Global Monopoly of Technology

At this moment, Luo Sheng, who was standing on the podium, was still talking eloquently.

"This successful recovery undoubtedly further proves that 'substantially reducing rocket launch costs through multiple recovery' is a feasible solution. 'Rocket recovery' was first proposed by Elon Musk in an interview in 2013. He is undoubtedly a great pioneer in the world's aerospace field."

"Before this, almost all space rockets, including SpaceX, were disposable and non-reusable. Once the mission is completed, it becomes a pile of scrap iron and space junk, even the reusable 'Endeavour' 'The space shuttle has also proved to be basically useless because it is too time-consuming and costly to repair."

Some domestic media people off the court smiled knowingly, secretly thinking that Luo Sheng is really going to have trouble, and he is not willing to suffer at all. At this time, he took the initiative to mention Elon Musk. In fact, it is trying to answer people, and people with discerning eyes can understand.

Because yesterday Musk's rocket blew up, and Star Arrow just succeeded and made history.

This is also a daily series of big bosses fighting against each other, and no one thinks that Luo Sheng is not authentic. If it is not authentic, Elon Musk is not authentic first, and suddenly announcing the early launch is not a response to Luo Sheng.

However, it finally overturned.

It is worth mentioning that when Elon Musk first made his remarks about rocket recycling, he was more criticized by industry insiders.

But now, traditional commercial rocket launch providers have finally staged a "true fragrance" scene, but not everyone can do this job. Many traditional rocket launch service providers in North America have been forced to transform or go out of business because SpaceX has grabbed orders. , the rest are struggling to maintain.

As for Star Arrow International, which is rapidly rising, people in the industry believe that it is foreseeable that as long as Star Arrow International announces that it will undertake launch services, some employers will start looking for Star Arrow International to order cheaper second-hand rocket launch services.

Among the many private space companies of various sizes currently established around the world, Blue Origin, SpaceX and Star Arrow International are recognized as the three major private space exploration giants, all of which are in the first echelon of space exploration, while other private Aerospace companies such as Sierra Nevada and Orbital Science are far inferior to these three, and the establishment of these three space companies has their own positioning.

Blue Origin was first established in 2000. Jeff Bezos hopes that Blue Origin can create space tourism, so the company's recoverable rockets are only responsible for low-Earth orbit. Blue Origin is undoubtedly Bezos's My dear son, the money he earned from Amazon and the cash he set aside basically went to this company.

SpaceX was founded by Elon Musk in 2002.

The biggest ideal is to immigrate to Mars. Relatively speaking, Elon Musk is the "poor" one among the three parties, so the company's capital utilization rate is exaggerated.

The research and development cost of the Falcon series rockets is only 500 million US dollars, but that is also favored by NASA, which not only provides technical support, but also gives up to 2.6 billion US dollars for the launch of the International Space Station.

But in general, SpaceX's capital utilization is really high and hardly a penny is wasted.

In contrast, Luo Sheng is not an ordinary "prodigal". Star Arrow International was established almost ten years later than its competitors, and the R\u0026D investment of the Star Arrow project so far has reached more than 6 billion US dollars, which is almost 12 times that of Falcon series rockets.

And looking at this posture, you have to pay more.

But if you analyze it carefully, you will find that Luo Sheng must be willing to give up, he must be so "lost", there is no way, because of the late start, the tuition that should be paid will still be made up.

Star Arrow International really has nothing but money.

The current technical reserves are all created through Luo Sheng's "banknote ability".

The positioning of Star Arrow International is the resources of the entire solar system. Although it was established the latest, its dream, pattern and ambition are indeed the largest among the three companies, and it is also the most difficult to achieve, including the ultimate goal of building a space ladder. The solar system's resources , and even resources outside the solar system.

This is all an imagination of the future, and there are infinite possibilities.

At the media conference, Luo Sheng continued to speak: "At present, the launch cost of the Star Arrow heavy rocket is about 70 million US dollars. Although this price is relatively low compared to other rocket launch companies, the application of recyclable technology can make The launch cost savings is 35%, about $24.5 million, or about 170 million yuan excluding exchange rate changes."

This fee is not a small amount for any one enterprise, and, as the number of launches increases, the final fee should be lower. "

Comparing with the traditional rocket launch, the current launch cost of the friend SpaceX can save about 30%, about more than 18 million US dollars, while the Star Arrow can save more than 24 million US dollars, and its competitiveness is obviously higher than that of SpaceX.

In fact, Luo Sheng said that these are not casual words at this moment. With the gradual improvement and maturity of the technology, it is time to consider the issue of commercialization.

The company has been unable to make ends meet. Although Luo Sheng has no pressure to bear the R\u0026D expenses, if Star Arrow International cannot take care of its own profits and losses, it will be unhealthy after all.

Besides, it’s not a brain problem to put money aside and not make money. Elon Musk can’t make money alone.

Luo Sheng continued: "...But it's still the same sentence. Today only succeeded once. This does not mean that the technology of second-hand rocket recycling has matured, and there is still a long way to go in the future."

"In addition, given that the second-hand rocket launched this time only recovered the first-stage booster and the first-stage part of the core that were previously equipped with the rocket engine, many key navigation, guidance and control equipment are in the second-stage rocket, and the second-stage rocket It has been in orbit, and it is more difficult to recover, but it also shows that there is still huge room for improvement and further reduction of launch costs for the Star Arrow heavy rocket."

Obviously, only saving 30% of the launch cost is a figure that Star Arrow International is not satisfied with, and Luo Sheng is also not satisfied. Once the secondary rocket can be recovered, it can further save about 40% of the launch cost.

Luo Sheng added: "...all of these considerations are in Star Arrow International's plan and grasp, because it is very likely that we will see a fully recyclable rocket by the end of this year, the ultimate upgraded version of Star Arrow' The first test flight of the Star Arrow 17E' model, at which time we will also formally incorporate fairing recovery into the plan."

As soon as these words came out, the media at the scene couldn't help but applaud again.

"Why do we include the fairing in the recycling list? This seemingly ordinary shell actually costs as much as 45 million yuan, accounting for 10% of the rocket's overall cost."

Having said that, Luo Sheng added jokingly: "It's not easy, but this is picking up money. If you don't even think about picking up money, what are you going to do?"

"Haha~"

The media reporters on the scene and the netizens who watched the live broadcast laughed, but they were speechless.

However, this money is not something ordinary people can pick up.

Rocket launch, the grounding point is space express, in fact, it is for delivery, and the fairing is the express packaging box, which contains precious goods, and the professional point is called "payload", and the goods are satellites and the like. s things.

And this packaging box is a bit powerful. Imagine that there is a three-stage rocket on the buttocks. High temperature, high heat, high speed, and strong airflow impact the atmosphere. It is a basic requirement that it does not break itself. At the same time, the temperature and humidity inside the fairing must be checked. adjust.

It contains satellites, which are precise and the most expensive things in the rocket as a whole. The smoke from the outside atmosphere can't get in at all, and the fairing has to be as thin as possible, so as to increase the payload.

During the rocket launch, the journey from the ground to outer space has to go through a series of trials in extreme environments, and then it must be able to be accurately opened when it reaches the predetermined orbit.

There are too many technologies involved. The 45 million yuan packaging box is not excessive at all. At the same time, because of its high cost, it accounts for about 10% of the cost of the rocket. Of course, recycling must be considered.

At this moment, a reporter at the media conference looked at Luo Sheng, who was talking on the podium, and could not help but sigh: "If the future journey of mankind is a sea of ​​stars, then the Star Arrow International and Elon led by Luo Sheng can't help but sigh. SpaceX, led by Musk, and Blue Origin, led by Jeff Bezos, are likely to be the forerunners of this journey.”

Once again, the domestic media people are quite excited that among these three pioneers, there is a place for Chinese people.

...