Chapter 592 Flying to space
A group of people were sitting in the waiting hall of the Arc Light Space Base, waiting for the space passenger plane. At this time, they had all completed their physical examinations. Those who were going to space were fine, even those who were older were fine. .
Zhao Gang sat next to Dong Chen, talking to Dong Chen and looking at the scene outside.
The terrain of the space base is very open, and there are no buildings around it, or construction has not started yet. Anyway, from here you can always see the "city center" of Arc Light Island, which is the central construction area of Arc Light Group.
Looking at the towering steel towers and the busy construction robots, Zhao Gang asked Dong Chen as a friend, "Xiao Dong, how much does it cost to build such an island city now? And what's more? You have started construction of so many large-scale projects at the same time, and they all require piles of money, won't there be any problems with your budget?"
Dong Chen leaned on his seat, touched his bald head and said, "Mr. Zhao, this problem is... really impossible to calculate."
"Take the most basic island building as an example. Our country has built many islands. I think even if you don't know the specific construction costs, you should have a general understanding. That can't be measured with money." "Every unit is small."
"The Arc Island we want to build now is much more advanced than the islands we want to build in China. It is not on the same level, and the technology we use here is different from the future planning needs. In addition, the islands we are currently building are not the same. If we really want to calculate the space station, lunar base, etc. according to the market price, it may not be enough to fill in China’s GDP for one year.”
"This does not include the planned Mars base, various types of spacecraft for space exploration, etc. If those things are added in, it will really be impossible to calculate using the current monetary system."
Seeing Dong Chen's helpless expression as he spoke, Zhao Gang smiled and asked, "So, what measures have you taken?"
Hearing this, Dong Chen did not continue to hide, "You should know that we have a seabed mine. Some of our raw materials do not need to be purchased from outside. Moreover, the smart technology we have is pretty good and can meet most of the manufacturing requirements. , so the cost can be reduced to very low.”
"To tell you the truth, we actually have many more seabed mines than we have announced, and we are completely self-sufficient."
"Our supporting industries are also very complete, and we can complete all aspects of our needs ourselves. Now when it comes to costs, it is basically just a small amount of money in employee wages and equipment maintenance, but at the same time, we create more profits, so... … We’re never short of money.”
As a relatively important leader of China, Zhao Gang has never thought that someone would say to him, "I am never short of money." Moreover, this standard is compared with GDP.
After all, last year, that is, in 2019, China's GDP was very close to that of the United States. According to this momentum, this year it will definitely surpass the United States economically and become the world's largest economy.
Although he was a little confused, he was quite interested in the large number of seabed mines that Dong Chen mentioned. "Speaking of seabed mines, what are your mining costs? Are there any big technical limitations?"
Hearing Zhao Gang ask this, Dong Chen looked at him and said with a smile, "What? Mr. Zhao, aren't you from the Aerospace Port? Why are you interested in the minerals and mining technology we mine on the seabed?"
Zhao Gang glanced at him and said, "Aren't you talking nonsense? When I was your kid's docking person, didn't I reach many other agreements with you?"
"The development of the country cannot be separated from mineral resources, especially now that we are developing rapidly and many facilities are being built, so the amount of basic materials required is very large. I think there are many places where we can cooperate."
"That's no problem. Our technology is very advantageous in all aspects." Dong Chen said confidently with a smile, "Whether it's technology or minerals, if the country needs it, you can just send Mr. Sun to talk to it. Yes, I think we will definitely have a very pleasant cooperation.”
"That's good," Zhao Gang said and patted Dong Chen's shoulder happily.
Originally, they were chatting very speculatively, and when they wanted to have a more in-depth chat about the Arc Light Group, the aerospace plane was already ready.
When they arrived at the special airport for aerospace aircraft in an electric car, Zhao Gang and others were still shocked even after seeing the pictures and glancing at them in the air.
The runways used by ordinary airplanes are different from those used by aerospace planes, and they are located in different places, so the scene they saw when they came was completely different from the runway scene they see now.
The huge aerospace aircraft that can be seen beyond the horizon is all paved with frosted thick steel plates in the airport, and the surface is sprayed with a friction-resistant and high-temperature-resistant coating. The feeling of walking on it is extremely different.
Originally, they could board the plane directly from the sealed docking port, but in order to let them see the appearance of the aerospace aircraft up close, it was changed to open-air boarding on the runway.
When everyone got on the aerospace plane, wearing seat belts and waiting to take off, Zhao Gang actually felt a little uneasy.
Although he has worked in China's aerospace department for most of his life, held countless positions, large and small, and seen many big scenes, as far as space is concerned, he has never been there. When he was closest to space , when he was inspecting the final assembly of the space capsule in the space facility assembly workshop.
Now he actually has the opportunity to go to space, and he also goes to inspect China's space industry. As an old man who comes from the aerospace department, this is really unimaginable.
But he didn't ponder for long when the flight attendant's reminder on the plane woke him up. He looked at some leaders next to him and smiled, then looked at Dong Chen sitting next to him and said, "Xiao Dong, thank you."
Dong Chen just smiled at this and said, "Mr. Zhao, it depends on what you said, it should be."
Hearing what Dong Chen said, Zhao Gang didn't say anything, but smiled and quietly leaned on his seat and waited for the plane to take off.
The aerospace passenger plane accelerated slowly. Considering the actual age of these leaders and the fact that many of them worked hard all year round, although their bodies were well maintained, the plane did not accelerate very fast and only maintained the basic requirements for flying.
After a while, the plane passed through the atmosphere. When the color outside the plane window changed from blue to black, the slight shaking feeling disappeared and the body became lighter, everyone looked out the window in amazement and observed the outside. new world.
It is the bright and magnificent starry sky in the universe.
