In the year 2000, Ma first thought of entering the private space industry, rashly flying to Russia to buy missile technology for rocket research. He was met with scornful ridicule and literally swept out the door.

The humiliated Ma returned to America and got to work seriously, aiming from the outset at reusable rockets because he already believed that cheap access to space was an inevitable path.

Years later, Sky Fork built a small rocket code-named "Grasshopper." Between 2012 and 2013, it flew multiple times and achieved vertical recovery, reaching a maximum height of just over 700 meters, much like grasshopper’s leap.

After that, Ma put all his eggs in one basket with the Falcon 9 Rocket equipped with nine Merlin engines. Just last month, on September 21st, the eleventh Falcon 9 mission failed to recover its first stage, creating a spectacular explosion in the sky.

At the time, even though there were domestic skeptics mocking Sky Fork, there were also quite a few people saying "data was collected" and "this is the price to explore the future."

As for the sarcastic comments from international netizens on Little Blue Bird, they were in the overwhelming majority, as reclaiming rockets seemed counterintuitive.

Ma had actually been paying attention to China’s New Yuan Aeronautics for quite a while and had some interest in the first private aerospace company in China. However, the unimpressive data from New Yuan 1B didn’t pique his interest much.

The same was true for the K120 engine. Although it was previously touted as the best in Asia with a thrust stronger and more advanced than Falcon 9’s Merlin engine, he wasn’t too convinced.

Insiders knew that private aerospace claims were not to be trusted. He was even talking about building a city on Mars, but he was the first not to believe in it.

But when New Yuan 1B came out, Ma got interested because its recovery procedure was the same as Falcon 9’s. Whether it succeeded or not, didn’t it prove that there were others who endorsed his path?

"I am not alone in my pursuit!"

Domestic media quickly shared Ma’s interactions and likes on Little Blue Bird the next day, heating up the fervor as a crowd flocked to praise the spirited foreign entrepreneur.

How about the reaction from local netizens towards New Yuan 1B?

Of course, they were skeptical. They either didn’t believe in the feasibility of the recovery technology or were convinced that New Yuan 1B was doomed to fail.

After all, the concept of recovering rockets was too bizarre; even America had not achieved it, so China certainly couldn’t.

Lin Ju didn’t take any of the sarcasm or skepticism to heart; he knew the stronger the disbelief now, the more impactful it would be when he succeeded.

Consider how, after Ma’s first successful recovery mission at the end of the next year, the situation turned around. Even after the heavy-lift Starship faced consecutive failures, nobody spoke ill of it because you never knew if it might just work if it kept exploding.

As for confidence in New Yuan 1B? Lin Ju chose to trust the system. The specifications were provided by the system after all, and currently, in this universe, the system’s priority was above physics.

All he needed to do was manage the propaganda, enhancing the final pay-off of the system’s last mission.

For example, making the live broadcast cameras a bit clearer, sprucing up the launch control room with a more sci-fi look, and ensuring the live broadcast graphics UI looked slick.

In simple terms, copy Space X’s homework first; the show must go on.

He specifically directed the layout of the launch control room from a layman’s perspective towards the style seen in sci-fi movies.

Out with the grey metal consoles bristling with buttons to the back; under the camera’s gaze were neat rows of large screens, with every operator wearing headphones and clad in uniform with black and white design elements.

The screens had to display a semi-transparent Earth and twinkling rocket icons, with numbers and line charts flashing through them in oddly-shaped frames.

To Guo Shen and the system engineers, this setup was baffling. They did not understand why they were required to watch a bunch of new employees staring at flashy screens filled with useless information.

The only somewhat useful aspect of the entire live broadcast area was the part where the launch instructions were recited, which could actually simplify the launch sequence if removed.

Even the UI used for the live broadcast seemed excessive, turning a few simple figures into real-time dynamic images. Including the arc-shaped rocket trajectory, which was fully drawn at random.

They didn’t understand; could this be the legendary sense of sophistication? It seems there was some truth to that.

Lin Ju, on the other hand, was utterly satisfied, considering it was one of the few activities he could fully participate in.

"What about the launch site? Is the paint job done?"

"It’s done, but boss, there’s no need for that. The rocket exhaust will scorch it white, and when it’s recovered, it’s bound to still smell of plastic."

"Chief Designer Guo, as long as it doesn’t affect the launch safety, these are minor issues."

That’s right, Lin Ju even had the rocket launch and landing site painted.

What is science fiction? (Lean back and ponder)

Guo Shen had grown numb to this. As long as it didn’t jeopardize rocket safety, he would tolerate it. He switched topics:

"New Yuan Town is too small; it can only launch small rockets. And to be honest, this place isn’t exactly suitable for rocket launches to begin with.

New Yuan-2 and the space shuttle’s return will require new landing and launch sites. We should select a new location, preferably with a lower latitude to significantly increase the payload capacity."

As is well known, Earth is not exactly spherical but rather an oblate spheroid with a slightly elongated axis at the poles. The closer to the equator, the closer to orbit, the shorter the distance a rocket has to travel.

Therefore, except for some missions that require secrecy, rocket launch sites are generally located at lower latitudes. This can result in a few percentage points increase in payload capacity, which is by no means a small figure for rockets.

Lin Ju strongly agreed with the idea of finding a new launch site, and the first answer that came to his mind was Qiongzhou.

2014... it seems to be this month that the Wenchang Launch Site, which began construction in ’09 to prepare for the CZ-5, was completed, right?

Lin Ju looked it up online, and indeed, it was so.

This means that Qionzhou has the necessary launch support facilities and construction expertise. With enough investment, they could build their own launch site.

How much did it cost to build the Wenchang Launch Site? A quick search on Baidu, and the total investment was... 20 billion!

Lin Ju covered his phone screen and said to Guo Shen:

"Actually, I think the latitude of New Yuan Town isn’t that high. Our rockets won’t miss that little bit of payload capacity."

"..."

Guo Shen was silent for a while, thinking to himself: couldn’t the boss take a closer look at the news? He pointed to the top of the phone screen, which had the first sentence of the introduction about the Wenchang Launch Site:

"... the first launch site to be completely open for international cooperation... Hiss, does that mean it’s possible to undertake launch services for outsiders?"

Lin Ju found it hard to believe, but Guo Shen instead said:

"There are four launch pads at the Wenchang Launch Site, and currently, the Space Administration has no demand for launches there. The rockets they planned to launch from Qiongzhou are still not developed. Since the launch site is otherwise idle, why can’t they lend it to us?"

Guo Shen thought it wasn’t a big deal, possibly because his resume included work experience at the America Space Administration; after all, Ma’s Falcon 9 rockets are also launched from America Air Force bases.

This reasoning convinced Lin Ju. He remembered the Wenchang Launch Site’s first mission was scheduled for 2016, which meant it was still two years away. Perhaps he could indeed inquire about it.