The rocket launched by "Iron Man" Musk is not as good as that launched 50 years ago. Why is he on fire?

From building a car to building a rocket, Musk has become the talk of people all over the world. Some people say that he is a liar who talks big and doesn't draft (some people once said that Jia Yueting is the China version of Musk, but now it seems that he doesn't know whether he insulted Musk or raised Mr. Jia), while others call him a pioneer in the future. His "star chain plan" caused great controversy in China, and some communication technology experts stood up and accused him of openly "producing 10 thousand kilograms per mu."

So is he really good? Does it have a place in the history of scientific and technological development?

Yes, at present, making a car is of great significance, not to mention the project of Space Exploration Technology Company. Maybe he put forward the drama of our generation fully welcoming the space age.

The foreseeable future space age.

There is an episode in Peggy Piggy called Time Capsule. The teacher asked Peggy and her friends to imagine what the future would be like. Some people say they will live on the moon in the future, while others say they will visit the house by rocket. When they buried Peggy's time capsule, they dug up the time capsule buried by their parents when they were young, and there was a video tape inside. When I was a child, the first sentence that Father Pig said was: "Hello people in the future, you must live on the moon now!" "

It's really an authentic English joke. Indeed, when the United States and the Soviet Union competed for hegemony in the 1950s, the two superpowers bluffed and painted a door to the space age, as if going to space for a holiday would become a standard for the middle class in the near future.

In this deception war, the Soviet Union obviously went deeper into the drama and took the space war seriously, which consumed a lot of energy and resources and played an important role in the process of the collapse of the Soviet Union. 199 1, the United States finally lost alone and completely abandoned the route of space hegemony, because the return on investment is really incomparable. Although the United States has made many engineering breakthroughs in the moon landing program, the funds paid are really too high.

The entire Apollo program cost $25.5 billion, more than $200 billion at today's currency rate. Each launch is equivalent to burning a fleet of aircraft carriers. After landing on the moon six times, the United States finally ended the game of burning money, and the Soviet Union did not complete a successful landing on the moon. At this point, the space race has finally completed its most magnificent chapter, and it has been silent for nearly 50 years.

▲ Burning so much at once is really rich.

Aerospace stays in the manual age all the year round.

Because the time span is too long, many people think that landing on the moon is really incredible. In fact, it is impossible to rebuild Saturn V rocket now. Is it true that American science and technology have regressed in recent years? Or ... conspiracy theories about landing on the moon?

Saturn v's huge engine

In fact, the answer is often unexpected. Many parts of Saturn V are actually "hand-polished". Yes, you heard me right. At that time, the political task of driving ducks to the shelves was cost-free. Just like the first red-flag car in China, it was successful with countless working hours and a huge amount of scrapped parts.

▲ This is not an industrial product, but a handicraft.

Later, NASA decided to develop a cheap and stable space technology-the space shuttle. Of course, we later learned that the space shuttle was neither safe nor stable, and it was a crooked technical route. Until recent years, there has been no new breakthrough.

This is the reason why mankind (the United States) has stagnated in space exploration. On the one hand, there is no motivation, on the other hand, space is still in the "manual age" for a long time, and any behavior that cannot make ends meet has no future.

▲ Yes, the Soviet Union also engaged in the space shuttle.

Price butcher musk

Musk's greatest contribution, or meaning, is reflected here. His space exploration technology company's plan is a completely commercial space launch. What he pursues is not "higher, stronger and farther" but "cheaper"!

▲ Space Exploration Technology's starship looks more like a cheap movie prop.

Don't underestimate the importance of cost. Paper in China's "Four Great Inventions" is neither the earliest writing material nor the best, but it is the only solution that can be produced and popularized on a large scale and the best communication solution before the arrival of the electronic age.

Similarly, space exploration technology companies can now reduce the cost of space launch from $440,000 per kilogram of the Apollo program to $5,000, a drop of 98.8%! Very successful recycling scheme and highly mechanized mass production scheme have brought space launch into the long-awaited epoch-making moment of "industrial revolution"!

▲ Rockets are full of satellites, 60 at a time.

This is of great significance, because in this industrial age, once an industry is industrialized, it means the beginning of cabbage transformation. Driven by this low price, Musk dared to launch an amazing "star chain" plan, with a total of 40,000 satellites and 8,000 new satellites added every year, far exceeding all satellites in orbit. Regardless of whether this crazy plan can be completed in the end, at least the current cost requirements are completely feasible. This pioneering work that completely subverts the past operation mode of the aerospace industry is generally called "revolution"!

▲60 satellites lined up across the sky, visible to the naked eye.

So now I see that the future can be expected, and an era of vacationing in space may not be too far away from mankind. Musk is a wolf who dares to think and do. Of course, the progress of the times is also very important. In short, he is a man who can surprise mankind. I like it.

I am a science writer who wants to go to heaven. Welcome attention!