Chapter 679 500 Million

Funding was approved?

Already?

There was a flash of surprise in Lu Zhou's eyes, and he quickly asked.

"How much was approved?"

"500 million!"

Only half a billion?

Lu Zhou looked a little disappointed, but he quickly returned to normal.

Even though it wasn't a lot of money, it temporarily relieved their funding shortage.

After all, the country wanted to commercialize the aerospace industry, and they couldn't just give all of their subsidies to one company. If he wanted to survive in the aerospace industry, he had to rely on many departments, such as the Commission for Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense, China National Space Administration, and the manned mission to the moon.

If he could win the bidding and take on some research projects from the China National Space Administration, such as collecting lunar soil, then he wouldn't have to worry about funding.

Hou Guang had a similar idea. After he heard the secretary's report, he frowned and thought for a bit. He said, "500 million… Should be enough for the first couple phases of the project, we'll have to get more funding later on."

"Yeah." Lu Zhou nodded and said, "I'll find a way to get us funding, you don't have to worry about it."

Lu Zhou smiled and patted the technical director on the shoulder.

"Even if our funding really runs out, I'll sell my Purple Mountain mansion and make sure our space shuttle will fly into space!"

Hou Guang was speechless.

Selling your house to build space shuttles…

What kind of person does this?

Hou Guang asked himself if he could sacrifice materialistic things for the greater good, and he didn't think he could do it.

There's no way Lu Zhou won't be able to send the space shuttle into space!

Hou Guang stood up straight and made a solemn promise.

"I won't let you down!"

Lu Zhou didn't expect Hou Guang to get so serious. He suddenly felt a little embarrassed.

Even if they needed money, he wouldn't sell his mansion…

His mansion was worth a lot less than his East Asia Energy shares or his lithium-sulfur battery patent.

Using those two as mortgages would get him a lot more money.

Lu Zhou coughed and diverted the conversation.

"In short, you only have to do your side of things, you don't have to worry about anything else. We have to try to win the big projects from the Commission for Science and the China National Space Administration. If we do, we won't have any more funding problems!"

Hou Guang nodded his head.

"Roger that."

…

Virginia.

CIA headquarters.

The director of the CIA was sitting at his desk. He was carefully reading a document about the ITER project, which was sent from Europe.

Suddenly, he heard knocking sounds.

He put down his pen and closed the document. He then looked at the door and muttered, "Come in."

The office door was pushed open.

An agent in his forties walked in while holding a file.

"Director, our agents in China have returned with the latest information. The Navy Equipment Research Institute is developing a more reliable power unit."

"More reliable power unit?" The director raised his eyebrows as he asked, "Can you be more specific?"

The agent took a deep breath. He then replied with a hint of uncertainty, "Apparently… it's a smaller controllable fusion machine."

"Smaller controllable fusion machine?" The director's pupils dilated, and he stood up from his office chair abruptly and slammed his hands on the table. "Is the information reliable? Is there a detailed report?"

"The information is still being verified… Of course, the report is ready."

The anonymous agent walked forward and placed the file on the table. He then took two steps backward and stood straight with his hands behind his back.

The director picked up the report and sat back down. He began to carefully read the report.

"Estimated power output of 500-1,000 MW… Technical route unknown, may be different from magnetic confinement." The director put the file down and said, "Is this the only information we have?"

The agent nodded and said, "At the moment, yes."

The office became silent.

A few seconds went by, and the director suddenly asked, "Is it Professor Lu again?"

The agent frowned.

"It is possible… but not likely. According to our agents in China, after the STAR-2 stellarator project was completed, Professor Lu resigned from his position. However, he later went on to research sound fusion but didn't achieve any significant results… The project team was even disbanded last month."

Sound fusion was one of the ideas for cold fusion, and the research on cold fusion had been labeled a "hoax" by the National Academy of Sciences and the United States Department of Energy in the 80s.

It turned out that even the all-mighty Professor Lu wasn't able to take down this mysterious dragon.

Even though the CIA had considered the fact that China could have tried to cover their experiment success, considering the fact that Lu Zhou was busy with the Yang-Mills equations some time ago, it would be impossible for him to research sound fusion at the same time.

It was very likely that the sound fusion was just a smoke bomb released by the Chinese authorities, which was used to cover their top research at the Navy Equipment Research Institute.

The director didn't say anything. He tapped his index finger on the table and began to contemplate.

A couple of seconds went by. He suddenly relaxed and leaned in his chair.

"The possibility of Professor Lu being in this is low… But I don't think we can separate this thing from him."

The agent asked, "What do you mean?"

The director looked at the report on the table and said, "At the moment, we are not certain whether this is a ploy by China or if they have actually achieved some results.

"Regardless, obtaining more intel is the most important thing.

"Increase the agents in Jinling, especially at the space shuttle assembly center! I need to know what Lu Zhou is doing. Also at the Navy Equipment Research Institute! If they're really doing research on the miniaturized controllable fusion, there have to be clues. Immediately report all information to me!"

The agent stood up straight.

"Yes, sir."