At this moment, Luo Sheng, who was standing on the podium, was still talking.

"This successful recovery is undoubtedly a further proof that 'significantly reducing the cost of rocket launch through multiple recycling' is a practical solution, and 'rocket recycling' is a concept first proposed by Elon Musk in an interview in 2013, and he is undoubtedly a great pioneer in the world space field."

"Prior to this, almost all space rockets, including SpaceX, were disposable. Once the mission is completed, it becomes a pile of scrap metal and space junk, and even the reusable 'Endeavour' space shuttle has proved to be basically worthless because it is too time-consuming to repair and cost money. ”

Some domestic media people on the scene smiled heartily, secretly saying that Luo Sheng would really come to something, and he would not suffer at all, and at this time he also took the initiative to mention Elon Musk, which sounded like they were praising each other in business, but in fact, they were responding to people, and anyone with a discerning eye could understand it.

Because yesterday Musk's rocket blew up, and Star Arrow just succeeded and made history.

This is also a daily series of open and secret battles between the bigwigs, and no one thinks that Luo Sheng is not authentic, if you want to say that it is not authentic, Elon Musk is not authentic first, and the sudden announcement of an early launch is not also responding to Luo Sheng.

It's just that in the end, it overturned.

It is worth mentioning that when Elon Musk first made remarks about rocket recycling, he was more criticized by industry insiders.

But now, the traditional commercial rocket launch providers have finally staged a "real fragrance" scene, but not everyone can take this job, many traditional rocket launch service providers in North America have been forced to transform or directly collapse because of SpaceX's orders, and the rest is struggling to maintain.

The rapid rise of Star Arrow International, industry insiders believe that it is foreseeable that as long as Star Arrow International announces that it will undertake launch services, some employers will begin to look for Star Arrow International to order cheaper second-hand rocket launch services.

Among the many private space companies of different sizes established around the world, Blue Origin, SpaceX and Star Arrow International are recognized as the three major private space exploration giants, all of which are in the first echelon of space exploration, while other private space companies such as Sierra Nevada and Orbital Science are far inferior to these three, and these three space companies have their own positioning.

Blue Origin was founded at the earliest, in 2000, Jeff Bezos hopes that Blue Origin can create space tourism, so the company's recyclable rockets are only responsible for low earth orbit, Blue Origin is undoubtedly Bezos's own son, and the money he earned from Amazon, the cash is basically smashed on this company.

SpaceX was founded by Elon Musk in 2002, and the biggest ideal is to immigrate to Mars.

The Falcon series rocket was developed at a cost of only $500 million, but it was also favored by NASA, which not only provided technical support, but also gave an order of up to $2.6 billion for the launch of the International Space Station.

Overall, though, SpaceX's funding utilization rate is really high, and hardly a penny is wasted.

In contrast, Luo Sheng is not an ordinary "loser", Star Arrow International was established almost ten years later than its competitors, and the R&D investment of the Star Arrow project has reached more than 6 billion US dollars so far, almost 12 times that of the Falcon series rockets.

And you have to add money to look at this posture.

But if you analyze carefully, you will find that Luo Sheng must be willing to give up, and he must be such a "loser", there is no way, because he started late, and the tuition fees that should be paid will be made up after all.

Star Arrow International really has nothing but money.

The current technical reserves are all conjured up through Luo Sheng's "money ability".

Star Arrow International's positioning is the resources of the whole solar system, although it was established the latest, but the dream, pattern and ambition are indeed the largest among the three companies, and it is also the most difficult to achieve, including the ultimate goal of building a space ladder is for the resources of the solar system, and even resources outside the solar system.

It's all about imagining the future, and the possibilities are endless.

At the media conference, Luo Sheng continued to speak: "At present, the launch cost of the Star Arrow heavy rocket is about 70 million US dollars, although this quotation is relatively low compared to other rocket launch companies, but the application of recyclable technology can save the launch cost by 35%, about 24.5 million US dollars, excluding exchange rate changes of about 170 million yuan. ”

"170 million, this cost is not a small amount for any company, and, with the increase in the number of launches, the final cost should be lower."

SpaceX's current launch cost can save about 30% compared with traditional rocket launches, about more than 18 million US dollars, while Star Arrow can save more than 24 million US dollars, and its competitiveness is obviously higher than that of SpaceX.

In fact, Luo Sheng is not talking about these things at the moment, and with the gradual improvement and maturity of the technology, it is time to consider commercialization.

The company has been unable to make ends meet, although Luo Sheng has no pressure to bear R&D expenses, but if Star Arrow International cannot bear its own profits and losses, it will be unhealthy after all.

Besides, if you don't make money, it's not a brain problem, and money can't be earned by Elon Musk alone.

Luo Sheng continued: "...... However, it is still the same sentence, today is only a success, which does not mean that the technology of second-hand rocket recycling and reuse has matured, and there is still a long way to go. ”

"In addition, in view of the fact that the second-hand rocket launched this time only recycled the first-stage booster and the first-stage part of the core that was previously equipped with a rocket engine, many key navigation and guidance control equipment are in the second-stage rocket, and the second-stage rocket has been put into orbit, which is more difficult to recover, but it also shows that there is still huge room for improvement and further significant reduction in launch costs for the Star Arrow heavy rocket."

Obviously, only 30% of the launch cost is a figure that Star Arrow International is not satisfied with, and Luo Sheng is not satisfied, once the second stage rocket can also be recovered, it can further save about 40% of the launch cost.

Luo Sheng added: "...... All of this is in the planning and control of Star Arrow International, as we are likely to see the first test flight of the fully recyclable rocket, the ultimate upgraded version of Star Arrow, the Star Arrow 17E, by the end of this year, when we will also officially include the fairing recycling in our plans. ”

As soon as these words came out, the media at the scene couldn't help but applaud again.

"Why do we include fairings in the recycling list? This seemingly ordinary shell actually cost as much as 45 million yuan, accounting for 10% of the overall cost of the rocket. ”

Speaking of this, Luo Sheng added jokingly: "It's not easy, but this is picking up money, if it's hard to even pick up money, then what's the point?" ”

"Haha~"

The media reporters at the scene and the melon-eating netizens who watched the live broadcast all laughed, but they were speechless to refute.

However, this money is not something that ordinary people can pick up.

Rocket launch, the down-to-earth point is space express, in fact, it is just for delivery, and the fairing is the express packaging box, which is the expensive goods, and the professional point is called "payload", and the goods are satellites and the like.

And this packaging box is a bit powerful, just imagine that there is a three-stage rocket on the buttocks, high temperature, high heat, high speed, and strong air flow impact in the atmosphere, and it is the basic requirement that it is not broken, and at the same time, the temperature and humidity inside the fairing must be adjusted.

It is filled with satellites, which are also the most expensive things in the rocket as a whole, and the smoke from the outside atmosphere will not come in at all, and the fairing must be as thin as possible, so as to increase the payload.

During launch, the journey from the ground to outer space is subjected to a series of extreme environmental trials, and then it must be able to be accurately opened when it reaches its intended orbit.

There is too much technology involved, and the packaging box of 45 million yuan is not too much, and because it is expensive, it accounts for about 10% of the cost of the rocket, of course, it is necessary to consider recycling.

At this moment, a reporter at the media conference looked at Luo Sheng who was talking eloquently on the podium, and couldn't help but sigh: "If the future journey of mankind is a sea of stars, then Star and Arrow International led by Luo Sheng, SpaceX led by Elon Musk and Blue Origin led by Jeff Bezos are likely to be the forerunners of this journey." ”

Again, people in the domestic media circles are quite excited that among these three pioneers, there is a place for Chinese people.

……

(End of chapter)