This time, SpaceX received the support of top capital, and won a huge financing of $3 billion in one go, and the valuation rose five times in situ, which is inseparable from the divine assistance given by the "Star Network".

Before, some so-called professionals or media in the outside world thought that Elon Musk would be so worried that he couldn't sleep when he saw the "Star Network", but they didn't know that people were so excited to learn the news, and the sudden appearance of this external competitor gave him a turning point in the "Starlink" plan.

At this moment, Tian Jiayi, who was by the pool, hugged his hands in front of him and said: "This time is really different, in the past, SpaceX's investment was tens of millions, but this time it suddenly increased to 3 billion US dollars." ”

Fang Hong said quite comfortably: "It is normal for the investment amount to be tens of millions in the past, after all, the rocket recovery of SpaceX has not been successful so far, it depends on whether the Falcon rocket can be successfully recovered on December 22." ”

Tian Jiayi said: "But this time, it didn't wait until December to give $3 billion in financing......

Fang Hong smiled and said: "Otherwise, how can I say that Elon Musk has to thank me, and I don't promote Starnet in a big way, how can he say that he can talk about those behind-the-scenes consortium people in North America?" ”

Hearing this, Tian Jiayi couldn't help but be curious: "Are you so sure that this is the case?" ”

Fang Hong shrugged: "I can see the scarcity of low-earth orbit resources and the value of satellite telecommunications networks, and he Elon Musk can also see it, I don't doubt this, otherwise he would not have promoted the Starlink program this year immediately after the bankruptcy of the worldVu constellation plan last year." However, it was quite surprising to me that he was able to settle those consortium speakers so quickly and get 3 billion in financing, there is something. ”

After a pause, Fang Hong slowly added: "It's not a bad thing to have such an external competitor, anyway, I have already taken the lead, step by step, the most valuable near-earth scarce orbit resources, the vast majority must be occupied by the Nine Heavens Star Network." ”

Fang Hong came out of the pool and said as he walked: "This competitor still has to be fully respected, and cannot be overly underestimated. Tell Luo Liang and Yan Jiandan that in the near future, some more launch resources will be given to the satellite network project, and the survey telescope project and the orbital reef space station project can be slightly postponed in the past, and the resources will be squeezed out and given to the star network. ”

The launch resources of Kyushu Blue Arrow are very abundant, far from being comparable to the current SpaceX, but many space engineering projects need to use launch resources, and the allocation is actually very tight, and the launch resources are still insufficient.

Tian Jiayi followed and said, "Can the Saturn exploration and Mars exploration projects also be postponed?" ”

Fang Hong immediately shook his head and said: "The space projects in the Earth-Moon system can be adjusted, but these two space projects must not be moved, they are both transplanetary exploration projects, the launch window is dead, we can't let Mars and Saturn brake and wait for us, the window period is missed, not a few months but several years, especially Saturn in the outer solar system, if you miss it, you will have to wait for seven or eight years, and the people below are willing to wait for me." ”

Tian Jiayi suddenly said: "That's right, I ignored the launch window, it really can't move." ”

If you miss it, it won't be seven or eight months, but seven or eight years, which is enough to change a lot of things, and the variables are very large.

The Saturn exploration program is very complex, and it requires extremely careful calculations, and it is not possible to send a probe to Saturn directly, which is simply not possible with the current technology of mankind.

The general process of the Saturn exploration project of the Nine Days Project is to first send the probe to the Earth's orbit and stand by, and then carry out secondary fuel and material replenishment, during which it is unmanned to complete, and then start to change orbit and throw itself out with the help of the Earth's gravitational slingshot effect.

After being thrown out by gravity, it is not to go straight to Saturn in the outer solar system, but to fly towards Venus in the inner solar system first, and it needs to fly over Venus twice, because the probe is also orbiting the sun when it flies to Venus, and when it flies to Saturn, it can meet Venus once, so it can get two free accelerations with the help of Venus's gravitational slingshot effect.

At the time of the second flyby, Venus was thrown out of the planet, and it met the Earth again at the stuck point in time, because the Earth's orbit orbited around the Sun outside Venus, and it flew towards the Earth again and was thrown out by the Earth using the gravitational slingshot effect, further gaining the fourth free acceleration.

After that, it will fly all the way to Jupiter, and there will be no meeting with Mars on the way, and the gravitational pull of Mars is small, and the acceleration obtained with the help of the gravitational slingshot effect is limited, and the key is that the time window does not allow it.

After reaching Jupiter, the probe will slow down with the help of Jupiter's gravitational slingshot effect, which can both accelerate and decelerate, and change the direction of velocity.

If you don't use Jupiter's gravity to slow down, when you fly to Saturn, you won't be able to park into Saturn's orbit normally, and the probe will not be captured by Saturn's gravity.

Of course, it is also possible to use the fuel carried by the probe to slow down, but this will be a loss, and even if it is parked into the orbit of Saturn, the remaining fuel will not be able to sustain the probe for long.

A one-way journey that lasted nearly seven years and a journey of more than 3 billion kilometers that cost tens of billions of dollars to start is not easy to come to Saturn, and if it can only work for ten days and half a month, this is unacceptable.

The working time of the probe is closely related to the fuel it carries, so it is necessary to consume as little fuel as possible on the way to Saturn, so that the longer the working time will be when you arrive at Saturn.

According to the team's design life, the probe must ensure that the fuel it brings to Saturn can work normally for 15 years, and at such a long distance, it is not enough to receive solar energy, so it has to use nuclear fission power fuel to support 15 years of operation.

In other words, the total time period from launch to eventual decommissioning of the Saturn probe is 22 years, and after the probe is decommissioned, a new and more advanced second-generation probe is already on its way.

Fang Hong will not be stingy with his investment in space exploration, unless he encounters some problems and really can't come up with the money, as long as he doesn't get the funds, once the deep space exploration is started, it will not be interrupted, and it must be seamless.

But at this moment, Fang Hong came to the villa and instructed the beautiful assistant who accompanied him: "In addition, the production capacity of small satellites will be pulled up for me, accelerate the expansion of production capacity, and it is no problem to castrate it, it is not required to be integrated into the star network, first occupy the orbital resources, and then let the new satellite go up to supplement the network and then let it fall into the atmosphere and burn up." ”

Tian Jiayi nodded.

The cost of large-scale production capacity is further amortized, and then castrated, and the cost of a small satellite is further reduced to about 1 million yuan.

Only 1 million yuan is needed, 10,000 is 100 billion, and it can be managed for about two and a half to three years, and Fang Hong is completely acceptable to exchange for 10,000 scarce track resources at such a cost.

With the development and progress of science and technology, human space activities are becoming more and more frequent, and scarce orbital resources will only become more and more valuable. After occupying the high-value scarce orbit, Fang Hong did not plan to transfer and sell it, but provided leasing services and collected rent as the landlord of the space version.

How to price scarce orbital resources, the person who controls the orbital resources means that he has the pricing power.

In the future, the annual rental cost of the value of a scarce orbit could be priced at $3 million, as the international cost of a small satellite is about $3 million.

The scarcity of resources, the price is naturally firm.

There are so many high-value scarce orbit resources, and the low-earth orbit within 2,000 kilometers is worth more than 100,000 pieces, which can be regarded as a constant value, and human civilization will go through time, the more frequent space activities, the scarce orbital resources will not increase, which will inevitably create high prices.

Moreover, the actual price of the scarce orbit must be priced according to the use of the satellite, and the prices for commercial use and public welfare use are different, just like the logic of shops on the ground, the same location, the same bunk, used as a restaurant, or a smartphone store, the rent is different.

Therefore, even if it is for commercial purposes, it will look specifically at what is engaged in business, and there will be a professional team to analyze how much profit you can create in a year and what the prospects are, and the final pricing will be given after a comprehensive evaluation.

Assuming that the average annual rental fee for each scarce track resource is 3 million US dollars, if 5,000 tracks are leased out, the annual rent is 15 billion US dollars, and it is a stable source of cash flow for drought and flood protection.

Borderland, the principle of first placeholding, this is a profitable and stable business.

……

(End of chapter)