Chapter 716: White House Countermeasure

The center of the Junggar Basin.

A row of heavy industrial equipment was on the Dzoosotoyn Elisen Desert highway, and they were currently being driven deep into the desert.

After the Garden plan was completed, the funding from the Ministry of Science and Technology quickly arrived. The second the construction bidding was over, the construction equipment was moved from Wushi to the construction site.

Rows of mobile homes had been set up on the construction site near the military site. Workers wearing small yellow hats quickly finished loading and unloading the equipment and supplies. They set up basic living facilities near the mobile home. Heavy construction equipment had already begun to work on the site.

Every big project had to start from the foundation; Biosphere A was no exception.

Before setting up a reinforced steel frame, the construction company would first hollow out this area and dig a large pit with a depth of three to four meters. After that, they would insert steel rods into the ground, pour cement, and finally lay down the stainless steel plates.

Professor Hu, who was wearing a hard hat, stood nearby while looking at the construction site. He meticulously read the engineering drawings and construction plans in his hand and listened to the person in charge of construction talk to him.

“… This is our construction plan. Right now, we are laying the foundation. If there are any problems, feel free to tell me. I’ll try my best to solve them.”

Professor Hu carefully read the drawings and blueprint, and after making sure that there were no mistakes, he nodded.

“Should be fine, when can it be completed?”

The person in charge stared at the distant sand horizon and said, “The first phase should take three months, and all three phases should take at least six months, at most eight months. It depends on the weather. If there are sandstorms every day, then the construction is going to be delayed.”

It wasn’t just the sandstorm.

There were also sudden high temperatures and other extreme weather.

There were many unpredictable factors that could happen on a desert construction site.

“The speed is not important; it doesn’t matter if it takes longer.” Hu Yang handed the drawings back to the person in charge and said in a serious tone, “Please make sure to focus on quality, as a small mistake can fail the whole experiment.”

“Don’t worry.” The person in charge tapped their cigarette and said, “This is a national-level project, and our quality is guaranteed. Otherwise, our a*ses would be on the line.”

If they decided to cut corners on a project like this, their careers would be over.

The construction company had to put in 120% effort.

While the Garden construction was going on, news regarding Biosphere A spread like wildfire.

Even though the Dzoosotoyn Elisen Desert was considered a classified zone, it was impossible to keep a huge project like this a secret.

In fact, there was no need to keep the Garden project confidential at all. After all, there wasn’t any national defense technology involved. Fields like biology, ecology, meteorology, hydrology, etc belonged to the field of natural sciences. Therefore, they had to cooperate with other international research institutes.

The news that China was constructing an artificial biosphere quickly spread throughout the international academic community, and it caused a huge sensation in the environmental protection organization and the scientific community.

Ever since America’s Biosphere 2 program failed, people had always been talking about building a Biosphere 3. However, no one wanted to invest in this high-risk, low-return project.

There was no way the Americans would invest in this area again.

But now, China was willing to pay for a biosphere, built in the center of the Junggar Basin. This was undoubtedly fantastic news for scholars who were studying artificial ecosystems.

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After all, China’s investment in the natural sciences had always been limited. International scholars gained much respect for China after China decided to invest so much into the research of natural sciences.

Interestingly enough, unlike the international academic community, many major international media outlets had more nuanced opinions.

Some people thought that this was yet another brave challenge initiated by mankind to control nature. Others had tried to relate this with China’s recent actions in aerospace and determined that it was very likely that China was trying to pave the way for space development.

The New York Times and The Washington Times used phrases such as “military involvement” and “unclear intentions” to describe China’s project. They didn’t want to give China the title of “leading in space development”. The media outlets told scholars to participate in this project cautiously.

Even though these opinions were a bit absurd, they still attracted NASA’s attention.

Or rather, NSC’s attention.

Three years ago, after the United States announced its plan to return to the Moon, Trump signed an executive order to reestablish the National Space Council.

The difference this time was that the re-established National Space Council was directly under the president’s office. This was similar to the National Security Council, the Office of Management and Budget, and the Intelligence Advisory Board.

Obviously, America had demonstrated its new interest in space.

Inside a conference room in the white house.

The president gathered some of the senior officials from the relevant departments. He slammed his hands on the desk and spoke solemnly.

“The Chinese have displayed a considerable amount of interest in the development of outer space resources. We must examine our own space program. It doesn’t matter what we achieved in the past! We have to maintain our advantage in aerospace!”

A voice was heard in the conference room.

“Can I give my two cents?”

The president looked at the person and nodded.

“Of course.”

Everyone in the room stared at the NASA director, who stood up slowly and spoke.

“China is still trying to catch up to us, so I don’t think we need to worry. Of course, I’m not saying we should sit on our a*ses. We have to increase our own pace to keep our lead.”

The NASA director continued to speak.

“I propose that we continue our plan on returning to the Moon, but we should also set new plans, such as Mars.”

The president frowned.

“Mars?”

Whispers were heard around the conference room.

The NASA director ignored the whispers as he nodded and spoke in a serious manner.

“That’s right, you heard me. We have the ability to explore Mars. We have many excellent aerospace companies that are capable of doing so. We only need to provide them with some help and combine their powers together.”

He paused for a second and raised his voice.

“I propose to launch the Ares program!

“If they really think they can surpass us just by walking on the Moon, we will send our men to Mars!”