Minke's black technology

Chapter 276 Moon Mining
In Li Maoye's Stars and Seas project, the space electric propulsion engine is a key technology!
Once the thrust of the engine reaches 1000 N, it means that the second phase of the [Earth Cannon] project is not required, and the satellite can be carried to a synchronous orbit.

The specific method is very simple. You only need to add four electric propulsion engines to the electromagnetic rocket, then use the [Earth Cannon] to launch the rocket into low-earth orbit, and start the engine at the edge of the earth's atmosphere. The object is delivered to a synchronous orbit.

If the energy and working medium provided to the engine are sufficient, it is even possible to consider whether it is possible to carry out the moon landing plan. However, considering that the maximum transport capacity of the [Earth Cannon] is only 5 tons, I am afraid that the goal of landing on the moon cannot be achieved with only one launch.

"We can transport all the materials and spacecraft parts to the space station through multiple launches, then assemble them on it, and then fly from the space station to the moon!"

Li Maoye wrote and drew on the whiteboard, and marked that the moon landing is only part of the second phase, the ultimate goal of this phase is to build a base on the moon.

"Moon base?" Academician Ma leaned forward and asked with piercing eyes: "What does Mr. Li plan to build a moon base for?"

Zhou Lin frowned tightly. He also felt that the idea of ​​a moon base was too advanced and crazy!
Even if the Meow Star Group can make a space station, it is very reluctant. If it is really going to build a moon base, how much money will it have to invest, unless the national government is doing this kind of thing, maybe there is something to say, and it would be a private company. To build a moon base, wouldn't that be the opposite!

"Mining!" Li Maoye's answer was unexpected.

Academician Ma and Zhou Lin thought that he wanted to do important scientific research on it, so they spared no effort to build a base on the moon.For example, building a lunar hadron collider, or a lunar observatory, or even helping the country build a lunar military base.

But things like mining are too low!
The input and output are hardly proportional. No one would have thought that Li Maoye would cross the starry sky and go to the moon to mine, and there would be any valuable minerals on it!
When only 12 people have landed on the moon in human history, someone actually wants to mine on it?Let’s not talk about what kind of mining can pay back the cost, just consider how the miners send it up is a problem!
"It may not be accurate to say that it is mining. I plan to build a metal smelting base on the back of the moon and mine it by looking for lunar meteorites. If conditions permit, I can also let the spacecraft go to space to find ores, and then drag them back to the back of the moon for processing."

"As for where the miners come from, we can use the [Earth Cannon] to send them up!"

Li Maoye's statement made people even more puzzled. Academician Ma first asked: "Do you want to build the third phase of the project? Isn't that what we use to fool people?"

[Earth Cannon] The third phase of the project can send people to the sky in theory, but in practice it is difficult to do, and the cost is not very low, and the safety and comfort are much worse than the rocket launch method, so Academician Ma is I don't want to jump into this pit.

"Phase three? No, I don't even plan to do the second phase. If the space electric propulsion engine technology comes out, the second phase will be relatively useless. Why don't we find a way to make the current cannon fire a few more times a day!"

Li Maoye quickly explained to the two of them: "The miners don't need real people to go up, we can completely replace them with intelligent robot miners, and humans only need to conduct remote command on the earth!"

This method is indeed very good. Robots are not human flesh and blood. They can definitely be launched into the sky through the [Earth Cannon], and then transported to the moon base through the space station. You only need to guarantee the energy supply and you can have a group of cheap labor. No need to provide Life support system and daily supplies
In this way, the cost has dropped a lot, and there may even be a lot of profit, but this project is also very large, and the Meow Star Group will definitely not be able to swallow it by itself. It must cooperate with the country to be successful.

"However, someone still needs to be watching from above. Well, in fact, there is no need for a real person to go up. It is better to use the method of remote control and let the bionic robot stand in to supervise the work of other robots!"

Li Maoye immediately thought of Qin Hua's remote control mecha technology. Although the mecha is not needed on the moon, it would be good to replace it with Zhao Baibing's bionic robot.

The real person is still on the earth, and then remotely controlled through the egg-shaped remote control cabin. There may be a signal delay of about 2 seconds during this process, but it is more than enough for supervision.

"Yes, Qin Hua has to step up research and development later, and we can't let him slow down the project plan!" Li Maoye secretly decided to put pressure on the people below.

Not only Qin Hua's remote control cabin technology needs to catch up with the progress, but Zhao Baibing also has to start a new project, which is to build a computer angel stand-in, which doesn't need a bionic skin coat, and a full metal shell like M800 is also fine, but it needs to be replaced. It can adapt to the environment of the moon and outer space.

Academician Ma and Zhou Lin have been dizzy by Li Maoye's jumping thinking, and feel that they are about to lose track of it. At first they only wanted to talk about the satellite communication network, but they talked about how to mine on the moon. Then it talked about how to solve the miner problem and so on.

"Okay! Then I'll tell you again, our Meow Star Group's Star Ocean plan will be divided into several steps!"

Li Maoye pulled out another whiteboard and wrote on it: "First of all, the communication satellite network is established. We plan to build a space communication network with geostationary satellites and space stations as the core and low-earth orbit satellites as the auxiliary. There is a prerequisite for this. It is the successful development of space electric propulsion engine technology."

Then he drew a question mark next to the electric propulsion engine, thought for a while and said: "I expect the engine to be tested within two months, and mass-produced and put into use within half a year."

"Half a year is enough?" Academician Ma, as a scientific researcher, of course understands what it means to achieve mass production in half a year, and this is a brand new black technology product, and its difficulty is not much lower than that of a bald eagle landing on the moon.

In fact, many high-tech products have been successfully developed and manufactured in the laboratory, and there is no problem with performance testing, but when it comes to mass production, it is absolutely impossible.

Because it can be mass-produced and put into use, it means that the production cost is controlled at a relatively low level, at least within the range that human beings can bear. However, it takes two to 30 years for high-tech products to be mass-produced and used, otherwise It is difficult to reduce the cost and maintain the performance of laboratory manufacturing after industrial mass production.

Li Maoye glanced at Academician Ma, just smiled and said, "Half a year must be enough. If they can't make it with the design drawings, I'll help you see it!"

The implication is, "Don't ask, it's black technology!"

Academician Ma laughed a few times and stopped asking. After all, he is a master of black technology, so of course he can do things that ordinary people can't do.

"Next is the moon base smelting metal factory, intelligent robot miners and remote control robots. In fact, as long as things can be sent to the moon, these technologies should not be too difficult."

Li Maoye said it was quite simple, but in fact it was a very complicated thing to do, at least not easier than building a space station in space.

But what he said is right, since everything has been sent up, no matter how difficult it is, it will not be sad to heaven!
What's more, all of them are ready-made technologies, or things that are being planned to be developed. Compared with the space electric propulsion engine, other technical difficulties are really not worth mentioning.

Then the three continued to discuss the general steps and time plan of the whole plan, even considering the source of project start-up funds. Li Maoye's idea was: "Isn't Musk's Starlink project going to use our [Earth Cannon]?" ? Then simply give him half a year to help him launch more than 1 satellites into the sky, and then the money will be earned!"

In fact, on average, more than 100 satellites are launched into the sky every day. It takes less than half a year, and at most three months. Even including the time for charging the storage power station and repairing the electromagnetic orbit, it is estimated that it will only take four months.

Therefore, in addition to launching satellites for Musk's SpaceX company, it is necessary to find other satellite launch businesses in order to maximize the value of the "Earth Cannon".

……

A few days after the discussion between the three of them ended, Musk suddenly received a reply from his subordinates, saying that the Meow Star Group finally planned to sign a satellite launch contract with them, but the asking price might be relatively high, so he needed to make a decision in the past.

So Musk came to Meow Star Group to negotiate in person, and after a heated debate between the two sides, they finally reached a satisfactory result.

"A contract of up to US$50 billion in total, an average launch cost of US$2500 per kilogram, and the priority to launch within half a year. It can be said that Musk is determined to be the first to complete the Starlink project!"

Zhou Lin praised repeatedly afterwards that Musk was really relentless when he spent money. The billions of dollars in launch costs only accounted for a part of the entire project. If satellite manufacturing costs, insurance fees and operating expenses are included, I'm afraid it will cost at least tens of billions of dollars.

The total market value of the users faced by this Starlink project is only 300 billion US dollars, and it is also the total value of the global market, which is much smaller than other markets with hundreds of billions of dollars. After all, Internet access through satellites is still a Very new thing.

In other words, even if Musk achieves the ultimate, he can only get $1 in exchange for $3 in revenue, and he has to get rid of various costs. I am afraid it will be a bit difficult to break even.

However, analysts believe that Musk is looking at the future market. Perhaps in a few years, satellite connection broadband will become a very common method. By then, everyone will be able to use the signal of the overhead satellite base station no matter where they are on the earth.

"Anyway, Musk dares to take a big gamble for the future!"

For this alone, Zhou Lin couldn’t help admiring. Those who dared to gamble tens of billions were all werewolves. No matter how sure they were, it was worthy of admiration!
But this time Musk may capsize in the gutter!

Zhou Lin knew about Li Maoye's space program. In his opinion, the probability of success of this program is too high. Once the space electric propulsion engine is developed, the next question is whether there is enough investment.

(End of this chapter)