I ask you to build tractors, but you build rockets?

"This robot is great. How about using it in space?"

"In general, the efficiency is definitely not as high as that of multi-legged robots, but the advantage is that the lifespan should be quite long, up to 10 years under high-intensity activities. Humanoids still have advantages."

At the B-level base, the boss's hands were stroking around on the Warrior II prototype, and he would pull the joints from time to time to try to move them.

When the Warrior I No. 1 machine was displayed at the air show, the space agencies involved in the Explorer series of robots realized that Xinyuan robot technology had made significant progress.

With the smoothness of Warrior 1, there is definitely AI-assisted cooperation and advance calculation. Simple one-to-one signal synchronization cannot be as flexible at all.

So when Lin Ju returned to Xinyuan and prepared to personally supervise the rollout of H2M, several people from the Aviation Development Committee also took a special plane to visit the B-level base.

The Warrior II robot has no major technical changes from the Warrior I. It is just customized and is a verification machine for working in the lunar environment.

A common problem faced by machinery working on the moon is annoying charged moon dust, and the movable joints cannot be completely sealed. It is easy for them to gradually age and increase the failure rate due to the increase in working time.

The Explorer series robots also have such risks, and the solutions are only traditional methods. Anyway, the Explorer series is positioned as cheap consumables. If the little spider that prospected in the early stage can survive 400 working days, it will be considered a victory.

Although the Warrior series humanoid robots are also criticized for not being as efficient and flexible as alien robots, their huge advantage is that they can wear space suits.

The range of joint movement of human body structures is far less than that of alien robots such as Explorers, so putting on a simple spacesuit can solve the problem of moon dust and greatly extend the service life.

Accidental collisions improved reliability, Lin Ju only heard what the engineers said later.

Warrior II will be followed by Warrior III and IV, and various series of ground engineering prototypes will be tested before the official version is sent to the moon.

The boss turned his attention to the Warrior Type I not far away who had absorbed a huge amount of human movement samples and was trying to walk like a polio patient, but he tripped and fell to the ground.

In fact, the military is more interested in this thing than the space agency.

Modern warfare has been updated and iterated for N versions. Classic army tactics such as trench line shooting, armored group charge, and artillery fire coverage have gradually been restrained by various high-tech weapons, leaving only the last fortress: urban street fighting.

For example, overseas peacekeeping missions to rescue refugees are located in slums that are like a maze inside. Militants are mixed in and it is impossible to identify them. If you are not careful, you will be attacked by bomb vests and boy scouts.

Commonly used drones and loitering bombs can only be used in a limited manner to avoid accidental damage. Tanks and armored vehicles are not flexible enough, and the main advancement still relies on infantry.

Technology is changing rapidly, but the body is still the body. The body that a stone ax could kill a million years ago is still unable to resist now.

No matter how sophisticated the army is, once it falls into street fighting, the exchange ratio is extremely heavy.

Most of the robots that can be used now are crawler-type or micro-unmanned aerial vehicles, which are useful but have shortcomings in tactical effectiveness. They are not flexible enough and cannot keep up with the maneuvering speed of infantry. They also have many limitations.

Humanoid robots are different. They can be used as undead comrades to protect you from mines, disguise themselves as real people to attract firepower, and can also easily replenish weapons and ammunition.

He presented the potential military uses of the Warrior series to Lin Ju, who thought for a while and shook his head:

"The Warrior series is autonomously controlled by AI. If the Internet is lost during frontline operations, it means that all the deprivation of life is given to the AI. Whether it is a blessing or a curse, and how big the impact will be is hard to say;

In fact, the best thing is the mechanical exoskeleton, but there are too many troubles in using it on the earth. "

Boss: "Are you also studying this?"

"Of course." Lin Ju took out the tablet inside the base, searched for it and came up with several sketches of exoskeleton space suits.

"Let's talk about the moon. One-sixth the mass of the exoskeleton can greatly reduce the power consumption of the exoskeleton and can carry a very heavy battery. The overall pressure is lighter than that of the earth. It can be put into practical use in the next two to three years.

On Earth, energy is still a huge problem, and basic activity duration of 24 hours cannot be guaranteed. "

"Battery..."

The boss thought that this is indeed a big problem, and the cost of using space is much higher than that on the ground. Tens of millions is considered cheap. It is so expensive to distribute it to the army. It is estimated that ten robots or exoskeletons will cost It can match the cost of a synthetic camp.

But what does this have to do with what he sent people to heaven? He is not sending people to the West.

Speaking of sending people to heaven, the boss remembered that Ami had a big job yesterday.

I don’t know if that John wanted to be like Kennedy, but he actually borrowed Melody’s “we choose to go to the moon” in one of the TV debates and made up “we choose to go to the Mars”.

This is a lot of fun. The competition between the Artemis Project and the Dawn Project is different from the last space race. The honor of both sides is far less important than before, and both 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 towards 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 do it!

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 Federal Reserve's money printing press and the military-industrial complex's wallet? The unscrupulous people suffered from 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 the 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'll accept this bet. If that golden retriever can be the boss, I'll personally give you a tael!"

Lin Ju: Thank you for the tea, boss!