Rebirth 08: Rise from copycat phones

Chapter 607 The World-Renowned Maiden Flight of the Long March 8 Rocket

April 6, Qiongzhou Island South Gate Space Launch Base.

This core launch base of Nanmen Aerospace once again welcomed a huge number of tourists, with more than 300,000 visitors flocking from all over the country and even the world.

All this is because Nanmen Aerospace will be conducting the maiden test flight of its No. 8 rocket tomorrow.

In accordance with Nanmen Aerospace's consistent tradition, the maiden flight of this new type of rocket is extremely risky, with a high probability of explosion...

The Long March 8 rocket is a super rocket with a maximum takeoff weight of over 8,000 tons. If its first stage rocket, such a behemoth, were to explode, the scene would be absolutely earth-shattering... how to put it, extremely spectacular!
Many of the audience members, especially those from overseas, came specifically for the explosion... watching the massive fireworks while secretly rejoicing at yet another failure for China's space program!
Nanmen Aerospace, however, was completely unconcerned about this project and even actively promoted it!
Several months ago, the first flight test of the fully-equipped Long March 8 rocket was announced through various channels. In March, the official social media account even playfully used a simulated explosion as the cover image for the promotion, with the caption: "Nanmen Aerospace sincerely invites everyone to watch the launch of Long March 8 rocket!"
A rocket worth hundreds of millions of dollars exploded; such a super-sized firework is extremely rare!

As for why Nanmen Aerospace itself uses explosions in its publicity, it's naturally to attract more viewers, whether they are on-site or online!
It's important to understand that for Nanmen Aerospace, the maiden flight of the fully-equipped Long March 8 rocket is not just a simple rocket flight test, but also a grand advertising tender!

Six months ago, Nanmen Aerospace's advertising department had already started contacting major companies around the world to sell advertising space...

The maiden flight of the largest rocket in human history, with a maximum takeoff weight of 8,000 tons, far exceeded the more than 3,000 tons of the Saturn V rocket used by the Americans when they were doing their lunar landing program.

It is expected to attract more than 300,000 on-site viewers and 100 million online viewers worldwide. The majority of these viewers are high-value groups with considerable spending power, including young men, tech enthusiasts, and those with relatively good economic conditions. This makes them a high-quality advertising target group, especially for high-tech manufacturers.

If... if the Long March 8 rocket test had been successful, its dissemination effect would have been even greater, with an estimated one billion people worldwide watching the video of the Long March 8 rocket test failure!

Even if it fails, the video will still go viral... Many people love watching Nanmen Aerospace's rocket explosion.

Especially the explosion of a massive rocket like the Long March 8!
Regardless of whether the experiment succeeds or fails, its impact will be global and extremely significant!

This kind of viral effect has made many companies drool!

Therefore, advertising space is selling very well!

The large advertising spaces on the rocket and launch pad were all sold out three months ago. The bottom advertising spaces in the official live broadcast room before and after the launch have also been purchased by various companies.

Therefore, before the Long March 8 rocket was officially launched, Xu Shenxue also received a very interesting report from the South Gate Aerospace Department.

"Currently, all of our advertising slots have been sold, with partners including Zhiyun Group, Weiku Electronics, Yihai Technology, Hailan Auto, Google, Apple, Facebook, Coca-Cola, and more than ten other first-tier partners, as well as more than twenty regular advertising partners!"

"We have already generated $170 million in advertising revenue through the sale of ad space, and there is an additional $30 million in variable advertising terms. If the experiment is successful, we can earn an additional $30 million."

"The advertising revenue from this maiden flight of the Long March 8 rocket has set a new record for our advertising revenue!"

Xu Shenxue was speechless. During the maiden flight test of the Long March 8 rocket, they earned two hundred million US dollars just from advertising fees... He didn't know what those people at his own Nanmen Aerospace were thinking. They were in the aerospace industry, yet they were doing advertising, and the results were particularly good, with many large companies recognizing their efforts.

If we disregard the R&D costs of the Long March 8 rocket and only consider the manufacturing cost of the rocket itself, the 200 million yuan in advertising revenue would far exceed...

The manufacturing cost of the Long March 8 rocket is not as high as the outside world imagines.

As for why it's so cheap?
Because this thing uses the Bifang C engine, which costs only $180,000 per unit. The first stage of the Long March 8 rocket requires 27 engines, and all of them together cost less than $5 million... much cheaper than outsiders imagine.

The engine cost is already the main cost of the rocket. Taking into account other costs such as the cost of the rocket body, the cost of the second stage of the space shuttle, etc., the total manufacturing cost of the first stage of the Long March 8 rocket plus the Red Dragon space shuttle is only about 80 million US dollars...

The research and development costs are quite high, with $1.7 to $1.8 billion already invested.

The advertising revenue from just one maiden flight brought in 200 million yuan. Among so many aerospace companies or institutions worldwide, only Nanmen Aerospace can do this... If you're not convinced, you can also blow up so many rockets, develop a bunch of cutting-edge technologies, and then have the world's richest man, a tech tycoon, personally endorse you.

To sell advertising space, you need to be creative and attract the attention of high-value users worldwide. Only then can you command a high price for your ad space!

Just because Nanmen Aerospace can do this doesn't mean other companies can do it too!
Nanmen Aerospace has a tradition of selling advertising, and it does more than just sell advertising; it also has a whole host of other aerospace tourism side businesses!

"Due to the impact of this Long March 8 rocket launch, more than 300,000 tourists have flocked to the area surrounding our launch site. All thirteen aerospace-themed hotels owned by our company and our partners are fully booked, and two large-scale comprehensive aerospace-themed tourist cities and one aerospace museum are also consistently fully booked!"

"We expect to achieve significant growth through hotel accommodation revenue, management fees from the space city and museum, and shop rental income."

"This will continue to drive the development of our space tourism market, and with the successive launch of our multiple cooperative tourism businesses, our space tourism revenue is expected to grow by 15 percent this year!"

Nanmen Aerospace has been involved in the aerospace tourism industry for a long time. It has built a large aerospace tourism city, museum and more aerospace-themed hotels around the Nanmen Aerospace Launch Site. Instead of operating them directly, they recruit franchisees, collect rent and management fees, and wholesale aerospace souvenirs to generate revenue.

Aerospace tourism revenue, as well as revenue from aerospace souvenirs, models, and other related products, is also a significant source of income for Nanmen Aerospace, generating billions of yuan annually.

The reason why space tourism revenue is so high is because Nanmen Space launches very frequently. If the weather is good, there is basically a launch every few days. Each launch attracts tens of thousands of spectators, and during important launch events, the number can reach hundreds of thousands or even two hundred thousand.

This time, the launch of the Long March 8 rocket attracted more than 300,000 spectators through continuous publicity!
Moreover, many people don't know that Nanmen Aerospace actually sells tickets... Although rocket launches can be watched from many places, Nanmen Aerospace has long designated some very suitable locations for watching launch events and then built an aerospace-themed tourist city. You have to buy tickets to enter, or stay in a hotel inside the tourist city... This is a variation of selling tickets.

Of course, people can also just go out and look around anywhere outside the safe zone, and nobody will bother you!
However, watching the rocket launch from the balcony of a hotel in the best-located aerospace tourism city, whether you're leaning on the balcony or sitting in a lounge chair with your favorite drink and snacks in hand... that's a real treat!
There are countless space agencies and commercial space companies in the world, but Nanmen Space is the only company that has successfully combined high-tech space activities with tourism.

This is also Nanmen Aerospace's penchant for various forms of publicity. They even arrange an experimental rocket launch during peak tourist seasons, such as summer and winter vacations, National Day, and May Day. The purpose is simply to put on a rocket explosion show for tourists from all over the world!
Of course, this rocket experiment was originally necessary, and it was originally intended to achieve an extreme experimental explosion. It's not that we're adding extra experiments... it's just that the timing will be adjusted to accommodate tourists.

Since it's going to be blown up anyway, might as well do it during peak tourist season!

However, to many ordinary people, it seems like Nanmen Aerospace deliberately set off fireworks for tourists to watch... Many people say that Nanmen Aerospace is the most conscientious tourism company, setting off fireworks worth millions or even tens of millions of yuan just to make tourists happy!
Occasionally, they even put on a huge... super-sized firework display worth hundreds of millions for the tourists!
Advertising and aerospace tourism businesses have also brought Nanmen Aerospace revenue in addition to commercial launch orders... Although the total amount is not large, it can still alleviate Nanmen Aerospace's heavy financial pressure.

Nanmen Aerospace's lunar base project is also very expensive. Part of the funding for the project comes from shareholder investments. Xu Shenxue, Zhiyun Satellite, and related aerospace companies have all increased their capital significantly according to their shareholding ratios...

This is the biggest part. Nanmen Aerospace has successively obtained nearly 50 billion yuan in funds from its various shareholders, with Xu Shenxue alone personally increasing his investment by nearly 30 billion yuan.

Another portion came from the deposit for Xinghai Energy's helium-3 order. After all, the lunar base is for mining helium-3, and Xinghai Energy is the only future customer for helium-3, so it's only natural that Xinghai Energy would pay in advance.

Although they haven't even seen a single gram of Helium-3 yet, Xinghai Energy has already officially signed an order for Helium-3 with Nanmen Aerospace and paid a deposit of over 10 billion yuan to support Nanmen Aerospace's lunar base plan.

Then there's another part, which comes from various subsidies, and that's not a small portion either!
The remaining funds will need to be raised by Nanmen Aerospace itself, which will rely on profits from commercial launches, advertising, and space tourism...

Nanmen Aerospace is also under great pressure to raise funds on its own; otherwise, it wouldn't have gone to such lengths to sell advertisements and develop aerospace tourism.

They really need the money!

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A large number of spectators flocked to the site, all waiting for the maiden flight of the Long March 8 rocket the following day.

In the afternoon, Xu Shenxue and the technical experts from Nanmen Aerospace held a small meeting and listened to some technical reports.

However, judging from the discussions and feedback during the technical meeting, the predictions for this maiden flight test are unlikely to be very optimistic!

"The first stage rocket is probably fine, but the Red Dragon space shuttle is making its first experimental flight, so the probability of problems is relatively high!"

Xu Shenxue didn't seem to care much about the feedback from the technical experts, saying that it was normal for a maiden flight to explode, and it would be strange if it didn't!

Xu Shenxue was mentally prepared for the possibility of the Long March 8 rocket launch failing tomorrow. It wasn't that he didn't trust Nanmen Aerospace's technology, but rather that rocket failures were a tradition for Nanmen Aerospace during experimental flights... Success on the first try would be an unexpected event!

Previous experimental flights of the Long March 5, Long March 6, Long March 7 rockets, as well as the early two-stage rockets and later the Long March 1 and Long March 2 space shuttles, were basically all about explosions...

It either explodes during takeoff or during recovery; something unexpected always happens!
Leaving aside the distant past, let's talk about the Long March 7 rocket. Before achieving complete success, its first-stage rocket exploded four times during the test flight phase.

The first two times they exploded after flying over, and the latter two times they exploded after failing to be recovered.

However, after four bombings, a number of problems were exposed and resolved, and it was not until the fifth and sixth launches that the missiles were successfully launched and recovered.

Its second stage, the White Dragon II space shuttle, also failed several times...

To be honest, the technology of the White Dragon 2 space shuttle was more complex and difficult than that of the first stage of the Long March 7 rocket. Therefore, there were several accidents when it was used with the Long March 5 rocket for the first few experiments before it was finally successful.

After the two core subsystems were tested separately, problems were solved one by one, and success was achieved, they were then combined for the so-called first flight test, which resulted in a very rare one-time success. The eighth rocket, however, is a bit special... The first stage rocket had already undergone multiple ground tests, and its reliability had been verified. In addition, with the profound technology and experience accumulated on the seventh rocket, there was a probability of problems occurring on its first actual flight, but the technical expert team stated that the problem was not significant.

However, the Red Dragon space shuttle's first experimental flight is highly likely to encounter problems!
As for the first-stage rocket, there are no major problems, and the technical team is quite confident about it!
Although the first stage of the Long March 8 rocket looks very large and all the new technologies seem to be newly developed, in fact, all the subsystems have been verified on the Long March 7 rocket... This rocket is actually developed based on the mature technology of the first stage of the Long March 7 rocket.

For example, the parallel engine used on the rocket is the Bifang C engine. This engine has undergone extensive preliminary testing and has been used on a large scale on the Long March 7 rocket since last year. The overall technology is very mature and reliable.

Although the previous Long March 7 rocket used only seven engines, while the Long March 8 rocket used twenty-seven engines, the difference in the number of engines was quite large, which made the parallel control technology of the engines on the Long March 8 rocket more complex... However, this was a very difficult technology for Autumn Aerospace, but not a very difficult technology for Nanmen Aerospace.

Nanmen Aerospace relies on its Long March 5 rocket, which employs multi-rocket engine parallel technology, and has accumulated a wealth of experience and technology in this field.

Meanwhile, the parallel operation technology of the 27 engines of the Long March 8 rocket has also undergone detailed theoretical verification and supercomputing simulation. In addition, a large number of ground tests were conducted before it was installed on the rocket for the first test to ensure that there were no problems.

Nanmen Aerospace's exclusive rocket intelligent control system can control the power output of each engine and distribute power output in real time. As long as it is not under super full load, the entire launch system has sufficient power margin. Even if several engines fail at the same time, the rocket intelligent control system can still make the rocket fly stably and continue to perform the mission.

Nanmen Aerospace also possesses a wealth of expertise in various technologies related to rocket bodies.

This also includes the core first-stage rocket cantilever recovery technology, which Nanmen Aerospace has already mastered on the Long March 7 rocket.

There are risks associated with this maiden flight of the first-stage rocket, but the technical team believes they are manageable. Even if problems arise, they will most likely occur during the boom recovery phase.

The technical challenge of the Long March 8 rocket actually lies not in the first stage, but in the second stage!

The second stage of the Long March 8 rocket is neither a traditional non-recoverable second stage nor a recoverable second stage. Instead, it follows the space shuttle technology route that Nanmen Aerospace has been working on for many years and has a relatively mature technology.

This is vastly different from the Starship, the super-heavy rocket developed by Elon Musk's SpaceX across the Pacific, which uses a two-stage reusable rocket.

The reason Musk's Starship has a two-stage recovery rocket is because they want to use this rocket directly for a Mars landing. This second-stage rocket also needs to undertake interplanetary travel and then return to Earth.

Why? Because they don't have the Yutu interstellar spacecraft, nor do they have a logistics space station to refuel it... They don't have the technology, they can't do it.

Therefore, they had no choice but to go all the way and use a two-stage reusable rocket to undertake these responsibilities, which brought higher technical risks and lower payload capacity.

To put it bluntly, this thing still follows the traditional aerospace technology route, only with the added feature of being reusable...

However, Nanmen Space's technological approach is different. Nanmen Space divides its exploration of outer space into two parts: rockets are responsible for the journey from Earth to the space station, and interplanetary spacecraft are responsible for the journey from the space station to the Moon or Mars.

To reduce transportation costs from Earth to the space station and to achieve a larger single payload capacity, Nanmen Space adopted the Space Shuttle technology approach.

Of course, this is also largely due to the fact that Nanmen Aerospace's own space shuttle technology is very mature and reliable, giving it the confidence to promote this technological route.

From the Long March 1 space shuttle launched by the Long March 5/6 rockets to the Long March 2 space shuttle now used on the Long March 7 rocket, Nanmen Space has accumulated a wealth of experience in the safe operation of space shuttles.

Eight White Dragon 1 space shuttles were built in succession. Four of them were destroyed during various experiments. The remaining four were the finalized models and would continue to be used with the remaining No. 5 and No. 6 rockets until the end of their service life, eventually becoming disposable or simply retired.

Five White Dragon 2 space shuttles have been built so far. The first three were experimental models that were destroyed for various extreme tests. The last two are cargo models that are in mass production and are currently in service.

The White Dragon 2 space shuttle is still under construction. Especially after the White Dragon 1 space shuttle is gradually retired, the White Dragon 2 space shuttle will completely take over all conventional transportation missions. At least seven or eight of them are needed to meet the intensive launch missions of the Long March 7 rocket in the future.

The main reason is that after each flight, the space shuttle needs to spend a lot of time on inspection and maintenance to ensure safety before it can carry out the next mission. To maintain flight density, a sufficient number of space shuttles are needed for rotation.

The reason why the White Dragon 1 and White Dragon 2 space shuttles suffered such a large amount of damage in the early stages of the experiment was mainly because Nanmen Aerospace liked to tinker and always liked to conduct various extreme tests... in order to find various potential problems.

The various tests of the previous space shuttles were basically aimed at destroying them... As for the test vehicle, how would we know where the limits were and where the potential problems were if we didn't explode?
This is also one of the ways Nanmen Aerospace conducts research and development: we are not afraid of you exploding, we are afraid of you exploding and not knowing where the problem lies!
This is why Nanmen Aerospace likes to install a large number of various sensors on rockets to collect all kinds of data... in order to find the cause of the problem after an explosion.

Find the problem by exposing it, and then solve it!
This is a key reason why Southgate Aerospace's rocket and space shuttle technologies have been able to advance so rapidly... If it were like the US space agency, where a space shuttle explosion would cause nationwide mourning and shock, then what would be the point?

Nanmen Aerospace has blown up seven of its Bailong 1/2 space shuttles... and they don't even care!

However, precisely because of the numerous explosions during the experiments, neither of these two space shuttles experienced any accidents in their mass-produced versions after they were officially finalized, and they still maintain a safety record of successfully completing all their missions to this day.

Of course, even so, Nanmen Space has not dared to send astronauts on the space shuttle yet, and continues to use the very mature traditional spacecraft for manned spaceflight... It may seem a bit outdated, but it's safe!

Even considering the extreme safety requirements of manned spaceflight, not only the spacecraft, but also the rocket is the traditional and mature No. 5 rocket.

For Nanmen Aerospace, the combination of the Long March 7 rocket and the Long March 2 space shuttle should be used in the field of manned spaceflight for at least four or five years before considering its application.

Unlike its aggressive strategies in the cargo space industry, Nanmen Space is actually quite conservative in the manned space industry!
As for the Red Dragon space shuttle... based on the testing phases of the previous two White Dragon space shuttles, it will probably explode several times!
However, there was no other way. The Red Dragon space shuttle was too special and could not be carried out by rockets 5, 6, or 7. It could only be carried out by rocket 8 for flight experiments because it was too big and too heavy.

This is a super-large space shuttle that is over 40 meters long and weighs over 100 tons, much larger than Bailong II.

However, it also has advantages. It can carry thousands of tons of fuel and send a payload of 230 tons into low Earth orbit.

Since there was no test platform for such a large space shuttle before, it had never conducted an actual flight test, and its flight risk was relatively high.

Overall, the technical team has great confidence in the first-stage launch phase of the Long March 8 rocket for its maiden flight... This is also why the Red Dragon space shuttle was carried directly on its first flight; no problems are expected during takeoff and ascent.

The problems will occur during the cantilever recovery phase of the first-stage rocket, as well as the flight and recovery phases of the Red Dragon space shuttle.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

When Xu Shenxue and the technical team met, they didn't put too much pressure on him. In this kind of experimental flight, failure is the norm and success is an exception.

The following morning, large numbers of tourists gathered near the launch site, stopping at various viewing points outside the safe zone to watch the launch of the Long March 8 rocket in the afternoon.

Nanmen Aerospace's official live broadcast signal has also been opened to global media. All media can access the official live broadcast signal for free to broadcast or rebroadcast. Many TV stations or large social media or video platforms have introduced the signal for live broadcasting.

Nanmen Aerospace also opened its official live streaming rooms on multiple social media platforms early on, with many hosts taking turns to promote the event.

At the scene, countless reporters from various media outlets carried their cameras and aimed them at various locations. The most prominent of these was the No. 8 rocket, which stood over 110 meters tall on the launch pad!
On this giant rocket, a huge blue SLMC is printed on it... Blue Cars paid a hefty price for this most eye-catching advertisement!

Above the huge aquamarine SLMC logo, on the fuselage of the second-stage Red Dragon space shuttle, is printed a giant Coca-Cola can.

Then, the rest of the rocket was also printed with product images, company logos, and advertising slogans from various companies...

Around the rocket launch site are eight huge billboards, displaying advertisements from companies around the world.

No matter which side the camera is shooting from, it can capture these advertising spaces!

Meanwhile, various advertising slogans were scrolling at the bottom of the official live stream, and product advertisements from various companies would occasionally pop up.

The advertising services provided by Nanmen Aerospace are quite meticulous... The client spent a lot of money on advertising, so the exposure must be sufficient!

At approximately 1:30 PM, more than 100 million viewers worldwide were watching the maiden flight of the Long March 8 rocket through television sets or various online media.
It truly has garnered global attention... Of course, it's hard to say how many people are waiting for it to explode.

They didn't have to wait long. At 1:43 PM, the official command was issued by the launch control center of Nanmen Aerospace.

The rocket has officially entered the one-minute countdown to launch!
At this moment, more than 100 million people around the world fell silent and stared at the live broadcast, waiting for the most spectacular rocket launch in human history!
Thirty seconds left!

Ten seconds left!
Everyone stared wide-eyed.

As the countdown reached its final second!
After the "ignition" command was given, the scene showed a burst of flame at the bottom of the No. 8 rocket, followed by a huge amount of water vapor!
The enormous energy released by the twenty-seven Bifang C-type engines instantly evaporated the water in the cooling pool at the bottom, creating a huge cloud of water mist.

The massive No. 8 rocket slowly rose from the water mist, and then people saw the huge jet flames released by the engine at the bottom of the rocket!

A deafening roar erupted from the scene... The twenty-seven Bifang C-type engines released not only tremendous thrust and jet flames at the moment of takeoff, but also a tremendous sonic boom!

Amidst the tremendous roar, people watched as the No. 8 rocket, over 100 meters tall, soared into the sky!
(End of this chapter)