Technological power starts with upgrading lenses.

Chapter 449 is a hook

After the press conference, Musk gave individual interviews to some media.

About an hour later, this 120-meter-tall behemoth finally roared, and successfully took off amid cheers, and soon disappeared from people's sight.

However, in accordance with SpaceX's usual style, netizens can still see the current status of the starship through the live broadcast.
"Super Heavy shutdown, booster separation."

"Starship ignited."

"Everything is normal at the moment, and the launch pad is ready for booster recovery."

"..."

With the instructions issued by the command room, the entire launch process went very smoothly.

Two minutes and forty seconds after launch, the first-stage booster separated and successfully returned to the launch pad to complete the recovery of the chopsticks.

Fifteen minutes after launch, the second-stage Starship spacecraft successfully reached a low-Earth orbit of 234 kilometers. It then took about a day to catch up and dock with a refueling Starship that had been sent into low-Earth orbit in advance to replenish the propellants needed for the next long journey.

Seeing that all the data on the screen were normal, Musk finally breathed a sigh of relief, but when he was about to join the employees in the celebration, a female secretary suddenly walked up to him and whispered something.

"CIA?"

Musk thought for a moment, gave up celebrating, and followed the female secretary to a meeting room.

After seeing him come in, the three men in suits sitting inside immediately stood up, and the leader extended his hand to Musk: "Mr. Musk, congratulations on the successful completion of the launch mission... I'm sorry to interrupt your celebration."

Musk did not extend his hand, but simply said: "I hope you have enough reasons."

"Of course." The man took his hand back without any hesitation and showed his ID according to the procedure. "I am Eckhard Dean, an agent of the Intelligence Bureau. You can just call me Dean."

Musk glanced at the document and continued expressionlessly: "Let's get down to business."

"OK."

After Dean put away the documents, the assistant next to him immediately took out an A4-sized color photo from the file bag.

The photo soon fell into Musk's hands.

He casually glanced at the satellite color photo and asked in confusion, "What is this?"

"Just half an hour before your rocket was launched, our satellite detected a heavy truck escorted by the Chinese military leaving the Daming Deep Space."

"Da Ming Deep Space?"

After hearing the name, Musk lowered his head and looked at the photo carefully. As expected, he found the heavy truck that Dean mentioned. However, due to the low image resolution, he could only vaguely see an outline...

This is not because their satellites are not accurate enough, but because they have obviously taken some anti-photography measures. In addition to wearing conventional light-resistant camouflage clothing, they have also installed high-power laser beams on the roofs of the entire convoy, so that the satellite lenses have obvious glare.

"I believe you have realized that what they are transporting this time is definitely not simple." Dean further explained, "But based on the general shape of the cargo, we can roughly determine that this should be a rocket made by Daming Deep Space."

"Pfft-"

"What are you laughing at?"

"nothing……"

Musk restrained his smile and said with a bit of ridicule: "You've been exaggerating so much that I thought it was some kind of space-to-earth system. It turns out it's just something we left over... So you called me here at this time just for this?"

"Yes, we hope you can help us make a technical assessment of this. After all, you and your company are the most professional in rocket manufacturing."

"What's worth evaluating?" Musk didn't give up his dissatisfaction at all because of Dean's flattery. "No matter how amateur you are, you can always use a ruler, right?"

"If this is really a rocket made by Daming Deep Space, then we can only say that their speed is really fast."

"But the problem is, based on the reference objects next to it, the size of that thing is obviously no more than 40 meters. Even the Falcon 9 booster is taller than it. Tell me what is worth evaluating about this small rocket?" Facing Musk's ruthless sarcasm, Dean just said calmly: "The size of the rocket is not necessarily completely linked to the technical level..."

"No, it's hooked!"

Musk directly refuted, "Larger size means more and larger engines, fuel tanks and load capacity, but also means that it has more stringent requirements on rocket materials and structures. This theorem is as unquestionable as the law of conservation of energy."

"..."

Hearing Musk's firm tone, Dean had to end the conversation in a hurry.

"I have to say, he is quite an arrogant fellow..."

"Yeah, but maybe he's right. Are we being too sensitive about Kang Chi's name..."

"Sensitive? Hasn't he shocked us enough in the past few years?" Dean took out his memo pad, "Next stop, Cleveland Glenn Research Center."

……

Gansu Province, Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center.

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As the wheels raised up rolling yellow sand in the Gobi Desert, a fully armed convoy slowly drove into this "ancient" aerospace city.

Although China has many space launch sites, if you want to conduct a test launch, then Jiuquan Launch Site is definitely the best choice.

It is dry and rainy here, so launches can be carried out most of the year. The most important thing is that the area is vast and sparsely populated, so even if an accident occurs, no one will be injured.

As the motorcade slowly stopped at the launch site, a man in military uniform immediately jumped out of the car and smiled and extended his hand to Kang Chi, who had already flown to Jiuquan in advance: "Academician Kang, we meet again."

Kang Chi also stretched out his hand and shook his hand, saying, "I didn't expect that a small transportation mission would alarm Chief Jian."

Jian Jingsen immediately shook his head and said, "Academician Kang, there is nothing trivial. Besides transportation, there is also the launch."

Does that mean he is also responsible for the security of the launch?

Well, but Jian Jingsen is a powerful general in the Western Theater Command and an old acquaintance of Kang Chi, so it is reasonable for his superiors to assign the task to him.

It just feels like...

The scene was a bit too grand.

When Kang Chi just arrived at Jiuquan yesterday, he found that there was a guard post every five steps and a sentry every ten steps. The solemn atmosphere made him feel nervous.

"Then I'll trouble you, Commander Jian." Kang Chi pointed to the sky again, "In fact, such a big move as launching a rocket has been under their noses for a long time. There is no need to make such a big fuss. We just need to ensure that the test launch can be carried out normally and safely. Anyway, our plan will definitely be made public after it is completed."

"Then we'll talk about it when it's completed." Jian Jingshen just smiled: "And we are just ensuring that the launch goes on normally."

After saying this, he regained his seriousness and turned to look at his subordinates around him.

"Recheck the five kilometers around the launch site. Don't let me see any unrelated personnel nearby!"

"Yes!"

Kang Chi: "..."

Kang Chi was almost numb to their making a fuss.
Since it's useless to say it myself, I'll just let them be...

In fact, the leaders knew that the rocket test launch could not be concealed for long, and there was no need to conceal it.
However, in their opinion, Kang Chi's test launch this time was too hasty and risky. It would be wrong for them to stop him, and it would be no good to persuade him either. They could only let him do it.

What they can do is to block the news as much as possible. In case the test launch fails, it will also reduce the external pressure on Kang Chi.

(End of this chapter)