Chapter 599
Landing on Mars? ?? Wang Yifei: My movie has been released.
As the year draws to a close, a new year begins.
New Year's Day has arrived as scheduled, and the year-end summary meeting is also coming soon.
Wang Duoyu was very concerned about this year's profits, so the year's summary meeting lasted for five days.
The profits earned were quickly distributed.
There's plenty of money, but there are also many places where we need to spend it.
After the summary meeting, the Spring Festival came quickly; time flies like sand through one's fingers.
It was already late April 2005, and Wang Yifei was about to set off for Hollywood to attend a work event.
Liu Xiaoli was very worried about her, so she went along with her.
Two little ones, Wang Junxian and Wang Sixin, also went to the United States. Bai Doufu originally wanted to go with them, but unfortunately her grades weren't very good.
Last summer, she passed the entrance exam for junior high school, but she was 20 points behind the top scorer in the city.
This made her very unhappy, but she was helpless.
Being in the same grade as a top student made Bai Doufu feel a sense of "why did fate create both Zhou Yu and Zhuge Liang?"
Otherwise, she could easily have followed in her older sister's footsteps.
If she goes to the United States with them this time, I'm afraid she'll have to give up her second place in the grade when she comes back.
Therefore, she could only stay at home obediently.
Just as Wang Yifei was heading to North America, Wang Duoyu also set off for the Ali camp.
That's right, after a year, he will be going to the moon again.
Being an astronaut can be addictive.
The lunar base project is already underway. Starting in the second half of this year, Ali Camp will launch spacecraft toward the moon every so often.
In order to accelerate the progress of the lunar base project, Wang Duoyu was indeed very willing to spend money.
The plane landed smoothly at Ali Camp Airport. Wang Duoyu, carrying his leather bag, was about to head to his residence when the person in charge who came to greet him approached with a smile and excitedly told him some good news.
"Professor, our Zhurong Mars probe transmitted a message two hours ago. According to predictions, there is a high probability that there are abundant water resources at a depth of ten to twenty kilometers beneath the surface of Mars."
Upon hearing this, Wang Duoyu's face flashed with surprise. Had they really discovered it?
As a time traveler, he certainly knew there was water on Mars, but that godforsaken place was no place for humans to live.
Even if it's a probe, it's estimated that it would be destroyed by a massive storm that sweeps across Mars within six months of arriving there, and then fall into a state of silence.
Because dust storms on Mars can blot out the sun, affect the entire planet, and last for several months.
Yes, the time of day and seasons on Mars are quite similar to those on Earth.
On Mars, the time of day is 24:36, and there are also four distinct seasons.
If water resources can be found, then Mars could become habitable.
"That's great! Excellent! This is really good news!"
Upon hearing Wang Duoyu's words, the person in charge couldn't help but say:
"In that case, shouldn't we speed things up and send more probes to Mars? The water resources are great news, but we still need to confirm them multiple times."
Wang Duoyu's smile remained unchanged. "Okay, we'll discuss this in detail later."
Half an hour later, in a meeting room at Ali's camp, a group of people sat together, looking excitedly at Wang Duoyu in the main seat.
Today's meeting is mainly to discuss a topic based on the messages sent back by the Zhurong Mars probe.
The feasibility of establishing a Mars base!
Yes, sending a probe to Mars is certainly not something to waste money on.
Now that water resources have been discovered on Mars, the next step is to send more probes there to see if any further discoveries can be made.
There are many problems to solve in order to survive on Mars.
There are three core survival challenges.
First, water resource acquisition.
Liquid water is extremely scarce on the surface of Mars, making it virtually impossible to obtain it directly like on Earth.
However, there are large amounts of ice at Mars' poles.
If a Mars base is located near ice, obtaining water through melting technology for purposes such as drinking, agriculture, and oxygen production would certainly become straightforward.
Second, extreme climate and atmosphere.
The surface temperature of Mars is extremely low, with a temperature difference between day and night ranging from 34 degrees Celsius to minus 85 degrees Celsius. Its atmosphere is thin and mainly composed of carbon dioxide.
In other words, if a base is to survive on the Martian surface, it must be built in a pressurized, sealed environment that mimics the composition of Earth's atmosphere in order to sustain life.
However, just creating such an ecosystem would be an incredibly high energy consumption for the entire base.
Moreover, every two or three years, a massive dust storm occurs on the surface of Mars.
This kind of sandstorm is enough to destroy everything.
Therefore, this must be taken into account when building a base on Mars; otherwise, the base could easily be destroyed by a sandstorm.
Third, food self-sufficiency.
Relying on Earth for supplies is simply not advisable, because the distance between Earth and Mars is 5,500 kilometers. Even with the current Want Want Group's spacecraft, at an average speed of Mach 45, it would take at least 1,000 hours.
That is, forty-one days.
Even with controlled nuclear fusion devices, it still requires a lot of energy and time.
Is it worth spending forty-one days just to transport supplies from Earth to Mars?
Therefore, it is essential to establish a closed agricultural system on Mars.
Martian soil is alkaline and lacks nitrogen, so it needs to be purified and supplemented with nutrients before crops can be grown.
Currently, Want Want Group has launched an experimental project related to the space ecosystem, but whether it is feasible and how to reduce costs and increase efficiency are still huge questions.
Cost remains the most critical issue to consider in interstellar travel.
After more than two hours of discussion in the meeting room, a conclusion was finally reached.
Wang Duoyu pressed his temples, sighing, "Another large sum of money is going to be spent."
Over the next two days, he prepared for the upcoming moon landing while also signing documents.
The Mars exploration program has been pushed forward again, with two more probes to be launched to Mars, which will require even more money.
Furthermore, once such a probe enters the Martian surface, it is highly likely that it will not be able to be retrieved.
In other words, the money invested will most likely be destroyed on the Martian surface. Besides the issues mentioned above, there are also problems related to radiation protection, energy supply, materials, and construction, all of which need to be carefully considered.
Of course, building a base on Mars is still a long way off, and it's a bit early to talk about it now. A lunar base is the current priority.
Hollywood, Los Angeles.
This was Liu Xiaoli's first time visiting this place, and Wang Junxian and his sister Wang Sixin were already captivated.
It's not because of the skyscrapers here, but rather because of the beach.
After all, the brother and sister had not been to many places and had never seen foreigners on the streets, so everything seemed new and exciting to them.
Wang Yifei is busy promoting her movie "Fast & Furious 2", which is set to be released in North American theaters on April 28.
After arriving here and traveling with the team for a few days, attending the premiere, she went to Europe, then returned to Hong Kong Island, and then went home.
The box office of "Fast & Furious 2" went crazy on its first day of release in North America.
The May Day holiday used to be the worst time to release movies in Hollywood, but in recent years, it has become a highly competitive period.
Otherwise, there wouldn't be so many blockbuster movies during peak seasons like summer and Christmas.
Therefore, on the same day as "Fast & Furious 2", Warner Bros.' film "Flight Crisis" was also released.
Although it was an A-list investment film with only average publicity, Warner Bros. still hoped to turn things around.
Last year, Paramount released "The Hangover" during this period. It was a low-budget comedy, but it achieved excellent box office results.
Who wouldn't want to win big with a small investment?
Unfortunately, they ran into the Fast & Furious 2 series.
Although Warner Bros. knew it was a series, the first film only grossed a little over $500 million, so it wasn't a threat at all.
"Fuck, how could it be 230 million US dollars? This must be fake news!"
Of course, after the New York Times reported the box office figures on the 28th, Warner Bros. executives were collectively shocked.
Such high box office numbers are understandable for a blockbuster film.
But why is a movie with a total investment of less than 200 million US dollars, and a standard popcorn movie, so special?
"It's not fake news. I went to see it myself yesterday. The cinema was quite lively; most of the audience members had bought tickets for this movie."
The words of a vice president silenced everyone.
What a mess!
"They're smearing us, especially with this movie they made, which used so many Chinese actors. They're really trying to smear me and find dirt on me."
Warner Bros. executives quickly reached a decision, a traditional skill of theirs; basically, anyone who works in Hollywood has this skill.
As a result, the next day, a large number of media outlets began to smear the movie "Fast & Furious 2".
Interestingly, the film's box office performance was not only unaffected, but actually improved.
It seems everyone has agreed to break 300 million yuan in daily box office revenue on Saturday and Sunday, becoming even more unrestrained.
While the negative stories in the media and newspapers have an impact, there is absolutely no negative news about them on the internet.
As for the matter of Chinese actors, that's even less of a problem.
Nowadays, it has almost become a rule in Hollywood blockbusters that a movie with Chinese actors is not guaranteed to be a huge hit, but at the very least, it can break even.
However, without Chinese actors, there is an 80% chance of losing money, and the possibility of losing a lot of money is even greater.
Although no one has found the exact law, there is no explanation for why.
However, it cannot be denied that Chinese people are indeed a sizable group in the United States today.
Most Chinese immigrants likely came from mainland China and spontaneously formed their own interest groups after arriving in the United States.
In major cities like Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, and Boston, the Chinese community is indeed quite large. For example, New York City has a total population of 20 million, of which more than 3 million are Chinese.
If Wang Duoyu remembered correctly, in his previous life, the total number of Chinese people in the United States was only a little over five million.
But in this time and space, things have changed drastically.
However, the increase in the number of Chinese people is not necessarily a good thing, because the United States is a very strange place.
In addition, the Chinese immigrants to the United States come from all over the world, and they are like a scattered pile of sand, making it difficult for them to come together and form an important group.
difficult!
The only thing that's still somewhat acceptable right now is Hollywood blockbusters; at least the local Chinese community in the US really enjoys these movies.
The movie "Fast & Furious 2," starring Wang Yifei, has a plot and special effects that are all above average, making it a very good popcorn movie.
It wouldn't be accurate to say it has the potential to become a huge hit.
But Wang Yifei is exactly what Chinese people consider beautiful; she's stunning and incredibly young.
Most importantly, Wang Yifei is a pop diva in mainland China.
After arriving in the United States, he released three songs last year, all of which were EPs, and he didn't promote them much.
Even so, it still made it into the top ten of the US Billboard charts, with all three songs reaching the top ten.
So she's not completely unknown in the United States.
Chinese Americans adore Wang Yifei, and many young people idolize her.
In previous years, a significant portion of the overseas sales of Wang Yifei's Chinese albums were supported by Chinese Americans.
Now that her movie is out, of course I have to go and support it.
So during the first four days of the weekend, you could see large numbers of Chinese people going into movie theaters to support her.
Of course, there were also many passersby who went there purely on their own initiative.
After all, there are only two good movies during the May Day holiday; the rest are not worth mentioning.
Four days into the opening weekend, the box office figures are now available.
Bang!
Inside the conference room of Warner Bros. headquarters, the president angrily threw the cup in his hand away.
On the table was a document detailing all the box office data for the movie "Fast & Furious 2" over the past four days.
In addition, there was another document on the other side, which was about "Air Crisis," a film produced and distributed by their company.
Despite being released at the same time as "Fast & Furious 2", "Air Crisis" lagged far behind in box office revenue.
The former grossed $958 million in North America in its opening weekend, while the latter grossed $392 million in North America.
The two are not even on the same level; the gap is simply too vast.
That's why Warner Bros.' management is so angry right now. (End of Chapter)