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

Chapter 406: The rescued astronauts being interviewed
The audience was very satisfied with the guests.

After Leonard's introduction, the three guests introduced themselves, and then Leonard began to dominate the entire show:

"Both of you have worked on the space station for a long time. In fact, to the outside world, our people have always believed that space travel is a waste of taxpayers' money. According to a previous New York Times survey, even in areas with a relatively high level of education such as Washington, D.C., 70% of the people believe that our funding for NASA is too high.

Could you two elaborate on the significance of the work of the space station from a more specific perspective?"

Megan and Will looked at each other and said, “For a long time, most of its work was no different from basic scientific research, whether it was space observation or cosmic exploration.

We once placed a dish of sticky aerogel outside the International Space Station for a whole year to capture micrometeorites in the solar system.

Eventually we discovered the presence of organic compounds in these meteorites, which are the building blocks of life.

But does it have any practical significance? Probably not.

Only a very small amount of research, such as medical research, can have practical significance for us.

Now the situation is different. We can see that China's space station is being operated externally and developed into a tourist project, which can receive 300 tourists a year.

If the International Space Station did not exist, we would have to start from scratch to build a space station in space. Now we have rich experience and can complete the construction of the space station based on the past and launch similar space tourism projects for Americans."

In reality, Americans are already tired of the unconditional high funding for NASA. Although NASA successfully returned to the moon this year, in contrast to China's international rescue efforts, public support for NASA has not increased but decreased.

"Science American", the name tells you that this is a program that tends to support scientific exploration. The host's position is also very clear, which is to make Americans realize again under his guidance that we should support NASA.

It is based on this position that they were able to invite these big names in the aerospace field.

After Megan finished speaking, Mark signaled to the host that he had something to say, and after getting permission, he said:
“For a long time, we have benefited from the research of Vannevar Bush, Roosevelt’s advisor in the field of science and technology in 1945. The research is called the policy report “Science: The Endless Frontier”, which promoted a close scientific research contract between the federal government and universities and successfully shaped a linear paradigm from basic research to applied research to technological innovation.

Our past technological leadership is due to this report. In the past, a large number of aerospace technologies have been applied in the civilian field.

There is no way for everyone to directly feel the impact of NASA's annual R&D investment on economic growth and improvement of people's quality of life, but it is real.

For example, the computer image enhancement technology developed during the Apollo moon landing program was used to process MRI images in hospitals; the chemical insulin pump was based on the technology used in the Mars rover, and later the kidney dialysis machine was developed through this insulin pump. There are too many such cases.

Instead of reducing our investment in NASA, we should increase our investment in NASA and university research in the face of direct competition from China.

If we cannot compete with China in the field of science and technology, then how can we compete with China? Is it to compete with the efficiency and working hours of engineers and workers on both sides? "

Mark's views are also the views of the Silicon Valley elites.

After coming to power, this White House failed to reduce the U.S. debt, but instead further pushed it up. Most of the money was invested in scientific and technological research and development, and in subsidies to companies. Boeing received the most subsidies, so much so that Boeing became a representative company of government subsidy concept stocks in the U.S. stock market.

"Mark's view is also the view of the scientists and engineers I have been in contact with. That is why we seem to fall behind China in an instant when we invest so much in research and development.

Is it true, as Musk said in his interview with Wright, that China has locked the upper limit of our technological development through its room-temperature superconducting technology?

If so, what should America do now to get out of this predicament? "

Mark had obviously thought about this issue seriously after his last reflection and had made adequate preparations before coming. He said:

"First of all, from an all-round perspective, we still have an advantage. It's just that China's strengths in room-temperature superconductivity are particularly prominent, so we think America is no longer good. But if we look at other areas, we are still ahead of China.

But China is catching up very quickly. Originally, we were probably at 90 and China was at 20. Now we are still at 90 and China has reached 70.

这其中有很多原因，第一点我们的研发投入在降低，我们在全球研发支出中的份额从2000年的近40%下降到2017年的28%，2018年研发投入更是下降至1955年以来新低，而华国在全球研发支出中的份额从2000年不到5%猛增到2017年的25%以上。

Judging from the data on paper publications and the total output of basic scientific research, our share is also declining, while China's is growing rapidly. Even in highly cited papers, that is, high-quality papers, China is maintaining rapid growth.

We invest less money and our scientific research efficiency is not as good as that of the Chinese, so we are naturally being caught up quickly.

In addition, cutting-edge scientific exploration is no longer just an exploration of a single field as it was in the past. Now more and more cutting-edge technologies require multidisciplinary collaboration, and require multi-dimensional open collaboration across departments, regions, and disciplines. The scientific community has begun to transcend the boundaries of traditional pure science and move towards a highly complex and open scientific ecosystem.

In the past, I could collaborate with professors from the same university, and then with professors from different universities. Now, university professors and corporate scientific research departments cooperate. However, our basic scientific research organizational structure, funding paradigm and reward mechanism are still mainly directed towards individual researchers, and the scientific research management model is still directed towards individuals. This is already outdated.

Our main competitor, China, under the leadership of Wright, has begun to adopt a scientific research sponsorship model led by enterprises and funded by the government. "

What this means is that the Natural Science Foundation gave Chen Yuanguang a certain share and let him decide which researchers to give the money to.

This sponsorship model has been debated in America for more than two years. The debate has been very intense, and American companies also want to take over the leading role.

The annual scale of China's Natural Science Foundation is 300 billion RMB, and the amount given to Chen Yuanguang is only 30 billion. It was 20 billion before, and now it has increased to 30 billion.

How much is America? In recent years, the federal government has invested nearly $500 billion in basic science research each year.

The companies would definitely like to take control of this money from the federal government. Wouldn't it be nice to use this money to support their own business-related research projects? This would mean an extra amount of research expenses.

Therefore, this kind of voice is the loudest among pharmaceutical giants and chemical giants.

The media they sponsor often bring up Chen Yuanguang's management of the Natural Science Foundation, saying that America's backwardness is due to its rigid scientific research investment mechanism.

The opposition naturally has a lot of power, mainly from the White House bureaucrats and academic law experts. The two sides have been fighting fiercely, especially in the past year.

Because the Elephant Party is about to step down. The Elephant Party, which is incompetent at everything it does, will step down next year. This White House was full of boasting before coming to power, but after taking office, it was incompetent at everything it did.

The biggest highlight, returning to the moon, has not only failed to become a highlight but has become a stain due to the crisis of the International Space Station.

The Elephant Party will support companies in managing scientific research funds. If the Donkey Party enters the White House, these companies will forget about it.

"So you support companies managing research funds?" Leonard asked quickly.

“No, I don’t know whether it would be better if companies took the lead, but I know that it’s time for our research funding model to change, but I don’t know how to change it.” Mark continued, “Our bigger crisis now is what you said, the distrust between the scientific community and society is getting worse.

Just like you said, even Washington, DC, has begun to distrust NASA and hopes to cut its high budget.

This relationship of distrust is rapidly reducing the public's trust in science and scientists. Open science is facing a serious crisis of trust. We need to reshape the scientific research contractual relationship of high mutual trust between universities, governments, industries and civil society.

Increasing investment, changing the dominant model of federal research funding and reshaping the research contract relationship are all indispensable, and this is what we need to do now."

Most of the audience members who were invited to the live broadcast by Columbia Broadcasting Corporation in New York were highly educated talents. After Mark finished speaking, the applause from the audience went from sparse to uniform.

"Mark's views are very inspiring. I hope the federal officials in front of the TV will listen carefully. This is not only aimed at NASA and American Aerospace, but also at all basic scientific research projects.

This reminds me that NASA's corporate competition model at least nurtured SpaceX, but the federal basic scientific research projects have not achieved outstanding results.

Will and Megan have both experienced accidents in the space station, especially Megan, who recently returned to Earth on a Chinese space shuttle. Can you tell us in detail about the ins and outs of this incident? "

Megan thought for a moment and said: "I was watching NASA's live broadcast of returning to the moon, and praying for my colleagues on their journey to the moon, hoping that everything goes well for them.

Not long after the starship was launched, the space station began to sound the alarm. We quickly arrived at the command module and found that all modules were on alarm. Judging from the alarm indication signal, there was an air leak.

Further investigation revealed that the air was leaking very quickly. The materials used to repair the leaks had pores in them, and the pores were expanding rapidly.

After we contacted the ground control center, they calculated that the oxygen content in the cabin would drop below the acceptable range for humans in about an hour.

The original plan was to use the repair materials in the space station to repair the two modules, and then close the airlocks between these two modules and the other modules. We waited for rescue in these two modules.

As a result, they did not last more than an hour. After half an hour, the air was so thin that it was difficult to breathe, and the door of the compartment used to store repair materials could not be opened because the air pressure changed too quickly.

We tried many ways to remove the repair materials but couldn't. Once the air leaks to a critical point, it will be useless even if the repair is completed successfully.

At this point we are facing the most difficult situation. The two oxygen tubes and emergency oxygen supply device contained in the space suit can only support 6.5 to 8 hours.

This means that the ground needs to complete the entire process from launch to docking in such a short time.

And the rescue spacecraft needs to be equipped with sufficient oxygen supply.

It would need to carry oxygen and then be able to rescue 12 astronauts at a time.

At that time, everyone kept silent but was still very pessimistic in their hearts.

Because this is an almost impossible task. Even if not all starships are used to carry out the mission of returning to the moon, it will still be difficult to save everyone.

Emotionally, I cannot accept that Furukawa Satoshi would make such a decision, but from a rational point of view, this is the only way for him to survive.

Then China's space shuttle came to carry out the rescue mission. The entire rescue mission went extremely smoothly. You know, not all astronauts have the opportunity to perform a spacewalk mission. Some of the astronauts had never performed a spacewalk mission even though it was not their first time to come to the space station.

I am one of them.

Fortunately, under Andre's leadership, everyone completed the space walk.

For me, the first time was walking along the surface of the space station into the Chinese space shuttle, which was obviously an unforgettable experience.

During the spacewalk, I compared the International Space Station and China's space shuttle as I walked. The space shuttle was really huge. Although I didn't have a God's perspective and couldn't see what I looked like at the time, I thought we should be like a string of ants, moving towards our destination.

On the contrary, I didn't feel much when I took the space shuttle to China's space station and then returned to Earth.

Because it was so quiet, unlike any aircraft I've ever been on.

It's as quiet as the International Space Station.

You know, the International Space Station orbits the Earth once every 92 minutes. That's a lot of speed and yet there's no sound. In a vehicle on Earth, there's a noise or vibration that makes you realize how fast you're going.

But on the International Space Station, there is no sound even at a speed of 2.7 kilometers per hour.

When we were on the International Space Station before, probably at the beginning of the mission, I was able to take some pictures of England. When I went to lunch, we were over Brazil, and when I came back from lunch, we were over the Himalayas.

The feeling of riding the space shuttle was similar to being on the International Space Station, and it was only when I got back to Earth that I realized it was a little too quiet.”

(End of this chapter)