204: Chapter 204 "The Heavenly Court Project"

America's sanctions ignited the tech circles of China and the US, but amidst the commotion, Su Chen launched a new plan to head into space, marking Xingchen Technology's first step toward the stars.

On April 15th, at the Wenchang Aerospace City in Hainan, a new chapter in China's aerospace history was about to be written. A joint press conference for Star Rocket was held here, which also served as a technology promotion event.

9:30 AM, Command Center.

This is China's southernmost space launch base, facing the South China Sea with blue waters and clear skies. Today, the atmosphere in the Aerospace City was exceptionally different—the parking lot was filled with vehicles from all over the country, and the media area was bristling with cameras and lenses.

The conference was held in the newly built International Convention Center, which could accommodate a thousand people. At this moment, every seat was taken, and the back rows and aisles were packed with people.

At exactly 10:00 AM, the stage lights came on.

On the large background screen, four logos appeared side by side:

Star Rocket (blue flames encircling the Earth)

Huaxia Satellite (golden satellite orbit)

Aerospace Electronics (red circuit pattern)

BDStar Navigation (silver navigation grid)

Su Chen walked out from the side of the stage.

Today, he was wearing the Star Rocket uniform—deep blue paired with space silver, with a rocket and stars pattern embroidered on the left chest. This was his first public appearance as the Chairman of Star Rocket.

The audience fell silent instantly, with only the sound of camera shutters clicking like raindrops.

"Good morning, everyone." Su Chen walked to the center of the podium. "Thank you all for coming to Command Center. Today, our four companies are jointly announcing a plan."

He turned and pointed to the large screen.

Two Chinese characters lit up on the screen: Tianting.

"The project name is 'tianting project'," Su Chen said. "The goal: to launch 20,000 low-earth orbit communication satellites within 10 years to build a high-speed satellite internet covering the globe."

A collective gasp rose from the audience.

20,000 satellites? Global internet?

This was even more aggressive than Tesla CEO Musk's "Starlink" project (12,000 satellites).

Su Chen continued his explanation:

Orbit design: 500-600 km Low Earth Orbit (LEO), slightly lower than Starlink's 550 km, resulting in lower signal latency, with a theoretical latency of under 15 milliseconds.

Satellite design: Each weighs 200 kg, 30% lighter than Starlink satellites (about 260 kg). With a lifespan of 7 years and equipped with laser inter-satellite links, they can achieve high-speed inter-satellite communication, reducing reliance on ground stations.

Coverage: Global coverage with no dead zones, including oceans, deserts, polar regions, and other areas difficult for terrestrial networks to reach.

"The Tianting network will provide gigabit-level broadband services," Su Chen said. "The fees will be one-third of terrestrial fiber optics, or even lower. Our goal is to let everyone in the world, no matter where they are, enjoy high-speed, low-latency, and low-cost internet services."

He paused and looked at the audience. "I know some will ask: How much will this cost? Is the technology feasible? What about market competition?"

"Money-wise, we have prepared 80 billion in startup capital. As for the technology—" He smiled. "Please look at the next section."

Star Rocket's Chief Designer Zhou took the stage.

He was 52 years old with graying hair and thick glasses, looking more like a university professor than a rocket expert. But when he spoke, everyone was captivated.

"I am Chief Designer Zhou, the Chief Designer of Star Rocket. Next, I will introduce the delivery portion of the 'tianting project'."

The large screen switched to show a rocket comparison chart.

Left side: SpaceX falcon 9 (as of 2018).

Right side: Star 'tianlong-1' (design diagram).

"First, let me clarify: our technical parameters are not bluster; they have already been verified through ground testing." Chief Designer Zhou pushed up his glasses. "We welcome global peers to verify all the data."

He began to compare item by item:

1. Number of reuses

falcon 9: Designed for 10 reuses, actually reused at most 5 times (as of 2018).

tianlong-1: Designed for 50 reuses. Key components use a new alloy-stainless steel alloy from Spark Materials, with fatigue resistance increased fivefold.

2. Launch preparation time

falcon 9: At least 3 weeks between launches (inspection, repair, component replacement).

tianlong-1: Target 72 hours, achieving rapid reuse through intelligent testing and modular design.

3. Cost per launch

falcon 9: Approximately $50 million (2018 quote).

tianlong-1: Target $15 million, diluting costs through mass production and high-frequency launches.

4. Multi-satellite launch capability

falcon 9: Up to 60 Starlink satellites (after volume optimization).

tianlong-1: After layout optimization, it can carry 120 Tianting satellites (200 kg each).

With each comparison, a wave of exclamations rose from the audience.

A foreign reporter stood up directly: "Chief Designer Zhou, these figures are astounding. How do you achieve 50 rocket reuses? SpaceX is still in the exploration stage."

Chief Designer Zhou smiled. "The answer lies in the materials. We used the 'Xinghuo-7' high-temperature alloy developed by Spark Materials, as well as carbon-carbon composite materials. These materials have already been verified in aero-engines, and we have adapted them for rockets."

He pulled up a test video:

In the laboratory, an alloy sample was continuously heated at 2,000 degrees Celsius; after one hour, there was only slight oxidation on the surface.

"This is a high-temperature resistance test," Chief Designer Zhou said. "When a rocket re-enters the atmosphere, the temperature reaches a maximum of about 1,600 degrees. Our material can easily withstand that."

"What about the cost? This kind of material must be very expensive, right?"

"After mass production, the cost can be reduced to 1.5 times that of existing materials. But considering 50 reuses, the cost per launch is actually lower."

The reporters in the audience recorded frantically.

They knew that if these figures were true, the aerospace industry would face a revolution.

Next, the Chief Designer of Huaxia Satellite explained the satellite portion.

"Our satellites can be summarized in three words: Small, Strong, and Smart."

Small: 200 kg, lighter than peers, but fully functional.

Strong - chip: Uses a 14nm radiation-hardened version of the Xinghuo Chip, with computing power twice that of Starlink satellites.

Energy: Flexible thin-film solar panels with a photoelectric conversion efficiency of 35% (international average is 25%), generating 40% more power for the same area.

Communication: Laser inter-satellite link speeds reach 100 Gbps, which is 10 times that of Starlink (about 10 Gbps).

Smart: Each satellite is equipped with a lightweight AI chip, capable of:

Autonomous obstacle avoidance: Monitoring debris and other satellites in orbit and automatically adjusting the trajectory.

Intelligent networking: Dynamically adjusting the network topology based on traffic distribution.

Fault self-healing: Automatically switching to backups or adjusting operating modes when certain components fail.

"This means," the Chief Designer of the satellite concluded, "the Tianting network is not 20,000 isolated satellites, but a distributed intelligent brain. The larger it grows, the smarter it becomes."