North Las Vegas.

As the name suggests, the city is north of Las Vegas, and it is only discovered by driving out, to be exact, north-east.

Because they were not on the invitation list, Qi Sanshu and his wife stayed in Las Vegas, and there were only three people in the car: Zhu Zhichun, Meng Yinyun and Bian Xuedao.

The three of them rode in an extended Hummer, and early in the morning, Bigelow sent someone to drive to Las Vegas to pick them up and treat them as VIPs.

There's a reason Bigelow is so courteous.

According to the agreement, this time Zhu Zhichun and Bian Xuedao will make additional investments.

Ma Chengde's $100 million investment "three-step" policy is currently in the second step. If there are no surprises, the second $30 million investment from Triumph Skyrim Investment in Bigelow-Aerospace will be confirmed.

Of course, the money should be well treated.

The Hummer navigated the Nevada desert, where the desert was bright and cool in the early morning, and the air was incredibly fresh. White clouds drift on the top of a high mountain in the distance, and a road billboard appears in view, showing a yellow hexagonal artifact orbiting a blue terrestrial planet, with the printed capital letters underneath the image: BELIEVE.

The car was spacious, Meng Yinyun, who didn't sleep well last night, was lying on a chair napping, and Zhu Zhichun, who was wearing sunglasses and chewing gum, suddenly asked Bian Xuedao: "Where did you go last night?"

Bian Xuedao said: "I didn't go anywhere!"

Zhu Zhichun said: "I looked for you with Lao Qi and didn't find it." ”

Bian Xuedao said: "I lost quickly, and when I saw that you were still on the rise, I went out and walked around by myself." ”

Zhu Zhichun looked at Bian Xue with a smile and said, "Really?"

Bian Xuedao said: "Why did you lie to you?"

Zhu Zhichun asked: "The casino is frustrated and proud, and you haven't encountered any sexual encounters or anything?"

Bian Xuedao smiled and said, "I think so." ”

Zhu Zhichun pointed to Bian Xuedao and said, "The mouth is not right." ”

As he spoke, a yellow Lamborghini roadster "swooped" past the Humvee and ran a long way in just a few seconds.

Looking at the yellow car shadow in the distance, Zhu Zhichun said sincerely: "I'm old, I think I didn't race on such a highway with people back then." ”

Zhu Zhichun said with infinite emotion, but Bian Xuedao didn't listen to it, because he found that the yellow Lamborghini that he had just driven was the one that the woman drove last night.

Zhu Zhichun is remembering, and Bian Xuedao is reminiscing.

Recalling the woman who drank with him last night, he learned how crazy that woman was driving last night.

Or Zhu Zhichun spoke first: "Seriously, are you optimistic about this 'space hotel' project that Bigelow is tinkering with?"

Bian Xuedao, who turned back to his senses, glanced at Zhu Zhichun, then looked at the desert outside the car window and said, "Since human beings can build a miracle city like Las Vegas in the desert, they can also build a sky city in space." ”

Zhu Zhichun hesitated and said, "This is different, right?"

Bian Xuedao said: "It's not different, it's just a matter of time." ”

Zhu Zhichun said: "But I always feel that the Bigelow project is a bit unreliable. ”

Bian Xuedao said: "If you can see the benefits at a glance, there are so many rich people in the United States, and they don't know how to spend the money, and Old Man Bi will go all the way to find us to attract investment?"

Hearing Bian Xuedao call Bigelow "Old Man Bi", Zhu Zhichun was speechless for a few seconds and said, "I'm afraid that this money will be wasted in the end." ”

Bian Xuedao looked at Zhu Zhichun and said curiously, "Hey, you also worry about money?"

Zhu Zhichun glanced at Meng Yinyun, who was asleep, and said softly: "Grandpa is gone, many things have become a mess, and many people only care about their immediate benefits, counting and fighting. This time, the 30 million US dollars was paid by Uncle Ma in the name of the promise made by my grandfather before his death, and before I came out, several elders in the family repeatedly asked me about the situation of Triumph Skyrim, and I felt that I had swallowed the money. ”

Bian Xuedao said: "That's it, I'll give out the remaining $50 million." ”

Zhu Zhichun waved his hand and said, "You don't need to come out." I'm not crying poor with you, this money is from my grandfather's personal fund before his death, and my grandfather made arrangements for every money in the fund before he died, and this 80 million has a name, no matter how strange others say, they can't take away this money. ”

Bian Xuedao said: "No, I will pay the remaining 50 million US dollars, so it is decided." ”

Zhu Zhichun thought for a while and said, "If you have more money, I will invest the $50 million I saved in Pahim Airport City." ”

Bian Xuedao shrugged his shoulders and said, "Whatever you want, it's all the assets of Triumph Skyrim anyway." ”

There was silence in the car for a while, and Zhu Zhichun asked Bian Xuedao again: "Are you really optimistic about the 'Space Hotel'?"

Nice?

Are you really optimistic?

Bian Xuedao asked himself in his heart.

Soon he had the answer - the project was promising!

It is now the end of June 2008, and in November, just over four months later, Barack Obama will be officially elected President of the United States.

Bian Xuedao, a news reviewer who returned from 2014, knew that soon after taking office, Oyama would pursue his "new ideas for space": encouraging private companies to build spacecraft and allowing private companies to mine in space.

Under the command of this "new way of thinking in space," the US space shuttle group will be collectively retired in 2011, after which the US Government will contribute money to support a number of private space enterprises that are committed to developing manned spacecraft, and then select enterprises with excellent technology and reasonable prices from these private space enterprises to serve as the US government's "space buses" and rent their spacecraft to send people and materials into space.

Knowing this information, you will understand what the future trend is.

Once the "space taxi" technology matures, the "space hotel" will naturally not be lonely.

Of course, this reason can't be said to Zhu Zhichun, so Bian Xuedao thought of an equally "reasonable" statement.

Bian Xuedao looked at Zhu Zhichun and said, "You know that there is an economic crisis right now, right?"

Zhu Zhichun nodded.

"The global financial crisis was triggered by the subprime mortgage crisis, and the epicenter of the subprime mortgage crisis is in the United States, and the economic blow suffered by the United States can be imagined. I've read some reports that the U.S. government deficit totaled about $160 billion in 2007, and the U.S. government deficit should be around $450 billion this year......"

Listening to Bian Xuedao, he inexplicably talked about the U.S. government fiscal deficit, and he also said it head-to-head, Zhu Zhichun was surprised.

Bian Xuedao continued: "The economic crisis, this year is only Xiaohe's sharp corners, and next year, the year after next and the year after tomorrow are the years of the worst disasters. I've consulted a few economists and the U.S. government's fiscal deficit will be around $1.5 trillion next year, and the year after that. ”

Just when Zhu Zhichun couldn't help but ask a question, Bian Xuedao changed his words: "The main force of the United States to transport astronauts, supplies and accessories to the International Space Station is the space shuttle. At the time of design, the Americans optimistically estimated that the space shuttle would cost no more than $6 million per launch. As a result, each flight costs up to $500 million, and a lot of time-consuming and laborious overhauls are required upon return. Not only that, two of the five space shuttles of the United States have been bombed, and two of them have seriously exceeded their time limits, and all kinds of hidden dangers continue to occur, and in addition, the United States is speeding up its in-depth exploration activities in space, and the space shuttles are no longer useful. ”

Zhu Zhichun blinked his eyes and tried to digest Bian Xuedao's words.

Bian Xuedao looked at Zhu Zhichun and said in an inducing tone: "The government's financial deficit is high, and it costs $500 million to send some potatoes, chicken nuggets, ketchup, and tomato sauce to space, what would you do if you were the president of the United States?"

Zhu Zhichun's eyes straightened, and he asked in a low voice, "Pick up all the people on the space station?"

Bian Xuedao rolled his eyes, gave up his seductive posture, and said directly: "Encourage private companies to manufacture, launch, and operate space vehicles for NASA, in other words, NASA will no longer build spacecraft for astronauts to travel between the earth and space, but will instead use the leasing method." ”

Zhu Zhichun shook his head in disbelief and said, "How is it possible? Who can afford such a big project except the government?"

Bian Xuedao said: "Nothing is impossible. When airplanes first appeared, most of them were controlled by the military, and later the government issued operating permits and implemented supervision, and passengers could take private planes to travel on business, and civil aviation appeared. In a few years, the government can also issue space operation permits and implement supervision in the same way, and astronauts can fly off Earth on private spacecraft to carry out missions. ”

Zhu Zhichun said: "How can private enterprises have such strong technical strength?"

Bian Xuedao said: "Small workshops are definitely not good, but the United States has old space giants such as Boeing and Lockheed Martin, as well as rookies such as SpaceX, the American space exploration technology company." SpaceX is a space transportation company established in 2002, and as far as I know, just recently, SpaceX was officially awarded a contract from NASA. ”

Zhu Zhichun stared at Bian Xuedao and asked curiously, "How do you know so much about this?"

Bian Xuedao threw out the rhetoric that he had thought of a long time ago: "Big brother, I am going to invest 100 million US dollars in the project, of course I have to do my homework." ”

Zhu Zhichun asked, "So what?"

Bian Xuedao said: "As I just said, astronauts can fly out of the earth on private spacecraft to carry out missions, and rich people can also fly out of the earth on private spacecraft to get married, celebrate the New Year or have a honeymoon." But you can't send everyone to the International Space Station, not to mention the secrets, there is not enough space, and when the time comes, this space hotel will have business. ”

When talking to Zhu Zhichun, Bian Xuedao's mind suddenly jumped out of a movie he had seen in his previous life - "Elysium".

……

……

It's in place.

The Bigelow-Aerospace in front of you is an office building and a tall warehouse, and the exterior walls of the office building and the warehouse are sprayed with black Bigelow-Aerospace lettering.

Seeing the extended Hummer stop, the greeter walked over quickly, and the security guard behind the greeter saw it, picked up the walkie-talkie and reported to the person in charge.

Soon, Bigelow walked out of the office building and personally greeted Zhu Zhichun, Meng Yinyun and Bian Xuedao.

Only with strength can you gain respect.

Bigelow has met Zhu Zhichun and Bian Xuedao, and he knows that one of these two people is the next heir of the Zhu chaebol, and the other is the richest man of the young generation in China, and if he can get the support of these two people, the success rate of his "first private space station in the solar system" will increase greatly.

After a brief greeting, Bigelow led the three of them into the big warehouse.

The annual press conference will be held here, and the conference will be followed by a cocktail party.

The launch event in the warehouse was already crowded, most notably a prototype of an Olympus inflatable boat and a capsule larger than the entire International Space Station.

There was music playing at the scene, Meng Yinyun listened to it for a while, and said to Zhu Zhichun and Bian Xuedao: "It's Van Morrison's "Moondance". ”

Moondance？

Moon Palace Dance?

Bian Xuedao thought to himself: The song that this old man Bi is looking for is very appropriate!

More than 10 minutes later, the press conference began.

The gray-haired, bearded, calm-faced "space cowboy" began his speech: "Two years ago, someone laughed at our plan, and now no one laughs at it anymore. ”

Bigelow, who shook his body slightly behind the podium, continued: "The company's two capsules, Genesis I and Genesis II, have been launched and are well inflated. As a next step, my R&D team and I will focus on a new large inflatable capsule, which we will call the BEAM capsule. The capsule can dock with the International Space Station, as well as with other smaller space stations, transport lunar landing vehicles or orbiters, and serve as a hotel in low Earth orbit. Here I can tell you that for this project, the company has signed a $20 million order with NASA. ”

Hearing this, Zhu Zhichun turned his head and glanced at Bian Xuedao, his eyes were full of surprise.

The presentation continued: "The first private space station will be launched in 2012 and the second, larger private space station will be launched in 2015, both of which can carry 36 people at a time, with a total capacity of six times the capacity of the current ISS. In the next 10 years, we plan to buy 15 to 20 rockets to transport tourists to space starting in 2017...... Our goal is to land an inflatable capsule on the moon in 15-20 years, and build a permanent base that will provide housing for various cooperative projects, scientific research and government activities. ”

Bian Xuedao listened very carefully, and he felt the ambition of Old Man Bi.

Suddenly, Zhu Zhichun, who was beside him, touched his shoulder and whispered in Chinese: "There is a foreign girl in the crowd on the right who has been watching you." ”

Bian Xuedao turned his head blankly: "Huh?"

Meng Yinyun listened, followed Zhu Zhichun's eyes, and said strangely: "Elizabeth Jagger, why is she here?"

Bian Xuedao turned his head to look over and met the woman's gaze.

"I forgot to ask last night, her name is Elizabeth Jagger?"

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(Book friends who play Weibo, please pay attention to "Vulgar Geng Don't Allow" on Sina Weibo, all kinds of fans, messages, and teasing.) ）

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