Great Power Technology

Ugly Country, Vandenberg Air Force Base.

Musk sat in his independent conference room, his face so gloomy that he could almost squeeze out water.

He had received the news that the Falcon 9 was successfully launched and successfully connected to the network, but at the same time, he also received the news that the entire Starlink system was out of control.

When Colonel Lewis called him to inform him, he could hardly believe his ears.

How can it be?

Thousands of Starlink satellites, using the most complex RSA and elliptic curve parallel encryption systems, were actually hacked without warning?

Not just an invasion, the other party even gained control of the system to some extent. Although the other party cannot really fully control the entire satellite network due to the complexity of the control system itself, even if it is just to disrupt one's own The operating instructions are already an extremely scary thing.

Only then did he understand what Lewis meant by "revenge".

He originally thought that the so-called retaliation was at best reciprocal competition, such as opponents launching a large number of satellites of the same type to seize low-Earth orbit space. In fact, he was not afraid of this so-called retaliation at all.

Low cost is our biggest advantage.

Grabbing territory? Go ahead and grab it. My satellite is cheap anyway, so I won’t feel bad if it gets damaged. What about you? Can you afford it with me?

Yes, the other party really can't afford it, but the problem is, they have no intention of spending it at all.

Start right from the ground up and turn your satellite network into a deployment.

He can predict that if he launches a new satellite next time, the other party will inevitably adopt a more radical strategy, and may even control his own satellites to actively lower their orbits until they all crash!

If you really get to that point, what should you do?

No, this must not be allowed to happen.

The Starlink plan must continue to be implemented, but at the same time, we must reach an agreement with the other party to prevent them from sabotaging it again.

The question is, how to do this?

The official strategy of Ugly Country is already obvious. Neither NASA nor the official government wants to have further conflicts with China because of Starlink issues. Therefore, if you want to continue your business territory, you can only rely on yourself.

Thinking of this, Musk picked up the mobile phone on the table and directly dialed the number of one of his personal connections in the military.

"Sir, I understand what you mean. However, we agreed from the beginning that the Starlink project is just a purely commercial operation, right?"

"Yes, yes, I understand. I have received a lot of support from you in the early stage, and I am very grateful, but now I really can't terminate this plan."

"You know, my company lives by these constantly updated concepts - I live by people's desire and belief in the future. If I give up the Starlink plan now, not only Starlink will collapse, but also SPACEX , and Tesla!”

"I know you don't care, but the benefits Starlink can provide you are real, aren't they?"

"I'm sorry, I don't know. But just because we no longer carry out surveillance now does not mean we don't need surveillance in the future. We have to plan for the long term and the future."

"I understand that I will cut ties with the military. Yes, from now on, Starlink will operate as a completely commercial project."

"I will get the funds, I just need your attitude"

"I understand, I will go negotiate with the Chinese side."

"There are many conditions that I can provide. I have a relatively mature set of low-cost solutions that I can use in exchange. No, this will not affect our technical superiority. You can rest assured about this."

"Okay, okay. I will give you feedback immediately after the results come out."

"thank you very much!"

After putting down the phone, Musk let out a long sigh of relief.

From this phone call, he gained a deeper understanding of the official attitude.

Yes, they don't really want to give up the Starlink project, they are just afraid of the threat from China.

Therefore, starting from today, the official will no longer support the Starlink project in any direct way, nor will it provide new financial support. However, this may not be a bad thing for itself.

When old shareholders exit, new shareholders can join smoothly, and this process of replacing old and new shareholders is often the period of greatest profit.

Wasn't this the way Tesla set up its factory in Shanghai?

Thinking of this, a mysterious smile appeared on Musk's face.

He dialed his assistant's number again and then said:

"Help me make an appointment with our contacts in China. I want to discuss technology transfer with them."

A few hours later, Shenzhen State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission received an invitation for talks from SPACEX. Subsequently, the details of the invitation were forwarded to Chen Hao, and Chen Hao discussed the invitation with Ye Zhou through a video call.

"So, this derailment accident probably weakened Musk. What he wants to do now is to find a successor. Isn't that correct?"

Hearing Ye Zhou's words, Chen Hao nodded slightly, and then replied:

"Yes. According to the other party's proposal, they will provide us with a complete set of low-cost solutions to make up for our current shortcomings of high launch costs and insufficient payload in the aerospace field."

"To be honest, although we clearly know that it is a takeover, the attractiveness of this condition is indeed good. From a rational perspective, we should accept it."

"Although we may face some difficulties and threats in the long term, judging from the current trend, the gap between us and the Ugly Country will continue to narrow in the future. Adding the dominance of technology, it will not be possible to turn our backs and disown others in the end. What a difficult thing."

"The only problem is that as long as you accept this plan, you are seeking skin from a tiger. We cannot put the Starlink project completely under our control. If the other party makes some small moves outside of our monitoring, it will be difficult for us to find out, and it will be difficult for us to find out. It’s hard to prevent it in advance.”

Ye Zhou leaned back on his chair. After thinking for a moment, he answered:

"My personal preference is not to cooperate with them."

"In fact, the main technical difficulties in low-cost launch solutions are hull reuse and engine thrust improvement, and the key difficulties in these two items are materials and engine design."

"As for other flight controls, data model systems, etc., we already have advantages. As long as we continue to develop patiently for a period of time, we can achieve breakthroughs."

"They promised to provide us with low-cost solutions, and the high probability of solving them lies in the latter. The key technological breakthroughs in the former still depend on the derivative results of the Nantianmen project."

"In this case, why should we rush for quick success and pursue breakthroughs in a short period of time? This is not a matter of life and death."

Chen Hao hummed and said:

"This is indeed the case, but you also know that our aerospace engineering is also facing the pressure of technical bottlenecks. They need to introduce new technologies and new solutions to break the current deadlock. The technology exchange proposed by Musk is a very important one. Good catfish.”

"No matter how opposed the Chief Technical Office is, there will always be people who are inclined to accept this catfish. We are also facing a lot of pressure."

Ye Zhou shook his head slightly and replied:

"It's true that we need catfish, but we don't need sharks."

"If even key fields like aerospace require foreign technology to provide impact, then our future development will be in jeopardy."

"Isn't the core contradiction now a low-cost solution? I have a solution, do you want to listen to it?"

"tell me the story."

Ye Zhou coughed, pondered for a moment and then said:

"Modular Satellite Design."

"Modular? What do you mean?"

"This means that we first launch a comprehensive satellite platform into the air to enable the platform to achieve long-term endurance, and then add corresponding functional modules to the satellite based on subsequent functional needs."

"In this way, we can simplify the satellite structure and save the weight of the satellite, thereby saving launch costs."

"More importantly, if the integrated satellite platform can achieve sustainable existence, the lifespan of the satellite will be greatly improved. This may not be effective in the short term, but in the long term, the cost savings will definitely not be a small number - At least, it will definitely exceed Musk’s so-called low-cost solution.”

Hearing this, Chen Hao frowned slightly.

"You mean to make the satellite into a small space station? But in this case, the requirements for the orbiting engine will be very high. Subsequent fuel replenishment is also a big problem."

Ye Zhou smiled slightly and replied:

"No, we don't refuel."

"Not replenishing fuel? What then?"

"Working fluid-free plasma engine. Have you forgotten? I provided this result in the Nantianmen project."

"Yes, the thrust of the current prototype is very low. It can even be said that before controllable nuclear fusion is achieved, the thrust this engine can provide is so low that it is almost negligible, but that is only compared to the traditional method on the ground. In terms of engines, controllable nuclear fusion itself is also in our plan."

"So, this engine was originally born for space, and now it's time for it to take its first step."

One day after receiving Musk's invitation, China participated in the meeting with the other party as scheduled. However, at this meeting, the Chinese representative ruthlessly rejected the other party's proposal for technology exchange.

They did not explain the reason, but just told Musk that the technical solution he provided was not in line with the development direction of China's technical roadmap.

But what direction are you heading in?

Musk couldn't understand.

However, two hours after the meeting, he got his answer from the news.

The working fluid-free ion engine project was officially announced as a sub-project of the Nantianmen project, and the results of the first phase were released.

The thrust reaches an astonishing 50mN.

Not high, but ridiculously low.

But it is such an absurdly low thrust that has caused huge waves in the aerospace field.

If SPACEX is trying to usher in an era of large-scale human entry into space, then what this ion engine wants to do is something bigger and grander.

What it wants to conquer is not just the "false" space that is only a few hundred kilometers or thousands of kilometers away from the earth.

But outside the solar system, outside the Milky Way, the real sea of ​​stars.

In comparison, SPACEX's so-called "space immigration plan" is as childish as a child taking a walk outside his home and thinking he has completed a great journey.