The bidding meeting is over.

After Lu Zhou, many research institutes and aerospace companies that have worked closely with national defense units have shown their technology on the PPT, although there are many of them that are more exaggerated than the concept map on the PPT that Lu Zhou took out, but everyone seems to be unwilling to complain.

In this way, in this strange atmosphere, the bidding conference came to an end.

After the meeting, Lu Zhou returned to the hotel, took a shower, and made a phone call in turn according to the business cards collected some time ago, and finally called the senior sister and told him about the gambling contract with Academician Yuan at the bidding meeting.

Strictly speaking, this is not a bet with Academician Yuan, after all, it is not interesting to bet with a chief engineer, even if he wins the aerospace group, it is not up to him to have the final say.

Instead, it is a verbal agreement with the nature of a VAM.

That is, the bidding scheme for the delivery of 50 tons of load in low earth orbit will be tendered with "finished product" instead of bidding documents. Or, to put it another way, whoever proves that he has the ability to deliver a 50-ton load into low Earth orbit will win the project without overbidding the other side too much.

And this funding will probably be between 90-12 billion RMB.

Although it was only a verbal agreement, it was recognized by the leaders of the Bureau of Science and Industry and the top leaders of the Aerospace Group, and was written into the minutes of the meeting, which in a sense can be regarded as having a certain enforcement effect.

After all, putting aside the bet made in front of so many peers, if the electric propulsion system of Star Technology can really be as advanced as shown on the PPT, there is no reason for the Bureau of Science and Industry not to pay for this technology.

And whoever wins from this competition, the bidder will not lose.

Of course, for Star Technology, in the face of aerospace giants like Aerospace Group, the pressure to participate in this competition is still not small. In the case that the 500-ton liquid oxygen kerosene engine has been basically developed, if they are ruthless in doing it, they may not be able to build the Long March 9 that is still on the blueprint in advance.

But even so, Lu Zhou still has a lot of chances to win.

Now that the technology for the miniaturization of the Hall propulsion unit and the controllable fusion device has been completed, and the design of the space shuttle has entered the final stage, as long as the funding can keep up, he believes that Xiao Ai's performance and the industrial equipment that he has bought with great difficulty will live up to his expectations.

However......

After he finished telling his senior sister the whole story, he was inevitably counted.

"Why didn't you tell me about this kind of thing in advance?"

Lu Zhou sighed and said: "At that time, I couldn't make a phone call at the meeting site, and even the communication equipment was handed in, I just wanted to inform you, and I had to have a way to tell you, right?" ”

Sitting on the office chair, Chen Yushan said with a headache: "Your decision is too hasty...... Do you know what that means to us? ”

Although the development prospects of Star Technology are very good, as an enterprise focusing on R&D, it is still a little inferior to a giant like Aerospace Group. Especially in the field of aerospace, this competition is not a heavyweight opponent at all.

Aside from technical reserves and industrial capacity, in terms of launch experience alone, the aerospace group is enough to compare with Star Technology.

Otherwise, why did other companies basically give up bidding for this project as soon as this so-called "VAM agreement" came out? Instead, the focus is on bidding for items like lunar modules, astronaut life support equipment, and so on?

Because in terms of low-earth orbit delivery capacity, no company has the confidence to defeat the "500-ton liquid oxygen kerosene engine", let alone the "Chang 9".

This is the confidence of the old aerospace group!

The index finger tapped lightly on the arm of the chair, and after listening to the senior sister's complaint, Lu Zhou's expression continued without any change: "But this is the best way, if it is a normal bid, it will be difficult for us to win against them unless we put the bid very low." ”

In fact, it is needless to say that it is difficult, but there is no hope at all.

Judging by the situation at the time, the vast majority of experts and scholars in the field of astronautics did not believe that he could do it.

And most importantly, the Bureau of Science and Industry's interest in his electric propulsion system is obviously less than one-tenth of the interest in small controllable fusion devices......

Sighing, Chen Yushan couldn't help but hold her forehead and said: "The best way is to give up this bid, if you must build this space shuttle...... We can also start with a few small launch missions and then consider participating in such a project. ”

From a CEO's point of view, this is the most appropriate approach.

A project where the benefits are not proportional to the risks is completely unnecessary.

In fact, being able to hatch such a small controllable fusion reactor as a god-defying thing is not a loss in itself.

When the Naval Equipment Research Institute completes the improvement of the technology of the controllable fusion device on the ship, a large number of military enterprises will pay for the technology in their hands. Although the income from national defense patents is limited, there is no problem in earning back the research funds invested in the early stage.

It's just that Chen Yushan's worries are on the other side.

After listening to Lu Zhou's confident explanation, she sighed and said with a headache: "Which bank will approve a loan of seven or eight billion yuan for this kind of project!" Unless you're going to reduce your stake in BEA Power, you won't be able to scrape together that much money. ”

"Hmm...... I've already solved the money thing, so you don't have to worry about that. ”

"I'll just say, there's no money — wait, what?" Coming back to her senses in an instant, Chen Yushan was stunned for about two or three seconds, and asked in a tone of disbelief, "Solution, solved?" ”

"Well," Lu Zhou nodded, "Ahri Group is willing to give a part...... in the form of investments. ”

Although accepting this investment means that after the completion of the project, Ahri will share a certain proportion of the funds settled by the Bureau of Science and Industry while recovering the investment cost, but Lu Zhou himself does not care much about how much profit he can make in this launch project, so it doesn't matter.

After all, compared to the wider world beyond Earth, this ticket to the moon is not even a small profit.

There was silence on the other end of the phone for about half a minute.

After a long while, a sentence popped up.

"Are they crazy......"

"Maybe," Lu Zhou shrugged his shoulders and said in a joking tone, "but I think they still seem quite confident that we can win this 'gamble', so I think you can be a little more confident in me." ”

In fact, it is impossible to lose money, even if Star Technology loses this bet by taking 10,000 steps back, they will not lose very badly.

After all, as early as the beginning of the year, the state announced three policies to support the aerospace industry, which stipulated investment in the aerospace field. Funds invested in space projects can enjoy tax deductions for the same amount of turnover in other businesses.

Seeing that Lu Zhou still had no intention of changing his mind, Chen Yushan stopped persuading and sighed.

"Well, since you've said so, I won't advise you anymore. In short, I will help you save as much as possible...... Support your project to keep going without compromising the quality and schedule of your project. ”

Lu Zhou smiled and nodded.

"Well, please."

.。 m.