Chapter 763 - 732: South Heaven Gate_3

Musk, having witnessed the production model of Xinyuan, was constantly hit by shocks; he suddenly realized that AI development on the land beneath his feet was burgeoning at a ferocious pace, having already far exceeded the rest of the world.

He also remembered the news from last month about Xin’an obtaining an unmanned driving license, while Tesla still didn’t have similar technology.

The keyword "AI" profoundly imprinted itself in his mind, more intensely than ever before.

"Lin, you’ve already grasped the future," he said.

Musk’s mind surged with countless thoughts, and he excitedly started to speak to Lin Ju, completely oblivious to Ye Changsi’s silent smile.

He guessed that Musk’s original intention might have been to probe into the rumored market opening plans between the two countries, but Lin didn’t intend to respond on that issue, so he took control of the conversation first.

AI was sufficiently attractive and was also what Xinyuan most wanted to promote externally; starting with a person of Musk’s tremendous influence was quite suitable.

...

In the Capital, the Aerospace Development Committee.

While Lin Ju was busily engaging Musk, the headquarters of the Aerospace Development Committee was also bustling.

Zhong Cheng had not only summoned almost all the significant private aerospace companies, but also gathered many leading enterprises cooperating with United Mining, including the leading enterprises in various industries.

Even with strict entry requirements, there were about three hundred attendees spanning various industrial fields, together nearly representing China’s entire industry.

This lineup had far exceeded the functional scope of the Aerospace Development Committee, but the upper echelons had reverted to handling special affairs with special measures, and as long as reports were approved, temporary power was granted.

However, this situation wouldn’t last long, as the upper levels were currently adjusting to shifts in future work focus.

Many issues had already begun to surface in the work of the Space Force, the space bureau, and the Aerospace Development Committee, where upper management lacked clear regulations and policies, relying on several leaders to coordinate and oversee, which was not only exhausting but also fraught with potential problems.

Given that space resource investments involved nationwide issues, leaving it to a single department was even more dangerous, so a committee was still being planned.

Just like the scene Zhong Cheng was witnessing, future space development would cover practically all industries. The new organization needed to have national influence, but space would still be the main focus, with distinct duties allocated between the Space Force and the space bureau.

Moreover, the primary purpose of this new organization was to establish a Solar System defense system to prevent potential invasions by alien civilizations, so in reality, it entailed a dual focus on both military and civilian efforts.

If Zhong Cheng’s guess was correct, the new organization might bear some characteristics of a planning committee and could even revert to being a planning committee if a comprehensive war was to ensue in the future.

On top of that, overseeing military matters, its influence would surely be unprecedented.

But separating the entities was even less rational since the space sector inherently required the integration of military and civilian resources, a division would have led to significant resource waste, so this was the only way to proceed.

Therefore, the decision from above was delayed, and even Zhong Cheng dared not inquire too much, focusing instead on his own duties.

The current gathering was a closed-door meeting with simplified procedures, and though the setup was rudimentary, everyone present was attentive and showed no signs of disrespect.

The "South Heaven Gate" project was indeed outrageous, but the fact that there had been no objections through the long-standing rumor mill spoke volumes.

Seeing the remarkable turnout, many attendees had already guessed at the truth.

Long Jiacheng, who was among the first to receive "official leaked information," was extremely excited. Although Lingxi Technology Company specialized in satellite manufacturing, if there was indeed a grand plan like the construction of a spaceport, there were also great prospects in part-time construction of cabin segments and various devices!

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the first comprehensive space discussion organized by the Aerospace Development Committee. We may hold similar meetings frequently in the future," Zhong Cheng said.>

Without any preamble, he got straight to the point as soon as everyone was present:

"To better adapt to the future development of space resources and territorial defense, with approval from the central government, the Aerospace Development Committee plans to build a large space construction cluster that integrates research, production, and living.

This cluster will also need to undertake tasks such as the development and utilization of off-Earth planetary resources, or serving as a transit point to and from Earth. We will call it a spaceport.

The space bureau and Xinyuan Company have already determined the basic data for the spaceport and are preparing support for the operational capabilities. It is anticipated by 2025 to have completed a spaceport with an empty mass of no less than 42,000 tons and an operational mass that could reach over 70,000 tons."

"This spaceport is part of the ’South Heaven Gate’ project. We have decided to invite industries to join in and contribute together."

Perhaps due to excessive fatigue and exhaustion, Zhong Cheng’s voice wasn’t very loud. Ambituo couldn’t provide a long duration of stimulation, so he was not in great spirits.

But every word he spoke caused a massive surge in everyone’s hearts, instantly heating the atmosphere to an intense pitch.

Zhong Cheng didn’t let the hundreds of people gathered there turn the meeting into a chaotic uproar; instead, he took this opportunity to display conceptual images and preliminary structure sketches of the spaceport on the whiteboard.

Engineers from the space bureau and Xinyuan, after several months of work, had come up with three structural proposals:

The first type was a modular cluster, with research, living, and production areas manufactured as different cabin modules, then assembled in space bit by bit, with the spaceport’s living area providing rotation-based gravity, similar to the March spacecraft;

The second was an integrated manufacturing type, emulating future spacecraft construction methods, where only components would be launched from the ground, then space assembled by welding together to create massive integral functional modules that couldn’t be launched, with only the living area providing gravity through additional rotatory components;

The third type was a spoke-like spinning space station, an overall shape resembling a bell-shaped tube, capable of generating gravity ranging from zero to over 1G, adaptable to different work environments, necessarily employing space manufacture methods.

These three configurations ranged from simplest to most complex, with each capable of meeting the minimum specifications, but the investment required would also rise exponentially.

As the project involved the cooperation of hundreds of industries, Xinyuan and the space bureau could no longer accurately assess the difficulty of implementing the project, relying instead on a collective intelligence approach.