MM Racing Chapter 54 One stone of prestige in the world, half for Governor Ma, half for me.
Chapter 54 One stone of prestige in the world, half for Governor Ma, half for me.
A week later, on November 7, 3025, at 10:11 AM GMT, the live broadcast of the Endeavour Mars exploration mission had already attracted global attention. No wonder, this was the first time Earth had broadcast a live broadcast of an exoplanet, and it happened to be a weekend.
At this very moment, in Samho, California, at SpaceX headquarters' mission control center.
In front of a giant circular screen, Ma Dugong, dressed in his signature black turtleneck sweater, stood under the spotlight, facing the cameras of hundreds of media outlets from around the world. Behind him were tens of thousands of lines of data streams and a 3D orbital model displaying the real-time status of the Endeavour spacecraft.
"Ladies and gentlemen, today we will witness another milestone in the history of human exploration." Ma Dugong's voice was transmitted simultaneously to the world via satellite signal: "After six months and seven days of interstellar travel, 'Endeavour' is about to reach Mars orbit. For the first time in human history, we will conduct real-time, high-definition, and multi-angle live observations of the surface of another planet."
Inside the control center, hundreds of engineers and technicians stood ready. Major television stations and online platforms in over 120 countries worldwide purchased the broadcasting rights. According to real-time statistics from international internet data monitoring agencies, five minutes before the live stream began, the number of simultaneous online viewers globally had already exceeded 12 billion, and was still climbing rapidly at a rate of millions per minute.
Dongguo, 8 PM.
In Room 412 of the male dormitory at Jiangcheng University, School of Biology, Liu Bo connected his laptop to a 32-inch monitor and tuned it to an international live streaming channel.
"They're here! They're here! Sang Biao, come and see!" Liu Bo said excitedly.
Hu Biao looked up from his desk, put down his book (which was unusual for him), and stood up with a look of excitement and curiosity. Sun Hao and Wang Zhe also came over, and the four of them sat around the screen.
"Do you think we can really find anything on Mars?" Wang Zhe pushed up his glasses.
"Found a hammer? You've been reading too many science fiction novels." Sun Hao said dismissively. "Ah Zhe, we're biology students. We should be scientific and rational. In that kind of godforsaken place, there won't be anything but rocks and sand. Ma Dugong just knows how to hype up concepts and do marketing."
Hu Biao didn't say anything, but slowly opened a bag of potato chips.
Meanwhile, in the girls' dormitory, Lin Wanqing and Su Xiaoran were also huddled together watching the live broadcast on a tablet. Lin Wanqing's phone screen was still showing the broadcast from a major domestic video-sharing website, with colorful comments scrolling like a waterfall.
"Front-row property for sale on Mars!"
"Ma Dugong is awesome!"
"The Eastern Kingdom's Wentian No. 1 silently passed by..."
I bet five cents there'll be some good entertainment today!
"Am I the only one concerned about whether Governor Ma wore the same sweater as last week?"
Bars, plazas, school auditoriums, family living rooms around the world... countless screens simultaneously lit up with the same image.
From the giant LED screen in Times Square in the Big Apple to the large screen at the intersection in Shibuya, Tokyo, from the temporary broadcasting point in Trafalgar Square in the foggy city to the crowded internet cafes in Delhi... At this moment, human eyes are focused on that distant red planet like never before.
10:17 GMT.
"Endeavour's main engines are ignited, and we are beginning our Mars capture orbit," a calm announcement came from mission control.
Facing the camera, Ma Dugong spoke quickly, barely containing his excitement: "Friends, we are receiving the first batch of live images transmitted back by 'Endeavour.' Please note that there is approximately a 6-minute light-speed delay in the signal transmission from Mars back to Earth, so what you are seeing is what was happening six minutes ago."
On the screen, a panoramic image of Mars gradually becomes clear.
The initial shot shows Mars' massive, curved outline against a deep, starry background, displaying its iconic rusty red color. Then, the image plunges into Mars' thin, yet not entirely insignificant, atmosphere.
The live stream captured a truly magnificent scene.
It was a rusty red planet with white polar caps shimmering at both ends. The intricate canyons, craters, and plains on its surface formed mottled patterns of light and shadow under the slanting sunlight.
"Now, Endeavour's nine orbiters are about to separate and enter different planned orbits to scan and photograph the Arsidaria Planitia region from multiple angles," Madukong explained. "This is a region we carefully selected, about 1500 kilometers in diameter, and one of the largest plains in the northern hemisphere of Mars. No probe has ever landed here before, and we know almost nothing about it."
The chat started flooded with comments:
"Here it comes! Time to open the blind boxes!"
"I bet a pack of spicy strips that there's a rock underneath."
"If Governor Ma doesn't make it this time, I'm canceling my subscription."
"Dongkuk Aerospace..."
Hu Biao narrowed his eyes. In his high-dimensional vision, the nine orbiters looked like nine tiny metallic insects, diving towards the Martian atmosphere.
The live stream switched to a first-person perspective from the surround sound camera.
"The orbiter is traversing the upper atmosphere of Mars." Ma Dugong's voice, accompanied by a slightly noisy radio background, continued, "The Martian atmosphere is mainly composed of carbon dioxide, with a density only about 1% of Earth's, but we can still see spectacular sights right now—"
In the footage, the orbiter begins to vibrate slightly. The thin, orange-red atmosphere rushes past the lens, and due to friction, a faint glow of plasma surrounds the orbiter. Below, the Martian surface magnifies and unfolds at an astonishing speed.
It was an endless, rusty red wasteland. Huge sand dunes stretched for hundreds of kilometers like frozen waves; steep cliffs cast shadows tens of kilometers long under the sunlight; and dried-up riverbeds meandered like the veins of an ancient behemoth, telling the story of liquid water that may have existed billions of years ago.
"My God..." Liu Bo stared at the screen and murmured, "This is more stunning than any special effects."
Sun Hao also dropped his joking expression: "This really is on another planet."
The chat was silent for a few seconds, then erupted in even more intense exclamations:
"My scalp is tingling..."
"Humans are truly insignificant."
"A tribute to all aerospace workers"
"At this moment, we are all stardust."
………………
10:29 GMT.
All nine orbiters have reached their designated altitudes, forming an observation array approximately 200 kilometers above the Asidaria Plain. Multi-lens panoramic images are beginning to be transmitted back.
Ma Dugong explained the geological features of Mars: "As you can see, the Asidaria Plain is relatively flat, but there are many traces of erosion, which may indicate that in the distant past..."
His voice suddenly stopped.
On the large screen in the control center, nine split-screen images simultaneously display panoramic views of the plains taken from different angles.
Because the orbiter is in different positions and the angle of sunlight is different, the contrast between light and dark on the surface of the plain is also different.
But at that moment, all the engineers and everyone watching the live stream noticed something.
On the surface of the plain, the seemingly random patches of light and dark, the direction of the sand dunes, and the distribution of rocks... appear to form a kind of regular pattern from a panoramic view hundreds of kilometers high.
"Wait a minute..." Ma Dugong approached the monitoring console, and the technicians quickly zoomed in and enhanced the image contrast.
The image gradually became clear.
It was a massive, breathtaking array of symbols that covered almost the entire Asidaria plain.
They are not carved, but rather some incomprehensible force altered the composition or structure of the surface material, giving it a dark golden hue that is completely different from the surrounding wasteland. Under the slanted sunlight of Mars, it appears solemn, dignified, and even carries an aura of dominance over the world.
"hiss!!"
Billions of people around the world heard Ma Dugong gasp in shock, and then everyone gasped along with him.
The temperature on Earth instantly rose by three degrees.
In the live stream, Ma Dugong was so excited that he was incoherent, believing that he had discovered an alien civilization. Countless comments flooded the screen at that moment.
And in the Eastern Kingdom...
Someone recognized the array of symbols at a glance, and then went completely insane!
That's not a rune at all.
That's seal script.
Bird and insect script!
Eight incredibly clear bird-and-insect seal characters, each over two hundred kilometers in size, stretch across a plain of nearly five million square kilometers, like an immortal declaration written by a god with stars as his pen and the continent as his paper.
By the mandate of Heaven, may your life be long and prosperous!