You promised to build cars, so why did you go into the military industry?

The engine test run is over.

The group took a precious group photo in front of the two rocket engines. Unfortunately, Professor Lü Chaoping was unable to attend due to his busy schedule.

But for Li Ran, these were minor issues; there were plenty of ways to resolve them.

"Lin Yu, shift your body to the left to make room for Professor Lü. I'll have someone Photoshop Professor Lü into the scene later."

As Li Ran spoke, he held up a tablet that displayed a photo of Wang Bing and others who remained at the United Industrial Base.

Five days later, with the help of Yilu Pinganfafa Large-Scale Transportation Logistics Company, the group and the two prototype machines returned safely to Gaolu Town.

Without taking a break, Zhang Chengyuan and Lin Yu, clutching their documents, plunged into the laboratory to begin their subsequent research.

Soon after finishing his backlog of work, Professor Lü Chaoping returned to United Industries and continued rocket research with Lin and Zhang.

In early April, Shenzhou-4 was launched.

While watching the live broadcast on TV, Li Ran noticed something was off about the scene of the rendezvous and docking; the size of the interface seemed to have increased significantly.

With the experience and data provided by the Shenzhou-8 unmanned spacecraft, the entire process of Shenzhou-9's automatic docking was completed in one go.

After successfully completing the rendezvous and docking, the three astronauts held hands and formed a circle before flying into Tiangong-1 through the docking tunnel.

"Goodness! This passage must be at least two meters in diameter!" Li Ran said, stroking his chin. "What was the old technical specification again? 0.8 meters?"

One month later, the Shenzhou-9 return capsule successfully returned to Earth.

Originally planned as a verification flight mission lasting only 10 days, it turned into a medium-term on-orbit stay flight mission lasting a month or so.

They even sent a cargo spacecraft up for resupply, verifying the feasibility of resupplying propellants in orbit.

According to the original timeline, this feat was originally supposed to be accomplished by Tiangong-2 and Shenzhou-11 on October 17, 2016.

Compared to the previous era, the progress of the three-step space strategy has shifted from lagging behind by a whole year to now being more than three years ahead.

"Sure enough, sharpening the axe doesn't delay the work of chopping wood." Li Ran clapped and exclaimed as he watched the three astronauts waving to the crowd on the TV screen.

In early June, on the day the college entrance examination ended, Wang Bing and Song Xuewu came together.

Yes, the new car is ready.

Considering the current infrastructure situation, the new model remains a hybrid, and its overall range is slightly reduced compared to the previous generation.

Based on suggestions from some car owners, the fuel tank capacity has been reduced from 50L to 35L. Surprisingly, the trunk space has actually increased significantly.

Advances in battery technology have increased the vehicle's pure electric range to 500km without changing its net weight.

For a small group of people, this pure electric range means that this car is a pure electric vehicle.

Upon arriving at the test site, the matte, dark purple paint caught Li Ran's eye.

The car's paint color blends seamlessly with the dark purple solar photovoltaic panels on the roof, giving it a particularly sophisticated and dignified appearance under the lights.

Its sporty appearance adds a touch of agility to the whole car.

"What's with the color of the solar panels?" Li Ran asked curiously.

Wang Bing explained:

"Adding a coating layer, although it sacrifices some performance, makes the overall look more harmonious."

Li Ran nodded. To be honest, the car, with its dark purple body and matte finish, did look much better.

As Li Ran and his group approached, the vehicle was powered on and started, with the welcome lights automatically turning on.

After a brief test drive, Li Ran was full of praise for the driving experience of the new car.

In particular, the cruise control and lane keeping functions already give it a smart driving feel.

Since the breakthrough in chip technology, the computing power of in-vehicle systems has been greatly enhanced. While intelligent driving is still far from being fully realized, functions such as vehicle control, cruise control, and lane keeping are already quite advanced.

Taking the phone from Song Xuewu, Li Ran started operating the app that had been opened.

A short while later, the car in front of them slowly drove away under Li Ran's remote control.

It's not very sensitive and has many limitations, but it's sufficient for my needs.

Li Ran then pressed the button to turn the car around on the spot, and the car started spinning by itself.

"Hey! This feature is great!" Li Ran exclaimed. "Does it wear out the tires?"

"It's quite expensive." Wang Bing pointed to the vehicle's tires. "Each tire is equipped with an independent motor, which can control the speed and torque direction individually. If you need to turn around on the spot, the left wheel outputs reverse torque, and the right wheel outputs forward torque, thus causing the vehicle to rotate around its center of gravity."

Song Xuewu took the phone from Li Ran and opened a video:

"This feature was actually a pleasant surprise."

Our original idea was to achieve lateral mechanical decoupling by controlling the tires with independent motors.

This eliminates the need for a traditional differential, allowing precise adjustment of wheel speed differences and power distribution solely through the motor controller.

This way, power transmission can be guaranteed while saving space.

100 km/h braking distance: 35 meters!

The moose test result was 120 km/h!

Even with a high-speed tire blowout, the vehicle remains stable, does not skid, and does not lose control!

Li Ran was overjoyed as she watched the video's introduction.

"In addition, we've also implemented an interesting feature." Song Xuewu noticed the video had finished playing and took the phone to operate it.

Soon, Li Ran saw the car that was stationary and suddenly jumped up!

"This stationary jump is achieved by the fully active suspension system independently controlling each wheel."

Like the U-turn feature, these two functions were originally test cases we used to test performance.

Song Xuewu stood with his hands on his hips, sighing.

"But in the end, we felt that this thing was very impressive and could provide users with sufficient emotional value, so we kept it."

"It's truly stunning," Li Ran nodded.

Hearing Li Ran's agreement, Song Xuewu's confidence soared:

"Mr. Li, to be honest, the new technology used in this car and the driving experience it brings are absolutely groundbreaking, and traditional fuel vehicles simply cannot compare."

I feel this is somewhat inadequate for a typical press conference.

Li Ran looked at Song Xuewu:

So, what are your thoughts?

"I ran into Lin Yu when I was having dinner the other day. He said that our rocket is almost finished."

If all goes well, it can be launched in August.

I was thinking... could we send this car into space?

Li Ran's eyes widened; this idea seemed so familiar!

Feeling a little uncomfortable under Li Ran's gaze, Song Xuewu touched his nose.

"What's wrong, Mr. Li?"

"It's nothing, I just think your idea is great!" Li Ran waved his hand.

"Yes, I think this is a good idea too."

Since we can't find a suitable scientific payload for the first rocket anyway, sending a lump of cement as ballast is less useful than giving it to a colleague department.

After all, it's better to keep the good stuff within the family.

Li Ran was somewhat curious:

Aren't you afraid of failure?

Song Xuewu was completely unconcerned:

"Launch first, then hold the press conference."

If it really fails, just pretend nothing happened; there's no risk at all.

Besides, whether the Rockets succeed or fail, Lin Yu should be more worried than I am.