Unlike universities, businesses launching satellites spend money from their own accounts, so they save wherever they can.
The satellite projects that universities participate in are often led by the state, with universities contributing, and most of the time there are no launch fees involved.
Thus, the appeal of private space companies to universities is the freedom to enjoy payload weight and orbits without having to consider additional factors brought by group packages.
About a week later, New Yuan Aeronautics signed launch contracts with four enterprises.
The four enterprises had a total of nine satellites, including sub-satellites, weighing 620 kilograms, all of which would operate in SSO orbit and would be launched with the New Yuan C Rocket.
These satellites were originally slated for launch with CZ-6, but now their business had all shifted to New Yuan Aerospace because of better pricing.
In fact, for SSO orbits, the domestic rockets currently available are CZ-4B, CZ-4C, and CZ-2D, with lift capabilities ranging from 2 to 4 tons; a single launch is really expensive and only state-level and military satellites can afford them.
CZ-6 was designed for more civilian-focused enterprises and universities, catering specifically to "price-sensitive" customers.
Those with more capability gravitate towards the active CZ-2 and CZ-4 options—who would wait for CZ-6?
Therefore, with the improved model, New Yuan managed to attract clients with lower prices, saving each enterprise over six million RMB, a significant amount for them.
In mid-September, after the launch time and plan were confirmed, New Yuan Aeronautics discreetly announced its first commercial launch order to the public.
For insurance and satellite compatibility considerations, the launch would take place in November, and the disclosed price for the launch was… 49,000 RMB per kilogram, totaling 30 million RMB.
In reality, the price was around 42,000 RMB per kilogram, but who would complain about earning more in the future?
Keep in mind that the starting price per kilogram for payload sales on CZ-6 was 80,000 RMB, and now New Yuan Aeronautics' external pricing has dropped by at least 40%.
There's no need to worry about rocket pricing disrupting the market, as the scarcity in the aerospace industry right now is rockets, not orders; besides, different rockets, payloads, and orbits all have their own pricing and cannot be generalized.
By this time, New Yuan Aeronautics' buzz from the rocket launch had cooled down, but when this business contract was signed, it quietly soared to popularity./p>
Ordinary people have no concept of 30 million and can only conclude that space is indeed costly.
But for those in the aerospace industry and aficionados, the news was truly shocking.
Especially at the Eighth Institute, that morning everyone was arriving at work in an orderly fashion when suddenly someone exclaimed:
"That New Yuan Aerospace is stealing our business, Deep City's enterprises are going to them for satellite launches!"
Vice President of Eighth Institute He Tang, who had just sat down for tea, asked in confusion:
"Where did you hear this? How come we've heard nothing?"
"President, it was just posted on the official website of New Yuan Aeronautics, with some of the contract details and signing ceremony photos already released."
Upon hearing this, He Tang immediately realized something was wrong and hurriedly went over to look at the content on the computer.
The corporate seals on the contracts were very clear; these were the enterprises originally intending to board the inaugural flight of CZ-6 next year.
He was not as much angered by the stolen business as he was puzzled; there was, after all, a big difference between the Eighth Institute and private enterprises that relied on orders.
"A launch in November? I remember that New Yuan Rocket only has a few hundred kilograms of LEO capacity; it can hardly carry much to a sun-synchronous orbit, so surely this can't be launched either."
"It seems there has been an upgrade. This time they're planning to send up 620 kilograms, which is almost on par with our CZ-6. Hold on, there's an introduction to this rocket on the website, President, take a look."
After a few clicks, He Tang and several colleagues who had come over at the sound crowded around the screen, poring over the publicly disclosed specifications of New Yuan C.
Every time their eyes swept over a line of numbers, they couldn't help but express their doubts.
"Core Stage One has a K120, a 120-ton class liquid oxygen kerosene engine? CZ-6 uses the YF100, which is the same,"
"Core Stage One has a diameter of 3.5 meters, with the second and third stages at 2.5 meters, just like CZ-6, but they changed it to a 3.35-meter diameter."
"A 700KM SSO capacity of 770 kilograms, hmm, about the same with a kerosene engine."
Going back and forth with their comments, everyone came to the conclusion: This is clearly a copy of CZ-6!
He Tang didn't feel like it was plagiarism, he just felt that the positioning of the New Yuan C Rocket was almost identical to that of CZ-6.
Upon seeing the launch price, he immediately breathed a sigh of relief, then felt that something was amiss.
"30 million dollars is a bit high, but normal for a maiden flight, however, how could those tightwads agree to spend more? Just to gain some time?"
"But private companies are going to launch one in two months, they can't even complete the test processes by then, it doesn't seem reliable at all."
"President, it's not dollars, it's RMB, 30 million RMB,"
Someone corrected He Tang in a low voice; he was taken aback for a moment before returning to the screen. After a long time, he exclaimed with furrowed brows:
"30 million? 30 million? This has got to be selling at a loss!"
No wonder he was so shocked; now the estimated cost of a single CZ-6 launch was between 160 to 190 million, and in comparison, the price of the New Yuan C Rocket was astonishingly low!
Even subtracting out telemetry, tracking, and guidance facility assistance costs, it would have to be over 100 million. With just 30 million you could barely buy a few engines, let alone build half the rocket.
Other researchers involved in the CZ-6 project also calculated the costs in their minds and took a sharp intake of breath.
30 million, and that's the publicly announced price. Taking their own profits into account, how low must the cost of the New Yuan C Rocket be?
It's not just that they didn't spend money on research and development, but they must be using slave labor to build rockets to get to that price!
If New Yuan Aeronautics can make money at that price, where does the cost of over 100 million for CZ-6 come from?
After the early meeting at the Eighth Institute concluded, He Tang called a few people together for a separate meeting specifically to discuss this matter.
The result of the discussion was also confusion; they could not understand how such a low price was quoted.
"Could it be that they charged less because it's the first launch of the new rocket?"
"It doesn't seem likely; they're losing too much. They should at least charge the average price, forty-eight thousand is just joking around."
"Why don't we just go ask and see if the launch price really is this figure."
So they inquired through New Yuan Aerospace's email, and the result was the same: if the payload weighed roughly 700 kilograms for SSO orbit, that was the price.
He Tang also called several companies in the south, and the information he received was the same, which suddenly made him feel anxious.
It wasn't about losing orders, but rather he wanted to know the reason for the New Yuan C Rocket's low price, which was obviously abnormally low.
If they could also reduce their costs so much, that would be a significant achievement.
Little did he know the true nature of the system rocket: those were models meticulously selected from countless human world lines, optimized to the extreme in structure, with part counts that could be over 30% lower than similar models and, combined with rich design experience, they had reduced the need for materials and processing, lowering costs to the utmost limit.
Furthermore, by forgoing the distribution of R&D expenses and making greater use of automated equipment to reduce labor and working hours, they managed to decrease costs to this extent.
The crystallization of wisdom from other world lines was not so easily attained.