Reborn Before the Apocalypse: My Backing is the Nation

Chapter 67 Landing
Several days passed quietly amidst continuous learning and waiting.

When Jiang Yang woke up that morning, he saw a countdown hanging on the wall.

It is 8:00 AM on the ninth day of this cycle. There are 40 hours left until midnight on the tenth day.

After having breakfast with Zhou Yu, the two left Doomsday Base 7 once again and took a helicopter to the rocket launch site.

Today, an intercontinental ballistic missile carrying a lunar impactor is about to be launched.

Jiang Yang noticed that the appearance of this intercontinental ballistic missile was somewhat different from what he had seen in his previous life.

In the previous life, intercontinental ballistic missiles had a relatively slender and streamlined shape, and just by looking at them, one could feel the imposing and murderous aura they carried.

In this version, after emergency modifications by scientists and engineers, four small boosters were attached to the tail of the intercontinental ballistic missile, making the entire missile look somewhat bulky.

Its launch site is no longer a special missile vehicle or a missile silo, but is now prominently displayed in front of the launch pad.

Under the tense gaze of scientists and staff, the ignition command was finally given.

It was much smaller than the previous Giant God II rocket, but it appeared more solid, with a brighter tail flame that propelled its body upwards rapidly, making it faster than the Giant God II rocket.

Jiang Yang knew that during the launch phase, the overload pressure that an intercontinental ballistic missile could withstand could reach as high as 20G, far exceeding the limits that the human body could endure.

If this were not the case, these intercontinental ballistic missiles, which are obviously more reliable than the hastily manufactured Giant Spirit II rocket, could have easily taken on the task of sending astronauts into space, and so many more people would not have died.

Thinking of the heroic sacrifices of those astronauts, Jiang Yang sighed softly.

The trajectory of the intercontinental ballistic missile was clearly displayed on the large screen.

Normally, it changes its orientation within the atmosphere. After all, its target is Earth, and it only needs to orbit the Earth.

But now its trajectory is completely different from normal.

Inside the atmosphere, it only slightly changed its course, and after breaking out of the atmosphere, the powerful jets continued, always pointing towards space.

A vast network is woven together by more than ten facilities, including survey ships from various seas around the Earth, bases on the Earth's surface, navigation satellites in space, and satellites that have been orbiting the moon since the past.

These points essentially act as "base points." The position and velocity of these base points are fixed. Therefore, by measuring the distances between multiple base points and the missile, the missile's position, velocity, and direction at any given moment can be precisely determined.

Guided by these reference points, the payload capsule carrying the impactor broke free of Earth's gravitational field at an almost vertical angle and sped into space.

"Disaster-1 rocket launch successful!"

The previously somber atmosphere in the command hall eased slightly, and applause followed.

Jiang Yang knew that this Tianzai-1 rocket, which was modified from an intercontinental ballistic missile, was not simply a rocket that launched an impactor.

It was also a comprehensive engineering verification, providing testing and technical support for potential future lunar bombing missions.

Of course, Jiang Yang came here today for more than just this one thing.

There is something else that is even more important.

After several days of flight, the lunar exploration satellites were finally nearing their target. Jiang Yang looked up and, through the lens of the first satellite, saw the massive, crater-covered, grayish-black planet ahead.

Compared to what we see from Earth, it appears unprecedentedly large and bright. In contrast, Earth behind it looks small, like a tiny, glowing blue sphere, silently suspended in the vast and deep expanse of space.

At this moment, having reached the farthest point of its orbit around the Earth, the lunar satellite's speed has also reached its lowest point, at only about 200 meters per second relative to Earth.

If there were no moon, it would slowly fly over, then begin to approach Earth, and under Earth's gravitational pull, it would continuously increase its speed, reaching its maximum speed at perigee.

However, due to the orbit set at the beginning of the launch, the satellite is now close to the moon and is traveling at a speed of about 800 meters per second relative to the moon.

To orbit the moon, the probe needs to reach an orbital speed of approximately 1.2 to 1.7 kilometers per second relative to the moon.

At this moment, the detector's speed is clearly insufficient; judging solely from the numerical comparison, it seems it should accelerate.

But the reality is quite the opposite. It not only cannot accelerate, but actually needs to decelerate.

The reason is simple: when the probe approaches the moon, the moon's gravitational field will also accelerate it. As a result, when it approaches the moon, its speed will far exceed its orbital speed, making it impossible for the moon to detect it.

Therefore, based on calculations by scientists at the ground base, a deceleration program was uploaded to the satellite and began execution at the designated time.

The satellite's thrusters were activated again in the vast, cold space, violently spewing out scorching flames.

Under the influence of the reverse thrust, much like a car hitting the brakes, its speed as it fell toward the moon suddenly slowed down, and it completed a series of orbital adjustments.

The uneven lunar surface expanded rapidly before eventually stabilizing.

Jiang Yang breathed a sigh of relief.

He knew that the lunar satellite had successfully entered orbit.

Following this satellite, the remaining three satellites followed a similar process, each occupying a different lunar orbit and completing preliminary preparations in the shortest possible time to conduct high-precision observations of the region located in the Mare Tranquillitatissimum on the Moon.

Following the satellite came 15 lunar rovers.

Compared to satellites, lunar rovers are more complex. The reason is simple: they have an additional landing procedure.

Following the same orbital insertion procedure, the first lunar rover suite to reach the moon separated its lander from the orbiter, and then the lander began to decelerate, carrying the lunar rover slowly down to the moon.

Jiang Yang checked the time and saw that it was already one o'clock in the afternoon.

It will take approximately 3 more hours to complete all landing tasks and officially begin the exploration.

After deducting the 22 hours of flight time that must be allocated for intercontinental ballistic missiles, satellites and lunar rovers still have 10 hours to conduct lunar observations.

The struggles and sacrifices of countless people, along with the enormous investment of resources and manpower, have finally yielded this brief 10-hour observation period.

The future trajectory of human civilization and the next steps to be decided will depend on the results of observations during this period.

　The author plans to change the update schedule from now on, and the two daily updates will no longer be separated, but will all be released at 12 noon.

　　There's one more chapter coming up.
　　
　
(End of this chapter)