Chapter 102 Guangjia
The Jiuquan Satellite Center is located in the northeast of JQ City. The weather is very cold, but the sky dawns very early. When they were waiting in the launch hall here at five o'clock, it was already dark.
“The cost has caught up with SpaceX. According to my understanding, this is not an easy task.
Compared with other commercial airlines that do rocket launches, the biggest advantage of SpaceX is cost.
Can SpaceX really eliminate its biggest advantage in cost in just one year?" Tim breathed into his hands to make them less cold.
He did a lot of homework before coming. At the same time, with the explosion of Tesla in recent years, other companies owned by Musk are also well-known in China.
Because SpaceX is linked to space, and starting from 2019, their Starlink project was officially launched. In just three years from 19 to 21, under the influence of the virus epidemic, they launched nearly 2,000 satellites.
Media from all walks of life have analyzed the advantages of SpaceX very clearly. After the Lida Flying Brick model was put into operation, their costs have been reduced to a very low level, much lower than other commercial airlines.
Chen Yuanguang said firmly: "One year is enough. The Falcon 9 as we know it now has actually been iterated for three generations.
From the initial Falcon 9 1.0 to the current Falcon 9 Falcon 9 1.2, and even Falcon 9 1.2 has gone through three versions
.
Because SpaceX has not been listed on the market, there is no specific external data. The contract they previously signed with NASA was US$60 million per launch. SpaceX executives claimed that the cost of each launch of SpaceX was US$28 million.
We can reduce the cost of each launch to less than 28 million US dollars, and at the same time, the load capacity will not be lower than that of Falcon 9.
The biggest advantage of Huaguo is that the industrial chain is complete. We use products from the domestic supply chain as much as possible, which can help us reduce costs.
At present, including engines, fairings, control systems, thrusters, and core engines, we will develop them ourselves or cooperate with domestic suppliers.
There will be preliminary results next year, and we will benchmark Falcon 9 in terms of average launch cost per kilogram. ”
Chen Yuanguang continued: "Our biggest advantage is that we don't have to explore the technical route ourselves and have a clear direction. At the same time, in the past few years, everyone has made enough attempts at recyclable rockets, both domestically and abroad.
We can use existing intelligence to push forward in a clear direction, which can save a lot of time costs and opportunity costs.
Coupled with Guangjia Aerospace’s domestic financial advantages, our financial volume is greater than that of other domestic companies. Hundreds of times that of commercial airlines, we can quickly produce a relatively mature result.
Of course, next year is only a preliminary version. The specific effect next year will depend on the number of launches next year.
Like Falcon 9, their version 1.2 was launched more than thirty times before it matured
Our launches in the first quarter of next year will be located in Jiuquan, and starting from the second quarter, our launches will be moved to Yantai.
Starting from the second quarter, the Trailblazer 2, a larger heavy-lift rocket that will compete with the Falcon 9, will be launched from Yantai.
Of course this is based on the premise that everything goes well. "Chen Yuanguang continued.
This is not a trade secret, it is information that can be found casually.
Tim was very curious after hearing this, because in his traditional concept, only in Shaanxi Only places like Ganning have rocket launch bases, or the Wenchang launch base in Hainan
This was the first time he heard that Yantai in Shandong Province could launch Mars.
He asked curiously: "Does Yantai also have a rocket launch base?"
Chen Yuanguang nodded: "Yes, the Eastern Airport project that has just started construction recently is a sea launch base.
Like Wenchang, although they are in Hainan, they still launch from land
Yantai launches from the ship
The final recovery point will also be at sea. Compared with land launches, sea launches have a lower recovery failure rate. If the recovery prediction is accurate enough, sea launches will be less difficult to recover. ”
Chen Yuanguang’s professionalism has skyrocketed since he started working in light-armor aerospace.
Before this, he only knew that his alma mater, Jiangcheng University, had launched a remote sensing satellite called Luojia-1.
“As for Yantai, the first sea launch in China was carried out here, and the Long March 11 was launched at that time.
Later, they successively invested more than 20 billion to build the Oriental Port Sea Launch Base.
We cooperated with YT City at the beginning of this year. We invested half and YT City invested half, and together we built a sea launch ship called "Guangjia".
This ship will also be built and put into use in the second quarter of next year. This year is just a test, and next year will be the intensive launch year of Light Armor Aerospace.
When the time comes, we will invite you Tim to visit us again for our sea launch with a larger yield. ”
Yantai has a very sensitive sense of smell. After learning that Guangjia Aerospace was established and received US$2 billion in financing, their investment specialists contacted Guangjia Aerospace intensively.
Crazyly promoted their sea launch plan .
Tim's eyes lit up when he heard this, because most men are full of yearning for space. After he came to Jiuquan, he had an idea in his heart that they would also launch a satellite.
This thought crazily occupied his brain.
Hearing that entrepreneurs much younger than myself are developing recyclable rockets and buying sea launch ships is really exciting.
"Guangshen, can I ask the price of the 'Guangjia'?" Tim asked weakly.
Chen Yuanguang thought for a while: "It's about more than 300 million, and we paid half of it. The total is less than 700 million."
Chen Yuanguang then said helplessly: "So the cost of aviation is too high.
It's just a few hundred million. Moreover, the annual maintenance cost of a maritime launch platform like this is tens of millions. It will only get more expensive as time goes by.
Before we decided to cooperate with Yantai, we went to the international community and found out that there is a floating spaceport parked in their Slavyan over there. No one is using it at the Ka Shipyard.
Dae asked us if we wanted to buy it. We highly recommended it and said that if we were willing to buy it, we could sell it to us for free, as long as the subsequent maintenance was done by them.
Do you know how much the repair costs? ”
You can only hear this kind of information by chatting with the big guys. It’s the coldest knowledge among the coldest knowledge. Tim thought to himself, and he showed a curious look: "How much?"
Chen Yuanguang said calmly: "50 billion rubles , nearly 700 million US dollars, and the subsequent annual maintenance cost is 30 million US dollars.
And they want to transfer it to us, and they have to dismantle all the sensitive equipment on it. Don’t they think we are fools?
The price of the Guangjia number we built is 700 million RMB, and Yantai helped us pay half of it.”
Chen Yuanguang felt that Damao was crazy for wanting to make money. Tim opened his mouth. Is this the world of rich people? It can be so expensive.
“This project was initiated during the honeymoon period by Big Goose, Americen and Europe after the end of Cold War. The first major shareholder was Boeing, and the second largest shareholder was Big Goose’s Energy Group.
To be honest, there are still a lot of valuable things in it. When it was first launched, it violated Amerikan's export arms control law, and Boeing was fined 100 million
Later because of the relationship. Broken down, especially this year, you know, the cooperation broke down, no one was willing to spend money, and then the project was put on hold, and they looked for a successor to find us.”
(This refers to Da Mao Er Mao Ami. The SeaLaunch project developed by Liken and Europe was initially managed by Boeing, but later it could not continue due to geopolitical reasons. After its president left, he joined SpaceX as CEO)
Tim listened with interest, "I don't quite understand why it must be launched from the sea?
Isn't it good to launch from the sea? What's the difference between them?"
Chen Yuanguang said: "If The launch frequency is very low. If there are no special requirements, it really doesn’t make any difference.
But like a recyclable rocket, if it lands on the sea after recovery, the natural buffer zone can make its recovery rate higher. . The second reason is that we are going to do asteroid mining. To do this, you have to launch the vehicle to a predetermined orbit at high frequency.
Sea launch can save fuel to the greatest extent and allow the rocket to reach a specific orbit. Slope.
For example, if we want a polar orbit, then we can drag the launch ship to the polar waters to reduce the impact of the earth's autorotation on the launch, and it will be easier for it to reach the 90-degree predetermined orbit.
The last thing is sea launch. You can launch whenever you want without any restrictions.
This will help us capture valuable asteroids in the future and launch mining ships to predetermined orbits as quickly as possible. ”
Tim was surprised. Before chatting with Chen Yuanguang, he thought that asteroid mining was impossible, or that it was a goal with no results in the short term.
Unexpectedly, Chen Yuanguang They really take this as a goal and have a very strong direction
Tim asked: "God of Light, how long do you think it will take for asteroid mining to be realized?"
Chen Yuanguang said: "It depends on how you define it. If it refers to any asteroid, it will be considered mining if you bring something back. Then we can do it next year.
But if it means that we can actually dig out valuable rare metals and the income can cover the cost, then I estimate that it will take about eight years. Eight years is more reasonable. "
Tim showed a longing look: "Eight years pass in the blink of an eye, Guangshen, I will make an appointment for you to interview in eight years. Then we will see if the flag we have set now is achieved. "
Chen Yuanguang laughed: "Okay, no problem!"
He is very optimistic. Eight years is a conservative estimate and cannot be any more conservative.
Tim then asked: "What do you think about the immigration to Mars? Can we see it in our lifetime?"
Chen Yuanguang said: "I don't know, it is definitely possible to go to Mars, but immigration involves It’s too broad, I’m not sure.
If ten people go there and build a space station, they are considered immigrants. If a thousand people go and build a Mars research base, they are considered immigrants. If ten thousand people go and build a small space, they will be immigrants. The same goes for the town.”
He really doesn’t know what the earth in this time and space can achieve without him.
While Chen Yuanguang was being interviewed by Tim, the rocket launch of Guangjia Aerospace was broadcast live on Bilibili, Douyin, and YouTube. Ordinary people saw that the live broadcast room was completely dark, and they could only stay in it by watching the barrage.
"Why hasn't it been launched? I've been waiting for half an hour!"
"Where is the God of Light? God of Light should come out and say something!"
"Where are the people? ? Is there anyone? What kind of underworld live broadcast room!"
"Guangshen comes out to bring the goods, just take the big guy behind you, and I will buy it if you do it. Just pretend I didn’t say anything”
The comments from netizens are far more interesting than the live broadcast.
What I pay more attention to is my peers, especially my domestic peers.
Foreign counterparts, their competitors are SpaceX, NASA, and the European Space Agency. These major orders cannot fall to Guangjia Aerospace.
As for the successful launch of Guangjia Aerospace’s Pioneer 1, domestic commercial aerospace companies will be most affected.
Yao Song, the founder of Oriental Space, was standing in front of the computer, looking at his mobile phone and waiting for the rocket to launch.
His hair has turned a lot gray during this time. They originally planned to complete Series A and pre-A rounds of financing this year, and the plan was to raise 700 million.
There are few good projects in China, even fewer good scientific research projects, and even fewer scientific research projects with clear business models and certain results.
Before the advent of light armor space, Eastern Space was one such project.
We have achieved certain results, we have orders, we got orders from Changguang Satellite, we have funds, we raised 400 million during the 2021 virus epidemic, we have talents, we poached them from the Long March series of rockets Quite a few people.
Benchmarking SpaceX, SpaceX is valued at US$150 billion. As a company benchmarking against it, how can it be worth tens of billions of RMB in the future?
According to the domestic preference for technology companies, listing on the Science and Technology Innovation Board is a good thing, with a market value of tens of billions of RMB.
That’s why Yao Song was so determined to reject Chen Yuanguang’s acquisition.
When Chen Yuanguang said they wanted 200 million yuan for the acquisition, they had not yet completed the 400 million yuan financing. After the 400 million yuan financing was completed, Yao Song felt that his decision was correct.
As a result, the progress of Light Armor Aerospace in recyclable rockets has made the prospects of Eastern space dim.
"Sorry, we need to re-evaluate this project, Mr. Yao, you need to wait."
"Mr. Yao, we are very interested in the Oriental Space project. This is a good project, but do we need to reconsider the valuation and financing amount?"
"Mr. Yao, let me ask. How to face the competition from Guangjia Aerospace? According to the information obtained from our business research, Guangjia Aerospace has poached a large number of core R&D personnel from you during this period.
Guangjia Aerospace’s attraction of talents. The power is obviously much stronger than yours.
In addition, the segment of recyclable rockets is close to a zero-sum game market. In addition to the state-owned Aviation Industry Group, there is only one private enterprise left in the country that can eat up everything. Share.
Guangjia Aerospace raised US$2 billion in the first round, and perovskite battery technology provides a steady stream of cash flow.
Their financial advantage is too great. At the same time, Chen Yuanguang holds the majority of the shares of Guangjia Technology. This part of the shares can be turned into ammunition at any time to enter Guangjia Aerospace.
Under various adverse conditions, what are the advantages of Oriental Space? ”
The communication with investors during this period made Yao Song deeply frustrated. Everyone wanted to wait for the results of Guangjia Aerospace’s rocket launch.
Asking for a ticket at the beginning of the month~< br>
(End of this chapter)