Chapter 1278 - Who will dominate the next century? (1/2)

Below the Earth was a hand that emerged out from darkness, and that hand was firmly holding onto the planet.

A face could be barely made out from inside the darkness.

The face was youthful, and other than that, there was no other memorable characteristics. However, even the person with the worst ability to identify someone would recognize this face… as long as the person was not out of touch with the times.

The headline below the picture was very ambiguous.

[Who will dominate the next century?]

Now, this piece of newspaper, along with many similar ones, were placed on the table of the president’s office.

“What do you think,” Hill swept the newspapers aside, then rubbed her sore brows before she looked to her chief of staff, “of that Envoy-class Starship?”

“…”

The chief of staff did not speak. Instead, together with Secretary of Defense Carter, they silently looked at Bolden who stood next to him.

Seeing that he got everyone’s attention, Bolden took a deep breath and made the tough statements.

“Our scientists have solved the design problems of large space station counterweights, and now the only difficult problem to solve is the materials.”

“How long will it take?” Hill asked Bolden as she stared into him.

“Conservatively, 20 years, but maybe a little longer …” Bolden said with awkwardness in his tone.

“This is not the same as what you said last time.” Carter looked at Bolden and said in a somewhat aggressive tone. “When we met half-a-month ago, you said that you could solve the technical difficulties on the space elevator by 2040 at the latest. You even said that you could build at least one elevator for the nation and connect it to the synchronous orbit.”

“You can’t blame all this on us.” Bolden argued, “If Obayashi Gumi did not cancel the joint research and development agreement with us, the time required could be reduced by at least half.”

“Obayashi Gumi?” Hill frowned, she looked at Secretary of State Kerry, who had not spoken, then said. “This name sounds familiar.”

“A company controlled by Sumitomo Foundation. It announced in 2014 that it could complete the space elevator in 2050, and there was reliable news that they had been working on related technologies since 2010.” Kerry paused for a moment, glanced at Bolden with confusion in his eyes, he frowned. “I remember Sumitomo Foundation has been actively participating in our International Space Station program and has worked closely with NASA and SpaceX for a long time. Why …”

“It’s Celestial Trade,” Bolden said. “They convinced them to give up on the space elevator program. It’s likely they gave them a promise? You know Obayashi Gumi’s main focus is construction. Maybe Celestial Trade has contracted out projects on Mars or the Moon to them? Anyway, they have now paid the penalty. ”

“Those ungrateful wretches…” Carter cursed under his breath.

“They have always been ungrateful wretches, and we should have been mentally prepared,” Kerry said with a sigh.

Seeing that the room suddenly turned quiet, Bolden coughed, and added.

“… Fortunately, we have found another company. Now, we are cooperating with Thoth Technology from Ontario, Canada. Their research on the pressurized tower reached a height of twenty kilometers three years ago. As long as there are breakthroughs in high-strength graphene materials, we have a great opportunity to catch up.”

However, the most problematic issue was the high-strength graphene materials.

There were many types of graphene materials and this type of material was similar to steel. Although many materials could be considered as steel, steel produced by different materials, different forging processes, and different temperatures could produce vastly different properties.

The same applied for graphene.

Although Celestial Trade had registered nearly a hundred patents for nearly ten types of graphene materials used for semiconductors in the world, they had kept the materials related to aerospace and military fields in complete secrecy. Celestial Trade rarely even exported the finished products, let alone register for patents.

The office was silent again.

Graphene.

The damned graphene.

No one had ever thought that a material that could be produced by sticking two tapes together could create an impossible obstacle for a superpower.

“Isn’t there any good news?” Carter, in a distressed state, asked.

The completion of the Envoy-class starship created the most pressure for the Minister of Defense.