Although Wang Yinan issued a declaration on the sea of stars in the era of the universe, he is still far from Musk on the journey towards the space age.

Musk's Hunter rocket has been successfully launched and recovered many times, and the latest Hunter heavy rocket, after decades, once again increased the ability of human beings to deliver goods to space to more than 50 tons, although in the Cold War era, rice and woolly bears have been made like no money to make a big guy with a carrying capacity of more than 100 tons, but after the end of the Cold War and the retirement of the space shuttle, the low-orbit carrying capacity of 20 tons is already a big guy.

Wang Yinan came to Florida this time to see the first launch of the Heavy Hunter, and by the way, to see if he could get something interesting from Musk.

In a lakeside villa on the outskirts of Orlando, Wang Yinan met Musk, this is the first time he has seen this real Iron Man, of course, except that he does not have the omnipotent super energy in his chest, Musk is much more powerful than Tony in the movie, electric cars, super high-speed rail, rockets, and Martian immigrants, to be honest, if I want to choose, I will also feel that this handsome African-born young man is more like the protagonist than Wang Yinan, and has a life like a hanging.

In order to welcome Wang Yinan's arrival, Musk held a small party in his villa, which was attended by Musk's business partners, as well as local celebrities in Orlando, and of course, celebrities, but after all, it was the first time to meet, and Musk did not arrange a pool bikini party for Wang Yinan, mainly because the weather was too cold.

"Professor Wang, you can come to the Humble House, it's really brilliant", as soon as Wang Yinan's borrowed sports car drove to the door, Musk greeted him and gave him a strong hug with open arms.

Throwing the car key to the doorman, Wang Yinan followed Musk up the steps, "Where, where, this time I came mainly to meet Mr. Musk's big guy, I have admired it for a long time",

"Speaking of admiration, I've read your and Professor Li's papers, amazing masterpieces," Musk said.

If he hadn't done his homework before coming and knew that this real-life Iron Man still had a degree in physics from the University of Pennsylvania, Wang Yinan probably thought that this guy was bragging, so professional physics papers are not like saliva, which can be understood by everyone.

"And the G-indescribable theorem", Musk said,

"Incredible, but incomparably profound, worthy of the greatest scientific discovery of this century."

Although Wang Yinan's face has always been thick-skinned, he can't stand such a big bull's naked touting, Wang Yinan's face is a little red, "This is all Mr. Grothendieck's work, I just happened to meet it", Wang Yinan waved his hand again and again,

"It's your SpaceY, which can improve the Merlin rocket engine developed decades ago to today's extent, and it is definitely the top work of modern industrial technology", Wang Yinan hurriedly came to a wave of commercial blowing.

I didn't expect to scratch Musk's pride all of a sudden, "I didn't expect Professor Wang to also have research on rocket technology", Musk said,

"I'm also a layman in this regard, but fortunately I got Tom from NASA", Musk smiled smugly like a weasel who had just eaten the old hen next door, and he took Wang Yinan through the small courtyard in the front hall, which was filled with all kinds of self-service food and drinks, and the big-bellied businessmen and scantily clad young and beautiful models were mixed together to form a unique landscape.

Grabbing a dinner plate and snatching two slices of good Mexican grilled chicken from under the chef with a tall hat, Wang Yinan followed Musk to the pool in the courtyard.

"Tom, this is Professor Wang Yinan from China, and he is also your idol", Musk shouted to a middle-aged uncle who was lying under the sun umbrella and was courteous to the beautiful woman next to him.

"When I was in NASA, I was still in a cold war with the woolly bear, and everyone was going crazy in order to fight for the honor of being the first to fly to the moon", the middle-aged uncle was telling his sister about his heroic deeds back then, "Wait until I'm done, Sally, you don't know how fierce the confrontation was at that time",

"Come on, when you go to NASA, the Apollo program has been over for many years", Musk mercilessly exposed the uncle's lies, "You just look at Apollo in the photos and drawings".

The middle-aged uncle's face looked a little thicker than Wang Yinan's, he turned around and stretched out his hand to Wang Yinan, "Professor Wang, I've admired my name for a long time, my name is Tom, and I'm the chief technology officer of SpaceY."

The girl smiled and ran away, Tom reluctantly watched it for a long time before he came back to his senses, "It seems that the legend is true, SpaceY's Merlin rocket engine, the earliest source of technology is the Apollo moon landing program", Wang Yinan thought in his heart.

"In this way, Mr. Tom should have participated in the work of the lunar return capsule of the Apollo program", Wang Yinan couldn't help but ask,

"That's right, I know what you want to ask, it's not a secret", it shouldn't be the first time to face such a question, Tom nodded,

"As you might guess, the technical source of the Merlin rocket engine is indeed the ascent stage engine of the lunar module",

This time it was Wang Yinan's turn to express his surprise, "The thrust of that engine is very small, and it uses liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen as power", Wang Yinan asked,

This time, without waiting for Tom to answer, Musk couldn't help but complain, "Who said it wasn't, when I first chose the technical solution, because the needle bolt nozzle transmitter used in the lunar return capsule has a simple structure, which looks much less difficult than the high-pressure refueling engine chosen by the hairy bear and rabbit family."

"So we chose this technologically mature engine from the beginning", Musk said,

"But I didn't expect to step into a super big pit."

"It can't be said to be a big pothole, at least our latest Merlin 1D engine, the sea level specific impulse reached 275 seconds", Tom's face didn't look particularly good,

"And the Merlin II, which is about to be put into service, can already achieve the most efficient driving force with the smallest engine weight."

"But the second-generation Merlin doesn't say, even if the Merlin 1C, compared with the original design, is almost a brand new engine", it seems that Musk's resentment is not ordinary, and in front of outsiders, he did not save Tom a little face.

"I'm still quite interested in rocket engine technology", Wang Yinan said, "you also know that my main research area is high-temperature superconductivity".

"Is it possible to apply superconducting technology to rocket engines?" asked Wang Yinan.

Tom shook his head, "We've also discussed this issue specifically."

"But there is a key problem that cannot be solved", Tom said, "Professor Wang, what do you think is the problem?" ”。

Wang Yinan vaguely has an answer in his heart, of course, he himself knows that Musk and Tom's answer should be wrong, because it is impossible for them to know the true cost of Wang Yinan in his laboratory to manufacture superconducting materials.

"It's a cost problem, what SpaceY has done has always been to use the most reasonable technology and the lowest cost to solve the problem, if superconducting materials are used, the cost will immediately become an insurmountable hurdle," Wang Yinan said.

"But I remember that the Hunter rocket can recover the first stage, so the cost problem is not so serious."

Musk shook his head, "Of course, cost is an important issue, and the other problem is that the physical and electrochemical properties of superconducting materials are too uncertain, and it is difficult for us to use them on a large scale in engines."

"So your rockets use a lot of aluminum-magnesium alloys, as well as some other proven and mature materials", Wang Yinan suddenly realized,

"That's right, our basic principle is to use the most mature technology, industrialization and information design and manufacturing methods to improve the yield and reduce costs as much as possible", Musk said proudly.

"Except for some detours in the earliest selection of technical solutions because of lack of experience, so far, we have been quite successful in this direction."

"So our Hunter rockets, including the latest Hunter Heavy rocket, are currently the most reliable and lowest-cost space delivery options for the entire Blue Star."

Wang Yinan shook his head, "You don't seem to have counted Huaguo's Long March series rockets, right?"

"As far as I know, the price of their mature Long March-2 series is no higher than yours, and the carrying capacity of the Long March 5 is no worse than that of the Hunter."

"No No No", Musk immediately retorted, "Huaguo has too many hidden subsidies for its own aerospace companies, and Huaguo's labor costs are much lower than ours, so their prices are so competitive".

"Moreover, the liquid oxygen kerosene engine of the Long March 5 uses the same high-pressure refueling technology as Maozi, and the specific impulse level is at most similar to our Merlin 1C engine, compared to the Merlin 1D, and our latest Merlin 2nd generation engine, which is a lot worse", once compared with competitors, Tom immediately stood on the same position as the boss.

"The Hunter heavy rocket that will be launched still uses the Merlin 1D engine, I wonder if your Merlin II engine is still on the drawings", Wang Yinan still turned on the mockery mode.

"Our second generation of Merlin has already started to test cars", Tom, who was despised by Wang Yinan, immediately retorted, "The entire technical level is far more than the first generation, and it is far more than Maozi's latest RD180, not to mention Huaguo's outdated goods",

Musk also nodded, it seems that he is also more satisfied with the second generation of Merlin, "The latest generation of Merlin engine, with our increasingly mature rocket recovery technology, SapceY will reduce the cost of flying to space to an unimaginable extent",

He waved his hands, as if it was not Wang Yinan standing in front of him, but those damned investors who questioned him, "What is the moon, in twenty years, you will see our Mars base begin to take shape."

"How to say that the needle bolt nozzle is also a technology from decades ago, how can the performance catch up with the latest high-pressure refueling technology", Wang Yinan asked with an ignorant face, and almost on the door of his head, "I read less, don't lie to me".

"High-pressure refueling is an X", Tom scolded triumphantly,

"We have fully simulated the combustion mode and the injection mode of the gas after combustion through the latest artificial intelligence technology, and raised the sea level specific impulse of Merlin II to a whole new level, compared to Merlin Baby, these current engines, including the new generation of heavy-duty engines made by NASA, are shit", Tom almost raised his nostrils to the sky.

Musk coughed twice to stop Tom's boasting, "The Hunter Heavy rocket is expected to be launched tomorrow afternoon, and Professor Wang will go to the launch site with me tomorrow morning."

Wang Yinan nodded, "It's a great honor, when will I have the opportunity to go to Merlin's assembly workshop to have a look."

Although the tone was calm, Wang Yinan's heart set off an uproar, "Different paths to the same end, it seems that he is not the only smart person, SpaceY also thought of using artificial intelligence technology to optimize the combustion method and injection method",

"I don't know who is more advanced in technology than the engine of 116 Institute."

Now, if there is a competitive advantage, it is that 116 does not have the burden of existing investment and production lines, and can be improved to a state of leading enough to freeze the design, unlike SpaceY, which has to make trade-offs in wasting existing investment and technology leadership.

"It seems that the competitors are not weak, it's time to fight hard again", Wang Yinan thought.