After searching the school forum for a long time—a forum he hadn't visited in ages—Lin Ju finally found some information about the satellite project from a few years ago.
At that time, the school had hoped to apply for a top-tier specialty to make a name for itself, assembling the most outstanding teachers and professors to showcase their technical strength before collaborating with that 985 university on the satellite project.
As an established industrial college, the Southern Machinery Institute may not have been highly rated, but it had amassed a lot of experience and actually held nationally advanced evaluations in several industrial fields.
Unfortunately, back then, it was early days; building small satellites was easy, but when it came to applying for a national rocket, there was a hitch, and another defense college snatched the opportunity, leading to no further developments.
Lin Ju managed to find the teachers who had participated in the project and discovered that one of them had actually taught him a mechanical engineering course, which greatly relieved him.
The next day, Guo Shen was already training the loudly protesting staff to quickly familiarize themselves with the equipment and start machining parts. Lin Ju directly established the project team, appointing Guo Shen as chief engineer, and after handing over significant authority, headed to Rong City with the condensed rocket materials.
Posing as a student, Lin Ju easily found Professor Zhou Rui in the office.
By this time, Professor Zhou was a sixty-year-old man who wasn't involved in any projects anymore and was preparing for retirement.
When he saw Lin Ju standing in front of him, he thought he was a graduating student who hadn't finished his degree on time and had come to plead for leniency, which immediately soured his mood.
However, Lin Ju's first words made him freeze.
"Mr. Zhou, do you still remember our school's satellite project?"
Zhou Rui, who had been looking down at his book, suddenly looked up, his eyes sharpening.
He looked at Lin Ju a few times and then said uncertainly,
"Of course I remember. You are... the student who went on exchange to America?"
Lin Ju hadn't expected Zhou Rui to remember him and promptly took out his diploma. After recalling for a while, Zhou did indeed remember this person, as exchange students were quite rare.
But in his memory, Lin's grades were only above average, and he hadn't participated in many competitions, so he was very curious about Lin's visit.
However, when he asked, the answer he received was completely unexpected:
"Mr. Zhou, here's the thing. I've teamed up with friends from America to retrofit our family's factory to build a rocket capable of orbiting, but we can't make a satellite.
I heard our school used to participate in a satellite project, and I wanted to ask if that satellite is still around?"
As he listened and drank water, Zhou Rui suddenly spat out a mouthful, spraying mist all over the computer in front of him.
Hastily pulling out tissues to wipe the computer, Zhou Rui didn't forget to put on his glasses and ask Lin in return,
"What? You want to build a rocket!"
The other teachers in the office, who were bored, had also been listening to the conversation. When the words "satellite" and "rocket" appeared, they instantly perked up and gathered around.
"Student, you're from the 2010 cohort, right?"
Lin Ju turned to see who it was and was surprised to find Tong Peiqiang, the head of the Mechanical Department, just as talented and a participant in the satellite engineering project.
Seeing all the senior professors gathered in the office, Lin Ju simply took a computer out of his briefcase and set it on the coffee table for visitors.
He opened the PPT on rocket technical parameters made by Guo Shen and handed it over to Zhou Rui, Tong Peiqiang, and the others.
Even at the level he would be ten years later, he did not dare claim superiority over these two, so he simply let them look through it themselves without explanation.
The PPT not only included detailed designs and performance indicators of the rocket but also the equipment of Tractor Factory's new workshop to show he indeed had the capability to build a rocket and it wasn't a joke.
Tong and Zhou, having been involved in the satellite plan, had a certain understanding of rockets and realized that this PPT contained genuine material, leading them to become somewhat astonished and uncertain.
They still found it hard to believe that a fresh graduate was already about to go to space.
"Lin Ju, did you design this PowerPoint?"
"No, it was created by the chief rocket designer, Guo Shen. Look at me, forgetting to introduce you."
Faced with Director Tong's questions, Lin Ju directly threw out Guo Shen's resume, and the two had no doubts when they saw the identity of the engineer from the aerospace bureau, they were just surprised by Lin Ju's boldness.
"Zhou, it looks like this student is seriously playing for keeps, huh? The technical data is too detailed. It's ready to go straight into production."
Director Tong whispered this to Zhou Rui, implying that he had essentially accepted the feasibility and authenticity of building a rocket.
Zhou Rui nodded. He was no longer skeptical of Lin Ju's capabilities and finally started to talk about the satellite project.
"The satellite we worked on designing at the time was quite good; it was a space radiation detection satellite, weighing 80 kilograms.
Don't think it's small and look down on it; that weight was hard won. As for the satellite... it's at another university being used as a display piece by now. After all, the rocket's payload doesn't include this project anymore."
"So, getting that satellite might not be possible—one, it's difficult to negotiate, and two, there's a 90%, 100% chance that it's no longer usable."
Lin Ju felt somewhat disappointed upon hearing Zhou Rui's words, but Director Tong picked up the conversation.
"Ahem, actually, our institute also has the capability to design and manufacture satellites. It's only been a year; we can coordinate with the part manufacturers, and the capability of the institute-run factory is still there.
Besides, with a 400-kilogram weight limit, there's a lot of room for design, making it much less challenging than the last project."
Just as Lin Ju was about to breathe a sigh of relief, Director Tong suddenly changed his tone:
"However, Mr. Lin Ju, how much money are you prepared to spend on buying a satellite?"
As soon as these words were spoken, the smile that had just started to form on Lin Ju's face stiffened.
Buy a satellite? His money, plus the loans, would only just cover the rocket construction; where would he find the money to buy a satellite? And he was planning on earning from the rocket launch fees!
According to the international rate of ten thousand US dollars per kilogram for satellite launch, 400 kilograms could earn at least 4 million US dollars—a tidy sum to recoup the investment.
At this, Lin Ju was in a bind; he suddenly realized it wasn't the institute that needed to launch a satellite, but he himself who needed a payload. The supply-demand relationship had flipped—how could he now charge for it?
After all, the institute had no need to launch a satellite, and asking for money now was definitely not going to work.
Lin Ju had just decided to pick up his materials and leave when he suddenly noticed Director Tong and Zhou Rui exchanging excited glances. They looked at Lin Ju and then calmed themselves down.
There was something fishy!
Putting together the excitement Zhou Rui and Director Tong had shown upon first hearing about the satellite, their current posturing surely meant something was off!
Lin Ju had an inkling of what it might be and therefore let out a deliberate sigh, standing up to start packing up his laptop.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Zhou, Director Tong, our company has just been established, and all our funds have gone into the rocket. We really don't have any money left.
I suddenly feel it's better to be cautious on our first launch, just send up a detector to know where it's gone, and that's fine. A satellite is too risky."
Seeing Lin Ju about to give up so easily, Director Tong got a bit flustered but still quickly stopped him from leaving and pressed him back down onto the sofa.
"Don't be in such a rush; after all, you're a student of our institute. We can't just sit by and do nothing. Just wait, I'll report to the leadership."
With that, Director Tong pulled Zhou Rui up and hurried out of the office.