195: Chapter 195 The Starting Point of the Vast Universe

March 20, Command Center, Hainan, a former aerospace support industrial park.

It had been abandoned for many years, overgrown with weeds. But now, the Xinghuo engineering team had moved in and started renovations.

At 10:00 AM, the unveiling ceremony took place.

Su Chen, Lin Wan, Shen Nanpeng, and the core members of the newly established Star Rocket team stood in front of the red cloth.

"Star Rocket Technology Co., Ltd. is officially established today," Su Chen announced.

He announced several figures:

Initial investment: 80 billion (from Morning Star Trading)

Five-year plan: Additional investment of 200 billion

Goal: To achieve the first flight of a reusable rocket before 2020, and reduce launch costs to 1/3 of the international level

Talent plan: Recruiting rocket engineers globally with salaries 1.5 times that of NASA

The industry was in an uproar.

"Someone who makes chips is coming to make rockets? Do you know what 'rocket-grade precision' means?" a senior engineer mocked on an aerospace forum.

"The turbine pump of a rocket engine reaches 40,000 revolutions per minute, temperatures exceed 3,000 degrees Celsius, and pressure exceeds 300 atmospheres. Do chip engineers understand this data?"

"80 billion? What is that enough for? SpaceX burned 20 billion USD just to create the Falcon 9."

But immediately after, the Star Rocket official website updated its information.

The first list of advisors:

Wang Zhenguo (72): Former Chief Engineer of China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation, Deputy Chief Designer of the Long March 5 rocket.

Chen Guangming (68): Former President of the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology.

Liu Jianhua (65): Former Chief Engineer of the China Academy of Space Technology.

Pierre Dupont (60): Former Technical Director of the European Space Agency, core designer of the Ariane rocket.

Zhang Wei (52): Former ethnic Chinese scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, who resigned and returned to the country three months ago.

The weight of this list silenced all doubters.

Even more shocking was that the Star Rocket official website published a technical roadmap:

Q4 2018: First test flight of a reusable rocket prototype

2019: Commercial launch

2020: Heavy-lift rocket project initiation

2021: Manned spaceflight

And—they displayed the design drawings for the engine test stand.

Experts saw at a glance: the design of this test stand was highly similar to SpaceX's test stand in Texas, but more optimized—adopting composite materials, intelligent control systems, and data acquisition systems self-developed by Xinghuo.

"They are not starting from scratch," an analyst wrote. "They are standing on the shoulders of giants—and multiple giants at that."

Five days passed in the blink of an eye, March 25, internal aerospace system meeting.

Beijing, a certain ministry building.

A dozen people sat in the conference room: relevant leaders and technical experts from the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation, China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, and the National Space Administration.

In the main seat was Zhou Tianyu, 52, Chief Engineer of the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation. His hair was graying, he wore reading glasses, and in front of him lay a thick stack of documents—all technical materials submitted by Star Rocket.

"Everyone, you've all finished reading," Zhou Tianyu began, his voice steady. "Share your thoughts."

Silence.

Someone coughed: "Director Zhou, there are international precedents for private enterprises making rockets—SpaceX. But that is America, we have our own national conditions..."

"I am asking for technical opinions," Zhou Tianyu interrupted. "From a technical standpoint, do these materials have value?"

Silence again.

Then, a young technical backbone raised his hand: "Director Zhou, I think... the value is immense."

He stood up and walked to the whiteboard.

"The engine plan submitted by Star Rocket adopts the full-flow staged combustion cycle—this is currently the most advanced cycle method, with an efficiency more than 15% higher than our staged combustion cycle."

"Their turbine pump design uses the new high-temperature alloy 'Xinghuo-7', which was developed by Spark Materials, and its performance data... is even better than the materials we are currently working on."

"And this—" he pointed to a page of drawings, "the landing control system algorithm for the reusable rocket. They used deep reinforcement learning, simulated 100,000 landing processes, and the optimized control strategy is 30% more stable than traditional PID control."

Whispers arose in the conference room.

Zhou Tianyu took off his glasses and wiped the lenses.

He remembered three days ago, when Su Chen came to see him in person.

That young man, not yet thirty, but in his eyes was a calmness and... ambition rare for his age.

"Director Zhou, I know aerospace is a pillar of the nation, and private enterprises shouldn't touch it," Su Chen had said at the time. "But times have changed. SpaceX has already proven that private enterprises can do it better, faster, and cheaper."

"What do we have?" Zhou Tianyu retorted. "Do you have the technology? Do you have the talent? Do you have the experience?"

Su Chen handed him a USB drive: "The technology is here. We are recruiting talent globally. Experience... we can learn, we can cooperate."

After reading the contents of the USB drive, Zhou Tianyu did not sleep all night. Those technical plans were not castles in the air—each one had detailed calculations, simulations, and test data. Some ideas had been discussed within their research institute, but were abandoned because the difficulty was too great. But Star Rocket was prepared to tackle them head-on.

"Director Zhou," another old expert spoke up, "the technology is good technology, but... letting a private enterprise do it carries too much risk. Rockets are not chips; if they fail, they will explode, people will die, and it will affect the nation's image."

"Then what if we don't?" Zhou Tianyu asked. "If we do it ourselves following this route, how long will it take? How much will it cost?"

No one answered.

Everyone knew the answer: at least ten years, at least 100 billion. And it might not even succeed—the system of the aerospace sector dictated that innovation required layers of approval, and failure meant bearing responsibility. Often, it was better to be conservative than to take risks.

"I suggest," Zhou Tianyu said slowly, "cooperating with Star Rocket. We provide experience, talent, and launch sites. They provide technology, funding, and innovative mechanisms."

"Wouldn't that leak core technology?" someone objected.

"It's not leaking, it's sharing," Zhou Tianyu said. "We can sign an agreement: the aerospace system has priority rights to use Star Rocket's technology. Their launches must be conducted under our supervision. Their achievements must be incorporated into the national aerospace system."

He stood up and walked to the window.

Outside the window was the sky of Beijing, gray and hazy.

"Everyone, we have spent our whole lives in aerospace. From Dongfeng to Long March, from Dongfanghong to Chang'e, we have achieved many miracles," Zhou Tianyu's voice was a bit hoarse, "but we must admit: these years, we have slowed down."

"SpaceX's Falcon 9 launch cost has already dropped to 60 million USD, while our Long March 3B costs 100 million USD. Their Starlink project plans to launch 40,000 satellites, while our low-orbit constellation is still in the planning stage."

He turned around and looked at the people in the conference room.

"It's not that we aren't working hard; it's the system, the mindset, and the historical baggage. Now, someone is willing to shoulder this burden and do aerospace in a new way. Should we support them, or should we block them?"

Silence.

A long silence.

Finally, an old Academician with white hair raised his hand: "I agree to cooperate. But there must be a bottom line: national security cannot be touched, core technology must be shared, and responsibility for failure must be shared."

"Agreed."

"Agreed."

"Agreed."

More and more people raised their hands.

Zhou Tianyu nodded: "Good, then I will report it upwards. Within three days, we will give Star Rocket an answer."

March 28 · Approval issued.

The official document was issued: "Guiding Opinions on Supporting Private Aerospace Enterprises to Participate in the Construction of National Space Infrastructure (Trial)".

Core content:

Encouraging private enterprises to participate in fields such as commercial launches, satellite development, and space applications.

The national aerospace system opens infrastructure such as launch sites and measurement and control networks to qualified enterprises.

Establish a military-civilian integration technology innovation platform to promote the two-way transformation of aerospace technology.

Provide policy support and financial rewards to private enterprises that make major breakthroughs.

Although it did not directly mention Star Rocket, everyone knew who this document was tailored for.

That afternoon, Su Chen received a call from Zhou Tianyu.

"General Manager Su, have you seen the document?"

"I have, thank you for your support, Director Zhou."

"It's not support, it's cooperation," Zhou Tianyu said. "Tomorrow I will take a team to Command Center, and we will talk about exactly how to do it."

"Okay, I'll be waiting."

Hanging up the phone, Su Chen walked to the floor-to-ceiling window of his office.

Outside the window, the dusk in Shenzhen was beautiful, with the setting sun dyeing the sky orange-red.

He remembered the words the system had said: "Promote the advancement of human civilization into space."

At that time, he felt it was unreachable.

But now, Star Rocket was established, the state supported it, technical plans were in place, and funding was ready.

Space seemed no longer so distant.

He opened his computer and began drafting the five-year plan for Star Rocket.

Outside the window, night fell, and the stars began to twinkle.

Those stars, one day in the future, might become humanity's new home.

And Star Rocket was lighting the first fire on the path to there.