Silicon Valley

(Happy Children's Day)

"People who want to learn about space tourism in a movie can go to SpaceX CEO Lawrence Paul for consultation later," Henry looked up at the ceiling, thought for a moment, and said, "If it goes well, the SpaceX space station will be about two minutes away. It will be completed within a year!”

At this time, officials with experience in space station construction were all surprised.

Building a space station within two years is simply a fantasy! ! !

Some people scoffed and retorted loudly: "Mr. Williams, I don't deny that SpaceX has the ability to build a space station, but the International Space Station has assembled many countries around the world to build it together, but I can't guarantee that a relatively complete one will be built within two years. The space station, why do you say that SpaceX can do it?"

Henry smiled slightly at the person who spoke, "Of course what I said was not empty words, but I can't tell you the reason yet, but you will know soon!" Henry immediately glanced over the audience and said lightly, "SpaceX The company's investment in technology has never been spared, and SpaceX will surprise you!"

There was actually a lot of things Henry hadn't said yet. At present, many SpaceX projects are in the research or project stage, such as graphene inflatable capsules, rocket recovery, nano-detectors, "solar storm" propulsion systems, anti-gravity, anti-matter, "planet-scale" super-hadron pairs Crash wait...

Let's talk about the "solar storm" propulsion system. It is not uncommon to use solar energy as an energy source in the universe, but very few use the solar wind. The solar wind is a stream of supersonic plasma charged particles emitted from the upper atmosphere of a star. Usually, the burst of solar wind energy comes from solar flares or other climatic phenomena called "solar storms". Wind speeds on Earth are tens of thousands of times higher.

The "solar storm" propulsion system uses the solar wind to make the spacecraft travel at an unprecedented speed and reduce its dependence on fuel. To use a simple analogy, it is like a boat traveling in a river, with headwinds and tailwinds. The "solar storm" propulsion system is what enables the spacecraft to travel "downwind" in space!

This research, proposed by NASA in the United States in 2014, the project name is "electric sail", which is one of NASA's innovative advanced concept NIAC plans. In 2015, the "electric sail" project entered the second phase. However, NASA's funding is poor. The first phase of NIAC's investment is 100,000 US dollars, and the second phase investment is 500,000 US dollars.

In Henry's view, the "electric sail" plan has a certain feasibility. Anyway, Henry is not short of money, so he established the "Solar Storm" propulsion system research group with an investment of $10 million. If you don't invest, how can you get a return? NASA only invested a total of 600,000 US dollars, just like playing a family, too stingy!

Of course, the "solar storm" propulsion system can only be used as an auxiliary means, and the spacecraft still needs to use better energy sources, such as nuclear energy, solar energy, chemical fuel, etc...

However, the ideal energy fuel for spacecraft is antimatter. However, among the many research projects of SpaceX, the most difficult research is antimatter!

The various macroscopic objects in nature are restored to their microscopic origins, and they are all composed of protons, neutrons and electrons. Antimatter is the inverse state of normal matter. When positive and antimatter meet, the two sides will cancel each other out, explode and generate huge energy.

Compared with the annihilation of antimatter, nuclear fusion is simply not worth mentioning!

Nuclear fusion is only the synthesis of two substances into one, and part of the mass is converted into energy; while antimatter annihilation is the complete disappearance of the two substances, and 100% of its mass is converted into energy.

Antimatter in the universe is extremely difficult to find. Currently, only the Large Hadron Collider can create antimatter. The European Large Hadron Collider is the largest and highest-energy particle accelerator in the world. It is a high-energy physics device that accelerates and collides protons. The English name is LHC. The project is an international project, started in 1994, costing tens of billions of dollars, built by 40 countries, and carried out by 7,000 scientists and engineers from about 80 countries. The LHC is located in a tunnel 100 meters deep and 17 miles long (including the ring tunnel) under the Jura Mountains on the border between Switzerland and France near Geneva. SpaceX, as a world-class aerospace company, is naturally involved.

The high temperature produced by the collision of particles in the Large Hadron Collider is 100,000 times the temperature inside the sun. In this extreme environment, studying the nature of matter in the universe, finding out dark matter, and even antimatter... But, according to Henry It is known that the LHC European Large Hadron Collider takes 1,000 years to collide with one microgram of antimatter. To get enough antimatter, several planets must be developed and giant particle accelerators built around the entire planet.

The size of the LHC is completely inadequate.

Although SpaceX has participated in the LHC program, the right is to accumulate experience. After that, Henry will let SpaceX build a larger "planet-scale" super-hadron collider on an alien planet! !

However, it also requires a huge amount of energy to excite the Large Hadron Collider. Therefore, some scientists say it could cost $100 billion to make 1 gram of antimatter. Such an expensive manufacturing fee is really terrifying. Henry, as the richest man in the world, said that he is really poor. Although he has trillions of dollars in capital, he can only produce more than ten grams of antimatter at most! ! !

But no matter what, the "planet-level" super-hadron collider will definitely be built in the future, but it will not be possible in a short time...

Sometimes, Henry would wonder, if he had "so much" antimatter, would he be able to destroy the earth?

The collision and annihilation of 1 gram of matter and 1 gram of its antimatter can release huge energy. According to the mass-energy relationship (E=mc2) proposed by Einstein, the energy released when matter and antimatter annihilate is nuclear fission energy. 1000 times. Therefore, the application of antimatter in the military field will be a "doomsday weapon" far exceeding that of nuclear bombs, which can destroy the earth with only a few grams.

More than ten grams of antimatter is enough to destroy the earth two or three times! ! !

Of course, Henry was not so mad. The biggest use of antimatter is to use it as fuel for spaceships. Antimatter spacecraft can reach Mars in 40 days. 17 grams of antimatter can accelerate a spacecraft to one-tenth of the speed of light, and it only takes 40 years to travel from Earth to the extremely distant Centaur-Alpha galaxy (4.37 light-years away from Earth)!

However, these are all whimsical for now.

The key is that it is too difficult to make antimatter... In addition, the container for storing antimatter is also a big difficulty. Once the antimatter comes into contact with the container, the antimatter annihilation will occur, resulting in a catastrophic explosion! However, scientists have proposed that if an electric or magnetic field is added to a container for storing antimatter to suspend the antimatter, it may be possible to create an antimatter storage container!

Henry squinted his eyes, thinking to himself, if one day an antimatter spacecraft can be built, it will be a bunker, and it will open a new chapter in the field of spaceflight - the interstellar era.

"Mr. Williams, how can we believe what you say? Can you tell us, so that we can have a good idea!" said a rich man, "After all, the International Space Station is built by so many countries, you You are the only company on the SpaceX space station, if we really want to choose space tourism, we would rather choose to go to the International Space Station!"

"That's right!" Many rich people couldn't help but agree.

Henry thought about it for a while, and if he didn't reveal it at all, who would dare to go? After all, building a space station in two years is indeed a bit exaggerated for them.

Henry cleared his throat and thought about what to say.

"Well! Okay, I'll tell you a little bit," Henry said loudly. "SpaceX is going to develop an inflatable space capsule, and then dock with the space station to form an inflatable space station. Therefore, the construction speed of our space station will be very fast. Quick!" The space station is actually a manned spacecraft, and the spacecraft then sends the components into orbit in batches and assembles them in space. SpaceX can simply launch a large, crewed spacecraft and then use an inflatable capsule with far fewer components.

Henry thought so, the key factor of an inflatable space capsule is the material, without graphene, without high-strength synthetic fibers, it is impossible to make an inflatable space capsule. Henry is not afraid of others competing with him at all!

However, as soon as Henry finished speaking.

The following suddenly burst into laughter.

"Mr. Williams, are you whimsical, and an inflatable space station?! Haha... I just laughed out loud."

"Hehe, just touch the meteorite trash, and the space station must leak? Oh, God, what a stupid plan!"

The rich shook their heads one after another and said, "Forget it, I won't travel anymore, it's too dangerous."

"Me too, it's too insecure. I think Mr. Williams may be crazy, otherwise, how did he come up with the idea of ​​building an inflatable space station?"

"Yeah, at least make the space station extremely hard, so that we can rest assured in it!"

"..."

Henry touched his forehead and sighed slightly, Nima, he didn't trust himself, "Everyone, I can assure you that the safety level of the inflatable space station is no worse than other space stations!"

"Mr. Williams, if SpaceX builds a metal-clad space station, maybe we will consider space tourism, but an inflatable space station, I think it's okay!"

"Yes, Mr. Williams, this project of yours is unreliable at first glance. I suggest you give it up quickly, so as not to waste material and financial resources!"

Henry was speechless. Why did he say that the truth is always on the side of a few people, because there are too many stupid people!

Well, since everyone is not optimistic about the inflatable space station, then I will build him. Henry's heart is more and more firm and persistent, you can laugh at our plan, but when the construction of the inflatable space station is completed, I believe that no one will dare to laugh at it again! ! !

At this moment, a rich man came out and said to Henry: "Mr. Williams, I believe in you, the inflatable space station is definitely a revolutionary aerospace technology! If you agree, I am very willing to participate in this project. Invest!"

"Who are you?" Henry asked, looking at a man in his 40s with a medium identity and a slightly thin face.

"Robert Bigelow!" the middle-aged man replied.

"Oh, it turned out to be Mr. Robert Bigelow, an American budget hotel tycoon," Henry nodded to him, "Thank you very much for your approval, if you want to invest..." Henry said this, and couldn't help but ponder. Get up, at this moment, he already knows who Robert Bigelow is. The inflatable space capsule is the innovation of Bigelow Aerospace. When you hear the company's name, you know that the aerospace company belongs to Robert Bigelow.

Bigelow Aerospace was founded in 1998, and obviously, Robert Bigelow has not yet ventured into the aerospace field. But he has been interested in space since he was a child. When he was a little boy, he heard about the terrifying experience of his grandparents encountering a mysterious spaceship, and since then, exploring the mysteries of the universe has become his constant pursuit. Regardless of whether he runs a hotel or a real estate business, in fact, he is also a researcher of paranormal phenomena. As for what he studies, it is unknown.

This is really "Li Gui meets Li Kui", heroes cherish heroes?

Henry felt a little embarrassed when he saw Robert Bigelow looking at him expectantly.

"Among so many people, you are the most discerning! Okay, I agree with your investment! Wait a moment, you stay, and we have a good talk." Henry showed a smile to Robert Bigelow.

Robert Bigelow looked very excited, and quickly responded: "Okay!"

At this time, other people looked at Robert Bigelow as if they were idiots. Robert Bigelow felt it too, and his face couldn't help but turn red, but he still insisted on his own ideas. Based on his more than ten years of experience in the industry, inflatable space capsules are cheap, easy to carry, and have great potential for development!

Henry then said a few more words, and finally said to everyone that if you want to cooperate with SpaceX, you can talk to SpaceX employees.

Everyone is quite convinced of the technical strength of SpaceX. Rockets, satellites, spacecraft, etc., have been consulted, but only space tourism projects have been ignored.

On the contrary, a rich man went to ask if NASA could conduct space tourism... Seeing this, Henry was also speechless.

Henry then went to the back of the hall, recruited someone to ask for a copy of Robert Bigelow's information, and returned to the hall after reading it. Henry's eyes swept around, and then he waved to Robert Bigelow, motioning him to come over.

"Mr. Bigelow, since you want to invest, how much money do you plan to invest?" Henry asked with a smile to Robert Bigelow who came over.

Robert Bigelow clearly thought it through, and replied directly: "$200 million!"

Henry nodded, thought about it, and said, "I can separate the inflatable capsule department, but you can only get 20% of the shares with an investment of $200 million."

After hearing the words, Robert Bigelow thought about it, and agreed: "No problem, but before signing the agreement, I want to know more about the inflatable space capsule department!"

"Of course!" Henry smiled. With the current technology of the inflatable space capsule department, Robert Bigelow's investment in it may also be pitted. The inflatable space capsule department must continue to raise funds to develop better and safer. It is unknown how many shares he can hold in the end (hehe)! In addition, the cost of spaceflight and rocket launch is extremely expensive, and the market for inflatable space capsules is not very large for the time being. However, the outlook is bright. Once the rocket launch and recovery technology is solved, the cost of flying to space will be reduced. I believe that there will be many rich people willing to play in the sky. At that time, the inflatable capsule sector can make a lot of money!

(To be continued ~^~)