Chapter 1294 Young Man, I Have a Bold Idea

Just as Zhao Fuyuan said just now.

After the entire convoy came to a stop, several men wearing white burqas and plaid headscarves, who looked like they were arrogant at first glance, got out of the second car.

Judging from the very distinctive dress and beard, he is obviously from a Gulf country.

The leader had a bilingual pass in Chinese and Arabic hanging on his chest.

It read his name: Muhammad bin Sultan.

A professor of aeronautics and astronautics at Riyadh University, he is also responsible for the establishment of the Saudi Arabian Space Agency, and is expected to serve as deputy director or chief engineer.

This rocket launch site, which was converted from a missile launch site, does not even have a serious command center at this time, so naturally there is no special place to visit.

Only when the space fishing boat was scheduled to launch a mission before, in order to ensure the broadcast effect, several temporary platforms welded from angle iron were built around it.

However, others who traveled thousands of miles to come here were not just for enjoyment, so they followed the reception comrades from the China Space Administration and climbed up without any complaints.

"Dr. Sultan, look, that is the Kuaizhou-1... er... rocket that is about to carry out this launch mission."

Rogge, the deputy director of the National Space Administration who led the team, handed a telescope to the white-robed man next to him, then pointed to the HY4731 semi-trailer tractor in the distance that had lowered the hydraulic support column and was slowly pushing the launch tube upright.

When he said the last two words "rocket", even he himself felt a little lack of confidence.

"When I get back, I have to tell the Science and Technology Group to change the look of the launch vehicle. Just painting it white is too confusing..."

Rogge thought to himself as he stretched out his hand to loosen the tie knot around his neck.

Fortunately, the person next to me couldn't understand Chinese at all and had no sense of pronunciation and intonation.

And his attention was completely focused on the rocket in the distance.

Although the Yao-2 rocket itself is no different from the Yao-1, because the length of the fairing has increased a lot, not only the trailer was replaced with a longer trailer, but also the launch tube cover originally used to protect the missile was removed to save trouble. Most of the fairing is directly exposed to the outside.

Anyway, the rocket transportation process does not really require cross-country travel, but can look more intuitive.

And it can also reveal the most important Chinese flag.

In fact, although Sultan is the quasi-head of a country's aerospace authority, he has only watched a few rocket launches on the big screen in the control hall of the Kennedy Space Launch Center.

This is the first time that I can watch the whole process of rocket launch so close.

"Now...are you preparing to launch?"

After a while, Sultan put down the telescope and curiously asked Rogge next to him.

It's not that he is impatient, it's just that the entire launch site is too quiet.

There was only a faint sound of wind and the hum of the power generation equipment at work.

It was completely different from what he had seen in the past.

Rogge explained with a smile:

"The situation of Kuaizhou-1 is different from that of conventional rockets. After completing all inspection tasks, the launch itself requires less than 10 people to complete, so the password will not be broadcast, but will only be conveyed through radio. "

In fact, whether the password is broadcast or not has no direct relationship with the complexity of the launch mission. It mainly depends on habits and hardware facilities.

Like the Soviet Union/Russian Federal Space Agency, no matter how many people participate, the broadcast signal is still silent.

Sometimes it gives people the feeling of "shooting a rocket out of the blue".

It's just that as an official figure, Rogge cannot directly admit that we haven't had time to build a broadcast system, so he can only show off the lightweight and automation of his rocket without revealing it.

"I see."

Sultan nodded in enlightenment and turned his attention back to the rocket that had stood upright in the distance:

"I……"

However, as soon as the first word was spoken, the rocket, which had only partially exposed its nose cone, suddenly began to rise and completely separated from the launch tube in less than a second.

Before he could fully react to what was happening, the moment the tail of the rocket left the mouth of the barrel, black and gray smoke poured out, and a crisp "thunk" sound was heard by everyone.

Caught off guard, Sultan's hands trembled and he almost dropped the telescope.

He muttered words almost subconsciously:

“Allah Akbar…Allah Akbar…”

Next, is the familiar violent roar when the rocket is ignited...

The whole process seems complicated, but it takes less than two seconds to put it together from beginning to end.

Poor Sultan was unprepared and had never seen such a cold launch before. It wasn't until the rocket had flown far away that he finally came to his senses.

Some of them smacked their lips with some unfinished thoughts, and a light called "desire" appeared in their eyes——

Saudi Arabia is certainly not short of money and has an ambitious and long-term plan.

But in the case of aerospace, with firstly no infrastructure and secondly lack of professional talents, it is really not possible to see results in a short period of time just by throwing money.

Therefore, this thing is perfect for him.

Convenient transportation, quick response, few people needed, no support for launch...

Although he had been rejected once in Singapore before, facing this situation, he couldn't help asking again:

"Mr. Luo, I don't know... can this be purchased separately and then launched in our country?"

Of course, he also knew what the thing in front of him was. If he really bought it back, it could easily be changed into a deadly thing.

6◇9◇Book◇Bar

So in order to avoid Roger's misunderstanding, he didn't forget to add a sentence at the end:

"Operators can also rent it directly from your country. In addition to launching the payload, we guarantee that we will never touch the rocket itself..."

Rogge felt his scalp tingling. Fortunately, before this trip, the old leader who was familiar with the style of the dog owner had already given him a shot of prevention.

He shook his head quickly, fearing that if he hesitated a little more, he would give the other party the wrong hint:

"No, this is not for sale..."

Sultan still felt unsatisfied:

"We can add money, or pay with physical precious metals... In addition, if you are worried about the safety risks during transportation, you can let Volga-Dnieper rent an airplane for air transportation, and we will pay for the freight..."

Rogge had only heard of this outrageous transaction method in legends in the past.

To be honest, for a moment, he felt a little tempted.

But this is a matter of principle, and he really can't give in.

He had no choice but to continue shaking his head:

"No, this really can't be sold..."

"Okay..."

Sultan also probably saw that there was really no room for maneuver in this matter, and the main purpose of his coming here this time was not to buy a rocket, so after being rejected twice, he decisively changed the topic:

"Mr. Luo, our Saudi Space Agency hopes to participate in the construction of your next-generation satellite navigation system, low-orbit communication constellation, meteorological and natural disaster warning satellite, commercial remote sensing constellation, lunar exploration plan in the form of providing funds and some R&D engineers..."

"..."

Rogge's head was swollen when he heard the Arabic words, and the translator next to him was even more bitter and sweating profusely.

It was not until almost two minutes later that this long list of projects was fully translated.

However, Rogge almost understood it after hearing half of it.

What the other party said has basically covered all the projects that the China Space Agency has announced on its official homepage and are still in the "pending" state.

Quite a few of them are still in the stage of drawing cakes, and even a specific implementation plan has not yet been released.

Considering that Saudi Arabia does not seem to have much demand for satellite navigation or disaster warning, this proposal is probably equivalent to-

Young man, I, Saudi Arabia, will cover all the funds for space projects in the next ten years!

Rogge took a deep breath:

"So Dr. Sultan, what do you need?"

Although the Gulf oilmen have money and are willing to spend money, they are definitely not fools who spend money recklessly.

On the contrary, every penny they spend often has a long-term purpose.

Therefore, even if this proposal is very tempting, it is still impossible to agree to it casually.

Sultan did not hide anything:

"We hope to participate in the research and development of your country's space station, and after it is built, a Saudi astronaut will be stationed there!"