"They want to develop solid-liquid conversion engine technology?"
Chengdu, in the office, Chen Nian asked in surprise.
"Yes, the project has been submitted. They want Xinghuo to provide some technical support, but we don't need to solve the funding. The remaining funds from the TBCC engine project can be used to cover it."
"Their main problem now is the lack of manpower in various fields. The solid-liquid conversion engine sounds simple, but the modules involved are more complex."
"From fuel, to structural design, to materials, thermal power, and electronic control systems, the difficulty is even higher than that of aviation engines."
"Just a solid-liquid conversion method requires the joint development of departments from multiple fields including combustion, chemical engineering, propulsion engineering, etc. It also requires people from the Institute of Energetic Materials to handle metallic hydrogen and total nitrogen anions. It’s a matter of salt.”
"How can I put it? They really made this thing simple."
"But fortunately, they are still relatively cautious. The current goal for the first phase submitted is to come up with a design plan for the solid-liquid conversion system, rather than directly building an engine."
"Taking it all together, it's very difficult, but if you squeeze in a little bit, it's not impossible to get it all together."
"It depends on whether we can give them to people - currently there is a shortage of people in various fields, and it is really not easy to allocate some."
When it comes to the fields she is familiar with, Chen Guo's analysis has become more obvious to the naked eye, and her tone even has a sense of helplessness and relief, like "people who have been here watch children messing around."
Noticing his expression, Chen Nian smiled knowingly, and then he said:
"Just dial it if you need to. I'm quite optimistic about this direction."
"Compared with the current liquid solution, the thrust provided by the solid-liquid conversion solution can be said to be almost an order of magnitude higher. Even if recycling and reuse are not considered, the efficiency will be doubled."
"Not to mention that their ultimate goal is solid-state + multiplexing. We should boldly invest in a wave of investments for the future."
"I think so too."
Chen Guo nodded slightly, but then said:
"However, in this area, there is still a gap between us and other countries - especially the United States."
"The current situation is probably similar to when we launched the J-22."
"People already have fifth-generation machines, and we are still struggling with third-generation machines."
"It's not that easy to close the gap quickly."
"My idea is to see if we can recruit a group of people from overseas, or take advantage of the current wave of mergers and acquisitions to directly acquire one or two commercial rocket companies, receive their technology, and then move to a higher level first."
"There are currently some good targets, including SpaceX, blue origin, ULA, RL, and VSC."
"Among them, SpaceX, ULA and RL have their own solid-liquid conversion technology laboratories, and SpaceX has already produced results. If we can win it, it will be a big help for us."
"The only problem is... I'm afraid they won't sell it."
"Won't sell it? Because of NASA? How poor is NASA, and it still wants to hold on to the SpaceX card?"
Chen Nian asked doubtfully.
"Yes, and they seem to be planning to cover this card to the end."
"The latest news is that Musk is preparing to sell Tesla and devote all his energy to the development of SpaceX. He has reached a preliminary agreement with NASA and is preparing for SpaceX to undertake the United States' return to the moon plan."
".Okay, I'm already crazy about gambling."
Chen Nian said jokingly:
"If they lose the bet again this time, they will lose even their last bargaining chip - so to speak, if they want to take over, after the return to the moon plan fails, it will be a good time."
"Here's the problem, there's a paradox."
Chen Guo tapped the table lightly, paused briefly to organize her words, and then continued:
"If we want to win over SpaceX, we must be technically better than them. But if our technology is already better, the meaning of acquisition will be lost."
“So, to break the paradox, we must rely on either technical means or business means.”
"Musk himself is a businessman, and we don't have no chance at all - especially if we can play Tesla as a hand."
"I understand what you mean."
Chen Nian's brows wrinkled slightly.
The so-called playing Tesla as a card, to put it bluntly, is nothing more than giving Musk enough funds through certain business methods, keeping Tesla in his hands, and promising him a future. It is expected that in exchange for SpaceX’s solid-liquid conversion technology from him.
Objectively speaking, the success rate of this strategy is indeed not low.
But who knows whether what he pursues is as simple as he says?
So, Chen Nian opened his mouth and said:
"Let's take two routes."
"First try to get technology from several other commercial rocket companies, and I will give you a list of target technologies, including different technical directions for solid-liquid conversion engines."
"Of course, we have to speed up ourselves."
In fact, the "self" Chen Nian refers to is himself.
He knew very well that solid-liquid conversion engine technology was far from being as simple as it seemed. After all, the source point consumption of this thing in the system reached a large number of 500 points.
The original superconducting coil technology only cost him 560 points.
In other words, in the long term, the comprehensive benefits brought by this technology are comparable to those of superconducting coils in nuclear fusion technology.
And a high-yield technology must be difficult to implement.
This was exactly why he didn't decide to solve the problem in the first place.
After the spread of nuclear fusion technology, there are too many future technologies that need to be developed. Although the number of source points accumulated has become larger, it is still not enough compared to the broad future.
Save a little if you can.
But if there is really no other way, you still have to spend the money.
Chen Guo, who was on the opposite side, also saw what he meant. After thinking for a moment, she answered:
"I'll contact you first and see what the other party's feedback is."
"If it really doesn't work, I'll come back to you."
"As for Li Bingzhong, I will allocate the people to them first - maybe they can give us some surprises?"
"Maybe there is no need for you to take action or for us to get other people's technology, and they can solve it themselves?"
"It would be great."
Chen Nian laughed, but behind the smile, he was actually not that optimistic.
There are many major "eureka moments" in the history of human science and technology development, but these major moments basically occurred in the field of theoretical research. Complex systems such as rocket engines and aerospace engines have actually been ruled out in principle. Such an opportunity to "shoot my forehead" and "think about it"——
But since the founding of China, some monsters have always appeared from time to time.
Who can say that Li Bingzhong’s team is not such a monster?
Then let them do it
SpaceX headquarters.
Musk is sitting on the sofa in the office, holding a bottle of iced sports drink in his hand. Compared with the man in a suit and tie opposite him, the distinction between host and guest is particularly obvious.
But in fact, the status of the two people cannot be judged by their appearance alone. During the entire conversation, Musk did not show any of the unruly behavior in front of Nelson.
On the contrary, his attitude was humble, even somewhat respectful.
Because he knew that the man in front of him was not just a business representative of the "R&F Group".
The so-called "Guinea Mutual Development Fund" behind him has long since developed into the world's largest white glove. Backed by CICC, its business covers many fields that Chinese officials cannot or are inconvenient to intervene in. His own SpaceX In the ownership structure, there are actually shareholders who hold shares on their behalf.
Although the proportion is not large, Musk is amazed by this terrifying penetration.
So, when this man found him, he immediately knew that something big was going to happen.
"Mr. Lu, I think you came to me this time not simply as a shareholder to talk to me about SpaceX's future development plans, right?"
"Although it is indeed a big deal for SpaceX to join the return to the moon program, compared with yours, the scale of our project is actually far from that big."
"To be honest, even if you completely ignore us and NASA's actions, I won't be surprised."
"After all, you do have such arrogant capital."
"So I guess you may have more important things to discuss with me?"
"Let's get straight to the point. You know I'm not good at riddles."
Hearing his words, Lu Qing smiled slightly, and then he said:
"I'm just following Chinese people's habits to prepare the ground for what we're going to talk about next. This is a business etiquette."
"Now, I have indeed laid enough groundwork."
"Let's get this straight - Mr. Musk, are you serious about selling Tesla?"
Musk had a "I knew it was so" smile on his face. After a slight pause, he said:
"Yes, I have to sell my Tesla to ensure the cash flow for my return to the moon program."
"NASA is already extremely short of funds. This is no secret. If you want this program to continue, you must seek external transfusions."
"And it just so happens that Tesla is the best blood bank."
"To be honest, I am also very sad about this matter. After all, it is a company I have high hopes for. However, I have no other choice, right?"
Musk intentionally didn't say anything clearly. He had already guessed Lu Qing's purpose of coming here, so he didn't intend to speak proactively.
In such negotiations, whoever speaks first will be at a natural disadvantage.
Logically speaking, Lu Qing is more urgent than himself, so he should take the initiative.
And the facts were not what he expected. After hearing Musk's words, Lu Qing immediately answered:
"Maybe we have another way - all you need is funding, and we can provide it."
"Of course you can."
Musk sighed in embarrassment and continued:
"But there's a key paradox in this matter - you definitely don't want SpaceX to be involved in returning to the moon, do you?"
"No."
Lu Qing shook his head and replied:
"We don't care."
"Whether it is NASA, SpaceX, or any other organization or institution such as blue origin or ULA, if you want to go to the moon, we will not object."
"We will even provide you with some support."
"After all, the moon cannot be fully developed by one country, and the universe cannot be fully explored by one country. We all hope that humans can go further, don't we?"
"Yes, but in this sentence, maybe only the first sentence 'don't care' is true, right?"
As soon as Musk said these words, the two looked at each other and smiled in tacit understanding. After a brief pause, Lu Qing continued:
"Okay. Anyway, that's the answer to the question."
"Now, let's get down to business."
"We are willing to provide conditions so that you can keep Tesla and have enough funds to participate in the return to the moon program."
"But the premise is that SpaceX must exchange some of its things with us."
"Rocket recovery technology?"
Musk asked.
This is the answer that he has already known clearly in his mind - in fact, this is also the biggest bargaining chip in SpaceX's hands.
Everyone wants this technology, and the so-called "Guinea Joint Development Fund" is certainly no exception.
Is this the purpose of Lu Qing coming here? ——
But what he didn't expect was that Lu Qing gave a completely different answer.
"No, we don't need rocket recovery technology."
"What we want is solid-liquid conversion engine technology."
As soon as he finished speaking, a flash of lightning seemed to flash in Musk's mind.
Solid-liquid conversion engine?
Yes, this is what they should develop most!
Because they have the best solid fuel in the world in their hands!
Total nitrogen anion salt, metallic hydrogen.
If solid-liquid conversion of these two fuels can be achieved, what is rocket recycling?
They can just fire one rocket after another. After all, the payload that can be sent into space at once may be ten times or even more than ten times that of the current rocket.
I never expected that this relatively marginal one among SpaceX’s many research directions would actually become the key to the era of the big universe.
Thinking of this, Musk immediately became interested.
"Are you going to build a heavy-duty next-generation rocket?"
"Do I still need to ask?"
Lu Qing asked rhetorically.
There is really no need to ask, and even this cannot be a secret at all. There are only a few development directions for heavy-lift rockets. As long as you are a practitioner, can you guess China's next plan?
Musk sighed softly. He vaguely felt that in the field of aerospace technology, the ambitions of the Chinese people seemed to be greater than his own.
"Okay. Then we have to have a good chat."
"There are rare things to live in, I think you understand that."
"So, you must give me a condition that is enough to convince me."
"I can't give you an offer that will convince you - but I can give you an offer you can't refuse."
Lu Qing replied calmly.
"How do you understand?"
"It's simple, we can give you a chance to keep both Tesla and SpaceX alive."
"Even if the plan to return to the moon fails, you can still survive."
"One day, you're going to replace NASA - you know what I mean?"
Musk's expression became serious.
Thinking of the large-scale mergers and acquisitions during this period, he has actually seen the shadow of the future.
It seemed that he really couldn't refuse this condition.
He sighed, thought for a moment, and then said:
"Okay. I really don't have a better choice."
"But... what kind of technology do you want? You know, even solid-liquid conversion engines actually have different directions."
"LITV technology."
Lu Qing replied without hesitation.
"LITV? Liquid-infused solid technology?"
There was a hint of subtle cunning in Musk's eyes.
Someone actually wants LITV?
Yes, this is indeed the most promising direction at present.
But the problem is that in SpaceX’s preliminary research, he has discovered serious problems in this direction.
This technology is not as good as it seems at all, and it can even be said that it is a useless technology.
Using such technology, can we actually gain a chance of survival?
What a deal.
It seems that his opponents have not realized the mistake they made and he must seize this opportunity.
Not just for SpaceX, but more for the United States.
If we can really induce them to choose the LITV route, even if they sacrifice Tesla, it will actually be worth it.
(End of chapter)
