The Light of Domestic Products: The whole world begs me to sell

Chapter 253 A Very Tricky Business Plan

Chen Hai nodded and said with certainty:
"Yes, it's SpceaX's Starlink Project."

Hu Lai was a little puzzled, for a moment he didn't know what Chen Hai meant by saying this suddenly.

He said tentatively:

"Chen Bureau, I have seen relevant reports before. It should be that last year, two 'star-connected satellites' suddenly changed orbit and crashed into our space station. In the end, the space station made emergency dodges to resolve the danger..."

"Yes, that's it."

Before the nonsense was finished, Chen Hai took the words.

"Have we, Phoenix Group, learned about SpceaX and the 'Starlink Project'?"

"Uh, this... I really didn't understand it."

Hu Lai shook his head and said, although SpceaX is a company under the name of Zesla CEO Mask, Phoenix Group has been competing with Mask's Zesla, but the competition between the two is only limited to the field of new energy vehicles.

Like most ordinary people, he is not particularly clear about the situation of the SpceaX company under the mask name. He only knows about the "Star-to-Satellite Project" and the recovery of rockets.

Chen Hai looked a little disappointed, but soon he was relieved.

The technical direction of Phoenix Group has always been based on chips and software. It has never been heard of involving the aerospace field, let alone solid rocket and satellite technology. I am afraid that it cannot even manufacture ordinary car engines.

However, Chen Hai's disappointed expression aroused Hu Lai's interest, and he asked curiously:
"Chen Bureau, what's wrong?"

"Why are you talking about the 'Starlink Project' all of a sudden?"

Chen Hai was much calmer. He unscrewed the mineral water he bought just now and took a sip. While walking on the road in the industrial park, he said:
"Actually, I just saw your innovative technologies of 'unmanned vending vehicles' and 'unmanned shuttle vehicles' just now. I want to know whether you have technical reserves in the aerospace field."

"However, I am really in a difficult situation."

Hu Lai smiled and said:

"It seems that Bureau Chen, you guys pay more attention to SpceaX's 'Star Link Project'?"

Chen Hai nodded slightly, and said with some sighs:

"It's not just about paying attention, it's about truly feeling the huge threat brought by the 'Starlink Project'."

"I believe it's not just us who feel threatened, but Europe and the bears feel the same way."

Hu Lai was slightly taken aback, a little surprised.

He was not in a hurry to speak, and quietly waited for Chen Hai to finish speaking.

"Take the matter of the space station as an example. Our space station is in a low-earth orbit more than 300 kilometers away from the earth, and the 'star-connected satellite' that crashed into us is in a low-earth orbit more than 500 kilometers away from the earth."

"It is reasonable to say that the distance between satellites in orbit is more than 25 kilometers, which is within the safe range, but coincidentally, these two 'satellite satellites' deviated from their original orbits and crashed into us, and our space station had to dodge urgently."

"After the incident, the official SpceaX finally explained that the satellite was out of control."

Having said that, Chen Hai stopped and turned to look at Hu Lai and Director Zhang, with some helplessness in his eyes.

"Their explanation is impeccable. We have nothing to do. It is indeed possible for satellites in orbit to go out of control."

Hu Lai didn't know much about satellite technology, so he kept silent and didn't speak. Instead, the factory manager Zhang who was beside him asked suddenly.

"Satellite out of control?"

"Chen Bureau, it should be difficult to judge whether this situation is really out of control or fake out of control?"

Chen Hai looked at Director Zhang, and hummed:
"Yeah, that's where we feel helpless."

Seeing that both of them were looking at him, Chen Hai continued to explain.

"Now SpceaX has launched more than 1900 satellites into low-Earth orbit through the 'Starlink Project', and it already has the ability to threaten the safety of our space station."

"Not only the space station, but all our military satellites and communication satellites in low-Earth orbit will be threatened. At present, we have no effective countermeasures except for emergency avoidance."

"From an economic point of view, the cost of launching a 'star-connected satellite' for a moment is about 80 US dollars. The cost of our space station is 560 billion US dollars, and our military satellite is about 1 million US dollars. Once it really collides , we lost a lot."

"Not to mention economic losses, the most important thing is the safety of the space station and the consumption of reserve energy."

"We sound like an emergency avoidance is a very simple matter, but in fact, an emergency on the orbit must be a very dangerous thing. Every emergency avoidance must start the power device, and starting the power device consumes a lot of energy storage, and the space station needs to be adjusted. , the flight attitude of the satellite."

"You may not know that in space, whether it is a space station or a satellite, the energy storage is very limited, and the energy absorbed by the solar panels is only enough for daily use. Once a large amount of energy storage is consumed, it will directly affect the operational life of the satellite, and even seriously. Straight off track."

Hu Lai's expression became a little dignified, and he asked in a low voice:

"Then we don't have a good way to limit it?"

"According to what you said, Bureau Chen, no matter whether the 'star-connected satellite' is really out of control or fake out of control, it is a huge threat to our satellites and space stations. If they 'go out of control' at critical moments, we will be really tired of dealing with it." , was completely passively beaten."

Chen Hai shook his head with a bitter expression.

"No."

"To tell you the truth, we currently don't have a good way to deal with the 'Star Link Satellite' and the entire 'Star Link Project'."

"SpceaX is a commercial company, we have no right to interfere with their business operations, and according to the existing space orbit rules, the space orbit adopts a 'first come, first served' method, as long as you have the ability to launch satellites to seize the orbit, we do not have any reason to prevent SpceaX from launching satellites to occupy orbit."

Hu Lai frowned, and after a moment of silence, he said slowly:

"If I remember correctly, Mask's 'Starlink Project' is expected to launch 4.2 satellites into low-Earth orbit, right?"

"What he did sounds like a space enclosure movement. First, use the rules of space orbits to occupy pits first. Later, these orbits can be sold or used, or given to the M military."

Chen Hai nodded and said:
"Yes, such a huge number is also what we are most worried about. Mask's 'Star Link Project' has broken the ecology of the original satellites, which caught us off guard."

"Now their more than 1900 'star-connected satellites' are capable of threatening the safety of our space station. Once the 'star-connected project' 4.2 satellites cover the entire low-earth orbit, then our space station will be densely packed with 'time bombs'." '!"

"Not only the space station, once the 'Star Link Project' takes shape, they are fully capable of compressing our space for activities in low-Earth orbit, and even affect our future satellite launches and our external exploration."

"Also, as you said, these 'star-connected satellites' are very likely to be controlled by the military. The recent big hair and two hairs have already seen that the 'star-linked project' has begun to take shape."

After the words fell, the three of them were silent for a while. After a while, Director Zhang tentatively asked:

"Chen Ju, since Mask's SpceaX company can carry out the 'Starlink Project', why can't we?"

"They are using satellites to seize the orbit now, and we can also launch satellites to seize the orbit. Are we just watching the US imperialists occupy space resources?"

Chen Hai's eyes fell on Hu Lai, and he said slowly:
"We don't have an excellent and powerful space transportation company like SpceaX, and there is even no commercial transportation company in the world that can match SpceaX."

"SpceaX was established in 2002 and has been developing in the commercial aerospace field for 20 years. Their main business has always been to use commercial rockets to transport customers' satellites into space."

"In recent years, they have achieved technological breakthroughs in launch vehicles, and developed reusable Falcon 1 and Falcon 9 launch vehicles, as well as technologies such as multi-satellite and fairing recovery, which completely allowed them to launch satellites. Costs are drastically reduced."

"How low is it? Our current cheapest launch rocket quote is $5000 per kilogram, but they offer only $2700, and this price is for customers."

"According to our speculation, if it is used for their own 'star-to-satellite', the cost per kilogram will not be higher than US$2000."

While talking, Chen Hai squeezed a helpless wry smile on his face.

"In the past few years, no matter whether it is us or Da Mao, there is basically no international commercial payload to launch, and all international orders have been snatched by mask."

Hu Lai was a little silent. Although he had heard of SpceaX's Starlink Project before, he hadn't thought about the business logic in it. After hearing Chen Hai's detailed explanation, he immediately understood it.

To put it bluntly, this is actually a commercial issue, a cost issue.

The core competitiveness of SpceaX or the fact that Mask can carry out the "Starlink Project" is because their commercial rocket technology is leading, and they can launch tens of thousands of satellites into the sky with the least amount of money.

After thinking for a moment, Hu Lai said:
"Chen Bureau, listen to what you said, our actual problem now is the cost of rocket transportation."

"If we also have the same cheap rocket launch technology as SpceaX, we can actually carry out a 'Starlink Project', and engage in space circles like them?"

Chen Hai nodded, then shook his head again.

Hu Lai and Director Zhang looked a little confused, and Chen Hai said slowly:
"In theory yes, but not quite in practice."

Hu Lai was taken aback for a moment, and Chen Hai's voice continued to be heard next to his ear.

"In addition to the low cost of launching rockets, there is also the commercial use of the 'Starlink Project', which is the biggest reason why we are currently unable to develop the same 'Starlink Project'."

"At present, about 7 million people in the world cannot enjoy communication services, and 35 billion people cannot access the Internet. Many countries, large and small, cannot implement base station networks like us due to economic, technological, and material reasons."

"Not only other countries in the world, but even many areas in country M do not have broadband networks, and the 'Starlink Project' just meets the needs of communication and Internet access. They have now provided Internet access to 25 users in 14.5 countries service, and they can make money off of this service.”

Chen Hai spread his hands.

"But our domestic market..."

"Basic communications have been realized in almost all areas of our country, so the 'Starlink Project' has no commercial space in our country. I believe that no one will refuse to install optical fiber broadband, and instead install a 'sky pot' at home." The receiver goes online."

"It is obviously very difficult to develop foreign markets..."

Hu Lai felt that this matter was a bit tricky. With the development of marketization today, whether there are commercial companies willing to do a project and whether there is capital willing to invest, the most important thing is to see whether a project has profit potential.

If it is only technically backward, then you can use the capital advantage to catch up, but if there is a problem with the market itself... then who is willing to spend hundreds of billions to invest in this industry?
No one would want to do it.

All of a sudden, the three of them fell silent. Yan Guo wanted to use the same method to develop Yan Guo's version of the 'Star Link Project', which obviously didn't work.

After a long time, Chen Hai finally broke the silence.

After saying so much in one breath, he felt much more comfortable, and said with a smile:

"Mr. Hu, in fact, I had some illusions about our Phoenix Group just now. I wanted to ask if you are interested in entering the aerospace field. Your strong scientific research strength gave me illusions."

"But speaking carefully now, I feel like I'm pushing you into the fire pit..."

Seeing that he was just in front of the gate of the Phoenix Automobile Factory, Chen Hai changed the subject and was about to end the topic.

"Let's not mention this matter. Take me to visit your Phoenix New Energy Automobile Factory. I am very interested in your super sports car."

"Not urgent."

Hu Lai frowned slightly, as if he was thinking about something.

After a while, he didn't answer Chen Hai's words, but looked at Director Zhang and said:
"Old Zhang, if we want to carry out the 'Starlink Project' in China, we must think of other business models."

"The business model of mask is based on their national conditions. There are many customers who need network services in their own country, which we cannot replicate."

Director Zhang froze for a moment, then stopped.

"Indeed."

"However, to put it bluntly, the 'Starlink Project' is a large-scale outer space base station composed of tens of thousands of satellites. Its main function is to provide Internet access, and our domestic network infrastructure is very complete. ' is a very small number of people."

"According to what Bureau Chen said just now, the entire 'Star Link Project' requires an investment of at least 3000 billion, which does not include future maintenance costs. It is not easy to maintain operations with such a high cost with these small number of users."

Hu Lai fell into silence again. Hearing the conversation between the two, even Chen Hai, who had taken a few steps forward, retreated back.

Instead, he felt a little contradictory, and after thinking for a while, he still said:
"Now the country is also vigorously supporting enterprises to develop space Internet. If our Phoenix Group is involved in the field of commercial aerospace, there will definitely be special funds to support it."

"And I can also propose to the above to learn the cooperation method between NASA and SpceaX, and I can license some patented technologies of the space agency to you to help you with technology research and development."

Unexpectedly, Hu Lai exhaled and shook his head:

"Chen Bureau, let's talk about this later."

"After all, we don't understand the aerospace industry at all, and we don't have any accumulation of aerospace technology. It would be irresponsible to promise rashly."

Chen Hai was slightly disappointed, but quickly adjusted.

He smiled and said:

"Okay, let's not talk about it, let's visit your car factory first..."

……

PS: A little late, sorry.

(End of this chapter)