Great Country Academician

Looking around the conference room, Mr. President, who was sitting at the head, spoke with a tired face.

"Everyone has heard Director Bilson's report. Our competitors have shown great ambitions in the aerospace field."

"From the initial manned landing on the moon to the lunar base and lunar biosphere projects, each project has fully demonstrated that they are determined to develop the aerospace field and the development of lunar resources."

"And now, they have set their sights on the even more distant Mars!"

"If they replicate their development on the moon and establish an outpost, then the United States, and even the whole world, will have to rely on others to develop in space."

"I need a countermeasure. If we don't take action, in the future space age, the moon and Mars, the two bridgeheads for humans to leave the earth, will all fall into the hands of China."

There was silence in the conference room.

China is about to land on Mars. For them, this is extremely bad news.

However, apart from keeping an eye on this matter and praying that the other party's landing operation fails, they don't seem to have any good other means.

Looking at this silent group of staff and executives, the face of Mr. T, the CEO sitting at the head, was full of disappointment.

During his two terms in office, he has spent countless hours and energy on making this country glorious again.

But often the development of the times does not stop at the will of an individual. Even if he is the president of the United States, it is difficult to reverse the situation in this era of rapid development.

In fact, he could only watch the opponent's rise without any solution.

After all, if it comes from the technological level, no matter how many administrative measures you use, it won't make much sense.

This is what they did before, but now it's their turn.

At this moment, Vice President Robert O'Brien, who was sitting next to him, said worriedly: "To be honest, the other party's development in the aerospace field is not what I am most worried about."

"Even if the other party lands on Mars or even builds a Mars base on Mars, it's not a big deal."

"Whether it is Mars or the moon, even if they try their best to develop it, they cannot be completely occupied in a short time."

"We still have enough time and opportunities in the future, whether it is developing our own aerospace technology or"

After a slight pause, he looked at the person sitting in the first place and continued: "To be honest, rather than continuing to invest a lot of money in the aerospace field to catch up with the other party, I would rather give up and continue to invest in the aerospace field on a large scale. investment.”

Upon hearing this, Director Bill Nelson quickly retorted: "Giving up investment in the aerospace field means we give up the entire future!"

"The arrival of the space age is inevitable. If the moon and Mars are lost, the two best transfer stations for exploring outer space, it will be difficult for the United States to re-emerge in the aerospace field in the future!"

Hearing this, Robert O'Brien looked at Bill Nelson and said solemnly: "Then do you have any way to change the current aerospace situation?"

"Is it relying on NASA or the space shuttle Endurance?"

"With all due respect, you may not want to admit it, but in fact, we have lost in the aerospace field!"

"Do you think that even if we restart the space shuttle, it will take several years to build a scientific research base on the moon like China that can accommodate at least a thousand people?"

"Or will it take years to send our astronauts to Mars?"

"The development of the Chinese on the moon and the lunar biosphere project they launched have won over most countries in the world, including Europe, Japan, South Korea, and even our allies such as the Maple Leaf Country."

"Today, it is impossible for us to use the space race to slow down the development of our opponents or even bring them down as we did in the last century."

"As time goes by, if we don't stop, it will only be ourselves who will be dragged down in the end!"

As this decisive voice fell, NASA Director Bill Nelson's face became extremely embarrassed.

He couldn't refute any of this, not even one of them.

As Robert said, their development in the aerospace field has lagged far behind their opponents on the other side of the Pacific.

At this stage of the development of the space race, they are the only ones who are slowly being dragged down.

After all, China is supported by controllable nuclear fusion technology, and cheap energy means that the other country's complete industrial system can continuously operate like a huge machine.

Today, they still rely on traditional fossil fuels such as oil, coal, and natural gas, and it is almost impossible to compete with each other.

But for Bill Nelson, he does not want to give up investment in the aerospace field just like this. After all, it is related to his own status and interests.

Taking a deep breath, he looked at the Vice President and said, "We still have a lunar elevator project!"

"As long as this plan starts smoothly, I believe we can move back at least once in the next space competition!"

Hearing this, Robert couldn't help but interrupt directly: "Let's not consider the difficulty of the lunar elevator project. Just how much money is needed to start this project is a super problem."

"According to NASA's previous assessment, if we want to build a lunar ladder on the moon that can handle personnel, supplies and mineral mining, we will need at least 100 billion meters of gold!"

"That's a full 100 billion!"

"Do you think the United States can still invest so much money in a project that will not see any return in ten or even twenty years?"

"Don't think about it. Even if we can convince our allies in Europe, Japan, South Korea, and even Tsarist Russia to invest 100 billion in the space elevator project, this project will still be difficult to achieve."

"Especially now, we are not the leading country in aerospace technology."

"Didn't you see that even our allies followed the Chinese people in the lunar biosphere project?"

"Even if the lunar space elevator is feasible, it is an extremely difficult project to realize with our current technical reserves."

After a slight pause, Robert O'Brien glanced around the conference room and continued in a calm voice.

"If it were before the breakthrough of carbon-based chip technology, we would still have some confidence to continue investing in technology research and development in the aerospace field."

"But now, the semiconductor field is about to lose, which is more painful than the loss in the aerospace field. What we need now is to find ways to try our best to collect expenses and survive in the changes of this era, rather than continue to compete with opponents in the aerospace field. "

"I suggest ending this meaningless space competition as soon as possible and focusing our energy on new technological fields."

"Only new breakthroughs in new technology can solve our current predicament!"

Hearing these words, the man sitting at the head with still cool hair nodded, worthy of being his personally appointed deputy.

In his opinion, competition in the aerospace field is indeed no longer necessary. For the current United States, this is an area that wastes people and money and is difficult to reap equivalent returns in the short term.

Although the development of aerospace technology can be applied to fields such as national defense and military affairs, this is obviously not the case for manned spaceflight and extraterrestrial exploration.

After thinking for a while, Mr. General T's eyes fell on Robert and asked: "If you want to choose a technological field that can lead the rise of the United States again, which direction do you think it will be?"

Hearing this question, Robert O'Brien replied without thinking: "AI intelligence!"

"Tell me what you think."

Robert nodded and continued: "First of all, in terms of basic research, core technology, talent training, etc., we are in a leading position in the field of AI intelligence, such as Stanford University, MIT, University of California, Berkeley, and Carnegie Mellon Universities and others have a long history and profound accumulation in the field of artificial intelligence.”

"Coupled with the fact that companies such as OpenAI, Google DeepMind and NVIDIA are all industry leaders in AI intelligence, we have enough foundation and confidence to quickly complete the blueprint construction of AI intelligent infrastructure!"

"Breakthroughs in controllable nuclear fusion technology, whether it is the large-scale fusion power stations built in California or Texas, can help us solve the biggest power problem in AI intelligent training!"

"The most important thing is that when China has caught up with or even overtaken us in the fields of energy, aerospace, chips and other fields, AI intelligence is currently the only direction that can help us win this war!"

"After all, modern society is inseparable from intelligent products. From aerospace and military to car and mobile phones for personal use, a lot of intelligence is needed."

"This is also a scientific research direction in which we are currently ahead of China and have great potential."

When Robert's analysis was put on the table, most people in the conference room nodded in agreement, with looks of approval in their eyes.

It has to be said that AI intelligence does have such potential.

Today, with the rapid development of informatization, almost all electronic devices are inseparable from intelligent systems.

Even for a small timer self-starting switch, today's engineers are eager to design various intelligent systems in it, let alone other fields.

And as a technology that simulates human intelligence, AI intelligence can enable machines to learn, think and make decisions like humans, so that they can perform various tasks autonomously.

From the perspective of modern society, this is productivity.

It can automate and optimize many tedious, repetitive or complex tasks, significantly improving work efficiency.

Deep learning and machine learning algorithms can also be used to quickly process and analyze large amounts of data, generate accurate reports and plans, reduce manual errors, improve work quality, and more.

Even when AI intelligence is enhanced to a certain stage, it is not impossible to use it to control high-temperature plasma turbulence in controllable nuclear fusion.

After all, as long as you have enough computing power, there is nothing that AI intelligence cannot do.

For the United States today, this is indeed the most suitable area to invest.

In the conference room, Director Bill Nelson looked solemn and asked: "What about aerospace? Are we just going to watch China occupy the moon and Mars bit by bit, and then we will have no place to stay in the future?"

Hearing this question, Robert rubbed his head with a headache.

Sighing, he looked at Bill Nelson and said, "If we can't drag down our opponents in the field of aerospace, or slow down their development, we will even hinder our own development to a certain extent."

"Then my opinion is to end this competition!"

Hearing this, Mr. T, the general manager at the first place, looked over and frowned and said, "End this competition?"

Robert nodded and said, "Yes, end this space competition!"

Take a deep breath, his eyes fell on Bill Nelson, director of NASA, and continued.

"I know this is really hard to accept, especially in the field of aerospace, where we have been leading for more than half a century."

"But if we want to get out of this quagmire and save the United States, then we must do this."

"End this space competition, abolish the Wolf Clause and the Competition Act, at least to ensure that the two sides are no longer in opposition to each other, and the two countries can cooperate in the field of space."

"Admit it, we have indeed fallen behind China in the field of aerospace."

"Whether it is the European Union, Tsarist Russia, or other countries in Southeast Asia, they all see it more clearly than us. Only we are still obsessed with the glory of the past."

"For us now, at least cooperating with China in the field of space is the best choice."

"Including their biosphere project, there is only one month before it will be officially launched. If we want to join before then, we have to take action as soon as possible."

There was silence in the conference room.

Bill Nelson, director of NASA, opened his mouth and hesitated.

Perhaps giving up competition and restoring relations to cooperate is the best choice, but for him, this decision is a bit too cruel.

If we really want to restore the cooperation with China in the field of space, then NASA must have someone to take the blame.

After all, someone has to take it all, right?

No one is more suitable than him as the director of the space agency. Perhaps his deputy Gerstenmaier may be more suitable to take over this "mess".

After all, he has always advocated that the forces of various countries should be united in the era of space exploration.

After a long silence, Mr. T, who was sitting in the first seat, finally sighed and spoke weakly.

"That's it. Although space travel is our glory, it is obviously more important to survive now."

"Director Bill, the rest of the work is up to you."

"I need you to perfect a plan as soon as possible to repair our relationship with China in the field of space travel. At least, we need to participate in the next lunar biosphere project and Mars development."