I ask you to build tractors, but you build rockets?

Traditional spaceship or space shuttle?

If this is the choice of traditional aerospace projects, it is of course the former.

The latter has been continuously proven to be expensive, inefficient and high safety risks. Aramco carried out its last space shuttle mission in 2011 and then terminated the entire space shuttle program.

In the 1990s, China was planning a manned spaceflight project, and there was also a small space shuttle among the alternatives, but it was ultimately rejected.

Space shuttles are mainly divided into two types of launch methods. One is to fly into space by itself, and the other is to be sent up with a rocket as a payload.

Aramco's is the former. The space shuttle is tied to the fuel tank when it takes off, plus two solid rocket boosters. It flies up, discards the fuel tank, and enters space.

This requires the space shuttle to have its own large rocket engine, and it will glide and land after returning to the atmosphere, and cannot maneuver like an airplane.

The former Alliance adopted the latter approach, using huge "energy" rockets to push the more than 100-ton Buran space shuttle into space, thus eliminating the need for the space shuttle's own large engine.

The tail of the "Snowstorm" is replaced by four turbofan engines for intra-atmospheric flight and a small rocket engine for orbit change, allowing it to maneuver freely after entering the atmosphere.

The space shuttles of the first two countries are monsters weighing more than 100 tons. The one planned by China is similar to the type provided by the system. They are relatively small, with a take-off weight of no more than 30 tons, and can be placed on the top of medium and large rockets to be sent to the sky.

Although historical experience has proven that the space shuttle is not feasible, considering that it is a solution given by the system, Lin Ju still feels that it needs to be carefully considered.

It's a pity that the system refused to give detailed information and only gave the basic parameters of the two options. Otherwise, the system engineer could be called for analysis.

After thinking for a long time, Lin Ju knew that option one was simpler and safer, but he still preferred option two.

After all, from a sensory perspective, the space shuttle is more advanced than the spaceship, and this is actually the case.

However, he did not rush to make a decision and kept the problem in his mind first.

The next day, negotiations with the Sixth House began again.

This time, Lin Ju saw General Master Zhao looking tired. He had obviously had an all-night meeting with others.

General Master Zhao didn't talk nonsense when he sat down, and directly stretched out a palm:

"100 million, five people, all with professional titles. Except for two teams that are participating in national key projects, anyone who is willing to leave will be let go."

"No, twenty! 140 million in exchange for 10 researchers and 10 factory senior engineers is definitely worth it!"

Lin Juke understood what Chief Zhao was thinking. The researchers at the institute were very knowledgeable. Their levels varied, and they could all be quickly filled through the aerospace talent system.

Only senior technicians in affiliated factories are valuable talents, especially in the aerospace industry, which often relies on highly skilled technicians.

However, General Master Zhao knew this better than him. When he heard the exaggerated number twenty, a man of his age almost jumped out of his chair.

The two sides went back and forth over this, and it was not until the afternoon that they reluctantly reached a consensus.

There are 8 researchers, 6 senior technicians, and the list of people who cannot be mined has been given, and the people above will not let them go even if you persuade them.

On the third day, the two parties signed a formal contract and the transaction officially came into effect.

Xinyuan Aerospace will deliver three engines within two months, and will also send a technical team to the Sixth Institute to guide them in mastering the K120 production process.

The latter actually doesn't matter. The main advantage of K120 is the design. It uses considerable experience to greatly simplify the number of parts, and the processing difficulty is actually lower than that of YF100.

This transaction brought 100 million liquidity to Lin Ju at once. Although it did not arrive at once, it was enough to maintain Xinyuan Aerospace.

However, if it is to carry out a manned space project, it will be more tense. Even if a large part of the research and development funds are saved through system support, the expenditure on materials and processing will not be small.

One hundred million is definitely not enough, at least two hundred million.

Speaking of which, Xinyuan Aerospace has a huge advantage over all other rocket companies: research and development.

After all, rockets are not cars or airplanes. They can be mass-produced in quantities of hundreds or thousands. It is not a big deal if a rocket can be launched 10 times.

Perhaps the cost of the rocket is only tens of millions, but if the research and development expenses of more than one billion or even tens of billions are evenly distributed, the cost of a launch will rapidly rise to an exaggerated level.

Even with the Saturn V that Aramco put on the moon, the research and development costs were shared, and it turned out that a rocket is as expensive as an aircraft carrier. This is something no matter how wealthy you are, you can't bear it.

If other aerospace companies knew that they could engage in aerospace with this little money, they would have fainted in the toilet.

For private aerospace companies, money is of course earned from satellite launches.

In fact, in the world in 2014, private aerospace companies in various countries were basically in the development stage, and the cost of commercial satellite launches remained high. It was not until the successful recovery of Lao Ma's Falcon rocket that the cost was greatly reduced through reuse.

There are a lot of business orders during this period, so you never have to worry about making money.

Lin Ju found Androv, the system engineer who was in the factory, and asked him first about the improvements to Xinyuan-1.

Since Tang Weitian said that it must be feasible to change the transport capacity to about 1.6 tons, he also believes that the system engineer has this ability.

Sure enough, as soon as he said that, Androv had already taken out his computer.

"I have a complete understanding of the design of Xinyuan-1. Its application scenario is not in low-Earth orbit, but in a sun-synchronous orbit, but it is not accurate. I have already made several improvement plans."

Androv has made a total of three plans. One is a three-stage modification, which can increase the low-Earth orbit transportation capacity to 1.65 tons, and the cost remains basically the same.

The second one is a two-level configuration, which reduces the cost a little and has a low-Earth orbit transport capacity of 1.4 tons.

The third improved third-stage rocket, whose main target is SSO sun-synchronous orbit, can deliver a payload of 700 kilograms.

Moreover, he also helped Lin Ju estimate the cost. A single launch of Xinyuan-1 ranges from 12 million to 19 million. The cost is extremely low, only about 10,000 yuan per kilogram of payload.

The external quotation can even be as low as 5,000 US dollars, which is also very profitable.

If it is the international market, the current quotation price of a commercial satellite of about 1 ton is about 20,000 to 30,000 US dollars per kilogram, and the profit of a single order is nearly ten times!

It's just that this kind of order is not easy to accept. After all, such a heavy satellite must be relatively high-end, and 80% of the parts it carries are parts produced by Aramco.

According to the bill promulgated by Aramco ten years ago, any rocket equipped with Aramco parts cannot be launched by a Chinese rocket, otherwise the manufacturer will not be held responsible if something goes wrong.

However, the needs of other small companies or colleges are also orders, and it is not impossible to combine orders. Satellite group shipments are decades earlier than the later Pinxixi.

"Androv, please provide more detailed data on these rockets. We want to accept commercial orders!"