Free Web NovelChapter 1283: Chapter 616: New Type of Mysterious Particle_1
Phoenix Bay Industrial Park.
On the second floor of a large office building, several people who had been recruited into the design team were sitting patiently on both sides, waiting.
Some had arrived early, and some a little later, but the difference in their arrival times wasn’t significant.
The four people on the left were all from the Aircraft Manufacturing Research Institute, including Li Jianming, Lei Yong, Bao Enhong, and Xue Zhentao; on the right sat three individuals, Dong Tiancheng and Deng Yuan from the Aerospace Bureau, and Yu Xin from the Shipyard.
At the moment, they were talking softly, but only with those they knew.
Yu Xin sat alone on one side. He was the only one from the Shipyard, and compared to the others, he was completely in the dark, not even knowing why he was there. He had suddenly been ordered by his superiors to come here for work.
As a maritime ship designer, Yu Xin was indeed outstanding. Although only in his forties, he was already leading teams in projects, even those involving the design of entire ships. ƒreewebɳovel.com
A few years back, when there was a major push for the development of maritime power domestically, shipbuilding became increasingly valued, and Yu Xin had gained a certain level of fame. He had even been nominated to participate in the design of future high-tech aircraft carriers.
If nothing unexpected happened, Yu Xin’s future looked bright.
Unfortunately, the unexpected did happen.
In the past two years, anti-gravity technology had become the focus both domestically and globally. Aircraft built around anti-gravity technology had a significant impact on the aviation industry.
Apart from military aircraft being affected, the impact on the civilian sector was also substantial.
For instance, the world-renowned aircraft manufacturer BY Aircraft saw its stock price continuously falling, by nearly 70% over two years, revealing the market’s pessimism regarding conventional aircraft.
At the same time, BY Aircraft’s business was also directly affected, struggling to receive orders for conventional aircraft on the international market.
The whole world was optimistic about anti-gravity aircraft and awaiting the emergence of large-scale manned anti-gravity vehicles. Relevant aviation businesses were hesitant to spend huge amounts of money on conventional airliners.
BY Aircraft had also purchased the licensing rights for anti-gravity technology. They certainly understood its significance and were constantly engaged in research and development. However, with such a cutting-edge technology, no matter how much was invested in R&D, it was difficult to achieve a significant technological edge.
They had only just designed large-scale manned anti-gravity vehicles, and the earliest predictions for their actual manufacturing and production were about two years away.
That was the impact on the aviation sector.
The development of anti-gravity technology also affected the ship manufacturing industry, perhaps even more so. Currently, international cargo was transported using large container ships, ordinary ones carrying between 60,000 to 120,000 tons.
Some anti-gravity research teams had released astonishing performance parameters. For example, Country D’s anti-gravity research team calculated the possibility of creating large anti-gravity cargo aircraft capable of carrying over 100,000 tons. Moreover, the cost of transporting each ton was not high, only about two to three times more than traditional container ships.
This data was a major blow to the international ship transport industry.
Even though the transportation costs of anti-gravity cargo aircraft were higher, it’s worth noting that aerial transport was much faster. Considering the time cost of many goods, two to three times the price of shipping was hardly significant.
Take chilled meat, for instance.
If using anti-gravity cargo aircraft, one could transport meat products to the other side of the Earth within a day, without worrying much about preservation, significantly reducing freeze costs. fɾeeweɓnѳveɭ.com
And that was just one example.
Therefore, the development of anti-gravity technology dealt a heavy blow to the ship transport industry. The implications for military R&D were also significant as it became possible to create large fortresses floating in the sky, rendering large aircraft-carrying ships obsolete.
This was understood both domestically and internationally.
Yu Xin’s job was greatly affected too. After completing a minor civilian ship design project, he didn’t even know what to do next.
It was then that he received orders from his superiors to go to Zhengyang for work.
Yu Xin had very little information. He had come to Zhengyang in a daze, only to learn that he would be working under Zhao Yi’s direction in design.
But...
What could there be to do under Zhao Yi? Design ships? Or submarines?
As Yu Xin sat in the conference room, he still couldn’t figure it out. He wanted to hear what the others were saying but felt too embarrassed to get closer. He could only faintly catch words like "spacecraft" and "shuttle."
He certainly knew about space shuttle experiments, but what did they have to do with ship design?
——
Finally, Zhao Yi arrived.
Zhao Yi came along with Zhu Hengzhi, a member of the anti-gravity research and development team who later participated in space shuttle experiments. After the spaceship project was established, he requested to join the project team.
Zhao Yi knew Zhu Hengzhi and brought him into the fold.
Zhu Hengzhi’s knowledge was broad, making him a ’jack-of-all-trades’ sort of talent, but he could provide Zhao Yi with great assistance.
Like now, for instance.
Upon entering, Zhu Hengzhi took on the responsibility of explaining the work, addressing those in the conference room, "You should all be aware that our project involves designing a spaceship."
"The spaceship project has been approved, with Academician Zhao leading the design team. Some of you have designed airplanes, others spacecraft, and some ships. The spaceship is a new project and a highly challenging one."
