Chapter 452: I look at the future with worry, but I am still full of good hope

Pingxiang apartment.

The excitement on Twitter has nothing to do with Wang Zi'an.

Only Ivanka was happily swiping Twitter comments to see everyone praise Wang Zi'an.

Our American netizens are so cute, they like Sansan so much.

If it goes on like this, maybe these netizens will like Sansan more than me.

It doesn't matter, I'm not a superficial woman.

I will only be jealous of others, not of Sansan.

Probably after daylight in the United States, Wang Zian finally put down his phone and twisted his neck.

Ivan Ka also quickly put down her mobile phone, climbed onto the sofa, and pinched the prince's neck.

"Sansan, how long has it been since you went back?, have you written a lot?" she asked as she massaged Wang Zi'an.

"It's a lot, you hand it over to the other party first and then pinch it for me. The prince lay down.

"Oooh. Ivan Ka hurriedly picked up her mobile phone and went up to forward Wang Zi'an's Twitter message.

Then, she held the mobile phone in one hand to watch, and massaged Wang Zi'an with the other.

Looking at Wang Zian's reply to Sister Marilyn Lucy, Ivanka's eyes widened.

In the end, she couldn't help but straddle her long legs and sit on Wang Zi'an.

While massaging Wang Zi'an, he read the content of the reply.

[Dear Sister Marilyn Lucy,

I'm sorry to tell you that Ivanka is busy.

A wonderful, wonderful woman who, you know, has very little free time for herself.

And as Ivanka's good friend, I make a living from acting, and probably there will be no crew invited me to act this year.

So, I'll have some time to write back to you on Ivanka's behalf.

Well, the question you asked Ivanka touched me a lot, because it made me see an inquisitive soul, a heart full of kindness and compassion.

I will do my best to answer your questions for Ivanka.

First of all, I would like to express my deep respect to you, and to the brave nuns like you, who have dedicated your life to the noblest cause of humanity - to help all those in need.

Why, you ask, Ivanka, is NASA proposing billions of dollars to the nation to explore Mars at a time when so many children on Earth are still at risk of starvation?

I don't think you want me or NASA to give such an answer.

"Oh, NASA doesn't know that many children are dying of hunger, and from this moment on, NASA will stop any research and exploration in space until humanity solves this problem. ”

In fact, long before people like me realized that a trip to Mars was technically possible, we knew that there were a lot of children in the world who were starving.

Yet, many NASA scientists, even people like me, still believe that traveling to the Moon, Mars, and other planets is an adventure worth taking right now.

I even believe that this exploratory program can help solve the serious problems we face today to a greater extent than many other potential assistance programs.

Aid programmes are discussed and debated every year, but the results are far from satisfactory.

Before I explain how the space exploration program can help us solve various problems on Earth, I want to tell you a true story that may help you understand my point of view.

The story takes place about 500 years ago, in a small town in Germany.

The town had a very benevolent earl who spent most of his income on the relief of the poor people in the town.

This kindness was very touching, because at that time there were so many poor people, and there were frequent national plagues.

One day, the Count meets a strange man.

The man's home has a workbench and a small laboratory.

Men work hard during the day and spend hours at night doing research in their own labs.

He polishes pieces of glass into small lenses, which he then attaches to the lens barrel and uses this device to observe very small objects.

The Count was especially amazed by the magnification of tiny creatures, which he had never seen before.

The Count invited the man to move to his castle with his experimental equipment and become one of his "special employees".

From then on, this strange man devoted all his energy to developing and improving his optical instruments.

The townspeople thought that the strange man was working on something useless, and that the Count was angry that he had wasted too much money on him.

They complained: "We are still suffering from the plague, and you are taking money to let this man do some useless hobbies." ”

Hearing such complaints, the Count did not waver and continued to do so.

"I will do everything I can to help you, but I will still support his research because I firmly believe that his research will one day be rewarded," he said. ”

As it turned out, the Count's words were right.

This eccentric man eventually developed the microscope we know today.

When it comes to advancing medicine, no other invention can compare to the microscope.

It has helped mankind eradicate plagues and many other contagious infectious diseases in most parts of the world.

Humanity would not have been able to achieve these achievements without microscopes.

In the birth of the microscope, it is clear that the money invested by the earl played an important role.

Spending money on the development of microscopes can clearly do far more to help alleviate human suffering than simply helping the unfortunate ones who have been struck by the plague.

To a large extent, NASA is faced with a similar situation.

The United States has an annual budget of about $1 trillion this year, which is ultimately spent on health care, education, welfare, urban development, highways, transportation, foreign aid, defense, environmental protection, scientific research, agriculture, and many other institutions in the United States and abroad.

About 1.6 per cent of this year's budget has been allocated to the Space Exploration Program.

Space exploration programs include lunar landings, many small-scale projects involving astrophysics, space astronomy and space biology, planetary exploration programs, and programs related to Earth resources and space engineering.

To implement these exploratory programs, each U.S. taxpayer earning $10,000 a year is required to contribute $150 per year, and the remaining $9,850 is used for various living expenses, recreation, savings, other expenses, and other taxes.

You may ask, "Why not set aside $10, $5 or $1 out of the 150 'space dollars' that every American taxpayer contributes to help hungry children?"

To answer this question, I can briefly explain to you how the treasury of the United States works.

The situation in the United States is similar to that of other countries.

The Government of the United States is made up of many departments and agencies, such as the Department of the Interior, the Department of Justice, the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, the Department of Transportation, the Department of Defense, the National Science Foundation, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

All of these departments and agencies are subject to their own mandates to create annual budgets, each of which is subject to strict oversight by congressional committees and pressure from the Bureau of the Budget and the president.

After appropriation by Congress, the budgets of departments and agencies can only be used for projects listed in the budget and approved by the government.

NASA's budget can only be used for aerospace-related exploration programs.

Without congressional approval of the budget, NASA would not be able to obtain the funding it needs from other sources.

They can't raise money directly from taxpayers, and the only way for NASA to get the money that isn't for the space program is for other budgets to request and approve it.

By the end of my presentation, you should have realized that assistance to children in famine, or other U.S. foreign aid programs, must submit a budget request for those projects and get approval from Congress before they can be funded.

If you ask me and Ivanka whether we personally approve of the government's aid measures, our answer is undoubtedly yes – yes!

We don't mind paying a little extra tax each year to help children who are suffering from hunger, no matter where they are.

I'm sure all my friends have the same attitude.

So, you should know that NASA will not stop the Mars exploration program in order to implement such an assistance program.

Personally, I even believe that by implementing the space exploration program, we can make a greater contribution to solving serious problems such as famine and poverty on Earth, and ultimately help find solutions to these problems.

To solve the problem of famine, we must first focus on two things, one is food production and the other is food distribution.

In some parts of the world, agricultural farming, animal husbandry, ocean fishing, and other large-scale food production activities are highly efficient, but in many others they are inefficient.

If more effective technologies and initiatives are taken in watershed management, fertilizer use, weather forecasting, soil fertility assessment, crop planning, farmland selection, planting methods, planting timing, crop surveys, and harvesting plans, we can dramatically increase food production and help solve famine.

Undoubtedly, the most ideal tool for improving food production is an artificial Earth satellite.

Satellites orbit the Earth at high altitudes, and are able to study huge land areas in a very short period of time, observing a large number of factors that can reveal crops, soils, drought, rainfall, and snow cover, and then transmit the data to ground stations.

It is estimated that even the simplest Earth satellite could contribute significantly to a plan to improve global agricultural production, resulting in a significant increase in annual crop yields and billions of dollars in income growth.

The distribution of food to poor areas is a completely different issue than food production, and it involves not only transportation, but also international cooperation.

When receiving large amounts of food aid from large countries, the leaders of small countries may be apprehensive that the large countries are exporting their influence while providing aid.

In my view, we will not be able to achieve an effective food aid programme until we reduce the gap between countries.

At the same time, I don't think the Space Exploration Program will be able to accomplish this overnight.

However, the Space Exploration Program is one of the most effective ways to help solve this problem.

Do you remember the "Apollo 13" spacecraft that narrowly escaped death?

When the Apollo 13 was about to re-enter the Earth's atmosphere, the former Soviet Union shut down all radio communications in the same frequency band as the Apollo program to prevent any possible interference, and at the same time sent ships to the Pacific and Atlantic waters to carry out emergency rescue operations if necessary.

If the return capsule carrying the astronauts splashes near a former Soviet ship, the former Soviet Union will surely help them as they would their own astronauts.

If a former Soviet astronaut had been in a similar emergency, there was no doubt that the Americans would have come to their aid.

Increasing food production through satellite monitoring and assessment, and improving food distribution through improved international relations, are just two examples of how space exploration programmes can have a profound impact on human life.

There are two other representative examples of this – the promotion of technological progress and the improvement of scientific literacy in a generation.

Lunar spacecraft require extreme accuracy and reliability, both of which are unprecedented in the history of engineering.

To meet these requirements, scientists have developed systems that provide us with an unprecedented opportunity to develop new materials and technologies, allowing us to invent better technical systems and manufacturing processes, extend the life of scientific instruments, and discover previously unknown laws of nature.

The scientific knowledge gained during the lunar landing can also be used to develop technologies for use on Earth.

As a result of the space exploration program, about 1,000 technological innovations can be born each year.

These technological innovations have dramatically improved the quality of human life, helping us to develop better performance kitchen equipment, farm equipment, sewing machines, radio equipment, ships, aircraft, weather and storm warning systems, communication equipment, medical equipment, and other everyday products.

Why, you may ask, did we first develop life support systems for astronauts on the moon, and then remote vital monitoring devices for heart patients?

The answer is simple.

Significant progress in solving technical problems is often achieved not by a direct approach, but by setting a highly challenging goal first, by stimulating a strong impetus for technological innovation, igniting the imagination of scientists, and pushing them to accomplish the set goal to the best of their ability.

It's like a catalyst that catalyzes a chain reaction.

Space flight undoubtedly plays such a role.

Although the trip to Mars will not directly help solve the problem of famine, the many new technologies and methods that this exploration program will give birth to will bring benefits to mankind far outweigh the costs.

If we want to improve the quality of human life, we need to develop new technologies, we need to continue scientific research, and we need to understand and master the knowledge that we have not yet acquired.

We need to further study physics, chemistry, biology and physiology, and we need to continue on the path of medical research to overcome various challenges that threaten the survival of humanity, such as famine, disease, food and water pollution, and environmental pollution.

We need more young people to make scientific research their life's work.

We need to help scientists make the most of their talents and achieve fruitful results in their research.

We must set challenging research goals and adequately support research programs.

The space exploration program involves a series of high-profile research, such as the study of moons and planets, the study of advanced physics and astronomy, and biology and medicine.

It's like a perfect catalyst for the advancement of science and technology to a great extent.

Through our space exploration programme, we have a range of exciting opportunities to observe the mysteries of nature and develop new technologies and materials.

Of all the activities directed, regulated and financed by the U.S. government, space exploration is undoubtedly the most striking and at the same time the most discussed, even though its budget is only 1.6% of the total budget of the United States and 3 per thousand of GDP.

Space exploration is a catalyst for new technologies and basic scientific research in a way that no other activity can match.

To some extent, space exploration has had a profound impact on human society even more than thousands of years of warfare.

If there is no longer an arms race between countries to develop bombers, rockets, and other weapons, but to compete in the field of space exploration, mankind will be spared much suffering.

This kind of competition can breed all kinds of exciting achievements, and the losers do not have to suffer a painful fate, let alone create hatred and new wars.

While our space exploration program has taken us away from Earth and on the Moon, the Sun, other planets, and stars, space scientists are still focused on our Earth, not on these celestial bodies.

The ultimate goal of space exploration is to build a more perfect human home, and all the scientific knowledge gained in the process of exploration and all the new technologies developed will be used to improve the quality of human life.

If the boundless universe is compared to an ocean, the earth is the most beautiful and precious island in this ocean, and it is our only home.

Before that, many people did not realize the beauty and fragility of the earth, let alone the harm that wantonly destroying the ecological balance would bring to the earth.

Since the first release of the Earth's photographs, there has been a growing call to alarm against the serious problems and challenges facing humanity, such as pollution, famine, poverty, urban living, food production, water management and overpopulation.

Space exploration has provided humanity with a mirror through which to examine itself, while also giving birth to a range of new technologies.

The achievements of space exploration have strengthened the confidence and enterprising spirit of mankind and given them confidence in their ability to solve the serious tests and challenges they face.

In my opinion, the achievements of human exploration through space exploration are a testament to the famous saying that "I look to the future with anxiety, but still full of hope." ”】

This reply letter was like a bomb that blew up Twitter, which was already boiling on the American Internet.