Chapter 689: Secret Chapter
Five o’clock in the morning.
Harbin International Airport.
A bright silver plane slowly landed on the runway.
Lu Zhou looked at the city covered in the morning mist as he said, “This is my first time being up north.”
w.a.n.g Peng looked outside the window and said, “It’s my second time.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Last time was around six years ago, we went to the border for a mission. On the way there, we stayed here for a day and a half.”
“There’s a mission up north?”
“There are missions everywhere.”
Lu Zhou nodded and didn’t ask what kind of mission it was.
First of all, w.a.n.g Peng probably wouldn’t tell him, and secondly, it didn’t have anything to do with him, so he wasn’t interested in knowing.
After Lu Zhou got off the plane, a silver Buick was parked at the entrance. A man dressed in casual clothing got out of the car and opened the door for Lu Zhou. They drove to a hotel near the Harbin Inst.i.tute of Technology.
This time, w.a.n.g Peng wasn’t the one driving. Instead, the driver was from the State Administration for National Defense.
Unlike the conference in Beijing last time, the partic.i.p.ants of this aeros.p.a.ce conference all had high statuses.
Because some of the content discussed at the conference was temporarily confidential to the outside world, both the ident.i.ties of the partic.i.p.ants and details of the conference were strictly confidential.
Therefore, Lu Zhou’s excuse for coming to Harbin was to give an academic lecture at the Harbin Inst.i.tute of Technology.
After they arrived at the hotel, two men, who were waiting at the hotel entrance, walked up to greet them.
One of them smiled and reached out his right hand.
“Professor Lu, long time no see!”
Lu Zhou shook his hand and smiled.
“Long time no see, Director Li.”
Director Li looked at the old man standing next to him and began to introduce him.
“Please allow me to introduce the princ.i.p.al of Harbin Inst.i.tute of Technology, Academician Zou Yu.”
“Pleasure to meet you.”
“It’s my pleasure.” Academician Zou shook Lu Zhou’s hand and said, “I’ve heard many rumors about how young Professor Lu is, I guess the rumors are true!”
“You’re too kind.”
Director Li smiled and said, “Okay, enough small talk. You just got off the plane, so you didn’t eat breakfast yet, right? We haven’t eaten either, so let’s grab a bite at the hotel?”
The group of people quickly reached a consensus.
Especially Lu Zhou.
He spent the night on the plane and didn’t sleep well, and he had been starving this whole time.
Soon, breakfast was ready.
A bowl of steaming lamb soup was served first, followed by a flatbread filled with kebab meat. Even though they were simple dishes, it was surprisingly delicious. Especially the bowl of lamb soup. When Lu Zhou took a sip, he felt his whole body warming up. Even though he was way up north, he didn’t feel cold anymore.
The group of people sat at the table, eating and chatting. Soon, they began to talk about academic matters.
During their conversation, Lu Zhou heard that Academician Zou was studying ceramic composite materials and bio-composite materials. Academician Zou was a big name in the materials science field. When Lu Zhou heard about bio-composite materials, a light bulb went off in his head.
“Bio-composite materials?” Lu Zhou smiled and asked, “Which field are you in?”
Academician Zou smiled and said, “Me? I’m mainly concerned about hydroxyapat.i.te and t.i.tanium.”
Hydroxyapat.i.te and t.i.tanium composite materials?
Lu Zhou had a look of interest on his face.
Even though he hadn’t researched this field extensively, he had a certain amount of understanding.
Hydroxyapat.i.te and t.i.tanium composite materials were some of the more advanced research directions in the field of materials science. They were generally regarded as the next-generation material for artificial bones. If the research on this technology was successful, it would have a huge impact on industries such as medical care and bionic machinery.
“We are now working with Aurora University to develop a bionic artificial bone that can replace human bones, in which it can be controlled by neural electrical signals. If this technology becomes a success, the problem of mutilation will disappear.”
Lu Zhou: “Controlling them using neural electrical signals? That’s not easy, right?”
Academician Zou nodded and said, “Of course Professor Lu is able to instantly recognize the most important problem. In fact, the biggest problem we are now facing is the acquisition and feedback of neural signals. Especially for the feedback part, it’s not easy to trick the brain by using simulated neural signals.”
“This sounds interesting.”
However, Lu Zhou wasn’t thinking of bionic prosthetics; he was thinking about something else.
Academician Zou said with a smile, “It is interesting. If you’re interested, you can come to visit our laboratory; I’ll give you a tour.”
Lu Zhou: “I’ll probably go after the moon landing bidding conference is over, thanks in advance.”
Academician Zou jokingly said, “You’re welcome. If you become interested, you’ll probably end up helping us big time.”
Whenever someone couldn’t solve a problem, the easiest way to solve that problem was to get Professor Lu interested in it.
This saying, which was originally spread within the mathematics world, had now spread to all corners of academia…
…
The beginning of November.
The moon landing project bidding conference was held in a low-key manner at the auditorium of Harbin Inst.i.tute of Technology.
After presenting the invitation letter and his ID card to the staff at the door, Lu Zhou handed in his electronic devices. He followed the reception staff into the venue and sat down at his seat, which was marked with his name.
In addition to the inspection at the venue entrance, there would also be a second inspection 15 minutes before the conference would begin. Other than checking the ident.i.ties of the attendees, they would also check if any electronic devices were sneaked through.
After all of the inspections were done, it was ten o’clock in the morning.
After someone from the State Administration for National Defense came to read the confidential agreement, a high-ranking official from the State Administration for National Defense announced the start of the bidding conference.
This bidding conference was different from the other project bidding conferences. The buyer didn’t explain their specific requirements for the project. Instead, it was the bidder who had to demonstrate their own technological capabilities.
Of course, the demonstrations were in the form of PowerPoint presentations. Other than some sensitive data, the contents of the PowerPoint presentations were non-technical.
In fact, the two Chinese aeros.p.a.ce giants were quite strong. Even though they were far from being aeros.p.a.ce leaders of the world, they still presented a lot of dazzling technology.
For example, the China Aeros.p.a.ce Science and Technology Corporation demonstrated a 500-ton liquid oxygen kerosene engine.
Even though the technology was only demonstrated on a PowerPoint presentation, according to the statements made by experts appointed by the Aeros.p.a.ce Corporation, the high-powered turbopump, high-flow gas generator, high-pressure low-temperature valve, and high-precision flow regulator had all been developed. Prototypes had also been produced and were currently in the testing phase.
On the other hand, China Aeros.p.a.ce Science and Industry Corporation also showed its strengths. They demonstrated the latest high-temperature and wear-resistant ceramic coating technology, which solved a key technical problem of liquid oxygen and kerosene dynamic sealing under high-speed and heavy-load conditions. This technology could be applied to the 120-ton liquid oxygen kerosene high-pressure turbopump engine. This can improve the performance and safety of the rocket engine.
Finally, after the technical director from the China Aeros.p.a.ce Science and Industry Corporation completed their demonstration, it was Star Sky Technology’s turn.
Lu Zhou walked on stage and began to show the PowerPoint presentation that he prepared a week ago. He showed them the latest ion thruster system developed by Star Sky Technology.
The second he flipped to the second page of the PowerPoint presentation.
The entire auditorium fell silent…