What the hell is a private enterprise?

Chapter 657 Investing in the Moon
As is well known, the essence of space exploration is making empty promises and failing to deliver.

Although it is now 1998 and the first unmanned verification spacecraft of Shenzhou has not yet been completed, the space agency's space program is actually almost scheduled to land on Mars - referring to the internal, non-public version of the space agency's plan.

Tang Wen had learned about this when he went to the Fifth Academy to help with the development of aerial camera modules:

As early as 96, the Long March 5 Heavy (CZ-5H) project was proposed, which planned to use a 8-meter diameter rocket body to bundle eight 3.5-meter diameter boosters, with a LEO payload capacity of 70 tons, and the goal of landing on the moon.

The even more powerful "841 rocket," the predecessor of the Long March 9, the LEO super heavy rocket with a payload capacity of 100 tons, has already taken shape, and even the engine model has been decided in advance.

At that time, the domestic aerospace community believed that after the completion of the manned space program, the next step would be to land on the moon, and then continue to land on Mars, Jupiter, and Venus...

当然唐文知道后来的事实是咕咕咕……CZ-5H直接鸽没了，基础型的CZ-5要2016年才首飞，登月的长征十号要27年才首飞距离现在30年。

At that time, Qian Lin'an believed that the manned spaceflight would lead to a lunar landing in a few years, but he did not know that the CZ-5 rocket, which was worthy of building a new low-latitude launch site, would not appear until 20 years later.

However, this was not because things went too smoothly as he had imagined. Rather, the aerospace technology of Dongda University itself was quite strong. By the late 70s, it was fully capable of sending astronauts into space. However, due to the high investment and low returns, the project was repeatedly delayed until after the 863 Program, when it was finally approved. Moreover, the investment was really small and the priority was not high at all.

The main reason for the slow development of the space agency is to save money. Its main business is to focus on profitable and urgently needed tasks such as Beidou, GPS, and geostationary orbit communication. Plans such as astronaut spaceflight, space station and later lunar landing are all based on how much spare money is available to pursue dreams, which is quite pragmatic.

Qian Lin'an had long since retired from aerospace work and was no longer responsible for specific plans. While he could still offer some guidance, he naturally hoped to accelerate the process as much as possible, ideally landing on the moon as soon as the millennium arrived. He didn't care about the specific difficulties involved.

Just like the Empire at this time, although the Apollo program had ended decades ago and NASA had no rockets to land on the moon, everyone in the Empire firmly believed that returning to the moon was just a matter of time. As a result, they later had to consider the economic factors that they had paid the least attention to during the Cold War, and they became old pigeons.

Should we invest in our dream of going to the moon?
Tang Wen looked at Qian Lin'an without speaking, and the latter thought that he was questioning his moon landing plan, so he explained:
"Rockets are not a high-tech problem; they are an engineering control problem that integrates multiple technologies. As long as we concentrate our resources, there are not many difficulties with current technology. It is necessary to build low-latitude launch sites in advance."

"We'll develop a medium-lift cargo rocket with a LEO payload capacity of 25 tons in the next five years or so, and a lunar rocket with a LEO payload capacity of 70 tons in the next ten years. Who knows, I might even see that happen."

Tang Wen wondered: Will spaceships appear in the LV3 shipyard?
It's possible, but more likely it isn't. The mission explicitly mentions the modern tech tree—and there might even be an event that introduces interstellar warships.

For example, Crimson Thunder is such a supermodel ship, but its magical abilities come from inexplicable magical technology, and it cannot be analyzed or replicated to create any effective magical technology.

In this scenario, having two interstellar warships might allow one to dominate the world, but such an unrepeatable miracle would be of little significance, or we might have to wait until the LV4 shipyard to have technology that surpasses modern standards.

There are many years during this period to play around with chemical rockets... which is not a bad thing. Moreover, Qian Lin'an is still around. Can anyone be more capable and determined than him?
Most importantly, he remembered that he had visited the Johnson Space Center during his first trip to the United States, where there was a complete Saturn V rocket, which he had toured but had not touched.

The rocket's first, second, and third stages were pieced together from the test ship and unlaunched sections, manufactured entirely according to launch requirements, and theoretically, it could have been launched back then.

Moreover, the Saturn V was launched in 69, which means that most of the technology it carried was from 65, so it would not have been expensive to replicate.

[Current experience: 1164500]

"Professor Qian, you should remember that the Dragon Group has channels in many companies in the Empire."

"Oh, I know that. You guys are amazing."

"If, and I mean if, Nanyang has the design data for the Saturn V rocket and can find a way to manufacture some key components, such as the rocket engines used in the Saturn V, is it possible for us to restore or redesign a lunar rocket comparable to the Saturn V?"

Qian Lin'an was somewhat dazed:
“Manufacturing? You mean manufacturing? The Saturn V has been out of production for thirty years. There are no jigs, custom equipment, or production blueprints left. How are you going to manufacture it? Even if NASA came, they couldn’t restart it. Just sorting through the data would take two years.”

Tang Wen: "Well... in short, we can build them secretly. The materials for seven or eight rockets aren't that many, and we can supply them. It's only a few dozen engines in total. We have the most skilled old Hannover-class technicians who can handcraft them. This year, I might be able to provide you with a few brand-new F1 engines to take a look at." Qian Lin'an nodded mechanically.
"Okay, what's next?"

Tang Wen turned to face him and pointed very seriously to himself:
"I have so much money I can't spend it all. The oil production in the Nansha Islands is 6.5 tons and continues to grow at a rate of 5000 tons per month. The Natuna oil field will be mined in the second half of the year, reaching a daily production of at least 5 tons by the end of the year and increasing even faster."

This meant that by the end of 98, I was producing at least 15 tons of oil per day. Even considering low prices and taxes, that meant tens of millions of dollars in revenue per day, and the more I spent, the more I had—it was impossible to use it all up.

Qian Lin'an's eyelids twitched as he listened, and he saw a deep sense of confusion and bewilderment on Tang Wen's face.

The mystery of earning millions of dollars a day while lying down?!
Doesn't a daily production of 15 tons mean an annual production of 5000 million tons?!
"So why not use this money to do something meaningful? Professor Qian, I'm investing in the lunar landing program with technology and funds without having to consider any economic factors or mortgaging the future. Plus, I still have 100 billion in savings... Let's invest in the lunar landing dream not for any kind of leadership, but simply because we are willing to use our surplus resources to do something meaningful."

Perhaps this money could be spent on other things to improve the living conditions in many places, or to make our army stronger, but looking up at the sky is also important and worth all the effort we should put into it.

Let's set a small goal... five years. How about spending 100 billion in five years? If that's not enough, we'll add more. There's no upper limit. You decide and lead everything, and I'll provide everything you need.

"I……"

Qian Lin'an hadn't felt that kind of inspiring power that nearly suffocated him and left him speechless for a long time, and now he had lost consciousness.

Tang Wen's eyes held an unfathomable ambition and pursuit—an infinite pursuit of spiritual and material things from an era of material abundance.

Qian Lin'an knew he was a devil, a real devil.

Countless funds, an unfathomable pool of technology, and unwavering belief to support it.

Did Tang Wen also get the navy to buy so many warships in the same way before?
"A lunar landing is a complex system plan that requires full cooperation from telemetry, tracking, and command, biology, and aerospace. It cannot be accomplished by a single company."

Qian Lin'an brought the topic to reality by first posing a question.

This is an indisputable fact. It is not yet time for us to be able to buy all kinds of advanced industrial products at will in 20 years. High-end and key areas are still controlled by state-owned enterprises, and we cannot do without their cooperation.

The significant progress of the future space fork came from NASA's support after the cancellation of the Constellation program. At the same time, most of the private aerospace companies in China had official backgrounds. More importantly, at that time, the technical strength of private suppliers was in no way inferior to that of state-owned enterprises, and they could even do better.

Given the current situation, even if Tang Wen were to replicate the rocket, it would be almost impossible for Gaijin to launch it successfully—unless a ship girl were to ride in it.

Tang Wen: "Have you seen the articles 'Party A' and 'Party B'?"

Qian Lin'an: "I've seen it. It's an interesting comedy."

"Then, do you think I can be Party A?"

"I can't ask for it."

Qian Lin'an answered in his heart, but did not say it aloud. He simply patted Tang Wen's firm chest forcefully:

"Come back to the capital with me. This is a big deal, Party A."

(End of this chapter)