This star is going to the moon

Chapter 265 Ma Yilong: "300 against 30, the advantage is in my hands!"

There are more and more space conferences in the US these days.

One reason is that because of Lu Yun's presence, there are more and more major aerospace-related events happening between Laos and China.

Secondly, the "commercial lunar module" program, which is derived from the "return to the moon" plan, has also entered the initial selection stage.

The five shortlisted proposals included almost all the established and emerging commercial space companies in the United States.

They also have other projects or plans to participate in, such as the "Commercial Crew" program that SpaceX and Boeing are vying for.

So some of them are rivals in one plan, but partners in another, their relationships are complicated and intertwined, like a fishing net twisted into a heap.

It must be said that sometimes the overdevelopment of related industries in China is not necessarily a good thing.

In the Lao-Chinese region, the national aerospace team is the largest and most established, while BlueStar Aerospace has emerged as a dark horse with the most advanced technology. Other commercial aerospace companies follow behind these two behemoths, picking up whatever slips of the iceberg.

However, when it comes to "Starlink" in the US, it's all Elon Musk's (the Space Fork's) monologue.

Of course, just like popular celebrities, SpaceX's rivals won't let him get away with it so easily.

"I've heard that the Chinese 'Zhou Tian Xing Dou Da Zhen' satellites are more advanced than your 'Starlink' satellites. They've already started using laser inter-satellite links, while your 'Starlink' is still using electromagnetic wave communication. It's too outdated. This doesn't fit the Federation's 'technology crushing' style, Yi Long."

Ma Yilong: "Hehe, that's their advantage of being a latecomer, just like the space station."

"I heard that the Lao-Chinese side is expanding the production line of the 'Starlink' satellites and will soon be at full capacity. Yi Long, you know the terrifying industrial capabilities there. After all, your Tesla Gigafactory is there. How can you guarantee that your 'Starlink' satellites will always outnumber their 'Starlink' satellites?"

This statement was rather harsh, and Elon Musk immediately recognized it as referring to Boeing's representative, Smith.

"Heh, I not only know about their terrifying industrial capacity, but also about the demand in their supermarkets. Building a factory there is just like Boeing selling planes there—it's all about making money for the Federation."

"As for how to ensure quantity, that's even simpler, because no one understands space-based internet satellites better than me!"

"Launching a space-based internet satellite is simple, but using it is very difficult. In order to match the status of various aspects, it took a full six months after the first batch of Starlink satellites entered space before the second batch was launched."

"Even if the Chinese's 'Starship' satellites stole the experience from 'Starlink,' it would still take several months to debug them."

"After a few more months of adjustments, I launched several hundred more Starlink satellites."

“They’ve only just started expanding their production capacity, while I’ve already expanded mine. Even if I launch once a month, it’s equivalent to them launching twice. If I launch twice a month, they’ll have to launch four times to catch up.”

Ma Yilong: "Even now, let's not talk about the future. It's 300 to 30, a tenfold difference. No matter what, the advantage is on my side!"

Upon hearing what Elon Musk said, General Bryant of the Space Force was very pleased: "Excellent, let's proceed according to this ratio!"

"As long as we have more satellites than China, their anti-satellite missiles will be useless!"

The reason why the Space Force generals were so happy was that they had no choice but to admit that China's advanced missiles did indeed pose a great threat to them.

Although reconnaissance satellites are considered "eyes in space" even more advanced than reconnaissance aircraft, they are no longer safe once humans invented anti-satellite missiles.

After all, the number of satellites launched previously was relatively small. There were only a few dozen large reconnaissance and detection satellites with military value, worth hundreds of billions. If just a few of them were destroyed, a "fog of war" of unknown situation could be created in a specific area.

But things are different with Starlink. Even if a few hundred of these tens of thousands of satellites are destroyed, it's not a big deal, as other satellites can quickly replace them.

Although Starlink satellites are not dedicated communication or navigation satellites, their networking capabilities are stronger than those of ordinary communication satellites.

Its navigation capabilities are indeed poor. It can only pinpoint an error of tens of meters using cross-positioning with multiple satellites, which is not very useful on land, but it is quite good for locating ships at sea.

Of course, the most important thing is that Laos and China don't actually have hundreds of anti-satellite missiles.

Moreover, they can use "Starlink" as a front to infiltrate "StarShield" satellites.

This satellite can be considered a military version of Starlink, with communication capabilities including additional high-security encryption to carry classified payloads and securely process data. After verifying that Starlink's capabilities were indeed sound, the Department of Defense awarded SpaceX a $18 billion "StarShield" contract.

With a new contract about to be signed, Ma Yilong was naturally very happy.

Other commercial space companies are quite envious.

But there's nothing we can do; the US's space internet is basically a one-man show by Elon Musk.

Fortunately, there is still the plan to return to the moon.

The moon landing is the domain of established commercial space companies.

Boeing is the prime contractor for the SLS rocket.

Lockheed Martin is the prime contractor for the Orion spacecraft.

A lunar orbital space station is currently under tender.

The lunar lander is currently undergoing a bidding process.

Isn't it obvious? Boeing and Lockheed Martin can each take one spot.

Even if a new force were to be added, the lunar lander would be given to the "national team" led by Blue Origin.

Because besides Blue Origin, there are also Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, both of which are long-established aerospace companies.

SpaceX planned to build its own lunar module.

Ha, eating alone!
Boeing knew it wouldn't work after seeing Elon Musk's proposal.

Even at Boeing's own internal meetings, someone mocked, "Haha, if he succeeds, then Boeing will go bankrupt!"

………………

"Hello, Teacher Zhai!"

Seeing Zhai Tianlin on TV, Lu Yun called Zhao Jinmai in an annoyed tone and said, "Is this the one you're talking about?"

"Haha, bro, tell me, were you shocked or not!"

Zhao Jinmai laughed happily on the other end of the phone.

She was also watching TV; it was the variety show "Fourtry," where she was a regular cast member, and the 11th episode was currently airing.

"Let me tell you, bro, we were all quite shocked when he appeared during filming. We never expected him to be planning a comeback..."

Lu Yun was actually quite shocked, as this terrible variety show was produced by the same team behind "The Rap of China" and "I Am a Singer-Songwriter".

The original plan was to sign Wu Fan as the main guest, but he ended up getting arrested.

Lu Yun thought the show was canceled, but it actually started, only the main guest became Pan Weibao, one of the regular guests from his previous life.

It truly is the inertia of history.

Due to historical inertia, Zhai Tianlin is definitely not going to make a comeback; his participation in this variety show is just a fleeting moment.

"Let's not talk about him anymore. Is the Mate Xs phone I gave you any good?"

"This is so useful, bro! The screen is huge, it's so convenient to read e-scripts now..."

(End of this chapter)