Chapter 544 Starship Company
Seeing Qin Tao looking him up and down, Max was very curious: "What's wrong, Mr. Qin, can't I come?"
As expected, it was that guy. Qin Tao was finally sure: "Of course, this is normal business dealings. Since you are brought by customers, you are also our customers. Welcome, please come in."
Of course, Qin Tao knew very well about this famous person in later generations.
Max was born in Pretoria, Rainbow Country, on June 28, 1971. His father was an electromechanical engineer and had connections with many people. Among them, Oscar, who had just been fooled by Qin Tao, was Max’s father. Best friend, so Max also recently received news about Oscar and heard that the American Jet Engine Company was coming, so he decided to come to the East to see it.
Max’s mother is from Maple Leaf Country, so when his parents divorced, he first worked with his father, and then went to Maple Leaf Country.
Max, who came from a very good family, bought his first computer in 1981. Later he bought a programming textbook and learned how to program. From this, we can also know how glorious the Rainbow Kingdom was back then. Even Lao Maozi’s professors did not have the funds to buy a personal computer. The son of an engineer in the Rainbow Kingdom was able to buy a computer with pocket money and his father’s sponsorship. .
This is definitely the most touching thing.
In 1992, Max transferred from Queen's University in Ontario to study economics at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania on a scholarship. After receiving a bachelor's degree in economics, he stayed at school for another year and received a bachelor's degree in physics. In 1995, Max entered Stanford University to pursue a doctoral program in materials science and applied physics. He was a top student, but on the second day after enrolling, he decided to leave school and start a business.
Within a year, he had founded Zip2, a company that developed online content publishing software for news organizations, including the New York Times and the Chicago Post as clients.
It can be seen how sensitive he is to the market and technology. He has just grasped the hottest Internet economy when he started his business.
Of course, his career has just started at this time, and his personal assets are still very small, which is definitely not comparable to Qin Tao.
Qin Tao is not a few years older than him, but he is already the president of a multinational company. Max looks at Qin Tao now with eyes full of admiration.
“Mr. Santos, when you come here this time, do you plan to directly select qualified engines and take them away, or do you want to build a test bed here?” Qin Tao asked.
“We decided to take them away directly. Even if there are one or two bad ones, we can accept them,” Santos said.
Obviously, it is still too difficult for the other party to build a test bed for just a dozen engines.
"Well, as long as you don't come to trouble us, we have no objection." Qin Tao said with a smile: "Let's go to the warehouse and have a look."
The warehouse has just been completed, and the painted walls are very clean and tidy. After entering, you can feel very cool. Looking at the cold wind blowing from the air conditioner on the side, Santos was extremely surprised: "Mr. Qin, you guys understand The State Group is so rich!”
He has never been to Lao Maozi's place, but if he thinks about it, he can tell that the engines at Lao Maozi's place must have been stored in the dusty workshop, and the air-conditioned factory building in front of him probably means that these engines have been produced since The best treatment after coming out.
“We at Mingzhou Group either don’t do it or do our best to do it. No matter what the storage environment was like before, now that it is in our hands, we must give it the best conditions.”
Santos nodded.
Actually, what Qin Tao means is that if you get it back and it’s broken, it’s not our fault. It must have been broken by Lao Maozi!
Max had already run over and looked at the huge rocket engine with excitement.
These are all standing upright and do not have any outer packaging. There is only a layer of plastic protective film, so you can clearly see the structure inside.
The huge snail-like turbine pump, the unique combustion chamber, and the huge tail nozzle look extremely spectacular.
At this moment, Max was quite shocked. Although he had paid attention to the progress of space when he was in college, now, he had really seen a rocket engine for the first time.
“The engine developed by Lao Maozi was used for the moon landing, but because there were too many engines connected in parallel, it exploded several times in succession, and in the end we had to give up the moon landing mission,” Qin Tao said.
"That's because there was no modern technology at the time. If now, with advanced electronic detection methods, problems with a certain engine can be detected in advance and then blocked. There are more than 30 engines, even if one fails to ignite successfully, It won’t have much impact,” Max said.
"Why, are you very interested in these engines?" Qin Tao's tone was very sincere.
“Yes.” Max said: “It’s a pity that my company has no money. If it had, I would buy all these engines!”
His career had just started last year. In 1999, he sold his company and earned more than 20 million U.S. dollars, which was his second pot of gold. The reason why it was the second pot of gold was because in his When he was a child, in the second year after getting a personal computer, he sold the game program he compiled and made $500 in income, which was his first pot of gold.
“You don’t have money, but we do.” Qin Tao said: “If you want to use these engines to fly to Mars, our Mingzhou Group can consider starting our own space program.”
Santos on the side suddenly became nervous: "Mr. Qin, you want to build a spaceship? This has nothing to do with your existing industry."
"Why are they not related? A spaceship is also a ship." Qin Tao replied decisively: "But don't worry, we can't use so many engines, so if you want them in the future, we can still sell them to you."
Santos then relaxed.
And Max's heart has been completely excited. What Qin Tao said is simply his ideal!
Humanity's footsteps in space have reached the moon, but have stopped since then. Landing on the moon is just a small step for mankind. Max has long set his sights on Mars. If he could step onto Mars, it would be so amazing. Exciting things.
However, this road is too difficult!
For Max, who has just run an Internet company, it is simply impossible to look up to him.
Mingzhou Group is different. Now Mingzhou Group has developed into a huge multinational enterprise! Their group has huge financial resources, enough to support his dream of Mars.
“I want to retire on Mars.” Max said to himself.
A person who can achieve great things must have lofty ideals. Although Max has no relationship with the space industry now, he has already begun to establish his ideals of entering space.
The space station and the moon landing are all child’s play. His goal is to go to Mars!
"If you want to go to Mars, it will not be easy." Qin Tao is of course very supportive of people with lofty ideals: "As far as the current cost of space launch is concerned, it is too high. The astronomy required to land on Mars is Figures, even if you put all the world’s aerospace investment together, it is impossible.”
"Yeah." Santos said from the side: "That was just a dream. Even if we just launched a moon landing plan, it already cost a lot of money, so we never went there again. Compared to landing on Mars, One is walking around at home, and the other is crossing the ocean. The gap in technology is huge."
There are only 380,000 kilometers between the earth and the moon, and the distance between the earth and Mars, even if we go there when the two planets are closest, is 55 million kilometers. If the distance is the farthest, that is If distributed on both sides of the sun, it would be 400 million kilometers.
"When there was no moon landing, who would have thought that one day we would step on the moon? From the launch of the first artificial satellite to the first landing on the moon, it took less than ten years. When I was a child, I lived in In this great era, at that time, all of us thought that landing on Mars was only a matter of the next decade." Max was a little excited: "Humanity has stalled in the field of space exploration. I want to go up there. Kick me!"
“You’re such an excited guy, what do you think we can do to land on Mars? Rely on the strength of Mingzhou Group?”
Santos’ words were a bit contemptuous of the Mingzhou Group, but he didn’t take it seriously because that was the fact.
Wan Zhenfu has been watching on the sidelines, and he did not expect that these people would actually quarrel. However, as an astronaut, he actually admired the boastful Max in front of him. Yes, who doesn't want to land on Mars one day?
"If you want to land on Mars, the first step is to reduce the launch cost." Qin Tao said: "This is impossible relying on various monopolies. The space agencies of various countries are government departments, and they never consider the economy. Benefits may never be the main direction. If you want to reduce launch costs, you still have to rely on private aerospace companies."
Plans such as space elevators are all in science fiction. Currently, the most mature ones on earth are rockets, which are almost the only way to enter space.
“Yes, Mr. Qin is right!” Max agreed very much with Qin Tao’s answer.
"The original idea of the American space shuttle was to reduce costs by reusing it. Unfortunately, the steps were too big and the technology was too difficult. In the end, it was impossible to achieve the original setting. But this idea is still okay. We want to reduce the launch cost. cost, then we have to develop reusable rockets.”
Reused rockets?
Max’s eyes lit up even more.
He just had a vague idea and wanted to set foot on Mars to realize this great ideal, but he did not have a clear idea of how to achieve it and did not find a suitable path.
What Qin Tao said immediately paved a way for him.
"Mr. Qin, the road to reuse is not easy. The engines used in rockets are disposable. If you want to reuse it, it is almost equivalent to new research and development." Santos made the two laymen laugh at the discussion: "Moreover, after being used a few times, various problems may occur, and the risk of continued use is very high. Instead of continuing to use it at the risk of the rocket exploding, it is better to replace it with a brand new engine. Besides, rockets are different from space shuttles. After launch, how do you recover the rocket? Do you use a parachute?"
“We let it fly back and store more fuel during launch, so that when the launch mission is completed, it can land on the launch pad again, or convert the offshore oil platform into a launch and recovery platform.”
Santos knew that he was playing the piano to a cow. These two people were completely amateurs.
When a rocket is launched, it is necessary to reduce the structural weight as much as possible, so the rocket has always been a multi-stage structure, just to throw away the unused outer shell. What about these people in front of me? You actually want the rocket to contain more fuel for use on the return trip? Moreover, it was clearly stated that it has to land back to the launch pad again. Do you think the rocket is a helicopter?
Since it was impossible to communicate with laymen, Santos gave up.
“You guys talk first, I’ll go pick out the engine.”
Santos can only choose by looking at the appearance, and cannot test the ignition. Moreover, it is best to see the nameplate and choose the one with the latest production date.
However, when he looked over, he found that Lao Maozi's engine had no nameplate at all. There were only a few representative models spray-painted in Russian on the nozzle.
This time gave him a big headache, how to choose?
Over there, the chat area between Qin Tao and Max is getting wider and wider.
"If we build a small rocket, which is on the same level as Saturn V, it will not be easy to fly to Mars. We will need to repeat the launch many times to assemble a huge interstellar spacecraft in space. If we Build a large one that can fly directly to Mars, launch dozens of them at a time, and establish a Mars base."
Max nodded: "That's right, I have been working on this project my whole life!"
“We have a saying that you can’t reach a thousand miles without taking small steps, so let’s start from now?”
“That’s right, starting from now on.” Max nodded: “Mr. Qin, are you determined to enter space?”
“Would you like to come here? We plan to build a research and development base here.”
Wan Zhenfu has a bad feeling. Is Mr. Qin too hasty? Is it settled so quickly? This is no joke!
“Mr. Qin, do you want me to join this plan?”
"Yes, our Mingzhou Group has this plan. We will invest 500 million in advance to assemble these stock engines into rockets and undertake commercial launch missions to make money. After we have the money, we will study a new generation of rocket engines." Qin Tao Said: "If you want to join us, then I can ask you to be the person in charge of this branch."
At this time, Max didn't even have 10 million in hand. The 500 million Qin Tao promised to invest were real US dollars. So, could the other party still be tempted? This opportunity is the best. If Max becomes rich in a few years, he will definitely look down on it.
"Mr. Qin, I still have a company in Silicon Valley. If we are engaged in private aerospace, the United States has greater advantages. Can we set up this company in the United States?" Max has already seriously considered this question: "In this way, I have Make sure to bring some of the U.S. aerospace business to our company."
He is just a decision-maker and a leader, and he still needs a lot of talents under his staff. Now, the United States is investing less and less in aerospace. There are many American aerospace engineers who want to find another way. He can just fool those people.
Qin Tao shook his head: "No, our Mingzhou Group's aerospace base must be established here. We will establish a R&D center, a production plant, and a launch base here."
Of course, Qin Tao will not agree to Max's proposal. This is his bottom line. As long as the research institution is here, the research results can be preserved. If he goes to the United States to establish a company, it will not be the meat of Americans. Invest it yourself. A lot of money, but in the end it all goes down the drain?
Qin Tao has cooperated with many countries, and has even opened production plants and invested in mines in some countries. However, Qin Tao has never touched the United States. In fact, Qin Tao will never set foot on American soil in his lifetime. You won't make this mistake.
“In this case, it will be difficult for the talents we need to come over,” Marks said.
"That depends on your charisma. I believe they will listen to your persuasion and engage in this greatest undertaking in human history."
“So, does your government allow private development of the aerospace industry?”
“Of course, our government is open. This is a cause for all mankind, and our government will definitely agree.”
“Mr. Qin, I am willing to join.” Max responded in the affirmative. He was very interested in this project and wanted to devote great enthusiasm to it. He also believed that he would succeed!
Qin Tao was also secretly happy, it’s done!
In fact, he didn't think much about these things in the past. After all, he was a shipbuilder. He bought these engines in stock just because he wanted to make money as a second-rate dealer. It can only be said that he met Max by chance. Since he had already Now that we have talked about it to this extent, what else can we say? Just get started on this project.
"Lao Wan, are you willing to join in?" Qin Tao looked at Wan Zhenfu: "In this project, you will mainly do logistics work and cooperate with Mr. Max to complete the project together. Mr. Max often goes to the United States. Bian, when he is away, you have to take the lead."
Wan Zhenfu was also excited for a while: "Mr. Qin, I am willing!"
He is just a gatekeeper here, and now, the meaning of Mr. Qin's words is very clear. He is to make him the person in charge of China. In charge of logistics, he is also in charge of money. If all the funds of 500 million US dollars are handed over to the United States, People, what if the other party takes the money and runs away? This is absolute trust in him.
Thus, a branch of the Mingzhou Group was established. This company has a fancy name, called Starship Company. Their ultimate goal is to manufacture starships!
Qin Tao arranged here for about a week, arranging various things, purchasing land, registering a company, and starting infrastructure construction. Santos was shocked. He didn't expect that he would bring a young man here to see the world and actually set up a star. Ship company!
Xu Zhengyang, who has been following Qin Tao, feels that Qin Tao is a little reckless. After all, unlike before, this is a project that Mingzhou Group has never been involved in!
However, he didn't stop him, he just did his job as secretary. When Qin Tao arranged everything and returned, he couldn't help but ask questions.
“Mr. Qin, our starship company just opened like this?”
“Yes, otherwise what do you think?”
“Mr. Qin, do you have confidence in Max?”
"Yes." Qin Tao nodded: "I have fooled him into it, and he will work hard for this project. If we do it ourselves, it will take ten years to use these NK-33 engines on the rocket. If Max joins us, five years will be enough. After five years, our Mingzhou Group’s rocket will be launched into the sky.”
This guy Max is definitely a workaholic! With him around, the efficiency is perfect.
“What about five years from now?”
“In five years, we will probably have to part ways,” Qin Tao said with a smile.
Xu Zhengyang was surprised for a while: "Parting ways?"
"A person like him will never succumb to others. In our Starship Company of the Mingzhou Group, even if we give him a share of the shares, we cannot keep him. When we use the NK-33 engine to build a rocket, The team has also risen up, and once he is full-fledged, he will definitely be able to stand on his own."
“So what did we get?”
Having been doing this for a long time, are you feeling lonely?
"Of course it's a large amount of R&D data." Qin Tao said: "Those American experts he tricked may leave, but the R&D results belong to our Mingzhou Group and they cannot take them away. If they leave, we can do it ourselves. Go ahead and do it.”
Qin Tao has a clear mind and cannot hold out too much hope. He should finish the first step first.
As for what happens next, it depends on God’s will.
“Mr. Qin, where are you going next?”
"Plateau." Qin Tao looked at the scene outside the car window. His wife had gone to the plateau, but he hadn't gone there yet. Now that he was finally done with all the messy things he was doing, it was time to go see his wife.
“Oh.” Xu Zhengyang nodded and was about to arrange the next trip when his cell phone suddenly rang again.
After answering the call, Xu Zhengyang looked at Qin Tao with some embarrassment: "Mr. Qin, I think you have to go back to Mingzhou first. There is a country in South America coming to order products."
"The Weeping Country?" Qin Tao asked. The Football Country has already ordered an aircraft carrier. Next, it is the Weeping Country's turn to order submarines. Qin Tao is still waiting.
Xu Zhengyang shook his head: "No, it's Venezuela."
(End of this chapter)