Free Web NovelChapter 1436: Chapter 680: Your idea is novel, but it is utterly meaningless!_2
On this matter, Musk from Space Exploration Company had the most authority to speak. When he learned of Yixing Company’s space travel information, he became much more serious, knowing that his company’s space travel plans paled in comparison to those of Yixing Company and could hardly be considered competitive.
Indeed, space travel had already emerged on the international market, with limited competition unfolding.
Famous billionaires from M Country, Musk and Bezos, were both competing to get their own spacecraft into space first.
Bezos was even more anxious than Musk; he had already announced his plan to ride on his own spacecraft into space, aiming to become the first billionaire to fly into space in an anti-gravity spacecraft developed by his own company.
However, the first to create this record was Ruan Wenye, a billionaire from Y Country and owner of the Virgin Group. A month earlier, he took a step ahead by riding the Virgin Galactic spaceship of his own company for the first fully crewed test flight.
This flight had a total of eight passengers and four astronauts, with the journey lasting only a brief half-hour.
These billionaires were so eager to go to space because they hoped to promote their own companies’ space travel plans.
Space travel represented an entirely new market.
With anti-gravity technology becoming widespread, many top companies were capable of creating advanced spacecraft, and an institution had predicted that in just two years, the space travel market could expand to over ten billion US dollars.
Now, Yixing Company displayed overwhelming strength with their sightseeing spacecraft completing five test flights, with the most critical figure, Zhao Yi, personally experiencing the space journey for more than twenty-four hours.
Furthermore, the sightseeing group’s passenger capacity exceeded two hundred fifty, even approaching three hundred people.
This was virtually equivalent to a cruise ship in space.
Musk had always believed his own spacecraft was extremely advanced, but those they were building had a capacity of fewer than fifty people and extremely limited interior space, making it impossible to provide rooms for everyone.
Moreover, the cost of each spaceflight was very high.
Musk estimated that the lowest ticket price would exceed one and a half million US dollars to recoup the cost of going to space.
This was mainly because of the spacecraft’s poor reusability.
After each trip to space and return to Earth, a significant part of the external components and equipment required replacement or rigorous maintenance treatments, such as radiation cleaning.
The costs for replacement and maintenance would exceed twenty million US dollars.
Yixing’s sightseeing ship had a huge interior space, not just personal private rooms but also facilities like exhibition halls and restaurants. The experience would certainly be excellent, especially with the low ticket prices—
How could they compete?
There was simply no competition!
Musk only fell silent for a moment before immediately having someone contact Yixing Company to inquire about the sale of the sightseeing spacecraft.
Previously, Space Exploration Company had inquired with Yixing and knew that policy issues were a limitation, but now they must continue to pay attention. Space Exploration Company couldn’t compete with Yixing Company, but being the first to buy the sightseeing ship could definitely give them an edge in the competition. fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm
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A ticket price of over two million RMB was indeed very low among the top echelon of the wealthy.
After Yixing announced their notice, many people kept their eyes on the news, ready to snatch up tickets at the first opportunity.
This time, it wasn’t about "drawing lots" but first come, first served.
Yixing set the ticket price at just over two million RMB, taking the ’sustainability’ of the space travel market into account.
Had the ticket price been set too high, the number of purchases would have been low.
For instance, with a sale price of ten million US dollars, it would have been impossible to sell over two hundred tickets.
At the pricing level of over two million RMB, many more people could afford it. Besides, reputation was also very important.
If the initial selling price was high and followed by a rapid decline in ticket prices, it would certainly impact the company’s reputation.
Subsequent prices would definitely be reduced, but not by a large degree.
Over two million was enough.
With the normal sale of two hundred tickets, they could recoup four hundred million in funds, with a net profit of over three and a half billion. Just a few space trips would be enough to recoup the cost of the sightseeing spacecraft.
"This was already a very high profit."
Zhao Yi didn’t care much about the operation of the tourist boat. After resting at home for a few days, he submitted a project proposal named ’Z-wave Transfer Experiment’.
Z-wave is the top secret technology.
In the country, the only scholar who could directly apply for Z-wave experiments was Zhao Yi. Anyone else who wanted to conduct Z-wave research had to join a related team.
The project Zhao Yi applied for also required the cooperation of the Z-wave team, even the support staff needed to be selected from the Z-wave team and the Space Information Technology company.
The funding for this application wasn’t high, just a symbolic one hundred million Renminbi, mainly because it was uncertain whether the experiment would yield any results.
If the experiment were to achieve the desired results, further funding would be applied for.
Zhao Yi’s application was clearly different from the others. It was sent directly to the senior leaders, then rapidly approved. The development expenses were to be managed by the Z-wave team, who were required to assist in the already completed research, with the funds deducted from their team’s account.
The Z-wave experiment team didn’t mind at all, in fact, they were very much looking forward to it. Many people in the team were mentored by Zhao Yi. Some were technical members who had worked on anti-gravity development, others were simply from the theoretical group, including the leading academician Ying Ke Cheng.
Now, the direct supervisor of the Z-wave team was Ruan Wenye.
When he learned that Zhao Yi had applied for a Z-wave-related research project, Ruan Wenye arrived in the capital the next day, even bringing gifts to visit Zhao Yi.
Zhao Yi was truly surprised to see Ruan Wenye at his home, "Ruan Brother, why have you come all of a sudden?"
Ruan Wenye laughed heartily, "Zhao Yi, aren’t you applying for a project? I’m here to talk to you about that."
"I just submitted the application yesterday," Zhao Yi pulled at the corner of his mouth, meaning that Ruan Wenye had arrived really fast.
Ruan Wenye said nonchalantly, "Let me be straight with you, right now our Z-wave team has no work and is very relaxed."
He expressed some distress, "It’s mainly the issue with the higher-ups. It seems like they are always discussing without coming up with any concrete measures. You probably know what I’m referring to."
"Z-wave Regional Physical Characteristics Study?" Zhao Yi immediately understood.
"Exactly!"
Ruan Wenye nodded and said, "We’ve been waiting for this research project, but it’s quite large and involves the highest level of confidentiality, so it has been under continuous discussion."
"If we want to conduct related research, we need a large number of physicists and have to build special devices."
"Even the lowest budget would exceed ten billion Renminbi."
"Money is an issue, confidentiality is another issue, so it has been dragging on. We don’t know what to do. Honestly, I feel that the Z-wave technology is already quite mature in terms of usage."
"That’s a bit premature to say," Zhao Yi sighed and shook his head, not agreeing with Ruan Wenye’s opinion.
Although in terms of usage, Z-wave indeed had no problems—it could be used to create deterrence, compress matter, and even for space travel—the physical properties within the Z-wave coverage area had not been analyzed. Hence, there was a theoretical gap in the research on Z-waves and space compression.
A theoretical gap would limit the applicability of the technology.
Although it was unclear what other uses Z-wave might have, it certainly had many applications beyond the few areas currently known.
This was somewhat like electromagnetic waves.
When electromagnetic waves were first used, their application was very limited. Now, they are essential in various fields, with information transmission covering the entire world.
"Perhaps the application of Z-wave technology will be extensive and might even spread quickly to the private sector in the future," Zhao Yi stated seriously.
Ruan Wenye shook his head with a wry smile, "I haven’t thought about it as much as you have. With my level, this is it for me, which is why I was so eager to come see you. I wanted to know what your research specifically involves. I’ve seen your project application report—Z-wave Transfer Experiment? How would you transfer it?"
"Spatial Connection Technology," Zhao Yi said directly.
Ruan Wenye was stunned for a moment, then said with gravity, "Zhao Yi, your idea is indeed innovative, but we have already conducted related experiments."
"Z-wave is not a conventional form of energy and cannot be transferred by Spatial Connection Technology," he stated with certainty.
