Technology invades the modern world

Chapter 462 The Moon, Mars, and the Solar System
Lin Ran rarely gives interviews. Even after being elected as an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering, he only gave a brief three-minute interview to CCTV.

Moreover, every time he gives a public interview, he does so with a specific purpose, and the goals he mentions on the show are proven to be reality in the near future.

Therefore, people wanting to interview Lin Ran are as numerous as fish crossing a river; this is not only about popularity, but also a symbol of status.

Being able to interview Lin Ran means you are a top influencer in the media, whether it's traditional media or independent media.

Tim was extremely excited when he learned that he would have another opportunity to do an interview.

Even for a top influencer on Bilibili, such an opportunity is rare.

He learned from Bilibili's official website that the interview was originally supposed to be done by Teacher Luo, but for some reason it ended up falling to him.

There aren't really that many reasons; it's simply because Lin Ran doesn't like Lao Luo.

"Hello everyone, I am honored to have the opportunity to interview Ran Shen. If you have any questions, please leave a comment below this post. I will ask the questions with the most likes during the interview."

Tim posted this on his channel feed.

"Want to know when the God of Burning will get married? I'm from Chengdu, male, is there still a chance?" These kinds of quirky comments always get the most likes in this postmodern society where everything can be deconstructed.

Questions about Lin Ran's personal life ranked in the top three in terms of likes, and it wasn't until the fourth question that things started to get serious.

"Ask the God of Fire, when are you going to put a nuclear weapons launcher on the moon? I want to see Hakimi breathe fire." (A slightly more serious tone, but still limited.)

"I'd like to ask if we dug up a lithography machine on the far side of the moon? Otherwise, how could we suddenly have mastered the national production line for 7nm?"

"Could you ask the God of Burning, when will the 5 million RMB lunar tourism project be launched? My wallet is ready."

"When will you launch a lunar tourism package for 50,000 yuan? Five million is still too expensive. Can you do what Lei Jun did and offer a 50,000 yuan package to make friends?"

Tim's posts not only received questions from Chinese netizens, but also from English and Japanese netizens, and netizens from other countries were also quite active.

The question that Japanese netizens are most concerned about is whether there is any possibility of cooperation, and whether it is possible for Japanese people to work at China's lunar base.

Here's a premise: Japanese people who frequent Simplified Chinese websites are generally friendly towards China, which is why they ask similar questions.

What American netizens are most concerned about is whether China will accept the G2 concept proposed by Mearsheimer, which involves establishing a G2 system on the moon with the North and South Poles as boundaries for non-interference.

Because of Big T's endorsement, Michelle Heimer, an expert who shines in the East but not in the West, received unprecedented attention in America.

This is also a trend of thought caused by reality.

Twenty years ago, with a weak China, a divided Soviet Russia, and Europe groveling at America's feet, no matter how many people endorsed Mearsheimer, he couldn't stir up any trouble.

The people of America are keenly aware of the military potential demonstrated by the lunar electromagnetic orbit during this space rescue operation.

Major television stations are discussing what we should do.

Turning our attention back to China, Tim didn't have much time to prepare in order to capitalize on this trend.

The recording of the show began three days later. Tim made ample preparations, spending almost all his time preparing the script in an effort to achieve perfection.

"Hello everyone, I am very happy and honored to have this interview opportunity. The person we are interviewing today has many legends about him. If we were to describe him in a game, his legend level would be absolutely off the charts."

A legendary status also means having many prestigious titles: Fields Medal winner, founder of Apollo technology, first person to walk on the moon in the 21st century, etc. Each of these titles represents an achievement that most people could not attain in a lifetime, yet he managed to possess them all.

However, his most common titles are the God of Burning and the God of Technology.

In the past, some people called him the Musk of China, but now such voices have disappeared, and he has ushered in a completely new era.

"Thank you to Ran Shen and Bilibili for giving me this opportunity to interview our all-powerful Ran Shen!" After saying a long opening statement to the camera, Tim turned around and applauded Lin Ran.

Lin Ran nodded: "Hello Tim, hello everyone."

Tim then received another round of applause. "Generally, interview programs need a title. Since I learned about this, I've been thinking about whether there's a suitable interview title."

Interview with the official launch of the "Steel Dragon on the Moon"? A year-long interview with the "Burning God"? An exclusive interview with the astronauts who saved America?

I racked my brains but couldn't come up with a suitable title, so I decided to give this opportunity to the "Burning God" himself and let him define our interview program.

Lin Ran smiled and said, "Tim, that's a good opening."

The reason I accepted the interview with Bilibili instead of CCTV was that I wanted us to be more relaxed. So, please put your script on the table. This is a relaxed and pleasant interview.

The topic this time is: The Moon, Mars, and the Solar System.

Tim reluctantly placed the script on the table in front of him. "Since the God of Burning has said so, what reason do I have to refuse? It's a great title, and one that I'm very interested in."

"Also, the main reason I can't relax is that if the show doesn't turn out well, netizens will criticize me mercilessly."

Lin Ran grinned and said, "Isn't this normal? You can't please everyone. I also have a lot of people criticizing me, asking why I'm so 'Wolf Warrior,' why I went to the moon, and why I don't give America face."

Tim looked empathetic: "I completely understand. It's true, it's impossible for everyone to like you."

But I'm still very curious about these criticisms.

Tim gestured for Lin Ran to feel free to make his own decisions on this matter, as he was not good at judging the degree of freedom.

The "degree" here refers not only to the scale of questions asked, but also to the scale of review.

Lin Ran said that some content could be broadcast, but he also said that it would have to be cut out when it was finally broadcast.

Lin Ran said quietly, "At first, when I returned to China, my Weibo account was dug up by someone, right? They said I was stupid and asked why I didn't stay abroad. At that time, I made Fields Medal-level achievements, which was to first use pure mathematical tools to make the unconditional limit of the twin prime conjecture 246, and then completely eliminate the twin prime conjecture using pure mathematical tools."

Then I chose to return to China and take a position at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. At that time, I received a lot of criticism on my Weibo account, with people saying I was stupid, that I would regret returning to China sooner or later, and that even Stephen Hawking had to be toasted in China, and that Xu Chenyang went to Princeton after only two years of teaching in China.

In short, I received a lot of very negative feedback from netizens on my Weibo account at that time.

Tim was a little shocked; he hadn't expected it to be so soon: "Burning God, I'm very curious about this ratio."

Lin Ran said, "Ninety percent, at least ninety percent, were negative comments, because you know, I was nobody back then. Although I made some impressive academic achievements, those were just academic achievements. People didn't remember me as a person."

Then, the people who found my Weibo were mostly netizens who were concerned about this matter. They probably just wanted to scold me, or remind me, or advise me not to return to China.

However, looking at the comments under related topics on Weibo, the vast majority of opinions are positive, welcoming people back to China.

Tim mused, "Hate is more powerful than love."

Lin Ran corrected, "No, no, no, both hate and love can generate power, but the power of hate is often more direct and destructive, while the power of love is more lasting and constructive."

These negative comments aren't directed at me, but at the country. I'm just a projection of their hatred, and they don't actually have any impact on me other than leaving comments in the comments section.

To love me is not to love me as an individual, but to love the contributions I can make to this country.

Hatred, at most, means not buying my products or supporting the manufacturers I work with; they can't have any real-world impact beyond spewing empty words.

But those who love this kind of thing are willing to spend real money. For example, the moon landing commemorative edition phone they released before sold very well, and even today, many people still want to collect one.

At Apollo Technology's annual meeting, many new employees didn't want anything else but a commemorative moon landing phone, the same one Huawei made right after the moon landing.

This is the power of love.

Tim continued, "Burning God, so were you frustrated at the time?"

Lin Ran shook his head: "Of course not. I know very well what I want to do, and what I want to do is something that America absolutely cannot do."

Just like I was in China, where I presided over the moon landing, the lunar base, and the lunar electromagnetic orbit. In America, could they let a Chinese person preside over these things?
Even if I could raise hundreds of billions of dollars from Wall Street and obtain capital support from Wall Street, a single order from the White House would render all of that meaningless, and I would have to hand over the company I founded and the career I created to someone else.

Even the president has to send his son to the boardroom of the company I founded to boss people around.

Compared to these existing pessimistic expectations, what are the negative comments on the Simplified Chinese internet backend? Lin Ran cited the recent news of Barron joining the TikTok board of directors.

Tim immediately understood. "Yes, I did some research before starting the interview. In highly sensitive industries like aerospace, Chinese students have been unable to even get into university since 19, and it's even more difficult for people of Chinese descent to get jobs at organizations like NASA and SpaceX."

Lin Ran explained, "Rules are set by people, and in practice they can be adapted flexibly. For me, I have proven my ability, and whether it is Bezos or Musk, they will find a way to help me solve the identity problem."

That's not really the problem. The biggest problem is why? Why should I work for America? In other words, if I hadn't returned home and had instead worked for America, there would be a base on the moon flying America's flag, America would be the one completing the electromagnetic orbit, and America would be the one executing the space interception.

What do you think would happen now?

After a moment's thought, Tim's expression turned very serious. "I would be very, very pessimistic. I would think that America's innovative ability is too strong, and I would wonder why someone as talented as Ran Shen would not return to work in China, but instead work in America."

Lin Ran said, "That's right, I'm Chinese. Why should I help America become great again? This is a white people's business. Why should I help white people build their country?"

I returned in the second half of 2020, when T was about to be elected, globalization had reached its end, and the global trend of turning to the right was already evident. I had no reason to work for America.

Lin Ran knew that if he gave an interview, it would definitely be translated into English and then uploaded to social media platforms such as YouTube, Twitter, TikTok, and Facebook.

He didn't forget to take a jab at Big T, echoing the Donald Party's accusations against Big T, implying that only diversity could save America.

“Most importantly, this land is home to my fellow countrymen. Everything I do gives me this sense of belonging that America could never give me,” Lin Ran concluded.

Tim has already started clapping in response to this expression of emotion.

He thought this was just a statement, a mix of genuine emotion and performance.

Little did they know that these were Lin Ran's heartfelt words, an emotional compensation in this timeline that he himself could not do in another timeline.

"So, Burning God, let's get back to space. There's so much to talk about there."

Because my life's dream is to go to Mars and hope to die on Mars, it seems that there will definitely be a Mars tourism project in my lifetime.

"Maybe we can even see it at the Martian Cemetery." Tim said, looking at Lin Ran with great anticipation.

Lin Ran nodded and said, "Going to Mars is not a difficult thing. In fact, I can say that if we make a plan this year, we will definitely be able to go to Mars within three years."

Tim feigned shock: "I remember when I interviewed Burning God last time, he told me that the moon is just a stepping stone for humans to reach the solar system."

Lin Ran replied, "That's right. Essentially, no matter which planet we want to go to in the solar system, it involves matter and calculation."

The optimal management of these two resources, together, determines the feasibility, efficiency, and ultimate survival rate of a task.

When breaking down matter, the power source, whether it's fossil fuels, electromagnetic thrust, or other forms of force, must provide enough power to escape the planet's gravity and, during interstellar travel, allow you to change course and enter a predetermined orbit.

Another very important point is that you need to be able to detect and avoid the countless asteroids and meteorites in the universe.

All of the above depend on a power source.

The term "mechanical" here refers to the fact that the spacecraft itself is stable enough not to fail due to high-energy cosmic particles or other electromagnetic storms, and can maintain its shape and land slowly during a soft landing.

For some planets with atmospheres, a heat shield is also needed to counteract the high temperatures caused by high-speed friction.

The moon is just for practice.

If you can't even manage the moon, how can you possibly build a Mars base?

From the moment the Iron Dragon on the Moon was built, we actually already had the ability to explore Mars.

Send probes and supplies directly from the moon to Mars, and accumulate success rate through the number of missions.

When our competitor NASA—if NASA can be considered a competitor—launches once, we can launch a hundred times.

The costs for both are roughly the same.

Lin Ran was too pessimistic; in reality, the ratio was far more than one hundred to one.

"So now NASA is also building a base on the moon, and Musk is also touting a lunar base," Tim chimed in at the opportune moment.

Lin Ran nodded and said, "That's right, because the moon has many natural advantages compared to Earth."

Even if we don't discuss the energy that can be used on the moon, just talking about the cost, launching an object from Earth to send it into a Mars transfer orbit requires an escape velocity of 9.3 km/s to overcome Earth's gravity, while on the moon that velocity is 2.4 km/s.

We use electromagnetic acceleration on the moon, which means that the spacecraft does not need to carry bulky rocket engines, large amounts of chemical fuel, and powerful thermal protection systems to withstand Earth's atmosphere.

Of course, Mars also has an atmosphere, but the density of the Martian atmosphere is only 1% of that of Earth. The heat shield it needs will be much simpler and lighter. Then, just like our Queqiao spacecraft, it can directly use lunar soil to create the required heat shield.

This means that the proportion of payload mass to total launch mass of a Mars spacecraft launched from the Moon can be greatly increased.

The weight originally intended for carrying fuel and structure can now be used entirely for scientific instruments, cargo, or human astronauts.

We should be able to use the Queqiao (Mass Mars Bridge) probe for some preliminary exploration of Mars in the second half of this year.

Tim immediately realized: "So the lunar electromagnetic orbit is very important?"

Lin Ran replied, "Of course, it is extremely important, and it is limited. To put it this way, even if technology advances and spills over, and everyone has the ability to go to the moon, perhaps every country can build some small bases on the moon, but the number of countries that can have electromagnetic orbit will be in the single digits."

"Why? Burning God, are you referring to technological blockade? Or the cost of construction? Theoretically, as long as the material and computational issues are resolved, any major power should be able to replicate this trajectory," Tim asked.

Lin Ran explained, "Because of heat dissipation."

An electromagnetic track is essentially a giant linear motor.

The instantaneous power required to accelerate a payload weighing several tons to a lunar escape velocity of 2.4 km/s within a mere twenty kilometers is staggering.

Even semi-superconducting coils generate enormous resistance losses and eddy current heat during the instant of an electromagnetic pulse.

On Earth, we can dissipate heat using water or air convection, but the Moon is a high vacuum.

Heat can only be dissipated through radiation, which is extremely inefficient.

Therefore, this involves the scarcity of available locations.

Our success relied on a unique combination of conditions: we built the orbit in the permanent shadow of Antarctica, where the natural ambient temperature provided a huge natural heat sink.

This allows our superconducting coils to be easily maintained below the critical temperature.

If the orbit were built on the equator or the sun-facing side, the required cooling system would be far too complex, and the coolant and energy consumption would be astronomical.

You can see the huge heat sinks on both sides of our track on Apollo Technology's official website.

That's already the maximum coverage that engineering and materials science can provide.

If heat dissipation is insufficient, the orbital will overheat and fail after several consecutive launches, or even the superconducting coil will melt.

This means that it is only possible to construct an electromagnetic orbit if a place with natural heat dissipation advantages, such as the permanent shadow region of Antarctica, can be found.

We've basically taken over Antarctica now, and the Americans have chosen to plant their flag in the Arctic. Where else can other countries choose? The far side of the moon? The biggest problem there is the difficulty of construction.

The far side of the moon is mainly rugged highlands, covered with craters of varying sizes, lacking the flat terrain of the near side.

Building an electromagnetic track several kilometers long with extremely high flatness requirements on uneven and rugged terrain would increase the difficulty of earthwork and structural engineering exponentially, and the time and resources required would be so great that I don't think any other country could do it.

Therefore, the moon is both enormous and minuscule.

In this century, the number of players on the Moon is very limited; in fact, I would say there are only two players: us and America.

Other countries, even if they have this idea, can only rely on China and America, and depend on the lunar infrastructure of these two countries.

(End of this chapter)