Chapter 365 Judging Rank by Academic Merit

Although the payload capacity of the Ape-Eating Eagle-class Carrier Rocket was already very impressive.

But Li Qingye wasn't entirely satisfied with it.

The reason was very simple. The Ape-Eating Eagle-class Carrier Rocket's payload capacities were 150 tons to low Earth orbit, 100 tons to geosynchronous orbit, and 63 tons to the Moon.

From Antonio's explanation, Li Qingye understood that the current Ape-Eating Eagle-class Carrier Rockets were all designed based on a manned spacecraft model.

And while Homo Sapiens Company's cargo variant could increase the payload by about 20 tons, the overall capacity was still very small.

To complete the Gui Palace Project within two to three years, the rocket's payload capacity would need to increase by an order of magnitude just to be barely sufficient.

Currently, Homo Sapiens Company used a giant cannon to launch satellites and unmanned equipment into outer space.

The sluggish carrier rockets really couldn't compete with the giant cannon launch system in terms of launch efficiency.

Homo Sapiens Company's investment in the carrier rocket project was primarily to serve manned spaceflight; transporting cargo was just a secondary function.

After all, the giant cannon could launch hundreds of tons of materials into low Earth orbit in a single day. No matter how fast a carrier rocket was, it couldn't possibly launch once a day. One launch per week was the limit, and even that was dependent on weather conditions.

This carrying capacity, when compared to the blueprint for the Gui Palace Project, was just a drop in the bucket.

Fortunately, Homo Sapiens Company's biotechnology was quite advanced. After landing on the Moon's surface, they could use bio-enrichment and biosynthesis technologies to source materials locally. This would avoid wasting precious payload capacity on things like building supplies.

Antonio was also aware of the Gui Palace Project. He of course understood that the Ape-Eating Eagle-class Carrier Rocket could only transport people and a small amount of precision equipment to the Moon.

"Mr. Chairman, I believe we should first build a space station in low Earth orbit."

Li Qingye rubbed his prickly stubble. "Is it because of the environmental adaptation issues with the bio-enrichment and biosynthesis technologies?"

Antonio nodded. "Just as you said, Chairman. The company's biotechnology was certainly designed based on Earth's environment. I'm worried that if we use it directly on the Moon, there will be acclimation problems."

"Your concerns are valid. It seems we really do need to build a low Earth orbit space station first."

Antonio quickly suggested, "Mr. Chairman, if we're going to build a space station, we can first use the Ape-eating Eagle-class Carrier Rockets to launch a few modules directly, and then use the giant cannon to supplement them with fuel and culture media."

"You can start by setting up a space station design team. Prepare a proposal and send it directly to the Space Division for review."

Antonio nodded.

This was one of the reasons he liked being at Homo Sapiens Company.

As a researcher, Antonio was a typical, no-nonsense engineer. He was utterly fed up with the backstabbing and internal politics.

He had to suck up to the people managing the funds just for a little bit of research money. The research system in Lucia was already like an old man on his deathbed, and under such a terrible management model, the only thing they could do was research that was little more than archaeology.

Only after coming to Homo Sapiens Company did Antonio discover that this place was practically a researcher's Heaven.

It had a wealth of high-caliber talent, abundant resources, all sorts of unique advanced technologies, and an almost completely transparent operational system.

Talented people could quickly stand out.

At his research institute in Lucia, Antonio had for many years come across as nothing more than a second-rate researcher, a total slacker.

The only reason he had seemed like a slacker, however, was that he refused to grovel and beg. Plus, on several occasions, the head of the institute had taken credit for his research.

After coming to work at Homo Sapiens Company, Antonio was completely transformed.

With the support of ample resources and a large number of New Human employees specializing in aerospace, he developed many highly valuable aerospace technologies.

For example, there was the cold recovery system for the first-stage carrier rocket that Antonio had previously developed.

This technology was different from the hot recovery of the Falcon Carrier Rocket. After the first stage of the Ape-eating Eagle-class Carrier Rocket separated from the second stage, it would directly deploy an unpowered glider wing assembly. It would then use electric motors to adjust the glider wings, allowing the first stage to fly back to a recovery airfield near the launch site.

Using this technology avoided the main drawback of the Falcon Carrier Rocket, which was that its payload capacity was reduced by the recovery system.

Sometimes, the research environment has a greater impact on scientific progress than funding does.

Under a system like the one at Homo Sapiens Company, truly talented people could shine, while the deadwood had basically no say.

It might seem ruthless—a system that judged people solely on their academic abilities, with no room for personal feelings.

But this was the core philosophy of the Homo Sapiens Company's Science Division.

Science is science. It's black and white; there are no ambiguous gray areas.

To stand out in the Science Division's management system, the primary factors were research ability and academic achievements. Other things like years of service, who your mentor was, or what international awards you had won were all irrelevant.

Even a Nobel laureate wouldn't necessarily thrive at Homo Sapiens Company.

There was a key reason for this: most of the researchers at Homo Sapiens Company were in their twenties and thirties, with only a few over the age of 40.

Antonio himself was only 38.

In contrast, many winners of major international awards were in their fifties or sixties at the earliest. They were already old. They might be fine for teaching, but in terms of creative research, they really couldn't compare to the younger generation.

Moreover, Homo Sapiens Company didn't even recognize the Nobel Prize internally. Its academic circle had formed its own self-contained ecosystem, creating a major schism with the international academic community.

In particular, two practices—coining its own scientific terms and writing papers in a mix of multiple languages—had all but caused the academic circles of Homo Sapiens Company and the international community to part ways completely.

Antonio, for one, despised the international academic community. Ever since he started working at Homo Sapiens Company, he had become firmly convinced that only within the company could a truly pure academic world be found.

Those people in the international academic world relied heavily on nepotism and mentor-student relationships, not to mention regional factionalism and backroom deals by various capitalist powers. The whole system had long since become a corrupt mess.

It was incredibly difficult for people who genuinely focused on their research to get ahead without the support of mentors, peers, and behind-the-scenes backers.

Antonio was a living example. After his mentor passed away, he was marginalized by his research institute.

But at Homo Sapiens Company, as long as you had the ability and worked hard enough, you could be promoted even without sucking up to your superiors and colleagues. You didn't have to worry about anything else.

Antonio had become the chief engineer of Lamon Port Aerospace City through his own talent and hard work.

He took note of Li Qingye's instructions and continued to lead him on a tour of the manned spacecraft assembly workshop.

Because Homo Sapiens Company's biotechnology was so advanced, the design of the manned spacecraft was actually simpler. After all, the special equipment made from biological cells possessed self-repair capabilities.

Conventional spacecraft, despite having triple-redundancy designs, had electronic chips and precision instruments that couldn't repair themselves. Over time, malfunctions were inevitable.

To one side of the manned spacecraft assembly workshop was an auxiliary training area, set up specifically for astronauts to test the spacecraft.

A dozen or so astronauts were wearing special space exoskeletons, which consisted of multiple layers. These spacesuits also had self-repair capabilities.

They were currently wearing these special spacesuits at the bottom of a five-meter-deep swimming pool, simulating the effects of a microgravity environment on their movement.