Chapter 224: Who Is The Professor, Exactly?
The Faculty of Mathematics at Jiaotong University doesn’t even have the qualifications to evaluate academicians.
So there’s no talk of any competition at all.
Instead, Lin Ran’s arrival would be like a achievement falling from the sky for him.
In the future, wherever he goes, he can write on his resume that he turned the Mathematics Department at Jiaotong University into a nationally top-tier, world-leading mathematics department.
With Lin Ran’s arrival, it becomes nationally top-tier.
If it were other so-called top-tier universities, could they publish even one paper in the top four journals a year?
And as Lin Ran takes root at Jiaotong University, in the future this resume entry could be changed to nationally top three, nationally number one, world top three, or even the world mathematics center.
This depends on whether Lin Ran can become like Shing-Tung Yau, Kunihiko Shioda, Heisuke Hironaka, or Gauss and Euler.
This isn’t referring to these individuals’ academic abilities, but to their team-leading abilities.
Shing-Tung Yau is no less accomplished academically than Kunihiko Shioda, but he falls far short in team-leading ability.
There’s no direct competitive relationship; for Shanghai Jiaotong University’s Mathematics Department, he’s still a miracle cure—all ailments cured after swallowing—so after Li Congming confirmed that Lin Ran’s intention toward Shanghai Jiaotong University is the strongest at this moment, he became as enthusiastic as possible.
“Mm, we can also help solve any follow-up issues.” Li Congming smiled. “Dr. Lin, with your words, not to mention junior college—even high school, junior high, or no schooling at all, we can make it work.
Right now it’s convenient since we can’t go out; we can directly arrange for your family to study for an undergraduate degree over in Malaysia—two years of remote classes and you get a degree certified by the service center.
Once obtained, we’ll handle employment immediately.”
Lin Ran thought to himself, you guys really know how to play. Though he’d always known academic reproduction at universities was powerful, stating it so casually was indeed arrogant enough:
“No, I don’t have any requirements in that regard for now.
I’m returning to Shanghai Jiaotong University, and things like the housing allocation and salary you mentioned, or other treatments, I don’t care much about.
The conditions offered by you, Yenching University, and Tsinghua University are all about the same.
Including things like research allowances.
What I need isn’t these; I need Shanghai Jiaotong University to provide me with sufficient resources.”
Li Congming immediately became alert.
In the adult world, there’s no such thing as pie falling from the sky.
Anything that falls from the sky like pie will have hidden traps.
However, regarding bringing in Lin Ran, even if there is a trap, he has to grit his teeth and swallow it.
“You say it, I will definitely satisfy.” Li Congming said.
Lin Ran said: “I hope that in the future, my teaching at Jiaotong University can be quite flexible.
No need to strictly follow the class schedule.
Possibly, if I have nothing in a week, I teach five days straight, then don’t teach for two months straight because I have my own things to do.”
Li Congming said: “Rest assured on this, we’ll definitely arrange it for you.
No problem at all; we’ll coordinate with other professors’ classes too.”
It’s normal for a big shot to have such requirements.
Even if Lin Ran said he wouldn’t teach a single class, he would gladly agree.
Big shots have privileges.
It’s already not easy for him to agree to come teach.
Lin Ran continued: “Then there’s resources; I plan to complete the moon landing in the next two years.”
Li Congming swallowed: “Moon landing?”
He felt things starting to go wrong.
“That’s right; my undergraduate major was aerospace, my undergraduate thesis was the Apollo Moon Landing—now replicating the Apollo Moon Landing isn’t very normal?
I need Shanghai Jiaotong University to provide resource support.” Lin Ran said matter-of-factly.
Li Congming certainly knew; they’d carefully studied Lin Ran’s resume and his past studies at Shanghai Jiaotong University.
It’s just that your undergraduate thesis was the Apollo Moon Landing, and now you want to do the moon landing—isn’t that a bit too outrageous?
You know Jiaotong University has school-owned assets and school-run enterprises;
Moreover, because of the Hanxin incident in the past, Jiaotong University is especially vigilant about such things.
Afraid of the trouble from exploding gold coins coming upon them.
Jiaotong University has school-owned assets.
More accurately, many universities have school-owned assets.
Like Huagong Technology, which was incubated by Huake and is still partly owned by Huake to this day.
Jiaotong University is the same.
Moon landing?
Led by a mathematics professor?
How much money would that burn?
Coming back to the country was originally to explode gold coins, huh.
Li Congming immediately raised his guard: “Dr. Lin, this is a bit too outrageous.
It won’t pass with the university leaders; no one dares to approve such resources for you.”
Lin Ran understood and explained: “No, Dean Li, you’ve misunderstood me.
The resources I mean are aerospace-related suppliers needed for the moon landing; I need Jiaotong University to help me contact them.
For the moon landing project itself, I’ll find investors myself; no need to trouble Jiaotong University.”
This made Li Congming breathe a sigh of relief inwardly while also sparking greater doubts.
Private company moon landing?
Bored with nothing to do?
Who would spend that money?
Li Congming couldn’t figure it out.
There really is.
In this world, if anyone has the strongest obsession with the moon landing, saying Buzz Aldrin is second, no one dares claim first.
Because he is the second person to land on the moon.
As everyone knows, Armstrong is the first person to land on the moon, enjoying worldwide renown.
While Buzz Aldrin, as the second person to land on the moon, has never forgotten not being the first to set foot on the moon, even harboring resentment.
Apollo 8 astronaut Michael Collins commented on this: “Aldrin’s resentment at not being the first man on the moon exceeded his gratitude at being the second.”
Originally, Aldrin had a chance to be the first person on the moon, but because NASA changed the moon landing program, Armstrong became the first.
At the last moment, Aldrin lobbied within NASA in every way possible.
Unfortunately, none succeeded.
However, convincing Aldrin to fork over money isn’t easy.
Before boarding the flight back to the country, Lin Ran sent a letter to Aldrin:
“Aldrin, do you want to know the meaning of life? Do you want to truly… live?”
Aldrin’s residence was easy to find with Lin Ran’s status.
At home in Beverly Hills, Buzz Aldrin, who had just gone through a failed marriage and at 90 years old could still walk briskly, opened the letter and smiled after reading it.
(90-year-old Aldrin)
He’d received similar things too many times.
In his view, this was just another trick like the countless ones before.
“Heh, boring prank.”
But the envelope naturally contained more than just a letter.
There was also an attached document.
Yellow paper, complex formulas, Buzz Aldrin’s own signature:
“Design Concept and Specific Trajectory Analysis of the Aldrin Cycler”
The familiar paper title almost instantly pulled him back sixty years to that thrilling era, when he was still wondering if he’d be selected as a NASA astronaut.
(Aldrin’s handwritten signature)
“As the Apollo Program progresses, humanity is about to achieve the moon landing goal; the next stage’s challenge is crewed Mars exploration.
I believe there’s an urgent need now to propose a concept for a cyclical interplanetary transfer vehicle, aimed at achieving regular round trips between Earth and Mars through carefully designed trajectories and gravity assists, reducing propellant needs and mission costs.
This paper proposes a cycler concept, establishing a permanent Earth-Mars transportation system through periodic trajectories and gravity assists, akin to an extension of Earth orbit rendezvous technology to interplanetary scales.
The core of the cycler is a spacecraft operating on a heliocentric elliptical orbit, periodically rendezvousing with Earth and Mars. The spacecraft uses planetary gravity assists to adjust its trajectory, reducing propellant consumption. Smaller ‘taxi’ spacecraft transport astronauts and cargo from planetary surfaces to the cycler, lowering per-mission launch costs. The cycler’s advantages include:
“
The aged heart was reignited.
Because the handwriting was his own.
And it was from his time at NASA.
Back then, his heart was filled with ambition for space.
Believing the Apollo Program would surely succeed.
And that after the Apollo Program’s success, they would begin Mars exploration.
But sixty years passed, and humanity couldn’t even get back to the moon.
Aldrin continued reading.
It was all his 1960s ideas on the Aldrin Cycler.
Exactly matching his memory.
Including the handwriting; he was certain it was his own.
He went back to look at the letter.
This shocked him.
Because the line in the letter “Aldrin, do you want to know the meaning of life? Do you want to truly… live?” was in his own handwriting.
Aldrin racked his brains but couldn’t recall when he would have written such content.
Writing to himself, to make himself know the meaning of life, to truly live?
Aldrin thought he surely never wrote anything like that in the past.
But he was certain the handwriting was his.
“Has technology advanced so much now? Handwriting can be simulated this realistically?”
Aldrin went back into the villa, took it out and looked repeatedly, pondering when exactly he wrote this.
He quickly ruled out the handwriting being forged.
Because he was certain the content inside was his early ideas, from his 1960s time at NASA.
The Aldrin Cycler was publicly revealed in 1985 because by then he felt he couldn’t do it alone, so he collaborated with Purdue University, hoping to demonstrate the concept together.
But in reality, he’d started work on this much earlier.
The idea of establishing an Earth-Mars cycler spacecraft came before he joined NASA as an astronaut in 1962.
Aldrin was the first astronaut with a PhD, in orbital mechanics, so the astronauts teased him as Dr. Rendezvous.
The 1985 Aldrin Cycler.
Thirty-five years had passed now.
No one expected the Aldrin Cycler anymore.
Not even him.
Yet this letter reignited the flame in his heart.
At this point, Aldrin rummaged through old things in his second-floor study, finding paper far more aged than this paper draft.
He opened the page on orbital mechanics analysis for the Aldrin Cycler.
The formulas on both sides were identical.
However, the sent version had an extra passage:
“Communication with the professor was very productive; the optimization suggestions he provided were very helpful. I need to consider incorporating numerical integration methods, combined with more precise planetary position data to optimize the cycler trajectory.”
Professor?
After muttering, Aldrin reread the paper draft.
If the writer of this paper was past Aldrin, and he was present Aldrin.
Then in the paper draft, past Aldrin praised the professor to the skies; the professor seemed omnipotent.
It was constantly things like “need to consider the professor’s suggestion,” “the professor’s point here is so insightful,” “this has a small issue, need to discuss with the professor next time.”
The problem was, Aldrin knew many professors—Professor Stephen, Professor John, Professor Thomas, countless.
But present Aldrin had no memory of fawning over any professor like this in the 1960s.
And why was it just “professor,” without even a surname.
Aldrin couldn’t figure it out.
Could it be he never truly lived in the past?
Why was he so sure this was his writing?
Because the formulas and parameters in the academic paper manuscript in this letter matched exactly those in the draft sealed in his study.
The difference was that the paper in this letter was much newer, though both were old-style paper.
And then there was the omnipresent nameless professor.
“Where did this professor come from that I have zero impression?” Aldrin really couldn’t understand.
Lin Ran and Li Xiaoman, already on the flight back to the country, put aside Lin Ran’s bold claim of completing the moon landing in a year and a half due to remote teaching; from a risk perspective, Li Xiaoman chose to return to China with Lin Ran first to observe.
After all, if Lin Ran really pulled off the moon landing in China.
Then she would indeed be in danger in America.
Half a year of worldwide fame, Fields in hand—Li Xiaoman felt she completely couldn’t understand Lin Ran anymore.
She had no attachments in America anyway; were her uncle and aunt even relatives?
On the special plane arranged by China, Li Xiaoman asked: “Aran, will Aldrin really obediently hand over all his savings to you?”
Where’s the money coming from?
Lin Ran’s answer was from Aldrin.
As the second person to land on the moon, always raking in global gold.
Cameoing in all sorts of movies; Lin Ran would squeeze every penny from him.
It wouldn’t be in vain for occasionally guiding your Aldrin Cycler design, trajectory design, in the 60 spacetime.
Lin Ran thought.
That’s right.
The letters were all sent by Lin Ran.
The paper drafts were taken from 60 spacetime Aldrin’s hands.
As the NASA director whose word was law in 1965, the professor condescended to chat with Aldrin about his so-called cycler.
Aldrin back then felt like high mountains and flowing water meeting a kindred spirit, the dark horse finally meeting its patron.
As mentioned earlier, the astronauts teased him as Dr. Rendezvous, but it wasn’t actually a friendly nickname.
The astronauts didn’t treat him preferentially because he had a PhD.
Quite the opposite; because he had a PhD, everyone kept a faint distance, and Dr. Rendezvous carried sarcasm.
But because of Lin Ran’s attitude toward Aldrin, and Lin Ran occasionally discussing issues with Aldrin, the other astronauts only distanced themselves rather than excluding him.
I help you, you help me.
Back then I helped you; if you don’t help me now, don’t blame me for not helping you.
Lin Ran thought.
Li Xiaoman really didn’t know how Lin Ran suddenly became so confident.
A kind of inexplicable confidence.
After failing to get money from Bezos, Li Xiaoman feared he’d be discouraged.
So she didn’t mention it; they just attended remotely, which consumed favors.
Lin Ran quickly proposed Plan B, saying to get money from Aldrin.
Squeeze out all of Aldrin’s property.
Stocks, cash, villas, all of it—to contribute to their great moon landing cause.
Li Xiaoman thought, why?
Lin Ran explained: “I can read it; there’s a fire burning in Aldrin’s heart.
Since the 1969 moon landing, he’s been a walking corpse.
He’s alive simply just alive.
What I need to do is fully ignite that fire in his heart.”
“For simplification, assume Earth and Mars orbits are coplanar circular orbits, with semi-major axes of 1 AU and 1.524 AU, and periods of 1 year and 1.88 years.
The Earth-Mars synodic period is approximately 780 days. The cycler’s orbit should be elliptical, with perihelion near Earth’s orbit, aphelion near Mars’ orbit, and period proportional to the synodic period.
The cycler’s orbital period (T) must satisfy (k · T ≈ m · S), where (k) and (m) are integers, (S) is the synodic period.
By Kepler’s third law, semi-major axis (a) is determined by (T = 2π √(a³/μ)), where (μ) is the solar gravitational parameter. Eccentricity (e) must ensure perihelion and aphelion approach Earth and Mars orbital radii.
For example, if cycler period (T ≈ 1.5) years, then semi-major axis (a ≈ 1.31) AU, eccentricity (e) calculable from perihelion (1 AU) and aphelion (1.524 AU). However, actual trajectories must account for planetary motion, optimized via perturbation theory or numerical integration.”
“Novich’s work shows planetary flybys can alter spacecraft velocity, saving propellant. The cycler uses gravity assists near Earth or Mars to adjust orbit direction and speed, ensuring the next rendezvous.
Current computing power limits precise simulation of complex trajectories. After discussing with the professor, his suggestion was to use numerical integration methods in the future, combined with more precise planetary position data, to optimize the cycler trajectory.”
“The cycler, as a large spacecraft, needs life support systems and radiation protection. At each rendezvous, ‘taxi’ spacecraft transport astronauts and cargo to the cycler, similar to the command module and lunar module separation in Apollo missions. The cycler avoids frequent launches, reducing costs while supporting long-term Mars exploration.”
Starting in August, Aldrin continuously received manuscripts signed by Aldrin for a week.
These manuscripts were very rich.
Not just the Aldrin Cycler.
But also his orbital simulation calculations for the moon landing during the Apollo Moon Landing process.
Based on spliced conical method and numerical integration.
After all, only IBM 7090 was available then, so the methods used were quite crude.
Because they were past Aldrin’s manuscripts, not officially adopted by NASA, just his 1960s hobby—never declassified at all.
Some manuscripts weren’t even in his own study.
Additionally, during the moon landing, his role was lunar module pilot.
Past Aldrin was responsible for operating the lunar module’s guidance computer and optical alignment telescope.
He performed stellar observations to determine the spacecraft’s state vector, inputting this data into the guidance computer to update the trajectory.
In lunar orbit, astronauts used a sextant to measure angles between stars and the lunar horizon to calibrate the navigation system.
These measurements were crucial for trajectory calculations, performed by the computer.
This data was all in the computers at the time; they couldn’t take it out to avoid Soviet people getting it.
Yet these sent manuscripts had very complete data.
In the 1960s, it would have been impossible to bring back to the dorm.
This was also the strange part.
Of course, in the 60 spacetime Lin Ran changed, the Soviet people went up first, and America brought him back.
This data naturally didn’t need secrecy, and past Aldrin could take it back for calculations.
This was what puzzled present Aldrin.
Another point was the omnipresent professor.
He could feel that in these manuscripts, Aldrin treated the professor like a faith, like an omnipotent god.
As if any difficult problem, the professor could solve.
Aldrin had never heard of such a figure in the past.
Even von Braun had many failures.
Everyone at most respected him, not worshipped him like a god.
“Who exactly is it?”
If not for not being able to move around freely now.
This virus was very threatening to an old man like him.
Aldrin was determined to go to New York State where the letters came from to see who was behind this.
That’s right.
Aldrin’s judgment was that someone was playing tricks.
Someone got these materials from somewhere and used them to play tricks.
Otherwise, he couldn’t understand the logic behind it.
But the seventh day’s letter shattered his conjecture.
Because the seventh day wasn’t a paper draft, but the draft itself.
Aldrin looked for a long time before realizing this was his manual trajectory calculation draft.
This thing couldn’t possibly be preserved.
Because after landing, he saw this manuscript thrown into the trash and disposed of uniformly.
During Gemini 12 mission, Aldrin used a sextant and slide rule to handle radar failure—simply put, manual calculations when the guidance computer or abort guidance system failed.
Because it was in space, the manuscript was especially messy and of no value.
After returning to the ground, manuscripts and such were treated as trash and disposed of together.
In 2020 history, Gemini 12 was executed on November 11, 1966.
But in Lin Ran’s changed spacetime, it was advanced to 1964.
No letter on the 8th day.
Aldrin felt bored.
A whole week without letters.
He felt like he was going crazy.
Because these letters were like a fire, igniting his long-dead heart.
Just as Lin Ran guessed, during these seven days without letters, Aldrin himself felt like a walking corpse.
Until the 15th day, a week after the interruption, Aldrin opened the mailbox as usual and finally saw the familiar envelope again, but this time it was very thin; opening it revealed only a thin sheet:
