Chapter 138: Space Exploration Company

When Li Fu returned to his hometown in Meijiang County, it was already November 2019. The year was slipping away in the blink of an eye, and for the National Space Administration, it had been a year of relentless activity.

The preceding months had been dedicated to the meticulous refinement and validation of every detail concerning crewed lunar landings. Even after the successful completion of the mission in October, Li Fu spent another month at the Space Center. By then, China was launching spaceplanes between Earth and the Moon almost every week. Only after all parties had become sufficiently familiar with operations and the lunar base had achieved a modest scale could elite scientists like Li Fu and Liu Shiying finally ease their burden.

Longling Town, a township in the vicinity of Sanjiang Town, possessed relatively flat terrain. It was here that the Fuyun Space Exploration Company was established.

The Fuyun Space Exploration Company occupied a massive area, encompassing more than half of Longling Town. Throughout 2019, nearly a hundred thousand construction workers from over a dozen major firms had worked day and night. By now, the facility stood as a truly magnificent sight.

The site featured a colossal airport spanning over 50,000 square kilometers, designed for the company’s future space travel and as a testing ground for its own spaceplanes. It also included a ground command and control center, with standards and equipment modeled directly after the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center.

There was also an expansive training and residential complex for astronauts, built by the Fuyun Group to train its own personnel. It housed various training devices and instruments, alongside living quarters for the astronauts and their families.

The company was well aware that astronauts were invaluable assets to any nation. Relying on poaching was out of the question; they had to cultivate their own talent. Otherwise, having advanced equipment would be useless without skilled operators. Furthermore, the company planned to eventually establish a dedicated astronaut training school, open to the public.

Additionally, a vast industrial park had been constructed for the Fuyun Group’s aerospace manufacturing division. Its proximity to the airport allowed for convenient testing and takeoff of newly produced spaceplanes and spacecraft.

Within the sprawling complex, Fang Zheng, Chen Bin, and Yu Liang drove a car to accompany Li Fu on an inspection. Li Fu had been absent from the company for almost the entire year, leaving Fang Zheng and the others to oversee all operations, including the Longling Space Center.

The total investment in the Longling Space Center exceeded 300 billion dollars, making it the largest project for the Fuyun Group outside of the research institute in Yuantou Town. It had consumed more than half of this year’s profits from virtual machine sales.

"It looks quite good. How are things coming along in other areas?"

After driving for over two hours to complete the tour, Li Fu nodded in satisfaction. While the investment was enormous, it was necessary. If Li Fu wanted to make significant strides in space, a private space center was indispensable.

"We initiated recruitment a long time ago. Since the second half of this year, we have hired tens of thousands of fresh graduates from major universities across the country. They are currently undergoing training, and many show great promise. Additionally, we have recruited about 200 retired Air Force pilots to undergo specialized training as astronauts."

"However, there are still some issues with the spaceplanes we are developing in-house that we have yet to resolve."

Chen Bin, a young man who had graduated only two years ago, was already the head of the Fuyun Group's space exploration division. He reported the situation to Li Fu in detail.

He, along with Yu Liang, Yang Yiping, and Cao Haitao, had all contributed significantly to the research of the "Shenjian" spaceplane and had been honored with the title of Chinese Academicians. Yet, when the four of them were tasked with leading the independent development of a company spaceplane, they encountered numerous hurdles.

After nearly a year of effort, they had yet to produce a Fuyun-branded spaceplane. Chen Bin looked slightly ashamed, barely able to meet Li Fu's eyes.

"Developing a spaceplane is a massive systemic endeavor. Even if we weren't a small company, many nations have struggled to produce their own aircraft, let alone spaceplanes, even by pooling their collective resources."

"Although we have the capital and have mastered the core plasma technology, we are still only scratching the surface in many other aspects. It is perfectly normal that we haven't succeeded yet. Now that I’m back, we can discuss the problems together. There are always more solutions than problems."

Li Fu seemed prepared for this, showing no signs of blame. Having participated in the national spaceplane program, he understood the sheer scale of such a project.

It was an undertaking that required the strength of an entire nation, involving propulsion, physics, mathematics, electronics, materials, chemistry, mechanics—essentially every branch of modern natural science. While his company was well-equipped, creating a spaceplane was no easy feat.

"If you were here, Brother Li, we would definitely have our own spaceplane this year. Actually, building one isn't the hard part; the challenge lies in mass production and cost reduction."

Yu Liang’s eyes lit up when he heard Li Fu would join the project. He knew Li Fu’s capabilities well; there was almost no problem Li Fu couldn't solve. During the "Shenjian" research, most of the major breakthroughs had occurred under Li Fu’s leadership.

Without Li Fu, China would not have its own spaceplane today, let alone the ability to land on the moon or establish a permanent base.

"Yu Liang is right. If we just copied existing designs, we could build a spaceplane now. But the cost wouldn't be any lower than the ones the state produces—at least 3 billion yuan per plane, even with our ability to obtain Black Gold material at cost."

"In terms of material processing and manufacturing precision, we are still too inexperienced. We waste a lot of material, and the defect rate is too high. We haven't been able to bring the costs down. Even with our own Black Gold material, the manufacturing cost remains exorbitant."

Chen Bin nodded in agreement. While having good materials was one thing, processing was equally critical. Precision was vital, and this remained a bottleneck not just for Fuyun, but for China as a whole.

Although Fuyun used imported high-end processing equipment, these machines, despite costing a fortune, were merely second-tier. No nation would sell its truly first-tier technology, and even with the equipment, achieving the same level of precision remained a challenge.

"Over 3 billion? And that’s even with our own material company supplying the Black Gold? The defect rate must be incredibly high."

Li Fu frowned. He knew the production cost of Black Gold; while it was sold to the state by the gram, the actual manufacturing cost was quite low, as it used very few rare metals. The price charged to the state was a hundred times the production cost.

If the internal cost to build a spaceplane was still over 3 billion, it meant the wastage in Fuyun’s processing department was alarming, driving the costs straight up.

"The defect rate is indeed very high. Sometimes we process dozens of parts before getting a single qualified one. This is a headache for us. We keep receiving batches of material, but our output remains substandard. We've spent a fortune trying to poach talent, but we haven't seen much improvement."

Yu Liang nodded helplessly. Only those involved in the process understood the difficulty of building aerospace hardware; every detail presented a hurdle.

"Especially in blade processing. The curved surfaces involved are incredibly complex. The blades we produce drastically reduce the thrust of our plasma engines. There are so many variables—perhaps a tiny flaw in one blade, when multiplied across the entire assembly, significantly degrades the engine's power."

Chen Bin sighed while shaking his head. They could build the plasma engine, but their lack of precision meant they couldn't reach the required thrust.

"Problems are not something to fear; what we should fear is having no problems at all. Let us start from scratch. Whatever area is failing, we will overcome it. This time, we aren't just building a spaceplane—we are going to master every piece of technology associated with it. We have just begun. It is fine to encounter issues now, but if we are still helpless due to poor processing precision in the future, that would be the real disaster."

Li Fu listened while lost in thought. After a long silence, he spoke slowly, his resolve set.