Scholar's Advanced Technological System
chapter-698

The United States.

California.

Space-X headquarters building, press conference site.

Elon Musk was wearing a classical silicon valley outfit, jeans and a t-shirt. He was facing the audience at the press conference and various reporter cameras. He spoke in his unique, stuttering voice regarding Space-X's future.

A futuristic bright silver bullet-shaped spaceship was being displayed on the screen behind him, and the spaceship left off a trail of light, with the blue earth and boundless space as the background.

The words BFR and Space-X were printed on the side of the spacecraft.

The theme of this press conference was the BFR.

"The first section has the main thrust rocket, which will be powered by 31 Raptor methane rocket engines, the second section has 2 sea-level engines and 4 vacuum engines. The fuel tank can store a total of 240 tons of methane, and the maximum thrust is in the magnitude of kilotons… Of course, this is not my main point. Our focus is on a series of plans surrounding the BFR rocket."

Musk paused for a moment. He then looked at the audience and camera.

"We will launch two manned spacecraft to Mars by 2024!"

There was a commotion in the audience as the reporters frantically pressed their camera shutters.

Aerospace wasn't anything new for Americans.

However, the exploration of Mars and the colonization of outer space was still fascinating.

Otherwise, Star Wars wouldn't be such a cultural icon in the United States.

Musk smirked and raised his volume.

"Once the BFR research and development is complete, it will replace all of our current launch devices. It will allow spacecraft to perform various space missions. Whether it's the Moon or Mars, we can achieve all kinds of things with this power."

"It will redefine our understanding of aerospace."

"It will change our future!"

Later on, Musk continued to talk about the advantages of the BFR spacecraft as well as Space-X's plans for Mars.

In the midst of the applause, the press conference came to an end.

The reporters rushed up to the stage, surrounding Musk.

Musk finally finished all of the interviews.

After getting rid of the reporters, he went back to his office and sat in his office chair. He couldn't wait to take out his phone.

Musk looked at the rise of his stock price on his phone and relaxed a little.

The feedback from his stock price told him that the press conference went well.

The concept of the BFR gave the aerospace investors hope.

Of course, now was not the time to celebrate.

The stock market was a volatile animal, especially for high-tech companies like Space-X.

Whether or not the wealthy investors would still be willing to support Musk's vision, didn't depend on the type of profit returns Musk could give them, but was rather dependent on Musk fulfilling his promises.

Fortunately, due to controllable fusion and lithium-sulfur batteries, the overall performance of the alternative energy industry was good. Tesla's stock price was rising, and compared to a few years ago, the investors' confidence in him had greatly increased. However, aerospace was a brand new field; even he himself wasn't 100% certain that everything would go smoothly.

He heard a knock on the door, and a female secretary wearing professional attire walked in.

"Sir, there's someone asking for you."

Musk was about to take a break.

His eyebrows furrowed as he asked, "Who?"

The secretary said, "They claim to be from the CIA…"

"CIA?" Musk hesitated for a bit and played with the pen in his hand. He said, "I don't remember…"

The office door was aggressively pushed open, and two men wearing black jackets walked in.

Musk looked dissatisfied as he looked at the two rude men who walked in without permission.

"I don't recall allowing you guys to come in, do you have a warrant?"

"My apologies, Mr. Musk, but the situation is urgent, I hope you can forgive us." the African American agent showed his credentials and said, "You can call me Aiden."

Musk looked at the African American agent and leaned back in his chair.

"I'm Elon… You guys know who I am anyway, do you want some coffee?"

The agent standing behind Aiden said, "No need, we're in a hurry."

"Okay then." Musk looked at the female secretary standing next to his desk and said, "Alyssa, bring me a latte."

"Okay, sir." The secretary nodded and walked out of the door.

Aiden: "…"

Agent: "…"

After five minutes, the coffee was finally served.

Aiden didn't want to waste any time, so he went straight to the main topic.

"We heard that around two months ago, Star Sky Technology purchased a US$20 million order from you guys, is that correct?"

Musk thought for a while and nodded.

"Yeah… But I remember those orders aren't regarding banned items, is there a problem?"

Aiden said, "The problem isn't with those parts, but what those parts are being used for."

Musk wasn't frightened by his tone. He said impatiently, "We are not concerned with what our customers do with our products. If there are any problems, I suggest you consult customs."

Aiden didn't say anything. He took out a blurry photo and placed it on the table.

When Musk saw the space shuttle in the photo, he immediately sat up from his chair and asked, "What is this?"

"Your customer, or your future competitor. It's called Skyglow." Aiden shrugged and said, "Apparently, they're using a cutting-edge ion thruster electric propulsion system. We're still investigating this matter."

"Wait a second, electric propulsion?" Musk opened his mouth and looked at the man standing in front of his desk. "Ion thrusters? Are you sure?"

"We're certain." Aiden nodded and said, "Our sources are reliable, but it's not detailed."

Musk smiled and shook his head. He then sat back down.

Suddenly, Musk's look of interest became a look of mockery.

"Aiden and Mr. Agent, even though I'm not sure what the CIA investigation process is, as a taxpayer, I hope you guys can be a little bit more professional… Ion thrusters? Using electric propulsion to send space shuttles to the sky?" Musk shook his head and smiled. He then said, "This is ridiculous."

Aiden said, "Is ion thruster propulsion unrealistic?"

"It's impossible," Musk answered without hesitation. "Even with our most advanced ion thruster propulsion technology, the thrust is merely on the order of Newtons. Sending a spacecraft to outer space orbit requires at least the order of kilo Newtons!"

Aiden looked at the agent next to him.

The other agent said, "NASA also said this… Are we overthinking this?"

Aiden was lost in his thoughts, and he didn't say anything.

He hoped that he was overthinking this whole thing.

But whenever he thought of the name Lu Zhou, he couldn't help but feel nervous…