"Gone?"
Jinling Aerospace Launch Center.
When Lu Zhou heard the report about that seismic formation, he was so surprised he nearly rose from behind his desk.
Meeting the astonishment on Lu Zhou's face, Director Chang Hezhi nodded with an odd expression.
"That's right... According to the updated mission logs from our Mars Scientific Expedition Station, our expedition team sent a rover to the target area. However, when they reached that fault formation, they found nothing there."
"It was as if... it had vanished overnight."
A fault formation more than ten meters deep had disappeared overnight?
Lu Zhou had never heard of anything so absurd.
"Was there a dust storm that night?"
"Dust storms happen on Mars all the time, but even a dust storm couldn't bury a fault formation more than ten meters deep overnight... Those were Dr. Fan's exact words in his work log."
Lu Zhou spoke.
"Just tell me what else he said."
Director Chang Hezhi shook his head. "Nothing else. That was all he said about the fault formation. Other than that, there was his application to publish a paper. He hoped to publicly release this astonishing geological discovery so that more people could analyze this extraordinary phenomenon."
The Mars Landing Plan's research funding mainly came from Hua Nation. In name, all research results generated by scientific activities on Mars belonged collectively to the Manned Mars Landing Plan Office. Therefore, anyone wishing to publish research findings had to apply to the Manned Mars Landing Plan Office and receive approval.
Under normal circumstances, though, research projects that did not involve sensitive experimental content only went through the motions. Naturally, the Manned Mars Landing Plan Office hoped they would produce more valuable results. Only then would its investment in the Mars project appear worthwhile.
After thinking for a moment,