Chapter 208 Invitation

What can China do with 50 billion? You can build an aircraft carrier, a bare ship.

The executive meeting approved 50 billion for the Shuguang Project, which was influenced by the generosity of Aramco's exchange of a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier for a Saturn V in the last century. They felt that it was worthwhile to spend the money for an aircraft carrier in exchange for an early moon landing.

As a result, Project 909 will take away another 50 billion, and the Third Academy also reported that the entire project plan will cost at least 100 billion.

At least, this means that there will definitely be overspending.

The biggest reason why it is so expensive is still on H2.

When Xinyuan received the military's inquiry for H2, it did not quote immediately, because they themselves did not know the cost of the H2 nuclear-powered version, and it took some effort to give an estimated price.

Lin Ju initially planned to build two H2M conventional versions and two H2 nuclear-powered versions. After calculation, the manufacturing cost of H2M is 3 billion, and H2 is 4.5 billion. The latter has a research and development cost of 11 billion yuan per unit.

The price of H2 is almost ten times that of H1!

If H2 is to be sold, Xinyuan gave a friendly price: 13 billion.

After communicating with the military, we know that their demand is about five, so the unit price of seven H2s is about 6.4 billion, and the profit of doubling the price can only be said to be average.

In other words, not counting other things, it will cost at least 65 billion to purchase 5 H2s...

Including spare parts, future upgrades, etc., the 909 project will invest about 300 billion yuan in ten years.

Although it seems that the government does not blink an eye when investing hundreds of billions or trillions of dollars in other fields such as automobiles and real estate, it is different for military procurement.

Investing 300 billion in the automotive field will drive a trillion-dollar market, solve millions of jobs in the upstream and downstream of an industrial chain, provide income for millions of families and tens of millions of people, and create more value around the growth of car ownership.

300 billion for military equipment, unless you find a way to use 300 billion to "beg" some from other partners, otherwise the 300 billion will be spent in real terms and will not benefit the economy at all.

So the superiors dared to continue the space race, and the arms race... at least they had to be cautious.

However, after the rapid implementation of the Dawn Plan, the national economy seemed to grow faster than expected last year, so the 909 project was finally approved.

…

July 21, 6 a.m. Beijing time.

Lin Ju put on his space suit, took a reluctant look at the space station, then went through the passage and entered the Progress.

15 days later, it was time to return to the ground.

During this period, Lin Ju conducted three consecutive extravehicular activities, and even performed a maintenance work on the solar panels of the space station, which satisfied his astronaut addiction.

At least two astronauts accompanied him in each extravehicular activity. The longest time of the three extravehicular activities was 70 minutes, and there were no accidents.

Lin Ju liked the feeling of going out of the cabin, especially when he left the space station and floated alone in space.

When he did not touch the space station compartment for the first time, pushed himself away and adjusted his posture to lean against the only man-made object around him, he was nervous at first, but he would slowly relax after adapting.

The limbs can be spread out in the freest and most relaxed posture without any restraint, as if they have disappeared. If you don't move deliberately, you can't even feel it.

There is no place to borrow force except the rope. As long as you don't tighten it, you will be trapped in orbit forever in theory. You will become a low-orbit satellite orbiting the earth. It may slow down and descend due to atmospheric resistance in thousands of years until it enters the atmosphere and burns to ashes.

This feeling is both terrifying and extremely attractive, making people unable to stop.

If the time is right, when he is in the universe like this, the light that is not strong will make people lose their grasp of the distance. The whole person seems to be tightly wrapped by the universe, like a mother's womb wrapping a baby, although it is compact but not claustrophobic.

At this time, looking down, the earth is just under your feet. It is so big that it is difficult to contain with your vision. It is thrilling. Staring at it will make your legs weak, as if you are falling down all the time.

This is an experience that you will never have on Earth. It is no wonder that humans yearn for space forever. If you can experience this feeling yourself, you will understand that it is all worthwhile to use huge manpower and material resources, spend tens of billions of funds, years of hard work, harsh selection and training, and pressure from public opinion.

At least for Lin Ju, he has never felt that he has such a strong belief in space.

Deep in the boundless space, there is a blue planet under his feet, an endless sea of ​​stars around him, and a galaxy that stretches for tens of thousands of light years. The human society on Earth is rapidly moving away from him, and the whole person's mind seems to have entered a high dimension.

The starry sky, no matter which timeline, should be the most extreme and noble pursuit of mankind.

No matter what the purpose of the system is, no matter how it performs those miraculous events, this should not affect his belief in exploring the universe.

"Lin Ju, Lin Ju?"

Li Wei finally woke up his boss who was looking out the window, then floated over to help him fasten his seat belt, and said with a smile:

"Space is worth lingering in. We still have ten minutes to leave the space station, and there is more than an hour of deceleration before returning to the atmosphere, so we can still see for a long time.

And you will have many opportunities to come up in the future, and it will be no problem to come up at least once a year."

Li Wei's words revealed a slight sadness. He is over 50 years old. This time he went to space as an explanation. It not only fulfilled his dream, but also completed the above tasks.

He has ridden in a spacecraft, driven a space shuttle, entered the space station, and left the spacecraft. He has no regrets in life.

He is no longer suitable for scientific research tasks. The opportunity to go to space is still precious. The opportunity should be left to young people, to team members who have not yet been to space, and to experts who can play a greater role.

He has never told anyone about these ideas, but everyone around him knows it, and Lin Ju also knows it. While admiring him, he can't help but feel a little sad.

Astronauts who have spent huge manpower and material resources to train should not retreat behind the scenes after completing a few missions.

"Captain Li, the first batch of candidates for the Dawn Plan should be announced, right?"

Li Wei was stunned. He didn't know why Lin Ju suddenly asked this, but he nodded:

"The six people in the official crew and backup crew have been selected, but I can't say who they are. Besides, it doesn't mean there will be no changes."

Lin Ju: "I don't want to ask who they are. I want to say that if you are not in the list, I would like to invite you to serve as the commander of the first batch of crew members of Xinyuan's manned lunar mission.

The people of Xinyuan Company are relatively young, and they need experienced and calm people to lead the team on the moon. I think you are very suitable."