There were many benefits to refining in space, especially for minerals mined from space. Sending unprocessed ores back to the surface through the space elevator was equivalent to transporting the useless slag waste back together. The price of unprocessed ores was not high in itself. Coupled with the transportation cost of the space elevator, it was difficult to be price competitive in the international market.
Although the transportation cost of the space elevator was low, it was not without costs.
Future Mining itself had its own smelter, and there was no need to rely on selling unprocessed ores to make a profit. Processing ores into finished steel was in line with the standard of maximizing profits.
What's more, there was no need to worry about pollution in space. Non-toxic waste slag could be directly burned into the atmosphere, which was much more environmentally friendly than the garbage disposal stations that destroyed the molecular structure of materials through ultra-high temperatures. The toxic waste could be directly packed into boxes, equipped with low-power rockets, and thrown in the direction of Mercury.
In addition, the vacuum environment made it far easier to smelt metals with extremely active chemical properties such as titanium ore in space than on the surface.
Therefore, as early as last year, Jiang Chen provided the interface, specifications, and dimensions of Celestial City's external space station to Yang Yuan and asked him to instruct the scientific research department of Future Mining to design an ore processing unit that could be connected to Celestial City.
Yang Yuan didn't disappoint his expectations and quickly took Jiang Chen to the laboratory of Future Mining.
In the center of the laboratory warehouse, there was a machine about the size of four large containers. People standing next to it were like ants next to an eraser. The boxy shape was very similar to the mobile iron houses that could be seen everywhere on construction sites, but it was a magnified version. Of course, this thing wasn't a metal house, but an accessible space station.
At one end of the space station, there was a raised interface with a cross-section size of 6 x 4 meters. It could be connected to the outer orbit of Celestial City as a channel for material and energy exchange. The ore was imported into the space station through the cargo channel and processed by special smelting equipment to produce finished ore ingots.
On the side of the space station, the logos of Future Heavy Industries and Future Mining were printed, as well as a circled "Fe" logo.
"This ore processing unit is a prototype we customized from Future Heavy Industries. The blueprint was designed by us and made by them through 3D printing technology. The smelting minerals are a variety of iron ores. The daily processing efficiency can reach up to 12,000 tons, and the annual output of steel is more than three million tons! "
When Yang Yuan said this, his face was flushed with excitement.
With a highly automated design, a workshop could be equipped with only four workers to complete production. Using the electric smelting technology of the next generation to replace the traditional steelmaking process, the recyclable carbon fixation technology could increase the utilization efficiency of every kilogram of coal to the maximum. It could produce hundreds of types of high-quality carbon steel, tool steel, high-strength A-type steel, and so on.
With the combination of Future Mining's core technology, the ore processing unit tailored for outer space steelmaking was at least twenty years ahead in the world in the automated steelmaking field. It was no exaggeration to call it the crystallization of technology!
"This prototype has passed the performance test in a vacuum environment. As long as it is transported to Celestial City through the synchronous orbit, it can be used!"
"Currently, the titanium ore processing unit has completed the design phase. It is expected that the design drawings will be sent to Future Heavy Industries tomorrow and the prototype will be ready by the end of the month."
After listening to Yang Yuan's report, Jiang Chen only asked one question. "How long will mass production take?"
"Yang Heavy," Yang. Station, Yang, he said, he would be.
"Before the end of the month, the iron ore processing unit production line will be completed. Future Heavy Industries can deliver ten units at the end of the month, and the remaining ten units will be delivered in the middle of next month. With a total of 20 processing units, our steel plant in Celestial City can produce more than 30 million tons per year! "
"As for the titanium ore model, we have to wait for our drawings to be sent to Future Heavy's engineers before we can make the production line design."
…
"Mhmm, talk to you later."
Ye Qinghua hung up the phone and leaned back in his chair. His old fingers tapped on the armrest rhythmically as he fell into deep thought for a long time.
Construction of the microgravity laboratory in cooperation between Hua and Celestial Trade had begun, and the No. 1 leader highly praised his efforts. However, Ye Qinghua knew very well that the 1.5 billion Xin New Dollars scientific research project had little to do with him.
He had been on Coro Island for half a month. In this half a month, he had been exploring the nine islands of Xin and Penglai. He felt like Granny Liu who had entered the Grand View Garden. As he walked, he was astonished.
People drove zero-emission pure electric cars, and the undersea tunnel connected the nine islands, which were like rags, into a whole. People of all colors lived together harmoniously. It wasn't that there were no conflicts, but under the supervision of police drones, few people would resort to violence.
Yes, the police drones that they rejected after careful consideration almost achieved zero crime in the major cities of Xin.
For Coro and Penglai, the old man's deepest impression was that drones had become part of the country's culture. They were the helpers of the police. They rushed into the fire instead of firefighters and delivered packages from the logistics center to the buyer within an hour.
Efficiency was everything in this city, but efficiency didn't occupy everyone's life.
The country never seemed to lack imagination. Everything here was full of imagination that only existed in science fiction. Cities built on the sea, farmlands cultivated on the seabed, tracks connecting heaven and earth, space stations larger than cities …
Ye Qinghua didn't know what they would create next, because imagination never had a limit. He just silently took out his notebook, just like when he visited the UA and Europe in the 1980s, he recorded everything in the city and brought it back to China for reference.
The old man leaned against the chair and sighed. He took out the notebook with a slightly damaged leather cover and rubbed the footer of the notebook with his fingers. What he saw in the past half month made him both gratified and speechless.
A weak and poor Xin was undoubtedly more in line with the interests of Hua. But the words "weak" and "poor" were obviously far from Xin. Even because of concepts such as low crime rate, beautiful environment, Chinese cultural circle, and high-tech city, Xin had already replaced the European and American countries that were mired in economic crisis and terrorism and became the first choice for the rich in Hua to immigrate.
Just then, the door of the room was pushed open.
Two young people, a man and a woman, walked in.
"Grandpa, you were looking for me?" The young man in a suit and tie bowed slightly and respectfully greeted the old man.
The woman opened her mouth and wanted to say something, but the old man spoke first.
"Mhmm, I'm a little worried." Ye Qinghua nodded and smiled at the young man. "So, I want to ask you how your preparations are going."
Ye Ziqi smiled confidently and raised his chest.
"Don't worry! I've been preparing for this for half a month. Even if I'm not 100% sure, I'm definitely more than 90% sure! "
Elder Ye nodded with relief.
"This project is very important to our Ye family. Now the country attaches great importance to strategic cooperation with Celestial Trade. If our Ye Group can set an example, it won't be too difficult for your third uncle's position to be promoted. At that time, our Ye family can have a provincial level official! "
After chatting with his beloved grandson for a while, Ye Ziqi bowed slightly and left the room.
Only two people were left in the room.
"I …" Ye Yunfei gritted her teeth and suppressed the unhappiness in her heart. She bit the bullet and said, "He's not interested in me at all, and I happen to be the same. We're not suitable, and I can't help it … "
After a long time, Elder Ye sighed and smiled kindly like an old man doting on his granddaughter.
"I won't make it difficult for you. Marriage is your choice. If you really don't like it, then forget it. "
Ye Yunfei breathed a sigh of relief, as if the big stone in her heart was put down.
If she really put down her pride to please a man she didn't like, it would be more painful than killing her.
"Thank you …"
"It's okay, you can go now."
Ye Yunfei nodded with her head buried, turned around, and quickly left the room.
Elder Ye leaned against the chair and pondered for a moment. Then he looked at the invitation on the table.
The Xin Space Resources Development Forum would be held on Coro Island in three days. As a representative sent by Hua, he naturally received an invitation. He had already considered the issues that should be discussed on the forum and how to help Hua gain more benefits.
He was now a little uncertain about his granddaughter.
Should he really give up?
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
