Chapter 460 Plans and Problems
After three days of wrangling, the four major forces reluctantly reached a cooperation agreement.
According to the Munich Space Cooperation Agreement, the four major forces will establish an association called: Earth Union and Universe Development Association, abbreviated as Earth Union Association or Earth Union.
The Earth Federation is composed of four major forces, including the Free Union, the European Union, and Lucia. It has also absorbed some other members, including Persia, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Pampas Republic, the Republic of Santiago, and other forces, which have also joined the Earth Federation.
Of course, the Space Alliance is just a loose cooperation organization in the aerospace field.
After all, the four core forces of the Earth Union all have their own ulterior motives, and the fact that they can form a barely loose organization is only due to the pressure from the Homo Sapiens Company that has forced them to make some compromises.
If the Homo sapiens company did not exist, they would not have been able to cooperate at all.
Taking the issue of balance into consideration, the Ground Alliance itself does not have many mandatory clauses, just some discussions on cooperation, emergency contact, intelligence sharing, theoretical cooperation, etc.
As for funding, the Dilian Group only received 50 million yuan in office expenses each year, and no other expenses at all.
Musk, who participated in this cooperation negotiation, looked at the Geo-Union Association which was just playing house, with only speechlessness and a dry smile on his face.
Then, Kounde von Marcus, who was elected as the first president of the Federation of Geographical Associations, also knew that if things continued like this, the Federation of Geographical Associations would be almost a decoration, so he quickly put forward a proposal.
"Everyone, now that the Earth Alliance has been established, for the future of mankind and for the development of the universe, I think the top priority now is to find an efficient way to enter outer space."
In response to Conde's words, none of the participants present spoke at first.
After all, the PPT plan for talking nonsense is very simple, but it is quite difficult to implement a plan that can actually be implemented.
Otherwise, the major forces on Earth would not have been playing with launch vehicles.
The emergence of GeoUnion is now to counter the advantage of Sapiens in the field of aerospace and avoid being locked on the earth by Sapiens.
This is also one of the reasons why the four major forces can put aside some of their grudges and join forces to establish the Local Association.
Once Homo sapiens can enter outer space on a large scale and achieve long-term life in outer space, the uniqueness of the Earth will become less unique.
Once the environment of the earth can no longer restrain Homo sapiens, the consequences will be very serious, because it means that Homo sapiens can abandon the earth at any time, and it also means that Homo sapiens can do whatever it wants on the earth.
The major forces have obviously thought of this.
In order to avoid being controlled by others , they have to cooperate.
Musk stood up and said, "Gentlemen! SpaceX's reusable launch vehicle is our best choice."
Although Bill also recognizes the technology of Space Exploration Company, he still hopes that other companies or research institutions can come up with some new solutions.
After all, SpaceX's Falcon Heavy launch vehicle can only carry 50 to 60 tons of payload into low-Earth orbit, which means has no way of competing with Sapiens.
After hearing Musk’s words, other companies with ideas also quickly stepped forward to endorse their companies and technologies.
However, more than a dozen company presidents or technical executives have not come up with any constructive plans.
Conde, Bill and others were somewhat frustrated and disappointed.
Right at this moment.
Toth, a space company from the Maple Leaf Country, its president and CEO, Toth Carolyn Roberts, stood up to the podium.
She projected her company's PPT on the big screen behind her:
"Ladies and gentlemen, I am Roberts, the president of Tot Corporation. Our company has brought a plan that is very likely to be realized. Please look at the big screen behind me..."
Everyone looked at the PPT picture on the big screen.
"Our company has obtained an American patent for the construction of a free-standing tower structure that can extend 20,000 meters from the earth's surface into the air. This space tower is 20 times the height of the Burj Khalifa (the current building in the world)."
She continued: "Our design is different from other space elevators. Other space elevator designs are more complicated. For example, other designs require the use of graphene and carbon nanotube materials, but our company's solution does not require them."
"Ms. Roberts, how do you plan to build a 20,000-meter building?" Musk asked with a smile.
Roberts was well prepared for this. She confidently explained: "The space tower designed by our company uses expansion materials and flywheels to provide dynamic stability because the entire space tower is inflatable."
"Inflatable?"
"Airship airbags?"
All the people present reacted immediately.
After all, using airships to build hoses is a successful solution of the Sapiens company.
Roberts continued: "At present, the space elevator designed by our company limits the maximum altitude to 20,000 meters, which can effectively avoid the complex effects of the geostationary orbit, but our company's plan is different from that of the Sapiens company..."
After listening to Roberts' explanation.
Bill, Conde and others finally understood some of the circumstances of this plan.
The space elevator designed by Tott has the following specific operating mode: astronauts will ascend to 20,000 meters through the space elevator. On the launch platform at the top of the space tower, the space shuttle will launch a single stage into the space orbit, and then return to the platform at the top of the space tower to refuel and fly again.
According to Dr. Brandon Quinn, the designer of this space elevator, this system can save a lot of fuel and reduce the cost of launching rockets into space by about 30%.
And the space tower also includes automatic landing rocket technology.
Roberts was frank about this, saying that this was based on the powerful landing system developed by SpaceX, and that the barge landing on the sea was a good demonstration.
But she also boasted about her own landing system: "…because of the landing on the space tower platform 20,000 meters above sea level, space flight will be more like taking a jet airliner. In the future, the space elevator can also be an important part of the space tourism industry. At the same time, it can also generate wind energy and enable space communications."
Musk frowned and said, "Isn't this the aerospace carrier launch technology of Sapiens?"
"Uh..." Roberts was a little embarrassed.
Fortunately, Bill made up for it in time: "Tott's patent was launched in 2015. It must be that the evil Sapiens company copied Tott's inspiration."
The others didn't say anything.
After all, there are no patents in the aerospace field, and everyone just copies answers from each other.
After easing the awkwardness, Roberts quickly struck while the iron was hot: "Everyone, our company's plan will only require an investment of approximately US$5 billion. This is a very cost-effective solution."
However, everyone present is a smart person and they will not be fooled by the so-called 5 billion US dollar investment.
After all, when many companies are seeking investment, they often like to lower the investment amount while exaggerating the effect to make it seem very cost-effective.
However, many times, a project is halfway through and then requests for additional investment are made.
Musk, feeling very unhappy, started to make trouble again: "Your airbags need to be filled with helium, right? Helium is not cheap nowadays!"
When he heard the word helium, Bill also frowned.
The retail price of liquid helium now reaches US$70 per liter.
According to Toth's design plan, a large number of airbags will definitely be needed, which is not a small number.
As for the idea of using hydrogen instead of helium, unless they want to see the space tower turn into a flame tower.
After all, this is a platform that frequently launches launch vehicles or aerospace planes. If the flame accidentally ignites the hydrogen, it would be a complete disaster.
