Compared with the previous chemical-fuel-powered drones.
Mature technology and components were already available on the market.
Chen Yi only needed to buy the components, assemble them by hand, then adjust their properties and upgrade them.
But ion-propulsion drones and Hall effect thruster drones represented breakthroughs from nothing.
This meant—
Chen Yi had to research the overall system design, components, and every single technology for ion-propulsion drones himself.
For that—
Chen Yi had spent more than half a month on it.
Aside from controlling the Lunar Lander Drone into lunar orbit on the fifteenth day of the lunar month, taking a close-up photo of the Moon, and posting an update, he had kept a low profile and did not stream again.
He had also found time to build a rotating detonation engine, use technical extraction to replace the quantum materials he could not understand with copper-based superalloy, and send a technical paper to Professor Zhang.
Chen Yi had spent the rest of his time working on the technical details of the new drone.
He asked Professor Zhang for a reading list of relevant books and papers, using up two opportunities for virtual learning.
Only then had he completed the design and planning for his new drone.
At the same time, it was also the first drone he had designed independently.
It marked a new milestone in his drone-making journey.
"While ion thrusters have incredible efficiency and specific impulse, their thrust is notoriously weak."
"Also, based on the conservation of kinetic energy and the impulse formula, we can calculate that—"
"At the same power, the faster the exhaust velocity, the higher the impulse, but the lower the expelled mass, and thus the smaller the thrust."
"So, if we want to enter space from the ground through ion propulsion, there are four key requirements."
"First, adjustable thrust and the ability to intake air at low altitudes.
"Second, increasing energy density, releasing more energy from the same mass.
"Third, lightweight and hollow structural materials to reduce the aircraft's own burden.
"Fourth, entering space through low-speed flight that only overcomes the planet's gravity.
"Put simply, ion propulsion relies on endurance and external replenishment.
"It cannot be as energetic, fiery, and explosive as chemical propulsion, like some young hothead."
Chen Yi gradually sorted out his thoughts.
The biggest drawback of ion propulsion was its extremely weak thrust.
Take the HET-80 Hall thruster aboard Tianhe Space Station as an example.
At 1,350 watts, equivalent to 1.8 horsepower, the HET-80 produced only 80 millinewtons of thrust.
After unit conversion, an ordinary egg weighed roughly 500 millinewtons.
It took six HET-80 Hall thrusters just to move a single egg.
One could easily imagine how weak the thrust of such an ion-propulsion drone was.
To enter space from the ground, it had to use a different design and different technical methods.
"The hardware system design is complete. Next comes the avionics control design."
Chen Yi took out his phone and called He Yu.
Space drones did not follow orbital paths.
An avionics control system could not do without the assistance of Artificial Intelligence.
So before manufacturing the drone, he also needed to get Artificial Intelligence in place.
"Hello, Manager He.
"I've had a new idea recently. The studio needs to order a supercomputer.
"The cost of the supercomputer can be deducted from the studio's future patent licensing payments."
After waiting a few seconds, He Yu answered the call.
Chen Yi did not stand on ceremony and stated his request directly.
Yifei had now completed its corporate restructuring.
The entire Yifei operation had been divided into two parts.
One part consisted of Chen Yi's studio and the laboratory it was acquiring, responsible for technology development.
The other part was Yifei's new company, managed by He Yu, which handled market operations, manufacturing, sales, and everything other than technology development.
Yifei's technologies, meanwhile, were handled through agency licensing.
Yifei Studio licensed them to Yifei Company.
At Yifei's new company—
He Yu, who was following up on factory renovations and handling company affairs, instinctively opened the financial statements upon hearing Chen Yi's request.
She checked the company's recent total sales and the total value of preorders.
After looking them over, He Yu replied, "President Chen, what is the approximate budget for the supercomputer you want?"
"Around 100 million."
After analyzing the requirements for training and upgrading Artificial Intelligence, Chen Yi gave her a figure.
"..."
Hearing that price, He Yu nearly lost control of her expression. "President Chen, there's less than 50 million left in the company account. Your supercomputer is far too expensive."
"That can't be right. I saw that the drone engines had been selling quite well lately.
"Shipments have exceeded 20,000 units. Even at a wholesale price of 25,000 each, that should have brought in at least 500 million."
A trace of doubt flashed through Chen Yi's mind.
He knew very well how much the drone engines he had developed cost to produce.
Back when Yifei was still a small workshop, manufacturing an engine cost between 2,000 and 2,500, including raw materials, labor, equipment depreciation, positioning chips, electricity, and so on.
Now that Yifei had acquired a larger machining plant with more complete equipment, increasing its total production capacity to 50,000 units per month, engine manufacturing costs could be reduced even further, conservatively to below 2,000.
More than 80 percent of the 500 million in shipment payments was profit.
Yet He Yu was saying that Yifei could not even come up with 100 million?
"..."
He Yu rubbed her head. "President Chen, I reported this to you ten days ago.
"Yifei acquired a battery manufacturing company for 256 million.
"Recently, renovating the battery production workshops and ordering various materials and equipment cost another 89 million.
"Then there were other expenses, such as relocating the company headquarters and acquiring the laboratory.
"I reported all major expenditures exceeding 2 million to you, and the cashier's vouchers were delivered to Manager Qin for her to bring to you for signing.
"Don't tell me you signed them without even looking?"
"Really?"
Chen Yi thought about it.
It seemed that Qin Xiaoyu really had brought him several financial vouchers to sign a few days ago.
But he had been busy designing his new drone at the time, and had mostly forgotten about them after signing.
Chen Yi opened his company email and checked the latest financial summary sent by the finance department.
When he saw that Yifei's debt ratio was below 10 percent—
He Yu was still being far too conservative.
With such a low debt ratio, how could she not take out loans when they were short on money?
With that thought, Chen Yi made his decision. "Manager He, take out a loan and order one first. Put it under Yifei Company's assets.
"Once the patent dividends come in later, transfer it to the studio as an offset against assets."
"May I ask what you plan to use this supercomputer for, President Chen? Is the company planning to expand into the data computing industry?"
He Yu fell silent for a while before deciding she should ask clearly.
"I suddenly had an idea that needs a supercomputer to verify." Chen Yi did not hide anything and answered straightforwardly.
"In that case, we can rent a supercomputer. There's no need to spend so much money to buy one. Yifei's business does not currently require long-term use of a supercomputer."
"The experiment is rather destructive. It might damage the supercomputer, so it's better to buy our own."
"..."
"Yes. I'll speak with the bank about a loan today."
After a long silence, He Yu finally agreed to take out a loan for the purchase.
Given Yifei's demonstrated technology and revenue—
There were practically too many bank managers coming to seek its business these days; their leather shoes were nearly wearing down Yifei's floors.
However, with the space engine as an ultra-high-profit product—
Even though Yifei had been aggressively acquiring companies and laying out its battery production business these past few days, its cash flow had still kept up.
As a qualified manager, faced with such excellent cash flow, she had wanted to control the company's debt and leverage and borrow as little as possible.
She had not expected that after controlling things for so long and turning away a pile of bank representatives, Yifei would still end up taking out a loan.
And the reason for the loan was that the boss had suddenly come up with an idea requiring a supercomputer for verification, while bluntly stating that it might damage the supercomputer.
That outcome, along with Chen Yi's habit of treating a supercomputer worth over 100 million like a toy, left her exhausted.
Although she had come to Yifei as a professional manager because she valued its technological potential—
She had not expected that Yifei's technology really was ridiculously impressive.
And its boss's unreliability and hands-off attitude were directly proportional to Yifei's potential.
He Yu sighed inwardly, then changed the subject. "President Chen, the company's battery production workshops will soon finish renovations and be ready for trial production. We're just waiting for your ultra-high-energy batteries."
Chen Yi had sold her that dream before.
She had swallowed it with great enthusiasm.
Now, she was just waiting for Chen Yi to fulfill his promise.
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