After the big brother "Asu" successfully launched the first artificial satellite into space in October 1957, the space race between Aramco and the Soviet Union kicked off.

With Aramco's first moon landing in May 1961, and the sixth successful moon landing in December 1972, Nacs (Aramco Space Agency) spent US$25.5 billion to successfully complete the "world's first" mission.

The purchasing power of US$25.5 billion in 1972 is now approximately US$500 billion, which is not an exaggeration.

The rocket that transported humans to the moon at that time was called "Saturn V". So far, Saturn V is still the heaviest launch vehicle ever used in human history.

The height of the "Zero Space" rocket is only 20 meters, the total mass reaches 40 tons, and the payload is 1.5 tons.

And the Saturn V…

It is 110.6 meters high, has a take-off weight of 3038 tons, a total thrust of 3408 tons, a carrying capacity of 118 tons in low-Earth orbit, and 45 tons in lunar orbit...

Compared with the "Zero Space" Clippers series rockets and the Saturn V, they are not even considered grandchildren.

Such a powerful launch vehicle was produced in 1965 by several companies such as Boeing, Douglas Aircraft Company and IBM as contractors and they were responsible for the manufacturing.

That's right.

Like Airbus, Boeing not only produces aircraft, but also launch vehicles, satellites, and the famous spacecraft and space shuttles.

It can be said that during the days when Aramco and Aso were fighting, because of Aramco’s national strategy, Nasa was very well-funded and could do anything in heaven and earth. Companies that cooperated with NASA were very rich.

but.

With Asu's complete collapse, the space race came to an end, and NASA fell into another embarrassment.

There is no more powerful external enemy and no target.

Subsequently, there is no reason for Aramco and the entire country to invest heavily in NASA for the space race.

NASA's funding began to be tight year by year. At this time, Boeing and Lockheed Martin (the one that produced the F22) gradually became the two giants in the Aramco aviation industry in the development of commercial aviation due to their good business operations.

At the same time, the two companies directly monopolized all NASA launch missions by virtue of the launch vehicles developed through long-term cooperation with NASA.

At this time, NASA could only rely on Boeing and Lockheed Martin to launch satellites. The two brothers formed the ULA alliance. Every time NASA launched a rocket, these two brothers would kill each other.

No way.

Satellites are unlike other commodities. A high-precision satellite can easily cost hundreds of millions of dollars. In order to launch it safely, no matter how expensive the launch cost is, as long as it is safe, we can only grit our teeth and endure it.

What's more, at that time, no other company could launch except these two brothers.

How ruthless are these two brothers?

For example, the Delta IV medium-sized rocket at that time could send 11 tons of payload into low-Earth orbit, and the average cost per launch was about US$160 million.

At that time, the Yanguo Long March 3B sent the same 11-ton payload to low-Earth orbit, and the international quotation was only US$60 million.

but.

Satellites, especially satellites sent to space by organizations like NASA, contain major secrets, and it is impossible to find foreign companies to launch them.

So emboldened, with the support of the capital behind Boeing and Lockheed Martin, the two companies began to join forces to cheat, and NASA had no choice but to admit it with tears in its eyes!

Unexpectedly, these two brothers became more and more outrageous. Their quotations increased year by year. The average quotation for large and medium-sized rockets exceeded US$400 million.

Originally, NASA's funding was decreasing year by year without Asu as a rival. As a result, launch costs increased significantly, and NASA was in trouble.

finally.

NASA decided that it could not let them do whatever they wanted, so in order to teach their two biological sons a lesson, they decided to take in a few godsons.

In 2008, NASA launched a tender for the "Commercial Transportation Services" project, which is to deliver express delivery to the International Space Station...

You must know that unlike the Yanguo Space Station, Ami has had a space station in space a long time ago. In order for the space station to operate normally, it needs to transport various materials from the earth on time and in quantity.

so.

After NASA just launched the business of delivering express delivery to the space station, many aerospace companies from Aramco and the United States began bidding.

Because Ami and Yan people are different, many wealthy people in Ami are keen on sending people to heaven and space travel, so many businessmen have established various aerospace companies.

For example, the Amazon CEO’s Blue Origin company.

Virgin Galactic in Branson.

Google founder Page’s Planetary Resources company.

And the well-known SpaceX company created by Mask...

final.

SpaceX was selected by NASA as its godson and began sending 20 tons of supplies to the space station at a cost of US$1.6 billion divided into 12 times.

This price...isn’t better than that of his two biological sons, Boeing and Lockheed Martin?

In this way, SpaceX quickly won the favor of NASA with its price that was far lower than that of Boeing and Lockheed Martin.

Subsequently, SpaceX's technology progressed rapidly after receiving NASA's blessing. Immediately afterwards, the cooperation was renewed multiple times, and now SpaecX has become a long-term partner of NASA.

As a result, Boeing and Lockheed Martin's Delta IV medium rocket and Atlas V rocket are no longer commercially competitive due to launch costs.

When Boeing's main business was good before, it didn't care about the rocket launch business. After all, Boeing's main business is large aircraft and the Aramco military...

Unexpectedly, Boeing's aircraft have been beaten to death by Airbus in recent years. In addition, the military father, the largest financier, was also persuaded. In the past two years, he also bought several SpaceX Falcon Heavy rockets and started to try them.

Effect.

Boeing immediately panicked. After all, it finally got an order from NASA for the next-generation moon landing rocket SLS.

On the 29th of this month, Aramco’s next-generation super-heavy lunar landing rocket SLS-1, developed by Boeing for NASA, will be launched for the first time.

At such a critical time, even though you are the chairman of Aramco’s “Commercial Aerospace Development Alliance”, can Boeing CEO Mr. David still take care of Phoenix Group’s satellites?

joke.

Do you understand the value of the moon landing rocket SLS-1, which cost more than 40 billion US dollars?

Do you understand that it costs 4.1 billion US dollars to ignite a fire?

How much do you make from a commercial satellite?

not to mention……

Boeing's satellite business does not account for a high proportion. No matter how awesome the commercial satellites are, it has nothing to do with me. I will step aside for now.

In this way, when the data from the Phoenix "Observation Series" satellites was delivered to Mr. David, David did not process it in time, and did not even hold a meeting specifically.

For a time, although the entire "Commercial Aerospace Development Alliance" paid attention to the news, other commercial satellite manufacturers could only collect information about the Phoenix satellite privately.

…

the other side.
Chapter completed!