Chapter 297: The Shock Of The Second Moon Landing
The Qianfan Constellation is Starlink’s success. After incubating Apollo Technology, Shanghai seized the moon landing momentum to snatch the project from Yanjing’s hands.
After all, just the planning requires launching 14,000 satellites, bringing GDP, employment, industry cluster effects, tax revenue, etc. No city wants to let go of any of them.
Even if Yanjing also wants to develop Starlink themselves.
Because Russia is still stuck in the quagmire, fighting its former brothers hand-to-hand, covered in mud, looking as embarrassing as it can get, so embarrassing that they even had the idea to ask their little brother on the Peninsula for help.
If at that initial time point, someone said Russia would seek help from the Peninsula little brother, they wouldn’t be a prophet, they’d be a Soviet jokes master.
But reality’s development is even more bizarre than Soviet jokes.
One of the important reasons they’re fighting so hard is Starlink. Starlink makes it impossible for Russia to destroy the opponent’s communication capability, and communication capability ensures the opponent’s organization on the battlefield doesn’t fall behind.
China has always been clear about developing low-altitude satellite internet like Starlink. In other words, whatever strategic direction America invests in, China will follow, ensuring that once there’s a breakthrough achievement in that direction, they can chase it immediately.
China’s past technological development model has been extremely efficient.
Due to the war, China’s version of Starlink, that is, the Qianfan Constellation, has suddenly accelerated. War started in February, Yuanxin Satellite Technology was established in March with 1 billion RMB initial funding received, and in April they approached Huawei and Apollo Technology to discuss cooperation, confirming the three-party alliance model.
After all, the importance of low-altitude satellite internet has suddenly upgraded from past private tech communication technology to an indispensable part of modern military technology.
By mid-July, the first batch of satellites was launched, completing the initial networking. Huawei’s Mate 50 this year has also reserved the satellite internet module in advance.
Once Yuanxin Satellite Technology completes the networking, Huawei will synchronously push the service to some users.
Therefore, when this surprise was revealed, the audience below erupted in exceptionally enthusiastic applause.
“Because currently no competitor’s phone has this function, we couldn’t compare it with competitors, which made me a bit troubled before the press conference about how to introduce it.
The only reference now is SpaceX, but Starlink isn’t a mobile phone manufacturer.
I can only briefly introduce it to everyone. You should all know that to use Starlink, you need to buy or rent a Starlink terminal first, then connect your phone to the terminal, and the terminal connects to Starlink satellites.
Starlink has small terminals, which means you have to carry the terminal wherever you go, which is very inconvenient.
While our Mate 50’s satellite internet function is embedded directly in the phone.
The biggest technological breakthrough is in antenna technology. We pioneered hidden satellite antenna technology, allowing the phone to connect to Qianfan Constellation satellites about 500 km from Earth without obvious satellite antennas!
This is the world’s first, also number one in the world, far ahead!”
Let me add here why Huawei’s R&D speed is so fast.
Because next year’s Mate 60 series will launch satellite telephone function, no antenna but able to make satellite calls.
Among them, Starlink-like low-altitude internet satellites are at about 400 km altitude, which is low Earth orbit, while satellite telephone function connects to Tiantong No. 1 satellites at 38,000 km, about 100 times the low-altitude satellite height.
Thanks to Huawei’s continuous R&D on hidden antenna technology, they could immediately bring out the corresponding technology this time and launch a flagship phone with built-in satellite terminal internet function.
Benefiting from the latest satellite internet function, the previous frustration from using Qualcomm chips was swept away, and the audience erupted in the most enthusiastic cheers and applause since the press conference started.
Bullet screens in various live streams were uniformly “far ahead.”
Combined with Apollo Technology’s another successful moon landing, this year’s Mate 50, despite using Qualcomm chips, secured the highest pre-sale orders.
Especially the moon landing commemorative edition, which requires going to Huawei’s official website on time to grab stock.
Fox News studio, this is almost the Elephant Party’s last fortress in the media field.
Maybe after today, it’s no longer the only one, because today here, a heavyweight guest is about to accept an exclusive interview with Fox television station.
The studio background is a huge Stars and Stripes and the Fox News logo, creating a solemn and patriotic atmosphere.
In the center of the studio, Tucker Carlson wears his signature smile, with sharp eyes for political topics.
This time, the person he’s interviewing isn’t one of those easy-to-handle politicians who only speak official jargon from the past.
Because this time he’s interviewing Elon Musk.
At this extremely sensitive time point, China has just completed the moon landing, America’s midterm elections are approaching, and Musk accepting a Fox exclusive interview is symbolic in itself.
This symbolizes that this South African immigrant will officially switch camps after today’s program airs.
Despite previous accusations about the LGBT group, which already seemed landmark to outsiders.
But Twitter and accepting an exclusive interview are not the same.
In Carlson’s view, the Elephant Party will gain another general.
The world’s number one tycoon’s vitality lasts much longer than politicians, not to mention he’s a tycoon holding Twitter.
Elon Musk sits opposite him, wearing a black T-shirt printed with the SpaceX logo, paired with jeans and sneakers, in stark contrast to the formal studio environment.
His posture is relaxed, head raised as if lost in thought, conveying confidence and impatience directly to the audience in front of the television.
Carlson leans slightly forward, smiling and saying: “Good evening, welcome to ‘Tucker Carlson Tonight.’
Tonight’s guest is Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, one of the most influential figures in today’s technology and business fields.
Elon, thank you for joining our program.
Musk nods: “Thanks for the invitation, Tucker. I’m glad to come to Fox for the exclusive interview. Fox is one of the few media not fabricating facts right now. I’m relieved to see Fox still holding such persistence under the Donkey Party-led White House!”
Is Musk telling the truth? Obviously not. On fabricating facts, Fox and CNN are in the same boat, just differing in which side their butt sits on.
But Musk needs the audience to believe it, especially the high-education crowd he can influence.
Carlson’s tone turns serious: “Elon, we can all see that in the recent two years, China’s aerospace progress has been lightning fast. In the past, we could accuse them of using Apollo aerospace technology to replicate our 1960s moon landing.
But today, on the day China steps on moon soil again, they went to the Lunar South Pole, an area no one has ever reached before, not even unmanned probes.
Using technical proposals never seen even in past science fiction novels, bold and crazy, but they succeeded.
The 1959 Sputnik Moment reappears, but this time China’s lead seems even more exaggerated than the Soviet Union’s Sputnik Moment.
After all, the Soviet Union didn’t have China’s massive manufacturing industry.
So Elon, after watching China’s moon landing, what are your thoughts? As the undisputed leader in the field of space, as America’s representative in tech aerospace, what do you think about why China Aerospace has developed so rapidly in these two years?”
Musk naturally won’t offend China; his competitors aren’t China. On the contrary, his biggest wealth source, Tesla, was revived relying on Shanghai Gigafactory and China market.
He knows too well the purpose of this interview, focusing firepower on the White House, with ready targets right there:
“China’s achievements are extremely, extremely, extremely impressive. I want to congratulate them here, congratulate them on stepping on the moon’s soil again and finding water in the Shackleton Crater, taking a big step for humanity’s long-term existence on the Moon.
This is built on China’s overall long-term investment in aerospace, on China’s strong manufacturing industry base, on their continuously emerging scientist groups. This is the achievement they deserve.”
Carlson keenly notices something: “You don’t think it’s Randolph Lin’s merit?”
Musk shakes his head: “Although I have friends in Yanjing who told me it’s Randolph’s merit, that Randolph single-handedly created the Apollo miracle, I don’t believe it. That’s not something a person can do. Randolph is too young. Maybe he’s a top mathematician, but in the aerospace field, at his age, he’s at most just starting out. I founded SpaceX after many failures to get Falcon 9.”
Carlson gestures for Musk to continue.
Musk continues: “After watching it, I only feel we’ve missed too much, too much time. NASA wasted Congress’s budget. That’s not the scariest part. The scariest is they let America’s manufacturing workers, the most elite batch, just slip away.
No inheritance, no workers, nothing left, so China can replicate Saturn V, but we ourselves can’t, making such a huge joke.
If they had saved even a little of the wasted funds to maintain the worker groups, our current situation would be much better.
NASA is too greedy, establishment officials are too greedy. Our time is running out. We’re already behind, but the good news is not by much.
The bad news is, we may not have China’s luck.”
Carlson asks: “Luck? You mean?”
Musk says: “China directly found water in the Shackleton Crater. We may not find water directly in other craters at the Lunar South Pole.
This requires luck. If not found the first time, in bad luck, it might take many years, maybe five or ten, to find a watery place to serve as our Moon Base.
The most infuriating part is that the Shackleton Crater was clearly found by us first.”
Musk is skilled in interview techniques. On achievements like discovering Shackleton, he absolutely says “us” instead of NASA.
When talking about wasting funds, it’s absolutely NASA, not “us.”
“So actually, we seem two years behind now, but we might actually be over a decade behind?”
“Yes.” Musk nods.
“Then Elon, I want to ask, didn’t you always believe we should go straight to Mars, not waste time on the Moon?” Carlson asks.
Musk explains: “If no one has a base on the Moon, we should go straight to Mars. But now someone is building a base on the Moon, it’s like needing military bases to protect your routes.
By the same logic, we need a base on the Moon to protect our future routes from Earth to Mars.”
Musk throughout adheres to one viewpoint: I’m not wrong. He can always find suitable reasons to explain inconsistencies in his previous views and opinions.
“Okay, Elon, we can see you’ve had words for the Donkey Party-led White House recently. But from the 1970s to now, NASA has gone through countless Donkey and Elephant rotations. Can you tell us specifically what makes you dissatisfied?”
Musk frowns: “Well, of course my interests are damaged here, but it’s absolutely not just my personal interests.
First is the electric vehicle industry. The White House seems to strongly support traditional car manufacturers like General and Ford, completely ignoring Tesla.
We’re the leader in electric vehicles, producing hundreds of thousands of electric cars every year at the Fremont factory, but the President has never visited our factory once.
He test-drove Ford’s electric truck but said nothing about Tesla. That’s too ridiculous.
But this is purely political. Tesla has no union, and the White House strongly supports unions. They want to support unionized companies, even if those companies are far behind in electric vehicle tech. This isn’t for the environment or innovation; it’s purely political.
In the electric vehicle industry, we’re wasting opportunities. Tesla drove the entire electric vehicle industry’s development, but the government is holding us back.
If we want to stay leading in global competition, we need to support true innovators, not be led by the nose by political interests.
Second is bureaucracy. The bureaucracy in NASA and the White House is a stumbling block to innovation.
This has always existed. SpaceX’s goal is to send humanity to Mars, but every rocket launch faces countless permits and approvals.
The Federal Aviation Administration’s requirements are designed for traditional launches a few times a year, not suitable for companies like us.
This not only slows SpaceX’s progress but hinders the entire aerospace industry’s development.
While our competitors in China, Apollo Technology, after showing sufficient talent, obtained nearly unlimited launch permits from China.
Our advantage only exists in reusable rockets. After all, Falcon 9’s payload capacity is far stronger than Burning No. 1, but our launch opportunities are not even one-third of Apollo Technology’s.
After the White House switched to Donkey Party, they not only didn’t simplify processes but added more obstacles.
China’s aerospace projects progress at god speed, with their government fully supporting, while we’re wasting time on a piece of paper. This isn’t how to lead the world!
Besides, the worst is inflation. We’ve reached the highest point in 40 years, with many American ordinary people struggling.
Their policies are completely wrong, massive spending bills are pushing up inflation.
They have no plan to control the deficit or solve supply chain problems.
This is catastrophic for ordinary Americans. We need fiscal discipline and wise economic policies, not more debt.
Midterm elections are coming soon. Voters should choose leaders who support innovation, reduce unnecessary regulation, and can effectively manage the economy.
We need a direction to make America lead again, not continue these wrong policies!”
Musk vented his dissatisfaction in one breath without pause.
Carlson smiles and follows up: “Are you saying you support Elephant Party candidates?”
Musk: “No, I remain neutral. I haven’t explicitly supported any side. I just hope to see leaders who can bring positive change. Voters need to judge who can do that themselves.
Throughout, Musk didn’t explicitly say he supports the Elephant Party, but the implication between the lines is just that.
After Musk’s interview airs, it sparks widespread discussion among voters, especially in tech and economic fields.
The Elephant Party uses it for promotion, emphasizing the Donkey Party’s failures in the past two years, especially in the aerospace field, a failure among failures.
Donkey Party supporters counter, pointing out the White House’s efforts in climate change and infrastructure.
Musk pretends neutrality on the surface to make his criticism more persuasive, better convincing the middle class.
This group has always been a key vote bank source for the Donkey Party.
Musk’s defection makes the situation unfavorable. Polls across America show decline, with the golden cross already appearing.
Apollo Technology’s remote attack on the White House’s magical performance continues.
At this time, Valentin also appears unnoticed in Shanghai, at Apollo Technology’s headquarters. This trip is extremely secretive.
“Professor, we’re honored to reach cooperation with your company. Your quotation is unconditionally accepted by the Moscow side. In the future, Shanghai’s Far East Aerospace Technology Co., Ltd. will handle subsequent specific business docking.” Valentin says, travel-worn.
Lin Ran doesn’t feel surprised at all. Russia should pay tuition. He says: “Let’s celebrate our cooperation. At the same time, I want to get something from you.”
