Dictator From Outer Space

Japan was full of confidence after their successful landing on the Moon. 

They had been running an independent astronaut training program for a while, and now they were making concrete preparations for a manned lunar lander.

They expected to send Japanese people to the Moon by next year. 

The excitement was high.

But then, Korea’s Starfield announced their lunar exploration plan out of the blue. 

It was such a sudden news that even the media didn’t know what to make of it.

They said they would send a spacecraft to the Sea of Moscow on the far side of the Moon within this month.

They were a small space exploration company that had no notable achievements to show.

The Japanese media laughed and sneered at this news.

– Starfield’s empty boast – Lunar exploration is not that easy.

– They just stole JAXA’s technology a few months ago. They can’t digest it with Korea’s low-level technology.

– Korea should be happy with putting satellites in low orbit. Anything more is overreaching.

They looked down on Korea with contempt, but they had a point. 

Korea’s lunar exploration had been stuck in the planning stage, and they hadn’t even developed their own launch vehicle. 

And their only launch site, Naro Space Center, was poorly managed.

One of Japan’s IT companies used their supercomputer Fugaku to calculate the probability of Korea’s lunar exploration. 

The result was 100% failure.

The exact algorithm and the unknown variables were still a mystery, but the 100% failure probability was shocking.

Starfield became known as “100%” in Japan.

– Space budget of 3.2 billion yen, 100% failure probability, truly flawless.

– Maybe we can learn from 100%. They teach us how not to do things.

Japan’s mockery didn’t affect Starfield. 

They announced their exact schedule.

They planned to reach the Moon in just 105 hours by using a direct transfer orbit.

This caused a lot of criticism from the domestic academic community.

– Even if we assume that they got the hydrogen isotopes and Japan’s technology, using a direct transfer orbit is too risky.

– Starfield has a good team, but they lack experience. They should use a transfer orbit like Japan did.

But the schedule didn’t change, and the domestic academic community gave up.

Dr. Myunghan Lee, who had contributed a lot to the domestic space industry, expressed his sorrow in an interview with the media.

—The launch date is near, but everything is unclear. As far as I know, they haven’t even secured the supply of kerogen. How can they do anything without the most essential propellant? Do you believe this, dear journalist?

—Well… They’re using a new type of engine, so maybe it’s okay?

—Ion engine? That’s like trying to cool a car with a fan in the atmosphere!

—But that’s not what I meant…

Starfield had never said they were using an ion engine, but one wrong article had misled and confused everyone.

This was ridiculous, and many people tried to contact Starfield, but they only got a cold reply.

-We will reveal everything on the launch day. Please wait until then.

So, the launch day in mid-November attracted a lot of attention.

Oddly enough, Japan was more interested than Korea, and over 100 journalists came to Korea and crowded the launch site.

The launch pad was covered by a huge cloth, and the researchers could only wonder.

“It’s too small for a launch vehicle that goes to the Moon.”

“Right. How can it generate thrust?”

“It doesn’t look like it has stages either. It’s very weird…”

“There’s no fuel tank either. What kind of thing is that?”

Soon, a broadcast came from the control center.

“We will now enter the Terra Heavy launch sequence.”

“Without even loading fuel?”

“What’s going on?”

The giant cloth was removed, and the Terra Heavy launch vehicle finally showed itself.

It was smaller than expected, and had a dark color. 

It stunned the audience.

It had a completely different shape from the existing launch vehicles, and the journalists didn’t even think of taking pictures. 

They just gaped at it.

The space researchers were also shocked.

“Is that really a launch vehicle…?”

The launch sequence entered the final countdown, regardless of people’s reactions.

“Launch in 10, 9, 8, 7… Launch.”

The launch pad shook as the launch vehicle soared into the sky.

And at the White House, President McKinley’s face twisted as he watched the launch process with his aides.

“Get me the NASA director, right now.”

The standard for space recognized by various scientific or national institutions is above 100 km in altitude.

This is called the Karman line, and one has to cross this line to be considered in space.

Usually, rockets break through this line in 3-5 minutes, depending on the location of the launch site.

But Korea’s Naro Space Center took longer than that, because it was relatively far from the equator.

But what was this?

The control center announced that they had crossed the Karman line in less than two minutes after launch.

“We have crossed 100 km in altitude.”

“What? They’re already in space?”

“They haven’t even separated the first stage rocket?”

The journalists from Japan were especially noisy.

Many of them came to see Starfield fail, not to cover their success.

But whether they liked it or not, the Terra Heavy launch vehicle was already in low orbit.

If Starfield’s goal was to place a satellite there, they should have stopped the engine combustion here.

But the launch vehicle used a horizontal orbit to reach 1,000 km in altitude, which was considered as real space.

The cameras installed on various parts of the launch vehicle sent images that were broadcasted through MeTube.

The black space was the background, and the blue sea wrapped in white clouds was visible.

—Wow, this is crazy…

—So they really went up there with that spacecraft…

—It feels like my common sense is collapsing. How is that possible with a single-stage launch vehicle?

—Guys, I have a question. Don’t they usually separate the probe there? Why are they going straight to the Moon?

—Nobody here knows that.

—That was the original goal of that Doji guy. To go to space without separating stages.

—-I hope Doji is watching from Mars.

—But that company had been developing space for over 20 years and still failed. How did Starfield succeed?

—Oh, they’re adjusting their position.

—Isn’t the reaction control system supposed to be gas? Why is there light coming out of it?

—Anyway, that spacecraft has too many strange things.

By then, the news of the Terra Heavy launch vehicle had spread around the world.

No one believed that this weird launch vehicle would succeed.

But the telemetry data from the satellites orbiting the Earth couldn’t be faked.

—Terra Heavy launch vehicle, passed the perigee in 3 hours and 20 minutes.

—At this speed, they will enter the Moon’s gravity field in less than 100 hours.

They were quite fast, because they chose a direct transfer orbit.

But because they were so fast, they had to use a lot of fuel to decelerate when they entered the Moon’s gravity field.

Normally, such fuel calculations required a lot of know-how to get right.

But it seemed that they didn’t need to worry about that.

“Final vector control initiated. The Terra Heavy launch vehicle is heading to the Moon now.”

As the broadcast came out, the space researchers outside the control center were dumbfounded.

“Who was that reporter who said it was an ion engine?”

“It was a mistranslation from the Japanese version. It’s an ion thruster.”

“Did you just bring in that Japanese article to Korea? This is a mess.”

“How can we be humiliated by one reporter? We could have helped them.”

They all complained, but one researcher smiled bitterly.

“Come on, let’s be honest. We all dismissed it as a billionaire’s hobby, didn’t we?”

“Ahem.”

“We don’t know anything about that thing. So let’s stop meddling and hope that they complete their mission and come back safely.”

“Hmph…”

The Korean researchers who had made all kinds of bitter remarks and insults were embarrassed.

But the Japanese officials who had used a supercomputer to predict a 100% failure rate were almost silent, as if they had been hit by a bomb.

The broadcast panelists had to say something, since they couldn’t leave the audio empty.

—At this point, I think we can say that they have succeeded, don’t you?

—But there’s still one last step left, isn’t there? They’re going to the Moon in 100 hours, which is faster than expected. Do they have enough fuel for deceleration?

—You’re being negative. That rocket is too small to be impossible.

—If you’re going to argue like that, then breaking through the atmosphere with that rocket was impossible in the first place, right?

—Will they be able to reach the far side of the Moon? The Sea of Moscow, a place where no one has ever been before, a mystery to mankind.

—We’ll have to wait and see for that.

But the real experts from JAXA and other agencies were purely amazed by Korea’s rocket.

—It’s beyond common sense. Does anyone have a connection in Korea?

—Even the Aerospace Research Institute didn’t know anything about that rocket.

—It’s a completely new rocket…

—If the performance they’ve shown so far is true, then Korea has rewritten the history of space. Or rather, Starfield has.

—And more precisely, it’s Yu Ji-ha.

Some of JAXA’s researchers recalled meeting him in Korea.

They had visited Korea under the pressure of the government, but they had been uncooperative because they felt like they were being forced to give away their technology.

It was customary to give a note with some know-how during the technology transfer, but they had skipped that.

But he didn’t show any dissatisfaction and thanked them, and even gave them a generous amount of money.

Now they felt a bit ashamed.

—I should have taken his business card.

—His secretary was so cute…

—He said he welcomed technology exchange back then. Do you think he still thinks that way?

—Exchange? What exchange do we need with someone who can make such a rocket?

—Well… I guess that makes sense.

—Let’s just watch it on TV…

But they weren’t the only ones sighing while watching TV.

The NASA researchers who had rushed to the White House managed to convince President McKinley with their desperate explanation.

“So, to summarize, that launch vehicle is not based on the technology that NASA gave them?”

“That’s right, Mr. President. They might have used some of it as a reference, but the principle is completely different.”

“Explain that principle to me.”

“To be honest, sir, we don’t know either.”

President McKinley was furious at their helpless answer.

“How can you say that you don’t know in front of me? The budget allocated to you last year was 18 billion dollars.”

It used to be over 23 billion dollars, but it had been reduced a lot due to the recent economic downturn.

“Money is not the problem. It’s just we don’t have Yu Ji-ha.”

Everyone was silent at NASA director Clark Henderson’s words.

It was true.

They had been researching the Blackmetal metal for a while, but no one had figured out what it was.

Meanwhile, the Korean company led by Yu Ji-ha was showing off one technology after another, as if they were pulling out pennies from their pocket.

What could NASA do in this situation?

They all just watched the subtitles of the Korean broadcast, when Martin McLean, the deputy assistant, opened his mouth.

“Mr. President, it seems that Starfield has uploaded some information about the launch vehicle on their website.”

The tense atmosphere loosened up.

President McKinley turned his chair around.

“Show it on the big screen.”

A moment later, Starfield’s information was displayed on the wall of the president’s office.

“There’s English too. They wouldn’t say they don’t know that. Summarize it for me so I can understand.”

It was a more urgent time for the NASA officials than when there was an accident in space.

Fortunately, Director Henderson was able to start explaining before the president’s patience ran out.

“To put it simply, Mr. President, all platforms that don’t use the propulsion system applied to that rocket will be obsolete.”

People murmured.

There was no one in the office who didn’t understand what that meant, and they thought it was impossible.

President McKinley looked around and said.

“Quiet. What do you mean by platforms?”

“Ships, aircrafts, submarines, rockets, missiles… Everything, Mr. President.”

“There must be a reason why you say that. Explain it to me.”

“First of all, I’ll tell you that the ion thruster is very efficient. The amount of fuel consumed by the Terra launch vehicle to get out of the atmosphere, perform the mission on the Moon, and return to Earth is less than 500 kg.”

It was an absurd number.

Even the president, who was not very familiar with aerospace, tilted his head as if he found it strange.

“How much fuel did the Saturn V rocket use to go to the Moon?”

“We don’t know exactly because the data was lost at the time, but it was over 2,000 tons.”

Most of the weight of a space launch vehicle is fuel.

Of course, the Saturn V rocket was originally designed to go to Mars, not the Moon, so it had that much fuel.

Also, the launch vehicles that were being actively researched by private space companies recently were designed very efficiently and reduced the amount of fuel significantly.

“But the propellant amount is a bit high for such a low amount of fuel. It’s a quarter of the private space companies…”

It was Bruce, the director of JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory), who muttered.

“It’s the cost of going to the Moon, not Earth orbit.”

Director Henderson said, and he slapped his forehead.

“Oh, that makes sense.”

It was a completely different problem to transport 1 kg of cargo to Earth orbit and to the Moon.

President McKinley, who had been listening, quietly asked.

“So, in conclusion, we can mount that thruster on all platforms?”

“It’s certain that we can replace most of the rockets. If that data is correct.”

“It’s a game-changer for space exploration. Or rather, it will speed things up. As long as Starfield doesn’t try to monopolize it.”

Monopoly or not was not important.

The US had the power to persuade Yu Ji-ha and Starfield.

But President McKinley remembered what he had said.

That Russia was not his enemy.

That meant he could cooperate with Russia.

That Russia’s aircrafts or warships could use that thruster and roam around the Pacific.

They had offered something else in exchange for the railgun, but now they had no cards left.

How could they pressure someone who didn’t need the US market?

At least President McKinley hoped that he could help him with his re-election.

‘So this was what he meant by giving me benefits related to Blackmetal…’

He would have to grant him one favor if he accepted this.

President McKinley suddenly feared what that would be.

…