Lunar Lander Drone Carrying Local Specialties—Terrifying
Once inside the car, Chen Yi hugged his laptop and looked at the weathered, white-haired old man beside him.
"Sir, you're probably not an investigator. You must be a professor, right? May I ask your surname?"
"Just an unknown old professor, not worth mentioning."
Seeing Chen Yi's nervousness, the old man smiled. "President Chen, there's no need to be so tense.
This time, this old man simply saw Yifei's Lunar Lander Drone and had a few questions he wanted to understand.
I'm not here to guide your work, nor am I here to impose any restrictions on Yifei.
On the contrary, Yifei has done an excellent job.
Through these livestreams, you've done a fine job promoting the scientific spirit of ordinary people.
You've declared to the world that ordinary people like us also possess great knowledge, great learning, and great technology.
They have SpaceX and Max across the ocean.
We have Yifei, and a genius like President Chen."
With all that official talk, it was hard to believe he had come only to ask a few questions.
No longer a fresh graduate just out of school, Chen Yi couldn't help complaining inwardly, though he outwardly pretended to relax.
"Whatever questions you have, Professor, I guarantee I'll tell you everything I know."
The professor nodded and went straight to the point. "Yifei's Lunar Lander Drone just now used a rotating detonation engine, didn't it?"
"That's right. The drone carried limited fuel, and conventional engines could hardly reach planetary orbit, let alone the Moon.
During my first livestreamed attempt to charge into space, I tried combining a turbojet engine with a rocket engine. After carrying oxidizer, I found the specific impulse was far too poor to complete a lunar landing.
After that, I changed things up and switched to a rotating detonation engine, which has a self-pressurizing effect and greater specific impulse."
Chen Yi explained without reservation.
Other than concealing the fact that the system had adjusted and upgraded it, making it seem as though he had modified and manufactured it himself, he hid nothing else.
"Rotating detonation engines are one of the main directions for next-generation super engines.
Many countries, including ours and those across the ocean, are still at the laboratory stage.
I never expected Yifei to have already produced a mass-production solution for a technology that so many countries have yet to break through. That's truly remarkable."
By the end, the professor revealed a deep sigh of admiration.
Hearing this, Chen Yi immediately stated his position.
He said he had only developed the technology by chance.
Since the country needed it, he would organize the relevant data in a while, send it to the professor, and hand it over to the state.
The professor was taken aback by Chen Yi's enthusiastic declaration, then shook his head.
"There's no need to hand it over.
This is technology developed by you and Yifei. The state will not take an individual's research results.
For this rotating detonation engine technology, a patent compensation payment will be made according to its value."
After saying that, the professor changed the subject and asked Chen Yi further technical questions, including formulas and principles behind the technology.
It seemed he truly had come to seek answers, rather than for some other purpose.
Chen Yi answered every question he could.
If he knew the answer, he gave it. If he did not, he readily admitted it.
Regarding the rotating detonation engine, he also explained some crucial structures and several technical points he had worked out from studying the actual Lunar Lander Drone.
When it came to engine manufacturing, aircraft manufacturing, aerodynamic layouts, and related technologies, Chen Yi held an in-depth discussion with the professor.
Their discussion and conversation lasted more than three hours.
It was only when several crew-cut young men returned with packed dinners that the two finally stopped, still wanting more.
"Xiao Chen, I'll send you an application when I get back. Come attend classes when you have time, enroll directly in a doctoral program, and strengthen your foundational knowledge.
Although your research in rocket aerospace, aircraft manufacturing, aerodynamic layouts, and other fields runs very deep,
your foundation is too weak. You still need to study and make up for it properly."
Professor Zhang picked up a boxed meal. Without minding the simple food, he ate while offering Chen Yi his suggestion.
As an Academician-level figure in aircraft-related fields, after more than three hours of discussion and conversation,
Professor Zhang had discovered that Chen Yi truly was a genius.
In aircraft design and manufacturing, engine manufacturing, and aerodynamic layouts, he surpassed the vast majority of professors.
Some technical details were things Professor Zhang had never heard of or seen before, filled with wild and unconstrained imagination.
Yet upon careful consideration, they perfectly conformed to data and theory. With a few modifications, they could even be used on the sixth-generation fighter currently under development.
However, in many foundational areas, such as aerospace fundamentals, mathematical fundamentals, and physics fundamentals, Chen Yi lacked a great deal. He was only at the excellent level of an undergraduate student.
These deficiencies and unevenness in his foundational knowledge would undoubtedly affect Chen Yi's future development and waste his talent.
Professor Zhang, who cherished talent, truly found it hard to bear.
Chen Yi, who was eating, stopped moving and looked up.
"Uh, Professor, I only have a junior college diploma. I never even upgraded it to a bachelor's degree.
It's been five years since I graduated. Wouldn't it be a little inappropriate to go back for a direct doctoral program?"
Chen Yi shook his head and politely declined the suggestion of returning to school.
Go back to school?
What a joke.
He had graduated five years ago and had been running a business for more than four years.
He had long grown accustomed to the dull life of being a boss. How could he possibly get used to going back to school?
Besides, if he returned to campus, he would have classes every day and be surrounded by a crowd of fellow students.
It would be difficult for him to work on any black technology. One careless move, and people would be watching him on the spot.
"A direct doctoral program, not undergraduate studies."
"By then, aside from following me on some projects and studying to fill in your foundational knowledge, the rest of your time will be fairly free."
Professor Zhang explained.
"I'd better pass. It would feel too strange to return to school after graduating so long ago.
I can study the foundational knowledge on my own. Professor, just recommend a reading list and a list of papers for me."
Chen Yi waved his hand, still choosing to refuse.
"All right.
I'll send you a catalog of books and papers when I get back. Study and fill in the gaps yourself."
You couldn't force a melon to be sweet.
Seeing that Chen Yi genuinely did not want to return to school, Professor Zhang did not press him and instead asked another question.
"How much fuel does your Lunar Lander Drone have left today? Is it enough to change its trajectory, slow down, and fly to the Moon?"
"Twenty-two percent. There'll still be some left after reaching the Moon."
"So much fuel left? Can it slow down and return?" Professor Zhang's eyes lit up.
"No. The drone wasn't designed specifically to withstand high-temperature friction. It would probably crash upon reentering the atmosphere."
Chen Yi shook his head firmly.
Returning was impossible.
He could only wait a while, manufacture another rotating detonation engine, and read out the technical information to send to the professor.
If he let the drone return now and was asked about the engine's technical details, he still would not know how to answer.
"That's a pity."
Professor Zhang was somewhat regretful. After thinking it over, he suggested, "Yifei's livestream today was sensational enough. Don't livestream the later stage of its flight to the Moon.
You should know what your Lunar Lander Drone would become with just a few minor modifications.
Yifei's security and your personal security aren't in place yet.
Exposing too many technical details would not only scare those across the ocean, but would also be very bad for your personal safety."
"All right."
"Then I won't livestream the rest of the lunar landing. Taking a few photos will be enough."
After considering it, Chen Yi agreed with Professor Zhang's suggestion.
His consciousness points had already reached seven million, enough for the short term. If he did not livestream, then he would not livestream.
There was no need to gamble with his personal safety for consciousness points.
As for what the drone would become after a few modifications, Chen Yi naturally understood as well.
It could enter space orbit and even land on the Moon.
Even after completing the lunar landing, it still had fuel to spare.
If it carried some different local specialties, it could deliver packages worldwide in one day and to the Moon in three.
That would absolutely scare people to death.
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