Technological Hegemony

"Really Sorry!"

"Trouble for you!"

"This is a small gift of gratitude, please be sure to accept it!"

"Although the T2800GB carbon fiber cannot be supplied on time, the T2000GB and T1600GB models will definitely be supplied to you with guaranteed quality and quantity!"

"Please accept our sincere apology, please!"

Tokyo, Minato-ku, Yachting Division under Honda Co., Ltd.

The middle-aged man in a black suit, bowing and apologizing like a chicken sucking rice, is from Toray Group, once the largest carbon fiber supplier in the world. With the rapid rise of the carbon fiber project department under Star Chemical, Toray Group has now become a material The second child in the field of science, the former second child North American DuPont Group, has become the third child.

The thing is, the yacht manufacturing subsidiary of Honda Co., Ltd. ordered super strong carbon fiber material, T2800GB, from Toray Group for the manufacture of new luxury speedboats. However, Toray Group is now trying to tear up the contract.

Although the sales representative of Toray Group kept bowing and apologizing, Nobuhiro Kuda, who was sitting on the boss chair with his arms folded, was still extremely dissatisfied. He slapped the table hard and reprimanded him severely.

"We want to provide customers with the highest quality products! If it weren't for Star Technology's T5000GB and T4000GB carbon fiber, which are not sold externally, how could we order your T2800GB model!"

"It's good now, you persuade us to use the T2000GB with poorer tensile strength? How can I explain this to the customer? You know, this is our flagship speedboat product! It is the pinnacle of the world's speed champion!"

The representative of Toray Group, who was sprayed with spit on his face, said helplessly: "We really have no choice. Mr. Nelson, the director of the White House Office of Education and Science, came to us in person, and in the name of the North American authorities, contracted In the next three years, all high-end carbon fiber production capacity, facing customers like the North American authorities, we absolutely dare not offend."

"You don't dare to offend Americans, but you dare to offend our Honda Co., Ltd.!?" Nobuhiro Fukuda felt discriminated against, and instantly became violent, cursing the representative of Toray Group.

After venting, Nobuhiro Kuda, who sat back on the chair, calmed down. He touched his chin with his right hand and said, "North America wants all of your production capacity, I'm afraid it's because of the Starlink project?"

The representative of the Toray Group whispered: "It should be, but there must be other more important uses. After all, the battle for space supremacy has been going on for three months, and the battle is really unprecedented. "

"China and the United States are indeed the two most powerful countries on earth, and NASA and Xingchen Technology are also the world's largest scientific research groups, and their strength is so powerful that they have executed dozens of launch mission!"

"Star Technology launched the space station module today, and the explosion of the communication satellite cluster at Cape Canaveral the day after tomorrow is really terrifying. Now, except for China and the United States, the whole world is silent. Russia and Europe, which once clamored to participate in the space hegemony, have completely Shut up, facing the contest between two prehistoric behemoths, they simply don't have the strength to participate, with the effort of launching an Ariana from Europe, China and North America can shoot up a dozen rockets!"

"Now in the synchronous orbit, there are a lot of Xingchen technology modules, and in the low-earth orbit, there are thousands of Starlink communication satellites. I doubt it. Before long, the synchronous orbit will become the territory of China, and the low-earth orbit will become China's territory." Become the back garden of North America."

"Supposing they set up the legendary space-based weapons in the sky, the Neon Sunken may not be just a fiction, but a reality!"

Hey~

Nobuhiro Kurada let out a sigh,

He, who was still valiant just now, is a little wilted now. If he is the president of Toray Group, I am afraid there is no better way, he will choose to break the contract, and then supply supplies to North America with all his strength.

After all, North America and China are giants that cannot be offended on earth.

"sit down."

Nobuhiro Kurota pointed to the sofa beside him, and the representative of Toray Group sat down nervously as if he had been pardoned.

"Do you know why their launch rhythm suddenly slowed down after the end of the year?" Kurota Nobuhiro asked curiously.

The battle for space supremacy between China and the United States began in mid-September and reached its climax in October and November. Now it is December, and the frequency of launches from both sides has suddenly slowed down, which is really puzzling.

Toray's sales representative said in a low voice: "It is said that the production capacity can't keep up. The rhythm of the launch of the two sides is really crazy. The spare parts that were previously stored have been consumed, and they have fallen into an embarrassing situation where there is nothing to launch."

"Because of this, the North American side will directly contract all of our production capacity. I heard that we will build a joint venture factory jointly operated by both of us in Illinois. Not only us, but also suppliers from Germany, France, Switzerland, etc. , are doing their best to supply North America, while NASA's own factory has entered a rare round-the-clock operation."

"Oh, so that's the case. As expected of Huaxia and North America, they are really strong!"

Nobuhiro Kuda suddenly realized that before the start of the space program, both Luo Jia and Musk had a little inventory. Now due to the rapid launch speed, the inventory has been exhausted, and the new products have not yet been put into storage. The two sides have empty rockets, but no goods to launch. , which is more embarrassing.

This time they used large rockets with amazing carrying capacity.

The A1 engine of Star Technology has a standard thrust of 550 tons, but the thrust does not represent the capacity. The combination of twelve A1 engines produces a thrust of 6,600 tons, which can transport about 200 tons of cargo to the synchronous orbit.

The disadvantage of Luo Jia over Musk is that Musk builds the star chain at an average distance of 150 kilometers from the ground, while the space station of Star Technology is built in a synchronous orbit 36,000 kilometers from the ground, which is farther away. Naturally more thrust is required.

When Xingchen Technology launches the 18-engine 10,000-ton rocket, it will only be able to transport 300 tons of cargo at a time. There is no way to do it. Who made Luo Jia's ambitions bigger and set his goals higher.

In short, the unstoppable torrent is rolling in. Although this is the space hegemony between China and the United States, everyone in the world is involved in it. From East Asia to Australia to Europe, no one can stand alone.

Nobuhiro Chida leaned his body back, and said in a deep voice: "Understood, Toray Group is forced to participate in this competition among major powers. It is not up to you to decide, but I don't know who is going to be between China and the United States." Can you laugh at the end? If Huaxia wins in the end, they should blame you, right? After all, 70% of the carbon fiber materials used in North America are supplied by you, and the other 30% come from DuPont Group."

"Who knows." The representative of Toray lowered his head silently, "In the long run, North America should have a better chance. After all, the Starlink project has very broad profit prospects, and the synchronous orbit space station of Star Technology seems to be There is no way to generate profit, it looks like it is purely burning money."

...

Florida, outside Miami, Space Dynamics, a subsidiary of NASA.

Neon Toray's advanced carbon fiber took off from Narita Airport and was sent here day and night to make Hall effect thrusters, an important component in Starlink communication satellites.

Regardless of Hall effect thrusters or ion thrusters, they all belong to the family of electric thrusters, but there is a relatively large gap in technical methods and potentials.

As we all know, there are three ways to realize electric propulsion, which are electrostatic, electromagnetic and electrothermal. Among them, electrothermal propulsion is quite simple and ancient, and it is not worth mentioning. Electrostatic technology is represented by electronic bombardment propulsion, electromagnetic The technology is represented by pulsed plasma thrusters.

In addition, there is a special thruster, which also belongs to electrostatic propulsion, but it is different from the electron bombardment thruster, which is the Hall effect thruster.

In 1879, the North American physicist Hall discovered that when the current passes through the conductor perpendicular to the external magnetic field, a voltage will appear between the two end faces of the conductor perpendicular to the direction of the magnetic field and the current. This phenomenon is the Hall effect.

The interstellar thruster based on the Hall effect is the Hall thruster. At this stage, most satellites in the world use this technology. Luo Jia has made a large-scale improvement to the Hall thruster not long ago. It can meet the needs of flying out of the solar system. It can be regarded as the second generation of Hall thrusters. The large-scale application in the West is still the first generation technology.

The horsepower of the first-generation Hall thrusters was not large, only a few kilowatts at most, but it was no problem to propel satellites in space.

The factory is full of enthusiasm. From the management to the workers, everyone is working like a chicken blood, and the parts from the global supply chain are constantly being sent to the warehouse by trucks.

According to incomplete statistics, there are more than 5,000 companies that directly or indirectly provide NASA with parts or outsourced technical services, mobilizing what can be called the most powerful force in the entire West.

People see that the crazy launch plans of the two space bases are just appearances. The real deep-seated competition is unfolding in all aspects of society. Although the manufacturing industry in North America has been hollowed out, among the allies in North America, there are still manufacturers like Neon and Germany. The top power in the industry, not to mention North America, which has financial hegemony, is far richer than China.

According to statistics, the direct consumption of the U.S. military in the Iraq war alone was as high as 763 billion U.S. dollars, and the indirect consumption caused by maintaining stability and wars in the later period was even more exaggerated, as much as 4 trillion U.S. dollars!

However, even so, North America was not dragged down by the war. After the Iraq War, North America also fought wars in Afghanistan and Syria, which were also costly. During the war, the GDP growth rate of North America even far exceeded that of Europe without war.

It can be seen from this that it is unrealistic to expect that the space race, which will cost tens of billions, will bring down North America, otherwise North America would have fallen in the Iraq war long ago.

On the contrary, the pressure on Huaxia and Xingchen Technology is unprecedented. The annual consumption of one trillion U.S. dollars, even if Xingchen Technology is big, it will inevitably hurt. Shen Lang sells cosmetics at high prices to domestic women. To put it bluntly, he is short of money Noisy. .

After all, the money that Chinese women spend on cosmetics doesn’t just fall from the sky. They are funded by some from their families, and some from their husbands and boyfriends. They originally planned to take their children to travel abroad, but now they have changed to Tieling, a big city.

Anyway, for the sake of the space program, for the first time since the establishment of Star Technology, heavy taxes have been collected from fellow citizens in their hometown. From this, it is not difficult to see that the current situation is tragic and difficult, which has reached an unprecedented level. Everyone on the earth cannot be alone.