Chapter 360: This Is A Good Thing
“This is a good thing.”
Little Robert’s reaction upon hearing this was just as Jonathan guessed; the other party had long lost his ideals and beliefs, let alone loyalty to the Federation, with his mind full of how to make money.
Regarding China’s moon landing and the restart of the moon race, Jonathan’s idea was that what he had learned before could finally be put to use, and he wanted to contribute to the Federation, hoping that this time the Federation could achieve final victory like in the previous space race with the Soviet Union.
For this goal, as one of Commissioner Smiths—he even shared the surname Smith—he was willing to make a little less money, or even none at all, as long as they could win in the end.
Little Robert was completely different; whether the Federation wins or loses is none of my business. As long as I get the money, even if the Federation loses, I win.
“This means we have a legitimate reason to request additional budget from NASA again.
As for the Degelach Crater being occupied by Chinese people, that’s something the big shots in the White House should worry about, not us.” Little Robert added.
Little Robert had a smile on his face, inwardly calculating whether to quote eighty million or one hundred million this time, or even more ruthlessly, three hundred million at once.
Anyway, they are IAA, not public bidding procurement, so no need to announce it externally.
Even Washington’s congressmen don’t have the energy to look at audit reports that are often hundreds of pages long and densely packed with English.
In the end, whether there’s a problem or not is determined by a sentence or two in the conclusion of the accounting firm’s audit report, right?
This is also why Musk introducing AI to audit the Federation’s budget bill made Washington’s employees extremely disgusted; everyone just wants to muddle through, why bring in AI?
“Jonathan, here’s the thing: this time our report needs to exclude as much as possible the potential risks of China’s Moon Base expansion, and find a Lunar South Pole crater far enough from China as our landing site.
Of course, this workload is huge, involving collection of lunar geography, thorough screening of the Lunar South Pole, precise prediction of China’s future moves—this is quite a difficult task.
Asking NASA for another 200 million US dollars isn’t too much, right?
This quotation should be very reasonable; even I think it’s a bit low. I’ll go consult Director Melroy tonight and see if she has better suggestions.
Anyway, you can start working on it, and you personally will get a handsome reward.”
(Chapter 277 correction: due to Lin Ran, the NASA director in this spacetime is Director Melroy, not Nelson from the original worldline.)
Jonathan nodded silently, saying no more; in his heart, he seemed to hear a crisp crack from distant deep space.
A huge iceberg floated on the sea, a pickaxe struck it once, a piece of ice cracked and slowly fell into the sea.
A trillion US dollars is an astronomical figure, a huge iceberg, but this one strike knocked off 280 million US dollars, or even more—that’s just 0.028%, a tiny number.
But Jonathan knew that he was just an insignificant little character in the entire chain, yet he could see so much budget being consumed like this.
He was confident that if this consulting task were given to any university, whether MIT or Stanford, it would cost at most ten million US dollars, and they could do it until satisfied.
If given to China Aerospace, it wouldn’t even need ten million US dollars; the unit could be changed from US dollars to RMB.
At this rate of consumption, how long could a trillion US dollars last?
America and China are far too apart in efficiency. Even if artificial intelligence really evolves to AGI, could AGI really make up for this efficiency gap?
Jonathan didn’t know the answer to this question; he didn’t even dare to think too much about it.
With heavy worries, he left Little Robert’s office, not knowing where the Empire’s future would go.
The reason America only learned in August that China had explored the Degelach Crater was that Apollo Technology’s exploration this time was not promoted via live broadcast.
Instead, after the astronauts returned to Earth, Bilibili and Tencent Video edited the video footage and released a documentary titled “Lunar Dawn: Apollo Technology’s South Pole Journey.”
Just like the past Apollo moon landing, with moon landings becoming routine, fewer and fewer members of the public were interested in the moon landing itself; only hardcore aerospace enthusiasts would still follow live broadcasts.
You go to the Moon once a month; everyone’s novelty has long worn off.
Unless something like Apollo 13 happens, an accident during launch where an oxygen tank explodes, followed by emergency rescue.
That would attract global attention.
Every time you go smoothly and return smoothly, and it’s always the same old faces going to the Moon; the novelty has long worn off.
Except for public opinion discussing why all the astronauts going to the Moon are male, with no female astronauts.
This topic stirred up by the BBC fermented briefly on the Chinese Internet, then was silenced with maximum force by Weibo officials and faded away.
So this time, Bilibili’s official documentary team thought, since they had shot a lot of footage back then, they could make this moon landing from Qian Fei’s perspective.
From first accepting training, selected from a civil aviation captain into Apollo Technology’s astronaut sequence, then standing out to become one of the first lunar astronauts, experiencing an accident and illness losing the opportunity, and now returning to step onto the South Pole.
They felt this had plenty of story.
Apollo Technology’s executive in charge of marketing and promotion also thought this was a great idea and approved it.
The documentary is called “A Lone Journey”
It opens with deep background music, the lens starting from an airplane view in Earth’s stratosphere, passing through the troposphere, and finally landing on Earth.
“My name is Qian Fei, and I am a civil aviation captain.”
The entire documentary is an absolute big production, with a lot of effort spent; many lenses are clearly expensive to shoot.
Total of 6 episodes, with the moon landing only in the final episode.
Episode 6 echoes the opening of Episode 1: last time from Earth’s troposphere to landing, this time from the troposphere through pitch-black space, finally landing at the silvery-gray Lunar South Pole.
“In Apollo Technology’s 5th moon landing mission, I finally reached the Moon I’ve longed for. Although I lost the title of the first Chinese person to land on the Moon, I ultimately did it. The virus didn’t defeat me; it only delayed my steps.
The professor once privately told us that if you add enough qualifiers, everyone can be first.
Now I am the first person from my village to set foot on the Moon; that’s also first.
Many times, fate has its arrangements; being late isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
This time, I will explore the Degelach Crater together with my teammates.”
“In the past, my teammates have fully explored the Shackleton Crater, a permanently shadowed giant bowl 21 kilometers in diameter and 4.2 kilometers deep. We want to turn this into a Moon outpost.
After the successful landing and preliminary survey in the first four missions, this time, we are not just visitors; we are builders.
We need to lay the cornerstone of the communication network and advance toward the neighboring Degelach Crater.”
The entire documentary fully records the features of the Degelach Crater; after watching it, Jonathan lamented inwardly.
Such flat terrain, such perfect topography, and now you’re telling me it’s occupied by Chinese people again.
This is intolerable!
The White House’s reaction was similar.
White House press spokesperson, a black woman with short curly brown hair, Karine Jean-Pierre, said to the many reporters below in the White House press room:
“Dear reporter friends, good day.
Thank you all for attending today’s press conference.
Before we begin, I’d like to briefly respond to recent international developments regarding lunar activities.
As everyone knows, after successfully landing at the Lunar South Pole in recent years, China quickly launched a base construction project.
This is an important scientific and technological achievement, and we recognize the benefits of space exploration for all humanity.
However, the White House is deeply concerned about any behavior that may lead to disorderly expansion in outer space.
We firmly believe that space should be a common heritage for all humanity, not territory for any single country.
The 1967 Outer Space Treaty clearly stipulates that outer space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies, should be used only for peaceful purposes, and prohibits any country from claiming sovereignty through occupation or other means.
We call on all spacefaring powers, including China, to strictly abide by these international norms, ensuring that any activities are transparent, sustainable, and avoid disrupting the balance of the lunar environment.
The White House has always been committed to promoting international cooperation in space applications.
We cooperate with multiple partner countries through the Artemis Accords to advance responsible lunar exploration.
This includes sharing data, coordinating resource utilization, and preventing potential conflicts.
If certain activities are seen as unilateral expansion or not in line with multilateral frameworks, we will closely coordinate with allies and international organizations to maintain stability in global space governance.
We encourage China to join existing international dialogue mechanisms, such as the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, to ensure that Moon base construction does not harm the legitimate rights of other countries.
America will continue investing in its own space projects, including the Artemis program and the White House’s latest trillion US dollar-scale Moon construction project, to ensure leadership for America and its allies in the space field.
We welcome competition, but it must be fair, rules-based competition, not disorderly expansion.
Now, we begin the Q&A session.”
The first question came from a CNN reporter: “Madam spokesperson, you mentioned ‘disorderly expansion’ earlier. Does this mean the White House believes China’s Moon Base project under construction violates international law?”
Karine responded: “Thank you for your question. We currently have no evidence of a violation of international law, but we remain vigilant about any activities that may lead to unilateral control of lunar resources or militarization tendencies.
This is not an accusation against any specific country, but a reminder to the entire space community: we must work together to avoid extending Earth’s geopolitical tensions into space.
Mr. President has instructed the national security team to closely monitor developments and prepare to communicate with Yanjing through diplomatic channels for constructive solutions.”
A Reuters reporter continued: “If China continues to expand, what specific measures will the White House take?”
Karine replied: “We will prioritize diplomatic and multilateral approaches, including strengthening coordination with international partners.
If necessary, we will push for discussion of related topics at the United Nations Security Council and consider stricter transparency requirements in the space field.
Meanwhile, America’s space capabilities will continue to develop to protect our national interests and global public interests. Thank you all.”
Originally, Apollo Technology’s moon landing this time wouldn’t have attracted so much attention, but America’s intense reaction immediately drew Chinese netizens’ focus to this matter.
“No way, when Apollo Technology’s announcement about the Moon superconducting artificial intelligence computing center first came out, I saw a bunch of bloggers on the Chinese Internet saying it’s useless, daydreaming, pie in the sky.
Those bloggers tried all sorts of ways to use professional knowledge to prove the plan useless. Why didn’t you convince the White House? Why not NASA? The White House announced a trillion US dollar Moon development plan just two months after this Moon announcement—not just a plan, the money is already in place.
Secondly, a bunch of bloggers said after the Moon base plan started that developing the Moon isn’t cost-effective, with Americans going straight for Mars. So why did Americans jump out again?
Before spouting off in the future, can you at least greet the White House first, tell them not to speak recklessly or launch random development plans? Can the tail bite the dog?”
“Americans are fuming again. Let me explain why: because China isn’t content with just occupying the Shackleton Crater; this exploration reached the Degelach Crater.
Americans are very anxious, unusually so.
There are only 9 craters on the Moon suitable for bases in total.
The Lunar South Pole’s total area is about 288,000 square kilometers, with plain terrain about 46,000 square kilometers.
But not all plains are suitable for bases.
That’s why craters are emphasized: you need permanently shadowed regions at the same time, which may contain water ice; secondly, relatively flat terrain; and sufficient illumination.
After the low-temperature superconductivity concept was proposed, permanently shadowed regions became a must, because only they can guarantee constant low temperatures.
Of these 9 craters currently, China has taken two, leaving 7.
Americans haven’t even achieved a moon landing yet. If it were you, you’d be anxious too—what if China takes them all? They’d have nowhere to go.
Of course, there are also the Lunar North Pole, the Sea of Tranquility in the equatorial region, lava tubes, etc., but these places are all somewhat inferior to the Lunar South Pole.
The Lunar North Pole compared to the South Pole has fewer permanently shadowed regions and less water ice content.
The equatorial region has no water ice at all, no shadowed regions, directly exposed to radiation without natural shielding, with extreme temperature fluctuations.
Lava tubes are even less feasible; their terrain is extremely complex—you’d need to send up a tunnel boring machine to develop them.
That’s why they’re so anxious, anxious enough to hold a press conference and pressure through the United Nations.
If there were any other way, it wouldn’t come to this reaction.
The White House is indeed freaking out now.”
The White House was indeed freaking out; Sharvin called them in a second time and asked a question that nearly gave Jonathan a brain hemorrhage:
“Is it possible for us to drive directly from the landing site to the Lunar South Pole?”
