Following Chen Yi's instructions.
Qin Xiaoyu, who had long been ready, immediately controlled the drone as it took off.
Rumble!
The drone shot up to an altitude of 800 meters, its exhaust plume surging.
A sonic boom cloud trailed behind its fuselage as it flew inverted, diagonally eastward into the sky.
"Switching to the relay signal!"
Chen Yi pressed a key on the keyboard, and the livestream image flickered.
The signal antenna, which had previously been lowered almost to its minimum horizontal angle, began to rise, its crosshairs locking onto the relay drone accelerating eastward while flying inverted.
The control signal from Chen Yi passed through the relay drone before connecting to the Lunar Lander Drone, which had nearly flown beyond the horizon.
Meanwhile, the Lunar Lander Drone's various signals and image data were also transmitted back to Chen Yi through the relay drone.
"President Chen, the Lunar Lander Drone has gone below the horizon. Tracking footage has ended."
Not long after the relay drone took off and the signal switched over.
The Hurricane Team, which had been responsible for tracking and filming the Lunar Lander Drone, also called out their report.
The planet was round.
The Lunar Lander Drone's parabolic flight had now carried it deep over the Pacific Ocean.
Even though it was high up in the thermosphere.
The horizon had still blocked the signal angle.
"Xia University tracking is normal, remote sensing signals are normal. Tracking is expected to continue for another minute!"
"Bay Mountain Top Team tracking is normal! Though mosquitoes have attacked and harassed us, they cannot shake my steadfast mind in the slightest!"
"Bay North University tracking is normal, remote sensing signals are normal. We are expected to witness the Lunar Lander Drone entering planetary orbit!"
"It's moving so fast! The Lunar Lander Drone's image is already leaving afterimages!"
"Look at the streamer's avionics interface. The drone is practically reaching first cosmic velocity, so of course it's fast!"
"Spread the word: the streamer is fast."
The Hurricane Team's tracking footage came to an end.
Teams from Fu Hai Xia University, Bay Mountain Top, and Bay North University began to take over.
The comment section gradually filled with the latest tracking images and videos uploaded by those three teams.
Penghai Air Traffic Control Bureau.
When the Hurricane Team's tracking footage ended.
Lin Xiaobei, who was providing dispatch information for Civil Aviation passenger planes landing and taking off in Penghai.
Suddenly saw a number on her work order tracking interface light up red.
"Number 0A01."
"Isn't this the drone that filed a report recently saying it was going to the moon? Why has its signal been lost?"
"What a hassle."
"These drone-flying people are always a hassle."
"They clearly aren't under our jurisdiction, yet we still have to track and dispatch them."
Lin Xiaobei frowned slightly.
She forwarded the drone's identification number and the relevant signal-loss code to another dispatch management interface for reporting, then continued working.
It was only a signal loss.
It had not overlapped with any Civil Aviation flight routes.
Reporting it was enough. The rest was none of her concern.
She could not be bothered to check on an unmanned private drone like that.
"Xiaobei, time to change shifts.
I'm handling the night shift today. Was there anything unusual in the airspace during the day?"
Less than two minutes after she reported the drone missing, another air traffic dispatch operator, Zhang Qin, walked over and indicated that Xiaobei could clock out and hand over her shift.
"The weather has been good these past few days. Nothing unusual in the airspace.
There was just a drone numbered 0A01 that lost its signal a little over ten minutes after takeoff, but it never entered any no-fly zones or Civil Aviation altitude zones.
Sister Qin, just keep an eye out later to see whether its signal reappears. Its positioning chip may have malfunctioned."
Lin Xiaobei clicked the shift handover button, picked up her water cup, and told Zhang Qin about the drone's signal loss.
"A drone signal loss?"
Zhang Qin sat down at the station and seemed to think of something. "Was the reported test flight at the seaside park?"
"I think so. The coordinates given by the person filing the report seemed to point to the seaside park."
Lin Xiaobei thought back to the report review process and answered uncertainly.
"Then that's it."
Zhang Qin said with certainty, "That drone's signal won't reappear.
It's almost out of the planet already, beyond the Air Traffic Control Bureau's signal range."
???
The drone was flying out of the planet?
Lin Xiaobei was a little baffled. What kind of new internet meme was this?
"You didn't know?"
Zhang Qin asked strangely.
"What was I supposed to know?" Lin Xiaobei was even more confused.
"Didn't he state the destination when he filed the report?"
Zhang Qin answered, "The moon!
This guy is the owner of Yifei, who's been extremely popular in drone circles lately.
The drone he reported to you is livestreaming its flight to the moon.
It's already about to leave the planet and enter a space orbit.
Go get your phone and take a look. It's already trending on several hot-search lists."
"Flying to the moon?"
Lin Xiaobei left the dispatch area in confusion, took out the phone she had stored in the secure locker area, and opened the internet. Whoa! Several hot-search notifications popped up.
Their content was exactly about the drone flying to the moon, just as Zhang Qin had said.
She casually tapped one of the links, which redirected her to the livestream.
"Altitude: 325,300 meters. Speed: 7.86 kilometers per second. Acceleration: 8.3 meters per second squared. About to enter first cosmic velocity. Activating the automatic orbital insertion program."
Hearing the voice in the video announcing parameter after parameter and operation after operation, Lin Xiaobei froze.
That voice was the very same one that had called her not long ago to report the drone test flight.
A drone flying to the moon.
It really was flying to the moon?!
Chen Yi had turned off the comments and was concentrating on controlling the drone.
He had no idea that the air traffic control operator who had spoken with him was now beginning to question her life.
At that moment, seeing the drone about to reach first cosmic velocity.
He opened the automatic control program in the avionics system and began entering parameters one by one.
The orbital flight stage.
A spacecraft's orbit was not circular.
It was elliptical.
Within that elliptical orbit were locations at different altitudes, such as periapsis and apoapsis.
For a spacecraft to escape a planet's gravity more efficiently and travel to another planet.
When to accelerate and when to change orbit both required careful consideration and strict calculations.
"Accelerate at periapsis to raise the orbit, change orbit at apoapsis to escape it."
"Chemical-fuel spacecraft are such a pain. Their specific impulse is garbage, and even going to the moon requires multiple orbital changes and acceleration burns.
Looks like the Hall effect thruster drone plan needs to be put on the agenda as soon as possible.
Then the spacecraft's specific impulse can shoot straight up, and it can fly vertically to the moon."
Chen Yi grumbled inwardly as he configured the settings.
Several minutes later.
The orbital flight program had been configured.
Chen Yi controlled the drone, adjusted its attitude, precisely inserted it into orbit, and began following the automatic program into the orbital flight stage.
"That orbital insertion attitude—one word: awesome!"
"It has entered orbital flight! It still has two-fifths of its fuel propellant left. This drone is incredible!"
"Brothers, according to the lunar flight procedure.
The Lunar Lander Drone still needs to complete three orbits and keep accelerating to the second cosmic velocity of 11.2 km/s.
Then it will follow a Hohmann transfer route, changing orbit at apoapsis to escape the planet and enter the moon-bound flight stage.
The whole process will take roughly three to five days.
I've already calculated the Lunar Lander Drone's orbital parameters and determined when it will pass over different regions around the world, along with the observation and filming angles.
Everyone can prepare space telescopes in advance and follow the schedule and angle chart to track and film the Lunar Lander Drone together."
"Holy crap, you even calculated the orbital parameters?"
"Awesome. My Celestron 90DX is ready; all I'm missing is this tracking chart."
"Everyone participates, everyone goes to the moon."
"What a shame. The streamer's drone doesn't have radio broadcasting functions, otherwise the radio my grandfather left behind could finally be put to use. It was his treasured radio for listening to The East is Red back then."
"Praise for The East is Red! Northern Shaanxi brothers score big!"
"Satellites played The East is Red in the 1960s. Shouldn't a Lunar Lander Drone be playing The Times are Calling now?"
"The Times are Calling? What kind of DNA song is that? Aren't you afraid people will start doing radio calisthenics in the streets?"
Less than a few minutes after the drone entered orbital flight.
Some highly skilled technical experts calculated its subsequent orbital trajectory based on its altitude and speed parameters.
They also further provided the observation and filming times and angles for the Lunar Lander Drone's upcoming orbital passes.
"Brother Yi, the leaders of the Penghai City bureau called this morning. They said several important people are looking for you."
As countless viewers cheered, downloading the tracking schedule and angle chart in preparation to join this celebratory event for the drone's lunar flight.
At the livestream site, Qin Xiaoyu, acting as Chen Yi's assistant and secretary, also received a call. She walked over and reported softly.
Before you continue