Chapter 116: The Energia Lunar Launch
"Telemetry is coming in from the Sirius Software Lunar Rover. We have confirmed the presence of high-grade Titanium or on the dark side of the Moon," reported the mission control operator.
"Excellent work! Send the coordinates to the Energia Lunar Launch team, they’ve been prepping for this moment," said Erik Gorbachev, head of Rostov Systems.
"Yes sir! Transmitting now," replied the operator.
Erik retired to his office, and called Aaron on a secure video link.
"Lunar Rover has just confirmed the presence of high-grade Titanium ore on the dark side of the Moon. We’ve also surveyed areas for the refining complex and the fuel production facilities," said Erik.
"Great. We’ll be there for the launch of the mining complex payload," said Aaron.
"We have a problem though, the Energia Lunar rocket isn’t something that we can hide as a mega-skyscraper construction project anymore," said Erik.
"That’s fine, we’re already too far into the game now. I’m pretty sure they’ll buy the themepark hotel line we’ve been pushing about it. A half-kilometer tall rocket is going to be dismissed as never leaving the launch pad," chuckled Aaron.
"Well you better hope the simulations about this thing are right, or we will be stuck with a very expensive skyscraper that doesn’t do squat!" growled Erik.
"Don’t worry, the simulations are solid. The launch pad will need to be rebuilt, but the rocket will be able to lift off," assured Aaron.
"All right, I’ll see you at the launch site in Vladivostok," said Erik, cutting the call.
----
"Energia Lunar launch in T-minus 10 minutes," the mission control operator announced over the comms.
"Well Erik? Did you ever think you’ll see something like this again?" asked Aaron, as he joined Erik at the viewing platform.
Erik smiled, "Not in my wildest dreams. After the whole fiasco with the Soviet Union collapsing, I thought Roscosmos would be stuck as a taxicab to the ISS, but now, we’re back and going to the Moon!" he said, eyes gleaming with excitement.
"And with my lunar mining complex on board, we’ll soon be rolling in Titanium," chuckled Aaron.
They were soon joined by Hajime Yamamoto, and Friedrich Albrecht.
"It’s a shame Mr. Saladin couldn’t be here," said Hajime.
"Yes well, he’s busy with Libya’s education reforms," replied Friedrich.
"Energia Lunar launch in T-minus 5 minutes," the operator announced.
"All right everyone, this is it. Let’s wait," said Erik, as they all turned their attention to the launch pad.
The massive Energia rocket stood tall against the clear gray sky, a thick layer of ice covering the surface of its cryogenic fuel tanks and engines.
However, this was a far cry from the original Energia of the USSR.
This particular Energia was a sleek matte black, and towered over 500 meters tall, with a cluster of 16 massive boosters surrounding its core stage.
The launch pad had been specifically designed to accommodate the rocket, and was situated in a remote area outside Vladivostok.
The rocket stages had been assembled on the launch pad itself, given its immense size.
"T-5, ignition pre start," the operator announced.
A massive shockwave emanated from the launch pad as the 640 kerosene and LOX engines of the rocket’s first stage and 16 boosters ignited.
"T-0, liftoff!" the operator exclaimed.
The Russian Tundra ice that surrounded the clearing for the launch pad vaporized as the rocket lifted off the ground. Plumes of smoke, fire, and steam surrounded the launch pad, as the rocket ponderously climbed into the sky.
"What in God’s name did we just unleash?" exclaimed Friedrich, as the ground shook violently.
"The first step to off-world industry," said Erik, tears in his eyes.
The rocket continued to ascend, rapidly picking up speed as it climbed higher into the atmosphere.
"Booster separation," announced the operator.
The 16 boosters cut off, and broke away from the core stage. They dropped like stones towards the ground, before their engines reignited, and began a controlled descent back to the launch site.
"Damn! That looks so synchronized!" said Hajime, as the boosters landed back on their recovery launch pads almost simultaneously.
"Stage 1 separation," announced the operator.
The first stage cut off, and fell away.
A plume of white-hot fire blasted out of the second stage as its liquid methane and LOX engines ignited, pushing into a high elliptical orbit.
"Stage 2 separation," announced the operator.
The second stage cut off, and fired a series of short bursts to get it into a controlled descent back to Earth.
"Stage 3 ignition, entering Lunar Transfer Orbit," announced the operator.
The third stage’s liquid hydrogen and LOX engines ignited, pushing the spacecraft out of Earth orbit, and towards the Moon.
"Lunar trajectory confirmed," announced the operator, as the launch team and other crew members cheered and hugged each other.
"Now, we deal with the calls from everyone else asking what the hell just happened," said Erik, laughing.
"Oh, yeah, this thing was definitely not subtle, but what would they expect? I’m pretty sure the CIA knew about this?" asked Friedrich.
"Well, even if they did, what the hell could they do about it? Bomb us? They probably think we just had Chernobyl 2.0" chuckled Erik.
"Unfortunately, we will need to rebuild the launch pad. That thing basically turned it into mush," said Aaron, gesturing to the massive smoking crater that had been the launch pad.
"We’ve got about a month before the lunar orbiter returns with the first batch of titanium. We should have it rebuilt by then," said Erik dismissively.
"But still, all of this to grab a hundred tonnes of titanium from the Moon? Are we sure we didn’t fudge the profit calculations?" asked Hajime.
Aaron gave a small smirk.
"This was a one shot to get the reactors, mining robots, and processing equipment to the moon. A more modest launcher will be fine to shuttle the Lunar Orbiter back and forth," he said.
Erik nodded in agreement.
"We can use stages 2 through 4 for regular launch missions with 2 or 4 boosters. That’s more manageable to just get a fueled up lunar orbiter out, and it can be refueled from the mining site’s facilities," he said.
"Well then, here’s to a new era of off-world industry," said Friedrich, popping a bottle of champagne.
"Cheers!" chorused the others raising their glasses.
----
"What the hell just happened?" asked Daniel, surveying the panicked room in the Pentagon.
"Russia just launched what can only be called a geological scale rocket to the moon. We’re tracking it with the ISS and our own satellites, and that thing is enormous," growled an agent.
"Is it crewed?" asked another.
"No damn clue! It’s got a big ass heat shield, and is not sending back anything except encrypted telemetry, which we can’t break by the way," snarled the first agent.
"All right, how did we not catch this?" asked Daniel.
The agents shifted uncomfortably.
"It was... disguised as a luxury rocket themed hotel skyscraper, some billionaire type toy thing," one of them finally spoke up.
"How did you mistake a rocket for a hotel?" asked Daniel, his voice soft and dangerous.
"It was over five hundred meters tall and had a sixty-meter wide base! Which rocket do you know is that big?" shot back another agent.
Color drained from Daniel’s face.
"All right, it looked like a skyscraper, and it’s on the way to the moon. What the hell are they carrying on it?" he asked.
"We don’t know, but a rocket that big can lift over a hundred tonnes of payload to the moon easy," said the analyst.
"Or a hundred tonnes back. Blast it! They’re starting a mining complex! Get the president on the horn! She needs to know this!" thundered Daniel.