Reborn in 2010, the AI ​​in my mind is too powerful.

A few days later, Musk boarded a Boeing 747 and flew to Hawaii.

Musk cautiously explored the surroundings on the plane, like a country bumpkin visiting a grand garden.

This is no ordinary aircraft; it's a Boeing 747-8, the most powerful member of Boeing's business jet product line, boasting an astonishingly spacious interior of nearly 500 square meters. It's the largest private jet in terms of space, bar none, and its safety features are top-notch.

The 747 itself is a benchmark for modern wide-body platforms, and this aircraft also has additional communication redundancy, defense systems, and various advanced cabin management systems.

Moreover, this aircraft was not delivered in an ordinary manner; it was ordered by the Qatari royal family and was delivered to the standard of a true head of state. It underwent the most advanced military modifications in the United States and is basically comparable to the presidential limousine of the United States.

Although two security guards were sitting outside the master suite, preventing Musk from going in, the other facilities already dazzled him: a sky conference room, a medical room, and an extravagant array of communications and operations rooms. Some areas were still empty, reportedly indicating that the Aurora would be equipped with some of its own manufactured equipment.

This aircraft exudes power in every aspect, and even its origin reveals privilege; it was ordered by the Qatari royal family more than two years ago.

Chen Yiran made a phone call and they gave up their beloved aircraft, which was surprising enough. What was even more outrageous was that the US government did not stand in the slightest and approved it very smoothly. No one from either party thought that selling an aircraft equipped with the US's advanced defense system was a big problem.

This makes Musk, who is still quite weak at the moment, envious, but even more delighted. Aurora is a shareholder of SpaceX and Tesla, so he now has powerful backers.

After landing in Hawaii, he was picked up by car and put on a yacht at the pier, which sailed to Lanai Island.

Unfortunately, the runway on Lanai Island is only a little over a thousand meters long. It used to be used by the island's workers, who would fly small Cessna aircraft. Later, after drones became more common, it basically became the dedicated runway for Chen Yiran's business jet. He's too small; he can only land business jets there, and even landing a 737 is difficult for him.

Although Chen Yiran has requested an expansion, it has been prioritized over the islanders' housing and has not yet been completed.

However, this situation gave Musk a deeper understanding of Chen Yiran's abilities.

Because their car had virtually no obstruction, as if it had its own flashlights, they drove along the emergency lane. Others glanced at the dog head logo on the car and took it for granted. Several police cars saw them but didn't stop them.

After another hour of fussing, Musk finally met Chen Yiran, who was scribbling on paper.

"Boss, is there something important you need me for? I've been quite busy lately. A new launch is starting next month, and this time it's going to be a soft splashdown test at sea with land-based landing gear."

I'm going to China for an event in April. I don't know why they invited me; maybe it has something to do with you, since I'm from the Aurora Zone.

Chen Yiran recalled a famous scene from later years where Musk was mocked for not having enough users; Lenovo's people were truly arrogant and ignorant. However, this time, Musk might be more confident and wouldn't be rendered speechless by the rebuttal.

"Your progress is too slow! We've given you so much support, and you even got to use SEELE a while ago, so why can't you just try a land landing?"

You have to have some confidence, okay? I've decided to go straight for the land landing challenge. If I succeed, it will be the first truly reusable rocket, and my son will be one year old in April.

If it succeeds, consider it a celebratory gift. If it doesn't, a big fireworks display would still be nice.

Musk scratched his head. He wanted to stop it but didn't know how to say it, so he could only explain, "Boss, there's a problem. If it fails, there's a high chance we won't be able to set off fireworks. We might get bored at sea, and the scene won't look good. We won't want fireworks."

"Can't you think positively and just succeed directly?"

"Boss, we need to be scientific. We still have a lot of problems to solve. Give me another year, and I'm sure I'll succeed by the end of the year."

"Tell me about all the difficulties you're facing, one by one."

Musk glanced at the small blackboard next to him, walked over, and began listing the technical difficulties one by one.

"First, and most critically, after the initial separation of the two engines, the loading process will begin to spin. If the spin rate exceeds the control capability of the nitrogen-cooled thruster, the centrifugal force will throw the propellant against the side wall of the fuel tank, and the central engine will shut down prematurely due to the fuel supply interruption."

"You guys developed a more powerful thruster and used more nitrogen as the working fluid this time, so you should be able to control the roll speed to zero."

"Even so, the precise control capabilities within the atmosphere are insufficient. Relying solely on the cold air RCS thruster and engine universal joints to maintain attitude is not enough. In the full transition from hypersonic to subsonic speeds, we lack sufficient aerodynamic control capabilities. We are preparing for this..."

Before he could finish speaking, the monitor next to him lit up automatically, displaying several design diagrams of grid rudders.

Chen Yiran tapped the screen and said, "You guys aren't experimenting with the grid fin anymore. I've made some minor adjustments. We need to increase the oil tank capacity of the grid fin hydraulic system and use a closed-loop hydraulic system. We can use it directly for this orbital insertion. Later, we can also use forged titanium alloy grid fins, which have a more robust structure and higher control efficiency."

Musk looked at the data with a bewildered expression and continued to ask questions: "There are other issues, such as the throttle valve response delay and the lateral speed problem. We are not confident about these and need test data."

"This is the simplest; Claude can handle it. Just integrate it with your current algorithm and let him take care of it. Is that alright? Is there anything else you have concerns about?"

"The engine's throttling capability means that even the lowest thrust of a single engine still exceeds the weight of a nearly empty first-stage rocket. Physically, hovering is impossible; we can only choose a landing method where the rocket decelerates to zero at the exact moment of impact, which is actually quite unstable."

We have now specifically designed an engine throttling profile to ignite at a specific throttling level at the start of landing combustion, and we have also developed a closed-loop thrust vectoring and throttling control guidance software algorithm, but since we have not yet tested it, we lack confidence.

Our thermal protection system, which uses TPS materials and design, is also something we haven't tested before.

Finally, there are the navigation sensor suite and terminal guidance accuracy issues. In short, we need to test it, boss.

Chen Yiran was aware of these issues, but he knew they weren't major problems. He stood up, patted Musk on the shoulder, and said, "It's okay, believe in yourself. The reason I brought you here is to get your consent to this rather radical test."

To put it another way, Musk, having experienced grander narratives, now everything seems too slow to me. I need to speed things up, you know?

Musk is getting a bit annoyed. What grander narrative? It's all about making more money. Now he's already looking down on his small business.

Chen Yiran took a document out of the drawer and tossed it to Musk, interrupting his rambling.

Musk glanced at it and then froze.

"Ahem, boss, while I'm pleased with your high regard for SpaceX and the price you've offered, I'm worried that Aurora Group's shareholders might not approve of this valuation."

"You don't need to worry about what Aurora's shareholders say. At Aurora, I have absolute power. You just need to handle the rocket. Although your idea is correct, the rocket will indeed need to consider cost issues in the future."

"But you're being too frugal. SpaceX has a billion dollars in cash on hand, that's too conservative! I need you to be more aggressive, don't worry about what might happen if you fail. I'm telling you, even if we fail, I'll back you up; there won't be any problems!"

Musk didn't answer. He's not actually that conservative; SpaceX maintains a billion dollars in cash, but also has nearly 9 million dollars in fixed costs annually. Although SpaceX's revenue has now reached a billion dollars, its operating profit margin is a staggering 0.2%.

Rockets are a highly volatile project, and Musk has learned this the hard way in his early years. Two accidental explosions could wipe out most of the billion dollars in cash. Maintaining SpaceX's debt-free status and continuing the project's slow but steady progress has already been incredibly difficult for him.

He was even prepared to ask Chen Yiran for more money in the second half of this year, as he still didn't feel at ease with too little money on hand.

"Boss, $9 million is the company's current break-even point. If we increase investment and something goes wrong, I could lose a billion dollars in cash in two years."

"First of all, don't underestimate your own technology, and don't underestimate mine either. Let me be frank with you, my AI progress is unusually fast. Research and development on it will be much faster than you imagine."

I'm not recklessly suggesting you attempt a land landing directly. The main issue is that after resolving the grid rudder and landing algorithm, I don't think this landing will be difficult.

The next step is to iterate the grid fins, which is more holistic and requires your rockets to be built as a whole. However, with AI, it will be much wider.

This investment is mainly to give you strong support, so you can go all out and do it boldly, without being stingy.

"You updated again? I don't feel that Claude has changed at all."

"Never mind that. Just give me your opinion, whether you agree or not. If it works, great. If not, I'll invest the money in other people's projects. I have to burn some money out and give it a try."

Musk is confused. He doesn't actually want this money; he feels the company's current pace of development is just right. Besides, calling it an investment is essentially selling the company; signing it would mean losing control. However, he's hesitant to say no. This amount of money is enough to create a formidable competitor for SpaceX, which is unacceptable to him.

After a moment's hesitation, Musk asked, "Why are you in such a hurry?"

"I don't know if what you said about wanting to go to Mars is true or false, but for me, I've been feeling a bit unsettled lately. I need to set a goal for myself and detach myself from grander narratives."

So I set a small goal, like settling down on the moon first.

Musk saw that Chen Yiran didn't seem to be joking, struggled with his decision for a moment, and then nodded.

"Okay, boss, but it's probably impossible to earn this money back in the short term. Should we consider going public to raise funds? I remember you said before that you were very averse to going public."

Chen Yiran shook his head, and then the monitor behind him changed the image, which read Starlink.

"You don't need to worry about money. This is your next task: Project Starlink."