Technology invades the modern world

Chapter 362 How could something made in China be bad?

"what?"

Li Xiaoman knew that America was quite outrageous in many ways. During her time working at Apollo Technology, she had heard a lot of NASA jokes.

At Apollo Technology, NASA jokes are as common as Soviet jokes on the Simplified Chinese internet. They serve as both casual banter and a reminder to avoid falling into such a situation no matter what.

But what Lin Ran said now was still beyond her imagination.

"You mean the lunar rover that NASA advertised as nearly complete is just a picture?" Li Xiaoman asked in shock.

Li Xiaoman is a Chinese American, and lives in New York.

This is somewhat similar to you being aware of the deterioration of the situation in the Ming Dynasty, but since you are a resident of the capital, you find it hard to imagine that the situation has deteriorated to this extent.

Lin Ran waved his hand: "No, not just pictures, but also parameters."

He switched the computer screen from a webpage to a PDF file, pointed to the parameters on the file, and said, "These specific parameters are their work results and also their requirements."

Li Xiaoman then asked, "You mean, John Morgan Jr. asked you to help NASA build a lunar rover?"

Lin Ran replied, "Yes."

Li Xiaoman lowered her voice, but her tone was filled with disbelief and accusation as she said, "This is illegal!"

This violates the Wolf Clause!

Li Xiaoman's legal background and internship experience at a law firm made her keenly aware of the problems involved.

That's right, that's why General Aerospace can do it, but NASA can't. The Wolfe Clause, passed in 2011, perfectly answered Grove's question.

Lin Ran grinned: "Do they even care about that?"
I don't know the specifics of their operations; it's none of my business. My job is just to collect the money and deliver the goods. That's it. Just for one lunar rover, John Morgan Jr. quoted two hundred million dollars. Why not make that money while I can?

John Morgan Jr. was actually quite decent.

They only made 3 million from it.

Apollo Technologies struggles to manufacture for NASA, earning at most a little over 100 million dollars, while John Morgan Jr. makes 300 million dollars off the products. Americans are just too rich.

With such high earning efficiency, it's no wonder they struggle to engage in traditional industries.

Li Xiaoman muttered, "Now they're not afraid of having a backdoor installed?"

America rejected Huawei's telecommunications equipment, not only rejecting it herself but also demanding that her allies do the same, primarily because she feared it might contain backdoors.

Now we're not afraid of importing probes from China anymore? We can just install a backdoor on you and get your data, right?
Li Xiaoman felt his faith was crumbling. Was this still the NASA he had learned about since elementary school, the invincible NASA that had defeated the Soviet Union and was the first to land on the moon?
Although she is now in China and is prepared never to return to America, she still received an education from America.

While America's military has its scandals involving Agent Orange during the Vietnam War, and the White House has been plagued by Watergate and Lewinsky scandals, NASA, as a space agency, has historically had virtually no major scandals.

In history, general education, and science textbooks, NASA is portrayed as an incredibly glorious entity.

Has NASA really fallen to this level?

For Li Xiaoman, this was an unimaginable thing.

Lin Ran said, "Perhaps the time and context are different, so whether we need to worry about this is a Schrödinger's cat situation. Washington politicians will use it as an excuse when they need it, and when they don't need it, they can even forget about the Wolf Clause, let alone this."

To be honest, I really wanted to do something naughty.

Li Xiaoman asked, "What mischief are you up to?"

Lin Ran said, "Isn't our lunar rover sponsored by Xiaomi? That's why our lunar rover has the Xiaomi logo on it. Doesn't Xiaomi always post on Weibo during each live stream, with captions and a lot of promotion?"
They promoted themselves as sponsors of Apollo Technologies' lunar landing project.

I'd love to put the Xiaomi logo on the lunar rover we sent to General Aerospace and see if they can spot it.

I want to see just how far NASA has fallen.

Li Xiaoman exclaimed in shock, "Impossible! How could they not even notice this?"

Lin Ran waved his hand: "That's quite possible. Reality doesn't follow logic."

They didn't even build this car themselves, what if they really didn't notice?
The Xiaomi logo appeared on NASA's lunar rover. Isn't that interesting?

Lin Ran laughed loudly: "I'm very curious, how will NASA explain it then?"

I have absolutely no idea what the expressions on the faces of NASA officials will be at that time, hahahahaha~

Apollo Technologies has always had a lunar rover project, after all, they sent a lunar rover on the second moon landing. This time, NASA's requirement is simply to make it unmanned, and the overall framework has been changed.

For Apollo Technology, it was a piece of cake; Lin Ran didn't even need to be involved personally.

The engineering team responsible for the lunar rover can handle it directly.

The head of the probe team is Zhang Xiaoming, who previously participated in the Chang'e series and was recruited from China's aerospace industry.

It's not so much that he dug it up; he wanted to jump out on his own.

In the past, China Aerospace had the advantage of a sense of career achievement. Compared with private aerospace institutions, China Aerospace paid much less in salary and benefits, but the sense of achievement could make up for the shortfall in salary.

On the other hand, it's also because his project experience is too niche. Private aerospace companies haven't even figured out rockets yet, so how long will it take to develop a lunar rover project?
Going to a new energy vehicle company isn't entirely unrelated, but it's certainly a complete mismatch.

So although Zhang Xiaoming had always had some reservations about working at China Aerospace, he worked there year after year until the emergence of Apollo Technology. He then resolutely chose to jump ship there, where he even gained a greater sense of accomplishment and was given a junior management position.

He assembled a team, including Wang Lei, a mechanical engineer in charge of the mobility system; Liu Yuanmin, in charge of communications and power supply; and Chen Hao, a geological instrument specialist who integrated scientific payloads.

Zhang Xiaoming unfolded the specifications sheet: "This is a task that the professor temporarily assigned to us. I believe everyone has seen the parameters. The dimensions are approximately 2.4 meters long, 1.5 meters wide, and 2 meters high, and the weight is 430 kg."

It has four-wheel drive, can climb 30-degree slopes, and has a driving range of at least 20 kilometers on a full charge in the extreme climate of the moon.

The instruments include an NSS neutron spectrometer for detecting hydrogen content; a NIRVSS near-infrared spectrometer for analyzing volatiles; an MSolo mass spectrometer for measuring gases; and a drill bit capable of drilling samples to a depth of 1 meter.

Wang Lei acted quickly, having already completed the modeling in the CAD software: "The key to the mobility system is low gravity adaptation."

The moon's gravity is only 1/6 that of Earth, requiring tires with a special lunar soil grip design. For details that are missing, we can use metal mesh rims to prevent dust from settling in. These are all existing designs, so there's no need to recreate the molds on the production side.

Chen Hao added tentatively, "Engineer Zhang, why does this thing look a lot like NASA's VIPER lunar rover?"

He held up his tablet, which displayed a page about NASA's VIPER project. Chen Hao then zoomed in on the image and pointed to both the lunar rover on the blueprints on the table and the lunar rover displayed on his tablet. "Aren't these two exactly the same?"

Zhang Xiaoming glanced at it and said, "There are still some differences."

Chen Hao asked, "Do you mean the Xiaomi logo on the front of the car is different?"

Zhang Xiaoming nodded: "That's right."

Okay, that's not something we need to worry about. It's not strange that it's exactly the same as NASA's VIPER. It's perfectly normal.

The professor has always liked to replicate things from NASA. We even successfully replicated the Saturn V; what's the VIPER lunar rover compared to that?

Even with the wildest imagination, you wouldn't guess that the VIPER lunar rover with the Xiaomi logo was actually built for NASA.

Seeing that Zhang Xiaoming's words made sense, was it strange that the professor wanted to do some replication work?

They built it in four months, and four months later the lunar rover was on the moon. Then they publicized it, which was another slap in the face to NASA. They said, "Not only have we built your lunar rover, but we've also launched it to the moon." They also provoked Hakimi.

Their discussion about the lunar rover continued, with Liu Yuanmin adding, "The power source is a solar panel that outputs about 650 watts, combined with a lithium-ion battery to deal with the shadowed areas."

But should we just use the existing thermal management system? We can use multi-layer insulation materials and active heaters to prevent electronic components from failing at -230°C.

Communication uses an X-band antenna to ensure data transmission with a 1.3-second delay to Earth.

Zhang Xiaoming nodded: "Priority: First, build the framework, then decide where to change or adjust."

Chen Hao, you are in charge of integrating the instruments.

We used domestically produced equivalents: the neutron spectrometer was the prototype designed for us by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and I remember there were also readily available solutions for the drill bit. In short, any adjustments needed should be communicated to me promptly, and we would consult with other groups.

The aerospace manufacturing plant in Huzhou is brightly lit.

The workers, wearing protective suits, moved with precision.

This used to be LandSpace's factory. Later, after the private aerospace institutions were collectively integrated, this became Apollo Technologies' factory. It's close enough to Shenhai, only 170 kilometers away as the crow flies, and a two-hour drive away. Therefore, a large number of production and manufacturing processes were placed here.

After the plan was finalized, Zhang Xiaoming led his team here to oversee the manufacturing and integration of the entire vehicle.

"Mr. Zhang, we followed your plan and used aluminum-lithium alloy, which is lightweight and high-strength, reducing the weight to 430kg."

The wheels have a diameter of 60cm, four-wheel independent suspension, and an electric motor with a torque of 100Nm per wheel.

Then the factory engineers took them to see the drive system test: in the vacuum simulation chamber, the car slowly climbed the hill.

"Zhang Gong, look, the slope is 30 degrees, and the grip is good."

However, if placed in a real environment, there will still be some minor issues.

Because you're concerned that the lunar soil particles are too fine, I'm worried they might cause dust interference with the sensors. Your design doesn't include any dust protection measures; should we add them?

Engineer Zhang nodded: "Add it, it's important, the weight isn't fixed anyway."

Liu Yuanmin was working on the integrated circuit board in the electronics lab.
"Power system: The solar array has an unfolded area of ​​4 square meters, an efficiency of 22%, and a battery pack capacity of 2kWh, supporting 3 hours of operation in the shaded area."

Thermal control: radiator and heat pipe circulation, simulated testing from -200°C to +100°C.

"The communication module uses software-defined radio (SDR) and supports high data rates in the Ka band."

Chen Hao was in charge of the instrumentation: "A spiral drill rod with a drilling speed of 10 cm per minute, integrated vibration sieving for sample separation, and a helium-3 detector for the NSS neutron spectrometer with a sensitivity of up to 100 ppm hydrogen."

There was one instance during a thermal vacuum test that caused the battery to overheat and explode.

"We almost ruined the prototype; four months was a bit too rushed."

Finally, at the lunar simulation field in Shenhai, the VIPER lunar rover underwent further tests on its driving, communication in the shadow region, and drill sampling. After passing the tests, it was packaged and transported to America.

Zhang Xiaoming and his team assumed that the unmanned lunar rover was being transported to the rocket launch center, in preparation for its next lunar mission to set foot on the lunar surface.

They did indeed go to a rocket launch center, but not the Wenchang launch center; instead, they went to the Cape Canaveral launch center in Florida, far across the Pacific Ocean.

"How beautiful!" Grove felt very proud as he looked at the VIPER that had traveled across the ocean before America landed on the moon.

So what if I took the money? Just tell me whether I solved the problem or not.

Has this car been completed?

The lunar rover looks exactly like the one on NASA's website: silver exterior, sensors everywhere, long drill bit—a high-tech product at first glance.

Melroy finally breathed a sigh of relief: "It does look quite good."

She leaned closer to Grove and asked in a low voice, "Are you sure this is all right? What if something goes wrong on the moon?"

Grove waved his hand: "Chief, it's normal for problems to occur. If there's a problem, we can just build another one."

Honestly, I'd rather it fail the first time than succeed. NASA projects go back and forth, over and over again, encountering problems, making adjustments and optimizations, and then encountering problems again. Isn't that the norm?

I forgot to tell John Morgan Jr. that the Chinese shouldn't make this thing too high-quality; it's best if it breaks down after running for twenty or thirty kilometers.

Melroy felt she had learned something new. Having only been at NASA for a little over a year, she felt she still had a lot to learn and finally understood why Grove was able to hold such a high position at NASA, always serving as the director's secretary no matter who became the director.

This problem-solving ability, this ability to line one's own pocket, is more than enough for a bureau chief.

Why can't he become the director? Being a white male makes it very difficult in this White House administration.

Or perhaps Grove was born at the wrong time.

The strategy implemented by this White House is to place women, Black people, and LGBT individuals in less important positions, while keeping older white male establishment officials in key roles.

The problem is that NASA wasn't important before; it only recently became important, and Grove just missed the point when it became important.

Melroy looked around and then clapped his hands, saying, "Very good, very good!"

How could something made in China be bad?

(End of this chapter)