Chapter 124: High Risk
In Chen Yuanguang's view, this is a key step to achieving the ultimate goal. Only by having one's own space station can the entire mining chain run smoothly.

"Yes, I am talking about my own space station. Since everyone here is interested in light armor aerospace, you should know something about the commercial aerospace industry.

Currently, some commercial aerospace companies have announced their plans to enter the space station. What they mean by participation is participation in the space station project, such as Sierra Nevada, United Launch Alliance, Axiom Space, etc. At most, they will launch a part of it and then connect with the space station.

Axiom Space can be seen as a space hotel. They hope to add independent spaces to the existing International Space Station and then turn these independent spaces into expensive space hotels.

Unlike Guangjia Aerospace, we want to build an independent space station, a space station belonging to Guangjia Aerospace, as a transit station for space mining.

As we all know, the space station is probably the most expensive space project. China's Tiangong-600 has cost about 1000 billion RMB so far, and the International Space Station is an exaggerated billion US dollars.

Taking into account China's cost and human resource advantages in manufacturing, as well as some new technological breakthroughs, our most optimistic estimate is that this problem can be solved with 350 billion RMB.

This number may expand in the future, so we need investors with big hearts. I don’t want to lie or underestimate the difficulty of fundraising. " Chen Yuanguang talked about the problem very frankly, regardless of the whispers in the audience.

Suddenly, the discussion in the entire conference hall became louder. Chen Yuanguang, wearing the suit he brought back to Shenhai from Yanjing, did not speak, as if he was waiting for the audience to quiet down.

Lin Jia sat in the first row and looked at Chen Yuanguang on the stage. She very much agreed with Chen Yuanguang's ideas.

In Lin Jia's opinion, Chen Yuanguang's achievements are too high, and the threshold for satisfaction in his life has been raised very high. Normal entrepreneurial success or scientific research breakthroughs can no longer satisfy him.

Chen Yuanguang can get titles such as Young Thousand Talents and Yangtze River Scholar if he wants them. Even as an academician, he can automatically get the title at the age of 35 as long as he is willing to wait. The only thing that is a bit difficult, the Nobel Prize, also requires waiting.

Lin Jia thinks it’s good to have a lofty goal.

And the success of this project will be good for all mankind.

"360 billion RMB to build a space station, and it may not be enough. It turns out that the aerospace industry is very expensive." Liu Ling was very emotional. He is the person in charge of the investment department of miHoYo and is directly responsible to the actual controller of miHoYo.

Not only financial institutions came to the scene, but companies such as MiHoYo, Xiaomi, Tencent, and Ali also sent people.

MiHoYo had previously planned to invest in Oriental Space, but because Light Armor Aerospace had already secured a spot in advance, Oriental Space's imagination space was locked, just like how Sophon locked Earth's technology, and there was no hope in sight.

Ultimately, miHoYo and other investors did not invest in Oriental Space, and only Matrix Partners gave a little money to keep Oriental Space alive.

MiHoYo, which has not given up on the commercial space sector, went to the second round of fundraising of Guangjia Aerospace to see if there are any investment opportunities.

After hearing this plan and the reactions from the audience, Liu Ling realized that this round of competition would not be very fierce. No investment institution would invest in such projects from a rational perspective.

There is no prospect of recovering the investment, there is no control, and there is no hope of making a profit in the necessary links in the middle. The entire project is in a stage of pure money burning.

Li Chaohui is the head of Tencent's investment business and has a good personal relationship with Liu Ling. The direct competition between Tencent and miHoYo has not affected their personal relationship.

After hearing this, Li Zhaohui sighed, "If anyone else had said this, the room would have been empty. Only Chen Yuanguang could make everyone listen to him patiently about this project and even be willing to invest in him.

Only Chen Yuanguang has this charm. "

Liu Ling asked in confusion: "Are you all planning to invest?"

Li Zhaohui said: "Of course, Tencent's investment department is not a team that only cares about making money and only looks at financial returns.

We will not limit ourselves to a certain boundary and only serve a certain strategy or business of Tencent. If investing in Guangjia Aerospace can help Tencent and Chen Yuanguang establish a long-term strategic partnership, then we think this project is worth investing in.”

Liu Ling and Li Zhaohui have a good personal relationship, which does not affect his opinion of Tencent. When he heard that Tencent is not only concerned with making money, Liu Ling was a little overwhelmed: "Well, I thought all of Tencent's business revolved around financial reports.

In order to give the market a financial report with good performance and make investors believe in the potential of Tencent.

It seems that I have a wrong understanding of Tencent.”

Li Zhaohui turned to Liu Ling and said, "Of course, many A-share listed companies have approached us to do private placements with very certain profitability, but we did not do it.

We have never been involved in the new materials and communications industries because we do not understand these businesses. However, we are willing to invest in some valuable companies even if they face long-term losses.

For example, before I came to Guangjia Aerospace, Mr. Ma specifically found me and said that he would invest any amount up to 2 billion yuan. Mr. Ma has always been interested in astronomy and the universe, and felt that even if it didn't make money, even if it was a complete loss, it would be considered as supporting China's aerospace industry.

Someone has to dream about the stars and the sea."

Li Chaohui fooled Liu Ling into believing it.

The audience was noisy for about five minutes, and when everyone saw that Chen Yuanguang was not speaking on the stage, the crowd gradually quieted down.

Chen Yuanguang went on to say: "I understand everyone's confusion and concerns.

This is a 350 billion RMB project, not a 35 billion RMB project. The 350 billion may need to be added later, and there may not be any results after the addition.

It is precisely because of the huge uncertainty and risks involved that I hope to explain it to everyone as clearly as possible.

We expect to complete the design and launch of the space station within three years, and it will incorporate a large number of new technologies.

Then, like the International Space Station, our space station will continue to expand after it is built.

After the construction of the space station is completed, our space mining can be said to have been half successful.

The remaining small half are electric-powered automatic mining equipment. We will adopt a new generation of solar cells on a large scale on the space station and transport the automatic mining equipment into space by rockets. After mining in the space station, these automatic mining equipment will return to the space station and be charged through the solar cells of the space station.

The ore will then be brought back to Earth by spacecraft for smelting. In the long run, we will complete the smelting on the space station.

The overall plan is roughly this.

Because this involves a lot of professional terms and terminology, I will just talk about it briefly without making any PPT.

The space station is a key step in space mining. Next is the Q&A session. Let's see if you have any questions. I will reserve enough time for the entire Q&A session."

As soon as Chen Yuanguang finished speaking, many hands were raised from the audience. No one had the spirit of humility they had in school.

"Mr. Chen, I'm Philip from Sequoia Capital. Sequoia Capital has invested in some commercial aerospace companies in America and Europe. I flew here from Los Angeles specifically for your project." The white middle-aged man who raised his hand the fastest said after getting the microphone given to him by the service staff.

His Chinese was surprisingly good, with only a slight accent.

"Thank you."

Philip continued: "At present, both NASA and the European Space Agency have voiced their hope to reduce the operating costs of the International Space Station through some commercial operations, or even achieve profitability.

You just mentioned that Axiom Space plans to add independent spaces to the existing International Space Station and then turn these independent spaces into expensive space hotels.

We at Sequoia Capital have invested in Axiom Space. The reason why the International Space Station allowed Axiom Space to do this is because Axiom Space will pay a large amount of lease fees to the International Space Station every year.

Their plan is to first have one space, and then slowly increase the space, one, two, three, until there is enough space, and then separate from the International Space Station and become an independent space station.

They plan to achieve their goal in a step-by-step manner, somewhat similar to parasitism, parasitizing the International Space Station and becoming independent after growing large enough.

Has Guangjia Aerospace considered this path? For example, we raise 50 billion RMB in the first round, and then do some commercial operations. After the commercial operations have revenue, we will conduct follow-up financing. "

Chen Yuanguang said decisively: "No, we will not use the space station as a hotel. Our goal is very clear, which is space mining.

Therefore, for Guangjia Aerospace's space station, the profit model in the early stage is only the minerals collected from space.

Once this goal is achieved, we do not rule out opening up a certain amount of space to visitors, but such visits will be mainly for publicity purposes.”

Chen Yuanguang does not think that Axiom Space can become independent, or does not think that they can become independent in the short term. According to their plan, it will take at least ten years to build an independent space station.

He couldn't wait that long. Then came Morgan's representative:

"Mr. Wright, the gentleman just mentioned that the International Space Station is trying to take various measures to reduce operating costs.

I don’t know if you’ve heard about the production of optical fiber on the International Space Station. Considering the weightlessness, the optical fiber produced on the space station will be more powerful. It can carry more data traffic than it does now, and there is no need for a relay station. "

Chen Yuanguang replied directly in English: “I have heard of it. I have talked to many R&D personnel of the European Space Agency. We have discussed this issue. The optical fiber they manufacture is called ZBLAN. The cost of one kilogram ranges from 100 million to 2000 million US dollars. At present, except for Musk, no one on earth is willing to use this kind of optical fiber.

If you can convince Google to switch its global core network to ZBLAN fiber, Guangjia Aerospace will consider adding this project. "

The two people's pure English conversation used a lot of professional terms, which made it difficult for even investment managers who had studied abroad to understand.

I can understand the words, but I don't understand their meaning when they are put together.

"Do you understand?"

"It seems that they are providing some kind of service to Musk, and the cost per kilogram is 2000 million US dollars."

“What service is so expensive?”

"I don't know. It seems that Google also needs this kind of service."

"Is this kind of service only needed by Musk and Google?"

"That seems to be the meaning."

"That's equivalent to an investment of 350 billion RMB and a profit of 4000 million US dollars?"

Many people understand it like this, which is completely irrelevant.

"Okay, then Mr. Wright, have you ever considered exploring the creation of human organs in space and bringing them back to Earth?"

After listening to this, a thought flashed through Chen Yuanguang's mind: this investor is very professional and is very familiar with the projects being carried out on the International Space Station.

When manufacturing human organs on Earth, due to the influence of gravity, even with a scaffold, the cell layer will still slide down and the ideal effect cannot be achieved.

In comparison, it would be much simpler to manufacture organs in a weightless environment, and the final effect would be much better.

The International Space Station is currently working on this project, and they are focusing on the artificial heart. A heart weighs less than one kilogram, and even with the packaging it will not be that heavy. Once a breakthrough in technology is achieved, the cost of producing it from the space station and bringing it back to Earth will be much lower than producing it on Earth.

Chen Yuanguang said: "We will explore this aspect, but it may not be realistic to hope that it will become the core profit-making project of the Light Armor Space Station.

Because we will not focus on this in the short term, the light armor aerospace staff going to the space station will mainly be experts in mechanics and electronics. "

The investment manager who stood up later said directly that he didn’t understand their conversation just now and asked if they could explain it.

After Chen Yuanguang expressed his general idea, some investors who had not done enough homework were stunned to find out that the space station could do so many things.

Although Chen Yuanguang was surprisingly uninterested in these projects that would make a lot of money once they were successful, he was only interested in space mining.

"Light God, I would like to ask if you are personally optimistic about this project? If it fails, will you conduct the next round of fundraising or raise funds on your own?"

Chen Yuanguang said: "Depending on the situation, we will consider raising funds, but if we fail once, investors' trust will definitely decline, this is an objective law.

Therefore, it will be difficult to raise the corresponding amount of funds after the failure. If I cannot raise the corresponding amount of funds, I will raise funds on my own. I will consider pledging the shares of Guangjia Technology or even selling them directly.

For me, the priority of light armor aerospace is definitely the first."

"How much money do you plan to invest in this round?"

Chen Yuanguang said: "It depends on the fundraising situation. If we can raise enough money, I won't invest. If not, I will find a way."

"You just mentioned that the Light Armor Aerospace project is your top priority, which means it is the most important project. You didn't invest in it yourself. Is it because you doubt its success rate?"

The other party's questions were quite sharp and to the point. For investors, questioning the founder's motives is very common. They would like you to bet your life and property on the company, believing that only in this way will you go all out.

Chen Yuanguang was also very direct: "If I didn't believe in this project, I wouldn't have injected the new generation of perovskite battery technology into this body.

Perovskite battery technology is my scientific research result, not Guangjia Aerospace's. It is a technology worth hundreds of billions. If I don't believe in it, I can completely separate this technology, set up another company, and put the technology in the new company.

I didn't do that.

The reason why I want to raise as much money as possible is because my money is the ultimate trump card. You have never seen who plays the trump card first when playing cards, right?
When the project can’t raise funds, it will be my turn to contribute money.”

Chen Yuanguang's logic is very clear. To put it bluntly, if the project is optimistic now and we can find someone to raise funds from the market, then I will raise funds from the market first. If it is not optimistic and we cannot raise funds from the market, then I will do it myself.

“Will there be an exit mechanism?”

“No, the amount of funds required for the entire project is too large, and even I cannot provide a backup option for the investors of the entire project.

And I have said from the beginning that this project is very risky and has a high degree of uncertainty, so everyone should be cautious before investing.”

Chen Yuanguang went on to say: “I know that the biggest concern everyone has about this project is that it is not profitable, and even if it succeeds, there is still a risk of not making money.

Let me briefly talk about how to make profits after the space station is successful.

In the long term, it will definitely be space mining, including the research projects mentioned by the investor just now, which we will consider.

In the short term, it is water resources. Obtaining water resources is much easier than mining. Water resources can be obtained from asteroids, extracted into pure water in the space station, and sold to the International Space Station.

Currently, the transportation cost of obtaining one ton of water to the International Space Station is 2000 million US dollars, but by transporting it from our space station to the International Space Station, this cost can be reduced to 200 million US dollars, which is where the profit comes from.

Of course, this is very weak in the early stage, but as the demand for space grows, it is expected to become a long-term profit point.”

What Chen Yuanguang actually wants to say is that if you want to make money in the short term, don’t invest in this project.

The main reason was that everyone's sharp questions came one after another, which made him a little annoyed.

“How can we ensure that the International Space Station will purchase water resources from Guangjia Aerospace?
Considering the bad relationship between the American government behind NASA and Light Armor Aerospace. "

Chen Yuanguang: "I am just giving an example, and we will soon reach a cooperation with the European Space Agency to transport cargo to the International Space Station.

The International Space Station is not only owned by NASA, but also by the European Space Agency, the Japanese Space Agency, and others.

In addition, China's space station also has similar needs."

After standing for two hours, Chen Yuanguang felt exhausted. Sometimes it is too difficult to convince others.

This round was the same as the previous ones, with representatives from various investment institutions writing down the target investment amount and the name of the investment institution on a piece of paper, which was then collected by the service staff.

There was no bidding, and they had no confidence at all that they could raise such a huge amount of funds.

Representatives from Sequoia, Morgan, and Goldman Sachs later wanted to talk to Chen Yuanguang. The central idea of ​​their discussion was whether the proportion of voting rights could be increased. They must have certain rights, otherwise pure investment would be like sponsoring scientific research.

Chen Yuanguang flatly rejected this proposal and would not go to Nasdaq for listing even if Goldman Sachs said they could do it.

Chen Yuanguang also refused.

(End of this chapter)