Minke's black technology

Chapter 268 The True Cost
That night, the earth cannon base was brightly lit all night, and countless engineers were busy at their respective posts, and they were all preparing for the first launch of the cannon.

Li Maoye did not go to the hotel to stay, but returned to his special plane for one night. During this period, Musk asked him out for a drink, but he thought it was too late, and Xiaoju needed someone to accompany him, so he did not agree to the appointment.

"It must be to talk about work, let him talk to Zhou Lin!"

Li Maoye can judge the other party’s intentions without using the system. Now that the launch of the electromagnetic orbital cannon is imminent, if Musk can take the opportunity to win a cheap launch contract agreement, it can save SpaceX hundreds of millions of launch costs.

Since this is the first launch test, it is basically charged more than the cost, and it will not make much money to launch more than 100 satellites into the sky.

Academician Ma is not an administrative and marketing talent like Zhou Lin. He may not be able to deal with a cunning guy like Musk. Being able to use the first test as a launch order can be regarded as a lot of money for the project.

According to the contract signed with Musk, if the launch fails this time, Meow Star Group does not need to compensate any losses caused by it, but will charge half of the launch fee.

If the first launch is successful, then the cost of each successful launch will be adjusted upwards. After ten successful launches, the cost of the launch is basically close to the cost of SpaceX’s own rockets to transport satellites into space.

That is, for the tenth launch, Musk had to pay a price of US$3000 per kilogram, which he could not accept, so he very much asked that the satellite be launched before the eighth launch.

If you pay at the price of 3000 US dollars after ten times, if you are stuck at this price, it will indeed make it difficult for Musk to make a choice. Although his own SpaceX company can achieve this launch cost, if the risk factor and time cost are taken into account, then It is still convenient and quick to choose to use the [Earth Cannon] to launch.

That's why Musk wants to ask Li Maoye to go out, and then through the communication between the bosses of both parties, he can win a relatively low launch price in one fell swoop. To block.

Huayao also has a plan similar to the Starlink satellite system, and has launched some satellites into the sky in recent years, forming an experimental network, which will soon join the market to form a competitive relationship with Musk's company.

In addition, the space agency will also have a large number of launch needs. Whether it is the delivery of materials to the space station or the auxiliary projects of the moon landing plan, it needs [Earth Cannon], a cheap, safe and stable channel for mass transportation to the sky.

It's a pity that Li Maoye didn't give him any chance, and then refused with an incredible reason.

"What? He wants to accompany his cat, so he doesn't come to the appointment?" Musk stared at the assistant secretary, wanting to growl and curse a few words, but considering that he was still asking for someone else's territory, so that The anger suddenly turned into a long sigh.

"Forget it, I will talk about it later when I have a chance." Musk waved his hand to let the assistant secretary go down, trying to calm down by himself.

Just a dozen hours passed quickly, and the weather at the base was very good in the morning.

The sky on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is so blue that there are hardly any clouds to cover it. It seems that a large pure blue glass cover is upside down on the top of the crowd, making people mistakenly think that they are so close to the sky that they can touch it with their hands.

There was still no abnormality in this inspection. The electromagnetic orbit and launch system were normal. When Li Maoye and others came to the control center, the launch preparations had been completed, and the launch program countdown was started after the command of the center gave an order.

However, the launch order has not been issued for a long time, and it seems that the originally planned launch time has not yet arrived. According to the original plan, the launch was at 10:9 in the morning, but now it is only around [-]:[-], and there is still more than an hour left.

"Since we are all ready for the launch, let's start right away!" Li Maoye didn't talk nonsense, and directly let the control center enter the launch stage, without waiting any longer.

"But there are still people who are not here..." the person in charge of the control center said.

It turned out that CCTV had a program that wanted to film the launch process. They were supposed to arrive at the base yesterday as planned, but they were delayed by other things, and they didn't arrive at the airport until after one o'clock in the morning.

However, if the launch is carried out according to the original plan, they still have time, so the program team is still preparing to set off in the welcome hotel.

"No need to wait, prepare to launch now!" Academician Ma ordered.

Although it was more than an hour earlier than the original plan, the launch phase could actually be entered early, so after the launch order from the control center was issued, all departments immediately entered the working state.

During this period of time, the program team did not arrive, and the electromagnetic rocket was launched from the two-kilometer-long electromagnetic orbit at once after the orbit was charged and powered up, and it took more than ten seconds to pass from the direction of the snow mountain. There was a loud rumbling noise, and the impact of the electromagnetic rocket piercing through the air caused snow waves on the mountain, almost causing an avalanche on the mountain.

"Fortunately, we cleared the snow on both sides of the track in advance, otherwise there would really be a big avalanche!" Academician Ma smiled to the people beside him. In fact, this possibility has been simulated by computer, which basically eliminated it. This possibility, on the contrary, will use snow to help the electromagnetic track cool down and speed up the launch frequency of electromagnetic rockets.

The electromagnetic rocket was the fastest at the moment when it flew out of orbit, and the shock wave generated at that time was also the strongest. People could even clearly see huge air waves forming on the mountain, blowing the snow on both sides of the orbit very far.

Although the theoretical minimum speed for launching a rocket into the sky is about 7.9 kilometers per second, in fact, due to the existence of the atmosphere, it must be greater than this speed to truly reach the lowest orbit around the earth.

The specific speed needs to be determined according to the actual carrying weight and the position of the space orbit. This has to be calculated by a computer, and finally controlled precisely through the electromagnetic orbital launch system. As for whether the theoretical accuracy can be achieved, everyone is still unclear. Have to see the results of the first launch to be sure.

The moment of the successful launch of the electromagnetic rocket was repeatedly played on the large screen in the control center. It was shot by high-speed cameras installed on both sides of the track. Even if dozens of cameras were shooting together, the distance of two kilometers still could not take many pictures. .

In addition, the control center has been tracking and recording the electromagnetic rocket to see if it is flying according to the established route. At present, human beings are very advanced in ballistic trajectory calculation and can do very accurate calculations, so basically there is no problem with this distance.

"The electromagnetic rocket has risen to an altitude of 550 kilometers, and the launch can basically be considered a success!" The person in charge of the control center shouted.

This is equivalent to announcing that the first test of the [Earth Cannon] was successful. The next step is to see if the control system of the electromagnetic rocket is working normally. According to the plan, it will send the satellite into the correct space orbit at the specified altitude.

Everyone stood up, cheered and applauded, worked hard for more than hundreds of days, and finally achieved the set goal, and it was not in vain.

Academician Ma, Musk and others also congratulated each other. Academician Ma said with a smile that the stock price of SpaceX would definitely skyrocket. If only he had bought some stocks in advance, he would definitely be able to make a fortune.

Musk waved his hands again and again: "If it wants to go up, the stock price of the unicorn company in the hands of Meow Star Group will go up. How can it be SpaceX's turn!"

Then he directly asked Academician Ma when he could continue to launch the remaining satellites into the sky. If possible, he hoped to watch them go into orbit with his own eyes.

"Don't worry! When we check the electromagnetic orbit, we will arrange the launch!" Academician Ma replied.

Li Maoye didn't want to accompany them to watch the next launch. According to his judgment, the [Earth Cannon] electromagnetic orbit will definitely be able to send all the remaining satellites into the sky today. As long as the base reserves sufficient energy, there will be no problem.

Judging from the current situation, the electricity supplied by a hydropower station must be far from enough. In the future, we must find a way to supplement energy. Today, more than 100 satellites are sent to the sky, and I am afraid that the electricity stored in the power station for several months will be used up. Finish.

When he left the control center and planned to return to Pengcheng by special plane, the data in the control center was always synchronized with Feitianmao. People on the special plane could watch the launch site through the screen in the lobby, and there was also a screen dedicated to displaying the video sent back by the rocket. .

During the lift-off process of the electromagnetic rocket, its altitude keeps rising, but its speed gradually decreases. When it finally reaches the predetermined target orbit, its speed is basically close to zero.

At this time, the control system on the electromagnetic rocket will automatically eject the satellite, not only allowing the satellite to fly in the space orbit as designed, but also allowing the rocket to obtain a recoil force and return to the atmosphere.

The next step is the recovery of the electromagnetic rocket. Even if the recovery fails, it will not affect the overall situation, because there are more than ten such rockets in reserve, and after each launch, the staff can pull other rockets to orbit for preparation.

The cost is reduced by recycling rockets. According to Li Maoye’s understanding, the actual launch cost is lower than the 3000 RMB per kilogram that was said to the outside world, because this price is calculated according to the market price. However, many parts of the electromagnetic orbit and the rocket are meow. Star Group produces itself.

Generally speaking, the cost of things that can be produced by oneself will be very low, but in order to be able to keep up with high prices, Zhou Lin calculates these things according to the market price.

"The real cost is only about one-third of the surface, which is the launch cost of 1000 RMB per kilogram. In fact, this launch still made Meow a lot of money!"

When Li Maoye was estimating the cost, Assistant Xie suddenly came over and said that Yuhangtu also wanted to return to Pengcheng together.

Originally, according to the plan, they stayed at the control center of the launch base with others, and returned to the space agency to submit a report after all the satellites were in the sky, but for some reason, the schedule was suddenly changed.

(End of this chapter)