In a factory building at the former site of the Hughes Aircraft Company in Playa Vista, a southern suburb of Los Angeles.
Monday, March 4th.
Simon still arrived on time at eight o'clock in the morning.
24 hours later, in this factory building, which is 70 meters long and 30 meters wide, the size of a large studio in a studio, the air filled with the smell of welding arc is also mixed with an obvious smell of sweat, indicating that someone has experienced it here. A long day of non-stop work.
Not counting the staff responsible for refereeing or assisting, yesterday's 50 interviewees now have only 43 people left, a total of nine groups. As Simon had previously expected, half of the teams are still working. However, Simon is satisfied with one thing Yes, no one in the team who has completed their own project is taking a break, and they are all helping others.
Simon didn't pay any attention to why the other seven people left. He personally announced the end of the interview time and directly asked the accompanying NASA test team to start inspecting the rocket accessories made by the interviewees. The aerospace field has lasted for half a century, and NASA has a complete set of standard protocols for various software and hardware equipment related to the aerospace industry.
After staying up all night, the exhausted interviewees were taken to the apartment next door to wash up, and breakfast would be delivered to them by Elite's beautiful models later.
Simon was not idle. He sat at a workbench and personally read through the detailed records of the past 24 hours of work of each group of interviewees by the referee team. The referees were all professionals in the field of NASA rocket testing. Although Simon had no intention of hiring these people , the temporary recruitment position as an interviewer is more than enough.
This is only the third round of interviews and will not confirm the final result.
Simon does not plan to decide whether to hire each team based on whether they have completed their tasks. He prefers to judge whether the parties meet his requirements based on the records of these interviewers.
Half an hour later, the interviewers returned one after another from the apartment next door. The NASA team's inspection was still continuing. There were rows of seats lined up on the open space on one side of the factory building near the entrance. More than a dozen tall and beautiful girls were setting out breakfast. , seeing everyone returning, several of the girls politely invited everyone to sit down.
The fourth time.
From yesterday to now, a total of four waves of beautiful girls have delivered meals. Their appearance and figure made the majority of the interviewers, who were single, excited. Some of the more open-minded guys even came forward to strike up a conversation. Even contact information. Everyone also knew that this was a professional model specially hired by Simon Westeros to deliver food to them.
There is also a variety of food available throughout the day and night, which actually covers delicacies from Italy, France, China, Mexico and other countries. Even though most of them have a relatively high income, it is usually not easy to eat.
Food and beauty.
Tacky!
This was the first reaction of some interviewees who understood Simon Westeros' intention to do this.
But if you can, keep going!
Elon Musk returned with three other team members who gathered together yesterday, and they also changed into a set of brand-new clothes provided here. Even without rest for 24 hours, the mood of several people was still high at this time, especially watching When a group of beautiful girls appeared, they cheered up even more.
After looking around for a while, I saw that this time the girl had changed again, but she still had long legs, a thin waist and a pretty face.
If you can marry one back, it will definitely not be a loss.
Of course, everyone is still focusing more on whether they can get this job at this time. If they know a little bit about the world, they can feel Simon Westeros's importance to SpaceX from the many details from yesterday to now. Within 24 hours, while busy and discussing with the small team, Musk and others discovered something.
The core of the Internet industry promoted by Simon Westeros is three companies, Cisco, AOL and Igret. The three companies cover the three major fields of Internet equipment providers, Internet service providers and Internet content providers. A complete industrial chain has been established.
Now, the combined market value of these three companies is close to US$900 billion.
This is an obvious reference.
Look at this time again, SpaceX, SolarCity, and FusionTimes, three companies, one is aviation, one is photovoltaic, and the other is nuclear fusion. Even if they are not as closely related as Cisco, AOL, and Eagle, they are still involved. A whole industrial chain for mankind to go into space.
SpaceX provides aerospace technology to send humans off the earth.
The photovoltaic technology provided by SolarCity can be widely used in space.
The controllable nuclear fusion technology provided by FusionTimes is the fundamental energy source for human beings who want to go into the universe. Otherwise, relying only on the current mainstream fossil energy will not be able to support human expansion in the solar system and even wider areas.
Half a century ago, with the continuous breakthroughs in the aerospace field, many people began to imagine that mankind would enter the space age. Unfortunately, this day has never come.
Now, according to Simon Westeros' plan, all of this may actually be possible.
Nine o'clock.
Everyone had returned and finished their breakfast quickly. Simon walked over from the work area at this time, holding a thing that looked like a hydraulic jack to ordinary people, but everyone at the scene knew him. What Simon is holding is an aerospace actuator, which is an important component commonly used in the aviation field to achieve balance or steering of aircraft, rockets and other spacecraft through hydraulic transmission.
Elon Musk's team sitting together couldn't help but look at each other, their eyes lit up.
The parts that Simon Westero brought at this time were the work of their group of four people. Speaking of which, Musk's group originally consisted of five people. One of them failed to persist yesterday and thought that this job was really a waste. time, so I actively chose to quit before noon yesterday.
Elon Musk still remembers that guy introduced himself as a man with dual master's degrees in quantum physics and mechanical engineering from Stanford University. He was a very proud guy. It was a pity that the guy quit. Otherwise, their group should be able to compete in the competition. Complete your work within 12 hours and earn extra points by helping others.
After the other party withdrew, it took a group of four people 21 hours to complete the actuator in Simon's hand.
In order to process the transmission shaft of the actuator, the four people even learned how to use a precision lathe in these 21 hours. This extraordinary learning ability made the lathe technician responsible for assisting in ensuring safety... Somewhat shocking.
The key is that the accessories processed by the four people after temporary learning still fully meet the requirements.
Simon came to the center of the row of dining tables, put down the actuator in his hand, motioned for everyone not to get up, and said with a smile: "Although some of you failed to complete the work, I have seen it, and everyone who stayed still did their best. Try your best, what I want to say is, if you get this job, this is what everyone will do in the future."
After Simon finished speaking, a tall brown-haired young man across the dining table raised his hand slightly. After receiving Simon's signal, he smiled and pointed at the food on the dining table and the models still in the nearby rest area: "Mr. Westeros, this is also ?"
Everyone laughed.
Simon didn't mind this kind of cross, and he also smiled and said: "The girls over there are just here to help everyone improve their spirits. If you still want to have a follow-up, you have to make an appointment with them yourself. However, in terms of food, although Da It’s not as good as the standard of the past four meals, but because you are all the elite among the elites selected by me, the catering standards after you join the company in the future will definitely be much better than those in your original company. In addition, this is Los Angeles, my territory, as long as you feel comfortable If you are interested, there will be many opportunities to attend various celebrity parties in the future.”
When everyone heard this, they all cheered with satisfaction, and the models waiting nearby looked over curiously.
Simon signaled everyone to be quiet, patted the actuator in front of him, and said, "I don't need to introduce what this is. You must know more than me. What I want to ask is, does anyone know and want to buy something like this?" For a professional actuator, what’s the price quoted in the industry?”
When Simon asked the question, the young man who had just joked immediately said: "I know this, about 100,000 US dollars."
Simon nodded slightly, changed the subject, and said, "So, what do you think the approximate cost of this device in my hand is?"
Everyone was a little confused.
As the person involved, Elon Musk already understood Simon's intention of bringing this equipment, and he was not specifically praising them. However, he was not disappointed either. At this time, he said: "Mr. Westeros..."
Simon interrupted slightly: "You can just call me Simon."
Elon Musk paused slightly and changed his address: "Simon, this device was made by my team. I don't know the price of various sensors and other spare parts. However, in my opinion, the price of this device is The cost should be no more than $10,000.”
"That's right, in fact, regardless of the labor factors everyone invested, the total value of all the accessories on this equipment is only US$3,900, while the actuator of the same type, quoted by a NASA-certified professional manufacturer, is US$120,000," Simon said After finishing, he looked at everyone again and continued: "NASA's test team has just tested this equipment. Out of 10 points, they gave it a score of 9.5, which basically meets the standards for aviation use. So, $120,000 , and $3,900, what do you think?"
When everyone heard this, they didn't know how to express it for a moment.
Simon waited for a moment, but no one responded, so he said to himself: "I said yesterday that SpaceX is not a big toy invested by a super rich man on a whim, but a company that truly wants to revolutionize the aerospace field and promote the future of mankind. Therefore, I need You have truly brought about qualitative changes to the aerospace industry, not only by advancing the technology based on previous generations, but also by cost."
"Traditional aerospace equipment manufacturers, such as Boeing, need 1,200 suppliers to provide components to manufacture a rocket, because each supplier needs to ensure its own profit, which has significantly pushed up the cost of the aerospace industry. Moreover, because of technology Being too fragmented also hinders the progress and innovation of the industry to a large extent, which SpaceX needs to abandon. My operating idea for SpaceX is to maximize the self-design and production of all aerospace equipment components, including the core rocket engine. , the ultimate goal is to achieve 100% self-production.”
"Maybe some of you are already thinking this is crazy, how can one company do all the work in aerospace on its own?"
"But, in the 24 hours from yesterday to now, you have actually proved that you have this ability. What follows is just a further challenge. If you still think this is impossible, then you can quit now. If you want to try this A challenge, the last interview, three days, write me a detailed self-narration. Instead of a stereotyped introduction, I want you to describe in detail the work process of SpaceX's first personal design and manufacture of a launch vehicle. , what aspects of work are you qualified for?”
"OK, that's it for today."
After Simon finished speaking, he once again left with his entourage in a vigorous manner.
Because it was Monday and the schedule was very tight, Simon came by helicopter. After finishing, the Black Hawk helicopter took off from Playa Vista, passed the Marina del Rey port where private cruise ships are densely packed, and flew straight to Mali on the other side of the Los Angeles Bay. Daenerys Studios.
The morning's work is all kinds of trivial matters in the Westeros system.
In the afternoon, return to various recent plans according to the schedule.
Simon set off for San Francisco at one o'clock in the afternoon, and arrived in Palo Alto an hour later. In an ordinary office building near Stanford University, there was a start-up company here, which had been purchased by the Westeros Company in advance. The company was considered In the field of new technology, we mainly develop a new technology, 3D printing.
Although it is said to be a new technology, in fact, the concept of 3D printing has sprouted with the emergence of camera technology as early as the end of the 19th century. By the 1980s, this technology has become quite mature, but it has never been developed because of the lack of practical application directions. Too much development.
In Simon's memory, many years later, there was a 3D printing craze in China. From the current perspective, it was probably more of an industrial hype to obtain venture capital, and then it gradually died down. Because 3D printing is difficult to achieve large-scale industrial production, we can only play with the concept. If it is really used to produce cars or shoes, the cost is too high and it is not cost-effective at all.
However, Simon remembers one direction that 3D printing is really suitable or perfect for: the aerospace field.
3D printing sounds very high-end. In fact, in a layman’s terms, it is still a model-making technology. However, 3D printing is indeed more high-end and can produce complex models that cannot be completed by traditional industrial modeling techniques.
The most typical one in my memory is the rocket engine.
Traditional manufacturing methods are used, because many parts cannot be formed at one time and can only be spliced and assembled separately. Therefore, a rocket engine has more than 1,000 parts, and the manufacturing cycle is long. Usually, a rocket engine takes six months to complete. Finish.
In comparison, rocket engines manufactured using 3D printing technology can directly reduce the number of parts from more than 1,000 to less than 100 because many complex parts can be formed at one time. In the aerospace field, rocket launches costing tens of millions of dollars often fail due to a single screw. The reason is that there are too many parts, which increases the uncertainty of rocket launches.
The number of parts has been reduced to one-tenth of the original number. You can imagine how much it will improve the success rate of rocket launches.
In addition, 3D printing technology can also significantly shorten the construction cycle of rocket engines. The original half-year manufacturing process only takes one month through 3D printing, even including early modeling and later testing.
Parts are reduced, stability is greatly increased, and the construction cycle is greatly shortened, which will ultimately be reflected in the construction cost of a rocket.
In Simon's vision, if the plan is extended to the entire colonization cycle, rockets will definitely be the spacecraft that need to be eliminated. Even if the U.S. space shuttle program has suffered various setbacks and is now on the verge of giving up, Simon also believes that this This is the real right direction, and we will continue to move in this direction in the future.
Now, in the short term, what Simon has to do is to significantly reduce the cost of rocket manufacturing while making technological changes in order to compete with established aerospace manufacturers for commercial orders and achieve a sustainable business model for SpaceX itself.
SpaceX has proven that technological change and cost reduction are not contradictory.
As Simon learned more about the industry, he became more convinced of this.
As far as 3D printing is concerned, as long as this technology is actually applied, it is difficult to measure the reduction in spacecraft manufacturing costs. At the same time, 3D printing itself is also a major technological advancement for the entire aerospace industry.
Just like that human laziness drives technological progress.
The pursuit of low cost will also prompt a company to adopt more advanced technologies.
The first phase of SpaceX is just to develop a low-cost launch vehicle, which does not seem to be a progress. However, in this process, Simon intends to build on the predecessors and apply as many as possible the various technologies that have emerged in human society in the past thirty years. New technologies will actually bring about progress in many fields such as cutting-edge materials, mechanical engineering, electronic technology, etc.
On the other hand, the simultaneous advancement of SpaceX, SolarCity, and FusionTimes will bring about a comprehensive technological leap, because these three companies have basically covered all aspects of the cutting-edge technological fields of mankind at this stage.