Hollywood Hunter

In the darkness of night, the launch site at Vandenberg Air Force Base was brightly lit.

In an observation hall of the launch site that can be seen from hundreds of meters away, as last year, there are still many guests watching the ceremony this time, except for Simon and the SpaceX team. representatives of potential clients.

Gwen Shotwell, who was once in charge of spacex and was also brought in by Simon to take charge of the new company this time, is a very capable manager. Last year, the Merlin engine was tested. Until the launch of the Falcon 1, in addition to the last $1 billion engine contract, Shotwell also successfully signed 27 commercial launch contracts with many potential customers including NASA.

Just wait until Falcon One succeeds.

However, frankly speaking, everyone does not have much expectation for the first launch of Falcon 1. Has there ever been a rocket in history that can be successfully launched for the first time? Yes, but very few.

Simon happened to talk about it while chatting with Shotwell before the launch.

Simon hoped that the first launch would fail.

This is not hypocritical.

Simon is very appreciative of the achievements made by the spacex team in the past few years. However, for the high-end aerospace industry, only by experiencing failures can we learn lessons and accumulate experience. Moreover, because of the high cost of aerospace engineering, even if it is not spent , One failure is enough to impress SpaceX engineers for several years.

Gwen Shotwell, who rarely complains about her boss throwing cold water on a rocket before a launch, has another thing to say.

It is also a private rocket company in the United States.

Established in 1982, Orbital Science Corporation entered into the rocket launch business in 1987. It took three years to develop its first operational rocket, the Pegasus Constellation, which was launched in 1990 and was a success.

Gwen Shotwell firmly believes that her team is worse than Orbital Sciences.

When Simon heard this, he was only slightly moved.

Spending your own money is really different from spending the country's money.

I also asked a few more questions about the status quo of Orbital Science Corporation, and then I stopped paying attention. Orbital Science Corporation is basically incorporated by NASA, and the cost of rocket launches is not much lower than the mainstream, and because of its own size, it is not too much With strong competitiveness, only some small commercial launches can be carried out.

Because Simon has set the direction for SpaceX in advance, the Falcon series rockets are cost-effective enough to beat all the current mainstream operating rockets, which is an advantage that no other space launch company can match.

When the mechanical and clear countdown sound sounded in the observation hall, Simon stopped the discussion with Shotwell beside him, looked at the glass window, and finally couldn't help but ask the female senior pipe beside him: "Gwen, we sit here, if we sit here directly It exploded, isn't it dangerous?"

The result is a pair of white eyes.

"...five, four, three, two, one, light the fire!"

Bright flames accompanied by smoke and the ensuing roar, the Falcon 1 on the launch site seemed to soar slowly into the air, gradually accelerated, and soon disappeared into Simon's field of vision with a long trail, some guests Can't help but go to the glass window and continue to watch, Simon sat still, but turned to a large screen in the hall.

Above is the picture sent back by the camera carried by the Falcon 1 rocket itself.

The resolution is not high, but it is enough for both insiders and laymen to roughly judge the flight status of the rocket.

Even just chatting with Shotwell, Simon also said that he hoped that the first launch would fail, but when things came to an end, his heartstrings still couldn't help but tense a little, and his emotions were a little tangled. Occasionally glanced to the side, today's meticulously dressed female executives had unknowingly clenched their fists.

While waiting, the screen on the projector trembled.

Simon glanced at the time displayed in the lower right corner of the big screen, 3 minutes and 27 seconds.

There was another voice in the hall.

"First stage rocket separated."

At this time, everyone looked at the projection screen, and when the trembling and intermittent images became clear again, spontaneous applause broke out in the hall.

Simon also raised his hands and applauded.

It is generally known that the separation of the first and second rocket bodies of a rocket is the most prone to failure stage. The first-stage rocket body is separated, the second-stage rocket body is successfully ignited, and the next step is the problem of orbiting.

Time continued to pass minute by minute.

Eight minutes later, the outline of the earth began to appear on the projection screen, and everyone in the observation hall held their breaths.

At 8 minutes and 27 seconds, the secondary engine stalled.

Subsequently, the star and arrow separated.

Of course, this rocket does not carry a satellite, but a model of Tinkobel's iberry-10ultra mobile phone, but it is not a simple plastic model, but has communication and camera functions. Upload pictures for publicity.

8 minutes and 35 seconds.

After a brief pause, a voice came from the hall again. The female voice, which had been calm until now, was obviously a bit high-spirited: "The Falcon 1 rocket was launched successfully, and the target has officially entered orbit."

"yeah!"

Before Simon could react, Gwen Shotwell beside him had already made a sound of excitement, and the small fist that had been resting on his knee was raised, and it fell suddenly, hitting Simon's knee.

This is clearly intentional.

Before Simon had time to protest, Shotwell had already leaned over, hugged his boss, then jumped up, and pounced on whoever came over casually.

There were also cheers in the hall.

Simon also saw two big men hugging each other and weeping with joy.

At the same time, there was the sound of opening the champagne, and the foam rushed directly into Simon's neck.

Well, that's obviously intentional too.

Simon didn't turn his head to look for the culprit, but glanced at the girl A who was still sitting firmly with his boss beside him: "Why don't we give a hug too."

Girl a smiled and posted it, it was fragrant and soft, much better than the girl playing with rockets just now.

Really feeling, Simon's phone remembered.

Miss C is calling from Los Angeles.

The news has been received over there, and the iberry model has been sent back to the first stop photo. The c girl said that she has launched the customized iberry mobile phone in Simon's hands. Take advantage of this opportunity to further promote the iberry series.

I just hung up on Miss C, and Janet's call from Los Angeles was also picked up.

The woman is very clear about Simon's intentions in doing these things, so she also attaches great importance to this first launch of SpaceX, just like the C-girl just now, if she didn't have various things at hand, she would definitely come here today.

After answering and making several phone calls in a row, Simon pulled Girl A up and joined the lively celebration around him. It was not until one o'clock in the morning that everyone left Vandenberg Air Force Base in Simon's helicopter and returned to Los Angeles.

Early the next morning, the mainstream media was full of news about the successful launch of Falcon 1.

Simon was originally not very interested in such a big publicity. However, since he achieved success once, the big publicity can be regarded as an honor for the SpaceX team. Of course, there are also marketing requirements, after all, it is a commercial company.

However, this time it is not as good as before, promoting the first private fund manufacturing and so on.

In the past, Musk did it completely alone, but the brand-new spacex and the brand-new Falcon 1 have cooperation in many aspects.

Of course, Simon will not underestimate himself because of this, because the strategy he formulated at the beginning was not independent research and development, but integration, trying to integrate the technological achievements that countries in the world have invested tens of billions of dollars in research and development in the past few decades. This is actually a kind of resource saving. In order to achieve this goal, Simon even did not hesitate to use various gray methods.

After the integration is completed, it will be the next step of research and development.

And now, even if SpaceX's first rocket is successfully launched, there is still a long way to go before the integration stage required by Simon. Simon feels that the integration stage should be completed at least once again with the moon landing plan.

Therefore, amidst the heated discussions in the media, while giving affirmation at the SpaceX high-level meeting the next day, Simon's request is to make persistent efforts.

The success of the first launch is enough to prove the stability of Falcon 1. Next, while commercial launches can be performed, it is the development of recoverable rockets and heavy rockets.

The latter is more important to Simon.

Because you have to move forward and move forward, not stop and make money.

However, Simon was not stingy at all in return.

Last year, Merlin 1 passed the test and won a huge order. Simon gave a one-time bonus of 15 million US dollars.

Not only that, Simon also launched another plan to significantly increase the salaries of SpaceX employees.

Previously, the general salary of spacex was not high, only about 20 to 30 percent higher than the average salary of other organizations in the industry. This time, Simon directly set the starting salary of spacex as US$100,000.

In the past 1997, the average annual income of Americans was 27,000 U.S. dollars, and the more precise median income was only 19,000 U.S. dollars, far from as high as imagined by many people who yearn for the United States and regard it as a paradise. Simon puts The starting salary of spacex is set at US$100,000, which is already equivalent to the level of ordinary corporate executives in the United States. Moreover, spacex also has no shortage of bonuses and equity awards for corporate executives.

Not only that, but the key is the 'starting salary'.

It means that as long as you can successfully join SpaceX, the most junior ones will be able to get an annual salary of 100,000 US dollars. After the successful launch of Falcon 1, taking advantage of the media heat, Gwen Shotwell passed his own Facebook’s homepage released recruitment notices to the world. As for the old employees who have worked in SpaceX for several years, their annual salaries are generally higher after this big promotion, and $150,000 or even $200,000 is not uncommon.

It wasn't Simon's whim.

If you want the horse to run, you have to feed the horse. This is the simplest truth.

Simon started thinking about it early on.

If the 3g plan wants to be successful, it’s fine if you talk about your ideals with others, but if you only talk about your ideals, you’re playing hooligans.

It is still the most reliable to talk about money.

Ten or twenty years later, there is a common phenomenon in both the East and the West. The top talents and the smartest minds will either get into the financial circle represented by Wall Street and develop various financial products that make ordinary people dizzy. Products, all kinds of cut leeks. Or they flock to the world's top technology companies such as fanng, and their research is not about the future, but how to place advertisements more accurately, how to squeeze the delivery staff to the limit, and so on.

As a result, for human development to

Few people care about the various basic sciences that are so important.

In the final analysis, it is still a matter of money.

Because the financial and online circles are more profitable, they will naturally attract more elites.

As for basic mathematics, physics, chemistry and other fields, even if it reaches the Nobel Prize level, the Nobel Prize bonus is only a fraction of the year-end bonus of some financial technology company executives.

Naturally, no one will do it.

Simon is an elitist, believing that human progress is the result of the guidance of a few top elites.

However, the few here, as we are about to enter the 21st century, are no longer the same as at the Solvay meeting at the beginning of this century. A group of top scientists in a photo almost changed the future of mankind.

In the new era, the research in various basic fields is quite a huge project, like the sequencing of the human genome, like the construction of a particle collider with a length of tens or hundreds of kilometers. , Marie Curie's kind of pioneering top-level elites to guide, but also requires a large number of relatively ordinary elites to participate in the practice.

Relatively ordinary elites may have far more brains than ordinary people, but they are still human after all.

It is impossible for Simon to extravagantly ask these people to cut off their emotions and desires to pursue the lofty ideals of mankind. Since ideals cannot be discussed, talking about money is of course the most reliable.

So the salary increase at spacex is just the beginning.

Next, Simon will adopt high-tech strategies in all aspects of the 3G plan. For most salaried workers, $100,000 may be the goal of a lifetime, but as long as they can enter the 3G plan sequence of the Westeros system, this will only be a start.

$1 million, $10 million, even $100 million.

As long as he has the corresponding value, Simon will not be stingy.

The launch of the Falcon 1 on April 16 was successful, and the media hustle and bustle lasted for a full week. SpaceX also released the launch video of the rocket on YouTube the next day. At the same time, it was sent by the Falcon 1. The iberry-10ultra mobile phone that went into space has once again become the focus of heated discussions in the media.

A measly $6 million launch, for Tinkobel's iberry series, has a marketing effect no less than a $60 million advertisement.

Sure enough, Tinkber paid the spacex team a sum of money, and directly booked the marketing bundle for the next launch. Of course, he will not launch a mobile phone model again. However, Tinkbel will provide some detailed technical support, such as this The camera on the Falcon 1 this time actually came from Tinkber's laboratory, and we will definitely cooperate next time.

Simon doesn’t care about Tinkber’s side, spacex, with the successful launch of Falcon 1, a quotation of 15 million US dollars, even if the cost for Tinkobel’s side is simply digging coal, it still attracts a large number of cooperation applications , Simon had to suppress.

Still the same sentence, the core goal of spacex is to move forward and look forward to the future, not to stop and make money.

The error-free chapters of "Hunting Hollywood" will continue to be updated in Xinshuhaige, and there will be no advertisements on the site. Please bookmark and recommend the new book Haige!

If you like Hunting Hollywood, please bookmark it: () Hunting Hollywood new book Haige updates the fastest.

Download【Reading Assistant APP】official website: www.kanshuzhushou.com No ads, all free!