Great Country Academician

Chapter 740: Aiming at Musk’s technology?

Shanghai International Convention Center, the international exhibition area on the fifth floor.

In the Space-X company's booth, which is connected together and occupies a large area, there are several different products on display, which also attracted the attention of many people.

Among these products, the most famous is the Starship spacecraft designed by Space-X itself.

Before the Xinghai space shuttle appeared, the SpaceX starship designed by Musk was undoubtedly a shining technological miracle in the aerospace field.

This new generation of heavy-duty launch vehicle developed by SpaceX is not only a major breakthrough in the field of space exploration, but also an in-depth reflection on mankind’s dream of future space exploration.

Whether it is the recovery technology of the first- and second-stage rockets or the new liquid oxygen and liquid methane Raptor engines, the starship has significant advantages in terms of carrying capacity and cost-effectiveness.

Unfortunately, after the emergence of the Xinghai space shuttle, the promotion method of the combination of small and controllable nuclear fusion reactor + aerospace engine caused the status of SpaceX starship and its importance in the aerospace field to plummet.

Especially after a major mistake occurred in the first phase of the Artemis program's return to the moon last time, even if it was not SpaceX's fault, SpaceX was also affected.

As an 'engineer' who is keen on colonizing Mars and has ambitious new space exploration plans, Musk obviously will not stop there.

After major problems occurred in the Artemis lunar module, SpaceX, which provides the main transport rocket, quickly announced that it would build a new lunar module and restart the manned lunar landing project.

But it is clear that even with Musk's support, SpaceX does not have enough demand to support them in completing the manned moon landing project.

After all, SpaceX is a commercial company. On the one hand, it is due to Musk's persistence and dreams to study heavy-lift launch vehicles, and on the other hand, it is indeed profitable in the aerospace field.

Whether it is an order from NASA, or a satellite launch or aerospace project from other countries, SpaceX can obtain it at a price lower than the market and earn the cost of developing new technologies.

After a major mistake occurred in NASA's plan to return to the moon, follow-up plans in the Artemis project were almost completely suspended.

Until the accident investigation committee figures out the cause of the Artemis lunar module accident, it will probably be difficult for NASA to place any more related space orders.

To obtain sufficient demand, Hua may be the only choice.

Musk does not deny that the Xinghai space shuttle may be more powerful than their heavy-duty Falcon rocket, but for China, if it wants to establish a base on the moon, the Xinghai space shuttle alone may not be enough. of.

Of course, he also knows that the other party itself has the conditions to transport earth and moon materials, and it will be difficult for SpaceX to grab this order.

But compared to the launch vehicles developed by China itself, the Falcon Heavy's relatively cheaper transportation costs may hopefully allow them to get an order from it.

Unfortunately, it seems that this plan is probably going to fail.

Even in the center of the venue, which is open to the general public, not many people pay attention to the starship and the latest lunar module they developed.

The SpaceX booth was deserted. In contrast, whether it was the latest highly intelligent autonomous driving coupe brought over by Tesla, the brain-computer interface developed by Neuralink, or even PPT and R\u0026D experiments, The 'catwoman robot' in the room was even more lively.

Especially the last item, the Catwoman robot model they brought over, aroused the attention of many attendees.

"It looks like your plan may fail."

Sitting on the sofa inside the booth, Johnson Hofler, Tesla's vice president and general manager of Tesla China, was observing the popularity of other companies' booths while lamenting the desertedness of SpaceX's booth.

He did not go to the Tesla booth to introduce his latest smart coupe to the audience, but went to the SpaceX booth to chat with his boss.

Although he is not responsible for the affairs of SpaceX, Johnson is still very clear about the plans of his immediate boss.

Beside him, Musk, who was wearing a white shirt, shrugged and said: "There is an old saying in China that 'nothing in life is perfect.' It is normal for SpaceX to be cold. In terms of aerospace technology, China, at least that company Xinghai Research Institute has surpassed us.”

"When I have more advanced technology, it is difficult for me to consider whether to cooperate with companies that are lagging behind me or former opponents."

To be honest, an Asia-Pacific science and technology investment summit is not important enough for him to appear here in person.

The reason why he is standing here today is actually just to stop by and take a look. On the one hand, he is checking the situation of his company, and on the other hand, he is seeing if there are any new things at the summit.

As for the real cause of his appearance in China, it was the follow-up cooperation work on the previous gambling agreement with the Shanghai Municipal Government.

In the gambling agreement that year, Tesla under his name needed to ensure that it would pay at least 2.23 billion RMB in taxes to the Magic City government every year starting from 2023. If it could not be completed, Tesla would need to return the land used to build the factory to Magic City. .

In addition, Tesla needs to build a new super factory in Shanghai in the next five years, with an investment capital of no less than 14 billion, and the parts in the supply chain of Tesla’s Shanghai factory must be fully localized, etc. .

Judging from the gambling agreement signed that year, on the surface, the Magic City Government actually suffered a loss.

First of all, Tesla is extremely rare to enter China as a sole proprietor.

The Second Magic City Government provided 860,000 square meters of land for the construction of the factory at a relatively low price (about one-tenth of the market price).

The third one also provided low-interest loan business to Tesla.

Many people wonder why the city of Shanghai still strongly supports Tesla since Tesla is obviously an American company and its introduction into the country will have an impact on domestic automakers.

Many people even scolded Modu on the Internet. If so many new energy car companies in China do not support it, why should they support Tesla in the United States?

But sometimes, you can't just look at things at face value.

Long before Tesla entered China, the country had invested more than 100 billion to stimulate the domestic new energy vehicle market.

However, the effect is unsatisfactory, and can even be said to be very unsatisfactory.

More than 100 billion in funds and extremely generous policies have been invested in the market. Not to mention that there has been no splash at all. It has even led to a large part of new energy vehicles being used by some unknown car companies to defraud insurance. means.

After several years of development, the ecological environment in the domestic new energy vehicle field was once so bad that even senior leaders could not stand it.

With the introduction of Tesla as a catfish and a series of policy changes, a group of new energy vehicle companies have successfully emerged from a rotten environment.

This is a cruel knockout competition, which is forcing domestic car companies to continuously improve their technical levels and lower their product prices. In turn, it has led the development of new energy vehicles in China, the country and even the world.

Judging from the current development of new energy vehicles, China is already the veritable leader in the world.

Just from this one point, the original gambling agreement, Magic City, or Hua Guo, made a profit.

In addition, the gambling agreement also includes conditions such as annual tax payments starting at 2.23 billion, nationalized industrial chain supply and other conditions. These agreements have greatly promoted the development of new energy vehicles in China.

It can be said that in the years since the gambling agreement was signed, Hua Guo has earned far more than what was provided.

However, who could have expected that in just a few years, this gambling agreement, which China had made a lot of money from, would now in turn become Tesla’s ‘guarantee’.

After the lithium dendrite problem and controllable nuclear fusion technology were solved, electric energy became the cheapest energy in China.

The tremendous development of new energy vehicles has directly crushed traditional fuel vehicles.

Tesla, which already occupies a large market share, has benefited from this wave of benefits. Including subsequent business cooperation, all can be carried out through the Gigafactory in the gambling agreement.

The only regret for Musk is that he did not obtain the authorization for the artificial SEI film patent.

If he had obtained the authorization, he could have continued to reduce Tesla's price while ensuring profits, and then strive for a larger market.

So this time he specially came from the United States. In addition to further cooperation with the Shanghai Municipal Government, he also wanted to see if he could have an appointment with Professor Xu.

He has already missed the patent authorization of artificial SEI film, and now more advanced lithium-sulfur batteries cannot be missed again.

Just when Musk was thinking about how to make an appointment with Xu Chuan for a chat, two figures walked in at the deserted SpaceX booth.

After a subconscious glance, Musk, who was sitting on the sofa, didn't take it seriously at first, thinking he was an ordinary attendee.

It wasn't until he turned back that he was stunned for a moment. Something seemed to flash through his mind. He turned back suddenly, stared at the two of them for a while, and then stood up.

"Professor Xu?"

Looking at the two people who walked in, Musk hesitated.

Although he often saw this face in the news or newspapers, he had never met Xu Chuan, and he was indeed a little suspicious when they first met.

Hearing someone calling him, Xu Chuan turned his head and looked, and a familiar yet unfamiliar face came into his eyes, which made him stunned for a moment.

"Musk?"

Although he knew that Musk and his company participated in the Asia-Pacific Science and Technology Innovation Investment Summit, Xu Chuan really didn't expect that he himself would also come over.

"Haha, I didn't expect to meet you here, Professor Xu."

After confirming that he was indeed correct, Musk showed a bright smile, walked over quickly, and stretched out his right hand.

Xu Chuan smiled, stretched out his hand to shake the famous entrepreneur's hand and said, "Nice to meet you, Mr. Musk."

Musk laughed and said with a smile: "I've always wanted to visit you, but unfortunately I've been too busy with work recently."

After a slight pause, he continued with a smile: "But compared to visiting, I think this kind of chance encounter is more interesting. In your words, this is destined fate."

"Please sit down first and have some coffee or something?"

"Whatever, I can do it."

Musk was enthusiastic, so Xu Chuan did not refuse. He sat down and looked at the various scaled-down models in the exhibition hall. He said thoughtfully, "It seems that the failure of the Artemis lunar module has not dampened your enthusiasm for aerospace." Musk was slightly embarrassed when he heard Xu Chuan say this. Although the failure of the Artemis lunar module had nothing to do with SpaceX, as a whole in the Artemis plan, SpaceX would definitely be implicated. If this meeting was not a coincidence, he almost thought Xu Chuan had come to mock him. Xu Chuan did not notice the embarrassment on the other's face. His eyes were always on the miniaturized model starship on the SpaceX booth. Although they have surpassed the United States, their former rival, in terms of energy supply and power systems, they still have some gaps in lunar modules, life support units, extraterrestrial communications, nano-level dynamics, etc. However, it is not impossible to catch up quickly. There is also a most advanced life support unit and lunar module in the United States on the South Pole of the Moon. Anyway, the United States or NASA is not capable of monitoring the moon now, so they can arrange for the Xinghai to take another look.

After they have thoroughly understood the life support unit that NASA "left behind" on the South Pole of the Moon, they can more or less catch up in these areas.

"Want to see our latest developed starship?"

Musk noticed Xu Chuan's gaze keenly, threw away the embarrassment of being "ridiculed in the face" just now, and asked with a smile.

"Is there an explanation manual?"

"Of course."

Musk nodded and gave a look to the staff beside him.

Soon, several paper starship introduction brochures were handed over.

Xu Chuan took it, opened the cover facing the starship, and browsed the information inside.

It has to be said that in the field of traditional chemical fuel launch vehicles, the gap is still quite large.

This new starship, from the information, although it is still a "Raptor" engine, it integrates a full 42 engines.

You know, it is quite difficult to make so many engines propel in unison and maximize the efficiency of rocket propulsion.

The last engineering model that tried to work with so many rocket nozzles closely arranged together was the N1 heavy rocket produced by the former Red Soviet Union.

However, what Xu Chuan paid more attention to was not the multi-engine series technology, but the new 3D stereo printing technology used by this starship, as well as the unique control system used by the starship itself.

It is not to say that China does not have these things, but in terms of advanced level, there is indeed some gap from their old opponents.

Especially the unique control system, which may help them make some optimizations in the control of the second-generation space shuttle.

If possible, maybe he can make a deal or cooperate with Musk?