Chapter 359: Sorry, One Step Ahead Again
At this time, it was summer, and there were people on the Moon.
Wei Xuhang and Qian Fei, as the astronauts for this Moon landing, were already on the Moon.
This time, they planned to stay on the Moon for a full ten days.
This was also his first Moon landing after Qian Fei’s recovery from illness.
After stepping on the Moon soil, all the past hardships and dangers were insignificant.
Today, my wild thoughts are boundless; the filth of the past is not worth boasting about.
This time their mission was heavy because they needed to build the Moon supercomputer. On one hand, they needed to complete preliminary site selection at Shackleton.
This site selection would first build a laboratory for early experiments, and after the experiments went smoothly, it would be expanded into a real computing center.
Secondly, it was testing Moon-Earth communication. As mentioned earlier, China Aerospace had long launched the Queqiao relay communication satellite to ensure that spacecraft could still maintain communication with Earth’s control center when crossing the far side of the Moon.
This time, they needed to test the communication effect, data transmission quality, etc., of the Queqiao relay communication satellite communication network. After the tests, they would formulate the next plan.
China Aerospace planned to build a more complete communication network to ensure Moon-Earth communication quality, rather than relying on a single satellite.
Finally, it was to explore Degelach Crater.
The Americans had just targeted Degelach Crater, and right after, Chinese people were going to explore it.
Because if you want to build a superconducting computing center, your Moon rocket launch tower definitely couldn’t be placed in the same location.
The vibrations from the rocket launch itself might affect the superconducting computing.
This was possible.
Superconducting chips haven’t been made yet, and no one knows their robustness exactly, whether they would be affected by vibrations.
But they needed to plan ahead and be sufficiently cautious.
Two craters only 30 kilometers apart in straight-line distance—since bases had to be built anyway, it was good to occupy both places.
Occupying one is occupying, occupying two is also occupying anyway.
So simply put, this time they were pressed for time and burdened with heavy tasks.
“Laxative, people on the Moon, just got off the spaceship. This time the mission on the Moon is heavy, so I’ll just briefly chat about my views on America’s trillion US dollars.
I just want to say, bring it on, okay? Our Moon base has already taken initial shape. When will the Americans send an astronaut up here to keep us company, okay?
You two, us two, we can even make up a table of mahjong.
Wei Xuhang replying from the Moon”
Wei Xuhang called Qian Fei over, and after taking a group photo together, along with the text from the earlier voice input, it was transmitted back to Earth via the communication network. Earth staff helped him reply under that question with the Apollo Technology official account.
The report from the front line on the Moon instantly received the highest number of likes, breaking 50,000 likes in just one day.
“Holy crap, having strength means having confidence. Bring it on—said so coolly.”
“Real-name envy, I also want to go to the Moon. To work on the Moon, I’d be willing even with an annual salary of a million.”
“Taking everything, huh?”
“No one envious of Wei Xuhang? Back then, during the first Moon landing, he wasn’t a lunar astronaut, so he escaped that ordeal. Later, with the first batch of Ran Shen and Buzz Aldrin impossible to go to the Moon again, he steadily sat in the prime seat for Moon landings. In just over a year, he has become the Earthling with the most Moon landings—this isn’t top-level power fantasy?”
“+1, Ran Shen’s story isn’t power fantasy. Paying effort and then reaping rewards—what kind of power fantasy is that? Gaining without labor falling from the sky is the real power fantasy, okay?”
“What mission are they carrying out on the Moon this time? Does anyone know?”
“It’s the computing center site selection, right? Didn’t Apollo Technology’s official website say it? This time they need to collect as much detailed information as possible for Earth analysis, including moonquake data, lunar wind conditions, moon soil conditions, etc. The more detailed, the better.”
“Honestly, I think the astronaut saying this is fine. After all, they are the ones doing the work. Confidence is a good thing, but Ran Shen must not relax vigilance. You can despise the opponent tactically, but strategically, you must take the opponent seriously. After all, we’re not competing with America—this is competing with the entire European and American camp.”
“It’s precisely because we’re competing with the entire European and American camp that we don’t need to be afraid, okay? They’re infighting themselves, so many countries, so many suppliers, NASA still has to subcontract layer by layer, not doing the work themselves—how could they integrate into a fist?
Actually, I think Musk’s Twitter post makes a lot of sense. Rather than giving this one trillion US dollars to NASA to be responsible for allocation, it’s better to give the entire one trillion to SpaceX, managed by Musk himself—efficiency would be much higher.”
The above are comments under Wei Xuhang’s reply. Chinese netizens are prominently relaxed and confident. In this competition, China has already gained the upper hand.
America, let alone landing at the lunar south pole—they haven’t even achieved a Moon landing, okay?
Chinese netizens are still very optimistic.
Some are optimistic, some are pessimistic.
Musk is that pessimistic person.
He has already publicly stated support for the Elephant Party, support for Big T, and on Twitter, he’s cheering for Big T in advance, variously attacking the Donkey Party.
And precisely because of this, he didn’t even have the qualification to be involved in the White House’s small meeting.
When seeing the trillion US dollar space development fund in place, Musk’s reaction could be described in four words: his vision went black.
On the day the plan came out, he arranged to appear on a podcast program.
“Hello everyone, welcome to Everyday Astronaut. I’m host Tim Dodd. Since China announced the Moon superconducting computing center plan, our country quickly responded, announcing a Moon development plan up to one trillion US dollars, considered a response to China.
I’m very pleased to tell everyone that today we have invited a big figure in the aerospace field, also our old friend, SpaceX founder Musk, to chat about the recent spate of news in the aerospace field.”
Everyday Astronaut is a YouTube channel focused on space exploration, famous for explaining rocket science and space technology.
Musk had frequently appeared on Tim Dodd’s podcast program before.
Not only Tim Dodd, including Lex Fridman Podcast, Munro Live, Joe Rogan Experience, and so on.
Unlike Chinese entrepreneurs who like to shoot Douyin to promote themselves, American entrepreneurs like to record podcasts.
This is related to the environment of the two countries. America is known as the country on wheels, where everyone has a car, whether it’s a good car or a beat-up second-hand commuter car, anyway, they have one, so they are used to listening to podcasts while driving.
Listening to podcasts has become mainstream.
Cars are not as widespread in China, long videos and short videos are the mainstream.
So commuting methods also affect internet models.
“Hello everyone, Tim, long time no see. Being able to come chat about moon landing, space, and recent news with the audience friends of Everyday Astronaut and the channel is also a very happy thing for me.
I have always believed that the audience friends of Everyday Astronaut have very high scientific literacy and rational thinking ability.” Don’t say Musk doesn’t know how to flatter, he gets it too, although not as naturally as Old Huang, he knows to wear a suit when he should.
“Elon, first question, what do you think of China’s Lunar Superconductivity Plan?” Tim asked.
Musk answered without thinking: “It’s a very imaginative plan. They are doing this to bypass the disadvantages in semiconductors, hoping to use aerospace technology to open a new path.
Randolph’s vision in this regard is very creative, and from first principles, the feasibility is also very high.
At least based on what he has already accomplished in the past, the only factor limiting his success is actually China’s semiconductor industry’s R&D capability, whether they can really develop chips based on low-temperature superconducting materials.
This is the most difficult part.”
Tim asked curiously: “Aren’t the others difficult? I’ve seen some science popularization channels talk about many technical difficulties, like heat dissipation, energy, moonquake, moon dust.”
Musk interrupted: “Those are all solvable.
In the face of reusable rockets and China’s ultra-low-cost manufacturing, solving these problems is not difficult.
Note that what China can do is routine round trips between the Moon and Earth, which is extremely important, this is the fundamental reason they can do this.
If once doesn’t work, twice; if twice doesn’t work, three times. Basically every month there is a so-called moon landing window, and they can go to the Moon using that moon landing window.
Moreover, the more moon landings, the more perfect their infrastructure on the Moon becomes, and the easier it is for them to go to the Moon.
This is a snowball rolling process. Problems like heat dissipation, energy, moonquake, moon dust can all be solved through frequent experiments, iterations, and optimizations on the Moon.
So our only advantage is actually the chip industry advantage.
In the chip industry, we have an absolute advantage, the most advanced industrial chain. Compared to China, we have abundant industrial workers, scientists, and production capacity.
Of course, the ‘we’ I’m talking about includes allies like Japan and Korea.
If we also want to build a superconducting computing center on the Moon, this is our advantage.
But the White House’s plan doesn’t mention doing this, they only said to develop the Moon.
If it’s just Moon development, just building a Moon Base to compete with China, I think we don’t need to go to the Moon at all, but go straight to Mars, directly develop Mars.
This is the more realistic path.”
This is consistent with Musk’s long-standing argument: the Moon is not important, Mars is key.
“Why? In the past when you came to our program, we always talked about Falcon 9, the latest progress on Starship, what role Starlink played on the war frontlines. We seem to have never talked about going to Mars.
Because in the past, I felt this topic was still far away from us.
Now, when the White House really shells out a trillion US dollars, I feel like a trillion US dollars to go to Mars seems sufficient too.
I believe many audience members feel the same as I do.
So I want to ask here, why, why do you think that?”
“Because of first principles, starting from first principles, we can break down the problem into the most basic facts, then rebuild logical reasoning based on these facts.
No need to rely on analogies or traditional assumptions, derive conclusions starting from atomic-level facts.
Going directly to Mars is more reliable, more cost-effective, and more reasonable than first modifying the Moon as a springboard. The Moon is a distraction because it scatters resources without significantly reducing overall difficulty or cost.
First point, if we first go to the Moon to establish a base as a transit, we need to transport a large mass from Earth to the Moon, including fuel production equipment, habitats, etc., which increases the total kinetic energy demand required for acceleration.
Mars’ thin atmosphere allows deceleration during orbit insertion, while Moon surface landing and takeoff both require pure rocket propulsion.
Additionally, the Moon base introduces extra complexity, including highly corrosive moon dust and a no-atmosphere environment fully exposed to radiation.
According to our calculations, going directly to Mars saves 20 to 30 percent in propellant demand compared to going via the Moon.
Another more important reason is that the elements of the planet determine the potential for fuel and life support systems.
Simply put, Mars has an atmosphere, 95% of which is carbon dioxide, and water ice is widely present underground.
The Moon’s water ice has to be found in the shadow layers at the Lunar South Pole, while on Mars water is everywhere.
Methane and oxygen can be produced in situ as rocket fuel directly through the Sabatier reaction and electrolysis.
Mars soil contains iron and silicon, which can be used for 3D printing; the thin atmosphere can provide radiation protection; greenhouse effect experiments can be done.
In every aspect, Mars is almost perfect, naturally a new mainland left by the universe for human society.
Every time I look at Mars, I feel the solar system was carefully designed, the environment most suitable for human development.
Earth is perfect without flaws; we developed brilliant civilization on Earth. Mars is just a bit harsher than Earth, and that harshness is just right.
Randolph says the Moon is our springboard to the universe, my viewpoint differs from his; I think Mars is our springboard to the universe.
Once we have fully developed Earth, we can go to Mars, develop and modify Mars; once Mars’ resources are utilized, turn our sights to the entire solar system, even the galaxy.
This is the reasonable development trend.
Now the White House is promoting some moon development plan that will cost a trillion US dollars; this is a completely wrong plan.
We should not be pulled into China’s rhythm.
They need to rely on lunar ultra-low temperature to achieve technological breakthroughs in the semiconductor field; do we need that?
We don’t need it; we already have an advantage in the semiconductor field.
This has no significance for us; we have the world’s strongest computing power.
Even if we build a Moon Base on the Moon, for us it would just be another cosmic spectacle, similar to the Apollo Moon Landing, and it would not impact reality.
After Musk finished speaking, Tim asked: “So you think Randolph’s viewpoint is wrong?”
Before, Musk would have unhesitatingly unleashed a torrent of criticism: What character are you? I’m definitely right.
Now, however, his tone is much softer, both because of Lin Ran’s achievements and because of Lin Ran’s close cooperation with Yanjing authorities, which has made Musk more cautious:
“The proposals we each put forward are the most suitable for our own countries.
Randolph’s proposal is just right for China; they previously lacked moon landing experience and had never achieved a moon landing. This time, under Randolph’s leadership, they accomplished manned moon landing, South Pole landing, water ice search, and routine round trips in one go.
This means they already possess the ability to develop moon resources.
Although such development is one where cost exceeds revenue, they have at least achieved a perfect start.
They can build on this perfect start to pursue some innovations based on the lunar environment, like the lunar superconductivity plan they have now announced.
This plan has strong practical significance for China and already has a good foundation.
We are different; our innate environment is different from China’s, so it is inherently unreasonable for us to compete with China for dominance on the Moon.
What we should do is spend this trillion US dollars on technology research for going to Mars and on Mars development; that is what we should be doing.”
Tim asked: “Elon, there is a view that in the process of China’s advancement in lunar superconductivity, the derivative research products will be raw materials for the next generation of semiconductors, so we cannot fall behind in this competition. We should also have a base on the Moon and conduct lunar superconductivity research. What do you think of this view?”
Musk said: “First, this is only a possibility. Whether superconducting materials that can be applied on the Moon will continue to exhibit superconductivity under Earth’s temperature and pressure, and whether they have practicality, are all unknowns.
Do we need to spend a trillion US dollars for this unknown?
Secondly, even if it is true, why can’t we cooperate with China?
My consistent viewpoint has always been that we can actually cooperate with China.
There is no fundamental conflict between us; there are many areas where we can cooperate.
America handles technological innovation, China handles production and manufacturing, just like our past cooperation model.
If we really want to make America great again, it is actually the Mars colonization plan that can leverage investment, employment, and resources.
If China achieves a breakthrough in semiconductor technology, while America completes Mars development first, think about it: in this exchange, who profits more?
We will own an entire new planet; we will seize this planet first—an entire planet. This is not something that mere semiconductor technology can compare to.
In my view, developing Mars will bring breakthroughs faster than China’s semiconductor technology breakthrough, with higher determinism.”
Musk did not pass the floor to host Tim but continued:
“I think the White House is now on the wrong path, and we are going further and further down this wrong path.
We have been pulled by China into a battlefield that they are good at defining.
This trillion US dollars, if spent on Mars, would bring far greater effects and value than spending it on the Moon.
I am truly heartbroken to see this: wasting massive resources on the wrong thing—this is a major waste, a strategic mistake.
By the time the White House and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration realize that going to the Moon has no significance and want to turn back to adopt my proposal, will debt-ridden America really still have the fiscal space to maneuver and come up with another trillion US dollars?”
Musk’s tone was indignant, and his expression was very unpleasant.
It was like the wailing of a defeated dog.
Simply put, a trillion US dollars—Commissioner Smith and others are all prepared; how could they possibly stop just because of your one sentence?
He got everything wrong.
As for soaring debt, just borrow more, right? Not to mention one trillion; pulling out ten trillion is not impossible.
When Big T takes office, he will see the wildest extortion: global touring extortion, routinely billions of US dollars in extortion. No money? Doesn’t exist.
Compared to Big T’s demands, Sharvin has much more face.
“Suitability Evaluation of Degelach Crater as a Candidate Site for Moon Base
Report Number: AER-ART-2023-018
Submitting Unit: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
Compiling Unit: Aerospace company, Moon Exploration System Department
Authors: Dr. Jonathan Smith (Chief Analyst), Dr. Marcus Hale (Geology Expert), Dr. Elena Vasquez (Engineering Supervisor)
Date: August 1, 2023
Classification: Non-classified—For Official Use Only
Abstract
The aerospace company conducted a comprehensive engineering and science suitability evaluation of Degelach Crater (center coordinate approximately 88.5°S, 87°W, diameter about 32 km) as a potential location for establishing a Moon Base under NASA’s Artemis plan.
This analysis is based on data from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, including the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter terrain model, Diviner Lunar Radiometer Experiment temperature distribution, and Mini-RF radar imaging.
Key discoveries indicate that Degelach Crater is highly suitable because it is close to Permanently Shadowed Regions that potentially contain volatile resources, the crater rim has nearly constant illumination for solar power generation, and the terrain is relatively suitable for extravehicular activity and in-situ resource utilization.
However, challenges include extreme temperature gradients (from -230°C in PSRs to +120°C at the crater rim) and moderate slope risks (average 10-15°).
Compared to the adjacent Shackleton Crater, Degelach.
Jonathan looked at the report in his hand; the content was too familiar—it was the report he had done in 2000. Compared to the one from 2000, this report had only the numbers changed.
Improved probe precision led to some data needing correction, but the core content had not changed.
It was just such a report, yet NASA had spent over 300 million US Dollars on it.
Of course, there was another report about Shackleton Crater, which also came from his hand, costing 80 million US Dollars; in the end, NASA didn’t use it, but the Chinese people did.
After he finished reading the report and was preparing to submit it to NASA as a phase achievement, Elena rushed hurriedly into his office:
“Dr. Smith, big trouble! The Chinese Moon landing this month landed in Degelach Crater.”
