Global monopoly of technology

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

"This successful recovery undoubtedly further proves that'recovering rockets through multiple recovery to substantially reduce rocket launch costs' is a practical 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."

"Prior to this, almost all space rockets, including SpaceX, were one-time non-reusable. Once the mission is completed, they become a pile of scrap iron and space junk, even the reusable Endeavour 'The space shuttle was also proved to be of little value for reuse because it was too time-consuming and expensive to repair.'

Some domestic media people off the court smiled heartily, secretly saying that Luo Sheng would really come and would not suffer at all. At this time, he also took the initiative to mention Elon Musk, who seemed to be in business with each other. In fact, it is in Geying people, anyone with a discerning eye can understand.

Because Musk’s rocket exploded yesterday, and Star Arrow just succeeded and made history.

This can be regarded as a daily series of big guys fighting over and under, and no one thinks that Luo Sheng is not authentic. If it is not authentic, it is because Elon Musk is not authentic first. Suddenly announcing that the early launch is also in response to Luo Sheng.

It's just that the car overturned in the end.

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

But now, the traditional commercial rocket launch providers finally staged the "true fragrance" scene, but not everyone can take this job. Many North American traditional rocket launch service providers have been forced to transform or simply close down because of the order being robbed by SpaceX. , The rest is also struggling to maintain.

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

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

Blue Origin was established in 2000. Jeff Bezos hoped that Blue Origin could create space tourism. Therefore, the company’s recoverable rockets are only responsible for low-Earth orbit. Blue Origin is undoubtedly Bezos’s My son, the money and cash he earned from Amazon has basically gone to this company.

SpaceX was founded by Elon Musk in 2002. The biggest ideal is to emigrate to Mars. Relatively speaking, Elon Musk is the "poorer" of the three parties, so the company's capital utilization rate is exaggerated. .

The research and development cost of the Falcon series rocket is only 500 million U.S. dollars, but that is also favored by NASA. Not only does it provide technical support, it also gives up to 2.6 billion U.S. dollars to launch the International Space Station.

But in general, SpaceX's capital utilization rate is indeed very high, and almost no money was wasted.

In contrast, Luo Sheng is no ordinary "loser." Star Arrow International was established almost ten years later than its competitors, and the Star Arrow project has invested more than 6 billion US dollars in research and development as of today. 12 times the Falcon series rocket.

And to see this posture, you have to add money.

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

Star Arrow International has nothing but money.

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

The positioning of Star Arrow International is the resources of the entire solar system. Although the establishment is the latest, the dream, structure and ambition are indeed the largest of the three companies and the most difficult to achieve. The ultimate goal of creating a space ladder is the resources of the solar system. , Even resources outside the solar system.

This is all about the future, and there are endless 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 offer is relatively low compared to other rocket launch companies, the application of recyclable technology can allow The launch cost was saved by 35%, about 24.5 million US dollars, and about 170 million yuan excluding exchange rate changes."

"170 million, this cost is not a small amount for any company, and as the number of launches increases, the final cost should be lower."

Compared with the traditional rocket launch, SpaceX’s current launch cost can save about 30%, about 18 million US dollars, and Star Arrow can save more than 24 million US dollars, which is significantly more competitive than SpaceX.

In fact, Luo Sheng said these are not arbitrary talks at the moment. As the technology gradually matures, it is time to consider commercialization.

The company has been struggling to make ends meet. Although Luo Sheng has no pressure to bear the R&D expenses, Star Arrow International will ultimately be unhealthy if it cannot take responsibility for its own profits and losses.

Besides, it’s not a problem with your brain that you don’t make money if you put money. You can’t let Elon Musk make money alone.

Luo Sheng continued: "...but that said, it was only successful once today. This does not mean that the technology for the recycling and reuse of second-hand rockets has matured, and the future is still long."

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

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

Luo Sheng added: "...All these considerations are in the planning and control of Star Arrow International, because we are likely to see a fully recyclable rocket at the end of this year, the ultimate upgraded version of Star Arrow.' For the first test flight of the Star Arrow 17E' model, we will also officially include the recovery of the fairing into the plan."

The media on the scene couldn't help but applaud once again.

"Why do we want to 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."

Speaking of this, Luo Sheng added jokingly: "This is not easy, but this is picking up money. If you don't even think about picking up money, what else?"

"Haha~"

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

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

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

And this packaging box is a bit more powerful. Just imagine that there is a three-stage rocket on the buttocks. High temperature, high heat, high speed, and strong air current impact in the atmosphere. It is a basic requirement for itself not to break. At the same time, the temperature and humidity inside the fairing adjust.

It contains satellites, these sophisticated and the most expensive things in the rocket as a whole. Smoke from the atmosphere can't get in at all, and the fairing has to be as thin as possible to increase the payload.

During the rocket launch process, the journey from the ground to outer space has to go through a series of extreme environmental trials, and then it must be able to ensure that it opens accurately 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 it is expensive, it accounts for about 10% of the rocket's cost. Of course, we must consider recycling.

At this moment, a reporter on the scene of the media meeting looked at Luo Sheng who was talking on the stage, and couldn’t help but sigh with emotion: “If the future of mankind is the sea of ​​stars, then Star Arrow International and Elon led by Luo Sheng SpaceX led by Musk and Blue Origin led by Jeff Bezos are likely to be the forerunners of this journey."

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

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