Chapter 692 Competitor

The bidding conference is over.

After Lu Zhou, many research institutes and aerospace companies that have close cooperation with national defense units showed their technologies on the PPT, although many of them had more exaggerated concepts than the PPT presented by Lu Zhou. Figure, but everyone seems to have no desire to complain.

In this way, in this weird atmosphere, the bidding conference came to an end.

After the meeting, Lu Zhou returned to the hotel. After taking a shower, he made phone calls according to the business cards he had collected a while ago. Finally, he called the senior sister, and told him about his meeting with Academician Yuan at the bidding conference. Said the bet.

Strictly speaking, this is not a bet with Academician Yuan. After all, it is meaningless to bet with a chief engineer. Even if he wins the Aerospace Corporation, he has the final say.

Instead, it was a verbal agreement with a bet on it.

That is to say, regarding the bidding plan for the delivery of 50 tons of load to low-earth orbit, "finished products" will be used instead of bidding documents for bidding. Or in other words, whoever first proves that he has the ability to deliver a 50-ton load to low-Earth orbit can win the bid for the project without bidding too much more than the other party.

And this funding will probably be between 9 billion and 12 billion RMB.

Although it was only a verbal agreement, it was recognized by the leaders of the Science and Industry Bureau and the head of the Aerospace Corporation, and was written into the minutes of the meeting. In a sense, it can be regarded as having a certain degree of execution effect.

After all, regardless of the bet made in front of so many colleagues, if Xingkong Technology's electric propulsion system can really be as advanced as shown on the PPT, the Bureau of Science and Technology will not fail to do so. Reasons to pay for technology.

And no matter who wins this competition, the bidding party will not lose money.

Of course, for Xingkong Technology, facing an aerospace giant like Aerospace Corporation, the pressure to participate in this competition is still not small. Now that the 500-ton liquid oxygen kerosene engine has basically been developed, if they are determined to do it, they may not be able to build the Long March 9, which is still on the blueprint, ahead of schedule.

But even so, Lu Zhou still has a lot of chances of winning.

Now that the miniaturization technology of the Hall propulsion unit and the controllable fusion device has been completed, the design of the space shuttle has also entered the final stage. The equipment did not live up to his expectations.

However……

After he finished telling the whole story to his senior sister, he was inevitably scolded.

"Why didn't you tell me about this kind of thing in advance?"

Lu Zhou sighed and said, "I couldn't make phone calls at the conference site, and even handed in the communication equipment. I just want to inform you, so I have to find a way to tell you, right?"

Sitting on the office chair, Chen Yushan said with a headache on her face: "Your decision is too hasty... Do you know what this means to us?"

Although Xingkong Technology has a very good development prospect, as a company that focuses on research and development, it is still somewhat inferior to giants like Aerospace Corporation. Especially in the field of aerospace, this competition is not a heavyweight opponent to compete at all.

Leaving aside technical reserves and industrial production capacity, in terms of launch experience alone, Aerospace Group is enough to compare with Xingkong Technology.

Otherwise, why did other companies basically give up bidding for this project as soon as the so-called "VAM agreement" came out? Instead, the focus is on bidding for projects such as the lunar module, astronaut life support equipment, etc.?

Because in terms of low-Earth orbit delivery capabilities, no company has the confidence to defeat the "500-ton liquid oxygen kerosene engine", let alone the "Chang 9".

This is the confidence of the old aerospace group!

The index finger tapped lightly on the armrest of the chair. After listening to the senior sister's complaints, Lu Zhou continued without any change in expression: "But this is the best way. If it is a normal bidding, unless we lower the price Very low, otherwise it's hard to beat them."

In fact, needless to say, it is difficult, but there is no hope at all.

Judging from the situation at the time, most experts and scholars in the aerospace field did not believe that he could do it.

And most importantly, the Science and Technology Bureau's interest in his electric propulsion system is obviously less than one-tenth of the interest in small controllable fusion devices...

Sighing, Chen Yushan couldn't help but support her forehead and said: "The best way is to give up this bidding, if you must build this space shuttle...we can also accumulate experience from some small launch missions first, and then consider Get involved in this kind of project.”

From the perspective of a CEO, this is the most appropriate approach.

There is absolutely no need to continue a project whose benefits are not proportional to its risks.

As a matter of fact, it is not a loss for them to be able to hatch such a heaven-defying thing as a small controllable fusion reactor.

When the Naval Equipment Research Institute completes the improvement of the controllable fusion device boarding technology, a large number of military enterprises will pay for the technology in their hands. Although the income from national defense patents is limited, it is no problem to earn back the research funds invested in the early stage.

However, Chen Yushan's worry was on the other side.

After listening to Lu Zhou's confident explanation, she sighed, and said with a headache: "Which bank will approve a loan of 70 to 8 billion for this kind of project! I can’t come up with that much money.”

"Well... I've already settled the matter of money, so you don't have to worry about it."

"Let me just say, no money—wait, what?" After recovering for a moment, Chen Yushan froze for about two or three seconds, and asked in an unbelievable tone, "So, solved?"

"Well," Lu Zhou nodded, "Ari Group is willing to contribute a part...in the form of investment."

Although accepting this investment means that after the completion of the project, Ari will share the funds settled by the Bureau of Science and Technology at a certain ratio while recovering the investment cost, but Lu Zhou himself is not very concerned about being able to work in this project. How much profit can be made in the launch project, so it doesn't matter.

After all, compared with the wider world beyond the earth, the ticket price for this flight to the moon is not even a small profit.

There was silence on the other end of the phone for about half a minute.

After a while, a word came out.

"Are they crazy..."

"Maybe," Lu Zhou shrugged, jokingly said, "But I think they are quite confident that we will win this 'gamble', so I think you can also have more confidence in me. "

In fact, it is impossible to lose money. Even if Xingkong Technology loses the bet by taking 10,000 steps back, they will not lose badly.

After all, as early as the beginning of the year, the state announced the three aerospace industry support policies, which stipulated the investment in the aerospace field. The funds invested in aerospace projects can enjoy tax deductions for the same amount of turnover in other businesses.

Seeing that Lu Zhou still had no intention of changing his mind, Chen Yushan stopped persuading her and said with a sigh.

"Well, since you've said that, I won't persuade you anymore. In short, I will help you save costs as much as possible... On the premise of not affecting the quality and progress of the project, I will support your project to continue."

Lu Zhou smiled and nodded.

"Well, please."