Technology invades the modern world

Chapter 358 The Trillion-Dollar Lunar Strategy

The delegates filed out of the meeting and walked down the dimly lit, historic corridors of the White House. Jonathan overheard John Morgan Jr. and David Calhoun whispering behind him.

"For them, the stronger the enemy, the more budget they can get from NASA and the White House, which is certainly a good thing."

They don't care at all whether the money goes to General Aerospace or even ends up in the hands of Chinese people in various forms.

Because Chinese people only earn hard-earned money from research and development, while these people can make a fortune simply by reselling and leveraging Morgan's name.

"The congressional budget is one thing, Wall Street's capital operations are another. Shorting or going long is all up to them. Cultivate upstream and downstream companies, then take those companies public—wouldn't you make a fortune?"

It's true that Jonathan has had a great time for the past thirty years. Although his dream of landing on the moon is still a long way off, he's certainly enjoying life, making a lot of money every year and working like he's on vacation.

But this feeling of satisfaction depends on who you compare it to. Compared to ordinary people, it is indeed satisfying, but compared to John Morgan Jr., the more you compare, the less satisfying it becomes.

".China"

"Apollo."

".Lin"

A few words could be faintly heard, followed by occasional chuckles, indicating the pleasant mood of Calhoun and John Morgan Jr.

But the question is, where will the money come from?
Jonathan was completely confused.

Scharvin just mentioned a trillion-dollar space investment plan, and Jonathan really can't figure out where that trillion dollars will come from.

The next morning, due to the high level of tension at the White House, he also had to go to work.

Upon arriving at the company, Aerospace's Vice President, Robert Jr., called him into his office.

He didn't have a direct supervisor; Jonathan was the highest-ranking researcher in the lunar terrain analysis category.

“Jonathan, congratulations! NASA has sent us a letter. They plan to give us a consulting and analysis project on the lunar surface topography.”

$8000 million.

Robert Jr. held out both hands, four fingers on each side, to indicate the size of the order.

Jonathan's heart skipped a beat. "Haven't we been doing lunar topography analysis for NASA all along? Do we really need this many dollars?"

He thought it was too expensive.

NASA awarded the contract to Aerospace not through competitive bidding, but through an Interagency Agreement (IAA).

NASA first signed an IAA agreement with the Air Force, designating the use of Aerospace's consulting services. This agreement was based on Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 17.5 and NASA's internal policies.

Aerospace has always been NASA's sole source of this type of business.

Although NASA has never landed on the moon, it has always given Aerospace sporadic orders for lunar surface terrain analysis.

Otherwise, where does Jonathan's salary come from? Where does Jonathan's villa come from?

"Of course, we had it in the past, but the precision wasn't high enough. Now that we're really going to the moon, we need higher precision, and NASA will also have higher requirements."

"Yes, that's right, we're really going to the moon this time," Robert Jr. said with a smile.

Robert Jr. has completely black hair, no age spots on his face, and looks very young, at most in his forties, much younger than Jonathan.

Jonathan was speechless when he heard the previous part, because after the Artemis project was launched, NASA gave them a contract called IDIQ, which was worth as much as $7.09 million.

Of course, this is not just about lunar terrain analysis; it's a holistic project, with the bulk of it focused on lunar surface navigation and a small portion on terrain assessment.

The prevailing narrative at the time was that the Artemis program was being launched, and we were truly going to the moon, hence the higher requirements.

In reality, they used the same model as before, only made some minor adjustments to the data, and submitted a new report. Jonathan himself didn't even participate; the interns wrote the report, and it cost less than $1 at most.

Now they're using the same excuse again.

As Robert Jr. continued, "This time we're serious," Jonathan was momentarily dazed, as this was the third time he had heard similar words.

When President Bush was in office in 2000, Robert E. Bush said the same thing to him. And when Project Artemis began in 2016, Robert E. Bush, who had just taken office, said the same thing to him.

how?

The first two times we were serious, but we were actually joking. This time, are we really serious?
Jonathan explained, "Of course, I know this time it's for real."

The White House is taking this very seriously. What I mean is that the White House has a limited budget for NASA. In the current situation, shouldn't we spend less of the budget? After all, our lunar topography analysis is a very mature model with a well-established methodology.

We're simply making adjustments based on past models and the latest data.

Jonathan's implication was that we need to save money for the country! We can no longer keep endlessly squandering the budget as we have in the past.

Eighty million US dollars? This job is worth at most eighty thousand US dollars.

Robert's smug smile froze instantly: "Jonathan, are you trying to save the country money?"

"You don't even look in the mirror? You think you're worthy?"

Robert's expression was slightly ferocious: "You're not saving money for yourself, you're saving money from our pockets and giving it to NASA?"

Are you worthy?
This $80 million isn't something you and I will split. Many people in the whole chain are involved, and you've made the decision for them, saving them this money?
In that case, we'll both be heading to hell.

Jonathan, you're not a newcomer anymore. What kind of organization are we? We're a non-profit organization, a for-profit organization backed by the Air Force.

Robert Jr. didn't continue speaking; he simply waved for Jonathan to leave.

As Jonathan reached the door, Robert Jr.'s voice rang out softly: "Jonathan, I know what you're thinking."

The idea is beautiful, but the reality is cruel.

Even if we both go bankrupt after saving those 80 million, it will absolutely not be used in what you think is more efficient or necessary.

Jonathan left without looking up, his heart filled with boundless sorrow.

Because he knew that Robert Jr. was telling the truth.

Washington has more than just Aerospace as a space consulting firm.

This saved $80 million, which NASA then transferred to another organization, ultimately ending up back in the hands of the rightful recipient. Jonathan returned to his office, turned on his computer, and saw the news report:

"White House chief advisor Sulvin visited Japan, where the Japanese side expressed great interest in the White House's lunar investment plan and hoped to participate."

Jonathan realized why he had a change of heart this time and wanted to save NASA money and improve NASA's competitiveness.

Because of the pressure from his competitors, he felt that the White House simply didn't have that much budget.

As it turns out, he was overthinking it.

What happened in the following month far exceeded his expectations.

First, the president submitted an annual budget request through the Office of Management and Budget to include the plan in NASA's budget, hoping to increase NASA's budget by $400 billion.

Then Congress passed a special bill authorizing the program, using the budget settlement process to avoid Senate obstruction, and finally the Treasury Department increased the special national debt by $400 billion in the form of special national debt.

Jonathan then realized that the Treasury Department had frozen the federal debt ceiling at the beginning of the year, meaning that the federal government could borrow without limit.

This is 400 billion.

With a shortfall of 600 billion, Scharvin traveled to Japan, Korea, Europe, and the Middle East, and after a tour, each of these places pledged an investment share of 600 billion US dollars.

A total of one trillion was raised.

Japan contributed 100 billion, Korea contributed 80 billion, and Europe contributed a total of 150 billion.

In short, you contribute some, I contribute some, and it won't be paid out in one year, but over five years.

In a dazzling series of moves, the White House's lunar investment plan, with investments totaling one trillion dollars, was gradually implemented.

"Scharvin's global tour is just like a salesman's: 80 billion in Korea, 100 billion in Japan, 150 billion in Europe—will this money really arrive on schedule?"

The news reports on TV were all about this; the trillion-dollar plan—faced with this enormous figure, the pressure on China seemed to vanish in an instant.

Jonathan looked at the news report and thought to himself, no wonder he couldn't become a high-ranking White House official. He only knew how to save a small amount of money, $80 million, while others made a fortune of $600 billion in one trip.

On the other side of the world, ever since the Apollo technology was announced, the discussions have never stopped.

Since modern times, China has been the country in the world that most believes in the power of technological progress, and it is also the country that feels this most deeply.

From initially being vulnerable to attack due to backwardness, to later establishing a complete industrial chain, and then gradually climbing uphill through industrial upgrading, we have earned the nickname "the crusher of developed countries".

Along this journey, the transformative power of technology has been witnessed and personally experienced by every Chinese person.

This lunar artificial intelligence superconducting computing center is packed with technology and infrastructure; such a project is perfectly suited to the fundamental workings of the Chinese people.

Now there's another layer, and the Americans are about to catch up.

If the Americans hadn't followed suit, it wouldn't have been as fun on their own. Now that the Americans have joined in, there's an additional element of competition.

The latest question on Zhihu, "How to evaluate America's trillion-dollar lunar development fund?", received more than two thousand answers in just half a day.

"I'm in America, I just got off the plane and arrived in Hawaii. The whole of America is talking about this now."

As is tradition, CNN touted the White House's greatness, claiming it had coerced allies into contributing $600 billion without bloodshed, officially launching the plan and signifying America's impending assault on the moon.

Fox News hosts raged on television, saying that Deng was squandering taxpayers' money, throwing a trillion dollars at the moon while failing to address the border crisis and infrastructure collapse.

Then they said that finding allies to contribute $600 billion was no big deal; it was obtained by using America's influence, and any president could have done it.

Some Wall Street investment banks have launched lunar ETFs, and related stocks have surged, even giants like Amazon are dancing in the air, despite Amazon having no connection to the moon landing and Blue Origin having no equity relationship with Amazon.

Being in America, my most direct feeling is that China's lunar superconducting project has caused Hakimi to gasp for air, and it's currently gasping for air like crazy.

My white classmates were very confident that America would win the moon race, saying that we won it sixty years ago, so we could win it now too.

On the other hand, they generally support General Aerospace's purchase of technology from Apollo Technologies, believing that to win, it is necessary to save time and speed up the process using US dollars.

At the same time, they generally refused to pursue a career in aerospace, feeling that they should work in computer science rather than become engineers in the aerospace field.

In conclusion, I have a very intuitive feeling that only the strong can earn respect.

By 2023, America no longer has many people or media outlets accusing Apollo Technology of stealing Apollo moon landing technology; such voices are now considered "others."

It took only a year for Apollo technology to shift from the mainstream to the "others" camp, and although people still believe that Apollo's technology came from NASA, this sentiment has changed from negative to neutral.

More importantly, as soon as this plan was announced, the Americans immediately breathed a sigh of relief. What does this mean? It means respect based on the principle of strength.

If it were India, let alone building an AI computing center on the moon, even if you said you wanted to turn the moon into a cosmic paradise and divert Ganges water to India, claiming the moon is Indian territory, nobody would listen to you.

Because everyone knows it's a joke; you can't do it. You can't even go to the moon.

China is capable of doing this; China's plan is highly feasible. After evaluation, the White House believes this is the direction for the future.

Therefore, we do not advocate that AGI will bring manufacturing back to China, nor do we advocate that we should develop artificial intelligence instead of space exploration.

The government decisively used trillions of dollars to boost confidence in the US stock market, promote space development, and create jobs.

This shows that America remains China's biggest competitor, and they still maintain a high level of acumen and quick decision-making.

They launched a response strategy in just two months.

As for other countries, Europe will only accuse China of unilaterally disrupting the space balance and causing global tensions, while Japan and Korea will only pay close attention and push forward their own lunar landing programs.

These countries are all all talk and no action; they just talk the talk but don't walk the walk. In reality, they've given up on competing with China and are only hoping to ride on the coattails of the US and get a share of the benefits along the way.

One interesting perspective, written by a Washington Post reporter in a front-page report on the matter, is that the White House made the decision so quickly this time because Deng Xiaoping's Cold War memories were awakened, and the lunar race made him pay unprecedented attention, prompting him to quickly formulate a response strategy.

I think this is very likely, and the fact that the debt ceiling freeze at the beginning of the year also provided a good basis for the White House to react so quickly.

Next, the real competition began. My suggestion was that Yanjing should provide the support it deserved. The Americans were burning through a trillion dollars, while Apollo Technology only had a meager amount of cash on hand, probably around three or four hundred billion dollars, which was far less than America's.

I believe that China's capital utilization rate is definitely far higher than America's, but no matter how high your capital utilization rate is, it can't be this much higher, right?
Can your $300 billion be compared to someone burning through $10000 trillion?
The necessary financial subsidies should be given, and the funds allocated should be allocated. There's really no need to skimp on this money; the Chinese government isn't short of funds.

(End of this chapter)