Chapter 1398: Launch Vehicles and Satellites

While Xia Yu was still further researching the Tiangong Group,

detailed investigations into the global aerospace and satellite markets were finally released.

Two reports, one from the American Polaris Consortium and one from the local Xiangjiang Jiuding Consortium.

The two reports each had their own merits.

The one from the United States is very detailed in its investigation of the North American region, where the United States and Canada are located, which the report from the Jiuding Consortium cannot match.

However, the report from the Jiuding Consortium has a clearer grasp of the situation in Europe.

When the two reports are combined, the market situation on a global scale becomes very clear.

Xia Yu needs to create a global aerospace market giant!

However, this giant also has a focus in the early stages of development.

This is where the aerospace market structure comes in.

The global aerospace market is divided into four major industries.

They are the launch vehicle, space shuttle, space station and satellite markets.

Of these, the space shuttle and space station industries are currently military-oriented, with almost no civilian market.

Xia Yu has not entered these two industries at all, and he does not control any companies in these fields.

However, British Aerospace, in which Guangming Fund holds 12.5%, and General Electric, in which Polaris Capital holds 14.6%, are involved in these industries.

Unfortunately, for the time being, it is impossible to gain control of these two companies, and all he can do is to hold a small number of shares.

Whether in the UK or the US, these two industries are easy to enter but difficult to grow for the time being.

After all, both markets require the absolute support of the military, which is difficult!

Therefore, Xia Yu has not given much consideration to these two industries before, but rather focused on the launch vehicle and satellite markets.

These two industries not only have a military market, but also a civilian market.

The launch vehicle industry is generally used by the military for spacecraft launches and missiles.

In the civilian market, it complements the satellite market.

Unfortunately, Xia Yu's consortium has not set foot in either the military or civilian markets. Peter Lynch founded the Space Exploration Technologies Corporation in California with the aim of entering the launch vehicle industry and becoming the world's top commercial launch service provider.

Currently, due to the policy direction of the United States, the world's number one commercial launch service provider is not in the United States, but in Europe, and it is called Arianespace.

Arianespace was proposed by France in July 1973 and established jointly with 11 Western European countries. It is the implementer of the rocket programme initiated and developed by the European Space Agency.

This is the world's first commercial launch service provider!

Unfortunately, this company is backed by 13 European countries, including France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland, and is strongly supported by 36 aerospace and electronics companies and 13 banks from these 13 countries.

With such a strong background, it is determined that ArianeSpace is going to dominate Europe, and no company can take European orders away from it!

If Xia Yu wants to open up the market, it can only grow by snatching orders from outside Europe, in North America and Asia.

Fortunately, at present, ArianeSpace only has one commercial launch vehicle – the Ariane 1 launch vehicle.

The Ariane 2 launch vehicle is still under development and is expected to be test-fired in the middle of this year!

It can be said that Xia Yu's newly established Space Exploration Technologies Corporation will face extreme pressure!

Of course, in the United States, the launch vehicle market is very suitable for development.

Since the 1970s, the United States has been engaged in a space race with the Soviet Union, and the country has supported the space shuttle project with all its strength, requiring that all payloads be used for space shuttle launches and other launch vehicles be deactivated.

As a result, the production lines of launch vehicles under the giants such as Martin Marietta, Douglas Aircraft Company, and General Dynamics have gradually been discontinued.

It can be said that a large part of the reason why Europe was able to develop Arianespace was because the United States, as the leader, was under pressure from the Soviet Union, and the European juniors were playing the commercial game!

The satellite industry has always existed in the military field, and the civilian market is also booming.

In this industry, there are many competitors.

There are many in Europe, such as British Aerospace and the French National Aerospace Corporation.

But if we talk about strength, the United States is still stronger!

In the United States, it goes without saying that the manufacturers of military satellites are all established companies, such as Rockwell International, Boeing, Hughes Aircraft, etc.

In the field of commercial satellites, the threshold is lower than that of military satellites.

Of course, the market is also much larger!

Therefore, there are a lot of companies in this field, but the vast majority of them are just emerging small companies with weak competitiveness.

At present, there are three giants!

The order of strength is Hughes Aircraft, Astrospace and Ford Aerospace and Communications.

Hughes Aircraft was previously acquired and is now the military leader of the Polaris consortium.

Astrospace is a subsidiary of General Electric, which is the core company of the Morgan consortium.

As for Ford Aerospace and Communications, it was formed in 1961 when Ford Motor Company took over the assets of Philco. It currently not only manufactures satellites, but also a number of missile and radar models, among which the AIM9 Sidewinder is a masterpiece.

According to a survey report, in addition to these three, there are many other companies, one of which has grown at a remarkable rate.

That's Loral Electronics!

The company went public in 1959, with a market value of just over 10 million US dollars. It later acquired small businesses on a large scale to build up its strength, and became a comprehensive manufacturer of communications, telemetry, radar and satellite navigation equipment. It took over the US military's Doppler navigation radar project, the electronic equipment project for the Air Force's F-111 and RF-4C reconnaissance aircraft, etc.

However, due to rapid expansion, the company went bankrupt in the early 1970s and was bought by Bernard Schwartz, the current company chairman, who has overseen the company's development over the past decade.

...

Peter Lynch's idea is to merge and acquire.

In the satellite industry, Hughes Aircraft will be tasked with acquiring Laura Electronics and Ford Aerospace and Communications, in order to establish absolute dominance in the field of satellite manufacturing.

As for the launch vehicle industry, it would take over the assets of the original veteran launch vehicle giants such as Martin Marietta, Douglas Aircraft and General Dynamics, taking over some of their production lines, as well as technical data and elite researchers, and supplemented by poaching researchers from other companies.

On this basis, Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX) would be tasked with setting up a project team to develop its own commercial launch vehicle.

SpaceX would be nurtured with orders from Hughes Aircraft Company, and the latter would become the largest commercial launch service provider in the United States.

'This development strategy is indeed highly feasible and has a lot of imagination.'

After pondering, Xia Yu chuckled to himself.

'It's hard to say about other companies, but Martin Marietta is controlled by the Mellon Consortium, so it shouldn't be difficult to buy the launch vehicle project.'

'It's just that Douglas Aircraft and General Dynamics are not easy to operate.'

Thinking about this, Xia Yu's brows furrowed slightly, and he lifted his teacup and took a sip of tea to soothe himself.

Douglas Aircraft is a core company under the Rockefeller Consortium.

And General Dynamics is a core company under the Morgan consortium.

These two consortia are both masters of money, and it is hard to say whether they would let the Polaris consortium develop Space Exploration Technologies Corporation for some money.

The Morgan consortium is better.

But there is no need to guess that the hostility of the Rockefeller consortium towards the Polaris consortium is absolutely strong.

'Forget it. After all, Martin Marietta was originally one of the three giants in the launch vehicle industry. As long as we can obtain its technology and assets, it will be enough to give Space Exploration Technologies a solid foundation and enable it to develop by leaps and bounds.'

'Moreover, the Martin Marietta's Titan series of launch vehicles are heavy-duty launch vehicles with extremely high technical content and high potential for technology transfer.'

'Anyway, it is not difficult to poach technical personnel from the American aerospace field at the moment. As long as you are willing to spend money on research and development, results will definitely come out.'

After making the decision,

Xia Yu called Peter Lynch directly to approve his plan and give him some advice for nearly half an hour.

After hanging up the phone, Xia Yu called Leonard Mellon in Pennsylvania directly to chat about family matters before getting down to business about the launch vehicle.

Knowing that Xia Yu had cooperated with the Polaris Consortium and wanted to delve deeper into the launch vehicle industry, Leonard Mellon thought about it for a moment before directly agreeing to the matter over the phone.

As for the specific details of the cooperation, that would be left to the Space Exploration Technologies Corporation to negotiate with Martin Marietta.

At this point, Xia Yu finally let his mind rest.

The first step in the aerospace market had already laid a good foundation, and it would just depend on how it developed in the next few years.