It's normal to develop some black technology in the future, right?

Chapter 360 NASA's Webpage Moon Landing

“Dave, this price is very sincere.

We are all engaged in commercial aerospace work, and we know very well what 32 kilometers means.

To put it bluntly, from the perspective of usage value, one module of the Light Armor is higher than the entire International Space Station.

The construction cost of the International Space Station is over $70 billion, but we can help you with everything from construction to launch for only $ billion." Li Xiande's eyes were even more determined than a gold medal salesman.

Dave sighed inwardly, but he still had to argue on the surface.

"Pyle, we all know that the International Space Station is more symbolic than practical, and it is a show, a show for a large audience.

Moreover, technology is advancing, and the actual cost of building another international space station will definitely not be more than $100 billion.

You and I both know very well how much reusable rockets have reduced the cost of space transportation.

70 billion is really too expensive, this is already our total budget for the year.”

Pail is Li Xiande's English name. Dave knows very well that 70 billion is not expensive. If they have the technology, someone will pay for it even if they offer billion US dollars.

Yes, I'm talking about neon.

They would definitely be willing to pay $6 billion to get to a place only 200 kilometers away from the moon.

But this is not the same concept. The difficulty of a country paying 200 billion and a company paying 70 billion is incomparable.

The annual fiscal 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 fiscal budget of more than 30 billion euros.

Not to mention neon.

But this number is indeed a considerable burden for Blue Origin, and Dave is determined to talk about it as much as possible.

“Dave, you can think about it, while SpaceX sends their target customers to low-Earth orbit for extravehicular activities, Blue Origin can send your customers to the closest place to the moon to appreciate the moon up close.

You can enjoy a tour of the world's largest space station. The Light Mech is the farthest place from the earth among all human inhabited places.

Only Blue Origin can do this." Li Xiande's tone was full of temptation.

Nothing is more important to Blue Origin than defeating SpaceX.

If you tell the other party how good our space station modules are, they will need to prepare themselves mentally for a long time. But when you put SpaceX on the negotiating table, they will instantly feel that the money is well spent.

Li Xiande knew that Dave needed to go back and convince Bezos, and that negotiating the price would indirectly reflect the other party's ability.

He looked at Dave who was lost in thought and said, “I want to tell you that many countries have actually agreed to this price, and the number of cabins we can sell is extremely limited.

We decided to talk to Blue Origin first because of our friendship as we have had cooperation in the past.

If you think the price is too high, we will not force you to pay.”

Finally, Dave returned to the Huating Hotel with a bitter face, and reported the key points of today's negotiations with the other party to Bezos via a remote call.

Bezos did not hesitate for long: "Ask them about the delivery time, how long will it take for our space station to be delivered.

Payments are made annually over time, and an exclusive clause must be signed.

In other words, it can only be sold to our company and cannot be sold to any other company.

If they agree to these two conditions, then we will accept the price." Bezos said on the other end of the phone, staring at the spaceship model on his desk, his hands resting on the oak table.

What Bezos needs to think about is how to spend money and how to spend it wisely.

With the previous failure experience of the orbital reef, he now feels that 70 billion is not expensive.

Orbital Reef is a low-Earth orbit space station project launched by Blue Origin in 20 years. It is a very small space station, mainly used for space tourism, and can only accommodate about ten people.

The suppliers of the entire project include Blue Origin, Amazon, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Boeing. As a result, the launch was originally planned for 27 years, but now it is 27 years, and the plan has been postponed to 30 years.

Bezos is very clear that after 2030, his subordinates will tell him that the delivery will have to be postponed again. If asked, he will say that everyone has postponed and it is normal to postpone. If asked again, he will put the blame on Boeing and Mitsubishi, because these two companies can take the blame anyway.

Therefore, Bezos now believes that it is better to buy mature products from others, such as Light Mech Aerospace, than to develop them on his own.

China can first introduce and then develop on its own. Why can't Blue Origin rely on in-depth cooperation with Light Armor Aerospace and the American market to surpass SpaceX in one fell swoop?
Ultimately, Blue Origin obtained 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, it finally agreed.

Blue Origin had just reached a verbal agreement with Light Armor Aerospace, and the news revealed by Light Armor Aerospace in the live broadcast spread all over the world.

The concept of including ports and the Strait of Malacca between the Earth and the Moon has been widely promoted by various Western media.

“NASA proposed the Lunar Gateway plan in 2018, using the St. Louis Arch, a symbol of the American border, as the logo of the Lunar Gateway.

The Lunar Gateway, also known as the lunar space station, was immediately allocated $4.5 million by Congress for preliminary research after it was announced. NASA then planned to launch the first basic module in May 2024. As a result, we did not see the first basic module enter the lunar orbit in 5, and we still did not see this scene in 2024.

While Tiangong is about to officially become the only space station in low-Earth orbit this year, our near-Earth space station plan is still on NASA's website. China's lunar gateway, Guangjia, is rapidly completing construction at a rate of launching one module every two weeks. The staff of Guangjia Aerospace recently announced their greater ambition, hoping that Guangjia can become a hub between the Earth and the Moon, and spacecraft will need to dock on Guangjia to complete supplies during their journey to the Moon.

However, these concepts originally belonged to NASA. Guangjia Aerospace simply turned the content on NASA's website into reality. We control the Malacca Strait on the earth. Although this control may be destroyed at any time, we still control it, and the Chinese have begun to control the Malacca Strait between the earth and the moon.

Judging from NASA's performance, there will be only Chinese space stations between the Earth and the Moon for a long time to come. 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 is constantly proving 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 fighting alone: ​​the International Space Station is the best proof. Today, as space exploration becomes more and more realistic, I think we should ease the situation with China and cooperate in the field of space exploration, just like during the Cold War, to ease tensions on Earth through cooperation in space exploration. "After reading the New York Times article, Americans may find it very reasonable, but the Chinese have only one feeling after reading it, that is, picking peaches.

After your successful launch, the Americans will want to reap the benefits.

Even ordinary Chinese people can’t tolerate it.

"Do we need to purchase port-type space station modules from Guangjia Aerospace? This concept sounds very imaginative.

Compared with the laboratory cabin, the port is obviously much more valuable. "After the intensive news coverage, the main topic of discussion at the meeting of Blue Origin executives in Silicon Valley was the Light Mech.

After all, this space station is related to them.

"The price of the port and the experimental cabin are definitely not the same. And if Light Armor Aerospace wants to monopolize the market, it will not sell the port."

"The port is meaningless to us. Haven't you read the detailed report on the Light Armor's port function module? This requires matching thermal insulation technology, and the spacecraft needs to be modified specifically before the port can be used.

How can you guarantee that all future spacecraft going to the moon will adopt the standards set by Guangjia Aerospace?

Even if there really comes a day when we need to buy the raw materials for the port from Guangjia Aerospace, it will be meaningless to us. "

"We need a module that can function in a short period of time, and the port is a bit too far for us."

Blue Origin executives have made it clear that the port and an ordinary laboratory cabin are definitely not the same price.

But the port is too cost-effective for them.

However, Bezos still asked Dave, who was still in the application process, and the answer they got was as they expected: the product was not for sale.

It doesn't mean much to Blue Origin, but it's a different story for France.

France believes that it means a lot to them because France's ambitions are far beyond that of Blue Origin.

At this point in time, France has already begun preparing to take control of the entire European Space Agency, and senior official positions at the European Space Agency are being occupied by the French.

Their hope is to be on par with China and America in the field of aerospace.

Naturally, I would not miss such an opportunity.

"Pyle, we hope to purchase the port module of Light Armor Aerospace." A senior official of the French Space Agency made such a difficult request.

"There is no room for negotiation on this matter. There are only two compartments on the entire Light Armor that can be used as ports. This is truly not for sale." Li Xiande flatly refused.

The French side refused 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 forces of the whole of Europe, they can try to develop their own technology.

For the Lunar Gateway project mentioned above, the main research and development force is naturally NASA, but it does not mean that only NASA is involved. It also includes Europe, Japan and the United States.

The slow progress of this project does not mean there is no progress

In terms of power, American uses a similar solution to that of composite-powered rockets, using a large number of Hall thrusters with advanced electric propulsion systems as auxiliary energy to help the rocket's space station module continue to fly in space after launch and fly to a preset position.

Therefore, both Guangjia Aerospace's technical solution and NASA's technical solution adopt hybrid power, using fossil fuels on Earth and electric propulsion systems after leaving Earth orbit.

"According to experts from the French Space Agency, they have commissioned five four-month studies that will bring together the French Space Agency, the German Space Agency, the Italian Space Agency, and others to find ways to develop propulsion elements that can be launched to the Earth-Moon Lagrange point. The total budget for the above studies is 340 million euros. The institutions responsible for the research also include the European Safran Group, Orbital ATK and Sierra Nevada Corporation."

"According to the European Space Agency, NASA plans to increase its support for the Lunar Gateway and plans to package the entire project for bidding. It is very likely that the entire project will be handed over to Musk's SpaceX."

"It's really rare. Washington has been provoked to the point that it plans to abandon NASA and directly give all orders for the lunar space station to SpaceX. The bid is at least 50 billion US dollars." Lin Jia couldn't help but complain to his secretary after reading the news in the office.

"What's the point of having NASA if this is the case? It would be better to hand over all matters in the aerospace field to SpaceX. SpaceX will be the new NASA in the future, and NASA can just be disbanded." Lin Jia found this unbelievable.

This is a bit like China packaging the fupin work and handing it over to Pinduoduo. What is reflected behind this is the imbalance of Washington's functions.

Lin Xinrui replied: "Boss Lin, I think it's because the successful launch of the Light Armor put too much pressure on them.

Before, only NASA was promoting the lunar space station, and China's aerospace industry was pursuing a kind of misaligned competition. In the absence of direct competitors, NASA's style of action could still be tolerated.

With Light Armor Aerospace as a reference, Washington can't stand the fact that eight years have passed and the Lunar Gateway has spent $5 billion and is still just a PPT. No, the investment is a PPT, and theirs is a web page, a web page to the moon."

“No wonder France didn’t ask again after being rejected. I guess Washington is planning to ask them for angel investment after restarting the lunar gateway.

It’s obvious that Washington doesn’t want to pay for this alone, and may even force Japan to pay more.”

Lin Jia was only half right about Washington's plan to package the lunar space station and hand it over to SpaceX.

It is true that the masters in Washington are anxious. They cannot tolerate such a huge gap between the two sides and hope that Musk can turn the tide.

Another half is that the conditions that America offered to China took too much of the cake that originally belonged to Musk and gave it to Chinese companies.

Whether it is China's new energy vehicles imported into America, or Guangjia Aerospace being able to 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 matter which party is in power, no one will win this time.

Max's reply on Twitter also indirectly confirmed this matter.

A netizen @him asked whether SpaceX has plans for a lunar space station, and Musk replied that he couldn't wait to overlook the moon from the space station.

(End of this chapter)