Chapter 343 - 335: Presenting Moon Soil_1

On March 9th, the Dawn 2 spacecraft’s command module breached the atmosphere and, carrying four mannequins and storage tanks, landed on the vast grasslands.

Even before the command module touched down, the helicopter search and rescue team had pinpointed its location, and less than 5 minutes after it landed, rescuers clad in orange gear rushed towards it.

A group of people couldn’t wait to pry open the hatch, disregarding the residual heat on the surface of the command module as they quickly entered, immediately spotting the securely wrapped storage tanks.

The first rescuer to enter tentatively lifted the handle on the metal strap but failed to budge it.

In the end, it took two people working hard to carry the storage tank onto a stretcher, then promptly flew to the Capital under the precious watch of the Aerospace Development Committee’s experts to begin the opening process.

After 10 hours of emergency work, they finally tallied up the retrieved samples’ weight:

The mass of the ice chunks, Moon rock, and Moon soil inside the tank totaled 78.452 kilograms, the Moon soil attached to the exterior of the tank and the metal woven bag: 41.3 grams, along with some microparticles and gravel.

In total, 78.4933 kilograms, roughly equivalent to 157 pounds, the weight of an adult in Moon soil!

pounds!

The Apollo program altogether brought back 382 kilograms of Moon soil, America gifted 1 gram as a present, and the domestic distribution of half a gram led to 14 reports.

Now, with roughly 78.5 kilograms of Moon soil, all national scientific research institutions can have a share, 10 grams per person!

And this 78.5 kilograms of Moon soil is arguably more valuable than the 382 kilograms brought back by the Apollo program, as the Explorer robots collected it from various different spots, containing precious samples like ice blocks, which are strategic resources.

It’s foreseeable that there will soon be another surge in the literature on the Moon’s geological resources, and humankind might step up a level in its study and understanding of the Moon’s resources and geology.

The same day the Moon soil returned to Earth, Lin Ju and Ye Changsi took an ARJ21 flight to Beijing. Why not a high-speed trainer jet? Because they were teased by their superiors...

Returning to the main topic, there is a plan for how the 78.5 kilograms of Moon soil will be allocated by the Aerospace Development Committee. Due to the indispensable achievements of the Explorer Series Robots, the base will also get a considerable share of the samples.

The distribution ratio is 7:3, but it’s not publicly announced, and you can just take the different types of samples back quietly.

However, the distribution of Moon soil is more of a formal gesture, as the real value in terms of research is quite limited; it’s better to just take the results after others have finished their research to formulate plans.

As for the allocation of Moon soil to New Yuan, Lin Ju had already arranged for its distribution: part of it went to cooperative schools, another part to the base’s research, and the remaining little bit to be displayed in a glass cabinet... and that was that.

After all, in the foreseeable future, Moon soil isn’t anything rare. Forget 78.5 kilograms, they could do 7,850 kilograms. America giving away 1 gram of Moon soil was purely to show off their prowess.

Nevertheless, the Aerospace Development Committee immediately convened a ceremony to receive the Moon soil and, thanks to the exceptional performance of the Explorer Series Robots, also took advantage of the situation to hold a conference on artificial intelligence; therefore, the meeting Lin Ju attended was:

"The ’Dawn 2 Mission Moon Sample Reception Ceremony and Haidian District Artificial Intelligence Conference’"

The artificial intelligence conference was rather rushed, but the lineup was impressive. All the internet tech companies involved in AI research were present, and they were all heavy hitters.

"Commissioner Lin, your seat is over..."

Amidst the admiring gazes of the welcoming personnel from the space agency, Lin Ju found his seat in the first row and sat next to Ye Changsi.

For New Yuan, the main purpose of attending such events was to make an appearance and diversify the audience, to align with the joyful mood of the space agency, and most often, to be involved in the detailed work planning with the Aerospace Development Committee.

Arriving early, the two of them chatted quietly about the progress of installing the A100.

Because he was so engrossed, it took Lin Ju a good while to notice the unexpected person sitting beside him—Alibaba Jack Ma, the man who regretted creating Alibaba.

Only then did he realize that Alibaba was still at the pinnacle of success, with the presence of the BAT trio hardly diminished after initiating the ternary computing and artificial intelligence wave. The current Ma Yun was still known as "Jack Ma," "President Ma."

When Ma Yun saw Lin Ju, he greeted him happily, and Lin Ju responded in kind.

"Hello, hello, East Lin and West Mar, what a coincidence to meet here."

"Indeed, quite a coincidence..."

Lin Ju wasn’t very inclined to chat, but Ma Yun was apparently very interested in him and quickly started a conversation.

"I heard that the Explorer robots are manufactured by New Yuan, your intelligence technology is truly impressive."

Lin Ju: "AI is the future direction of human development, we have just started researching it earlier. This kind of learning-type AI actually originated from big data models based on the internet initially."

Ma Yun: "I particularly dislike calling AI ’artificial intelligence.’ I call it ’Alibaba Intelligence’..."

Lin Ju: "..."

Darn, had he prematurely used the words that were supposed to be addressed to Musk two years later?

"Uh, indeed." Lin Ju forced a smile as a response to the lame joke.

"E-commerce actually has a great potential for AI applications, for example..."

Ma Yun: "I am particularly amazed by your vision for technology. I’m not a high-tech person, I talk about life... People should have more confidence. AI is not a threat, nor is it something terrifying. Humans can learn too. I’m very optimistic. I don’t see AI as a threat, and I don’t think artificial intelligence is something to be scared of because humans are smart."

Looking at Ma Yun, who spoke eloquently but provided no useful information, Lin Ju, accustomed to interacting with professional technicians, felt a bit at a loss for words. Taking advantage of a moment when no one was paying attention, he glanced back and saw Ye Changsi shaking his head discreetly.

...

After the reception ceremony, the whole world knew that Dawn 2 had brought back 78.5 kilograms of Moon Soil, setting a record for the most lunar sample mass ever returned by a human mission. The previous record was 73 kilograms brought back by Apollo 17.

The second country to complete lunar sampling and return was the former Union, whose three unmanned missions brought back 326 grams of Moon Soil.

Then, everyone was concerned about whether these Moon Soil samples would be given to certain countries and what was special about them compared to those obtained before.

Of course, NACA had the highest hopes since they had gifted 1 gram of Moon Soil as a state present in 1978 and were eagerly anticipating a reciprocal gesture.

However, after several days of waiting, everyone was astounded by the outcome.

The space agency gifted Russia, France, Italy, and Abe 1 kilogram of Moon Rock samples from the Dawn 2 mission to demonstrate the cooperative partnerships in aerospace and other areas between them.

Just these four countries, one kilogram each, an extremely valuable gift indeed, but there were no other names on the list.

Although NACA didn’t ask for it, CNN soon reported that an unnamed source criticized CASA for disregarding the traditional friendship between the two countries and that they should share the Moon samples, at least by reciprocating with one kilogram.

But immediately, a certain daily countered with the Wolf clause while also emphasizing NACA’s once "generous" gift, as America had given Moon Soil to 145 countries, nearly all just 1 gram each.

In comparison, it showed how generous the space agency was to give a whole kilogram; of course, they had the means to be generous, with so many more missions in the Dawn series to follow. Even if they gave one kilogram to every country in the world, one mission would almost suffice to distribute it all.