Chapter 934 - Future Direction

Lease the port?

Musk’s proposal somewhat surprised Jiang Chen.

In Celestial Trade’s internal discussion about the profitability model of the space elevator, there was indeed options to lease the port at Celestial City.

Since it was a one-man market, the scale was limited. Rather than sharing one cake alone, it was better to make the cake bigger with everyone, and then be the person cutting the cake. Only when everyone participated in the giant market could Celestial Trade maximize its profit while avoiding unnecessary conflicts.

Imagine this, the entire world’s development of space resources must be done through the space elevator in Xin. All the freights must stop at the base station underneath the space elevator. All the resources from outer space must be transported from Xin’s port to the rest of the world. What would this mean to Xin’s economy, currency, and international standing?

Competition? Of course there would be competition.

But if Celestial Trade couldn’t out compete with SpaceX with a technology a century ahead, then Celestial Trade employees should just give up!

But what surprised Jiang Chen was that just after the space elevator’s completion, while Celestial City was just beginning to take its shape, and before the United Nations summit, Musk already thought much ahead. This indeed amazed Jiang Chen.

“What do you think? Are you interested?” Musk asked with a serious tone.

“I’m extremely interested… Or rather, I’m really surprised,” Jiang Chen said.

“Oh? Did I offend…”

“No, you’re misinterpreting me.” Jiang Chen shook his head, used his finger to move the hologram communication window from the left hand to the right hand side, then continued, “We do in fact have the intention to lease the port, but the specifics remain on paper. We can’t give you an answer now, but since you proposed this, once the United Nation summit is over and we determine a feasible plan, we’ll contact you immediately.”

With a joyous expression, Musk said passionately.

“Please!”

“Is there anything else?” Jiang Chen asked.

“Of course, there’s one more thing.” Musk smiled. “We originally planned to launch Falcon 9 at the beginning of February carrying 450 kilogram of supplies to the International Space Station. But by the looks of it now, we don’t need to waste sixty million?”

“You plan to contract NASA’s mission to us?” Jiang Chen raised his eyebrow and asked with intrigue.

Musk snapped his finger and responded.

“That’s exactly what I’m thinking.”

…

The cost of transporting out and back would be different. Depending on the type of goods, there would be some differences on the type of transporter used and the acceleration process, naturally, the quote would be different. But in any case, the transportation cost of the space elevator was definitely much lower than that of rockets.

The standard price of the Falcon 9 was 60 million US Dollars. Even if the successful recovery of the first-stage rocket could save 80% of the launch cost (the probability of success is not high), it would come with a bill as large as 12 million US Dollars. Compared with 450 kilograms of goods, the transportation cost per kilogram was as high as 26,000 US Dollars.

The quotation of Celestial Trade, together with the spaceship and its 450 kilograms supply could be sent to the geosynchronous track for a total of only 2 million Xin New Dollars. Converted to US Dollars based on current exchange rates, it would be roughly 2.15 million.

Based on the UA subsidy policy for the aerospace industry, NASA paid about 61 million US Dollars to SpaceX. If it was outsourced to Celestial, it would be almost sixty times the profit!

And they wouldn’t have to gamble on the probability of recycling the first stage rocket!

Such a tremendous profitability was more than enough to make any capitalist crazy.

Even if outsourcing a subsidized project to a foreign country may lead to dissatisfaction with the federal government, Musk still made the decision. As for how to calm the anger of NASA, he has already thought of an excuse.

In addition, Jiang Chen also tossed out an extremely attractive proposal. If the entire supplying work is outsourced to Celestial Trade and without launching the spacecraft around 8 tons in weight, the price of Celestial Trade could be reduced to several hundred thousand Xin New Dollars. However, Musk did not completely lose his mind, and declined Jiang Chen’s “good intentions.”

After hanging up the phone, Musk immediately looked at his assistant.

“Cancel the launch plan in February immediately. Package and sell Falcon rocket-related technology and try to do this before this week’s UN Outer Space Summit. I will go to the launch center in person in a bit and cancel all arrangements for me in the afternoon.”

The assistant was shocked.

“But… this is NASA’s order, and our Falcon rocket engine is already complete.”

“Other than the rocket engine, did anything else start production?” Stopping at the door, Musk turned his head and asked seriously.

“Wait a minute…” The assistant reached out to the stack of documents on his desk, flipped the one he was looking for, and quickly turned to the production progress report. “Not yet—”

“Cancel immediately. Also, package and sell the rocket engine that has already been completed. Also immediately terminate the development of the Falcon 10 rocket and allocate the extra budget to the third-generation Dragon Spacecraft.”

“But why?” the assistant couldn’t help but ask.

He thought he might be the only one besides Musk to know how much effort Musk devoted on Falcons 10 Rocket. He couldn’t believe that just after this phone call, Musk, who pushed the Falcons 10 rocket development project, ended this great project with such an understatement.

“Because it is out of date,” Musk said without hesitation.

His heart was equally full of unwillingness, but he knew, half a minute ago, he already made the most calm and wise choice in his life.

The birth of the space elevator marked the decline of the traditional rocket space, just as the tank eventually eliminated the cavalry. Even if they spent a lot of money to produce the Falcons 10 rocket, it would just be a dying struggle before dusk. The cost of the launch simply would not be competitive in front of the space elevator!

Depend on subsidy?

God, this is a capitalistic country!

They couldn’t just rely on subsidies! One day the Congressional Budget Committee would lose patience.

Looking at the struggling expression on the assistant who had worked for him for many years, Musk took a deep breath and said slowly.

“My dear Mr. Bassmore, my friend. You should be able to understand me. You should understand that at the moment, my heart is not as relaxed as I seem. The abandonment of the Falcon-series rockets does not mean giving up on everything, but it means I’m making a choice… I should be the most pained person in the whole company. But rationality tells me, I have to do this.”

“It is only a matter of time before the rocket that goes from the atmosphere to outer space becomes eliminated. The Falcon series has completed its historical mission. We learned from it, and its technology, and now we must solemnly close the coffin. I know this is very difficult… but if we don’t want this series to be our last song, then we must move forward with the trends of the world.”

“Stronger, bigger, faster; a spacecraft that can freely traverse the universe. That is our future!”