Chapter 257 Bet
"This robot is good. How is it used in space?"
"It's average. It's definitely not as efficient as a multi-legged robot, but the advantage is that it should have a long lifespan. It can last up to 10 years under high-intensity activities. Humanoids still have an advantage."
At the B-level base, the boss's hands were touching the prototype of the Warrior II, and he would pull the joints from time to time to try to move it a few times.
When the No. 1 Warrior I was displayed at the air show, the space agency involved in the Explorer series of robots realized that Xinyuan's robot technology had made significant progress.
With the fluency of Warrior I, it must have the assistance and advance calculation of AI. Simple one-to-one signal synchronization can't be that flexible.
So when Lin Ju returned to Xinyuan to personally supervise the H2M offline, several people from the Aviation Development Commission also took a special plane to the B-level base.
The Warrior II robot is not much different from the Warrior I in terms of technology. It has only been specially processed and is a verification machine for working in the lunar environment.
The problem that machines working on the moon often face is the annoying charged moon dust, and the movable joints cannot be completely sealed, so it is easy to gradually age due to the increase in working time, increasing the failure rate.
The Explorer series robots also have such risks, and the solutions are only the traditional means. Anyway, the Explorer series is positioned as a cheap consumable. The early prospecting spiders can survive 400 working days and win.
Although the Warrior series humanoid robots are also criticized for their efficiency and flexibility not being as high as the alien robots, their great advantage is that they can wear space suits.
The range of joint movement of the human body structure is far less than that of alien robots such as Explorers, so a simple space suit can solve the moon dust problem and greatly extend the service life.
Lin Ju only heard from the engineers later that the reliability was improved by accident.
After Warrior II, there will be Warrior III and IV. After testing multiple series of ground engineering prototypes, the official version will be sent to the moon.
The boss turned his eyes to the Warrior I type not far away, which absorbed a huge amount of human movement samples and was trying to walk like a polio patient, but tripped and fell to the ground.
In fact, the military is more interested in this stuff than the space agency.
Modern warfare has been updated and iterated for many versions. Classic army tactics such as trench line shooting, armored cluster charge, and artillery coverage have gradually been restrained by various high-tech weapons, leaving only the last bastion: urban street fighting.
For example, in overseas peacekeeping missions to rescue refugees, the locations are all in the maze-like slums inside. The militants are mixed in and cannot be confirmed at all. If you are not careful, there will be bomb vests and boy scouts attack.
Commonly used drones and cruise missiles can only be limited in use to avoid accidental injuries. Tanks and armored vehicles are not flexible enough, and the main advancement still depends on infantry.
Technology is changing with each passing day, but the flesh is still flesh. The flesh that could be killed by stone axes a million years ago is still unable to resist now.
No matter how sophisticated the army is, once it is caught in street fighting, the exchange ratio is extremely heavy.
Most of the robots that can be used now are tracked or micro drones. They have some effects but the tactical effects also have shortcomings. They are still not flexible enough and cannot keep up with the mobility speed of infantry. The limitations are not small.
Humanoid robots are different. They can be treated as undead comrades who can help you clear mines, disguise themselves as real people to attract firepower, and easily replenish weapons and ammunition.
He told Lin Ju about the potential military use of the Warrior series, and the latter thought for a while and shook his head:
"The Warrior series is autonomously controlled by AI. If it loses the Internet connection during frontline combat, it means that the deprivation of life is fully handed over to AI. It is hard to say whether it is a blessing or a curse, and how big the impact is;
In fact, the best is still a mechanical exoskeleton, but there are too many troubles to use it on Earth."
Boss: "Are you also studying this?"
"Of course." Lin Ju took out the tablet inside the base and found a few sketches of exoskeleton space suits.
"Or the moon. One-sixth of the mass can greatly reduce the power consumption of the exoskeleton while being able to carry a fairly heavy battery. The overall pressure is lighter than that of the earth. It will be practical in the next two or three years.
On Earth, energy is still a huge problem. The basic activity time of 24 hours cannot be guaranteed."
"Batteries..."
The boss thought that this was indeed a big problem, and the cost of using space was much higher than that on the ground. Tens of millions were considered cheap. It was too expensive to distribute to the army. Ten robots or exoskeletons could probably catch up with the cost of a synthetic battalion.
But what does this have to do with him sending people to the sky? He is not sending people to the west.
Speaking of sending people to the sky, the boss remembered that Amei had done a big job yesterday.
I don't know if that John wanted to imitate Kennedy. He actually borrowed the "we choose to go to the moon" from Melo Zong in a TV debate and made a "we choose to go to the Mars".
This is really fun. The competition between the Artemis Program and the Dawn Program is different from the last space race. The honor of both sides is not as important as before. Both sides are more pragmatic. Anyway, the first place is long gone.
The purpose of landing on the moon is the resources on it. After all, according to the scientific research progress of various countries around the world, controllable nuclear fusion will definitely succeed within this century, and it is basically certain that it will be possible before 2050. Therefore, we should compete on the moon landing to occupy the three helium ores in advance. and rare earths make sense.
Mars is different. First of all, there are no ore resources of great appeal there. Even if there are, unless they can make people live forever or reach the sky in one step, it is not worth paying the price to transport them all the way back.
Colonization is even more unnecessary. If you send 1,000 people to Mars and establish a permanent settlement, you can easily place 1 million more people on the earth. The population pressure of the earth has not yet reached that point.
Obviously, John wants to use the Mars race to return the situation to the path of incompatibility and honor over practicality of the last century.
But, will it?
Thinking of this, the boss casually treated this as an interesting thing and started chatting with Lin Ju.
Lin Ju:......
He could only say that it was expected that a redneck would do something like this, and people from all walks of life actually had a boss-like attitude toward his speech about landing on Mars.
What's more, no one, including John himself, believed he could win.
Lin Ju himself can’t say. The world line has been disturbed for two years. It’s completely unpredictable who the two candidates, John and Diane, will be. The traditional view is that Diane has a much greater chance of winning.
But...if he really comes up, maybe there will really be a manned spacecraft competition.
Now the boss doesn't pay attention because he thinks John is just here to make up the numbers and there is no way he can be selected. Ami, led by Diane, is as pragmatic as Hua Guo.
But if John really promotes the "Ares" plan to colonize Mars, will anyone support it?
We don’t know the public opinion of America, but the huge military-industrial complex, which has been whetted by the Artemis plan, will definitely!
During the last race to the moon, a large number of supporting small companies that relied on the Apollo program to make a living closed down after the Apollo program was terminated. Countless people lost their jobs. The military-industrial complex could no longer absorb the huge amount of funds needed to launch a Saturn V aircraft carrier battle group.
In order to obtain profits, they promoted the even more expensive Star Wars project and built a space shuttle that cost a total of 200 billion U.S. dollars. You must know that a monthly salary of two to three hundred U.S. dollars in that era could support the life of a family of five. Now it's trillions.
Later, the alliance disintegrated, but they still allowed Xiao Hei to approve the "Constellation" plan to return to the moon. The Ares 1 rocket made a crazy amount of 3 billion US dollars, and caught up with the economic crisis, Xiao Hei decisively axed it.
The Artemis project launched during the space race has perfectly filled the appetite of the military-industrial complex. This year alone, there are nearly 100 billion US dollars in funding, which is enough for everyone to get satisfactory benefits.
But the Artemis plan only has six missions, what happens after that?
What to do with the industry that Artemis plans to re-support, what to do with the employees, and more importantly, what to do if the complex is gone?
The boss at that time must solve this problem, otherwise there will be no stability, and the military-industrial complex will make choices that are in their interests.
Colonize Mars with 1,000 people? Regardless of whether it can be achieved, it will definitely require a lot of money.
The cost of the Artemis project may be less than a fraction of the "Ares" project. How tempting is this prospect?
Landing on Mars is a good thing for them!
What happened to the Fed's money printing press and the military-industrial complex's wallet? What the unscrupulous people suffered was the price inflation caused by the release of water, but their wealth actually increased.
And once the Ares project is successfully launched, will the space agency follow suit?
Lin Ju tentatively asked the boss this question, and the latter smiled lightly and waved his hand:
"Impossible, absolutely impossible. The American people may be more impulsive, but the elites are rational. Diane must be the boss. How could it be possible for John?
Xiao Lin, this is because you are young. John is running with you in this election, so he can say whatever he wants without having to bear the consequences. It’s November 4th now, right? The election starts tomorrow, and the results will be out on the 8th, so we will know the outcome soon. "
"Then, if Ami really wants to carry people to the fire..."
"Is that so?" Seeing that Lin Ju still wanted to ask, the boss touched his chin and thought carefully:
"2024? That means sending humans to Mars within his eight-year term? Hmm... Even if Artemis plans to land on the moon for the first time in 2019, it must launch a Mars probe in 2018 and an unmanned spacecraft in 2020. The supplies and returning spacecraft will be sent over, and the spacecraft will be launched in 2022, so that it can land on Mars in 2024.
Basically, the moon landing and the space landing are carried out at the same time. This pressure... Unless the follow-up mission of the Artemis plan is postponed, it is impossible. "
Lin Ju: "..."
Forget it, the Advance will definitely be ready by then. It will be no problem serving as a Mars spacecraft. It will definitely not fall behind.
Besides, it’s not certain whether the much-loved golden retriever boss will appear.
"Boss, why don't we make a bet? I bet that John can be chosen, and I'll bet on an Explorer 2 robot, which was launched in December.
As for you, if you lose, take the special tea given by your superior behind the bookshelf..."
The boss raised his eyebrows: "Good boy, I will accept this bet. If that golden retriever can be the boss, I will personally give you a tael!"
Lin Ju: Thank you for the tea, boss!