The United States.
California.
The Space-X headquarters building, the venue of the press conference.
Elon Musk was dressed in a Silicon Valley fashion. He faced the audience at the press conference, as well as the cameras of the major media outlets. He used his unique and provocative voice to explain Space-X's blueprint for the future.
At this moment, a futuristic spaceship in the shape of a bright silver bullet was imprinted on the screen behind him. With the blue planet and the boundless space as the background, the spaceship was flying with a long and narrow arc of light behind it.
Other than the Space-X logo, the words "BFR" were also printed on the side of the spacecraft.
The theme of this press conference revolved around this word.
"The first main thrust rocket will be powered by 31 Raptor methane rocket engines, and the second section will integrate two sea-level engines and four vacuum engines. The fuel tank can store a total of 240 tons of methane, and the maximum thrust can reach thousands of tons … Of course, this isn't the main point. The main point is our series of plans around the BFR spacecraft."
Elon paused for a second and looked at the audience and the camera. He then spoke.
"We will launch two manned spacecraft in 2024 to start our plan!"
There was a burst of exclamation in the audience, and the reporters with their cameras were also frantically clicking on the shutters.
Aerospace!
Even for the Americans, this was nothing new.
However, exploring the stars and colonizing outer space was still so fascinating.
If it weren't for this, Star Wars wouldn't have become an American movie.
When Musk saw that the atmosphere in the venue had reached its peak, he smirked and raised his voice.
"Once the BFR research and development is completed, it will replace all of the launch vehicles that we have developed so far. It will become a spacecraft that can carry out almost all space missions. Whether it is the Earth's surface to the Moon, or from outer space to Mars, we will be able to use its power.
"It will redefine our understanding of aerospace.
"It will also redefine our future!"
After that, Musk continued to talk about the advantages of the BFR spacecraft over traditional space rockets, as well as Space-X's blueprint for the Mars Village.
Amidst the applause, the press conference came to an end.
The reporters rushed forward and surrounded Elon Musk, who was walking down from the stage.
Elon finally finished all of the interviews, and the smile on his face gradually disappeared.
After sending away all the reporters, he quickly walked back to his office and sat down on the office chair. He couldn't wait to take out his phone.
However, when Elon saw the rising line on the screen, he finally sighed in relief, and the tension in his heart gradually disappeared.
The feedback from the stock market told him that the press conference had gone quite smoothly.
The concept drawings of the BFR spacecraft injected a shot of adrenaline into the lukewarm aerospace market. It also injected a shot of adrenaline into the investors who believed in him.
Of course, it was still too early to relax.
Nothing in the capital world could be said to be good or bad, especially for high-tech companies like them.
Whether the investors with money in their pockets could continue to support his dream, to some extent, did not depend entirely on what kind of checks he could write, but more fundamentally on whether he could honor the checks he had written.
Fortunately, because of controllable fusion and lithium-sulfur batteries, the electric vehicle industry as a whole was doing well. Tesla's stock price was rising, and investors' confidence in him had recovered a lot. However, after all, aerospace was a brand new field. Even Musk wasn't 100% confident that everything would go smoothly.
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door, and a female secretary in business attire walked in.
"President, someone is looking for you."
Musk, who was about to take a break, frowned.
"Who?"
The secretary hesitated for a second and said, "They say they are from the CIA …"
"The CIA?" Musk hesitated for a second and played with the pen cap. He said, "I don't remember making an appointment —"
Halfway through his sentence, the office door was rudely pushed open. Two men in black coats walked in one after the other.
Musk glared at the two people who came in without knocking.
"I don't think I allowed you to come in, or did you get a warrant from the court?"
"Sorry, Mr. Musk, but this is an emergency, I hope you can forgive us." The black agent ignored Musk's dissatisfaction and showed his ID. He said, "Nice to meet you, you can call me Aiden."
Elon stared at the black agent for a while before he suddenly relaxed and leaned back in his chair.
"Musk … You guys know me, so I won't introduce myself. Do you want some coffee?"
The agent behind Aiden said, "No need, we're in a hurry."
"Okay then." Elon looked at the female secretary standing next to his desk and said, "Alyssa, make me a latte."
"Okay, Mr. President." The secretary nodded and walked out the door.
Aiden: "…"
Agent: "…"
About five minutes later, the coffee was finally served.
Aiden didn't want to waste any time, so he went straight to the point.
"We heard that about two months ago, Star Sky Technology ordered a batch of US $20 million worth of parts from you, right?"
Elon thought about it for a bit, and it was true, so he nodded.
"Yes … I remember that batch of parts wasn't banned, is there a problem?"
Aiden said aggressively, "The problem isn't with the parts, it's with what the parts were used for."
Musk wasn't scared by his tone. He waved his hand and said, "We don't care what the customer used it for, I suggest you consult customs."
Aiden frowned at Musk's attitude, but he didn't say anything. He took out a blurry photo from his pocket and threw it on the table.
When Elon saw the space shuttle in this photo, he suddenly sat up from his chair and moved closer to the CIB agents.
"What is this?"
"Your client, or should I say, your future competitor. Its name is' Auspicious', the pronunciation is strange. " Aiden shrugged and said, "Apparently, they used the latest ion thruster propulsion system, and we are investigating this matter."
"Wait a minute, ion thruster?" Musk opened his mouth and looked at the man standing in front of his desk like he was looking at an idiot. He said, "Ion thruster propulsion? Are you sure it's ion thruster propulsion? "
"I'm sure." Aiden nodded and said, "Our source of information is reliable, although it's not detailed."
Musk smiled and shook his head. He then sat back down in his office chair.
The look of interest in his eyes had now turned into clear mockery.
"Officer Aiden, even though I don't know much about the CIA process, as a taxpayer, I sincerely suggest you find someone more professional to do this … Ion thruster propulsion? Using ion thruster propulsion to send a space shuttle into the sky? "Musk smiled and shook his head. He said," Even I wouldn't brag like that. "
Aiden said, "Ion thruster propulsion can't do it?"
"It can't." Musk said without hesitation, "Even with our most advanced ion thruster propulsion technology, the thrust is on the order of N. If you want a spacecraft to go from the surface to outer space orbit, it has to be on the order of KN! "
Aiden and the agent next to him looked at each other.
The agent's lips twitched.
"NASA said the same thing … Maybe we're overthinking it?"
Aiden was in deep thought, and he didn't say anything.
He wanted to believe that he was overthinking it.
However, when he thought of Lu Zhou's name, he couldn't relax his nervousness …
.。 m.
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.
