It's normal to develop some black technology in the future, right?

Chapter 355: Soul-touching Reflections

Both people recording the program are from NASA, and everyone knows how severe the current situation is facing NASA or the American manufacturing industry.

If the basic manufacturing industry can use industrial transfer as an excuse, then the high-end manufacturing industry, led by the aerospace industry, will never find an excuse.

The federal budget allocated to NASA alone is more than 20 billion US dollars each year.

And it does not mean that all aerospace-related research and development costs are paid by NASA. There are many military technologies involved, and the American Air Force will be involved.

For example, the research and development of vertical take-off and landing technology for aircraft was jointly invested by NASA and the American Air Force, and the specific research and development was carried out at Georgia Institute of Technology.

There are many similar cases.

NASA's $25 billion budget does not mean that this is the only amount invested in the aerospace field.

Therefore, the problem that America is facing now is that the low- and medium-end manufacturing industries have been transferred and cannot come back at all, while the high-end manufacturing industry is also facing collapse.

If the aerospace industry is like this, the military industry is naturally not much better.

Not to mention ten years ago, even five years ago, it would have been hard for the outside world to believe that America would be unable to bring people back after sending them to the space station, and that Boeing could not figure out how to do it.

Faced with this situation, Mark and Chris have completely different views.

Chris wants to put all the blame on minorities. In the past, the reason why NASA was invincible in the competition with Russia was that we were all white men. But now with the entry of minorities and women, everyone's research and development has begun to collapse across the board.

This can only be said now. If Chris had dared to say this before, he would never have received an order from NASA for even one million dollars.

Mark obviously disagrees with Chris:
“SpaceX is an exception, just like Light Armor Aerospace is an exception.

"Except for SpaceX, the quality of delivery from other suppliers NASA has found has been incredibly poor."

Mark seemed to have found some key information, "Wait, let me think about it."

Chris nodded. "Yes, you should think about it carefully. If there are no suppliers, NASA can't even compete with the European Space Agency, let alone the Chinese space agency."

Chris firmly refuted this view. What is the supplier issue? Isn’t my goal to become NASA’s rocket launch supplier?
If there are problems with the suppliers and NASA has to develop everything on its own, then should I still start a business?

After a five-minute pause, Mark clapped his hands and said, “I figured it out. It’s not the supplier’s problem.

There is something seriously wrong with our system.

We are now caught in a vicious circle where no one needs to take responsibility if process justice is achieved.

The development of the space suit began in 07 and was supposed to be completed in 10 years. However, not only did the budget increase by more than ten times, but the completion time was also delayed from 10 years to 24 years.

Is there anyone to blame for this? No.

The middle lawmakers said that this didn’t seem right and that we should conduct an audit and find out after the audit that no one had a problem. That’s why it takes so long, so let’s just get on with it.

There were repeated audits, meetings, budget increases and the completion of the node was postponed.

No one is responsible for this matter, and the legislators have not been replaced. You cannot blame the legislators because they are not responsible for this matter. They have fulfilled their obligations. They have not missed any of the audits, budget review meetings, and project discussions.

Should the supplier be blamed? No, the audit did not reveal any problems.

No one is responsible, our progress is just that slow.

Have you noticed? Whether it is NASA itself or the suppliers, we are now trapped in a vicious circle where process justice is not a problem.

It's not just us, the entire Western world is facing this dilemma.

As long as the process complies with regulations and can pass the audit, then each of us can get paid even if we do nothing every day.

Just like when I went home and asked my son how many points he got on the test, he told me he got a C. I was very angry because your father got A on every test in college.

I asked him what happened, and he said he tried hard, but there was no way.

I went to see the teacher, and the teacher gave me the same feedback. He said that my son works very hard in school and told me not to care about his grades. Grades are not important. What is important is that he grows up healthy and happy.

In order to find out whether my son is studying hard, I have to find his teacher privately and take some small steps to ask him how my son is doing in school.

Only then did he tell me the truth and said that he had not studied well at all and had never listened seriously in class.

That's right, parents in the entire Greater Bay Area, if you don't take your children to cram school in person and watch them at the door, whether they are in public or private schools, the teachers will only tell you that your child works hard and grades are not important.

You see, isn't this very similar to NASA? As long as there are no problems with any project during the audit, it doesn't matter if it is delayed for ten or twenty years, and no one needs to take responsibility.

We are now facing a vicious circle where there is no problem with process justice. Even if the entire project, from the R&D personnel at the bottom to the R&D director to the upper management, does not work seriously, no one will take responsibility for it. "

This touches the soul.

It's fine for everyone to talk about superficial issues, but when it comes to touching the soul, Mark, as a YouTuber, has no problem talking about it, but Chris, as an entrepreneur who still has to do business with NASA, must firmly refute such nonsense:
“No, no, no, we can see that it took only two years for SpaceX’s Falcon 9 to get the contract and launch for the first time, but it took seven years to launch successfully.

If the European space agencies had not purchased technology from Guangjia Aerospace, they would not have made any substantial progress until now," said Chris.

Mark shook his head: “It’s still the same logic, SpaceX is an exception.

Musk himself understands this. He can control every progress of SpaceX, and he will fire engineers who are not working without hesitation.

Can NASA or NASA's suppliers do this?

Musk can ensure that his subordinates do not fool him, but can Vanessa, the director of the Johnson Space Center, do the same as the example you just gave?
She couldn't do it because she knew nothing about spaceships.

One case that I remember very clearly is, do you know about the Psyche Project? "Psyche is an asteroid located in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. It is an extremely large metallic asteroid and is suspected to be the core of a planet. Ninety percent of its volume is made of metal, including iron, gold, platinum, etc., and is of great mining value.

Of course Chris knew it. To be precise, anyone involved in commercial space travel knew about Psyche.

The ultimate goal of all space mining is to mine metals from Psyche.

"I know. NASA's Psyche Project is to explore Psyche. I have reviewed that project as an expert." Chris was very proud.

Mark said: “I’ve been following that plan since it was launched.

In my opinion, being able to utilize the resources of Psyche means that we have officially entered the interstellar age. The entire commercial space industry is no longer a game of house, but has sufficient practical significance.

After Wright proposed space mining, I became more interested in NASA's plan to explore Psyche.

Wright's space mining is impossible to bypass Psyche. I am curious about who will be able to bring back ore from Psyche first, Wright or NASA.

We proposed to explore Psyche in 2015 and originally planned to launch it in 22 years, but it was repeatedly postponed. First, Psyche's test equipment, guidance system, and control system were all delayed.

In the end, it seemed to be delayed for more than a year, and in the end there was only a delay report, and no one had to pay any price.

The delay was only for more than a year, but the cost was the further delay of the Venus exploration program.

Psyche does not involve many new technologies. We have all worked at NASA, and we know very well that this is mainly a positioning problem. It uses a very mature solar electric propulsion system, and the only scientific instruments it carries are a multi-spectral imager, a magnetometer, and a gamma-ray spectrometer. However, it was delayed for more than a year.

During these four years, China has developed a high-precision and highly controllable electric propulsion system."

(The Psyche spacecraft is heading to Psyche. Can you find out which one is Psyche?)

Mark thought this was too bad. If China was not used as a reference, then all of this would be completely acceptable. After all, America was not good enough, and Europe and Japan were even worse.

But the problem is that now that we have China as a reference coordinate, we will have a sincere feeling of disappointment towards NASA.

"There's a reason for that, it was '22, when the virus was at its peak," Chris explained.

Mark said, "How about we make a bet on whether Guangjia Aerospace will bring back the ore from Psyche first, or NASA. Let's not use NASA as an example, any American commercial aerospace agency will do."

Chris doesn't want to gamble, but it's impossible not to gamble. After talking to this point, his identity in this program today is to stand on NASA's side: "What's the bet?"

"A solo trip on the Light Armor." Mark said, "They haven't opened up the Light Armor tourism program yet, but I believe that when America and China can bring back minerals from Psyche, the Light Armor will definitely have space tourism business."

Chris held out his hand: "Okay, high five as proof."

After the entire program was broadcast, it attracted widespread attention in the academic community, and knowledgeable people in America began to reflect.

Musk retweeted the show on Twitter: "Mark spoke my mind. Compared with China, no one is responsible for the delays in our project schedule."

Soon he added: "If NASA can be the first to bring back minerals from Psyche, I am willing to donate $10 billion to NASA in my personal name."

Originally, not many people paid attention to this video.

Not many people have the patience to sit through a long talk show, especially when the person being interviewed is not a well-known person. Chris's resume at NASA is not well-known to the outside world.

Mark mainly does popular science programs, and his audiences are obviously not very interested in his interviews.

Therefore, Musk’s first tweet did not cause much response. It was only after the second tweet that many people went to watch Mark’s interview in full.

After reading it, they felt that Mark’s speech really touched their hearts.

“Mark said it very well, I am tired of all the infrastructure construction projects being delayed, from small things like building a road in front of my house to large things like various railways, I have never heard of any project that has not been delayed.

The corresponding result is the ever-delayed construction schedule, the ever-increasing budget, the infrastructure projects that can never be completed, and the reality that no one needs to be held accountable for this. For the construction party who undertakes the project, I don’t have to bear any responsibility for the delay, but can get more financial budget from the state government. So why should I complete it on time? Isn’t it true that the longer you delay, the greater the benefits?”

"I agree with Mark. All companies that do business with the federal government are trying to get more money out of the federal budget. For them, delays are as easy as eating and drinking. Double the delay, and profits can double.

It’s just that this is not cost-free as the outside world says. There are still costs. When responding to investigations, you need to pay the auditors. Even so, it is still very profitable, with profits doubling, and the audit fees account for at most one-tenth of it.”

"What's even more frightening is education. While we emphasize happy education, China's education is trying every means to cultivate high-tech talents. We have completely lost in talent cultivation."

A lot of reflections began to emerge on Twitter surrounding this interview, pointing the finger at Washington, and believing that the current federal government is seriously ill.

There are also those who speak for the Federation:

"I work at McKinsey and have been responsible for the audit of more than one infrastructure construction project. I would like to say that it is normal for a project to be delayed, and it is abnormal if it is not delayed. You should not ask why the project is delayed. According to statistics, more than 90% of infrastructure construction projects will be delayed.

Project delays are rooted in the real world. Suppliers are late, labor mobilization is delayed, land acquisition and approvals are stymied, and unforeseen problems arise. Even if these problems can be reduced, they will not disappear. Mark’s complaints are baseless and only show that he has never managed a specific project.”

A McKinsey executive spoke up for the federation on Twitter, and soon the comments were full of criticism.

All the criticisms from Americans are focused on why the Chinese can do it.

"Why can China not delay the delivery? Or even deliver it earlier?"

"I'm sorry, but more than 90% of your infrastructure projects will be delayed. Does that include China's infrastructure projects?"

"Why can't you leave enough time for the entire project when making the budget and consider the redundancy in advance? If there is still a delay after leaving enough time, it is a problem with your management. If there is not enough time, it is a problem with your planning."

"We can accept delays, but what we cannot accept is constant postponements, repeated postponements."

(End of this chapter)