Manned Moon Landing
In a parallel World.
“Good evening, everyone. I’m the host, Du Dan. This is 18:26 on September 21st, 2028, Xia Time. In another hour, our White Rabbit Nine manned spacecraft will land on the dark side of the moon…”
“The three astronauts have already completed the preparations for landing. This will be the first time our great nation of Xia has landed a man on the moon. Let’s look at the live broadcast and let all of us witness this historic moment together…”
The manned landing on the moon was a historical milestone that attracted the attention of the people of the country.
The older people sat in front of the television, their eyes never leaving.
The young men, meanwhile, were holding onto their phones, watching the live broadcast on the internet while scrolling through the comments.
“What do you think we should do if they don’t find the flag of Meine after they land on the moon?! ”
“.. Back then, the Commonwealth of Meine landed on the front of the moon. This time, we landed on the back of the moon. The back of the moon is a territory that no human has ever set foot on…”
The great nation of Xia’s landing on the moon symbolized that mankind had taken another step into the universe. Not only were their own citizens paying attention to this, but people from all over the world were also watching the live broadcast.
All kinds of comments were filling up on the Commonwealth of Meine’s side of the internet.
“The great nation of Xia’s manned moon landing plan will definitely fail. After all, even we failed four years ago. How can they succeed? ”
“If you ask me, their live broadcast is probably taken in a film studio…”
An hour passed in the blink of an eye.
Under the attention of people around the world, White Rabbit Nine landed on the surface of the moon with its lander.
“Success!!! ”
“September 21st, 2028, 19:29:33. Let us remember this moment…”
The whole country cheered.
Even people from other countries were filled with excitement when they saw this.
“..”
The netizens were extremely thrilled.
The host’s voice trembled slightly as he spoke, “Dear viewers, our hero astronauts are about to leave the spacecraft…”
On the screen, three astronauts were neatly dressed and standing at the cabin door. They waved at the camera and slowly turned the cabin door.
“Ka ~~!”
The hatch opened, and just as everyone’s eyes widened, they wanted to follow the astronauts’ camera to take a look at the surface of the moon.
But the live broadcast was interrupted!?
“Where’s the live broadcast? Why is it gone?! ”
“What’s going on?!! ”
The netizens could not stand this. Who could, at a critical moment like this?
After a few seconds, the screen continued. The host, Du Dan, sat up and reported,” Dear viewers, our live broadcast signal has been interrupted by some kind of electromagnetic interference from outer space…”
“Now, let’s go back to the exciting moment when White Rabbit One first entered lunar orbit…”
The host spoke with the same passionate tone as before, but the live broadcast changed to the record of White Rabbit One flying to the moon for the first time. That was more than ten years ago.
“There’s a delay of a few seconds between the Moon and Earth. Do you think they’ve captured footage of something that they can’t show us? ”
“F * ck, did they really capture an alien?! ”
The netizens felt that there must be something fishy behind this. Perhaps they had captured something confidential and the officials had deliberately canceled the live broadcast.
Meanwhile, at the Great Xia Space Agency, all the staff members were very nervous.
“White Rabbit Nine, this is Earth. Please respond if you copy! Please answer if you hear me!”
One of the engineers called out several times, but the only response was a rustling sound. There was no person responding to the call.
“Chief Engineer Yang, there’s no response!! ” A messenger reported anxiously.
Chief Engineer Yang frowned and quickly said,” Switch to the X-band and send the signal! ”
“Yes!”
The technical staff of the operation team quickly began to switch communication methods.
Beep, beep, beep. Multiple radio waves were sent out, but no other sound appeared on the screen.
“White Rabbit Nine is not responding! ”
Chief Engineer Yang had an ominous feeling,” Is it possible that they encountered low temperatures? Hey! Use the 64 QAM method to transmit a low-speed signal!”
64 QAm method was a set of signal transmission equipment used to cope with the low temperature of the moon at night. The peak rate was limited and could only carry out simple communication.
The operation team took action again.
“Drip ~ Drip ~ Drip ~”
“There is still no response…”
Chief Engineer Yang frowned. This was the first time he had encountered this kind of situation.
The assistant standing beside Chief Engineer Yang had a bad look on his face too. He quickly turned, “Chief Engineer Yang, should we let Moon Magpie Bridge No. 3 contact White Rabbit Nine?”
“Yes, of course! Switch to No. 3!”
This time, the landing site was chosen on the back of the moon. Earth’s communication could not be directly contacted. They could only communicate through the satellite on the moon.
For this moon landing project, the space agency deliberately chose a date to ensure that at least two communication satellites could maintain contact with White Rabbit Nine at the same time.
Moon Magpie Bridge 3 was a backup satellite that was far from the landing point. Under the operation of the technicians, another set of signals was quickly sent.
“Drip ~ Drip ~ Drip ~”
The steady frequency made everyone’s hearts clench.
“What’s going on?! ” Chief Engineer Yang quickly looked at the senior technical team members and asked about the situation.
“There are many possibilities of why the signal is being blocked, but we’ve calculated all we could in advance. There shouldn’t be any electromagnetic interference from the neutron star at the landing point…”
“If the astronauts didn’t happen to turn off the communication by themselves, then the landing module must have encountered an accident…”
Chief Engineer Yang narrowed his eyes. After going through the possibilities in his head, he quickly said,” Use the Ultra High frequency 415 mega-frequency to transmit the signal…”
“Drip ~ Drip ~ Drip ~”
The same voice sounded again, but this time, the entire space agency fell silent.
The shock was written all over everyone’s faces.
After a while, Chief Engineer Yang looked angrily at the operation team, “Didn’t you hear me asking you? Send a signal using the Ultra High Wavelance! ”
The operation team carefully checked the equipment before stuttering,” Chief Engineer Yang, we did… We sent it using the UHF just now…”
The White Rabbit’s UHF consisted of a 5dBi antenna that had only an upstream channel. Although it couldn’t be used for conventional communication, it was good enough for verifying whether the equipment was intact.
“What’s wrong with the lander?! ”
“It didn’t explode or anything, right?! ”
The signal could not be transmitted. No one knew what happened to the lander.
Chief Engineer Yang took a deep breath. He knew too well that the entire country and even the entire world were watching this moon landing.
“How long will it take for the nearest satellite to observe the moon landing point?! ”
“The closest one available will arrive in half an hour. Sir, that’s when the astronauts are supposed to greet the people of our country…”
“Yes, I know. This was supposed to be a very fun moment for us. Now…. Planet Earth…. The exploration satellite… the communication satellite… White Rabbit Nine… the astronauts. If you connect their positions, they just happened to form a pentagram. Now, I just hope that those men are still alive!”