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Mars has once again entered the public eye.

Since the launch of three Mars probes last year, after the Mars window period passed, Mars had "disappeared" from the public's view.

It's not that Mars actually disappeared, but rather that not many people were paying attention.

Then, in February of this year, when the three Mars probes successively entered Martian orbit, the topic of Mars became popular again for a while.

But after the probes entered orbit and the Mars rovers were deployed, people were only interested for a few days, and then the topic of Mars subsided again.

This time, however, Mars seems to be truly hot.

Official and unofficial, groups and individuals, consistently and occasionally – this is the current level of attention Mars is receiving.

There's no way around it, aliens have arrived.

Mars is naturally associated with "aliens."

In the early days, astronomers used simple astronomical telescopes to observe Mars, and they discovered that the ice caps at the north and south poles of Mars changed with the seasons, just like the ice caps on Earth.

Later, they also discovered that Mars and Earth were similar in many aspects, such as rotation period and seasonal changes.

As telescopes became more precise and larger, people could see mountains, sandstorms, river valleys, and even "canals" on Mars.

At that time, people believed that life might exist on Mars.

Then, writers couldn't control themselves.

Soon after, "The War of the Worlds," also known as "Martian Invasion of Earth," was born.

This was followed by a series of science fiction novels related to Mars.

Later, a famous American media personality broadcast a radio drama live on CBS.

This radio drama was adapted from the novel "The War of the Worlds," and it was also called "Martian Invasion of Earth."

This media personality used a situational introduction method, starting with a fake news report, which is the pseudo-documentary style used in movies now, but it was done on the radio at that time.

The broadcast said that burning meteorites had fallen to the ground, and described the terrifying appearance of the aliens, followed by explosions, screams, live reports from the front lines, and many places being attacked and destroyed, etc.

The broadcast of that radio drama coincided with World War II, and its broadcast format imitated news reports, so many American listeners believed it to be true, which triggered a panic among more than a million Americans, and some even packed their bags and fled the city.

When film technology improved, Americans began to shoot science fiction films related to Mars, or rather, the aliens at that time all came from Mars, and they didn't waste any words, they just robbed food, money, and women.

They also subtly satirized the other side of the ocean.

Because Mars is also red.

People used to look at Mars with telescopes on Earth, but later, with the launch of Mars probes, people finally saw the true face of Mars.

But as soon as they saw it, people were shocked!

"There really are Martians on Mars!"

The American Viking Mars probe photographed a landform in orbit, and after the images were transmitted back to Earth, the media and the audience looked at them and found that it was actually a Martian face as big as a mountain.

This is definitely a Martian spectacle!

However, as the resolution of the cameras on the subsequent probes improved, what people saw was no longer so much like a human face, but just an ordinary Martian mountain.

But the "Martian face" was too famous, so later there was a science fiction film specifically using that as a gimmick, called "Mission to Mars," which tells the story of the relationship between humans and Martians.

Later, there were probes that landed on Mars, and people found that Mars was a desolate place, with nothing but sand, so people gradually lost their enthusiasm.

But Mars is Mars, and it always brings surprises to people.

People have discovered that in ancient times, Mars was similar to Earth.

It had a dense atmosphere, a large amount of water resources, and volcanic activity, etc., but Mars was too small to preserve these things for a long time, and slowly it became what it is now.

As for whether it has ever produced life, people really don't know, at least the current probes after landing have not found anything of value.

But since there was water, people naturally assumed that there was life, even if there was no intelligent life, there must be other life forms.

It's just that they haven't been found yet.

After all, humans have only thrown a few Mars rovers up there, and these Mars rovers crawl slower than turtles, and the areas they explore are very limited, so it's not surprising that they can't find anything useful.

So people have always wanted to send people to land on Mars for an on-site investigation.

If the previous Cold War had continued, perhaps the on-site investigation of Mars would have already been completed, but after the end of the Cold War, the space program became too expensive, so various goals and funding were greatly reduced, and now even the moon cannot be landed on.

It's not that the technology is not good, but that people are reluctant to spend so much money.

And now, it's time to spend money again, because "aliens" have arrived.

Speaking of the American side alone, the people at NASA are excited.

The approval for increased space funding has been passed, and the Mars landing plan that was previously sealed has also been taken out of the archives. Various high-level meetings are being held one after another, and universities, private companies, and private research institutes have all been notified. Various orders are being scattered like snowflakes.

The only goal of all this is Mars!

"We must send people to land on it!"

Some old people are in tears. That America has returned.

America is great again indeed. Trump is awesome!

I'll follow Trump from now on.

At NASA, a conference room blocked by military police at the entrance is very lively.

"This is the nuclear rocket program that was decided on before. Compared to traditional rockets, it has more than twice the propulsion efficiency and more than three times the speed. The overall spacecraft can be 60% lighter, and the round trip to Mars only takes half the time of a chemical rocket."

"This is good. This is a plan that was finalized decades ago. Although times have changed, it is more beneficial to us. Using more advanced technology, we can make it more suitable for flying in space."

"I don't think it's feasible. Thermal nuclear rockets are still too dangerous. Once a nuclear leak occurs, the safety of the astronauts cannot be guaranteed."

"Yes, the radiation in space is already very serious. If you let the astronauts stay with nuclear radiation, it's questionable whether they can even make it to Mars."

"I also think we should reconsider. Even if we don't consider the astronauts, launching and entering space are both unsafe. Once the rocket launch fails or the spacecraft crashes on any planet, it will cause a nuclear disaster. What's more, this engine itself is still spraying nuclear radiation gas. It's simply expensive and dangerous."

"You're all too cautious. Our current technology is advanced enough, and crashes will not happen at all. As for nuclear gas, it is theoretically within control."

"Look, look, you also said 'theoretically.' What's the use of just talking about theory in this kind of thing?"

"I've seen the previously sealed data. Our related technologies are actually not perfect. Any rockets and spacecraft carrying nuclear materials require a large amount of research funding for development and a lot of time. We don't have enough time."

"Alas, if only we had the advanced ion propulsion technology of Pathfinder Company. Their ion thrusters have a vacuum thrust of up to kilonewtons, while we only have newtons. There is no way to use them on large space equipment."

"It's a pity that the two countries have no intersection in the aerospace field. Although the relationship between the two space agencies is good, we cannot deny that we have suppressed them very hard. It is reasonable that they do not agree now."

"We shouldn't have let that politician go up and give a speech. If we had let a scientist go up, it might have been successful!"

"Actually, it's not impossible. We can combine chemical propulsion equipment and ion propulsion equipment. When entering Mars orbit, we can use chemical propulsion equipment to accelerate the spacecraft to a very high speed, and then discard them and turn on the ion thrusters to slowly accelerate. This is actually a solution."

"No, it's too troublesome. Orbital assembly technology is already a risky thing. Adding another set of power systems will increase the complexity exponentially. No, no."

"Why not? I think it's feasible!"

A group of people argued endlessly, talking about things from decades ago, as if there were no more advanced technologies now.

Uh, well, it seems that the current technology has not changed dramatically. At most, the development of electronic computer technology has made flight control capabilities and automation technology better.

But when it comes to landing on Mars and deep space travel, it ultimately comes down to the power unit.

With a powerful enough power unit, they can send astronauts to Mars, or even further into space, quickly and safely.

Unfortunately, in the past few decades, there has not been much progress in power systems for interstellar travel.

Even if there has been progress, it's not theirs.

That's why it's so worrying.

And even if they were given the advanced ion propulsion system, they would not dare to use it directly on long-distance manned spacecraft. The reason is simple: anything that has not been verified in practice should be kept far away from people.

NASA is not the gathering place of the most advanced technology, but the gathering place of the safest and most reliable technology.

Didn't you see that SpaceX's manned Dragon spacecraft initially used cool rocket reverse thrust landing, but NASA insisted on using safety as a reason and changed it to traditional parachute landing, directly reducing the level of awesomeness by two levels.

If you don't change to parachutes, sorry, you won't get the order.

In their view, Pathfinder Company's use of advanced ion propulsion devices in this unmanned probe is a test.

Otherwise, who would build a 32-ton Mars probe, and even make the complexity directly into a small spacecraft.

This must be for future manned Mars deep space spacecraft technology testing.

So even if they get the technology, they still have to test it with an unmanned spacecraft.

But Pathfinder's unmanned spacecraft is about to take off, and they don't even have a design yet. Time is still running out.

Not to mention that the most important "alien detector" has not been discovered yet. What they are doing now is also the most preliminary preparation.

The stuff used in aerospace cannot be done in a day or two.

However, these aerospace experts only know that they are going to build Mars spacecraft, but they don't know why they are building them. Wasn't it agreed before that there would be global cooperation?

Why are they building Mars spacecraft separately again?

And they have to keep it secret.

They don't understand, but the high-level officials who make the decisions know very well.

Just right, while that meeting was being held, another secret meeting room was also holding a meeting, but there were no scientists here, mostly politicians in suits and soldiers in military uniforms.

"This matter must be kept secret, and it must be fast. The probes on Mars have basically confirmed that it was done by aliens, so we may encounter real aliens at any time."

A fat politician paused here, then looked at the others and continued: "If the aliens are evil, we definitely can't escape. We don't have that ability, and no country on Earth has that ability. But as the most powerful country on Earth, we also have our confidence."

"The main assumption we are considering now is the friendly alien theory. Even if they are not friendly, as long as they are rational and can be negotiated with, we must be the first country to contact them!"

"So we must build a manned deep space spacecraft as soon as possible."

This is America's plan.

What national cooperation, what information sharing, what Article of the 'Human Civilization and Extraterrestrial Civilization Contact Convention' that prohibits contacting extraterrestrial civilizations alone, are all nonsense.

Of course, if the aliens are evil and cannot be negotiated with, the whole world will definitely fight and resist together, after all, there is an agreement, and international law is clearly written.

But if the aliens are kind, or can be negotiated with, then sorry, America must be the greatest country on Earth.

And no one can say anything about it. Don't look at America preparing to build Mars or deep space spacecraft, other countries are definitely building them too.

There is no need to even think about it.

If any country truly acts in accordance with international law, then that country is not far from death.

In fact, it is indeed the case.

The European Space Agency has also been holding meetings recently, and has completely excluded American technical experts, only finding aerospace experts on their side who can be absolutely trusted, and is also considering building deep space spacecraft.

The center of the world has been away from Europe for too long, it is time for it to return.

The sphere of influence on Earth has been fixed for a long time and is not easy to break, but once external forces intervene, it will be different.

Not to mention that this external force is so "external!"

So this may be an opportunity, and they need to seize it.

However, the threshold for this opportunity is relatively high, starting with a manned deep space spacecraft.

After all, if the aliens come, the results will definitely be different if the aliens' spacecraft directly lands at your doorstep to discuss cooperation versus you opening your spacecraft to meet them in space to discuss cooperation.

In addition, there is Russia. They are also considering building deep space spacecraft, but their funding is really difficult to obtain.

So they need to find a rich partner to cooperate with.

In their analysis, it is estimated that only they are willing to cooperate in this regard. After all, the other capable ones are richer than them, and they do not lack ability or funds. Those countries do not need to cooperate with other countries.

The distribution of global power might be reshuffled, and they are certain that those countries with wealth but no power will not miss this opportunity.

Comparatively, the situation on the Tianxia side is more complex.

Because Navigator Corporation has brought too many surprises, there's no need to rush the construction of interstellar spaceships. Even equipping the Heavenly Palace Space Station with a suitable propulsion system would make it a giant interstellar spaceship.

Tang Chao had considered its flight capabilities in the initial design, so its stress-bearing structure is a spaceship structure. As long as the acceleration isn't too rapid or extreme maneuvers are performed, the structure will definitely hold.

Of course, an interstellar spaceship doesn't need to be that large. Considering the need for agility, a smaller, more robust structure would be more suitable.

Therefore, an interstellar spaceship should be a structurally simplified version of the Heavenly Palace Space Station, plus a propulsion module, making it a qualified manned interstellar spaceship.

These are not troublesome issues, so they are considering how to respond when aliens arrive.

Friendly aliens are another matter, but if they are unfriendly, then it's just one sentence: "Seek peace through struggle, and peace will survive; seek peace through compromise, and peace will perish."

Tianxia will definitely let them know the prowess of humanity.