Chapter 899

In a factory building at the former site of the Pacific Vista Hughes Aircraft Company in the southern suburb of Los Angeles.

March 4, Monday.

Simon still arrived on time at eight in the morning.

24 hours later, in this 70 meter long and 30 meter wide factory building, which is the same size as the large studio of the studio, the air with the smell of welding arc is also mixed with an obvious smell of sweat, indicating that someone has been working here for a long time.

Not counting the staff in charge of the referee or assistance, there were only 43 interviewees left in yesterday's 50 interviews, a total of nine groups. As Simon had expected, half of the team continued to work. However, to Simon's satisfaction, the team that had completed its own project had no rest and was helping others.

Simon didn't care why the other seven people left, announced the end of the interview in person, and directly asked the accompanying NASA test team to check the rocket parts made by the interviewers. The aerospace field has lasted for half a century. NASA has a set of perfect standard agreements for various software and hardware equipment related to the aerospace industry.

All night long, the exhausted interviewers are taken to the apartment next door to wash, and then there will be elite's beautiful models to bring breakfast.

Simon was not idle. He sat at a workbench and personally read the detailed records of the referee team on the work of each group of interviewers in the past 24 hours. The referees were all professionals in the field of NASA rocket testing. Although Simon did not intend to employ these people, he was more than enough to be an interviewer temporarily.

This is only the third round of the interview and will not confirm the final result.

Simon also doesn't intend to decide whether to hire the other team according to whether the teams have completed their tasks. He prefers to judge whether the client meets his requirements according to the records of these interviewers.

Half an hour later, the interviewers came back from the apartment next door one after another. The inspection of NASA team was still going on. A row of seats were lined up on the open space near the entrance of the factory. More than ten tall and beautiful women were putting breakfast. When they saw the people returning, several of them invited them to sit down.

The fourth time.

From yesterday to now, there are four waves of beautiful girls delivering meals. Most of the interviewers who are still bachelors, regardless of their appearance or stature, are enraged. Some of the more relaxed interviewers have chatted up with each other and even asked for their contact information. As everyone knows, this is a professional model Simon westroth hired to deliver their meals.

In addition, all kinds of food on this day and night, including Italian, French, Chinese, Mexican and other countries' food, even if most of them have rich income, they are usually not easy to eat.

Food and beauty.

Vulgar!

This is the first reaction of some interviewers who understand Simon westero's intention.

However, if you can, please continue!

Elon Musk and the other three members of the same group who gathered together yesterday returned with a new suit of clothes provided here. Even if they didn't have a rest for 24 hours, they were still in high spirits, especially when they saw a group of beautiful girls appear.

A little look, this wave of girls and changed people, but still a water of long legs, thin waist, beautiful face.

If I can marry one back, I'm sure it's good.

Of course, at this time, you are more concerned about whether you can get the job. You know a little bit about the world, and you can feel Simon westero's attention to SpaceX in many details from yesterday to now. In the past 24 hours, in the process of busy discussion with a small team, musk also found one thing.

The core of the Internet industry promoted by Simon westero is three companies, Cisco, AOL and igritte. The three companies cover the three major fields of Internet device providers, Internet service providers and Internet content providers, forming a completed industrial chain.

Now, the total market value of these three companies is close to $900 billion.

This is an obvious reference.

This time, SpaceX, SolarCity and fusion times, one is aviation, the other is photovoltaic and the other is nuclear fusion. Even though they are not as closely related as Cisco, AOL and igrit, they are also involved in the whole industrial chain of human beings going to space.

SpaceX provides space technology to send humans out of the earth.

Photovoltaic technology provided by SolarCity can be widely used in space.

The controllable nuclear fusion technology provided by fusion times is the fundamental energy source for human beings to go to the universe. Otherwise, only relying on the mainstream fossil energy at the present stage can not support the expansion of human beings in the solar system or even in a wider range.

Half a century ago, with the continuous breakthroughs in the field of aerospace, many people began to fantasize about human entering the space age, but this day has never come.

Now, according to Simon westero's plan, it may or may not be true.At nine o'clock.

Everyone has returned, and quickly finished breakfast, Simon came from the work area, holding a shape similar to that of a hydraulic jack in the eyes of ordinary people, but these people at the scene all know that Simon's hand is an aviation actuator, which is widely used in the aviation field to realize aircraft, rocket and other spacecraft through hydraulic transmission An important part of balancing or steering.

Sitting together, Elon Musk's team couldn't help looking at each other and their eyes lit up.

The parts Simon westero brought at this time are the works of their group of four. Speaking of them, Musk's group was originally composed of five people. One of them didn't stick to it yesterday. He thought the job was a waste of time, so he took the initiative to quit before noon yesterday.

Elon Musk still remembers that guy's self introduction is a double master's degree in quantum physics and mechanical engineering from Stanford University. He is very proud of him. It's a pity for him to quit. Otherwise, his group should be able to finish their work in 12 hours and get bonus points by helping others.

After the other side quit, a group of four finally spent 21 hours to complete the actuator in Simon's hands.

In order to process the transmission shaft of the actuator, four people even learned how to use a precision lathe in 21 hours, which was beyond the ordinary people's learning ability, which made the lathe technician who was responsible for helping to ensure safety a little surprised.

The key is that the spare parts processed by the four people after they learned how to make them meet the requirements.

Simon came to the middle of the dining table, put down the actuator in his hand, motioned to everyone not to get up, and said with a smile: "although some of you didn't finish the work, I've seen all of you, and all of you still left behind have done their best. What I want to say is that if you get this job, this is your future work status."

Simon's voice dropped, and a tall young man with brown hair across the table raised his hand slightly. He got Simon's signal and pointed to the food on the table and the models left in the nearby rest area with a smile: "Mr. westrow, is that the same?"

Everyone laughed.

Simon didn't mind this kind of cross. He also showed a smile and said, "the girls over there just come to help us improve our spirits. If you want to have a follow-up, you have to ask them out by yourself. However, in terms of food, although it does not meet the standards of the past four meals, because you are all the elites among the elites selected by me, the future catering standards will certainly be much better than those of your original company. In addition, this is Los Angeles, my site. As long as you are interested, there will be many opportunities to participate in various star parties in the future. "

Hearing the speech, all of them made a satisfied noise, and the models waiting nearby looked at it curiously.

Simon motioned for everyone to be quiet, patted the actuator in front of him, and said, "I don't need to introduce what this is. You must know more than me. What I want to ask is, does anyone know what is the quotation in the industry for purchasing such a professional actuator? "

Simon's question came out, and the young man who had just joked immediately said, "I know that, about 100000 dollars."

Simon nodded slightly and said, "well, what do you think the cost of this equipment in my hand is?"

There was some doubt.

As the client, Elon Musk has understood Simon's intention to bring the device, not to praise them. However, he is not disappointed. At this time, he said: "Mr. westrow..."

Simon interrupted a little: "just call me Simon."

Elon Musk stopped slightly and changed his name: "Simon, this device is made by my team. I don't know the price of various sensors and other spare parts. However, in my opinion, the cost of this device should not exceed $10000."

"That's right. In fact, regardless of the human factors, the total value of all the accessories on this device is only $3900, while the quotation of the same type of actuator, a professional manufacturer certified by NASA, is $120000," Simon said, looking at the crowd again, and continued: "just now NASA's test team has tested this device, 10 points, he said They gave a score of 9.5, which is basically in line with the aviation standard. So, 120000 dollars and 3900 dollars, what do you think? "

When people heard the words, they didn't know how to express them.

Simon waited for a moment, but no one responded. He said: "I said yesterday that SpaceX is not a big toy invested by a super rich man on a whim, but a company that really wants to change the aerospace field and promote the future of mankind. Therefore, I need you to bring about a real change in the quality of the aerospace industry, not only based on the technology of our predecessors, but also the cost. "

"Traditional aerospace equipment manufacturers, such as Boeing, need 1200 suppliers to provide components to build a rocket, because each supplier needs to ensure its own profit, which greatly increases the cost of the aerospace industry. Moreover, because the technology is too scattered, it also hinders the progress and innovation of the industry to a large extent. All these are things that SpaceX needs to abandon . My operation idea for SpaceX is to maximize the self-design and production of all aerospace equipment components, including the core rocket engine, and the ultimate goal is to achieve 100% self production. ""Maybe some of you already think this is crazy. How can a company complete all the work in the aerospace field on its own?"

"But in the 24 hours from yesterday to now, you have proved that you have this ability. Next, it's just a further challenge. If you still think it's impossible, then you can quit now. If you want to try this challenge, the last interview, three days time, write a detailed self-report to me, not those rigid introduction, I want you to describe in detail, in SpaceX's first personally design and manufacture of a launch vehicle workflow, what aspects of work can you be competent for. "

"OK, that's all for today."

Simon said, once again vigorous with a crowd of followers to leave.

Because it was Monday and the schedule was very tight, Simon arrived by helicopter. After the event, the Black Hawk helicopter took off from Praia vista, crossed the port of mariandel, which is densely populated by private cruise ships, and flew straight to maribudanilis Studios on the other side of Los Angeles Bay.

The work of the morning is the trivia of the westero system.

In the afternoon, according to the schedule, return to the recent plans.

Simon left for San Francisco at one o'clock in the afternoon and arrived in Palo Alto an hour later. In an ordinary office building near Stanford University, there is a start-up company, which has been bought by westero in advance. The company is also a new technology field, mainly developing a new technology, 3D printing.

It's a new technology. In fact, the concept of 3D printing sprouted with the emergence of camera technology as early as the end of the 19th century. In the 1980s, this technology was quite mature, but it didn't develop much because of the lack of practical application direction.

In Simon's memory, many years later, there was a boom of 3D printing in China. From the current point of view, it should also be a kind of industrial hype to obtain venture capital. Later, it gradually died down. Because 3D printing is difficult to achieve large-scale industrial production, we can only play with the concept. If it is really used to produce cars or shoes, the cost is too high and it is not cost-effective at all.

However, Simon remembers that 3D printing is really suitable or perfect for space field.

3D printing seems to be very high-end. In fact, it's still a kind of model making technology, but 3D is more high-end. It can make complex models that can't be completed by traditional industrial modeling methods.

The most typical one in my memory is rocket engine.

With the traditional manufacturing method, many parts can not be formed at one time, so they can only be made separately for splicing and assembly. As a result, a rocket engine has more than 1000 parts, and the manufacturing cycle is long. Usually, a rocket engine takes six months to complete.

In contrast, the rocket engine manufactured by 3D printing technology can be molded at one time, and the number of parts is directly reduced from more than 1000 to less than 100. In the aerospace field, a screw often leads to the failure of rocket launch, which costs tens of millions of dollars. The reason is that there are too many parts, which increases the uncertainty of rocket launch.

If the number of parts is reduced to one tenth of the original, we can imagine how much it will promote the success rate of rocket launch.

In addition, 3D printing technology can greatly shorten the construction cycle of rocket engine. The original half year manufacturing process, even including the early modeling and later testing, only takes one month.

The reduction of parts, the substantial increase of stability and the substantial shortening of construction cycle will eventually be reflected in the construction cost of a rocket.

Simon's assumption is that if the plan is extended to the whole colonial space cycle, the rocket will definitely be eliminated. Even though the US space shuttle program has suffered all kinds of setbacks and is now on the verge of abandonment, Simon also believes that this is the real right direction and will continue to move in this direction in the future.

Now, in the short term, what Simon needs to do is to carry out technological changes and substantially reduce the cost of rocket manufacturing, so as to compete with the old Aerospace Manufacturers for commercial orders and realize the sustainable business model of SpaceX itself.

SpaceX has proved that technological change and cost reduction are not contradictory.

With Simon's in-depth understanding of the industry, he firmly believes that.

For example, 3D printing, as long as it is applied in practice, can hardly reduce the cost of spacecraft manufacturing. At the same time, 3D printing itself is a big step forward for the entire aerospace industry.

It's like the human laziness that drives technological progress.

The pursuit of low cost will also encourage a company to adopt more advanced technology.

The first stage of SpaceX is just the development of a low-cost launch vehicle, which seems to be no progress. However, in this process, Simon intends to accumulate and apply various new technologies that have emerged in human society in the past 30 years as far as possible on the basis of predecessors, which will actually bring a progress in many fields, such as cutting-edge materials, mechanical engineering, electronic technology and so on.On the other hand, the development of SpaceX, SolarCity and fusiontimes will bring about an all-round scientific and technological leap forward, because these three companies have basically covered all aspects of the field of cutting-edge science and technology at the present stage of mankind.