Chapter 267 - 260 Phone Call_1

"The first batch of H2M large aerospace planes, Pioneer and Glory, have been completed by the joint manufacturing system of New Yuan Aerospace Power Company, and the rollout ceremony was held today at noon."

"Chief Designer Guo Shen, while at the Tiangong Space Station, accepted an interview from the ground and indicated that the first H2M conventional power aerospace plane ’Pioneer’ will complete its first unmanned flight this month and a manned flight in December."

"This station has learned that several key members of the Aerospace Development Committee attended the rollout ceremony of the two large aerospace planes and will nominate the main designers for the Science and Technology Innovation Progress Award."

New Yuan Project Deputy Chief Designer Xie Liaofu said, "The Pioneer and Glory aerospace planes are the world’s seventh hundred-ton class aerospace planes and also mark our country becoming the third in the world, after the Union and America, to possess large-scale reusable spacecraft."

"The H2 series has adopted revolutionary new technologies. If the first generation was developed in the last century and the current small aerospace planes represent the second generation, then what we have now is the third generation of aerospace plane technology, which has seen tremendous improvements in reusability, economy, versatility, and safety."

"The completion of the Pioneer and Glory prototypes will strengthen our stride into space..."

Capital time, late at night on November 9th, America time, 11 AM on November 8th.

In the upper echelons, the news of John winning the election had spread everywhere, and Director Claire was no exception.

He watched the central news broadcast from November 7th on YouTube, stunned by the dual shocks of John’s election as boss and the first rollout of the two H2M planes directly hitting the line.

Claire wanted to grab John by the collar and yell, "How could you be elected, how in the world could you be elected!"

If Diana had taken office, then the current status quo might have remained unchanged, business as usual. But John is someone who stirs things up, his thinking simply can’t be judged from the conventional elite’s perspective.

Even more critical is that John, after being forced to sober up from the party, had to deliver a speech by this evening, and his pre-election pitch of the God of War Ares project was also included, so he had already called Claire demanding interactive support from NACA.

Given that the God of War Ares plan was proposed late, Claire didn’t take it too seriously, but now he realized it was a big deal. If NACA really planned to land on Mars in 2024, the trouble might be much more than expected.

Just a rough estimate alone puts the funding at over 200 billion US dollars, and that’s with God of War Ares inheriting some of the results of the Artemis program, such as using the SLS Block 2 rocket to reduce the cost of new rockets.

Then, with the investment in the Artemis program, spending several hundreds of billions of US dollars in less than a decade is quite hair-raising.

The key issue is that the God of War Ares project might really not just be empty talks; America’s space program is indeed lagging, and it’s necessary to save face in other areas.

The brand-new construction of Pioneer and Glory has given our rivals a few steps lead, it’s like rubbing salt in the wound!

And right now, NACA is still headache about the SLS, with the new tank’s development time too short. Although it’s been made, there seem to be leakage issues, and Claire hasn’t had a day of rest for more than two months.

Just as he was preparing to rest for a while, the phone rang again.

This time it wasn’t a staff member of John’s, but the future boss himself.

"Director Claire, I’m very busy and can’t come to see you personally, but I’d like to confirm some things with you over the phone."

"Go ahead."

Claire braced himself; he should still be the director of NACA for the next four years, and couldn’t ignore the boss’s questions.

John, "I want to know, in your opinion, how long will it take to send astronauts to Mars? And how long will it take to establish a colonial settlement on Mars?"

Claire, "There’re a lot of variables, but if I were to plan the mission myself, I think we could launch a Martian spacecraft around 2030, achieve a manned landing on Mars before 2035, and as for a permanent colony, that would take at least another 10 years.

On the other end of the line there was silence for a while, John was annoyed with himself for why he made big promises, trying to emulate Kennedy with an 8-year deadline.

Eight years is the span of two full terms, but who knows if he could serve a second term? He didn’t know, but in the context of the space race, he couldn’t pretend he never said it.

John tentatively asked again, "Then, is there any way we could launch a Martian spacecraft by 2020?"

John, with a bit of catch-up on space knowledge, knew that with current technology, a round trip to Mars plus the mission cycle was around two years. So, he didn’t expect to see a Mars landing during his term, but if a spacecraft could be launched, it would count as a victory.

Claire, "..."

"Mr. Future Boss, I can only ensure the launch of unmanned exploratory equipment before a manned landing in 2020, to find suitable landing sites and make preliminary preparations.

The entire Mars landing plan has to include at least one unmanned probe and one unmanned resource preparation, which is at least three major launch missions. There are even more smaller missions, and they are also limited by the window to Mars. A launch every two years is an insurmountable barrier; an unmanned resource launch in 2020 is the limit of my imagination.

Perhaps even this timeline is not sufficient, 2022 would be a bit more feasible, and it would take another four years before launching a manned spaceship."

Another four years? That would mean 2026?

This was unacceptable!

John did not want to just pave the way for others. Besides, hadn’t the Apollo program succeeded within a decade? Half a century had passed since then, surely there must be technological advancements?

"Director Claire," John’s voice got heavier: "What if I said we must land on Mars by 2024 and asked you to come up with a plan right away?"

Claire, "Then you would also need the courage of the Apollo program and to provide NACA with all necessary support, including raising taxes, a 70% tax on the wealthy, and ensuring that NACA’s budget reaches around 5% of the federal total."

There was no sound on the other end of the line.

During the Apollo program, the federal government madly raised taxes annually, with income tax and corporate tax increasing, reaching a staggering 70% at the highest period!

To levy the highest tax of 70% on the wealthy and large corporations!

Now, these tax rates are mostly stable below 20%, which means tripling them!

As for NACA’s budget share, during the Apollo period, it indeed once reached 2% to 5% of the federal total. Bearing in mind that this was the entire expenditure of a superpower at the time, including education, civil affairs, military— a 5% share was nearly giving it their all, and it’s precisely for this reason that taxes kept rising.

To achieve these, one must satisfy that the external pressure is great enough and the boss is strong enough to do it. Now the pressure is just about right, but does John have the audacity?

"I need to think about it. I’ll call you again later, Your Excellency the Director."

The phone call was then disconnected, and Claire sighed, trembling slightly, not knowing if it was excitement or fear, or perhaps both.