Rebirth 08: Rise from copycat phones

Chapter 255 Nantianmen- Heavy Rocket and Space Station Plan

The news of the failure to recover the first-stage rocket in the seventh launch mission of South Gate Aerospace Corporation's No. 5 rocket spread across the world's Internet media that evening.

There are related news on many websites, and videos of explosions caused by failed first-stage rocket recovery are everywhere.

At first, only ordinary media reported it and netizens commented on it. Soon, some so-called experts came along and said that reusable rocket technology was immature and unsafe.

Xu Shenxue’s work on reusable rockets is a joke!

And some people have even produced a lot of so-called evidence.

For example, they obtained some parts bidding documents from Nanmen Aerospace Company, and adopted a large number of civilian parts to replace the previous professional aerospace parts.

In the past, a special customized component would cost $10,000, but Nanmen Aerospace Company directly ordered civilian products from an ordinary company, which only cost a few hundred dollars.

Then a soul-searching question was raised: Although this can significantly reduce costs, how can safety be guaranteed when using such cheap components?
Some people also dug up the information about Nanmen Aerospace Corporation's Suzaku engine, and came to a very surprising conclusion, that is, the cost of a Suzaku engine is only about 1.3 million US dollars.

This type of reusable rocket engine is inherently more expensive than those disposable engines. The cost of each rocket engine of the US Space Exploration Corporation is about two million US dollars.

With such a huge cost difference, it is hard not to doubt the reliability of this rocket engine.

Then they came to the so-called conclusion that the failure of Nanmen Aerospace's recovery was due to the use of a large amount of cheap materials in the engine, which ultimately led to poor reliability, thus causing the recovery failure.

It is worth noting that Musk also saw the relevant news and the cost of the Suzaku engine of South Gate Aerospace Company.

After reading the news, he found the R&D team and gave a strict order: the cost of the next generation of engines must be reduced to one million US dollars!

The $1.3 million reusable rocket engine next door to Nanmen made him drool...

However, real industry insiders and so-called experts from outside have different views.

On the third day after the failure of the first-stage rocket recovery, Nanmen Aerospace Company issued an announcement that they had preliminarily found the problem that led to the recovery failure and have now made improvements.

The eighth rocket launch mission originally scheduled for next month will continue as planned.

Nanmen Aerospace Corporation will continue to provide high-quality launch services to domestic and overseas customers.

While the outside world continued to be in turmoil, many institutions or companies with satellite launch needs felt relieved after seeing the announcement of Nanmen Aerospace Company!
Whether the recovery of the first-stage rocket fails or not has nothing to do with them... Anyway, so far, every launch of the No. 5 rocket by Nanmen Aerospace Company has successfully sent the satellite to the predetermined orbit, with a success rate of %.

At the same time, Nanmen Aerospace's quotation for external launches is relatively lower, even lower than that of the US Space Exploration Company. As for those traditional launch agencies, it goes without saying that they are even lower in terms of quotation.

The Americans use the space shuttle to send more than 20 tons of payload into low-Earth orbit, and the cost per kilogram is about 40,000 to 50,000 US dollars. Why did the Americans retire the space shuttle? This is why, it is too expensive.

The cost of a conventional one-time rocket launch by agencies in various countries is generally more than US$10,000 per kilogram for low-Earth orbit.

The Type 5A rocket of Xu Shenxue's Nanmen Aerospace Company is currently priced at US$ million for a one-time use model, and can send a -ton payload into low-Earth orbit.

But please note that Nanmen Aerospace uses reusable rockets, so you should look at their quotes for recoverable launches.

The recoverable mode of the Type 5A rocket costs $60 million each time and can send a twelve-ton payload to a standard low-Earth orbit.

This translates to a cost of only five thousand dollars per kilogram.

It’s so cheap that it makes space agencies around the world question their lives!
Why is it so cheap?
In fact, it is very simple. The engine cost accounts for about 30% to 50% of the launch cost of a commercial rocket.

The engine cost ratio of Zhiyun’s Rocket No. 5 is 46%!

Most of the engines are deployed in the first stage of the rocket.

At the same time, the structural cost of the rocket is also 7 or 8 percentage points, and the structural cost of the first-stage rocket is about 4 or 5 percentage points.

When the two are combined, the cost of the entire first-stage rocket accounts for more than 50 percent.

What is the biggest feature of Nanmen Aerospace’s Rocket No. 5?
The first-stage rocket is recyclable!
The first-stage rocket, which accounts for half of the cost, is recovered during each launch, which brings about a cost reduction of several dozen percentage points!
In addition, Nanmen Aerospace's entire rocket design and operation are different from those of traditional aerospace agencies.

Traditional aerospace agencies are engaged in customized missions, and all kinds of things are very expensive. Cost control is almost not within their consideration. Anyway, it is taxpayers' money that is being spent, so it would be a waste if not to spend it!
This is how the space shuttle's low-Earth orbit payload cost of more than $50,000 per kilogram came about!

However, rockets made in this way are extremely expensive even if they are used for commercial launch missions.

But Nanmen Aerospace is different. They are engaged in commercial space flight, and cost control is a key factor. Therefore, the overall design, research and development, and manufacturing costs of Nanmen Aerospace's No. 5 rocket are quite low compared to those of traditional aerospace agencies.

Basically, it's only a few percent.

Cost control in commercial operations and reuse of first-stage rockets are the key factors for Nanmen Aerospace’s low launch costs. Other aerospace agencies would be dumbfounded by such low prices!

Otherwise, why do you think Nanmen Aerospace was able to successfully complete the flight this summer and then start intensive commercial launches... There is no reason, it’s just that Nanmen Aerospace’s launch quotation is too cheap!
Only about half the price!
Besides, even if the rocket launch fails and causes damage to the satellite, the loss of the satellite will be compensated by insurance!

As an aside, in commercial satellite launch missions, satellites are generally insured. If there is any loss in the launch mission, the insurance company will provide compensation.

Because Nanmen Aerospace is a newcomer in the industry, it has not been very successful in finding insurance companies to cooperate with... Many insurance companies think that Nanmen Aerospace's rockets are too cheap, and are not reliable as they may explode every other day, so they are not willing to provide insurance.

Nanmen Aerospace Company simply set up its own satellite insurance subsidiary specifically for its own customers, and launched the slogan of "one insurance, full compensation"!
Under such circumstances, naturally some institutions or companies would come to Nanmen Aerospace to ask it to launch satellites.

Of course, Nanmen Aerospace Company’s main customer at present is still its sister company Zhiyun Group.

Zhiyun Group is building a new global satellite communication system to connect subsidiaries around the world and promote high automation of global information within the enterprise.

Specifically, it involves the company's routine operations, supply chain, R&D processes, etc.

Super large multinational companies like Zhiyun Group generate huge information exchange needs every day around the world. Although most of the data can be carried through the conventional Internet, a considerable portion of the data is still transmitted directly through satellite communications.

For example, data in the supply chain.

However, it is a complete global supply chain, with real-time changing data, and the judgments and forecasts made by the marketing department based on the real-time changes in global market sales. The supply chain department then formulates a production plan, and then splits the process according to the self-developed supply chain system, arranges the various parts and raw materials to be produced in each factory, and formulates a very detailed and rigorous production and transportation plan.

Accurate to the production arrangement of a screw and the transportation plan for a batch of screws.

Zhiyun Group's supply chain is currently the largest and most intelligent supply chain in the world!
However, there are too many uncontrollable factors in ordinary Internet, so Zhiyun Group makes extensive use of satellite communication networks for communications in the supply chain field.

Previously, leasing a satellite network was costly, and there were also certain uncontrollable factors... After all, it was someone else's satellite, which was somewhat troublesome to use, and the technology was not very good... That's right, Zhiyun Technology looked down on the satellite communication services provided by these satellite communication companies on the market. The technology was poor, the data transmission speed was slow, the quantity was small, and it was extremely expensive.

Therefore, after Xu Shenxue started a space company, Zhiyun Technology simply found several universities to develop its own communications satellite.

After the successful launch of Nanmen Aerospace Corporation's No. 5 rocket this year, Nanmen Aerospace Corporation began to launch its No. 5 rocket.

Three satellites have been launched so far, and more will be launched in the future. At the same time, the independent satellite research and development and operation departments have also been separated into Zhiyun Satellite Communications Company and have obtained the corresponding permits and licenses.

The initial goal is to provide high-level, premium satellite communications services to other corporate clients at home and abroad.

Zhiyun is not the only company that has needs for satellite communications, but only a few companies are able to build their own satellite networks.

The mid- to late-stage goal is naturally to provide a wide range of satellite services, including the low-orbit consumer-grade civilian satellite Internet that Xu Shenxue has always been thinking about.

Of course, the satellite Internet that Xu Shenxue wants is actually different from Musk's, which is simply to provide satellite broadband to individual or corporate customers.

According to Xu Shenxue's plan, the core function of this low-orbit satellite communication network is to support a large number of unmanned mobile terminals on the ground.

Mainly unmanned vehicles, consumer-grade drones, etc., providing these unmanned mobile devices with core functions such as satellite positioning and information transmission.

This is Xu Shenxue's exploration of the future intelligent unmanned transportation network.

Unmanned transportation networks rely solely on the sensors and computing equipment carried by the unmanned equipment, which has some limitations. The signal transmission equipment on the ground is also affected by buildings, the ground, etc. It is okay in the city, but once you leave the city, it will be more troublesome.

Therefore, Xu Shenxue is preparing to use a low-orbit satellite network to fill this gap!
According to Xu Shenxue's vision for the future, the entire unmanned mobile device network should have an ultra-large computing center to plan and adjust the entire network, and interconnect information with numerous unmanned mobile devices through ground communication networks and satellite communication networks; and guide and command a large number of unmanned mobile devices to operate in an orderly and autonomous manner.

Of course, this vision is just Xu Shenxue's vision for the future. Xu Shenxue himself doesn't know how many years it will take to complete and for the technology to reach the corresponding level. In any case, the current satellite communication technology cannot reach it... Zhiyun Technology still has to specially develop the corresponding satellite communication technology.

The future is the future, so in the short and medium term, it is natural to provide satellite communication services to some companies or individuals in need. We don’t seek to make money, but we hope to avoid losses.

The launch order for Zhiyun Satellite is a commercial launch start-up order from Nanmen Aerospace Company. With Zhiyun Satellite taking the lead, other companies or institutions in need have also come to Nanmen Aerospace Company to launch satellites.

At present, Nanmen Aerospace Company has signed more than 20 launch contracts, of which half are for Zhiyun Satellite, and a small half are for other satellite service corporate customers. In addition, there are launch mission orders from some institutions.

It will take some time to complete so many orders, as Nanmen Aerospace Company’s launch mission is still very heavy.

In addition, every launch successfully sent the satellite to the predetermined orbit, and the only failure was the recovery of the first-stage rocket. Therefore, South Gate Aerospace Company will not easily abandon the scheduled launch plan.

So, amid a chorus of doubts, South Gate Aerospace announced that next month's launch plan will proceed as planned.

Xu Shenxue has also been paying attention to the situation of Nanmen Aerospace Company and recently made a trip there for inspection.

It happened that he encountered a media interview, and facing a group of reporters surrounding him, Xu Shenxue also felt it necessary to make some responses.

So he asked the security personnel to let a few reporters in. The first one to come over was an American female reporter. Xu Shenxue took a quick look and found that the car lights were a bit big and a bit dazzling.

The female reporter had a pair of bright headlights on her head, and then she asked in broken Chinese: "Mr. Xu, what do you think about the recent launch failure of the No. 5 rocket? Many people believe that your rocket has serious technical safety risks. People are very concerned about the issue of space safety. Your No. 5 rocket has failed twice in its launch. How do you ensure safety in this situation?"

When Xu Shenxue heard this, he laughed in his heart. This female reporter looked nice, but he didn't expect her to have such bad intentions. All her questions were full of traps.

Moreover, the facts were deliberately distorted, so we have to issue a ban to the public relations department, forbidding her to attend any press conferences or the like.

But of course he wouldn't say what he was thinking right now, and Xu Shenxue even had a smile on his face.

"First of all, I want to state that in the seven launches of our No. 5 rocket, all of them successfully sent the satellite to the predetermined orbit. The launch mission was a complete success."

"What failed was the recovery mission of the first-stage rocket. Even if this recovery mission fails, it will not affect the safety of our customers' satellite launch. After all, the satellite has been safely sent to the predetermined orbit."

“The feedback I get is that our customers are very satisfied with our launch efficiency, quotes, and success rate!”

"The occasional failure of first-stage rocket recovery is the price we have to pay for technological progress. We are continuously improving our technology to increase the success rate of first-stage rocket recovery!"

After giving a brief answer, Xu Shenxue just walked away. These reporters were so rude and what they said was nonsense. Xu Shenxue was too lazy to deal with them.

After entering Nanmen Aerospace, Xu Shenxue first visited some of the company's R&D projects under the guidance of Nanmen Aerospace's CEO Meng Wenlun, and came to the huge production workshop next door.

Meng Wenlun previously worked at Zhiyun Technology, where he was the head of the robotics team. The dancing robot in the Zhiyun ecosystem was his work. Later, he was transferred by Xu Shenxue to Nanmen Aerospace as CEO.

Although this person has a technical background, even when he was in the robotics team, he was mainly responsible for leading the team and doing management. After coming to Nanmen Aerospace, although the specific business is different, there is not much essential difference in what he actually does.

Meng Wenlun first took Xu Shen to visit the rocket engine production factory. This huge factory was producing Suzaku-1 rocket engines in an industrial assembly line manner, and the scale of the factory looked quite exaggerated.

Meng Wenlun pointed at several engines in front and said, "Mr. Xu, our Suzaku-1 engine has actually gone through several modifications. At the beginning, we used the original model on small test rockets. Although the engines used in the No. 1, No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4 test rockets are all Suzaku-1, the technical details are different!"

"We initially conducted tests and improvements at the same time, and carried out more than ten technical changes before we finally completed the design of the final Suzaku-1 engine and finalized it as the Suzaku-1A."

"Based on Model A, we have made another technological upgrade in the past few months, increasing the integration of parts and components, and started using 3D printers to process and produce some complex parts and components."

"Finally we launched the Suzaku-1 B!"

"Based on the A model, we have successfully reduced the weight by 12%, but increased the thrust by 8%, and at the same time reduced the cost by another 7 percentage points. Now, it only costs about 1.2 million US dollars to produce a Suzaku-1 B engine."

"The engine's reduced weight and increased thrust will give our No. 5 rocket a greater payload capacity and further reduce launch costs!"

Meng Wenlun pointed to the two engines in front and said, "The one on the left is the A-type engine that we have stopped producing, but it is still used on the three first-stage rockets that were successfully recovered before."

It is worth noting that although Nanmen Aerospace has carried out seven launch missions of the No. 5 rocket, it has actually only produced five first-stage rockets. Two of them exploded during recovery, and now there are three left. These three recovered first-stage rockets will undergo a simple inspection and repaint, and after ensuring that there are no problems, they will be pulled out to continue to carry out launch missions.

Why is Nanmen Aerospace’s launch cost so low? Xu Shenxue always says that they are not afraid of explosions... This is why!

This type of successfully recovered first-stage rocket actually has a very low cost to use.

According to the design specifications of Nanmen Aerospace Company, the service life of the reusable first-stage rocket is ten times without refurbishment, and if it is refurbished, it can even be increased to twenty times or even more.

Traditional aerospace agencies use disposable first-stage rockets that cost 20 to 30 million U.S. dollars and are gone after being used once.

The recoverable first-stage rocket of Nanmen Aerospace, which costs 10 to 20 million US dollars, can be used more than ten or twenty times, which means the single-time cost is only 1 to 2 million US dollars.

In this case, how can traditional aerospace agencies compete with Nanmen Aerospace on cost?

Can't beat it!

Nanmen Aerospace's launch quote is only about half of that of traditional aerospace agencies, but it can still make a lot of money - because the actual cost is lower.

At this time, Meng Wenlun said to an engine on the right: "The one on the right is the B-type after our technical improvement. It has already started mass production and will be installed on our No. 6 first-stage rocket and subsequent rockets. Our launch plan next month will use the No. 6 first-stage rocket!"

"The three first-stage rockets currently in service need to be improved and upgraded based on some problems that have been exposed before, so the launch plan will be postponed." "Whether it is our engines, rocket bodies, recovery technology, flight control systems, etc., we are following the technical route of improving them while using them, and iterating rapidly!"

Meng Wenlun smiled as he spoke: "Engineers are a little worried about this, but I think it's all the same when it comes to technology research and development. We used to do this with robots and mobile phones, so there's no reason why we can't do this with rockets!"

Listening to Meng Wenlun's words, many engineers following behind him remained silent.

To be honest, they don't really support Meng Wenlun's theory. After all, rockets are too advanced. But you, Meng Wenlun, split the entire project and then used the ordinary commercial technology model to carry out research and development. To be honest, they think it's a bit unreliable.

But Meng Wenlun is the CEO and has absolute authority. Even Deng Feiyue, the chief designer of Rocket No. 5, cannot change his decision.

Similarly, this is actually the core reason why Xu Shenxue transferred Meng Wenlun from Zhiyun Group to Nanmen Aerospace.

He just wanted Meng Wenlun to come over and then change the mindset of a large number of engineers and managers who had jumped from traditional aerospace companies to Nanmen Aerospace.

Many people always think that rockets are very high-end things, expensive and use high-tech technology.

But Xu Shenxue just wanted Meng Wenlun to tell them: Rockets are just industrial products, and they are mass-produced industrial products at that. They are not that high-end!
Speaking of technical content, Xu Shenxue doesn't even think that the technical content of the No. 12 rocket can exceed that of his own S mobile phone.

There are no insurmountable technical barriers to the first-stage recovery technology of the No. 5 rocket, and there is even less to say about cost control. Other commercial companies will be able to control costs just as well if they were to take over.

But S12, although it is just a mobile phone worth a few thousand dollars, its technological content is definitely the pinnacle of modern technology.

The S303 chip inside it alone represents the highest technological level of human civilization today!
Chips are definitely the most sci-fi industrial products created by humans. They are not only advanced, but also cheap enough.

How to describe a chip?
It's basically about carving a super city into a chip of about 100 square millimeters, and then selling it to ordinary people for tens or hundreds of dollars!

Cheaper chips with outdated processes may even only cost a few dollars!

It just sounds unbelievable, like a science fiction movie.

This is the case.

Nanmen Aerospace's No. 5 rocket is basically purely autonomous and controllable, but to build rockets, Xu Shenxue does not need to set up a wafer factory or semiconductor equipment, etc.

The overall technological content of Rocket No. 5 is far inferior to that of current advanced semiconductors.

In the original time and space, after the success of Space Exploration Corporation, a large number of commercial rocket companies emerged one after another, and they also developed reusable rockets one after another.

But what about chips? In the design field with the lowest technical difficulty, there are only a few companies that can handle the design of advanced mobile phone SOC chips. There are only a few giant companies in the world, and only one in China.

The situation in the chip manufacturing field and even the more critical semiconductor equipment field is even more difficult.

Of course, even if it is not as good as advanced semiconductors, the technical difficulty of reusable rockets is not something that every country or company can do. If you want to directly make a 500-ton reusable rocket like Nanmen Aerospace Company, it will be difficult for a large number of countries and companies.

Whether something is difficult or not depends on what you compare it with!
As for Xu Shenxue, he would not compare himself with any backward countries or ordinary enterprises. Instead, he would compare with his own enterprises or some international giants.

What we usually deal with are semiconductor-related industries, consumer electronics industries, electric vehicles, artificial intelligence and other things that have invested tens or hundreds of billions of dollars.

As for the Rockets, to Xu Shenxue right now, to put it bluntly, they are just a big toy...

It's nothing strange for rich people to play with rockets.

That’s why Xu Shenxue has this feeling, but as for others… that’s hard to say.

----

After Meng Wenlun took Xu Shenxue to see this row of rocket engines, he took Xu Shenxue to see the rocket body manufacturing factory next door. This factory looked very tall.

Rockets are dozens of meters tall, so the factories that build them are naturally very tall as well.

"This is our first-stage rocket construction factory. We are currently assembling and producing the first-stage rocket No. 7. The first-stage rocket No. 6 has been assembled and is currently undergoing various inspections and tests after completion. If nothing unexpected happens, the No. 6 rocket will be launched next month."

"In addition, the first-stage rockets No. 1, No. 3, and No. 5 are also being upgraded and renovated in this workshop!"

Following Meng Wenlun's words, Xu Shenxue saw four huge first-stage rockets lined up in two rows on both sides, and in the area opposite there was a semi-finished rocket under construction!
Although there are only a few rockets, they look very visually impactful.

In order to see the full picture of these rockets, Xu Shenxue did not watch them on the ground, but took the elevator to the high command platform.

This scene shocked Xu Shenxue, a well-informed man who had seen many big scenes.

Xu Shenxue said: "You can make a promotional video later and film this scene to show those fools outside our strength!"

After watching the construction of the first-stage rocket, Xu Shenxue went to another equally tall factory workshop to see the construction of the second-stage rocket.

Meng Wenlun said: "This second-stage rocket is different from the first-stage rocket. Our first-stage rocket is recyclable, so in design and construction, we pay more attention to safety and reusability. Therefore, the actual construction cost is higher than the cost of traditional disposable rockets."

"But our second-stage rocket is not recyclable at present due to technical and cost issues. It is a one-time use product!"

"We have also carried out some experimental research on the recovery of the second-stage rocket, but it is still far from practical use. Therefore, the main technical route of our current second-stage rocket is still the disposable rocket route."

"Because it is a one-time product, we have thought of many ways to reduce costs. The overall manufacturing cost of our two-stage rocket is estimated to be only about 70% of that of similar industries of other aerospace agencies. At the same time, we are continuing to explore technology to further reduce costs!"

"Because they are all disposable products, the demand is high and the production task is tight, so our production speed is also relatively fast. The current output is 1.5 pieces per month. We are continuing to expand our production capacity and strive to achieve a production capacity of five pieces per month by next year."

"The improvement of production efficiency and the increase in output can also effectively reduce the cost of our second-stage rockets. We have calculated that if the monthly production capacity can reach 10 units and they are used smoothly, the cost can be reduced to about 30% of the current level."

But at this time, Meng Wenlun said helplessly: "Although it is easy to expand our production capacity, it is not easy to receive orders. We have only received orders for 23 rocket launches. If we follow our planned production capacity, we can complete the launch in three months at most."

When Xu Shenxue heard this question, he said, "The current space launch market is still very promising, and the domestic market is also large. Whether it is to establish various satellite networks or to build a space station, rocket launch missions are indispensable."

"Your business department should also work harder. Whether it's domestic or foreign, you can look for and discuss various commercial orders!"

"Our rockets are pretty good, have a large enough carrying capacity, are low-cost, and are still very competitive in the market!"

Today, Nanmen Aerospace Company actually has two types of commercial rockets. One is the small Nantianmen-4 rocket, but this is a disposable small rocket that was previously used for testing and has not yet accepted any commercial launch orders.

The other is the famous Nantianmen-5 rocket, which is a medium-to-large rocket with a take-off weight of more than 500 tons and a two-stage rocket design.

However, the No. 5 rocket is now divided into Type A and Type B. Type A, which is the five rockets produced and used before, has exploded two, leaving three first-stage rockets. As for how many times it can be used later, it depends on luck. It may be able to be used several times, or it may be unusable after one or two uses.

The new B-type production starts from the sixth rocket.

When the Type A rocket is performing a launch mission, in addition to the recovery mode, it can also use a disposable rocket mode, that is, no return fuel is reserved to send more payloads into space. This mode can send 19 tons of cargo into low-Earth orbit... It's just that Nanmen Aerospace has never done this. They are all ordinary commercial launch missions, and there is no need for a one-time launch.

If this is really done, customers will have to pay a lot of extra fees.

A large number of customers come to you just to buy your reusable rockets at a low price, so all launch missions of the No. 5 rocket are carried out by land recovery.

If the land recovery mode is adopted, twelve tons of cargo can be sent into low-Earth orbit.

What is the concept of this data?
It’s not that great, just probably the best in the world.

There are large rockets with similar take-off weights abroad, but their low-Earth orbit transportation capacity is generally only about eight to ten tons. This is a disposable rocket, but it still does not have as much carrying capacity as the Nantianmen-5 rocket in land recovery mode!
Not on the same level.

In addition, the No. 5 rocket now has an improved version of the B type, which uses the new Suzaku-1 B type engine. According to the design indicators, the transportation capacity of low-Earth orbit has reached 21 tons in a single use, and even if it is recovered on land, it can reach the level of 13 tons.

This performance far exceeds that of a large number of so-called advanced rockets.

When used once, it basically reaches the takeoff weight of 700 to 800 tons of advanced foreign rockets.

But you have to know that the Nantianmen-5B rocket has a take-off weight of only more than 560 tons.

This means, smaller size and lower cost!

Why is there such an obvious difference in the data? It is actually quite simple to explain. Basically, the Suzaku-1 engine is lighter and has greater thrust, and the rocket structural material uses a new type of aluminum-lithium alloy, so it is even lighter!
The carrying capacity of a rocket is actually achieved by reducing a little here and a little there, which will then form a series of chain reactions, and finally result in several tons of additional carrying capacity.

But it's easier said than done...

This is not even a simple technical problem, but a huge gap in R&D thinking and operation model.

Nanmen Aerospace Company does not follow any traditional technical route when developing rockets. Instead, it adopts many R&D experiences and thinking patterns of high-tech enterprises, uses a large number of new materials and spare parts, and also uses 3D printer technology.

To be honest, apart from commercial space companies, traditional space agencies of various countries would never do this.

The risk is too great, the responsibility is too great, and most importantly: it’s not necessary.

This is an institution, not a commercial company!
These people think that a 500-ton rocket cannot do the job, so I can just make a 700-800-ton rocket. It’s not my money being spent anyway.

There is no need to spend so much effort and take technical risks to improve the thrust-to-weight ratio, and then let a rocket of more than 500 tons do the work of a rocket of 700 or 800 tons!
This kind of thing is a typical case of if it succeeds, I won't get any benefits, and if it fails, I will be punished.

Only a fool would do this to you... and don't treat R&D personnel as fools.

Whether it is Europe, the United States, or even Russia, their space agencies are actually similar. They are good at spending money, but they are not good at reducing costs or achieving cost-effectiveness.

There's no motivation to even do this!
Their way of thinking is fundamentally different from that of commercial aerospace companies.

But Nanmen Aerospace has a demand because they want to make money. The launch cost of a 500-ton rocket and a 700-800-ton or even 1,000-ton rocket is very different.

Therefore, Nanmen Aerospace is more willing to take some technical risks, adopt new technologies, and use rockets weighing more than 500 tons to do the work of 700-ton rockets.

Finally, there is this technology gap.

Nanmen Aerospace Company, with its high-thrust, low-cost, and cost-effective Nantianmen-5 rocket, should have no problem attracting some ordinary commercial orders.

What's more, Nanmen Aerospace Corporation also has a No. 6 rocket project!
This is a heavy rocket with a takeoff weight of more than 1,400 tons. The design structure of this heavy rocket is actually very simple.

On the surface, it looks like a Type 5 rocket with two boosters strapped to it.

In fact, those two boosters are also the first stage of the No. 5 rocket.

In order to save costs, the engineers of Nanmen Aerospace Corporation did not develop a special booster like traditional aerospace agencies.

They simply connected the first-stage rockets of three Nantianmen-5 rockets in parallel and launched a powerful rotation. According to their design, the rocket's low-Earth orbit transportation capacity should reach more than 60 tons in a single use.

Not only does it have a carrying capacity that far exceeds that of a large number of so-called heavy rockets, but it is also extremely cheap.

According to their estimates, the one-time launch cost of this rocket will not exceed US$150 million, and if it is reused, it can be reduced to less than US$100 million.

However, because of this simple and crude parallel method, the technical complexity of this rocket is also very high.

One rocket requires seven engines, and three rockets require a total of twenty-one engines.

How to make twenty-one engines work stably and coordinatedly is an extremely huge technical challenge.

At least the outside world thinks that Zhiyun’s engineers are daydreaming!

However, many engineers from space exploration companies on the other side of the Pacific Ocean were very interested after seeing the technical plan of South Gate Aerospace's No. 6 heavy rocket.

However, they haven't even mastered the recovery technology for the first-stage rocket yet, so it's still a long way to go to develop such a heavy rocket.

Xu Shenxue spent a whole day at the Nanmen Aerospace Company. After visiting the factory, he saw the PPT of the No. 6 heavy rocket.

Finally, he left Nanmen Aerospace Company feeling satisfied and went to Beijing with a bunch of technical information of Nanmen Aerospace Company.

He went to solicit orders. Recently, the higher-ups wanted to build a space station for fun, and to build a space station, you need a rocket. The carrying capacity of other small rockets in the country is just a stretch. The core module and experimental module of the space station are quite heavy, and they cannot be controlled if the weight is too small.

He just happened to have a Type 5 rocket that could launch 21 tons, and the launch cost was cheap, so it would be no problem for him to help launch an experimental module, a core module, etc.

Then, in the recyclable mode, the twelve-ton carrying capacity is just enough to provide cargo supplies and even personnel rotation for the space station.

Everything is fine!
Looking further ahead, Nanmen Aerospace Corporation also has a heavy-lift rocket project No. 6 under development.

Everyone else had no confidence in this heavy rocket, but Xu Shenxue had great confidence in it.

Because Nanmen Aerospace Corporation is Xu Shenxue's holding company, the R&D personnel in the company can enjoy the support of the scientific research system quota. With all the scientific research quotas, its R&D speed cannot be judged by common sense.

Similar situations have occurred in many of his companies, and this time will be no exception!

In fact, until this time, he was thinking about whether he could get approval and then build a small space station for fun.

It doesn't mean that space stations are something that only countries can do, and not enterprises, right?

(End of this chapter)