<h4>Chapter 1353: Assemble In Space!</h4>


    At the astronomical observatory in Arizona, North America...


    As arge-scale astronomical observatory built after 2020, this scientific research facility had the most sensitive radio telescope array in all of North America. Its uracy could even track meteorite debris and space junk only half a meter in diameter, as long as it was located near the Earth and Moon system.


    As thetest and most advanced astronomical observatory in North America, this Arizona astronomical observatory was a civilian public scientific research facility that belonged to the American Astronomical Society. Its funding came from the Pentagon’s defense budget.


    Since its funding was received from the military, the task of this astronomical observatory was not as simple as when it was first established.


    ording to an internal document from the Pentagon, this astronomical observatory only had 30% of its observation missions dedicated to finding habitables outside the sr system.


    As for the remaining 70% of the observation missions, most of them were concentrated in the lunar transfer orbit. Needless to say, the purpose was obviously to monitor China’s activities in the Earth-Moon system.


    Professor Reston stood next to the coffee machine, quietly waiting for the coffee to be ready. Suffering from a headache, he rubbed his eyebrows, trying to rx his nervous and overheated brain.


    About a week ago, Chinaunched the firstponents of the Marsnding program in ordance with a timeline that was made public to the internationalmunity.


    Since that day, he and the observation team he led did not take a day off. They were on standby for almost 24 hours a day.


    After all, there was no guarantee that China would arrange everyunch n ording to the timetable that they disclosed to the internationalmunity.


    Such things were not without precedent.


    After all, they themselves had abandoned their schedules countless times.


    As the person in charge of this astronomical observatory and a researcher employed by the Pentagon, he only had one mission, which was to observe and track every detail of China’s Marsnding n. He had to collect as much intel as possible.


    This task was personally given to him by the US Secretary of Defense at a meeting.


    Because of this, from the moment he received the task, he felt an unparalleled pressure on his shoulders.


    Fortunately, this period of time was finally about to be over.


    Theunch mission recently carried out was the thirdunch in China’s Marsnding n. ording to theunch n they announced, this was thestunch.


    When this was over, their work would finish for the time being.


    “Starlight has sessfully entered geosynchronous orbit.”


    “The third batch ofponents was released from the cargo hold...”


    “The recovery was sessful. The Magpie Bridge is speeding up its orbit change.”


    “Orbit changed sessfully. The Magpie Bridge has sessfully moved into lunar transfer orbit!”


    A series of reports came one after another.


    Professor Reston stood in the control room, listening quietly.


    Even though this wasn’t good news for America’s aerospace industry, for some reason, there was a faint feeling of relief in his heart.


    <i>All of this is finally over...</i>


    His assistant walked in from the control room.


    “Professor Reston.”


    Professor Reston turned to look at his assistant and asked, “Yeah, what?”


    “Professor Phil Goethe submitted an application to NASA. He will visit our astronomical observatory the day after tomorrow.”


    Professor Reston frowned when he heard this unfamiliar name.


    “Professor Phil Goethe?”


    The assistant saw the confusion in the eyes of his boss, so he immediately exined, “He is a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as well as a distinguished engineer of NASA and the person in charge of the Lunar Gateway project. Not long ago, he made a high-profile announcement in an interview with the media, stating that the Chinese people’s Marsnding program was doomed to fail and that they had not made any adequate preparations fornding on Mars...”


    The assistant paused for a moment. He shrugged his shoulders.


    “Perhaps after seeing that the Chinese people’s n has been going smoothly so far, he might be feeling a bit restless.”


    <i>Who cares if he’s restless?</i>


    Professor Reston had a smile on his face.


    There was a hint of ridicule behind this smile.


    He spoke in a cold tone.


    “If he’s interested, let hime.


    “But I don’t think this makes any sense.”


    After that, he put the empty coffee cup on the table, walked past his assistant, and walked out of the control room...


    ...


    On the third day that the Magpie Bridge sessfully took over theponents of the Marsnding program, Professor Phil Goethe arrived at the astronomical observatory in Arizona as scheduled.


    The professor in his sixties stepped into the astronomical observatory and saw Professor Reston approaching him. Before Reston could even say hello, he asked straightaway, “How is the situation?


    “Which step is theirunch n at?


    “Is there anything unusual?”


    “In my opinion, the whole Marsnding program is full of unusual signs. Which one do you mean?” Professor Reston shrugged as he was bombarded with questions. He said, “As for how far along their n is, I think it is at the final stage of preparations.”


    Phil Goethe looked at the younger researcher in front of him with a stiff expression. He spoke with a struggling tone.


    “... The final stage?”


    “Yes.” Professor Reston nodded and said, “About half an hour ago, the Chinese had sessfully shipped thest batch ofponents to the Moon Pce, just like they disclosed in the original schedule. We all thought that they might temporarily adjust theunch time to circumvent our investigation activities on them, but now, it seems like they do not care about our prying eyes at all. Not only did they stick to their n, but...”


    Professor Phil Goethe said, “But?”


    A bitter and helpless smile appeared on Professor Reston’s face.


    “... But it’s as if they deliberately wanted us to observe them.”


    Professor Phil Goethe fell into silence; he didn’t know what to say.


    Half a month ago, he was confident that China’s announcement of the Marsnding n was to provoke NASA and use this to start a new round of spacepetition, to achieve some kind of political goal. And if they reallyunched ording to such a hasty timeline, this immature n was destined to be a failure.


    But it seemed that was all his own imagination.


    They didn’t even have the intention of hiding, as if they didn’t pay attention to their opponents at all.


    Professor Reston looked at the silent old professor. He suddenly spoke.


    “Let’s stop talking at the entrance. Since you’re already here,e on inside.


    “If I’m not mistaken, they are probably thinking of a way to put those parts together into a colony ship, then send it to Mars.”


    He spoke in a joking tone. The serious atmosphere around him rxed a little because of his joke.


    Everyone knew it was difficult to assemble a spacecraft weighing hundreds of tons in the lunar orbit. This was something that anyone in the aerospace industry knew.


    Assembling the three parts into a spacecraft on the Moon Pce was akin to using an AK47 and shooting at a bullseye target hundreds of meters away.


    There was no independent dynamical system, and its orbit was constantly adjusted ording to the CCD cameras and dynamic vision measurement system on the spacecraft. If they were not careful, theseponents could crash into one another and be space junk.


    He was more inclined to believe that the Moon Pce ship was actually a slightly smaller and fully assembled spacecraft, which had already been sent to the Moon Pce for fuel replenishment during the firstponentunch.


    The next twounch missions were to send some simple life-sustaining devices to the Moon Pce. This would be carried by other spacecraft andunched in batches to Mars orbit for deployment.


    However, while he was thinking, the three white dots floating around the Moon Pce on the radar screen in themand room gradually became closer together, as if they were under some kind of force.


    Professor Reston had just brought Professor Phil Goethe into the control room when he noticed the unusual situation on the radar screen and frowned.


    At first, he thought it was a problem with the radio telescope array.


    However, he soon realized that this was impossible. The engineer responsible for the overhaul of the equipment this morning performed maintenance on the radio telescope array.


    Professor Phil Goethe, who was standing next to him, apparently also noticed the abnormality on the radar. He muttered to himself, “... What the hell are they doing?”


    “I don’t know...” Professor Reston realized the seriousness of the problem. He immediately looked at his assistant and asked, “Can we apply for permission to use the Universe-2 optical observation satellite?”


    The Universe-2 optical observation satellite was a space observation satellitemissioned by NASA to Space X hadunched in 2022. It used high-resolution lenses to photograph thes in the sr system.


    Of course, this satellite, just like the Arizona astronomical observatory, was mainly focused on observing the Moon.


    Precisely speaking, 70% of its activities were focused on the Chinese astronauts on the Moon.


    “It should be okay... I’ll go ask.”


    The assistant quickly jogged out of the control room.


    He didn’t make his boss wait for a long time; he quickly ran back from the outside.


    “NASA approved our application!”


    Professor Reston immediately said without hesitation, “Connect to the Universe-2 optical observation satellite! Focus on the Moon Pce!”


    Thousands of kilometers away, a cylindrical satellite began fine-tuning its camera angle, locking its lens on the Moon Pce.


    When the camera was finally aimed at the Moon Pce, everyone in the control room was stunned by the picture in front of them.


    <i>They’re really f*cking assembling a spacecraft?!</i>


    <i>WTF?</i>