Technology invades the modern world

Chapter 408 The Wind Rises in Washington

"However, it is not entirely without value to us."

Everyone, what I'm about to say is something you must study carefully and pay close attention to during the rest of your study time.

Chen Lei said:
"The NIL lithography route may not have a future, but the technology it contains may not be without value."

We can extract the valuable parts of this technology and apply them to our lithography machine development process.

Chen Lei's words immediately perked up the other experts present.

"These past few days I've been reviewing every detail of that Canon FPA-1200NZ2C."

Its core nanoimprinting 'mold' and its accompanying UV curing system are a poisoned apple for us because they are incompatible with our DUV system and contain material traps. If Mr. Lin cannot provide a solution, then I believe we must resolutely sever ties with it.”

He picked up a pen and drew a large red cross on the embossed core part of the NIL structure diagram in his notebook.

“However,” he changed the subject, circling three other parts of the diagram with his pen, “the skeleton, nervous system, and circulatory system of this machine are of extraordinary value to us.”

With great interest, Wang asked, "Dr. Chen, could you elaborate? What are its bones, nerves, and circulation?"

Dr. Chen Lei: “The skeleton, I’m referring to its ultra-precision stage system.” He pointed to the base section of the drawing. “NIL is contact lithography, and the requirements for the smoothness, stability, and positioning accuracy of the stage for each alignment and movement are more stringent than we imagined.”

Canon is, after all, a giant in optics and precision instruments, and they have a very deep accumulation of expertise in motion control, vibration reduction and materials science.

One of the biggest bottlenecks in our lithography machines is the stability of the workpiece stage and the overlay accuracy under high-speed movement.

If we can thoroughly understand the design logic, control algorithm, and driving method of Canon's system, even if we only learn 70%, our overlay accuracy can be improved by at least 50%.

This is my guess based on publicly available information. We'll be able to make a more accurate assessment once we integrate Canon's technology into our manufacturing process.

Wang Gong stroked his chin: "If that really works, our yield rate can be improved by a lot."

Chen Lei continued, "Yes."

Then there's the nervous system, its entire process of defect detection and measurement unit.

The fatal weakness of NIL is its defect rate, so Canon must have deployed the world's most advanced real-time inspection system within its machines to rapidly scan the wafer before and after imprinting, locating nanometer-scale particles and pattern errors. This technology is universal.

Mr. Wang, our production line currently relies mainly on offline sampling inspection, which is inefficient, and many defects are discovered too late.

If we can transplant or replicate this nervous system and integrate it into our existing process, our yield rate will take another leap forward.

This system can be used on both domestically produced production lines and those using ASML equipment.

"The last one, the circulation system?" another engineer, Mr. Li, asked.

Chen Lei said, "This is what I consider the most valuable and unexpected part: the inkjet precision adhesive application system."

He pointed to the printhead-like device in the NIL equipment: "Traditional DUV lithography uses a spinning method to coat the wafer with photoresist, and more than 95% of the expensive photoresist is wasted."

To achieve precise printing, NIL developed a technology similar to inkjet printing. This involves spraying a single drop of resin wherever the image needs to be printed, resulting in extremely low resin consumption and controllable uniformity.

He looked at Engineer Li and slowly said, "Engineer Li, imagine if we could integrate this inkjet technology into our DUV production line and use it to spray our own photoresist."

What does this mean? The cost of photoresist can drop by more than 90%, and problems such as edge effects and uneven resist application will become a thing of the past.

That's how Chinese people are; they'll find a way even when there's no way, and they'll even find value in a trap.

What Chen Lei didn't expect was that Lin Ran's intention wasn't to disassemble the system, but to reconstruct the entire optical system based on it.

In the Hart Senate office building in Washington, D.C., inside the hearing room, the air was thick with anger and anxiety.

All the senators on the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committees were seated, with a packed crowd of journalists and suited lobbyists from major aerospace contractors behind them.

Musk sat alone in the witness stand, wearing a slightly ill-fitting dark suit.

“Mr. Director,” the committee chairman, a senior Republican senator from Texas, began his interrogation with a harsh tone, “the people of this country want to know, two weeks ago, when the Chinese were sending things back to Earth from the moon like golf with nuclear reactors and electromagnetic orbiters, where was NASA? Where was our lunar program? Why have we spent hundreds of billions of dollars of taxpayer money, only to receive a few pages of PowerPoint presentations and the ever-delayed Artemis program?”
"The only time we went to the moon, we still relied on technology from China?"

Reporters' flashes went off like a storm.

Musk didn't look at the senator, but spoke calmly into the microphone in his characteristic, slightly paused tone.

“Senator, your question is exactly the same question I’ve been asking myself every day for the past six months as NASA Administrator.” His voice carried throughout the room through the loudspeaker: “And after investigating dozens of projects, I’ve found a sample that can perfectly answer all your questions.”

He gestured to his assistant.

His assistant placed a huge, beautifully printed, color-coded display board next to him.

On the display board is a futuristic lunar rover conducting exploration at the edge of a crater at the lunar south pole.

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is VIPER: the volatile matter survey polar rover," Musk said, pointing to the display board. "It was originally scheduled to be launched to the moon next year aboard a Falcon Heavy rocket by an Astrobotic lander to search for water ice, the most critical resource for establishing our lunar base. It's a great project costing $4.3 million."

He paused, his gaze sweeping over everyone present:

"It looks great, doesn't it? But there's a small problem: it doesn't exist."

The entire hearing room erupted in uproar.

Because everyone remembers this thing very clearly, General Aerospace just sent it to the moon last year.

The presence of the Xiaomi logo on it also sparked heated discussions.

So Musk is now telling everyone that this thing doesn't exist?

Musk ignored the uproar and continued to reopen old wounds.

"According to official documents, the VIPER project inherited the technological legacy of the previous canceled project called Resource Prospector, abbreviated as RP."

The RP project, from its inception to its cancellation in 2018, cost taxpayers more than $2.5 million.

In other words, these two projects cost the federal government a total of $6.8 million, but the projects do not actually exist.

I had my team pull up all the technical files for the RP project. And guess what we found? He looked at the senators. “We found tons of concept drawings, thousands of pages of PowerPoint presentations, beautiful visions, and project timelines that would never be achieved.”

But we found no flying hardware, not even a proper engineering prototype.

It is a project that only exists on paper.

Therefore, VIPER inherited a "zero" legacy from a "zero" project.

The commotion below the stage grew louder, and experts who were aware of NASA's overstaffing realized that something was seriously wrong.

Musk then said in a somber tone, "I know you're going to ask, didn't we just send it to the moon last year?"
Isn't the Viper concept car still flying on the moon?
Isn't it constantly sending data back to Earth? Why would I say that it only has prettier PowerPoint presentations, more detailed concept diagrams, and the same constantly overspending budgets and delayed schedules as the RP project?

Doesn't it already have a physical form?

Excuse me, everyone, please think back, does it have the Xiaomi logo?

Did the Xiaomi logo appear on the front of the vehicle? Did we later see news about the cooperation between Xiaomi and General Aerospace in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post, the best domestic media outlets?
But time, didn't you guys notice the time?
Cooperation followed, Viper was launched first.

In other words, this was a cooperation agreement that was deliberately signed later in order to cover up the truth.

That lunar rover is entirely from China, most likely from Apollo Technology. Apollo Technology's previous lunar rovers were sponsored by Xiaomi and had the Xiaomi logo on them, so our lunar rover also has the Xiaomi logo and is sponsored by Xiaomi.

Apollo Technology operates on a cause-and-effect model, while our VIPER model reverses cause and effect!

"It has no physical structure, you understand?" Musk's voice was filled with anger: "It doesn't have a single working drive wheel, not a single battery to withstand the lunar low temperatures, not a single drill bit to penetrate the lunar soil! It's simply impossible for it to carry any spacecraft to the moon! If it weren't for the help of our Chinese counterparts, it would be a paper-thin lunar rover!"
Now it is a completely Chinese-made vehicle.

"And here comes the best part," Musk picked up a document from the table and held it up high, "This is an internal memo from the former director's office."

The original plan was exactly the same as the RP project: when the launch window approached next year, the VIPER project would be canceled again, citing insurmountable technical challenges and severe budget overruns.

In this way, the two projects, totaling nearly $7 million in funding, will be swept into the dustbin of history along with their PowerPoint presentations, and forgotten by everyone.

But to their utter surprise, General Aerospace actually bought the Saturn V rocket and its accompanying lunar landing technology from China. They had to launch it immediately, even if it was just a concept vehicle, and send it to the moon.

So, having exhausted all other options, they had no choice but to buy a lunar rover from China.

The hearing room was so quiet you could hear someone breathing.

The lobbyists from Boeing and Lockheed Martin looked extremely grim.

They also participated in the VIPER project and received dividends.

More importantly, what exactly does Musk want to do?

To expose such a scandal.

"I know everyone will ask for evidence?"
They might think I'm making up a story, and that the discrepancy in the timelines between the newspaper reports of Xiaomi and General Aerospace's collaboration isn't convincing enough.

Musk looked at the committee chairman and continued:

"After I took office, some anonymous engineers who had worked at NASA for thirty years and had a strong sense of justice took a huge risk to provide me with this information."

Jonathan's role becomes apparent at this point.

As a lunar geologist who has worked in the NASA system for forty years, Jonathan is one of the few experts who still has a conscience. He also knows many engineers within NASA who still have some conscience.

After learning that Musk was going to take action against VIPER, these engineers provided a large amount of supporting evidence through indirect and anonymous means.

He paused, then pressed the remote control in his hand, exposing a large number of photos:
“However,” Musk’s voice turned cold, “many of the car’s designs have subtle but not negligible differences from the concept images released by VIPER.”

The most direct evidence is:

Musk pressed a button on his remote control, zooming in on a detail in the photo until it filled the entire screen.

"That was an exposed circuit board."

In the center of the circuit board, on a main control chip responsible for data processing, the words "SMIC" are clearly etched.

The hearing room was silent, everyone staring at the unfamiliar yet somewhat familiar logo.

SMIC, a company from China, is frequently discussed at America's hearings.

Musk continued, "That's not enough, that's still not enough."

I also commissioned one of the best private detective agencies in Washington to investigate whether any strange cargo, similar to a lunar rover, had entered America in the past two years.

They gained nothing at first.

Until they expanded their investigation from Cape Canaveral in Florida and the Houston Space Center to New York Harbor.

Musk pressed the remote control again, and a customs import declaration document, scanned with exceptional clarity, appeared on the large screen.

He pointed to the entry on the document and read it out word by word: "Goods name: Unmanned geological exploration vehicle."

Manufacturer: Shenhai Space Technology Application and Development Co., Ltd.

This is a wholly-owned subsidiary of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.

Country of origin: China.

Port of entry: New York-New Jersey Port.

Date: November 2024.

The entire hearing room fell into a deathly silence.

A senator instinctively took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes vigorously, as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing.

“We also got this,” Musk said, showing off the last photo.

It was a photo taken unintentionally by a customs officer in the Port of New York. A huge shipping container was open, and inside, there was the lunar rover, exactly the same as the one in the NASA interior photo, with the Xiaomi logo shining brightly on it.

Musk turned off the screen, turned to face all the senators, and asked that crucial question.

"Now, please tell me. Why? Why would a NASA rover for lunar exploration be transported all the way from our own launch site in Florida, instead of being smuggled in like a contraband, mixed in with millions of containers from China, and sneaked into the Harbor of New York?"

He didn't wait for anyone to answer; instead, he gave the only answer himself.

"Because the former NASA bureaucrats needed a prop!"
If these are just physical props used to take photos and videos, show your congressional gentry the progress of their work, and thus trick them into paying more budget, then they don't necessarily need to buy them from China.

But what they need is a lunar rover that can actually run on the moon, transmit data and information, and actually conduct exploration, dig for samples, and automatically recharge and recharge. Such a rover can only be imported from China.

They couldn't build it themselves, so they used an empty shell of a VIPER project to apply for $4.3 million from Congress.

Then, they secretly spent perhaps less than ten million dollars to buy a lunar rover from China that also bore the Xiaomi logo, transported it to New York, and then smuggled it by truck to Glenn Research Center in Ohio. There, they disguised it as VIPER, took photos, wrote reports, and finally transported it to the launch center in Florida to send it to the moon.

"China's lunar rovers, China's rockets, how much more Chinese-made goods do we really need?"

Grove was stunned in the audience. He realized it was all over. Was Musk going to flip the table?
Musk has been with NASA for almost a year, and Grove thought he was focusing all his energy on Starship, but it turns out he had this trick up his sleeve.

His brain was racing, trying to find a solution: "What should I do?"

Musk looked at the members of Congress, whose faces were pale with shock, anger, or some other emotion, and delivered his final statement:

"Senator, this is why we lost."

This is not an isolated case; it is a deeply ingrained culture of corruption that has developed over decades within NASA and among its old-fashioned contractors.

What they excel at is not building spaceships, but creating PowerPoint presentations, budgets, and a closed loop of interests that allows them to perpetually and legally squander taxpayers' money.

The President has asked me to lead America back to the moon, and to win. To accomplish this, we don't need more money.

Musk stood up, his gaze sharp and unwavering, more resolute than ever before:
"We need a thorough, top-down cleansing."

I will use this project as a starting point to conduct a comprehensive audit of all ongoing projects at NASA.

All contractors who receive huge sums of money but fail to deliver tangible results will have their contracts permanently terminated.

All bureaucrats who obstruct reforms will be dismissed.

I am not here to request approval from Congress.

I'm here to inform you that in order to catch up with our adversaries and to fulfill the President's orders, this war has begun.

At this point, Grove felt relieved. He had thought it was just targeting VIPER, but if you set your sights so high, then you'd better wait to be swallowed up by the swamp of Washington.

(End of this chapter)