Chapter 37: Chapter 37: Ten Million? That’s the Cost_1

Back at the company, Lin Ju scoured the R&D department’s room for any technology with the potential to make money.

"The RX01 data bus? Androff, what else can this be used for besides rockets?"

"Aircraft as well, especially future high-performance, multi-electronic fighter jets, but I wouldn’t recommend you set your sights on it. Military orders are too few, and it has no application in civilian cars or commercial aviation."

"How about this then? The rocket recovery control system? Could it be applied to smart driving?"

"Well... In theory, its learning algorithms hold great potential, but if you want to shift focus to that area, the investment cost would be at least 300 to 500 million."

"Ceramic heat-resistant tiles?"

"They have excellent insulation, but I’m afraid at a cost of 4000 yuan apiece, they won’t sell."

"Hiss~ Space docking composite radar ranging system?"

"I’m afraid the movement of vehicles is much slower compared to spacecraft."

"..."

After going through a large portion of New Yuan’s technology library, Lin Ju found that while there was a significant amount of powerful technology reserves, practically none of it could be turned into consumer products that made money, or at least not enough to meet his expectations.

Enter other industries? That seemed impractical as well; New Yuan didn’t possess proprietary techniques in specialized fields, nor did they have prophetic abilities. Better not to get mixed up with those in the financial sector.

As for buying Bitcoin, though it was a shortcut to wealth for those reborn, Lin Ju currently looked down upon it. Although Ma could speculate on Dogecoin, for a well-established entrepreneur in China to focus on cryptocurrency trading seemed somewhat... off.

Investing in short videos? That was a good idea, but it wouldn’t be viable until after 2016.

Watching Lin Ju scribble and sketch on paper, occasionally blacking out a large section of content, Androff couldn’t help but speak up:

"Boss, we shouldn’t always think about making this hard-earned money. The investment is too large and it’s not our forte."

Lin Ju looked up and saw Androff’s thick eyebrows, big eyes, and full beard:

"If not their money, whose money should we earn?"

"Whoever has the money, we earn theirs."

"How do we earn the money of the wealthy? I’m not looking for financing."

Androff slapped his thigh, stood up, and brought over a wooden model of the H1 spaceplane.

"This, compared to the Union Spaceship and the Shenzhou Spaceship, which is better? Which one is more advanced?"

"Of course, the spaceplane, and it has a much larger space."

"In 2001, Dennis Tito took the Russian Union Spaceship to the International Space Station and traveled for eight days at a cost of 20 million US dollars.

America was very dissatisfied with Russia’s actions, and Tito was even scolded by American astronauts like an admonished child. I read the details very thoroughly in the archives later on. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

Our spaceplane can stay in space for 24 hours, with a cargo hold that allows for viewing, and you can even sit down and have coffee. It’s more comfortable than a spaceship and specially designed for tourism. For such a flying experience, how much should we charge?"

Lin Ju made a comparison: the former, Dennis, was simply hitching a ride to the space station with Russia. His company could specifically engage in space tourism. Taking into account that Dennis had an eight-day space station tour, he thought it over and stretched out a finger:

"I think it’s got to be at least this much."

"Ten million? That’s the cost!" Androff shook his head emphatically, slammed the model down on the table, and then stylishly extended three fingers:

"It’s 30 million US dollars, no discounts! A tycoon who can fork over 10 million bucks to go to space certainly won’t mind shelling out another 20 million! When the time comes, the mission commander still has to keep a straight face. Whenever a wealthy guest wants to touch something, he’ll have to say in an authentic Tie Ling accent: ’What’re you looking at! It’s all very prestigious.’

"Ah, just to let someone take a stroll up there and even get scolded for it, you’re charging 30 million dollars, more than 200 million?"

Lin Ju thought about it. The estimated cost for launching the New Yuan-2 using the H1 rocket was 48 million per launch, and the manufacturing cost of the H1 was just over 200 million. Altogether, the total mission cost would be 250 million. But just by taking up one person, they could recoup all the costs?

Androff kept fanning the flames:

"The bottom of the H1 spacecraft has a docking port. Based on the technology we’ve already mastered, we can totally make a cabin segment that can operate in orbit long-term, with a maximum diameter of 5 meters, an empty weight of around 15 tons, and an internal volume that can be between 70 and 80 cubic meters, dedicated to tourism and sightseeing.

Since no scientific equipment will be carried, the cost is around 30 million. To stay in such a cabin for 7 days, charging an additional 20 million US dollars isn’t too much, is it?"

million dollars, a space trip with spacious comfort for a 7-day tour, expensive? Not at all! Given the current inflation, it’s quite a bargain compared to more than a decade ago.

If they sent two tycoons at once, just the transportation fees alone would bring in 700 million, allowing them to recover all costs in one go and still make enough to produce two more H1s!

Lin Ju took a deep breath and tremblingly fumbled for his phone to dial Cai Yuanfa’s number:

"Uncle Cai, were there some private investors in addition to the investment institutions that approached us for investment before?

Great, list for me all the individuals who offered more than 20 million US dollars in funds. Help me ask them, are they interested in a 7-day space tour?"

...

"Sky Fork wants to exchange shares with me? 1 billion dollars in financing and 10% of the shares, and they’re inviting me to be CEO? Ma has gone mad, no way I’m going."

Lin Ju hung up the call and spit towards his phone.

Cai Yuanfa had just informed him that Ma had actually taken the initiative to reach out, wanting to exchange shares and funds of Sky Fork for cross-holding and for Lin Ju to take on the role of CEO of Sky Fork.

This is nothing short of trying to pull a fast one! Ma’s ambitions are too wild and completely outrageous.

But aside from Ma, the two tech giants, Penguin and Ali, also repeatedly expressed investment intentions. However, they weren’t very interested in rockets, it was just that big corporations habitually dabble in everything, it’s the same with all Internet companies.

Lin Ju actually did want to extract money from them—by luring two guys into space tourism. But the powerpoint presentation wasn’t ready yet; he had to delay it for a few days.

During those days, he also spoke with Professor Tang Weitian on the phone and learned about the big pivot of the space agency, which left him with much to ponder.

In his previous life, after Ma’s Falcon 9 achieved continual successful recoveries, the development of the Long March Series Rockets was entirely ceased, and there was no longer any need for modifications. The space agency then focused solely on how to reuse the two types of super rockets that followed.

Now, several projects were still not mature, and modifications were still possible. Hence, with great efficiency, the space agency turned sharply onto the path of reusability.

As for whether they would succeed? Lin Ju felt that with China’s national strength, they definitely would.

After all, the reusability of rockets wasn’t something only achievable with cheats. It’s just that without a cheat-level control system, whether they would explode as often as Ma’s did was uncertain.

Moreover, one characteristic of China’s aerospace industry was its low production capacity. Generally, a single rocket would take a year of scheduled production, at most making two or three, so it was hard to say how long it would take before they could afford to lose any.

Of course, it was also uncertain whether the space agency would propose bizarre methods like a netting recovery system, or whole-core booster recovery from the previous life. What if other methods proved to be effective?

Regardless, China’s space industry had already embarked on a completely different path, and it was expected that the configurations of rockets would change significantly moving forward.

The urgent task at hand now was to make money, to persuade suckers to take a ride on the spacecraft.

On October 14, the first stage of the New Yuan-1B rocket was once again transported to the launch site.