This star is going to the moon

Chapter 543 Americans: From Radical to Conservative! Chinese: From Conservative to Radical!
The stampede at Ritaewon on the evening of October 29th shocked the world!

By the second day, the confirmed death toll had exceeded one hundred, and there were several hundred injured.

Dozens more are in the ICU with serious injuries, and it seems they won't survive.

Based on the current situation, the number of deaths in this stampede is estimated to be between one hundred and two hundred.

Moreover, it is estimated that hundreds of people will be left with lifelong disabilities.

This is a rather shocking number.

So after Elon Musk's super rocket explosion and the satellite launch by China that changed the landscape of the world's communication network, the world's attention immediately turned to the country of humiliation.

This level of popularity is far greater than the so-called "Korean Wave" that our country is spending its own money to promote.

It's a pity it's only negative buzz.

Moreover, it uncovered even deeper issues.

The reason why the Ritaewon area is so lively, with various nightclubs and other service venues, and is very popular with foreign tourists, is because it is next to a US military base.

It initially prospered because it served the American soldiers.

Especially... that kind of prosperity.

Before I knew the whole story, I thought it was a pure tragedy. After knowing the whole story, I don't know what to say.

[I'm speechless after watching the leaked video. There are rows and rows of corpses laid out on one side, while on the other side, people are dancing and celebrating passionately, only a few dozen meters apart.]

[That's nothing. I also saw a video of a group of people partying all the way around a corpse whose feet barely touched the ground, only scattering in terror after being loudly warned from outside.]

Yes, I saw that video too. It was already packed with people, and then a stampede occurred when the crowd dispersed.

Absolutely amazing!

[It's said that the first team to transmit the video was the Chinese "Starry Sky" satellite signal testing team. Last night, 100,000 people gathered there, completely overwhelming the signal base station and making it impossible to send messages. Only the Chinese space internet signal testing team was able to transmit the information.]

[I know this one, it's the first-generation node satellite of the Xingdou satellite system that was launched a few days ago, right?]

Yes, that's the one.

This space internet is so useful! Ground-based signal base stations are constantly crashing, so when there's no signal, we have to rely on this.

[That's not quite right. The main issue is that there are too many people using ground-based base stations—100,000 people a day. If there are more space-based internet users, the signal will probably be weak.]

Ground-based base stations and space-based internet complement each other. Ground-based base station networks are now largely established in most countries. Space-based internet, aside from those remote, isolated areas without ground signal coverage, only becomes useful after natural disasters destroy ground-based base stations.

[Anyway, it's a good thing; that's the significance of technological development.]

That's true. No amount of technological advancement can change the fact that this shameful country is prone to large nightclub parties.

I heard there were very few police officers there last night because their leader thought the old office had bad feng shui, so he moved it, causing the police to leave as well. Is that true?

"I don't know about that. Anyway, it's a matter for the Hanchen Kingdom, let them handle it..."

October of 2022 passed in such a tragic event. As November arrived, people in other places quickly forgot about it and began to chase after new hot topics.

And if we're talking about the hottest topics of the past few years, then it's definitely the manned lunar landing.

Just as November began, the US had a new hot topic regarding manned lunar landings.

After a series of setbacks, NASA surprisingly selected a second service provider for the manned lunar lander: Blue Origin, the rival of Elon Musk's SpaceX in the US, founded by Jeff Bezos.

Blue Origin's lunar lander was initially called "National Team," but it's now called the "Blue Moon" lunar lander. When NASA chose Elon Musk's "Lunar Eagle" lunar rocket, Bezos objected, even filing a lawsuit.

Later, the lawsuit failed, and Ma Yilong even mocked him.

But Bezos is no ordinary person; his company's lobbying group is quite powerful. Since he can't be the only one, he'll add a backup.

Previously, there was a back-and-forth struggle, with Blue Origin frequently releasing information to the media saying that "NASA is preparing to find a lunar module service provider for backup," and then letting the media exaggerate the news.

However, NASA's funds are too limited, and they don't have the resources to do backups.

However, as China's aerospace industry and technology have become increasingly advanced, even to the point of taking off directly, the White House has been unable to hold back.

In addition, the aerospace complex within the Federation is also very powerful and has a strong lobbying effort, so the White House has increased its aerospace funding considerably.

With funding secured, NASA became more proactive, and Bezos intensified his lobbying efforts.

The explosion during the maiden flight of Elon Musk's large rocket provided a significant boost, allowing Bezos' Blue Origin to secure the second manned lunar lander service provider position.

Ma Yilong was quite dissatisfied with this matter and directly started cursing on the X platform.

Anyway, he's already acquired the X platform, so he's not afraid of having his account banned.

Bezos didn't care about that; he considered securing the backup slot for the manned lunar lander a sure thing.

After all, everyone knows about the explosion during the maiden flight of Elon Musk's large rocket, which is a huge blow to Musk's "Lunar Eagle" program.

Many people were dissatisfied with NASA's choice of the "Lunar Eagle" program because it was too radical.

The initial choice was simply because NASA lacked sufficient funds, and Elon Musk's "Lunar Eagle" was the lowest-priced option.

But we're all just trying to make a living in the federal government, so who doesn't know who?
The initial bid and the final price are two completely different things.

Blue Origin's initial "Blue Moon" lunar lander proposal was also very low-priced, but we didn't expect Elon Musk's offer to be even lower!
Don't talk about martial arts!

Blue Origin has finally regained its footing, and its "Blue Moon" lunar lander was the most conservative proposal during the initial bidding process. Many of its technologies are mature, and the lander's configuration is similar to the Apollo lunar module from decades ago, only larger.

The highlight of the "Blue Moon" lunar lander design is that it can be built in the shortest possible time.

If SpaceX hadn't offered such an extremely low price without any sportsmanship, how could Blue Origin have possibly lost?

It's just a matter of getting things back on track.

Even if it's not on the main track, when SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft was a backup for the commercial manned mission, it managed to outperform Boeing's Starliner spacecraft. So Blue Origin's backup Blue Moon lunar lander could also outperform SpaceX's Lunar Eagle lunar lander!

This is a thought that not only Blue Origin is considering, but also that of many space enthusiasts and netizens.

So... has the US shifted from radicalism to conservatism?

[It seems the radical super rocket has exploded, so they can only try to compete with the Chinese using a more conservative approach.]

[Hmm, that's more like it. I looked at the comparison images, and Blue Origin's "Blue Moon" and China's "Landing Moon" are roughly in the same league. It can probably support astronauts on the lunar surface for about a week, which is twice the lunar landing time of the Apollo lunar module decades ago, so that's quite an improvement.]

Indeed, SpaceX's "Lunar Eagle" lunar rocket is truly extravagant.

(Net map)
It seems the Americans have settled down and stopped with all that fancy stuff.

Let's see how China responds. By the way, has their Zhuhai Airshow started? Are there any new developments in the aerospace field?

Yes, yes... Wow, are Chinese people really that radical?

(End of this chapter)