Super technology leader

Navigator Group headquarters, first conference room.

Today is another big day for the group's meeting. All the company's executives are here because the goals of the group meeting are very high and broad, unlike the meetings held within each company to solve specific problems.

However, because the group company was established, Tang Chao attends most of the group meetings.

The company has been developing for two or three years, and all the executives know that any meeting attended by Tang Chao, the company's BOSS, will not disappoint.

If there are technical difficulties, you look for the BOSS.

If there are official difficulties, you look for the BOSS.

Even if there is nothing, the BOSS can give you a big "bomb" that will shock a group of people!

With such a BOSS, they are quite happy and can maximize their abilities.

Speaking of Navigator, the BOSS is the company's navigator.

All the executives were present. While preparing their relevant field materials, they also paid attention to the dynamics of other fields, such as the most popular aerospace field globally.

There is no need to look at other forces, and there is nothing to see. The main thing is the competition between Tianxia and Meriken. The time limit for the most recent one is the space station competition.

After all, from the perspective of space transportation tools, Navigator will definitely win.

Navigator Aerospace has super-heavy launch vehicles and orbital shuttles. Although the recovery steps of "Voyager" are too many, and it is too fragmented compared to the "Starship Launch System", their nature is actually not much different. They are all over 100-ton class, but they can't catch up with the 200-ton capacity of the Long March 9.

Moreover, both are currently positioned as cargo rockets. "Voyager" is more mature and has performed multiple payload missions. The "Starship Launch System" is still in its infancy and has only conducted test flights.

Of course, "Voyager" is defined as a cargo rocket, while the "Starship Launch System" is still working hard towards "manned", "space refueling", and "space voyage".

There is nothing to say about manned space equipment in low Earth orbit. Navigator is definitely the leader. Now everyone knows that its orbital shuttle is the best manned space equipment in the world.

Now that we have reached the space station stage, we must compete.

This is a collision between commercial companies, but Navigator is already fighting one against two.

"…The official launch date for the space tourism project is set for January 10th, which is 10 days from now. The company can start operating after the meeting. You can discuss when to announce it."

Tang Chao said to Chen Jing.

"Understood, we will discuss it after the meeting." Chen Jing nodded.

Tang Chao just talks about some general directions or determines the specific time of a project, and then they execute it. However, when it comes to space tourism, Chen Jing also asked about the current situation.

"There is something I want to say, President Tang. Recently, Gero's inflatable space station has entered orbit, which has also aroused discussion in all sectors of society. You should have seen it, right? Should we take some measures?"

If it were in a general company, with Chen Jing's position as the general manager of the group, these things would not need to be discussed in a meeting at all. She would directly state a goal and order the public relations department to do it. However, Navigator Group is different from general companies. Its pyramid's top is Tang Chao.

Tang Chao is also different from the general company BOSS. He always has some unexpected operations. Although it has been proven afterward that these operations are benign and positive, the sudden new tasks will definitely affect some projects that the company has already arranged.

So after a few times, Chen Jing understood. She leaves some flexibility when arranging projects and asks Tang Chao every time.

After confirming that Tang Chao has no unexpected operations, she proceeds according to the arranged project sequence.

If Tang Chao wants to do something, then the flexible sequence can let him add something, so as not to cause problems with the normal operation of the company.

It's like on the highway, it's very dangerous to cut in line casually. Not only can cars be destroyed and people killed, but it may also block a bunch of cars, even shutting down the entire highway.

If the distance between cars is increased, then it is no problem for a sudden car to cut in, and it is not called cutting in line, it is called overtaking.

Tang Chao is leading Navigator to overtake all the time.

Hearing Chen Jing ask this, Tang Chao said: "It's up to you. They don't pose a threat to us at all. I won't do anything unexpected recently, don't worry."

"You also know the progress of the company's follow-up projects. Our next device is the key for humans to survive stably in space. Other space stations can't affect us at all."

Chen Jing knew what Tang Chao was talking about because that project started very early. At that time, the group company had not yet been established, so other executives also knew what the BOSS was talking about, and they all smiled.

Why do they all admire Tang Chao?

It is because Tang Chao is leading Navigator to fly all the time.

When the company's technology reaches a certain height, especially when the BOSS's vision reaches a certain level, some things are really not a big deal.

If it were other companies, like this kind of competition in the same category of goods, and the opponent's equipment is indeed larger than their own company's, general companies would definitely panic, and then do some publicity and public relations to bring the situation back.

Navigator is different. It has passed that stage, or they have more awesome "publicity", directly create a killer equipment, and then completely reverse the situation.

This topic quickly passed, and the next topic followed.

"The equipment manufacturing progress of the Tianting Space Station project is smooth…"

"The first batch of Voyager modules are already in manufacturing…"

"The moon base module is manufacturing smoothly…"

"The manufacturing equipment for the virtual reality helmet is all in place. After debugging, it can be fully put into production. The output of the virtual reality helmet in the first month can reach 100,000…"

………………

Because Navigator did not respond, the competition on space stations on the Internet became more and more intense. I don't know if there are other people contributing to it. Anyway, when the inflatable space station has no decoration and is still in a "balloon" state, its status exceeds the "Starry Sky Inn", which can be officially operated at any time.

Perhaps it is really big.

But this is not the key. After all, Navigator knows that it will officially operate the space tourism project in a few days, and that inflatable space station is conservatively estimated… it will take half a year to put into use.

But one day, some photos suddenly appeared on the Internet. It was a special aircraft.

The Internet has memory, so someone quickly dug up the information of that aircraft.

That is the legendary "Adventure Star" spaceplane. Meriken actually made it!

"Damn, no way, didn't they give up on it in the first place? What is this sudden 'big bomb'?"

"Could it be that they pulled out the experimental machine 'X-33'? How could the 'Adventure Star' suddenly appear?"

"Some大佬 have already calculated the size. Compared with the people, vehicles, and buildings next to it, it is definitely 40 meters in size!"

"Meriken is indeed the light of mankind. The spaceplane has been built like this. Awesome!"

"Have you ever seen it? This is just a larger Dart orbital shuttle. How is it a spaceplane? Do you know what the concept of a spaceplane is?"

"This thing is only a little bigger than the Dart orbital shuttle, just like that inflatable space station. It has no other function. It is even more complicated to launch than the orbital shuttle. It can only be launched like a rocket on a fixed launch position, and it can only land on the runway when it returns."

"So that's how it is. I thought it was a spaceplane. It scared me."

"I know this aircraft. It takes off at 1,000 tons and has a payload of more than 20 tons. It is directly ten times that of the orbital shuttle. How can we play this?"

"Navigator is no longer good. Meriken is still awesome. They can build this thing."

All of a sudden, the Internet exploded. After all, Internet information is transmitted the fastest. Other media will follow up after a while, but this is enough to affect the world.

After all, even if someone does not look at the Internet, his friends will definitely look at it, and then spread it. Although it may not be very clear, it is enough.

As a 5G surfer, Tang Chao naturally knew about this as soon as possible.

Compared to those ordinary netizens, as the BOSS of an aerospace company, with a smart housekeeper, and with many black technologies, he collected a lot more information.

Still his seaside villa. He was talking to the little green men on Mars. Those Internet information triggered the "warning mechanism" he set. The smart housekeeper immediately notified him.

Because there are supercomputers and intelligent systems, Tang Chao has really become a 24-hour online person. The information on the Internet definitely comes the fastest. Those information are very important, so he set some judgment mechanisms.

The most ⊥ new ⊥ small ⊥ said ⊥ is ⊥ in ⊥ six ⊥ 9 ⊥⊥ book ⊥⊥ bar ⊥⊥ first ⊥ hair!

If any information meets the judgment criteria, the smart housekeeper will immediately notify him.

Or when he is not there, the smart housekeeper will store it and track the development of the event, collect important node information, and notify him as soon as he appears.

This time, after he read the relevant information and determined that it was really the "Adventure Star", he sighed: "Meriken has also fallen. They even learned from me what 'It's okay if you don't chirp, but when you do, you shock everyone'. Dogzi… Ah no, Meriken, you have changed."

If it was according to Meriken's previous state, they would have announced the plan as soon as it came out, and they would definitely post a dynamic every time they made a part, so as to cause a wave of waves.

At that time, they must have thought: "Anyway, no one can catch up with me. These displays are conducive to improving my image of invincible technology."

Now it's different. This dogzi will even hide it. There is no news at all, and they come up with the whole finished product.

Complete Adventure Star… spaceplane.

Meriken defines it this way.

It is also a kind of verbal advantage.

Those pictures should not have been leaked or secretly taken unintentionally, but should have been actively released, because not long after, the Meriken Aerospace Agency released some detailed data and clearer photos.

However, Tang Chao's research found that it seems a bit… useless.

"It tastes bland, but it's a pity to throw it away."

First of all, don't look at its size, but it contains very little, and its payload bay is fixed and cannot be changed.

Although it is 40 meters long and wide and more than 10 meters high, its cargo hold is at most 20 meters long and 5 meters in diameter, which is about the same as the carrying capacity of a heavy rocket.

Like the original Long March 5, it also had a take-off weight of about 1,000 tons and a payload of more than 20 tons. The fairing can use 20 meters * 5 meters. Now the Adventure Star is similar, about 1,000 tons, a payload of more than 20 tons, and the cargo hold is similar.

Originally, the Adventure Star's main feature was reusability and smooth landing, which the previous Long March 5 did not have.

But after Navigator traded some technology, the new version of Long March 5 can also be recycled and reused, and its take-off weight is actually only more than 800 tons, which is much smaller than the Adventure Star's take-off weight of 1,200 tons.

The key is that the payloads of the two are similar.

Then, there are the advantages of the Long March 5. Its "cargo hold", that is, the fairing, can be changed. Not to mention making it smaller, the focus is that it can be made larger.

The 5-meter diameter fairing is its standard fairing, as thick as its core stage, but throughout the history of rocket design and manufacturing, the fairing can usually be made larger than the rocket, so the Long March 5 can use 6-meter, 7-meter, 8-meter, or even larger fairings.

As long as the weight of the payload is still more than 20 tons, even if the payload exceeds the core stage diameter, it can still be transported into space.

Like the small rotating simulated gravity cabin that Navigator will launch in the future, its contracted diameter can reach more than ten meters, so the "Voyager" rocket with a core stage of only 5 meters will have a fairing with a diameter of 15 meters.

Tang Chao tested it in Kanxing using Kanxing technology, and it… is feasible!

But the Adventure Star's cargo hold is not good. It is only that big and cannot be changed, so it can only transport equipment with a diameter of less than 5 meters.

This restriction is too big.

Like the "Starship Launch System", it can also be 100% recycled, but it is divided into two sections, but its cargo hold diameter is much larger.

Except that the landing is a bit violent compared to the Adventure Star's horizontal landing, other performances are much better.

And if you pursue that little "smoothness" of horizontal landing, the secondary small space shuttle Dream Chaser can also achieve it. It lands horizontally on the runway.

Then talk about its new mission - manned.

The initial design of the Adventure Star was an unmanned cargo spaceplane, and now it has been added to the manned mission.

Manned is different from cargo. It requires a lot of life support equipment, especially its payload of up to 20 tons. It will definitely not carry only a few people like the orbital shuttle with a payload of 2.5 tons, but must carry dozens or hundreds of people.

If it is also used for space tourism, dozens or hundreds of people, the corresponding number of crew and service personnel must also increase, at least accounting for one-tenth of the number of people.

It cannot directly take off on the runway, it needs a special launch pad, and it can only be launched after being erected.

Because its wingspan is as wide as 40 meters, ordinary rockets do not have that "width" at all, so a new launch pad needs to be built.

Various equipment and services will definitely lead to an increase in launch costs, which is estimated to be at least 150 million U.S. dollars.

If this money were to be distributed among space tourists, with a manned capacity of 100, minus 10 service personnel, that leaves 90 passengers.

Each person would have to pay at least $1,666,666.

And that's just the cost price. If they want to make a profit, each passenger might have to shell out $2 million to enter space.

Although it's cheaper than previous manned spaceflights, with Wayfinder's price of $1 million per person, they've doubled it!

People can do the math. Even if it's complex and hard to calculate, it's still easy to figure out that $1 million is significantly less than $2 million.

There's simply no comparison.

So, commercial manned spaceflight is a bit of a double-edged sword.

(Modified) ... Watching 'Run for Young' on Bilibili is both sweet and heartbreaking. Qin Ge's death feels too jarring, and the rating has plummeted. I've watched it drop from 9.4 to the current 9.1, and I estimate it will fall below 9.