Chapter 286 Technical Reserve

Yutu-3A and Yutu-3B crashed into the ice layer. After receiving the news, Xinyuan was the first to give up.

Explorer-1 has traveled as far as 45.4 kilometers around the landing site. The biggest gain is to find a one-kilogram super-large ore with an abundance of 1.5% rhenium, which is almost 10 times more than the rhenium ore on Earth.

This may be a fragment brought by the impact of a meteorite, or it may be a mineral deposit itself, but it is not of great significance at the moment, so it is better to leave it for the future.

The other four new explorers of Chang'e-5 have just landed at the two landing sites. They did not find any surprises and were ready to dig day and night until they were scrapped.

As a result, the space agency crashed directly into the ice layer? ? !

You should know that the landing site is not chosen randomly. The three "Laurel" satellites have not been in vain in the past few months to collect a lot of data. The three landing sites of Chang'e-5 are all places in Antarctica where ice is likely to be found.

Even if it is not an ice layer, even if it is the wreckage of an ice meteorite, the water resources in the Kum crater are completely sufficient!

Lin Ju in Beijing didn't know how to react when he heard the news, because the third batch of new explorers of the B-level base had been manufactured, and there were 6 of them. They were going to be thrown up in January next year to continue searching. Now it seems that they are no longer needed?

"Xiao Lin! As the saying goes, the old does not go before the new comes. There is gain and loss. You took one or two special tea leaves from me, and I harvested 10 million tons of ice. It's not a loss, not a loss!"

The boss called Lin Ju immediately, and couldn't hide his crazy laughter throughout the whole process.

The ground command center has been continuously exploring the impact crater and has made the latest assessment. The reserves of exploitable ice in the surface 10 meters alone are about 10 million tons, which is completely enough for the initial base site selection!

Lin Ju: "Then you have to plant the flag quickly, otherwise it will be bad if someone else comes up and grabs it."

"Hey, what you said makes sense. We have to prepare for the Chang'e 6 mission immediately. It's worth throwing 10 probes to the Kum crater alone. In addition to the explorer, we have to start manufacturing equipment that can mine and use ice."

Lin Ju thought for a while and said: "Leave it to us. Xinyuan has technical reserves."

The boss was a little surprised: "When did you have this technical reserve? This is for large-scale mining."

Lin Ju: "Customers in the northeast customized ice drilling kits when they bought tractors before. Modify it and it will be mining equipment."

"..."

The boss thought about the scene of astronauts driving tractors on the moon, pulling the joystick to lower the drill with a sharp blade to make holes in the ice layer, and his expression was embarrassed.

Okay, I forgot that Xinyuan's predecessor had this business, but considering that the lunar engineering vehicle may be designed as a convertible, plus the road environment on the lunar surface, the chassis structure of the tractor may really be a feasible solution?

The boss shook his head hard and couldn't think about it anymore. The more he thought about it, the more outrageous it became.

He coughed dryly and his tone became serious:

"Xiao Lin, you are also in Beijing. There should be more accurate detection results around tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. The Aerospace Development Commission will hold an emergency meeting and prepare to organize follow-up detection missions as quickly as possible.

The higher-ups attach great importance to the Kum crater and must be in our hands as much as possible."

"The news outside..."

"No matter what, it can't be concealed. It was not discovered before, so the satellite can't find anything in such a large area. If we concentrate on surveying, we will definitely find it. We must work hard to explore the surrounding area and determine the range of the ice layer as much as possible!"

Lin Ju nodded. Anyway, the resources on the moon are there. Whoever can get them depends on their ability and strength, and it depends on the rocket's transportation capacity!

"Xinyuan will fully cooperate, and the Aerospace Development Commission should also immediately organize the demonstration work of the base planning. The construction work will start from now on."

...

NACA.

More than ten hours have passed since the Aerospace Development Commission disclosed the news. The LRO satellite has concentrated on detecting the Kum crater and its surrounding areas. After analysis, it can be basically confirmed that the ice storage found by Chang'e 5 is true, and the possibility of 10 million tons of ice is not small.

Ten million tons of ice!

Claire was shocked by the news and didn't know what to say, because there was actually no part of the long-term lunar base in the Artemis plan.

The significance of the Artemis plan is mainly to return to the moon and build a "gateway" transit space station for the moon. It is enough to leave a cabin on the moon surface where several astronauts can stay for a few days to do some exploration tasks.

But if there is ice storage, it will be very different. Equipment can be sent up to provide oxygen, fuel, and drinking water for astronauts, greatly reducing the materials required for the mission. It can even be semi-autonomous to gradually build a large base or scientific research station for dozens of people to live, which is similar to the North and South Poles of the earth. The meaning is very different.

Just like the emergence of the space station, the moon with gravity can allow astronauts to live for more than a year, and it can really do some substantive work.

Claire's rationality tells him that NACA should immediately follow up and launch a lunar surface probe to the Aitken Basin. The moon's ice reserves may be up to 200 billion tons, and most of them are concentrated at the South Pole of the moon.

Even if we only count the 30-meter-thick surface ice layer, that would still require billions of tons of ice. If ice is found in the Kum crater, it means there is still countless ice underground around it.

However, the problem is that NACA has no available lunar surface probes.

America's unmanned exploration of the moon was concentrated before the Apollo program, making preliminary preparations for manned landing. After the completion of the Apollo program, the focus was shifted to Mars. The largest lunar probe now is the LRO resource exploration satellite.

Previously, NACA had always been dismissive of the concentrated exploration of the moon in the Chang'e series of missions, and still focused on Mars, but now it has discovered that there is a risk of losing the rear.

Just when Claire was impatient, the assistant quickly took the phone and whispered:

"Mr. Director, it's a call from the boss's house."

Claire immediately picked it up. Needless to say, it must be for the moon.

"Hey, Director Claire, I heard that there is a very important place on the moon, and the Chinese got there first."

Claire: "The United Nations formulated and implemented the Outer Space Treaty a long time ago. One of the provisions states that no country, organization or individual can claim sovereignty over outer space. In other words, even the moon, no country can declare exclusive possession."

"But we all know what it means. No one can occupy it alone, so how much is divided depends on strength, right?"

Claire: "If it is really an ice layer, then this will be an area with a diameter of at least tens of kilometers, which can accommodate two bases."

"But if not, there is only that one place. Scientists told me that it is very important there. Without water, our astronauts cannot stay for a long time, and it is not considered to have truly occupied the land.

I hope NACA can come up with a plan for the landing of an unmanned probe as soon as possible. This will be part of the Artemis plan. My words are effective."