Chapter 657： 【Forerunners in space exploration】

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

"This successful recovery undoubtedly further proves that "reduction of rocket launch costs through multiple recovery" 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 of spaceflight."

"Prior to this, almost all space rockets, including SpaceX, were non-reusable. Once the mission was completed, it became a pile of scrap iron and space junk, even if it can be reused. Endeavour 'The space shuttle was also proved to be of little value for re-use because it was too time-consuming and costly to repair."

Some domestic media people on the field would smile with a smile, and secretly Luo Sheng would really come, and he would not suffer at all. At this time, he also took the initiative to raise Elon Musk. In fact, it's about catering to people, and people with a clear eye can understand.

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

This is also a daily series of big fights between the big brothers, and no one thinks that Luo Sheng is unauthentic. If it is not the same, Elon Musk is not the first. Suddenly announced that the early launch is not in response to Luo Sheng.

Only, finally overturned.

It is worth mentioning that when Elon Musk first made his remarks on rocket recovery, it was more criticized by people in the industry.

But now, the traditional commercial rocket launch providers have finally staged the "True Fragrance" scene, but not everyone can accept this job. Many North American traditional rocket launch service providers have been forced to restructure or directly collapse because of SpaceX's order. , The rest is difficult to maintain.

With the rapid rise of Star Arrow International, people in the industry believe that it is foreseeable that as long as Star Arrow International announces the undertaking of launch services, some employers will start looking for Star Arrow International to order second-hand rocket launch services at a lower price.

Among the many private space companies of different sizes currently established worldwide, Blue Origin, SpaceX and Star Arrow International are recognized as the three major private space exploration giants, all in the first echelon of space exploration, while other private companies 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 hoped that Blue Origin could create space tourism, so the company’s recyclable rocket is only responsible for low-Earth orbit. Blue Origin is undoubtedly Bezos’s My son, the money and sets of cash he earned from Amazon basically hit the company.

SpaceX was founded by Elon Musk in 2002. The biggest ideal is immigration to Mars. Elon Musk is relatively poor among the three parties, so the company’s high utilization rate of funds is exaggerated. .

The research and development cost of the Falcon series rocket 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 overall, SpaceX's capital utilization rate is indeed very high, almost no waste of money.

In contrast, Luo Sheng is not a general “loser”, Star Arrow International was established almost ten years later than its competitors, and the Star Arrow project has reached more than US$6 billion in research and development investment to date, almost 12 times the Falcon series rocket.

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

However, if you analyze carefully, you will find that Luo Sheng must be willing to give up, and must be so "lost", there is no way, because the tuition fee is still up after all.

Star Arrow International really has nothing but money.

The current technical reserves are all derived from Luo Sheng's "money capabilities".

Star Arrow International's positioning is the resources of the entire solar system. Although it was established at the latest time, the dreams, patterns and ambitions are indeed the largest and most difficult to achieve among the three companies, including the ultimate goal of building a space ladder or the solar system resources. , Even resources outside the solar system.

This is 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 offer is relatively cheap compared to other rocket launch companies, the application of recyclable technology can make The launch cost is saved by 35%, about 24.5 million US dollars, excluding the exchange rate changes of about 170 million yuan."

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, the current launch cost of Youshang SpaceX can save about 30%, about 18 million US dollars, while Star Arrow can save more than 24 million US dollars, and the competitiveness is obviously higher than SpaceX.

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

The company has been unable to make ends meet. Although Luo Sheng has no pressure to bear R&D expenses, Star Arrow International is unhealthy if it cannot bear its own profits and losses.

Besides, it’s not a brain problem if you don’t make money with it. You can’t make money by Elon Musk.

Luo Sheng continued: "...but still in that sentence, today was only successful once. This does not mean that the technology of second-hand rocket recycling is already mature, and the road ahead is still long."

"In addition, since 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 rocket engines, many key navigation and guidance control equipment are in the second-stage rocket, and the second-stage rocket It has been put into orbit, and it is more difficult to recover, but it also shows that the Star Arrow heavy rocket still has huge room for improvement and room for further greatly reducing the launch cost."

Obviously, only 30% of the launch cost savings are unsatisfactory for Star Arrow International, and Luo Sheng is also dissatisfied. Once the secondary rocket can also be recovered, it can further save about 40% of the launch cost.

Luo Sheng added: "...All these considerations are under 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 formally incorporate the fairing recycling into the plan."

As soon as this remark came out, the media on the spot could not help but applaud again.

"Why should we put the fairing into the recycling list? This seemingly ordinary shell actually costs up to 45 million yuan, accounting for 10% of the rocket's overall cost."

Speaking of which, Luo Sheng added a joke: "It's not easy, but it's picking up money. If you're even disgusted with picking up money, what do you do?"

"Haha~"

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

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

Rocket launch, the grounding gas is a space express, in fact, it is just for delivery, and the fairing is the express box, which is the golden cargo, the professional is called "payload", the cargo is satellites and the like s things.

And this box is a bit powerful. Imagine that a three-stage rocket is on the bottom of the butt, high temperature, high heat, high speed, and strong airflow impact in the atmosphere It is a basic requirement that it does not break itself. Adjust the internal temperature and humidity.

It contains satellites, which are the most sophisticated and the most expensive things for the rocket as a whole. The smoke from the outside atmosphere does not come in at all, and the thinner the fairing, the better. This can increase the payload.

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

There are too many technologies involved. The packaging of 45 million yuan is not excessive. At the same time, because it is expensive, it accounts for about 10% of the cost of the rocket. Of course, we must consider recycling.

At this moment, a reporter at the media meeting looked at Luo Sheng who was talking eloquently on the podium and couldn't help but sigh with emotion: "If the future journey of humanity 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, people in the domestic media industry are quite excited that among these three pioneers, there is a place for Chinese.

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