Chapter 177 - 173: Rhapsody_1

For other private aerospace companies in China, the Aerospace Bureau had not paid much attention since it already had the heavyweight New Yuan.

One New Yuan was enough; having several more would be too much trouble for the country to handle.

However, the overall stance was still supportive. The presence of the Aerospace Development Committee gradually made it clear that incorporating private capital wasn’t necessarily all bad.

So the Aerospace Development Committee pointed out a clear path: it seemed somewhat redundant to start research from scratch, so why not buy some of the components?

New Yuan Company actively responded, offering nearly all its products—rocket engines, recovery control systems, and even satellite platforms—up for sale.

You could focus on manufacturing the rocket’s body alone, as New Yuan offered all classes of liquid rocket engines, from 12-ton to the largest 500-ton models, with liquid oxygen-hydrogen, liquid oxygen-methane, liquid oxygen-kerosene, all available—if you want to buy, they’d sell.

The recovery control system was also for sale; after purchasing, customization and optimization for launch vehicles under 5 meters could be done for free.

The Aerospace Bureau was also busy, focusing its efforts on going to the Moon, but squeezing out some production capacity for private enterprises was quite easy; the engines were basically YF100, and the "Cloud Open" recovery system from the Eighth Institute, currently supporting 3.35-meter class, was also for sale.

If you could buy engines and control systems, then most of the problems with constructing a rocket were solved.

These enterprises were naturally jubilant—they were not the Aerospace Bureau, where external procurement was not shameful, and besides, many American aerospace companies were buying engines from Russia.

Beyond desiring to purchase engines, they also took the initiative to pitch their proposals to attract investments from big shots.

While New Yuan’s range of rockets was extensive, its medium and small rockets were somewhat monotone and less undertaken.

The market was still there; New Yuan hadn’t yet reached a point where it could dominate the country alone, and the aerospace market had been flourishing for the past two years, with an increasing demand for satellites and no shortage of orders.

But New Yuan’s open attitude still took them by surprise, the largest being the 500-ton-class single combustion chamber liquid oxygen-hydrogen engines—with a nozzle diameter of just 2.7 meters. Although not yet manufactured, no one doubted New Yuan’s capabilities.

Lin Ju reviewed proposals from several companies. How to say it—they were not bad, but they lacked some originality, and their direction was unclear.

Rushing into the rocket sector wasn’t the best approach. In fact, like in America, having multiple companies each with unique technology in different areas would ensure long-term viability.

After some thought, Lin Ju posed a question:

"Let’s set rockets aside for now. I want to mention something: New Yuan’s Moon project includes the lunar space station and the lunar surface building group. I’ll distribute the details of the functions they’re designed to perform to all of you. If any of you feel confident about excelling in a particular part and have real intention, submit your proposals to me. After New Yuan’s review, we may accept them as part of a joint research initiative."

The crowd: !!!

They immediately realized Lin Ju intended to give them a leg up.

The room fell silent for a few seconds before someone boldly said:

"Does this include the space station, lunar vehicles, habitats, and such?"

Lin Ju: "Exactly. New Yuan has a lot on its plate; landing on the Moon is a systemic project, and future lunar development cannot be accomplished by a single company. If your plans are approved, New Yuan will also share some technologies that could be utilized.

However, our requirements are very high, and the timeline is rapid; you must produce results quickly, so obtaining investment merely with a PPT, like in America, is out of the question.

But you need not be overly worried; if your ideas are good enough, New Yuan still has many unshown technologies that might come in handy."

...

"Factory Manager Lin’s ambition is to turn them all into subsidiary enterprises!"

Upon learning that seven private aerospace enterprises had obtained information from Xinyuan Company, the Big Shot directly pointed out that Lin Ju was holding a "martial arts conference" and aimed to become the Alliance Hierarch.

If those private enterprises obediently complied, although they could also gain a lot of advanced scientific research capabilities, the source of their technology was tightly controlled by Xinyuan Company, and they could only comply and accept it.

However, selling key rocket components was quite interesting: engines and recovery control systems could be sold freely with no restrictions on their use, which meant that the barrier to entry in aerospace was significantly lowered.

In the past, Lee Chuanfu said that a car is just a sofa on wheels; now it could be said that a rocket is just an engine topped with a cylinder.

And it’s reusable, which allows the purchasing companies to recoup their investments, just like making smartphones — if you have the money, you can join the game.

One could imagine how many people would be eager to jump in once this was actually implemented.

But Academician She disagreed:

"Rockets are only a small part; the main thing is the Moon project he mentioned. However, does the Moon really have developmental value? Or rather, does it have any in the short term?"

This question plunged the Big Shot into deep thought.

Does the Moon have value? Of course, it does, but its value can only be realized if it’s tapped into!

For example, it’s well-known that the lunar surface has abundant aluminum, iron, and the most valuable rare metals, and that vacuum smelting is less difficult and produces high purity. But is there large-scale transportation capability now?

It seems... there is.

The Big Shot and Academician She both thought of the A-100 nuclear thermal engine at the same time.

This device had a much higher specific impulse. The H2 spacecraft could haul 30 tons of cargo, yet the fuel consumed for a round trip between near-Moon orbit and low-Earth orbit was less than 20 tons.

What those 30 tons could carry, for instance, if it’s refined rhenium metal, mainly used in manufacturing aviation engines, at a price of 17,000 yuan per kilogram, would be worth around 510 million yuan.

But how much would it cost to transport that 30 tons of rhenium metal from the lunar surface to low-Earth orbit, and what would be the effort to drop it down?

The Moon’s low gravity means rockets can have a payload fraction as high as 60%. To send 30 tons of payload into space, a rocket would only need a liftoff weight of less than 50 tons, with an engine thrust of 30 tons.

Just three minutes are needed for the engine to propel a 50-ton rocket, sending a 30-ton payload into lunar orbit. If fuel could be produced on the Moon and recycling maintenance was possible, then the price could be incredibly cheap, even negligible.

The global demand for rhenium metal is at least 50 tons a year; as resources increase, consumption will too. Adding a cost of three billion yuan to bring those 30 tons of rhenium from mining, refining, and transport would still be profitable.

Yet, switching to another metal, like iridium, the current international price is about 630 yuan a gram, which is 630,000 yuan per kilogram. The global production of iridium is about 7 tons a year, with reserves around 5000 tons, while global demand is roughly 15 tons, making it an extremely expensive and important rare metal.

The latest use is in the nozzle of rocket engines, as well as in high-temperature alloys, and being the most corrosion-resistant metal.

If one could transport 30 tons of this stuff, it would be much valuable; the market price would be 19 billion yuan, and just a few trips could recoup the initial investment for the Moon landing.

However, this is an ideal situation. Even if one transport was completed within a year, it would mean that the production of iridium metal would increase fourfold. Although demand would definitely also rise, prices would have to fall a lot, but even if they fell to 200,000 yuan a kilogram, a ton would still be 200 million, making one transport 60 billion.

Mining, it has a future!

Of course, this presupposes using the outrageously high specific impulse of nuclear engines for transport, and also having established a smelting factory and mining field in space capable of producing at least 30 tons of rare metals annually.

Just the power required for a smelting furnace would have to be at least 1500KW, not to mention the personnel, mining equipment, and power stations needed. First, there had to be a power station of at least 10MW before daring to do this, with equipment for the mines and smelting factory weighing at least 300 to 500 tons.

To project 500 tons onto the lunar surface? Academician She shook his head, self-mockingly dismissing his earlier flight of fancy.