The Grandmother in the Siheyuan

Chapter 575 Reference
With verifiable achievements, this one sentence alone silenced the crowd. Coupled with Liu Hua's subsequent bold pronouncements, no one dared to utter a word. They dared not even dream of developing a rocket with a thrust of 400 tons within ten years.

They dared not even think about it, but Liu Hua dared to think about it. It's just an engine with 400 tons of thrust, right? If we put in the effort, we can make it 500 tons.

As a result, several research institutes studying rocket engines could only take on a supporting task, assisting Liu Hua by researching some general-purpose aspects.

After a three-day meeting, taking into account the pros and cons of various aspects, the mission for the Tiangong space station will be distributed to various research institutes, universities, and manufacturers.

After the meeting, several experts from relevant fields invited Liu Hua to have a discussion. The group gathered around a stove to brew tea at the affiliated guesthouse next to the space agency.

"Old Liu, I have to say something to you. This time you've set your sights too high. Ten years is a very tight timeframe."

Liu Hua waved his hand: "You guys are just too timid, which makes you take too small steps. NASA is no longer the main force in the US space program. SpaceX and Boeing will become their main space force."

"We're not talking about the Americans; we're not comparing ourselves to the Americans, we're comparing ourselves to ourselves."

Liu Hua said with a smile, "I don't mean to compare with the United States. When it comes to space engineering, the United States used to mobilize the entire nation's resources, but why are the big bosses now handing over space engineering to private companies?"

"That's determined by its constitution."

Liu Hua nodded: "That's certainly one of the reasons. But it's not comprehensive. You can say the Americans are bad, but you can't say they're stupid. The difficulty of landing on the moon in the 1960s is different from landing on the moon now. There was a technological gap between the moon landing project in the 1960s and ordinary civilian technology. Now it's different. The technological level has improved, and many private companies even hold some patents, which may be of great help to our space station. Don't underestimate our technological level. Ten years may seem like a tight timeframe, but there's a lot we can achieve."

"The level of technology has indeed improved, but we must also be serious. We have absolutely no experience in space stations. Accumulating experience is very necessary."

"What are you sighing about?" Liu Hua slammed his hand on the table. "Back then, even the Two Bombs, One Satellite project wasn't enough. It took more than 20 years in total. At that time, we lacked funds, technology, talent, and experience. Now, compared to 30 or 40 years ago, we are already much better off. Why do we seem to have lost our courage?"

His words left everyone utterly ashamed.

"It's a pity that our application to enter the International Space Station was rejected by the Americans, otherwise we could have learned something from them." An expert sighed and said, "Back when we were researching nuclear submarines, at least we had nuclear submarine models. Now we have a real space station hanging in the sky, but we can only look at it with a telescope from Earth."

Liu Hua laughed and said, "If you really want this kind of experience, why don't you have the relevant departments collect more papers from Russia? They have a lot of experience on the space station. The Americans have absolutely no experience on the space station."

"Isn't the International Space Station dominated by the US?"

Liu Hua shook his head: "You've forgotten one thing. The US only launched one space station in the 1970s, which was decommissioned after a little over a year of service. Meanwhile, the former Russian launched a total of eight space stations. The current International Space Station is dominated by Russia and the US, with the US being the most powerful and contributing the most money, so it has the final say. It's not that the space station's technology is that advanced; it's just that Russia is now more inclined towards the West, so it lets the US take the lead."

“That’s a wake-up call! We’ve been so focused on this space station that we’ve forgotten that Russia used to have eight.” Another expert laughed and said, “The Americans are very strict in their defenses against us, but Russia is a different story. And since 1991, Russia has been quite uneasy. Collecting relevant literature on this topic is not a difficult task.”

One of the experts, who was tasked with the core collection, slapped the table and laughed heartily: "Great! One word decides everything! After Academician Liu said that, I have confidence. I'm really pathetic. How come I'm so old and still have no courage? I'm ashamed."

After returning home, Liu Hua felt that the concerns of these veteran experts were justified. After all, the International Space Station is currently the only operational space station, and there are many things we can learn from it. We need to find a way to learn from it.

To achieve this goal, Liu Hua spent 15,000 points to exchange for a miniature scanning device that could be installed on a satellite. When the satellite was close to the space station's orbit, it could scan the space station. Wasn't that a good example?

The space agency leader frowned and said, "You want me to put one of these things on the satellite."

"It's not about installing one of these things on a satellite, it's about installing one of these things on a satellite orbiting the International Space Station," Liu Hua said with a smile. "The closer the better, so that every time it gets close enough to scan, it can scan the structure of the International Space Station."

The leader touched his brow: "This matter could be a big deal or a small deal. If it gets exposed, we'll be too ashamed to face anyone."

"The object is in space. Does he have any evidence? If he's so capable, go and capture my satellite. If he dares to capture our satellite, it's a declaration of war against us. Does the US have the guts to do that?"

"Academician Liu, I didn't notice this before. How can you be so good at making excuses?"

Liu Hua nodded. "Never mind if it's just sophistry, just tell me what I said makes sense."

"That makes sense, very much so." The leader said with a smile, "Some things are better learned than not, right? What are the chances of your trick being discovered?"

"Even if the Americans install active phased array radar on their satellites, they won't be able to detect them," Liu Hua said with a smile. "Besides, their reconnaissance satellites are mostly for ground reconnaissance, so they probably won't be able to detect our satellites, right?"

"No, our satellite technology is on par with, or even slightly surpasses, that of the Americans." The leader said confidently, "And I've heard that our radar technology is even better than that of the Americans. Hmm. There should be plenty of ways to deal with radar. I can introduce some technology from the Air Force to do some preventative measures."

“That’s settled then.” Liu Hua clapped his hands. “I still believe that the Americans are good people. Since we opened up, we’ve been learning from them. They’ve practically made us bald from all the experience they’ve given us.”

Now that you mention it, he really is a good person.

(End of this chapter)