The military-industrial scientific research system of the academic master.

Chapter 1258 ESA's Sincerity

It is definitely impossible to completely hide such a big commotion in China.

And in fact, Chang Haonan had no intention of hiding from the beginning—

I covered up the situation before the International Space Station was in danger, and I continued to cover up the situation after the International Space Station was in danger. So, wasn’t the International Space Station in danger in vain?

Therefore, not only can we not hide, we also have to make some noise.

On the other hand, although there have been many major events in the past period, including high-speed test firings and weddings, he has not forgotten that the Singapore Air Show will open in mid-March.

Since the end of last year, Rolls-Royce, which had realized that it had been sold out by MTU, has been in contact with the Gaofa Group.

If nothing unexpected happens, the two sides will take the opportunity of the public display of the full-size model of the WS-20 at the air show to formally launch cooperation negotiations.

If it were in the past, this would be a major event that would attract the attention of the whole world.

But now, the attention of most media and even aerospace practitioners has been drawn to saving the International Space Station.

It can also reduce some of the pressure on both sides, especially Rolls-Royce.

It's like killing two birds with one stone.

Therefore, with Chang Haonan and the China Space Agency intentionally or unintentionally fueling the flames, the relevant news quickly spread to almost the entire world...

……

three days later.

Paris France.

The home of Jean-Jacques Dordain, director general of the European Space Agency.

Policy development consultant Bernard Kandel was sitting on the sofa at this time, puffing on a valuable Danish cigar while handing a report to Dordan who was sitting next to him:

"Affected by the accident a few days ago and NASA's latest statement, in just the past four days, the share price of our Star Company has risen by more than 70%, and the market value has directly exceeded the 30 billion euro mark, and there is no sign of slowing down at all."

30 billion euros is certainly nothing for those big companies.

Even a small stock market fluctuation could have an impact greater than this figure.

However, as a new company that has been listed for less than a year and a half and has not been favored for a long time, the fact that Star has achieved this result has definitely exceeded the expectations of most investors.

Therefore, when he said this, Kandel couldn't help but reveal a "everything is under control" smile, and then continued:

"Even according to conservative estimates, by the end of this month, the company's market value will reach about 45-50 billion euros, and Mr. Director, the shares you hold will be..."

Just as he was about to say the astonishing final number, Dordan, who had been silent until now, suddenly raised his hand and interrupted him like a cat whose tail was stepped on.

The establishment and development of Stellar Corporation is inseparable from the support provided by ESA at the policy level.

Therefore, Dordan also served as Smith's Commissioner and obtained part of the equity through his son-in-law.

But to be fair, he initially did this just out of old European custom and didn't really think about how much benefit he could gain from it.

As a result, in less than three years, Kandel gave him a huge surprise.

To some extent, it can even be said to be frightening.

There is no need to open the report or listen to the specific amount given by the other party.

While lying in bed these few nights, although Dordan repeatedly controlled his thoughts, he still couldn't help calculating countless times.

That is an income that he would never get in his entire life as the director of ESA or aerospace engineer.

"Bernard, you came to my house today, not just to report on the company's business situation, right?"

He decided to change the subject to work for the moment.

Kandel knew very well that the other party was only in the initial stage of shock and was not really prepared to refuse this windfall.

Just give him some more time and he will naturally convince himself.

So, he made no secret of the real purpose of this trip:

"The Chinese Space Administration mentioned in its statement a few days ago that it is willing to cooperate with the international community to jointly resolve the crisis facing the International Space Station... I want to know what the real attitude of the space agencies of various countries is on this?"

Faced with this question, Dordan hesitated for a moment.

But in the end he answered:

"In general, they are mostly neutral and positive... A typical example is the Russians. After China announced the space fishing boat plan, they immediately issued a statement saying that they are willing to provide any country in need with relevant operating data of the International Space Station and orbital information of space debris No. 40396 free of charge, as well as quick rocket launch services at cost price."

"Although it says any country that has a need, you know that among the major space-faring nations, only China is excluded from the International Space Station project. So what this sentence actually means is that we are willing to cooperate with China, but it's just a little more euphemistic."

Having said that, he also cut open a cigar, and the originally tangled and solemn expression on his face had relaxed a lot:

"Italy, the UK, France, India and Brazil all expressed similar opinions. They support the idea but are not particularly proactive..."

ESA has limited authority within the EU and basically only hosts some inter-country cooperation projects. It cannot completely replace the functions of national space agencies.

This situation has also led to chaos in the development of European space to a certain extent.

Kandel frowned slightly:

"Did NASA give a warning privately?"

"That's not it."

Dordan shook his head, took a deep puff of his cigar, then leaned back on the sofa and slowly exhaled the smoke into the air.

It was as if he had vomited out the last bit of entanglement in his heart:

"With such a big public opinion storm this time, even NASA doesn't dare to really stop other countries from doing something... Of course, Japan may be an exception. JAXA is the only space agency that has not made any statement at present."

When he talked about the second half, there was a hint of joking in his tone.

But he immediately regained his seriousness:

"In fact, the main concern of all countries right now is that they don't really believe that China is really capable of solving this problem. If they cooperate with China in a big way, but in the end they achieve nothing, or the Americans get ahead of them... things will not end well."

In fact, from a technical point of view, this situation is normal.

In space travel, there is no way there is no risk at all.

However, the public opinion brewing behind this matter has too great an impact. If a wrong decision is made, even if no actual losses are caused, domestic political opponents will not miss the opportunity to attack their opponents.

At times like this, the flexibility of commercial space travel is demonstrated.

"I plan to use this opportunity to contact the Chinese side."

Kandel puts it quite bluntly:

"If successful, we can further develop a market with huge potential. In addition, our company's startup business itself includes orbital debris cleaning. Participating in it can further boost investor confidence... Even if it fails, we won't lose too much."

Dordan was stunned at first, then nodded in confusion:

"Of course that's no problem...but haven't you been doing this for the past few years? Why are you asking me this time?"

Kandel looked helpless, but still explained patiently:

"The Chinese are making such a big fuss this time. It's impossible that they are just trying to continue doing business with a small and insignificant company like us. If that's the case, we can just continue with the previous path..."

He has had a lot of contact with China in recent years and has his own way of judging these subtle details:

"I'm sure they want to go a step further and start official cooperation with the European Union or a European country's space agency, so we need to come up with something that can represent your ESA's official attitude. This will also make it easier for the officials on both sides to connect when the cooperation enters the later stages and the situation becomes clear."

Kandel believes that his greatest strength is that he knows what's going on.

At what level of business can you do it yourself, and at what level should you consider leaving the market?

If the Chinese plan is truly successful, it will undoubtedly bring enormous prestige to all direct partners.

But with the current size of Star Company, it cannot bear such a heavy burden.

Being able to appear on the list as a supplier will give an explanation to the market and shareholders.

Dordan felt his heart pounding.

Compared with the profits of Stellar Corporation, he cares more about whether he can leave his name in the history of European space exploration.

Now there is an excellent opportunity, perhaps even the only one in this lifetime.

And there isn't much risk.

I can't refuse...

"At the end of the last century, the European Space Agency funded and designed a space junk cleaning robot for geostationary orbit. It was called ROGER. You may have heard of it."

Dordan put out his cigar, then stood up and walked to the living room window:

"The project was terminated in 2001 due to high costs and the inability to solve the flight dynamics of flexible bodies moving in space. Now it is just a reserve technology left in the archives and has not even been digitized..."

"So, I can sell it to Star Company at a very low price... Of course, I mean the right to use it, not the complete technology ownership. I can just use it to recover the losses from my previous investment."

Kandel's face lit up with joy, but he quickly calmed down:

"I know about this plan... but an abandoned project that has been suspended for many years is unlikely to represent the attitude of ESA itself. It could also be a secret operation by some ESA staff. So it would be best if there were other sources that could not have any other source besides your official one."

Dordan felt as if he had been led onto a pirate ship, but he thought about the stocks of the Star Company and the temptation of leaving a name in history...

"We launched a group of two solar energy observation satellites last month, which can provide unprecedented accuracy in solar storm prediction information... Although the first-hand data is obtained jointly by us and NASA, there is still room for maneuver..."