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"So what can be sold for 9 million, and it can still be sold?"
In 2020, when an engineer from China's aerospace industry talked about the cost price of aerospace components in the CCTV popular science documentary "Crossfire - Exploring China's Aerospace", his words caused many people's doubts.
In China, a large number of families will not spend 9 million yuan to buy a house, so 9 million yuan is definitely an astronomical amount for us, so why can the same aerospace components reach 9 million yuan in China?
Moreover, for the United States, which is also an aerospace component, but it can be sold for hundreds of dollars, why is there such a big difference?
In the mainland, aerospace parts are "icing on the cake" and are not essential, but in the United States, they are "charcoal in the snow" and are an important part of space launches, so how did the huge difference in cost come about?
Is it really "money is not as good as life", so the mainland's aerospace materials and components can only be described as 9 million?
1. China's development history.
The mainland's aerospace industry started in the 50s of the 20 th century, and after years of hard work, finally in 1970, the Dongfeng-1 missile independently developed by the mainland successfully put the artificial earth satellite into orbit.
Since then, the mainland has entered a period of great development of aerospace, after many successful launches of artificial earth satellites and manned spacecraft, and then to the successful transportation of lunar probes from the earth to the moon and successful landing, and the mainland also successfully launched the first space laboratory in 2016 to build a space station, and the implementation of the mission is also the largest space project ever built by the mainland.
After nearly 70 years of hard work, the mainland's space industry has finally been gradually mastered, and in 2022, the mainland has successfully completed the construction of its own space station, officially having its own territory in space with several other countries in the world with their own space stations.
Although the development of the mainland's aerospace industry is relatively late, the mainland has been able to achieve unprecedented development in the aerospace field at a subversive speed, and every launch is independently developed, unlike some countries that developed earlier and handed over their space business to private companies.
The tremendous achievements made by the mainland in the space industry are also obvious to all, not only in the fields of manned spacecraft and artificial satellites, but also in the unknown field of Chang'e's exploration of the moon, and the Chang'e-5 mission is a great breakthrough in the field of space flight.
2. China learns from the experience of American aviation.
However, the development of the mainland's aerospace industry has not been smooth sailing, and many difficulties have arisen in the middle, but we have not only actively summed up our own experience in development, but also actively learned from the development models of some foreign aviation fields.
In particular, our immediate neighbor, the United States, can be said to have been very successful in developing its space industry, not only stepping on the moon, but also being the first country in the world to have its own space station.
In addition, after the second industrial revolution in the United States, the development of aviation technology is even more rapid, because the existence of aircraft in the war, for the transportation of the army provides great convenience, so various countries are actively investing in the research and construction of aircraft.
The United States has also invested a lot of money and manpower in research in this regard, and when the mainland was just starting, the United States has already invested a lot of money in this area, and it also has a very high technical level in the field of aviation, and it is also the most famous space agency in the world, which also makes the mainland very admired.
It is precisely because of the huge potential of the United States in the field of aviation development that the mainland has also actively integrated the advanced technology of the United States into the process of its own aviation development, and this has also made the mainland's aerospace technology more perfect to a certain extent.
It is precisely this technological stack with the concept of win-win cooperation that the mainland can have such a rapid development speed and occupy a place in the world in its own development process.
However, there is still a huge gap between the mainland and the United States in space development, not in launch technology, but in the manufacture of space parts.
Why can't the mainland reduce costs in terms of making aerospace parts, after all, it is the same parts, why do the mainland's parts sell to 9 million?
And the United States can sell it for hundreds of dollars?
3. Why is the cost of parts high in China?
In fact, the main reason for this situation is the lack of a perfect industrial chain.
Although the mainland's aerospace industry is developing rapidly, it is not very perfect compared with some countries that have their own launch projects, so the mainland is a little powerless in terms of parts and components.
For example, the space station on the continent is a good illustration, the space station itself is a giant aircraft, in order to be able to launch smoothly and operate normally in orbit, it needs a lot of parts to work together.
Therefore, it is particularly important in terms of parts, but the mainland has a huge gap with some private companies in countries with space stations in this regard, resulting in the mainland almost having to make a complete industrial chain by itself in the construction of space station parts, and it can only be produced after it is established.
The U.S. is much more convenient in this regard, so U.S. private companies are much better in this regard.
The second is that the technology used in the mainland's parts and components is some relatively cutting-edge technology, which not only requires a lot of manpower and material resources to develop, but also needs to overcome unprecedented technical difficulties.
This is also the reason for the high cost of the continent, but this does not mean that the parts of the continent are not reliable, although there are these problems, but the parts of the continent have been tested for failure, and verified on the space station, there is no problem.
Moreover, this is also an important reason why the mainland will conduct verification before launch, and after these verifications, the mainland's parts and components can also ensure their reliability, and can also ensure the success rate of the mainland's launch mission.
Although the cost of the continent's parts is much higher, the continent is also working hard to reduce these excessive costs, so that the continent's space station has lower maintenance costs, after all, it is the continent's own space station, so the continent will try to minimize the maintenance costs.
In the mainland's aerospace ministry project, it cannot be said that aerospace parts are useless, after all, in the initial stage of building the space station, it is also the continent's own production of various parts, after the continent's parts and components are successfully used in the continent's space station, they have also been recognized by all countries in the world.
It is precisely because of the success of these space stations that the mainland will gradually cooperate with private companies in the United States and other countries with space stations in future launch missions, which will not only reduce the cost of the mainland's aerospace parts, but also enable better development in the future aerospace industry.
Fourth, the future of China's aerospace development.
In the future, in the field of aerospace, the continent will gradually aim at all the planets of the solar system, such as Mars and Jupiter, and will advance to more far-reaching fields such as the sun, the Milky Way, and the universe.
The mainland's space industry has attracted the attention of all countries in the world, and some countries have even worried about the mainland's space development, fearing that the faster the mainland's space industry develops, the greater the mainland's threat to the world.
But this is a groundless idea, after all, the mainland's aerospace industry also adheres to the principle of peace and win-win, so the mainland was also responsible to the world several decades ago for the ability to have its own independent space station, which was also built with the help of the United States.
Therefore, the mainland has always remained calm about the concerns of other developed countries, and as far as the peaceful use of space is concerned, the mainland will more actively embrace different countries and be members of the global village, and everyone will be like-minded.
In addition to cooperation with the United States in the field of aerospace, the mainland has also cooperated with Russia in the field of space exploration, and the two sides have already signed a contract to cooperate in the construction of an international lunar research station.
This is also the first scientific research station built on the moon, which will open a new era of human exploration of the moon, and it is also a great progress for mankind in the field of aerospace.
In terms of international cooperation, the mainland has also taken an open attitude, facilitating the entry of scientific researchers from various countries into the mainland's space station to conduct scientific research, and further announcing to the world the mainland's self-confidence in the space field.
epilogue
International competition in the field of aerospace is very fierce, and although the mainland has made very outstanding achievements in the field of aerospace, it does not dare to slack off.
In the future development of the mainland's aerospace industry, the mainland will also pay attention to technological innovation and the cultivation of talents, so as to enhance its core competitiveness in the aerospace field.
There are still many things that other developing countries can learn from and learn from the mainland's space industry, and they will improve the level of global space technology in a more comprehensive way, and they will all be part of mankind and let the human space industry move toward a broader future.