Rebirth of Hong Kong Island, leading the technology war

Chapter 547 The Astonishment of German Scientists

Ahmed and Yarham saw Mitchell, and although they were quite annoyed, they still greeted him with smiles on their faces.

Mitchell laughed and said, "So? Have you two checked on the satellite's status yet?"

“We just went to check it out; in fact, we’re in the conference room of the assembly and repair plant right now.”

"Oh?"

Mitchell was somewhat surprised; he hadn't expected that video calls could be made overseas from a satellite assembly plant. The security measures seemed rather inadequate.

Prince Rashid looked at Ahmed and Yarham's expressions but still couldn't figure it out.

Rashid appeared calm, but inside he was panicking.

It wasn't that he was afraid of losing money.

Rashid is a high-ranking prince and is highly valued by the UAE royal family. He has received a considerable share of the wealth. For him, money is not important; what matters is his performance.

Rashid was under immense pressure to develop the satellite. He went through countless hardships, recruiting technical talent and engineers from across the globe and spending a fortune to finally produce it. If he messed it up, he would not only lose face and be ridiculed by other members of the royal family, but more importantly, his reputation would be damaged, which would be irreparable in a short time.

From this perspective, Kyle Mitchell's proposal wasn't entirely without merit. In case the Chinese on Tenglong Island couldn't handle it due to technical flaws, Mitchell's suggestion would provide Rashid with a way out, giving him a reason to back down.

Of course, as I said before, Rashid dislikes Speth X from the bottom of his heart, and he would never choose to cooperate with Speth X if there were any other way.

Rashid desperately wanted Ahmed and Yarham to bring him good news so he could feel more at ease and stop worrying.

If this continued, Rashid felt he was going to develop an irregular heartbeat.

Mitchell had seen through everything long ago. Prince Rashid was all bark and no bite; he was just putting on a brave face and talking tough. As long as the satellite testing and debugging encountered some difficulties, and as long as Mitchell put in a little more effort, Prince Rashid would definitely give up cooperating with the Chinese.

In this way, the future blueprint that Mitchell and Thomson discussed would come to fruition.

Rashid said, "Alright, Ahmed, Yarum, did you check just now? What's the status of the satellite now?"

Rashid glanced at Mitchell: "Professor Mitchell is here, so speak clearly and avoid any ambiguity."

Ahmed and Yalem exchanged a glance and said, "Yes, Your Highness, we have just confirmed that the satellite is in good condition."

Mitchell paused, then asked, "In good condition? What do you mean? How exactly are you in good condition? Please describe it more clearly."

"Professor Mitchell, the satellite has now entered the payload bay and is undergoing the second round of power-on testing."

Mitchell's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets: "W-what?! The satellite's already in the payload bay? Are you sure?"

“We are quite certain, Professor Mitchell.”

"How is it possible? This is impossible!"

Not only did Mitchell not believe it, but even Prince Rashid was completely bewildered.

It's only been a short time. The satellite has only taken a little over half a day to arrive at Tenglong Island, not even counting the time it took to transport it from the ship to the space launch site.

Rashid said with a serious expression, "Ahmed, don't talk nonsense, you must tell the truth."

Ahmed nodded: "We are absolutely right, Your Highness. By the way, we also explained the situation to Mr. Hu, and he granted us permission to take some satellite-related photos."

As he spoke, Ahmed looked at Yalem, who took out his phone and showed the photos he had just taken.

Mitchell quickly moved closer to the big screen, wanting to see it more clearly.

The photo clearly shows Maintech's advanced satellite, which is currently placed inside a huge device.

Mitchell was an expert in aerospace, with genuine experience and knowledge. He immediately realized that the satellite was placed in the rocket's payload bay.

That was the payload bay of a rocket!
Prince Rashid also noticed it, stood up from the sofa, and asked, "Oh! Is this the Chinese's big rocket?"

Yalem replied, "Yes, Your Highness, as you can see, this is a medium-sized rocket from Star Glory, a commercial aerospace company in China."

As he spoke, Yarham swiped to another photo.

This is a long-range photo that captures most of the rocket, including the satellite inside the payload bay, which is also clearly visible.

Prince Rashid smiled. "I must admit, it looks pretty good. What do you think, Professor Mitchell?"

Mitchell looked at it carefully, then shook his head: "This is really strange. Why are they in such a hurry? Have all the functional tests of the satellite and rocket been completed? If they rush to install the satellite into the payload bay and find any problems, won't it be very difficult to adjust and repair them? I suspect they have no experience at all and are all newbies who don't know anything."

Rashid listened with a somewhat complicated expression. Mitchell's words were a typical example of pouring cold water on things, but it couldn't be said that he was entirely wrong. On the contrary, different opinions should be accepted at times like this.

If the Tenglong Island Space Launch Site and the Star Glory technical team are too eager for quick results, they will indeed make many mistakes, and it will be too late to make amends then.

This principle is actually very simple. Even if Rashid wasn't an expert, he would understand it. Besides, he's not stupid; he's actually quite intelligent and graduated from a prestigious university.

Rashid has recently studied many space cases, especially failed ones, all of which were caused by insufficient prior planning and rushed project implementation, leading to the final launch failure.

Rashid asked, "Ahmed and Yarham, are you sure all the functional tests were passed before you installed the satellite?"

Ahmed said, "Your Highness, we have indeed confirmed that they have passed all the functional tests. After the satellite is transferred into the payload bay, it will undergo several more rounds of testing. The first round of functional tests has just been passed."

"……are you sure?"

“Your Highness, we are certain that our people were present just now, and they witnessed the entire testing process and results.”

Rashid breathed a sigh of relief: "Great, that's wonderful!"

As he spoke, Rashid glanced at Mitchell with a look of delight, as if to say, "You're speechless now, aren't you?"
Mitchell was not going to be speechless; he considered himself an expert among experts and was not so easily fooled.

Mitchell said, "Is it possible that your technicians are unreliable? I'm curious where they came from. Also, you can't let them make decisions so casually without test results. I mean, if the launch fails, can they take responsibility?"

Ahmed and Yarham exchanged a glance, their faces showing no embarrassment, clearly having anticipated Mitchell's response.

Mitchell is incredibly stubborn, and Ahmed and Yarham have argued with him more than once, with the arguments becoming quite intense.

Mitchell always brings up all sorts of data to support his arguments, and it has to be said that it is indeed very convincing and impressive. However, if you examine that data closely, it actually doesn't hold water.

However, Mitchell was an aerospace expert, which gave him an edge over Ahmed and Yarham, among others, so they lost the arguments most of the time.

Fortunately, Prince Rashid has been wise in many ways, and has provided significant support to Myne Technologies at crucial moments. So far, this decision has been correct.

At this point, Rashid said, "Well, perhaps we need more reliable test data. Have you obtained it? I believe the Chinese should be able to provide it, right?"

Ahmed nodded: "Yes, Your Highness, we have obtained the on-site test video data, all of which were completed under the supervision of our technicians. By the way, Your Highness, Professor Mitchell, I can have our technical experts come over to explain it to you; that might make it clearer."

As he spoke, Ahmed called someone over.

He was a Westerner, and he looked quite old, probably around the same age as Mitchell.

This Westerner's glasses are very thick, clearly indicating overuse of his eyes.

Mitchell's eyes widened; it was Paul Arrote.

Paul was a German scientist.

It is well known that Germans are known for their meticulousness.

Of course, the younger generation is not up to par, while the older generation is still very impressive.

Paul was a German-style engineer-scientist, introverted, taciturn, and not very talkative, but his professional skills were top-notch.

Even Mitchell had to admit that Paul's research ability and professionalism were even superior to Mitchell's.

"...Paul Arrott? How come he went to China too? When did he join Maintech?"

As he spoke, Mitchell looked at Prince Rashid.

The latter smiled and said, "Professor Arot is an excellent scientist. I went to great lengths to find him. He has joined the expert team of Main Technology, and this time he will play a greater role. By the way, he is very interested in China's aerospace technology, so we went together."

"Well... okay, Paul is a very reliable engineer. So, Paul, were you present when the Chinese were testing the satellite just now?"

Paul nodded, adjusted his thick glasses, and said, "Yes, I was there."

"So can you describe how they did the functional testing back then? Did they do very detailed functional testing to ensure quality? I mean, were they responsible enough? Paul, you should know that this is very important, and there can be no carelessness."

Paul nodded: "Yes, they are very responsible. I have never seen any team that can execute the pre-set process 100% perfectly. These Chinese people have done it."

Rashid asked, "Professor Arot, even the US space agency won't do it?"

"Yes, Your Highness, I have worked at the space agency of the United States for many years. They have never done the testing procedures as thoroughly as they have. They are always in a hurry and careless. But the Chinese are different. They really performed all the functional tests and only put the satellite into the payload bay after confirming that everything passed."

Upon hearing this, Prince Rashid was overjoyed: "That's wonderful! It seems the Chinese have done a good job. They must be very reliable, right?"

"Yes, I think they are very reliable. Their technicians are very professional. There are some problems that I can't think of, but they can."

Mitchell was dumbfounded: "How is that possible? Didn't they encounter any problems? Impossible, this doesn't make sense for a space program."

"Yes, they did encounter some problems, but they resolved them smoothly and in a very short time."

"A very short time? Is it a minor problem? If it's a major problem, this is simply impossible."

"At the time, I didn't quite believe it either, because this problem was not easy to solve, and they were very troubled. But the owner of the space launch site saw the problem and quickly solved it. You can see that he is a very capable person."

"...The owner of the space launch site? I don't understand, what's going on?"

Rashid looked completely bewildered, clearly unaware that the owner of the space launch site was also technically savvy and could help the technical team solve complex problems.

Ahmed reminded him, "It's Mr. Hu from the Tenglong Island Space Launch Site. He's very young and a very capable person."

Prince Rashid suddenly realized that Ahmed and Yarham had mentioned Hu Jiangshan, the boss, more than once. Both of them praised him highly, saying that he was an outstanding technical boss, and most importantly, very young.

Rashid said, "If I have the time, I would really like to meet Mr. Hu. I think the opportunity will come soon."

Paul went on to explain more, which made Prince Rashid even more confident.

Mitchell couldn't take it anymore. If things continued like this, the collaboration between Main Technology and the Chinese would be a done deal.

This was unacceptable to Mitchell. He believed that even if Maintech were to cooperate with Russia, it would be better than cooperating with the Chinese. This was Mitchell's bottom line.

Mitchell, somewhat exasperated, interrupted Paul: "Paul, listen to me! Do you really think this satellite launch will be successful? Can you even guarantee that?"

This is a very pointed question.

Anyone familiar with aerospace technology knows that space launch projects are very risky and there is no guarantee of 100% success.

No one makes promises they can keep.

However, Paul thought for a moment and replied, "If the next few rounds of functional tests pass, I don't think there will be any problems with this launch."

"Wha, what!?"

Mitchell was starting to panic; he couldn't believe Paul was so sure!
This is tantamount to Paul endorsing the Chinese people.

It's worth it!

Prince Rashid was very pleased: "Thank you for your hard work, Professor Arot. I hope you can keep a close eye on this project and make sure nothing goes wrong."

"I will, Your Highness."

Paul nodded and handed the camera back to Ahmed.

Mitchell couldn't sit still any longer and made up an excuse to leave. Rashid didn't care and let him go.

Rashid's confidence has finally been restored, and he is looking forward to the moment when the satellite is launched, at which time his fame will resound throughout the Middle East.

(End of this chapter)