Technology invades the modern world

Chapter 181 The Dilemma (3.4k)

"Korolev, all you need to do is tell me your launch time and the specific parameters during the launch process."

In short, the more detailed the data, the better.

Your launch will have errors; the landing point you designed will definitely deviate from the actual landing point.

Theoretically speaking, Lin Ran's plan is highly feasible.

Taking Surveyor 1, which made America's first soft landing on the moon in the original timeline, as an example, its planned landing point accuracy range was 50 kilometers, but in reality, the landing point and the target point differed by only 15 kilometers.

Of course, what Lin Ran needs to do now is to calculate the landing point of the Soviet Union, and the accuracy needs to be within 2 kilometers.

Reducing the margin of error from 15 kilometers to 2 kilometers may not sound like much, but it is actually very difficult.

We don't have much time left!
The window for manned lunar landing is very short; we have at most one month.

The manual refueling operation is so difficult that even on Earth, astronauts would need to practice it repeatedly.

I forgot to mention that, considering the compatibility issues between your lunar lander and fuel tank, you need to provide us with your fuel interface parameters as soon as possible.

We will provide you with a model of the modified fuel tank as soon as possible. You need to have your astronauts simulate the operation multiple times in a simulated weightless environment to avoid problems during actual operation.

This includes the fuel transfer interface and operating tools. If there are any problems, please let us know as soon as possible so we can make adjustments accordingly.

In short, Korolev, we know very well that time is running out, and this is the only way if you want to bring the astronauts back.

Or you can abandon your moon landing this year.

Lin Ran communicated directly with Korolev in Russian. After the White House officials present listened to the translator translate Lin Ran's words into English, they all had a similar feeling: Lin Ran is not only the director of NASA, but it feels like he is also the director of the Russian Space Agency.

The other party hasn't even agreed to cooperate yet, and you're already assigning tasks.

"Randolv, we still need to discuss this." Korolev's tone softened somewhat, no longer as forceful as before.

Lin Ran said, "Let's hurry, there's really not much time left."

No one wanted humanity's first moon landing to be a tragedy—sending people up but failing to bring them back would undoubtedly be a tragedy.

After the call ended, inside the White House, Lyndon Johnson asked, "Professor, do you think the Kremlin will agree?"

Lin Ran shook his head and said, "I don't know, but I hope they will agree."

As I just said, we hope that humanity's first exploration of the moon will be a complete and perfect success, not a one-way ticket at the cost of astronauts' lives.

A silence fell over the Oval Office.

When Lin Ran said these words from a moral high ground, even those who had previously been thinking about reputation, approval ratings, and elections began to feel moved.

Lyndon Johnson said, "Professor, rest assured, the White House will facilitate this cooperation, and I believe Nikita will make the right choice."

Lin Ran nodded and said, "I hope so."

Lyndon Johnson continued, "Professor, there's one more thing, which is that if this moon landing is successful, we will also be able to bring Gagarin back from space."

Gagarin will then gain unprecedented fame. To offset this impact, given that he comes from Soviet Russia, we will also increase our publicity efforts for him. You may have to frequently travel to New York to participate in interview programs, and you can no longer maintain your mystique as before.

Professor, what are your thoughts?

However, such publicity won't be extensive, lasting at most a year. Once the news focus shifts, the publicity will naturally decrease.

Lin Ran nodded and said, "No problem, I know this is to maintain the unwavering public opinion in the free world."

This kind of propaganda is similar. Without White House intervention, Time magazine's cover figure and Person of the Year would definitely only be Gagarin. With White House intervention, Time magazine will turn its attention to Korolev and Lin Ran, amplifying the contributions of the researchers behind them and reducing the focus on the astronauts.

Meanwhile, in the Kremlin, everyone was waiting for Korolev to speak.

"Our chances of returning from the moon this time are very low, and Randolph is an expert in the field of aerospace, so he can naturally see that."

However, his proposed solution is only theoretically feasible.

America's rocket technology has reached a certain level, and it is more advanced than ours in terms of navigation and control systems.

Their rockets are generally equipped with advanced inertial guidance systems, which use gyroscopes and accelerometers to measure changes in the rocket's attitude and speed, enabling autonomous adjustment of flight direction.

In addition, some of their rockets also use radio guidance systems, which allow the ground control center to send commands via radio signals to adjust the rocket's flight path in real time by controlling the thrust direction of the engines or using small attitude control engines.

Therefore, they can adjust the rocket launch based on our launch data and real-time data to achieve overlapping landing points, which is achievable.

The problem is, the precision required is too high.

The landing points overlap, but they differ by at least tens of kilometers.

It's unrealistic for our astronauts to run dozens of kilometers on the lunar surface in their spacesuits to find America's fuel tank and then move it back to her landing site. Gagarin isn't a superhuman.

Another factor is timing. We launch first, and they launch later. The landing times of both sides cannot differ too much, because the life support systems in spacesuits have time limitations.

Their landing times can differ by a maximum of one hour; a difference of more than that would also pose a risk.

In addition, the lunar surface is a vacuum environment with drastic temperature changes and gravity only one-sixth that of Earth, which places higher demands on fuel storage and transfer.

They need a system that can stably store fuel in the lunar environment and ensure that there are no leaks or contamination during the transfer process.

The fuel transfer equipment also needs to be adapted to low-gravity conditions to facilitate astronaut operation. In short, there are too many problems to overcome.

To put it simply, the probability of Gagarin's successful return with our own plan is 5%, and the probability of Randolph's plan is also about 5%.

Given that everyone has a 5% chance, why should we cooperate with America?

After Korolev finished speaking, everyone present fell into deep thought.

Mikoyan, he had met Lin Ran at the Geneva negotiations, where the discussions revolved around resolving the Berlin crisis and establishing a hotline. He was the head of the Soviet delegation.

He had a very good impression of Lin Ran, and Mikoyan also strongly supported Korolev's idea of ​​slowly poaching Lin Ran from America.

“Could America have some other unique technology that could significantly improve the success rate of the plan?” Mikoyan said. “I mean, Randolph sounded so confident on the phone; if he dared to say that, they must have something else to rely on.”

Korolev explained, "In the world of science, America's technology is actually very open and transparent."

I only said 5% chance because of Randolph.

"You know, we achieved a soft landing on the moon last year, while America has never achieved a soft landing even once."

Nikita asked, "Let's all share our thoughts on whether or not we should cooperate with the Americans."

Ustinov said, "My opinion is that we should not cooperate with America; the time window they have given us is too narrow."

With only one month left until the moon landing, we cannot determine their true intentions.

In addition, we need to give the American people too much specific data.

Who can guarantee that America genuinely wants to cooperate, and not just wants our lunar landing data?

This involves enormous risks.

Dmitry Ustinov was the chairman of the Soviet Russian Defense Industry Committee, as he was in charge of the Soviet military industry and had long promoted weapons development and arms expansion.

The ass decides the head.

His position dictated that he had to be tough on America. He always believed that any diplomatic gesture from the West contained a strategic trap, aimed at weakening the Soviet Union's military advantage or obtaining technical intelligence.

Gromyko thought for a moment and said, "I think this is an opportunity."

Gromyko knew very well that Nikita was a comrade who wanted to end the Cold War, or at least keep it under control at a low intensity, and then slowly adjust the internal situation of Soviet Russia, reduce military spending, and boost the economy.

Therefore, his speaking skills are very good:
"After Kennedy's death, we could not determine Lyndon Johnson's intentions: whether he wanted to de-escalate the situation or take a hard line."

I believe we should seize this opportunity to rebuild our cooperation with America and see if we can maintain the level of détente that existed during the Kennedy era.

On the other hand, having gained some control over Hoover, we naturally held a strategic advantage, and we needed to ease tensions and gradually build our influence in Washington.

After several rounds of negotiations with Hoover, the Soviet Union ultimately chose to yield in order to protect its own political life and that of Deputy Director Thorson.

He vented all his anger over having his secrets exposed by the Soviets on the Mafia.

(According to rumors, the Mafia had evidence that Hoover was gay, so Hoover turned a blind eye to the Mafia's actions.)

Hoover's first reaction was that his secret had been leaked to the Soviets by the Mafia. Whether it was intentional or unintentional was not important. What mattered was that he had completely lost his freedom. So Hoover chose to set a trap to wipe out the Mafia and vent his anger through revenge.

After a moment's thought, Nikita said, "I agree with Gromyko's point of view."

However, some adjustments are needed, so Dobrynin will be in charge of the negotiations.

The specific content of the negotiations was that we need to cooperate on an equal footing.

It's not possible for us to provide the data unilaterally; America also needs to provide us with data.

We will provide them with our lunar landing data, but they will also need to provide us with a copy of the data after the cooperation ends.

We'll cooperate as long as they agree.

The news from the Kremlin reached the White House the following morning.

Upon hearing this, McNamara couldn't help but think to himself, "Is this the professor's reputation? Even though America never achieved a single soft landing on the moon, the Soviets were willing to cooperate with us on a lunar mission."

This is like someone who has never taken an exam before, but when they register for the exam, they announce in advance that they can get a perfect score, and no one who hears it doubts them.

Lin Ran waited at the White House until the afternoon.

Of course, it's not entirely about waiting idly.

He is also working on designing a sufficiently sophisticated model to ensure that the final lunar landing effect is accurate to one kilometer.

Fortunately, 21st-century computers can run the results.

However, to Lin Ran's surprise, the final point of contention in the negotiations was:
Gagarin was to take two flags with him, not just the Soviet flag, but also America's Stars and Stripes to the moon.

Then the two sides argued fiercely about whether to plant the Stars and Stripes first or the hammer and sickle first.

Dobrynin made five separate phone calls to the Kremlin regarding this issue alone.

(End of this chapter)