Can we catch up with China in the aerospace field in the short term?
Director Bill Nelson suddenly felt a headache when he heard this question.
After thinking for a while, he said bitterly: "If we want to catch up with China in the aerospace field, especially in the field of electric propulsion, the problem we need to solve is not the electric propulsion engine itself."
"In fact, after we joined forces with MIT, Argonne National Laboratory and other research institutions to focus on research on electric propulsion engines, we found that large-scale application of superconducting materials can indeed enable electric propulsion engines to have huge thrust
of."
"But the crux of the matter is energy supply."
Taking a deep breath, he continued: "The electric propulsion engine consumes a huge amount of electricity when operating. If it is used on the space shuttle, except for a miniaturized controllable nuclear fusion reactor, there is probably no other method for the time being."
"In this regard, we currently have not even conquered controllable nuclear fusion technology."
In fact, it has to be admitted that in the field of aerospace, especially in the space shuttle, they have lagged behind this opponent for a long time.
After the Xinghai Research Institute successfully pushed the space shuttle into space through the aerospace engine, NASA teamed up with other companies and universities in the United States to launch research on electric propulsion engines.
On the basis of forcibly applying high-performance superconducting materials and expanding the size of the electric propulsion engine, their electric propulsion engine technology has actually made considerable progress.
But the key to the problem is not the electric propulsion engine, but the device that provides a continuous supply of huge electrical energy to the electric propulsion engine.
On the ground, they can pull a wire from the power station.
But on the space shuttle, where do they go to pull strings?
According to their current application of electric propulsion engines using superconducting materials, the only thing that can provide such a huge amount of electrical energy is a controllable nuclear fusion reactor.
Perhaps a miniaturized fission reactor can also be used, but a fission reactor requires too much supporting equipment.
NASA still doesn’t know how the Xinghai Research Institute applied the fusion reactor to the space shuttle.
Perhaps the key to miniaturization lies in the stellarator Helix-7X that China obtained from the Germanic countries. The technical requirements are not that difficult.
But the problem is that they currently don't even have control of large-scale controllable nuclear fusion technology, let alone miniaturization.
After hearing this, the new president reached out and pinched his eyebrows, and said impatiently: "Are we just going to watch them occupy the moon?"
Director Bill Nelson exhaled, shook his head, and said, "Of course not."
Hearing this, everyone else in the conference room looked over.
Nelson thought for a while, organized his words and said: "I believe everyone here has seen China's ambitions in the aerospace field."
"Whether it is space or the moon, they have now become resources in their bowl."
"As Mr. President said, we cannot just watch them occupy the moon and exploit the resources on the moon."
"So I have two suggestions for this!"
After a slight pause, he glanced around the conference room and continued: "First of all, according to the "Moon Agreement", the moon belongs to all mankind, and all people in all countries have the right to develop and inherit it.
"
"At this point, we can use the media and publicity to form an advantage in public opinion."
"I believe that besides us, our other allies will also be happy to support us."
"After all, only China can develop the moon now."
"If they are allowed to continue to develop on the moon, the gap will only widen. Moreover, some resources on the moon, such as lunar ice, minerals that are easy to mine in shallow layers, etc. are limited."
"We can make a fuss about this and ask them to stop developing the moon to delay time."
Hearing this method, Mr. President, who was sitting at the head of the table, nodded and agreed: "This method is fine. What about the second suggestion?"
Using public opinion to attack and suppress opponents has always been one of their best methods.
In particular, most of the world's mainstream media are in their hands. It is no exaggeration to say that no country can compete with them in this area.
Upon hearing the inquiry, Bill Nelson took a deep breath and continued: "There is a saying in China that 'to make iron, you need to be strong.'"
"The same is true in the field of scientific and technological development. We cannot expect others to always maintain a backward level. We need to suppress it, but our own improvement is also necessary."
"Just like in the chip field, we have joined forces with allies in Europe, East Asia and other regions to establish a stable order."
“And we can do it in the aerospace field too!”
"Although we are lagging behind our competitors now, I believe this is only temporary."
"With our background in the aerospace field, it is not impossible to catch up. Now the opportunity is in front of us."
"Since the authenticity and feasibility of the lunar space elevator project are extremely high, we naturally need to invest a certain amount of resources in research. It is best to involve European allies and countries such as Tsarist Russia. I believe they will not give up this opportunity."
"Sometimes it is not a shame to cross the river by touching your opponent. In recent years, haven't there been too many countries in the East that have followed the path we have walked and developed?"
"Even the space shuttle, they imitated us!"
Although he was not very optimistic about the development of the lunar space elevator project, he vaguely felt that it might be a trap.
But for NASA and the United States, they no longer have many options.
At present, they urgently need a victory in the aerospace field.
Especially after they were kicked out of the lunar biosphere project like never before.
Although through public opinion reports, they have minimized the impact of this incident as much as possible.
But their time is running out.
Their opponents are developing faster and faster in the aerospace field. If they cannot catch up as soon as possible, the consequences will be quite serious for NASA and the United States.
It may even completely lose its influence in the aerospace field.
Moreover, his term has been almost five years. If he can no longer produce some results, the chance of continuing to serve as the director of NASA's space agency is undoubtedly very slim.
Rather than doing nothing and finally getting out in despair, it is better to give it a try in the last minute of your term.
The lunar space elevator was proposed by Professor Xu Chuan. If it was something he was not sure about, he would definitely not do it.