Do You Know Who I Admire Most?

The call was from Chen Yushan.

As soon as Lu Zhou answered, her pleasant voice sounded in his ear.

"Hello! What are you up to? I called earlier, but you didn't pick up."

"I was out having dinner."

"Dinner?" Chen Yushan asked curiously. "With a man or a woman?"

"An academician from the Academy of Engineering. He's over seventy," Lu Zhou said with a soft cough. "Anyway, what's up so late?"

"Well, the Commission of Science and Technology for National Defense called our company earlier," Chen Yushan said.

"The commission?" Lu Zhou raised an eyebrow. "What did they say?"

"They asked whether Starry Sky Technology was interested in bidding for the Manned Lunar Landing Project at the end of the year. If we are, we can start preparing a proposal and try to submit it within two months."

Lu Zhou thought for a moment. "Did they say what the project involves?"

"The details are on the commission's official website. I took a quick look. Broadly speaking, the first phase requires bidders to propose a launch system capable of delivering fifty tons to low Earth orbit within five years."

Fifty tons to low Earth orbit?

That was an ambitious target.

After all, Long March 5 could only deliver twenty-five tons to low Earth orbit. At the current level of China's aerospace companies, almost none of them could meet that requirement.

Long March 9, still in development, was another matter. Its design was not expected to be finished until 2026, though with the substantial increase in aerospace funding, they might manage it within five years if they pushed hard enough.

Lu Zhou leaned back in his chair and thought for a while before speaking.

"Got it. I'll write up a proposal in the next couple of days."

"Okay. I'll wait to hear