The military-industrial scientific research system of the academic master.

Griffin is of course very clear about his own affairs.

Although NASA has always claimed that it is ready to resolve the threat posed by space junk No. 40396, in reality it has always remained at the stage of talking.

It was not until five minutes ago at most that a specific action plan appeared in his mind for the first time, and he had not even had time to talk about it with Meyer, his most trusted assistant.

And then the plan was announced to have failed across the Pacific?

This obviously cannot be a problem with confidentiality.

But the other party is trying to cheat!

Griffin immediately wanted to ask the news center to write an article to refute the allegation, but after a little hesitation, he decided to first look at the other party's specific arguments and then organize a more targeted counterattack.

"Send me the original text from China!"

He suppressed his anger that was on the verge of exploding and spoke to John Yambrick on the other end of the phone.

Playing public opinion with the United States?

We must let the other side see what true media hegemony is!

"Uh... there is no original text yet."

Yambrick could hear the anger in the director's tone and couldn't help feeling guilty:

"It was a routine press conference. The topic was originally about China's first spacewalk mission, but it suddenly turned to the construction of the space station, so..."

Being caught up in all the chaos, Griffin no longer had the patience to listen to these details and interrupted the other party directly:

"Once the press release for the press conference comes out, translate it and send it to me immediately!"

After hanging up the phone, Griffin's brain began to think rapidly.

"Has the data handover for the X37 verification project been completed?"

He looked up at Meyer across from him.

Although the latter was not very capable of taking charge of a task on his own, he was indeed capable of being an assistant. Facing this somewhat abrupt question, he nodded without hesitation:

"In fact, some of the X37 project data is still with us. The R&D team that was previously responsible for connecting with Boeing has not been completely disbanded, and even the X37A prototype has not been transferred to the Air Force 42nd Factory in time... So there is no obstacle to taking over again now. It is expected that flight tests in the atmosphere can be resumed as early as September."

Hearing this, Griffin gave a helpless smile.

The last time the X37B was transferred from NASA to the Air Force was in 2004. Now, two years have passed and there are still a lot of tails left. This efficiency is obviously heartbreaking and makes people cry.

But in a way, it was a blessing in disguise.

Meyer continued:

"The only problem now is that, as the space shuttle is about to retire, the original plan to launch the spacecraft into orbit via the space shuttle cargo bay needs to be changed to using the Delta 4 launch vehicle, which may take some extra time and the actual launch date will be postponed to the end of 2008 at the earliest."

"Based on the Chinese's current plan to capture the flying net, it may be too late to use the X37 to carry out the mission..."

Griffin lowered his head slightly, and his brain began to work rapidly:

"At present, the Atlantis is on standby, and the estimated window is early September. However, even if we use special channels to obtain the design parameters of the capture mechanism from the Chinese side, it is unlikely to complete the mission preparation in just over two months. So we can only settle for the second best and consider the Discovery mission in December..."

"From what the Chinese side said at the press conference, will they..."

When Griffin answered the phone just now, he did not specifically ask Meyer to recuse himself, so the latter also heard the conversation.

"Just listen to the statements made at the press conference."

Griffin waved his hand to interrupt him, looking like he didn't care:

"During this period, the Russians have been talking about the threat to the International Space Station almost every week. If we only listen to their statements, then they are the ones most likely to solve the problem..."

But then he added another paragraph, which seemed more like persuading himself than persuading Meyer:

"China doesn't have a multi-purpose spacecraft like the space shuttle that has enough mission flexibility, so even if the capture device is successfully developed, it will still need to design and produce a satellite separately... I've dealt with China before when I was NASA's chief engineer. Their process takes about six to eight months. Combined with this year's full rocket launch schedule, it can be roughly guessed that China should take action in the first half of next year."

This speculation is well-founded. Even if someone else were to stand here, they would not be able to find much to refute.

What's more, Meyer had no objection at first, and continued to perform his duties as an assistant:

"Discovery's STS-116 mission included four spacewalks, but three of them were for repairs and adjustments to the space station equipment. There was only one P5 structure that needed to be transported, so there was plenty of room in the cargo bay to deploy an additional mission module."

"That's perfect..."

Griffin wanted to say something else, but the computer on the desk suddenly beeped.

It is an encrypted email sent to an internal mailbox.

After opening it, he quickly found the press conference draft forwarded by the news center in the attachment.

Griffin quickly skipped over the first few routine questions related to manned space flight and directly scrolled to the end on the right.

Sure enough, it was the part that Yambrick mentioned before.

"We have used the latest technology to evaluate the solar activity patterns in the next six months and found that starting from August 8, there will be a solar storm lasting about 30-40 days. At that time, the high-energy particles ejected from the center of the solar system will induce Joule heating, causing the atmospheric density of the upper layers of the Earth to increase, thereby increasing the air resistance in the medium and low orbits..."

"Based on past experience, a spacecraft with a similar mass to space junk No. 40396 will drop in orbit by about 80-150 meters per day without power compensation. The International Space Station is less affected by drag due to its size advantage, so the chance of a collision between the two will be significantly increased."

"After the US side, despite the concerns and dissuasion of the international community, insisted on conducting an anti-satellite test on March 3, which eventually caused a huge crisis concerning the safety of astronauts, NASA has publicly stated many times that it will work hard to eliminate the risks faced by the International Space Station. China has always had the greatest goodwill and hopes that the US side can make up for its mistakes and redeem itself."

"However, to this day, with only about two months left before the solar storm hits, the US still does not act in accordance with its words and has not taken any effective action... Considering the personal safety of the International Space Station and astronauts on orbit, we officially announce that we will no longer continue to wait in vain, but will work with other positive international communities to jointly carry out this space debris cleanup mission..."

"..."

Griffin's temples pounded and his eyes were filled with blood as he read the content, which filled about a whole page.

This statement may seem polite, but if translated, it probably means -

I've been watching the fun with glee for three months, and I think you're really not going to make it, so I plan to set up a new camp with my brothers and settle this matter on my own.

He took several deep breaths and finally managed to control his urge to bang the table.

Then he picked up the phone again and called the head of the news center:

"The Chinese are planning to use the solar storm as an excuse, but that's a perfect example... When it comes to studying solar activity, no one can do better than us."

"I will ask Meyer to send you a copy of the remote sensing map and related analysis results of the solar energy observation satellite. You should publish it on our official website first, and then explain it in detail at the press conference tonight... The peak impact of the solar storm will only last for 1-2 days. It will take three consecutive solar storms of the same intensity to make the space debris fall to the same altitude as the International Space Station. The next two years will be low years for solar activity, which means there is no need to worry at least until 2009..."

"..."

……

After 12 hours.

Early the next morning, Beijing time.

Chang Haonan had just returned to the command center of the space fishing boat project from the 9th Academy of China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation when he saw Xing Muchun appearing at the door of his office in a hurry with a report in his hand.

"Academician Chang, there were two emergencies last night that I need to inform you of."

The latter put the document in his hand on the table and said:

"First, NASA held a press conference to refute our claim that solar storms could cause danger to the space station, and even produced the original data from the two solar energy observation satellites as proof... The current public opinion is roughly 50-50, but as more and more professionals express their opinions, I am worried that the situation will develop in a direction that is not favorable to us..."

"Regarding the press conference, I have already read the briefing on the way..."

Chang Haonan shook his head and replied:

"Although what they said is indeed correct, the truth is not important in this case... Besides, we said before that the risk of collision is increased, but we did not say that there will definitely be a collision, so it is not considered false."

"With the current situation, it doesn't matter which direction the public opinion leans towards. The key is to keep this matter hot from now on until the space fishing boat mission is completed... In addition, the key to the public opinion war is to always maintain the initiative. As long as we can make the other party fall into the trap of self-proof, we will have countless black pots to put on them, and let them jump into the yellow... They can't clear themselves even if they jump into the Mississippi River..."

In the past, due to the disadvantage of public opinion influence, China was usually caught in this dilemma.

But now, it's finally America's turn to experience it for themselves.

It can be considered an offensive and defensive type.

And even Chang Haonan himself had to admit that it was really cool to stand on the moral high ground and point fingers...

Come more often in the future.

As an honest man, Xing Muchun was still a little skeptical about this, but Chang Haonan was the commander-in-chief of the entire plan after all, so he had to put aside his concerns temporarily and change to the second topic:

"Okay... In addition, Star Company sent us a reminder through unofficial channels, saying that because it is not a commercial activity, the restrictions stipulated by the patent are very weak. Once the 'Distributed Node Flexible Grasping System' we entrusted to them enters the formal production stage, it may be difficult to keep it secret for a long time..."

"In other words, if the US is more flexible, it may obtain the relevant parameters of this module only one step later than us... Even if some core data is missing, it can be supplemented in a relatively short time."

"It's not surprising... The ties between the United States and Europe are still too deep, especially in the aerospace sector."

In response, Chang Haonan did not show any surprise or anger:

“I estimate that NASA will be able to replicate our plan by the end of this year at the earliest, or by the beginning of next year at the latest. That’s why I insisted on using solid rockets and modular satellite design, and strive to complete the entire mission before the end of September… This will not only allow us to get ahead of the Americans, but also make them work in vain for a while, wasting some of their time and resources!”