Chapter 996: Survival is more important

Looking around the conference room, Mr. President, who was sitting at the head, said with a tired face.

“Everyone has heard Director Bilson’s report. Our competitors have shown great ambitions in the aerospace field.”

“From the beginning of manned moon landing , to the lunar base and the lunar biosphere Each project has fully demonstrated their determination in the aerospace field and the development of lunar resources."

"And now, they have set their sights on the more distant Mars! ”

"If they replicate their development on the moon and establish an outpost, then the United States, and even the whole world, will depend on others to develop in space."

"I need a countermeasure. If we don't take any more measures If we act, in the future space age, the moon and Mars, the two bridgeheads for humans to move beyond the earth, will all fall into the hands of China."

There was silence in the conference room.

China is about to land on Mars. For them, this is extremely bad news.

However, apart from keeping an eye on this matter and praying that the other party's landing operation fails, they don't seem to have any good other means.

Looking at this silent group of staff and executives, Mr. T, the CEO sitting at the head, had a face full of disappointment.

Two terms in office, he has spent countless time and energy in order to make this country glorious again.

But often the development of the times does not stop at the will of an individual. Even if he is the president of the United States, facing this era of rapid development, it will be difficult to reverse the situation.

In fact, he could only watch the opponent's rise without any solution.

After all, it comes from the technological level. No matter how many administrative measures you use, it doesn't mean much.

This is what they did before, but now it's their turn.

At this moment, Vice President Robert O'Brien, who was sitting next to him, said worriedly: "To be honest, the other party's development in the aerospace field is not what I am most worried about."
 "Even if the other party lands on Mars, or even builds a Mars base on Mars, it doesn't matter. No big deal."

"Whether it is Mars or the moon, even if they try their best to develop it, they will not be able to completely occupy it in a short time."

"We still have enough in the future. Time and opportunity, whether it is developing our own space technology, or"

After a slight pause, he looked at the person sitting in the first place and continued: "To be honest, rather than continuing to invest a lot of money in the aerospace field to catch up with the other party, I would rather give up and continue to invest in the aerospace field on a large scale. "

Hearing this, Director Bill Nelson quickly retorted: "Giving up investment in the aerospace field means we give up the entire future!"

"The space age! The arrival of space is inevitable. If the moon and Mars are lost, the two best transit stations for exploring outer space, it will be difficult for the United States to rise again in the aerospace field in the future."

Hearing this, Robert! ·O'Brien looked at Bill Nelson and said solemnly: "Then do you have any way to change the current aerospace situation?"

"Is it relying on NASA or the Endurance space shuttle?"

"With all due respect, you may not want to admit it, but in fact, we have lost in the aerospace field!"

"Do you think that even if we restart the space shuttle, it will take a few years to be like China?" Like China, we will build a scientific research base on the moon that can accommodate at least a thousand people?”

“Or will it take several years to send our astronauts to Mars?”
 "The development of those Chinese people on the moon and the lunar biosphere project they launched have won over most countries in the world, including Europe, Japan, South Korea, and even our allies such as the Maple Leaf Country."
 “Today, it is impossible for us to use the space race to slow down the development of our opponents or even bring them down as we did in the last century.”

"As time goes by, if we don't stop, we will only be dragged down in the end!"

As this decisive voice fell, NASA Director Bill Nelson's face changed. His expression became extremely embarrassing.

He couldn't refute all of this, not even one of them.

As Robert said, their development in the aerospace field has lagged far behind their opponent on the other side of the Pacific.

The space race has developed to this stage, and they are the only ones who are slowly being dragged down.

After all, China is supported by controllable nuclear fusion technology, and cheap energy means that the other country's complete industrial system can continuously operate like a huge machine.

Today, they still rely on traditional fossil fuels such as oil, coal, and natural gas, and it is almost impossible to compete with each other.

But for Bill Nelson, he does not want to give up investment in the aerospace field just like this. After all, it is related to his own status and interests.

Taking a deep breath, he looked at the Vice President and said: "We still have the lunar elevator project!"

"As long as this plan starts smoothly, I believe we can do it next Move back at least once in the space competition”

Hearing this, Robert couldn't help but interrupted directly: "Let's not consider the difficulty of the lunar elevator project. Just how much money is needed to start this project is a super problem."

"If it is according to NASA's previous According to the assessment, if you want to build a lunar ladder on the moon that can support personnel, supplies and mineral mining, you will need at least 100 billion meters of gold.”

“That’s a full thousand! Billion!"

"Do you think the United States can invest so much money in a project that will not see any return in ten or even twenty years?"

“Don’t think about it, even if we can convince our allies in Europe, Japan, South Korea, and even Tsarist Russia to invest 100 billion in the space elevator project, this project will still be difficult to achieve.”

"Especially now, we are not the leading country in aerospace technology."

"Didn't you see that even our allies followed the Chinese in the lunar biosphere project?" 
“Even if the lunar space elevator is feasible, with our current technical reserves, it is an extremely difficult project to realize.”

After a slight pause, Robert O’Brien looked at the meeting He glanced around the room and continued in a calm voice.

“If it is before the breakthrough of carbon-based chip technology, we still have a certain confidence to continue to invest in technology research and development in the aerospace field.”

"But now, the semiconductor field is about to lose, which is more painful than the loss in the aerospace field. What we need now is to find ways to try our best to collect expenses and survive in the changes of this era, rather than continue to compete with opponents in the aerospace field. ”

“I suggest ending this meaningless fight as soon as possible. Space competition, focus on new scientific and technological fields. "Only new breakthroughs in new technology can solve our current dilemma!"

Hear these words. , the man sitting at the head with still cool hair nodded, he was worthy of being his personally appointed deputy.

In his view, competition in the aerospace field is indeed no longer necessary. For the current United States, this is an area that wastes people and money and is difficult to reap equivalent returns in the short term.

Although the development of aerospace technology can be applied to fields such as national defense and military affairs, this is obviously not the case for manned spaceflight and extraterrestrial exploration.

After thinking for a while, Mr. General T’s eyes fell on Robert and asked: "If you want to choose a technological field that can lead the rise of the United States again, which direction do you think it will be?"

Hearing this question, Robert O'Brien replied without hesitation: "AI intelligence!"

"Tell me what you think "

Robert nodded and continued: "First of all, in terms of basic research, core technology, talent training, etc., we are in a leading position in the field of AI intelligence, such as Stanford University, MIT, The University of California, Berkeley, and Carnegie Mellon University have a long history and profound accumulation in the field of artificial intelligence.”

"Coupled with the fact that companies such as OpenAI, Google DeepMind and NVIDIA are all industry leaders in AI intelligence, we have enough foundation and confidence to quickly complete the blueprint construction of AI intelligent infrastructure!"

"And controllable Breakthroughs in nuclear fusion technology, whether it is the large-scale fusion power stations built in California or Texas, can help us solve the biggest power problem in AI intelligent training!"

"Most! The key is that in the fields of energy, aerospace, chips, etc., when China has already caught up with us and even overtaken us, AI intelligence is the only direction that can help us win this war!"

" After all, modern society is inseparable from intelligent products. From aerospace and military to car and mobile phones for personal use, a lot of intelligence is needed.”

“This is why we are still ahead of China and have huge capabilities. Potential scientific research directions ”

When Robert's analysis was put on the table, most people in the conference room nodded in agreement, with looks of approval in their eyes.

It has to be said that AI intelligence does have such potential.

Today with the rapid development of informatization, almost all electronic devices are inseparable from intelligent systems.

Even for a small timer self-starting switch, today's engineers would like to design various intelligent systems in it, let alone other fields.

And as a technology that simulates human intelligence, AI intelligence can enable machines to learn, think and make decisions like humans, so that they can perform various tasks autonomously.

From the perspective of modern society, this is productivity.

It can automate and optimize many tedious, repetitive or complex tasks, significantly improving work efficiency.

Deep learning and machine learning algorithms can also be used to quickly process and analyze large amounts of data, generate accurate reports and plans, reduce manual errors, improve work quality, and more.

Even when AI intelligence is enhanced to a certain stage, it is not impossible to use it to control high-temperature plasma turbulence in controllable nuclear fusion.

After all, as long as you have enough computing power, there is nothing that AI intelligence cannot do.

For the United States today, this is indeed the most suitable area to invest.

In the conference room, Director Bill Nelson looked solemnly and asked: "What about aerospace? We just watched helplessly as China occupied the moon and Mars bit by bit, and then in the future we will No place to stay?”

Hearing this question, Robert rubbed his head with a headache.

Sighing, he looked at Bill Nelson and said: "If we are unable to defeat our opponents in the aerospace field, or slow down their development, we may even be dragging down our own to a certain extent. Development.”

“Then my opinion is to end this competition”

Hearing this, Mr. T, who was at the top of the list, looked over, frowned and said, "End this competition?"

Robert nodded and said, "Yes, end this competition in space. !”

Take a deep breath, his eyes fell on NASA Director Bill Nelson, and continued.

“I know this is really hard to accept, especially in aerospace, a field where we have led for more than half a century.”

“But if we want to get out of this quagmire and save the United States, Then we have to do it.”

“To end this space competition and repeal the Wolf Clause and the Competition Act, at least the two sides must no longer be in opposition to each other, and the two countries can cooperate in the space field.”
 “Admit it, we have indeed fallen behind China in the field of aerospace.”

“Whether it is the European Union, Tsarist Russia, or other countries in Southeast Asia, they all see it more clearly than we do. It is clear that only we are still obsessed with the glory of the past.”

“For us now, at least cooperation with China in the space field is the best choice.”
 "Including their biosphere project, it will be officially launched in the last month. If we want to join in before then, we have to take action as soon as possible."

There was silence in the conference room.

Director Bill Nelson of NASA opened his mouth, but stopped talking.

Perhaps it is the best choice to give up competition and restore relations and cooperate, but for him, this decision is a bit too cruel.

If we really want to resume cooperation with China in the space field, then someone from NASA must stand up and take the blame.

After all, someone has to take care of it all, right?

No one is more suitable than him as the director of NASA, and perhaps his deputy Gersten Maier may be far more suitable than him to take over this 'mess'.

After all, he has always advocated the need to unite the forces of all countries in the era of space exploration.

After being silent for a long time, Mr. T, who was sitting at the head of the table, finally sighed and spoke feebly.

"So be it. Although aerospace is our glory, it is obvious that survival is more important now."

"Director Bill, the rest of the work will be left to you. ”

"I need you to complete a plan as soon as possible to repair our relationship with China in the aerospace field. At least, we need to participate in the subsequent lunar biosphere project and Mars development."