Chapter 360 NASA’s web page Moon landing
“Dave, this price is very sincere.
We are all engaged in commercial aerospace work, and we know very well what 320,000 kilometers is.
To put it bluntly, from the perspective of use value, one module of the Guangjia is more expensive than the entire International Space Station.
The construction cost of the International Space Station exceeds 100 billion. US dollars, and we can help you package everything from construction to launch for only US$7 billion." Li Xiande's eyes were even more determined than gold medal sales.
Dave sighed inwardly, but on the surface he still needed to argue.
"Pyle, we all know that the symbolic significance of the International Space Station is greater than its practical significance. The International Space Station is a show, a show for a broad audience.
And technology is advancing, The actual cost of building another International Space Station is definitely less than 100 billion US dollars.
You and I also know how much recyclable rockets have reduced the cost of space transportation.
The price of 7 billion is really true. It’s too expensive, this is already our total budget for the year.”
Pyle is Li Xiande's English name. Dave knows very well that 7 billion is not expensive. If they have this technology and they offer a price of 20 billion US dollars, someone will pay for it.
Yes, it’s neon.
They are absolutely willing to pay US$20 billion to go to a place only 60,000 kilometers away from the moon.
But this is not the same concept. It is very difficult for a country to spend 20 billion and for an enterprise to spend 7 billion.
The annual budget of any unknown small country is tens of billions of dollars.
A country like Slovakia, which has no sense of existence, has an annual budget of more than 30 billion euros.
Not to mention neon.
But this number is indeed a huge burden for Blue Origin, and Dave hopes to talk about it a little bit.
“Dave, you can think about it, when SpaceX sends their target customers to travel in low-Earth orbit, Blue Origin can send your customers to the closest place to the moon. Get a closer look at the moon.
Enjoy a visit to the world's largest space station, the farthest place inhabited by humans.
Only Blue Origin can do this. "Li Xiande's tone was full of confusion.
Nothing is more important to Blue Origin than defeating SpaceX.
If you say how good our space station module is, the other party needs to do a long process Psychological construction, but when you put SpaceX on the negotiating table, the other party instantly felt that the money was worth it.
Li Xiande knew that Dave needed to go back to convince Bezos, and the negotiated price indirectly reflected the other party. ability.
He looked at Dave who was lost in thought and said: "I want to tell you that many countries have agreed to this price, and the cabins we can sell are extremely limited.
Because of the friendship that we have reached cooperation with in the past, we first talked with Blue Origin.
If you think the price is too high, we will never force it. ”
Finally, Dave returned to the Huating Hotel with a grimace, and reported the key points of today’s negotiation with the other party to Bezos via remote phone.
Bezos did not hesitate for too long. : “Ask them about the delivery time, how long it will take for our space station to be delivered.
Payment is based on time and yearly, and an exclusivity clause needs to be signed.
In other words, it can only be sold to one company, and it cannot be sold to other companies except ours.
If they agree to these two conditions, then we accept the price. "Bezos stared at the spaceship model on his desk over the phone and said with his hands on the oak table.
What Bezos needs to think about is how to spend money and how to spend it wisely. Value.
Having experienced the failure of Orbital Reef before, he now feels that 7 billion is not expensive.
Orbital Reef is a low-Earth orbit space station project launched by Blue Origin in 20 years. , a very small space station, mainly used for space tourism, can only accommodate about ten people
Suppliers for the entire project include Blue Origin, Amazon, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Boeing. The result is that the launch was originally planned for 2027, but now it has reached 27 years, and the plan has been postponed to 30 years.
Bezos knows very well that after 2030, his subordinates will tell him that he has to postpone it later. If he asks, everyone will postpone it. The extension is normal. If he asks again, he will blame Boeing and Mitsubishi. Anyway, these two companies can take the blame.
Therefore, Bezos now believes that self-research is worse than buying mature products from others, such as light armor aerospace.
China can introduce it first and then develop it on its own. Why can’t Blue Origin rely on its in-depth cooperation with Light Armor Aerospace and rely on the Americen market to surpass SpaceX in one fell swoop?
Finally Blue Origin secured a regional exclusivity clause.
The general meaning is that we will not sell to companies in North America, but we do not rule out selling to companies in other countries.
Although Blue Origin was reluctant, Blue Origin finally agreed.
Blue Origin has just reached a verbal agreement with Guangjia Aerospace, and the news that Guangjia Aerospace revealed in the live broadcast spread all over the world.
The concept of including the port and the Malacca Strait between the earth and the moon has been promoted by various Western media.
“NASA proposed the Lunar Gateway Project in 2018, using the Arch of St. Louis, a symbol of the American border, as the LOGO of the Lunar Gateway.
The Lunar Gateway is also the Lunar Space Station. Congress allocated US$450 million for preliminary research immediately after it was announced. NASA then planned to launch the first basic module in May 2024, but we did not see the result in 2024. The first basic module entered lunar orbit, and this scene has still not been seen in 2027.
When Tiangong is about to officially become the only space station in low-Earth orbit this year, our near-Earth space station plan is still stuck on NASA’s website. China's lunar portal, Guangjia, is rapidly completing construction at a rate of launching one module every two weeks. Guangjia Aerospace employees have recently announced their greater ambitions, hoping that Guangjia can become a hub between the earth and the moon. The spacecraft needs to dock on Guangjia to complete supplies during its journey to the moon.
However, these concepts originally belonged to NASA. Guangjia Space just turned the content on NASA's webpage into reality. We control the Strait of Malacca on the earth, although this control may be blocked at any time. Destruction, but we still have control, and the Chinese have begun to control the Strait of Malacca between the earth and the moon.
Judging from NASA’s performance, for a long time to come, there will only be China’s space station between the earth and the moon. Ultimately, space is both challenging and expensive. For a long time in the past, it has been a way for many countries to demonstrate their dominance. Now China continues to prove itself in this regard, and America is also constantly proving itself and proving its weakness in manufacturing.
The past experience of the International Space Station has proven that cooperation is more effective than working alone: the International Space Station is the best proof. Today, when space exploration is becoming more and more realistic, the author believes that we should ease the situation with China and cooperate in the field of space exploration, just like during the Cold War, through cooperation in space exploration to ease tensions on the earth." After reading the New York Times article, Americans may feel that it makes sense, but the Chinese have only one thought after reading it, and that is picking peaches.
After your successful launch, I want to pick peaches.
Ordinary Chinese people can't bear it.
“Do we need to purchase port-type space station modules from Guangjia Aerospace? This concept sounds very imaginative.
Compared with the experimental module, the port is obviously more valuable "More." After intensive news reports, the main topic discussed during the meeting of Blue Origin executives in Silicon Valley was Guangjia.
After all, this space station has something to do with them.
“The price of the port and the experimental module are definitely not the same thing. And if Guangjia Aerospace wants to have a monopoly, it is impossible to sell the port.”
“The port is important to us. It makes no sense. Didn't you read the detailed report on the Guangjia port function module? This requires supporting heat insulation layer technology and the spacecraft needs to be modified to use the port.
How can you guarantee that? In the future, all spacecraft going to the moon will adopt the standards set by Guangjia Aerospace?
Even if that happens, we will still have to purchase the raw materials needed at the port, which is not feasible for us. Any meaning.”
"What we need is a module that can function in a short time. The port is a bit too far for us."
Blue Origin executives thought clearly that ports and ordinary experiments The cabin is certainly not one price.
The port is too cost-effective for them.
However, Bezos still asked Dave, who was still in Shenhai, to ask, and the answer they received was not what they expected. It was indeed not for sale.
It doesn’t mean much to Blue Origin, but it’s another concept to France.
France believes that it is of great significance to them, because France’s ambitions are far beyond what Blue Origin can match.
At this point in time, France has begun to prepare to take control of the entire European Space Agency, and the positions of senior European Space Agency officials are being occupied by the French.
Their hope is to keep pace with China and America in the aerospace field.
Naturally, I will not let go of such an opportunity.
"Pyle, we hope to purchase the port module of the Light Armor Aerospace." The senior official of the French Space Agency spoke with such a request that was difficult to answer.
"There is no discussion on this matter. There are only two cabins on the entire Guangjia that can be used as ports. This is truly not for sale." Li Xiande flatly refused.
The French side refuses to give up. If you don’t sell it, we can try to develop it ourselves.
The French believe that if they can unite the power of the entire Europe, they can try to research it themselves.
For the Lunar Gateway project mentioned earlier, the main research and development force is naturally NASA, but it does not mean that it is only NASA. It includes Europe, Neon and Maple Leaf Country.
Slow progress on this project does not mean there is no progress
In terms of power, American adopts a similar solution to the composite power rocket. It uses a large number of Hall thrusters with advanced electric propulsion systems as auxiliary energy to help the space station module of the rocket continue to fly in space after launch and fly to the predetermined location. Set location.
Therefore, both the technical solutions of Light Armor Aerospace and NASA's technical solutions use composite power, using fossil fuels on the earth and electric propulsion systems after leaving the earth's orbit.
“According to experts from the French Space Agency, they commissioned five four-month studies and planned to unite the French Space Agency, the German Space Agency, the Italian Space Agency and others to find ways to launch to the Earth and the Moon. The total budget for the development of power propulsion elements at Lagrangian points is 3.4 million euros. The institutions responsible for the research also include the European Safran Group, Orbital ATK and Sierra Nevada Corporation"
"European Space Agency news, NASA plans to increase its support for the Lunar Gateway, and plans to package the entire project for bidding. There is a high probability that the entire project will be handed over to Musk's SpaceX."
"It's really rare. "Washington was so stimulated that they planned to abandon NASA and directly hand over all orders for the lunar space station to SpaceX. This is at least a bid worth upwards of 50 billion US dollars." Lin Jia couldn't help but talk to him after hearing the news in his office. The secretary complained.
"Why do we need NASA to do this? Why don't we just hand over all aerospace matters to SpaceX? From now on, SpaceX will be the new NASA, and NASA will be disbanded collectively." Lin Jia thinks this is too unbelievable.
This is a bit like Hua Guo packaging fupin work and handing it over to Pinduoduo. What is reflected behind this is the dysfunction in Washington.
Lin Xinrui replied: "Mr. Lin, I think the successful launch of Guangjia put too much pressure on them.
Before the replacement, only NASA was promoting the lunar space station, and Huaguo Aerospace What they are pursuing is another kind of misplaced competition. In the absence of direct competitors, NASA's behavior is tolerable.
With Light Armor Aerospace as a reference, Washington can't stand it no matter what. Years have passed, and Moon Portal has spent five billion US dollars and it is still just a PPT. No, it is a PPT that attracts investment. They are a web page, and the web page is on the moon.”
"No wonder the French side didn't ask again after being rejected. It's probably that Washington has restarted the Lunar Portal and plans to ask them for angel investment.
Obviously Washington doesn't want to pay for this money. It might be necessary. "Force more neon."
As for Washington’s plan to package the lunar space station and hand it over to SpaceX, Lin Jia is only half right.
It is true that the gentlemen in Washington are anxious. They cannot tolerate such a huge gap between the two sides and hope that Musk can turn the tide.
Half of it is because the conditions Amerikan offered to China cut too much of the cake that originally belonged to Musk to Chinese companies.
Whether China's new energy vehicles import American, or Guangjia Aerospace can enter the American market.
This is another way for the White House to compensate Musk.
After all, the White House will be replaced again in a year, and no one can win this time.
Max’s reply on Twitter also indirectly confirmed this.
A netizen asked if SpaceX had any plans for a lunar space station. Musk replied that he couldn’t wait to overlook the moon from the space station.
(End of this chapter)