Rebirth: Starting from Lighting Up the Tech Tree

Chapter 178 Media Focus

The morning after the successful launch, Zuo Cheng was awakened by his phone vibrating.

It wasn't an alarm clock, it was a notification. Unlocking the screen, the first news item was from CCTV: China's private aerospace industry achieves a historic breakthrough. The second was a trending topic on Weibo, with "Cangqiong-1" followed by the word "hot." The third was a financial news flash saying that 402 Technology's valuation had been recalculated overnight.

Zuo Cheng put his phone aside and looked out the window. The morning in Hangzhou was foggy, and the distant buildings were reduced to blurry outlines.

After washing up, he walked into the company and found the lobby packed with reporters. There were at least thirty of them, with cameras and microphones set up everywhere, and flashes going off constantly.

Han Lu squeezed out of the crowd, a wry smile on her face: "We've been queuing since 5 a.m. CCTV, Xinhua News Agency, People's Daily, as well as Lu's News Agency, Wall Street Journal, BBC, all the media outlets you can name are here."

Why didn't you tell me beforehand?

"I called you eight times, but you didn't answer."

Zuo Cheng then remembered that he had put his phone on silent the night before. The team celebrated at the launch site until 2 a.m., then went back to the hotel and fell asleep immediately.

"Arrange a press conference," Zuo Cheng said. "This afternoon, everyone who can come should come."

The afternoon press conference was held in the main conference room of the 402 headquarters. The venue, which was originally designed to accommodate one hundred people, was crammed with more than two hundred reporters, and the aisles were packed with people.

Zuo Cheng walked onto the stage, and the entire audience fell silent.

"Let me answer the question everyone is most concerned about first." He didn't look at his notes. "The Cangqiong-1 rocket launched successfully, and the payload entered its intended orbit. The first-stage rocket recovery deviated by 1.2 meters, exceeding our expectations."

A murmur arose from the audience.

"The second question is, why does 402 need to build rockets?" Zuo Cheng said. "Many people think we're doing this to compete with SpaceX. That's not the case. Space photovoltaics require launch capabilities, but existing launch services are too expensive, too slow, and too unpredictable. If we don't solve this ourselves, we'll always be at the mercy of others."

A reporter raised his hand: "Mr. Zuo, what was the launch cost of Cangqiong-1?"

"The manufacturing cost of a single rocket is approximately 60 million RMB, which is less than 10 million USD," Zuo Cheng said. "But this is not the final cost. The goal is 100 or 1,000 rockets. Once production increases, the cost per rocket can be reduced to below 30 million RMB."

A gasp of amazement rose from the audience.

"What does this mean?" Zuo Cheng continued, "The price for launching into low Earth orbit could drop from the current $20,000 per kilogram to below $5,000. This price is enough to change the entire ecosystem of the space industry."

A blond, blue-eyed foreign journalist stood up, wearing a Reuters badge: "Mr. Zuo, what about international competition? SpaceX has already achieved hundreds of successful recoveries. How do you see 402's position in the global market?"

Zuocheng switched to English and answered: "SpaceX proved that reusable rockets are feasible. But the launch market is not a winner-take-all game. There is room for multiple players, especially in Asia. Our advantage is vertical integration. We build rockets, satellites, and solar panels in space. This end-to-end capability is unique."

After the press conference, Han Lu pulled Zuo Cheng aside.

"The founder of SpaceX just posted a message on Twitter." She handed the phone to Zuo Cheng.

The screen displayed an English tweet: "Congrats to 402 on their first orbital launch and booster recovery. The more companies that master reuse, the faster humanity becomes multi-planetary."

Zuo Cheng handed the phone back to her: "Retweet this post and reply in English: Thank you. See you in orbit."

"Is it that simple?"

"It's that simple."

That evening, Zuo Cheng was dealing with a mountain of emails in his office when there was a knock on the door.

Yu Ying walked in, holding a stack of printing papers in her hand.

"Today's trending topics," she said, placing the paper on the table. "Sky One is number one, 402 Technology is number three, and 'Your Name' is number seven. The Weibo hashtag has surpassed 1.5 billion views."

Zuo Cheng glanced at it and put it aside.

"You don't seem very excited?"

"The excitement's over," Zuo Cheng said. "We've had our fun at the launch site. Now we need to figure out what to do next."

"What's next?"

"The media's enthusiasm will last a week, maybe two," Zuo Cheng said. "But after two weeks, everyone will be asking the same question: Besides a successful launch, what else can 402 do? We must announce the next batch of plans before the hype dies down."

"What plan?"

"Sky Dome II is already on the assembly line and will be completed in two months. Domes III and IV are under construction simultaneously," Zuo Cheng said. "This time next year, we'll launch every two months. The year after, we'll launch every month."

Yu Ying thought for a moment: "Can the production capacity keep up?"

"That's the problem," Zuo Cheng said. "The current satellite factory can only manufacture two rockets at a time; the bottleneck lies in the welding and final assembly stages. If we don't solve the production capacity issue, we won't be able to handle the orders."

"Order?"

Zuo Cheng turned the computer screen towards her. The screen displayed a spreadsheet listing all the business inquiries received that day. Domestic satellite companies, telecommunications operators, and research institutes; international inquiries from a Southeast Asian broadcasting company, a Middle Eastern telecommunications group, and a European meteorological agency—a total of forty-seven inquiries.

"Each of these 47 inquiries represents a potential launch contract," Zuo Cheng said. "If we accept them all, our launch schedule for the next three years will be full."

Yu Ying stared at the screen in silence for a while.

"So your concern isn't whether there are orders, but whether you can build enough rockets."

"Yes," Zuo Cheng said. "The media spotlight is very bright, but once it's off, what truly determines whether we can continue is the factory's production capacity and the progress on the assembly line."

He stood up and walked to the window. The night in Hangzhou was already deep, and in the distance, the elevated highway was teeming with traffic.

"Call Liu Wei over," Zuo Cheng said. "Have him bring the finance and legal departments as well. Starting tomorrow, review these inquiries one by one and filter out the real orders."

"Starting tomorrow?"

"It starts tomorrow," Zuo Cheng said. "The hype is an opportunity, but the window of opportunity won't last long."