Chapter 372: Not Many Suitable Candidates Left
“Apollo Technology, a Chinese commercial aerospace agency, has completed its first robotic operation, extending the area of photovoltaic panels laid on the Moon once again, sparking doubts from environmentalists who worry that its lunar operations will cause irreversible damage to the lunar environment.
In response, Open Lunar Foundation founder Kate stated: I will continue to follow the latest developments of this company, paying attention to resource conflicts and environmental risks that may arise due to a lack of international coordination. We call for China to join the Lunar Ledger database, sharing base construction details to ensure sustainable governance and reduce potential friction, promoting peaceful access for all countries.”
On the television screen, a CNN anchor was interviewing Kate, co-founder of the Open Lunar Foundation, who was eloquently discussing China’s moon landing on TV.
The mission of the Open Lunar Foundation is to ensure peace and cooperation on the Moon through collaboration in fields such as technology, policy, and infrastructure.
The Lunar Ledger mentioned in the interview is a shared database launched just a few years ago, mainly used to record and track human activities on the Moon.
For example, Apollo Technology has already landed in Shackleton Crater, and has laid dense solar panels here. If other institutions land here later, their own landing is likely to fail, and Apollo Technology’s base will also be destroyed.
If the data is on a shared platform and registration is completed in advance, such risks can be avoided.
When there are more moon landing organizations, such a data sharing platform is actually very necessary.
It’s just that who builds this kind of data sharing platform? Does a civilian NGO like you deserve to?
Chinese people can’t see this news, but Young John Morgan can. After seeing it, he felt quite disdainful inwardly. Your calls are useless. Even if you call ten thousand times, the Chinese side won’t pay attention to you.
He now spends most of his time in Austin, far away from the bustling urban life of New York, traveling between the wealthy district and suburban factory in Austin.
Young John Morgan deeply appreciates how wonderful real manufacturing is.
Yes, wonderful.
Even though the financial industry makes money too easily.
The essence of the financial industry is information gap, and top conglomerates like the Morgan family not only lack no information gap, but can also create it themselves.
Like China using photovoltaic modules to fiercely harvest in the capital market, the Morgan family can also grasp the information gap because China has to make statements externally, and the information has to be released to form a consensus for short selling.
So no matter which channel is used to make the statement, the Morgan family is among the first to know, and they can also go with the flow.
As for creating information gap, there’s no need to say more. In another year, when Big T takes office, he will show you the most direct way to create information gap and harvest in the capital market.
The Morgan family feels inferior. We still have to rely on bribing congressmen, forming synergy, and laying out in advance, taking months to complete a small harvest, or years or even a decade to complete a big harvest.
You, as president, can actually harvest once a day. That’s too awesome.
Ordinary people are leeks. For the Morgan family, making money in finance is as simple as breathing. As long as there is a capital market in this world, they can make a fortune from it. They are already part of the US dollar tide.
Young John Morgan has seen how the family’s financial industry harvests. Money is just a number to them.
At first, there wasn’t even a feeling of excitement. As age increases, there’s even less need to say.
Whereas manufacturing—stainless steel, motor oil, gears, precision components, 3D printing equipment, etc.—these smells interwoven in the factory feel much more real and satisfying.
This satisfaction cannot be matched by changes in numbers.
The only thing that slightly bothers him is that there are really too few white people in the entire factory. The only white people are middle-aged and elderly white people; not a single young white person can be seen.
Young John Morgan has seen many images of his ancestors holding companies in steel, oil, electricity, railways, etc., with group photos with workers—that was spectacular, almost all white people.
America’s financial magnates in history were the real financial magnates, daring to confront Washington, relying on having workers and security teams, right?
In today’s factories, most are of Chinese descent, Indian descent, Latin American descent. These ethnic groups will work for you, but won’t be your house slaves.
General Aerospace’s giant hangar is shrouded under the scorching summer sun, with the air filled with pungent smells of metal and lubricant.
Inside the hangar, towering steel beams support the ceiling, and LED lights illuminate blueprints and toolboxes on the desk.
Chief propulsion engineer Dr. Vasquez stands in front of the turbopump component frame, hands on hips, brows furrowed.
This is the F-1 engine that crossed the ocean from afar.
The core of Saturn V.
It is also the biggest factor choking them from a company called Apollo Technology on the other side of the Pacific Ocean.
But replicating it is far from simple: modern materials like advanced nickel alloys can certainly replace the original Inconel-X, and 3D printing can achieve precision unattainable by 1960s hand welding.
However, the real difficulty lies in the engine core: combustion instability, a chaotic pressure wave feedback cycle, which is the difficulty they have been unable to solve.
“Still haven’t found a way to solve the problem?” Young John Morgan asked.
Because of Lin Ran’s influence, he likes to call this solving the problem.
Solving the puzzle left by the professor.
“Boss, the F-1 combustion chamber has high-frequency pressure oscillations that can destroy everything in milliseconds,” Dr. Vasquez said.
This is the talent Young John Morgan finally poached from NASA.
But the other party is also happy to do this job. Compared to making PPTs and parameters to cheat the budget at NASA, replicating the F-1 engine is much more interesting.
“Doctor, why can’t we use computer simulation software to predict those unstable waves? The original relied on repeated trial and error, but we now have supercomputers. The professor replicated Saturn V in just over a year. I don’t believe they used trial and error; they must have 100% used computer simulation to get good results,” Young John Morgan reminded.
Dr. Vasquez said: “Boss, you’re right, but the problem is we don’t know how Apollo Technology models it, how they handle resonance, how to adjust the pressure wave frequency parameters, how to match the pressure wave frequency parameters with the natural frequency of the combustion chamber wall.
We don’t know any of this. We’ve already hired a group of Ivy League applied mathematics PhDs, and they are helpless.
Young John Morgan said wistfully: “What we need is height. We need a master-level figure. Only a master-level figure can possibly help us solve this.
This can’t be solved by piling up manpower. It needs someone who can jump high enough, not a group of people who jump one meter, who together can jump to ten meters.
Dr. Vasquez said: “I know, but the problem is, in the field of applied mathematics, who can do this.
Before he finished speaking, Young John Morgan waved his hand: “I’ll go find. I know who to find.
A name came to his mind: Terry Tao, also a Chinese descent mathematician, also spanning multiple fields. Maybe he can help them solve this problem.
Young John Morgan paced on the concrete floor, wearing gloves, touching the cold metal framework.
Young John Morgan took a deep breath; the air still carried the ozone smell from welding residue.
“Doctor, simulation is just the starting point. We can first do some supporting tests to collect data, get some peripheral work going.
I’ll find someone to tackle the core problem.
Dr. Vasquez hurriedly said: “Rest assured, boss, we’ve been doing it, including using nitrogen to simulate fuel flow, cold flow tests for turbulence, alloy coating heat resistance tests to ensure the combustion chamber wall won’t melt under high temperature, subsystem turbopump high cavitation-free tests, etc.
These tests are all advancing, progressing quickly, completely according to the timeline we set.
Dr. Vasquez does have strength; it’s just that in the past, his strength was buried in NASA’s deformed work environment.
“Doctor, I fully trust your strength.
Before leaving the factory, Young John Morgan thought, this is much more interesting than financial games.
After arriving at the office area, there were many more white faces here, with a much higher proportion of white people than in the factory.
Blonde blue-eyed secretary Jessica walked in: “Boss, there’s a new message that needs to be reported to you. Apollo Technology founder Randolph Lin publicly posted that the next moon landing will accept one passenger, and he himself will participate in this moon landing.
Young John Morgan’s eyes lit up: “You mean, the next moon landing trio: one passenger, the professor himself, and one astronaut?
Jessica didn’t know why Young John Morgan liked to call Randolph professor, but she calmly said: “Yes, and he said the quotation is not cheap.
Young John Morgan slapped the table. What’s that? No matter how expensive the quotation, how expensive can it be?
For him, money is just a number.
With the professor going to the Moon together, the biggest worry is solved; the safety factor must be maxed out.
The professor wouldn’t disregard his own safety.
As for fame and getting closer to the professor, those are secondary. Just being able to go to the Moon and see China’s base is worth the ticket price.
“Help me contact… forget it, I’ll do it personally,” Young John Morgan said.
He chose to call Lin Ran at 8 a.m. Yanjing time on a workday, knowing that at this time, the probability of Lin Ran answering is the highest.
“Professor.” Young John Morgan’s voice was very humble: “I want to go to the Moon with you. No matter whose quotation, I’ll pay higher than him!”
He wasn’t a dumb second generation who would shout something like double the price.
After all, Saudi and Qatari rich people don’t treat money as money.
“Oh, this matter. Sorry, this moon landing only accepts registration from Chinese citizens,” Lin Ran explained: “It’s not that I don’t allow it; it’s that the Yanjing side doesn’t allow it.
They said for the sake of my safety, this project is temporarily not open to overseas consumers.
“Ah?” Young John Morgan immediately understood the twists and turns.
Afraid of assassins.
Going to the Moon once, even spending 10 billion US dollars, if they can take out the professor in the process, it’s worth it.
For America, Lin Ran’s emergence has cost them how many 10 billion—from the shaky US stock market to the crumbling tech monopoly; this can’t be measured by money.
The Yanjing side is especially afraid of some unknown prince from the Middle East who really has money, can really fabricate an identity, then go to the Moon and take Lin Ran away on the way.
Even if there’s the slightest possibility, the Yanjing side doesn’t want to take the risk.
So right after Lin Ran’s announcement, Song Nanping found Lin Ran and explained the pros and cons, saying clearly: You can do this, but the tourists going to the Moon with you must be Chinese people. Even Hong Kong tycoons, the Yanjing side doesn’t trust and will set obstacles for you.
Someone like Sun Ge jumped around even more, shouting on Twitter right after Lin Ran’s announcement that he was willing to spend 1 billion US dollars to buy a spot to go to the Moon.
As a result, netizens below reminded him: “Sun Ge, do you still dare to return to the mainland? Afraid that returning to the mainland won’t land you in Wenchang, but in Yanjing.”
Sun Ge has been jumping around these years, only daring to stay in Hong Kong, not daring to return to the mainland at all, like having a tight spell on him.
Under such restrictions, there are hardly any suitable candidates left.
