Li Mu knew very little about the military. Unlike some boys who liked the military and were familiar with the main fighter planes, battleships, tanks, and even individual weapons of various countries around the world, Li Mu's understanding of the military and the development of military industry was passive. Yes, he didn't know there was such a thing as the J-10 until the TV reported on it; and he didn't know there was an aircraft called the F22 until the news said that the United States had sent F22s to the Korean Peninsula.
Therefore, when Elon Musk talks about drones, the first thing Li Mu thinks of is not the Predator, but DJI.
When he thought of DJI, Li Mu thought of the DJI Phantom 4 that he had spent a lot of money to buy. It was only two weeks after he bought it, because the machine could no longer be found.
The process of blowing up the machine is very consistent with Li Mu’s temperament as a boy majoring in science and engineering.
Boys majoring in science and engineering are quick to pick up this kind of high-tech gadgets, and those who majored in science and engineering will always be "unconvinced" by such things. For example, DJI drones have a power management system and an intelligent return system. , when the aircraft flies beyond a certain distance and the power continues to decrease, DJI’s system can determine a point where the aircraft can safely return. In other words, DJI believes that under the current distance and power, the aircraft has At the decision-making point of returning safely, if you don't return, the plane may crash midway due to insufficient power.
Li Mu didn't dare to show off with the system at first, but after playing it a few times and feeling proficient, he began to think that this thing was just mediocre. He began to feel that he knew the limits of this drone better than the system. , so when he decided to challenge the system, the plane ran out of battery halfway back and fell into the river.
Li Mu still feels pity when he thinks of that drone.
Elon Musk saw that Li Mu seemed absent-minded and didn't listen to him at all. He couldn't help but said with some disappointment: "Boss, if you are not interested in this aspect, then let's talk about something else."
Only then did Li Mu come back to his senses from the memory of bombing the machine. He waved his hands hurriedly and said, "No, I'm quite interested. I was just wondering how to play this thing. Why don't you introduce it to me in detail?"
Elon Musk was delighted, leaned forward, sat closer to Li Mu, and said seriously: "This is what I think about this. In our Internet industry, technology is not a barrier in most cases. Products That's right, if everyone uses the same environment and the same language for development, some people can produce a complete operating system, while others can produce a small plug-in that is full of bugs; you can produce a super product like YY, but Microsoft All it can do is create a messed up MSN."
"However, in the aerospace field, what is important is not just the product, but also the related core technologies and technical chains, such as launch vehicles. What is valuable is not a certain model of launch vehicle, but the technical chain behind it, multi-stage rocket technology. , solid and liquid rocket propulsion technology, flight control technology, and even first-stage rocket recovery technology. Once these technology chains are completed, there will be great potential in many fields in the future."
Li Mu listened with a vague understanding. He didn't know much about Space-X, so he could only ask humbly: "Is this kind of technology widely used by civilians?"
Elon Musk thought for a while and said: "If someone asked me, I would definitely say it is very big, but if you ask me, boss, I dare not talk nonsense to you. I can only say that the scope of aerospace technology being transferred to civilian use and Space is still uncertain, but the commercial aerospace market itself still has great potential.”
Li Mu nodded and said, "Tell me in detail."
Elon Musk said seriously: "Whether it is NASA, China's aerospace department, or European aerospace agencies, although their technologies and products are different, they all have the same thing fundamentally. Common ground.”
"What is it?"
“Spend government money!”
Elon Musk said eloquently: "When these government agencies develop aerospace technology, the last thing they care about is cost. NASA has the world's largest technological accumulation in the aerospace field, but their technologies were all spent by the U.S. government during the Cold War with hundreds of billions of dollars. Made with US dollars, China's launch vehicles have developed rapidly in recent years, but they are also inseparable from the full support of the government. With the support of the government, the launch vehicles developed by these institutions have a common problem, is it him? The price/performance ratio is too low!”
At this point, Elon Musk got excited and spat: "Boss, look, for example, the U.S. government wants to develop a military satellite positioning system and hand over all the launch tasks of more than a dozen satellites. NASA and the military don't care at all about the hundreds of millions of dollars in launch costs in a structure that easily costs hundreds of billions of dollars. The Chinese government must be the same, but the investors behind commercial satellites in the future will all be corporations. It’s not the country. If the cost of rocket launch is too high, the development of the entire commercial satellite will be greatly affected. However, big companies like NASA don’t study how to reduce the cost at all, so the commercial rocket launch market is only because of the high cost. If the situation is stagnant, what kind of situation would it be like if a private company appeared at this time and devoted all its efforts to research how to reduce the launch cost of commercial satellites?”
Li Mu suddenly realized.
It turns out that Elon Musk is eyeing such a market in aerospace.
What he said does make sense. The government’s large investment in aerospace projects always pursues high performance rather than cost-effectiveness. Therefore, the development of the entire aerospace field is like a deformed official market. If we use cars as an analogy, It's like every country has a state-owned automobile manufacturer. They are working hard to develop the fastest cars, the cars with the largest load, and the most technologically advanced cars. Therefore, the cars they build are either lightning fast or powerful. It may be superior or technologically powerful, but the only drawback is that it is extremely expensive. Ordinary people cannot even afford to burn oil, let alone buy it and drive it.
However, it is not just every country that has a demand for cars. In addition to countries, there are also many individuals and individual groups who have a desire for cars. At this time, if a company focuses on building the most cost-effective cars, it will definitely be able to do so. occupy the largest initiative in the block market.
If a communications company wants to put ten satellites into a fixed orbit, it may cost three billion U.S. dollars to launch from the United States, and two billion U.S. dollars from China. But if a company can do it for one billion U.S. dollars, it can also provide Keeping a profit of 200 million US dollars for yourself, there is no doubt that in the commercial satellite market, its development space will become very large in the future.
Thinking of this, Li Mu smacked his lips, looked at Elon Musk and said: "It sounds interesting, but the initial investment in this industry is too large, and you must have technical reserves, right? It's impossible to start from scratch. R&D, so where do your technical reserves come from?”
"NASA!" Elon Musk said with a smile: "You can think of NASA as a treasure trove that is mostly abandoned. It contains a lot of idle talent and technology. As long as we have enough starting funds, I can start from NASA has found a lot of talents who are proficient in a certain technology and can quickly adapt a certain technology to its own use. It will start development directly from 70% or 80% completion. It will start very quickly, and our research and development direction is different from these institutions. , which can avoid risks to the greatest extent.”
After finishing speaking, Elon Musk explained: "Using a car as an analogy, NASA is researching the expensive and top-notch F1, Europe and Japan are researching V12, dual-supercharger, and supercars with a horsepower of more than 1,000. China We are studying V8, supercharged, and less expensive sports cars with a horsepower of over 600. We use their engine technology, engine gearbox tuning technology, chassis tuning technology, and other electronic auxiliary technologies, but we do not build racing cars. Instead of building a supercar or a sports car, we will build a four-cylinder 2.0 economical model. If we build this model well, we will be the largest player in this level of the market."
“Imagine what it would be like if we built a Toyota Prius worth tens of thousands of dollars when there were only F1s worth tens of millions of dollars, Ferraris worth millions of dollars, and Mercedes-Benz worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. situation…”
If it weren't for his identity, Li Mu would really like to applaud Elon Musk and say "Diaodaaida" to him at the same time. No wonder this guy is called the Iron Man of Silicon Valley. He seems to be engaged in an incredible industry with no prospects at all. Not optimistic, but in fact, he has already planned the future development space very clearly. Space-X may not be able to catch up with NASA, the Chinese Long March series, or the Russian Space Agency in its lifetime, but as long as it can be more cost-effective than them Will suffice.
When the market is full of cars like Ferrari, the car can only be a toy for the top rich. After all, only a handful of people in society can afford a Ferrari. But once a hybrid model like the Prius comes out that is both durable and fuel-efficient. , for ordinary people, the appeal is too great. The number of consumers who can afford a Prius is at least ten thousand times more than the number of consumers who can afford a Ferrari. This is what Elon Musk is doing in aerospace. ambition.
Moreover, Li Mu himself comes from an Internet technology background. He knows that with the rapid development of Internet technology, satellites will play an increasingly important role in the future development of the Internet. In his previous life, Facebook, Google, and Apple seemed to have their own satellite launch plans. A dozen years from now will be the era of satellite Internet. By that time, not only Internet products will need their own satellites, but hardware development will also need their own satellites. It is very likely that in the future, dozens of satellites will be launched under our own product system alone. demand, it seems that the commercial satellite launch market prospects around the world are indeed very broad.
After sorting out these things, Li Mu suddenly felt particularly interested in Elon Musk's aerospace industry. He said to Elon Musk: "Elon, you have convinced me. You can do it anytime you want to officially start it." Come to me, I’m going to give you $100 million to play with you.”
"That's great!" Elon Musk said seriously: "If this is the case, I will get some money from PayPal next year and let's invest in aerospace together!"
(End of chapter)