approved!
“Meeting finished!”
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