Chapter 334 Tasteless

Chapter 334 Tasteless

Chapter 334 Tasteless
He Jintang looked at the artificial eyeball in front of him, and even though he had seen a lot of things, he was still surprised.

Next to him was a one-eyed middle-aged man in his fifties. From his slightly oppressive demeanor and strong physique, as well as his commanding manner in his every move, one could tell his approximate identity.

"This is my old comrade, Wang Lifeng."

"Hello." Jiang Miao greeted with a smile.

"I have heard of Academician Jiang for a long time. You can just call me Old Wang." Wang Lifeng's face with fake eyeballs looked a little creepy when he smiled.

Jiang Miao knew the other party's identity very well, but he didn't say anything. After all, Hailufeng Company had seen all kinds of people since its development.

"Lao He, if you want to replace Lao Wang's eyeball, I suggest you wait a year or two. After all, the technology is still in the clinical trial stage."

However, Wang Lifeng smiled and waved his hands: "Academician Jiang misunderstood, my eye is not important. After all, I have lived like this for more than 30 years, and I have long been accustomed to having only one eye. I came to visit today mainly to consult some things."

He Jintang was not too concerned about organ transplantation or life extension. After all, he was only 54 years old this year. According to the normal retirement process, he would not retire until he was 70 years old. Under special circumstances, it could be delayed to 75 years old.

He has maintained his health well over the years, especially after Jiang Miao customized a special conditioning plan for him. Not only is he full of energy, but his body has also become much stronger.

"Oh? I'd like to hear the details."

Wang Lifeng looked at the artificial eyeball in the cultivation chamber and asked curiously, "Academician Jiang, I have recently read some reports published by your company. According to the principle of non-rejection organs, can some non-human organs be transplanted into the human body in the future?"

"It seems there are still a lot of smart people." Jiang Miao's heart moved. He did not expect that the research and development in the direction of superhumans could be concealed in China.

He nodded and replied, "Old Wang, your idea is possible. It can even be realized now. I can use genetic modification technology to insert snake genes into eye genes, so as to cultivate snake eyes that can see infrared rays."

"Can you do it already?" Wang Lifeng asked with burning eyes.

"Artificial snake eyes are not technically difficult, and there is no risk of transplant failure, but..."

Hearing this, Wang Lifeng knew that things were not that simple: "But what?"

"The visual ability of the human eye is not only achieved by the structure of the eyeball itself, but also requires the cooperation of the corresponding brain nervous system."

After hearing this answer, Wang Lifeng immediately understood what Jiang Miao meant: "The human brain does not have a nervous system that matches the snake eyes? Am I right in understanding this?"

"That's the truth."

Looking at Jiang Miao's calm expression, Wang Lifeng's one eye seemed to understand his inner confidence: "Academician Jiang, does it seem that there is a way to solve this problem?"

Jiang Miao picked up a ballpoint pen and drew two circles on the white paper: "It's very simple. Since the human body does not have a matching nervous system, the external organ solution combined with the outside body can also achieve the required functions."

Wang Lifeng seemed to have thought of something: "External organs? Similar to the strong armor in Japanese comics?"

"Almost, but certainly not that powerful. At most, it can only provide exoskeleton strength assistance, various sensory enhancements, and enhanced resistance to various attacks. The means of attack are also mainly biological toxins."

Looking at the concentric circles on the white paper, Wang Lifeng asked a question: "Academician Jiang, if we use external organs, how do we solve the energy supply problem for these organs? Do we rely on the energy stored in the human body?"

Jiang Miao had been prepared for this: "Relying solely on the body's own reserve energy, there is definitely no way to maintain the normal operation of the external organs. Even if the user is a fat man of 200 to 300 kilograms, he still cannot withstand the energy absorption of the external organs."

"In other words, the external organs need to solve their own energy problems?"

"It is true that we can only solve the problem by using external organs, but the problem is not that difficult. We can imitate the function of animals eating and specially customize an organ similar to a stomach sac. At the same time, we can prepare special biological energy storage organs to facilitate the external organs to store energy."

Wang Lifeng looked at Jiang Miao with a surprised expression: "Are all you biologists so terrible? I thought this kind of problem would be hard to solve in a short time, but I didn't expect it to be so simple in the eyes of Academician Jiang."

In response, Jiang Miao smiled and replied: "Old Wang, you don't understand the underlying technical principles of non-rejection organs. If you understand the principles, you will know that external organs are easier to transplant than non-rejection organs directly into the human body. After all, there is no need to consider the problem of human rejection."

Wang Lifeng, who was not sure what was going on, did not bother asking about the technical principles. After all, he was not a researcher majoring in biology. He only cared about the implementation of the technology:

"If we want to promote this project, how much money do we need under the current conditions? How long will it take to enter the practical stage?"

Jiang Miao thought for a moment: "Funds? Hmm... probably 10 to 20 billion! It will take about two to three years to enter the practical stage."

"One or two hundred billion? About two to three years?" Wang Lifeng looked at his old comrade He Jintang.

He Jintang was speechless: "Don't look at me, kid! I'm not responsible for the approval of scientific research funds. Moreover, this kind of project is not a civilian product, so I have no way to interfere."

"One or two hundred billion is still too much. I can't make the decision alone!" Wang Lifeng scratched his chin in distress.

He Jintang turned around and asked, "Academician Jiang, is there any way to reduce the R&D costs of the project?"

Jiang Miao shook his head, indicating that he could not help: "That's impossible. One or two billion is already very low. After all, this is to develop an external organ system that can be put into use. It's not just one or two artificial organs, but a whole system."

"Old He, don't make things difficult for Academician Jiang. One or two billion is indeed a relatively low amount." Wang Lifeng is not an unreasonable person.

Based on previous internal R&D investments in some biological research projects, he was aware of the research difficulty of this project. In his estimation, without Jiang Miao's intervention, the project would not have produced any results without the investment of hundreds of billions of yuan by domestic biologists.

However, he was also aware of the difficulty of applying for relevant funds. If it was more than a billion, he would be confident that he could convince some people to support his ideas. However, for projects involving 10 or 20 billion, the difficulty of persuasion would increase sharply.

Even though the project has Jiang Miao's technical endorsement, it is still full of uncertainty.

It’s not that the domestic market doesn’t believe in Jiang Miao’s R&D capabilities.

But the positioning of the plug-in organ project is a bit awkward.

According to Jiang Miao's description, the core purpose of the external organ is individual equipment, and its main function is to enhance the user's survivability, reconnaissance ability, lurking ability and a small part of the attack ability.

It looks like the plug-in organ is pretty good.

But now the domestic mechanical exoskeleton technology has developed quite well.

For example, a project also invested by Hailufeng Company, the individual soldier exoskeleton called "Wei Wuzu", has been developed to the third generation and can basically be put into actual combat.

Wei Wuzu 3 individual soldier exoskeleton armor.

The whole set of equipment weighs 32 kg.

The battery life in combat mode is 8 hours.

The endurance under assisted marching is 26 hours.

Its high-strength nano armor can withstand frontal impacts of 12mm caliber armor-piercing bullets.

It uses specially customized solid-state batteries with a capacity of 860 watt-hours per kilogram. Its energy density is higher than the second-generation sponge batteries currently used in domestic civilian use.

There is only one reason why this solid-state battery has not been put into the civilian market: it is expensive.

The cost per kilogram is 17 yuan.

This also became an important reason why Wei Wuzu 3 was difficult to produce.

After all, in order to ensure the normal function of the exoskeleton, the exoskeleton has a built-in 6 kg high-energy solid-state battery, so the cost of the battery alone has reached 102 million yuan. What's more, this is only the production cost of the battery, and the R&D cost, profit margin, and other costs of the exoskeleton have not been added.

The total cost of a set of Wei Wuzu 3 is an astonishing 600 million yuan.

Even if it is purchased for special operations, the cost is very high.

On the contrary, Wei Wuzu 2 has entered the practical stage, because the battery design concept of Wei Wuzu 2 is to take the cost-effective route. The battery weight is also 6 kilograms, but the cost is only about 3 yuan, that is, the energy density is only about 500 watt-hours per kilogram.

In order to make up for the insufficient endurance of Wei Wuzu 2, a 2-kilogram photovoltaic thin-film power generation system has been recently added. During the day, a 20-square-meter photovoltaic film can be unfolded to charge the battery or maintain the daily power consumption of the exoskeleton through photovoltaic power generation.

Moreover, the photovoltaic thin-film power generation system can also serve as a special shield for the exoskeleton armor to block attacks from some bullets, artillery shell fragments, and small drones.

In addition, other domestic technologies are becoming more and more advanced. Equipment such as infrared night vision goggles are not only very low in cost and very powerful, but also can be made light and small in size.

This way.

The purpose of the external organ project is highly consistent with the Wei Wuzu series of exoskeleton armor.

This is why Wang Lifeng thinks the project is useless.

Of course, the external organ project is not without its advantages.

From Jiang Miao's perspective, the external organ project has at least three advantages that mechanical exoskeletons do not have.

The first is battery life.

Second, it is the ability to survive.

Third, it has many functions.

In terms of endurance, the biological armor derived from the external organ project can maintain the system's energy needs by eating and photosynthesis.

Eating and photosynthesis are very easy to understand.

If it is in a forest rich in flora and fauna, the endurance of the biological armor is almost unlimited. Unless the forest around the user is completely destroyed, it is difficult to cut off its energy.

Photosynthesis is currently only auxiliary, as Jiang Miao has only achieved a photosynthesis energy utilization rate of 14.7% in the laboratory.

Even if the surface of the biological armor is transformed into a photosynthetic layer, it can only produce 1000 to 1400 kcal of energy through photosynthesis every day. Humans need 2400 to 3000 kcal of energy every day to maintain normal physiological needs.

Jiang Miao's long-term goal is to increase the photosynthetic energy utilization rate of chloroplasts to about 30% through genetic engineering and nanotechnology.

Only when this energy utilization rate is achieved can the chloroplast skin become the core energy supply method of biological armor.

And the survivability of biological armor.

This is closely related to the first advantage of endurance. After all, they can rely on eating grass to maintain normal physiological needs, so their survival ability is naturally very strong.

In addition, the survivability of biological armor is also manifested in "anti-toxicity", "anaerobic respiration", "underwater breathing", "swamp lurking", "non-Newtonian fluid armor", "body temperature camouflage", "odor concealment", etc.

These functions also demonstrate the third advantage of biological armor, which is that it has many functions and various auxiliary capabilities, which greatly enhance the user's survival ability.

In addition, the production cost of bio-based armor is only high in the initial research and development cost. In the later stage, large-scale production is required, which is cheaper than mechanical exoskeletons and has very low maintenance costs.

Once the research and development of the biological armor is completed, large-scale cultivation can be carried out using a biological cultivation chamber. A set of biological armor can be completed at a cost of about tens of thousands of yuan.

Therefore, this is a very late stage equipment.

Although Wang Lifeng was not sure he could convince others, he was still willing to give it a try.

He left a phone number for Jiang Miao and hurried back to Beijing.

But He Jintang stayed.

In Jiang Miao's private lounge, he poured tea and asked, "Lao He, how is Youwei's situation?"

"She has broken up with that guy."

"How did you convince her?" Jiang Miao was quite curious about the follow-up of this matter.

He Jintang sneered, "Haha, I didn't need to convince her. I just arranged an encounter for her to see the true face of that bastard, and then let her assistant exaggerate it, and the two of them broke up in an instant."

"I see."

"I knew that bastard had bad intentions and didn't want to have children in the future. It turns out that he secretly had a child with his ex-girlfriend and raised him in his hometown."

"A little clever." Jiang Miao also felt that this guy was just a little clever. He thought he could hide the truth, but he didn't know that He Jintang only needed one sentence to investigate him.

As for how He Jintang would deal with the other party later, he did not ask much, but mentioned one thing:
"Lao He, Blue Whale Aerospace, a subsidiary of our group, will launch a probe in August to conduct scientific research on Venus."

He Jintang took a sip of tea and said, "I've read your application. Why are you interested in Venus? Why not go to Mars, which is more popular?"

"Venus is more suitable for long-term human habitation, while Mars can only be used as a resource planet."

After hearing this answer, He Jintang saw what Jiang Miao was thinking: "Oh? So, your company is planning to research the technology for long-term residence on Venus?"

"Well, after all, gravity is the first factor that determines whether a planet is suitable for human survival. The gravity on Mars is very different from that on Earth."

“This project will cost a lot of money, right?”

Jiang Miao briefly described the future plan: "In the next ten years, I plan to continue to invest about 5000 billion yuan to promote the Venus exploration plan. Before 2040, we will build a Venus city above the atmosphere of Venus that can sustain 5000 people for a long time."

"Are you sure?" He Jintang was a little worried.

"Whether such a project is successful or not is not important. The key is the industrial upgrading and technological breakthroughs it brings about in the process."

He Jintang immediately came back to his senses and asked with a smile, "You guys don't want to get Aerospace Science and Industry to work with you, do you?"

"We have this idea, but whether it will succeed or not depends on CASIC. Anyway, Hailufeng Group will advance this plan at its own pace."

He Jintang stroked the teacup, and after a while he said, "I'll help you communicate with CASIC, but I can't guarantee success."

"It doesn't matter. I don't care about this." Jiang Miao really didn't care.

After all, with the current scale of the Hailufeng Group, it has continuously invested 5000 billion yuan for ten years, which is only 500 billion yuan per year, so it does not put much pressure on the capital chain of the entire group.

What's more, Hailufeng Group can also recover part of its funds through these investments and at the same time drive the development of many related industries.

(End of this chapter)