Technology invades the modern world

Chapter 224 Who exactly is the professor?

The School of Mathematics at National Chiao Tung University is not qualified to be elected as an academician.

So there's no competition at all.

On the contrary, Lin Ran's arrival was a windfall for him.

In the future, I can write a sentence on any resume I go on: "I will make the Department of Mathematics at Jiaotong University a first-class department in China and a world-leading department in mathematics".

With Lin Ran's arrival, the country will be top-tier.

If you were to go to another so-called top-tier university, could they publish one paper in the Big Four accounting firms in a year?

As Lin Ran continues to cultivate his expertise at Jiaotong University, his resume could be upgraded to be among the top three in the country, the top one in the country, the top three in the world, or even the world's mathematics center.

It all depends on whether Lin Ran can become the next Shing-Tung Yau, Kunihiko Kodaira, Heisuke Hironaka, or Gauss and Euler.

This is not referring to their academic abilities, but rather their leadership skills.

Yau Shing-Tung is no less academically accomplished than Kunihiko Kodaira, but he is far inferior in terms of team leadership.

There was no direct competition between them, and the other party was like a panacea for the mathematics department of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, curing all ills. Therefore, after confirming that Lin Ran had the strongest interest in Shanghai Jiao Tong University at this time, Li Congming was eager to be as enthusiastic as possible.

"Yes, we can help with the follow-up issues," Li Congming said with a smile. "As for Dr. Lin, we can handle anything, not just associate degree, but even high school, junior high school, or people who have never been to school."

Since you can't go abroad right now, we can arrange for your family member to study for a bachelor's degree in Malaya. They can get the degree certified by the China Service Center for Scholarly Exchange after two years of remote learning.

"After receiving the certificate, I immediately started the onboarding process."

Lin Ran thought to himself, "You guys really know how to play. Although I've always known that academic procreation in universities is very powerful, what you're saying so casually is really arrogant."
No, I don't have that requirement at the moment.

I'm going back to Shanghai Jiao Tong University. I don't really care about things like housing, salary, or other benefits that you mentioned to me.

Your conditions are roughly the same as those of Peking University and Tsinghua University.

This includes things like research stipends.

That's not what I need; I need Shanghai Jiao Tong University to provide me with sufficient resources.

Li Congming immediately became alert.

There are no free lunches in the adult world.

There's always a hidden trap behind anything that seems too good to be true.

However, even if there are traps in bringing Lin Ran into the picture, he has to grit his teeth and swallow them.

“If you say so, I will definitely do my best,” Li Congming said.

Lin Ran said, "I hope that my teaching at Jiaotong University will be more casual in the future."

There's no need to strictly follow the class schedule.

"It's possible I'll have nothing to do for a week, I'll attend classes five days a week, and then I won't have classes for two months in a row. I have my own things to do."

Li Congming said, "Don't worry, I will definitely arrange it for you."

That's no problem; we'll coordinate for other professors' classes as well.

It's normal for a big shot to have such a request.

Even if Lin Ran said he wouldn't attend a single class, he would readily agree.

Big shots have special privileges.

It's already quite an achievement that they agreed to come to class.

Lin Ran continued, "Then there are resources. I plan to complete the moon landing in the next two years."

Li Congming swallowed hard: "Moon landing?"

He sensed that something was wrong.

"That's right. I majored in aerospace engineering as an undergraduate, and my undergraduate thesis was about the Apollo moon landing. Isn't it normal for me to want to replicate the Apollo moon landing now?"

"I need Shanghai Jiao Tong University to provide me with resources," Lin Ran said matter-of-factly.

Li Congming knew, of course, that they had carefully studied Lin Ran's resume and his past studies at Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

Your undergraduate thesis was about the Apollo moon landing, and now you want to go to the moon? Isn't that a bit too absurd?

It's important to know that Jiaotong University has university-owned assets and university-run enterprises.

Moreover, because of the Hanxin chip scandal in the past, Jiaotong University is particularly vigilant about this kind of thing.

They were afraid of getting into trouble because of losing gold coins.

Jiaotong University has school property.

To be precise, many universities own campus property.

For example, Huagong Tech is a listed company incubated by Huake, and Huake still holds shares in it.

The same applies to Jiaotong University.

Moon landing?

Led by a mathematics professor?

How much money would that cost?

So you came back to China hoping to amass gold coins, huh?

Li Congming immediately became vigilant. "Dr. Lin, this is a bit too outrageous."

It won't get approved by the school leaders; no one dares to approve this resource for you.

Lin Ran understood and explained, "No, Dean Li, you misunderstood me."

The resources I'm referring to are the aerospace-related suppliers needed for the lunar landing; I'd appreciate it if Jiaotong University could help me contact them.

Regarding the specifics of the moon landing itself, I will find investors myself; there's no need to trouble Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

This relieved Li Congming, but it also raised even greater doubts.

A corporate moon landing?

They're just bored and have nothing better to do.

Who would spend that money?

Li Congming was completely baffled.

It really does.

In this world, if we're talking about who has the strongest obsession with landing on the moon, Aldrin would be second to none.

Because he was the second person to walk on the moon.

As is widely known, Armstrong was the first person to walk on the moon and enjoys a worldwide reputation.

Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the moon, never forgot that he wasn't the first to do so, and even harbored resentment.

Apollo 8 astronaut Michael Collins commented, "Aldrin's resentment at not being the first to walk on the moon outweighed his gratitude at being the second."

Aldrin originally had the opportunity to be the first person to walk on the moon, but because NASA changed the moon landing plan, Armstrong became the first.

In the final moments, Aldrin tried every means to lobby within NASA.

Unfortunately, none of them were successful.

However, convincing Aldrin to give him the money will not be easy.

Before boarding his flight back home, 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 address could be easily found using Lin Ran's identity.

At his home in Beverly Hills, Buzz Aldrin, who had just gone through a failed marriage and was still able to walk briskly at 90, opened the letter, read it, and smiled.

(Aldrin, 90 years old)

He had received too many similar things.

In his view, this was just another trick, the same one he had played countless times before.

"Ha, what a silly prank."

However, the envelope naturally contained more than just one letter.

There is also an accompanying document.

Yellowed paper, complex formulas, Buzz Aldrin's own signature:
"Design Concept and Specific Trajectory Analysis of the Aldrin Circulator"

The familiar paper title almost instantly transported him back to sixty years ago, to that exciting era when he was still wondering if he could be selected as a NASA astronaut.

(Aldrin's autograph)
"With the progress of the Apollo program, humanity is about to achieve its goal of landing on the moon. The next challenge is manned exploration of Mars."

I believe there is an urgent need to propose a concept for a reusable interplanetary transfer vehicle, designed to achieve regular round trips between Earth and Mars through carefully designed trajectories and gravity assistance, thereby reducing propellant requirements and mission costs.

This paper proposes a circulator concept to establish a permanent transportation system between Earth and Mars through periodic trajectories and gravity assistance, similar to an extension of Earth orbit rendezvous technology on an interstellar scale.

At the heart of the recirculator is a spacecraft that orbits in a heliocentric elliptical path, periodically rendezvousing with Earth and Mars. The spacecraft uses planetary gravity to help adjust its trajectory, reducing propellant consumption. Smaller "taxi" spacecraft are responsible for transporting astronauts and cargo from the planetary surfaces to the recirculator, lowering launch costs per mission. The recirculator's advantages include:
"

The aging heart was rekindled.

Because the handwriting is his own.

Moreover, he wrote it while he was at NASA.

At that time, I was filled with ambition for space exploration.

They believed the Apollo program was destined to succeed.

They believed that after the success of the Apollo program, they would begin exploring Mars.

Sixty years have passed, and humanity still hasn't been able to reach the moon.

Aldrin continued looking ahead.

It contains my own ideas about the Aldrin circulator from the 60s.

It was exactly the same as he remembered.

Including the handwriting, he was certain it was his own handwriting.

He turned back to look at the letter again.

That's what shocked him.

Because the handwriting on the letter, "Aldrin, do you want to know the meaning of life? Do you want to truly live?" was actually his own.

Aldrin racked his brains but couldn't figure out when he would write something like this.

Writing for myself, to make myself understand the meaning of life, to truly live?

Aldrin thought to himself that he probably had never written one before.

But he was certain that the handwriting was his own.

"Is technology so advanced now that it can simulate handwriting so perfectly?"

Aldrin returned to the villa, took it out and looked at it repeatedly, pondering when he had actually written it.

He quickly ruled out that the handwriting was forged.

Because he was very certain that the content contained his early ideas, his ideas from his time at NASA in the 1960s.

The Aldrin circulator was first published in 1985. Because he felt he couldn't figure it out himself, he chose to collaborate with Purdue University in the hope of jointly proving the concept.

But in fact, he had already started working on this.

The idea of ​​building an Earth-Mars looping spacecraft existed before he joined NASA as an astronaut in 1962.

Aldrin was the first astronaut to hold a doctorate, and he was a PhD in orbital mechanics, which is why he was jokingly called Dr. Rendezvous by the other astronauts.

The Aldrin circulator from 1985.

Thirty-five years have now passed.

No one had any expectations for the Aldrin Circulator for a long time.

He had even given up hope. But this letter reignited the flame within him.

At this point, Aldrin rummaged through old things in his study on the second floor and found papers that were much older than the draft of this paper.

Turn to the page on the orbital mechanics analysis of the Aldrin circulator.

The formulas on both sides are exactly the same.

However, the copy that was sent included an extra message:

"The communication with the professor was very fruitful. The optimization suggestions he provided were very helpful. I need to consider adding numerical integration methods and combining them with more accurate planetary position data to optimize the circulator trajectory."

professor?

After some initial hesitation, Aldrin reread the draft of the paper.

If we consider the author of this paper as Aldrin of the past, and ourselves as Aldrin of the present.

In the draft of the paper, Aldrin had praised the professor to the skies, making him seem omnipotent.

They always say they need to consider the professor's suggestions, that the professor's points are very reasonable, and that there are some issues they need to discuss with the professor next time.

The problem was that Aldrin knew many professors, such as Professor Stephen, Professor John, Professor Thomas, and so on, too many to count.

But now Aldrin never seems to remember any professor he admired so much in the 60s.

And why is a professor just a professor, without even a surname?

Aldrin was completely baffled.

Have I never truly lived in the past?
Why was he so sure he wrote it himself?

Because the formulas and parameters in the academic paper manuscript in this letter were exactly the same as the formulas and parameters in the drafts he kept in his study.

The difference is that the academic papers in this letter are on much newer paper, even though they are all old-fashioned paper.

Then there's the nameless professor, whose presence is overwhelming throughout the entire story.

"Where did this professor come from? I have absolutely no recollection of him." Aldrin was truly baffled.

Lin Ran and Li Xiaoman, who had already boarded their flight back to China, put aside their ambitious goal of completing a lunar landing a year and a half ago because they could attend classes remotely. Li Xiaoman, considering the risks, chose to return to China with Lin Ran to observe the situation first.

After all, if Lin Ran really succeeds in landing on the moon in China...

She was indeed in danger in America.

After six months of fame and the acquisition of Fields, Li Xiaoman felt that she could no longer understand Lin Ran at all.

I didn't have any ties in America, and my uncle and aunt were family to me.
On the special plane arranged by the Chinese side, Li Xiaoman asked, "Aran, will Aldrin really obediently hand over all his savings to you?"

Where does the money come from?
Lin Ran's answer was to take it from Aldrin.

As the second person to walk on the moon, he frequently makes money globally.

Lin Ran wanted to squeeze every last penny out of him by having him play cameo roles in various movies.

It wasn't for nothing that I gave you pointers on how to design your Aldrin circulator and its orbit during the 60-timeline.

Lin Ran thought to himself.

That's right.

All the letters were sent out by Lin Ran.

The draft of the paper was taken from Aldrin in the 60th timeline.

As the undisputed director of NASA in 1965, the professor was willing to condescend to talk to Aldrin about what he called the circulator.

At that time, Aldrin felt as if he had finally found a kindred spirit, like a thoroughbred horse meeting its discerning owner.

As mentioned earlier, the astronauts jokingly referred to him as "Doctor," which was not actually a friendly term of address.

The astronauts did not give him any special treatment just because he was a PhD.

On the contrary, because he is a PhD, everyone has a slight sense of distance from him, and the term "PhD" is actually a sarcastic expression.

However, because of Lin Ran's attitude towards Aldrin, and because Lin Ran would occasionally ask Aldrin to discuss issues, the other astronauts only distanced themselves from him rather than ostracized him.

I'll help you, you help me.

I helped you back then; if you don't help me back then, don't blame me for not helping you back then.

Lin Ran thought to himself.

Li Xiaoman really didn't understand why Lin Ran had suddenly become so confident.

It's just a kind of inexplicable confidence.

After failing to extract money from Bezos, Li Xiaoman feared that the other party would be discouraged.

Therefore, it wasn't mentioned; they were only participating remotely, which still consumed personal connections.

Lin Ran quickly proposed Plan B, saying that he would take money from Aldrin's pocket.

Squeeze all of Aldrin's wealth out of him.

They took out all their stocks, cash, villas, and so on, and contributed them to their great moon landing mission.

Li Xiaoman thought to herself, "Why should I?"

Lin Ran explained, "I can understand that there is a fire burning inside Aldrin."

He has been a walking corpse ever since he landed on the moon in 1969.

He was simply existing.

What I need to do is completely ignite the fire within him.

"To simplify the analysis, we assume that the orbits of Earth and Mars are coplanar circular orbits with semi-major axes of 1 AU and 1.524 AU, respectively, and orbital periods of 1 year and 1.88 years, respectively."

The synodic period between Earth and Mars is approximately 780 days. The orbiter should be an elliptical orbit, with its perihelion close to Earth's orbit and its apohelion close to Mars' orbit, and its period proportional to the synodic period.

The orbital period (T) of the circulator must satisfy (k\cdot T\approx m\cdotS), where (k) and (m) are integers, and (S) is the rendezvous period.

According to Kepler's third law, the semi-major axis (a) of the orbit can be determined by (T = 2π/mu), where (mu) is the solar gravitational constant. The eccentricity (e) of the orbit must ensure that the perihelion and apogee are close to the orbital radii of Earth and Mars, respectively.

For example, if the circulator period (T ≈ 1.5 AU) is 1.5 years, then the semi-major axis (a ≈ 1.31 AU) is 1 AU, and the eccentricity (e) can be calculated using the perihelion (1 AU) and apogee (1.524 AU). However, the actual trajectory needs to consider the planetary motion and requires optimization through perturbation theory or numerical integration.

"Novitch's work shows that planetary flybys can alter spacecraft speed and conserve propellant. When the recirculator approaches Earth or Mars, it uses gravity assistance to adjust its orbital direction and speed to ensure the next rendezvous."

Current computing power limits the accurate simulation of complex trajectories. I spoke with the professor, and his suggestion was to use numerical integration methods, combined with more accurate planetary position data, to optimize the circulator trajectory in the future.

"As a large spacecraft, the recirculator needs to be equipped with a life support system and radiation protection. During each rendezvous, the 'taxi' spacecraft transports astronauts and cargo to the recirculator, similar to the separation of the command module and lunar module in the Apollo missions. The recirculator reduces the need for frequent launches, lowering costs, while supporting long-term Mars exploration."

Starting in August, Aldrin received manuscripts signed "Aldrin" for a week in a row.

These manuscripts are very rich.

Not just the Aldrin circulator.

It also includes his orbital simulation calculations for the Apollo moon landings.

Based on the spliced ​​cone method and numerical integration.

Since there was only the IBM 7090 at the time, the methods used were quite rudimentary.

Because it was an old manuscript by Aldrin, it was not officially adopted by NASA; it was merely a hobby he had in the 60s and was never declassified.

Some of the manuscripts weren't even in his own study.

In addition, during the moon landing, his position was that of a lunar module pilot.

In the past, Aldrin was responsible for operating the lunar module's guidance computer and optical alignment telescope.

He conducts celestial observations to determine the spacecraft's state vector, and this data is fed into the guidance computer to update its trajectory.

In lunar orbit, astronauts use sextants to measure the angle between stars and the lunar horizon to correct the navigation system.

These measurements are crucial for trajectory calculation, which is performed by a computer.

This data was stored in the computers at the time, and they were not allowed to take it out to avoid it falling into the hands of the Soviets.

However, these manuscripts contained very complete data.

In the 60s, it would have been impossible to bring this back to the dormitory.

That's also the strange thing.

Of course, in the 60-year timeline that Lin Ran altered, the Soviets went up first, and America brought him back.

This part of the data naturally doesn't need to be kept secret; Aldrin from the past can also bring it back for calculations.

This is what makes Aldrin feel strange now.

Another point is the ubiquitous professors.

He could sense that Aldrin in these manuscripts practically regarded the professor as a faith, as an omnipotent god.

It's as if the professor can solve any difficult problem.

Aldrin had never heard of such a person before.

Even von Braun experienced many failures.

At most, people respect him, but they don't worship him like a god.

"Who is it?"

If it weren't for the fact that it's not safe to run around now...

This virus poses a great threat to old men like him.

Aldrin was determined to find New York State, where the letter was sent, and see who was behind it all.

That's right.

Aldrin's judgment was a charade.

Someone obtained some information from an unknown source and then used it to cause trouble.

Otherwise, he simply couldn't understand the logic behind it.

However, the letter on the seventh day shattered his assumptions.

Because the seventh day is not a draft of the paper, but rather a draft.

Aldrin stared at it for a long time before realizing that it was a draft of the trajectory he had manually calculated.

This thing is impossible to preserve.

Because after he got off the plane, he watched as the manuscript was put into the trash and disposed of.

During the Gemini 12 mission, Aldrin used a sextant and slide rule to deal with radar malfunctions, which, simply put, involved manual calculations when the guidance computer or guidance system failed.

Because it was in space, the manuscript was extremely messy and of little value.

After returning to the ground, the manuscripts and other materials were disposed of as trash.

2020年的历史双子星12号是1966年11月11日执行完成的。

However, in the timeline altered by Lin Ran, it was implemented ahead of schedule in 1964.

No letter arrived on the 8th day.

Aldrin felt utterly bored.

There has been no news for a whole week.

He felt like he was going crazy.

These letters were like a fire, rekindling his already dead heart.

Just as Lin Ran had guessed, during the seven days he hadn't seen these letters, Aldrin himself felt like a walking corpse.

On the 15th day, after a week's break, Aldrin opened his mailbox as usual and finally saw the familiar envelope again. However, this time the envelope was very thin, containing only a thin sheet of paper:
　Two chapters, totaling 10,000 words, are presented here!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)