Moon, Antarctica.
In the Aitken Basin, four experimenters installed the 'small fully automated mining machine' that was dragged over.
Yang Deng, the team leader in charge of this experimental test of automated mining on the lunar surface, was also the engineer who participated in the development and design of the device, and he skillfully controlled the equipment.
Next to the crawler roller device, four structures similar to the supporting legs of a crane slowly extended out.
However, it is slightly different from the pillars of the crane. The supporting feet on the earth are flat on the ground to bear the load and help the crane stabilize its attitude.
On the moon, although these four pillars are also used to stabilize the posture of the equipment, the difference is that they will spiral into the soil and rocks on the lunar surface to assist in stabilizing the equipment.
After all, on the moon, gravity is only one-sixth that of Earth.
Equipment such as mining machines will produce large vibrations during operation. If they are not fixed, in a low-gravity environment, it can easily cause position deviation of the mining machine during operation.
Of course, if it is a large-scale mining equipment, heavy excavation equipment of tens or hundreds of tons or even heavier, such fixing means may not be needed.
After all, the gravity on the moon is just low, not zero.
But this kind of small automated mining machine for testing requires an 'anchor' to firmly fix it on the ground.
After waiting for a short while, the four fixed pillars were drilled into the moon rock.
Immediately, the drill bit at the bow bottom of the mining machine began to slowly lower its height under the control of an automated program.
When the drill bit senses rocks on the ground, the green signal light on the top of the automatic mining device lights up, as if for confirmation.
Immediately afterwards, the rotating drill began to work, and the lunar dust on the surface that came into contact with it was carried around. Under the lunar soil, pieces of titanium-rich ore were cut into pieces by the rotating drill.
And as the drill bit moves, it is transferred to the discharge port behind the mining machine.
Strictly speaking, this mining machine is only part of a set of fully automated mining equipment.
Because in the design, after large-scale fully automatic mining machines mine minerals, the crushed ore will be automatically transported to the factory through crawlers.
The automated smelting plant will send these ores to be smelted and then smelted into pieces of high-purity titanium bricks.
If necessary, these smelted titanium bricks can be processed into any shape you need in the smelting factory.
Of course, it can also be combined with other metals to smelt into corresponding alloys.
But now, it will definitely be achieved for the time being.
At least, before the supporting mining equipment and smelting plant are established, what they have to do is to conduct as many experimental tests as possible on the device in front of them.
...
While various scientific research experiments were going on on the moon, the United States was far away on the other side of the earth.
In the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, two mathematics professors were sitting in the cafe on the first floor of the Institute for Advanced Study, enjoying afternoon tea and desserts while chatting.
At the same time, the LCD TV hanging on the wall of the cafe was playing the midday news.
China has officially announced that the lunar biosphere project is about to start, and biologists from all over the world have rushed to the Xinghai Research Institute.
In the past two days, almost all the famous TV stations or media have reported on this incident.
Whether it's on the Internet or in real life, it's all making a fuss.
There is no doubt that building a biosphere on the moon has attracted everyone's attention.
Whether it is political figures from various countries, scholars in academia, or ordinary people, they are all looking forward to and discussing this matter.
Nothing else.
Moon, biosphere engineering, immigration, interstellar age... any one of these words is attractive enough, let alone the combination of them?
Human curiosity drives action, and there is probably no one who does not yearn for the stars and the sea.
It can be said that human civilization has been coveting the moon, a treasure hanging above our heads, for a long time.
From ancient myths and stories, to the observation of the moon in the scientific and technological era, to manned moon landings, they all show human beings' curiosity and covetation for the moon.
But to this day, human exploration of the moon has, to the greatest extent, only sent astronauts to the moon.
Most of the exploration and development in other aspects remain on paper.
Whether it is the "Artemis Project" of the United States, the "Moon Project" of Tsarist Russia, or the "Dual-Track Lunar Exploration Plan" of the European Union, it can be said that most of them so far are just a "plan" and have not really
The beginning, or in other words, only a very small amount of funds and resources were invested in the beginning.
However, among all the countries in the world, one is an exception.
That big country located in the east of Asia, from the Chang'e lunar exploration project, to the Xinghai space shuttle manned moon landing, to the lunar biosphere project announced today...
They are calm and fast, like a machine, walking step by step towards the goal they have set and achieving it.
In just a dozen years, we have gone from a time when we could not even send a spacecraft to the moon, to a time when we are uniting the world and leading the lunar biosphere project.
The whole world is witnessing how terrifying the opponent's development speed in the aerospace field is.
Since the other party officially announced this matter two days ago, almost the entire Internet has been discussing this matter!
Not just on the Internet, but also in reality.
Even in colleges and research institutes like Princeton, which are not well-known in the fields of biology and aerospace, there are people everywhere discussing news related to the lunar biosphere project.
If the United States once built Biosphere 2 in Arizona, it was just an experimental simulation on earth to verify whether other planets are suitable for human habitation.
Then the country on the other side of the Pacific was so crazy that it directly moved this project to the moon.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Not to mention the difficulty of building such a biosphere project on the moon, the broad prospects behind this super project are enough to make the whole world crazy about it.
.
If the lunar biosphere project progresses smoothly, does it mean that humans can start an alien immigration project?
Even if this is put aside, its construction can bring unlimited scientific exploration possibilities to mankind.
On such a base, scientists can conduct various experiments and observations to explore the mysteries of the universe.
They can study the moon's geological structure, atmospheric composition, and even search for signs of extraterrestrial life.
The construction of the lunar biosphere project will also bring new resources and energy supply points to the earth.
Whether it is the rare helium-3 resources on the earth, or other abundant resources such as titanium, aluminum, lithium, iron, rare earth elements, etc...
All will greatly alleviate competition for resources on the earth.
Of course, the premise is that you can get this ‘ticket’ for the new era.
Yes, the lunar biosphere project is the ticket to the new era. Its construction and development will provide extremely important experience and data for the future interstellar era.
...
Watching the news broadcast on the LCD TV, Professor Fefferman, who is the chairman of the Department of Mathematics at Princeton and a tenured professor at the Institute for Advanced Study, suddenly spoke.
"He really can't take any time off."
Across the coffee table, Professor Pierre Deligne took a sip of coffee and said calmly: "It's normal, he has always had this character."
Fefferman didn't need to explain, he knew who the "he" the other party was referring to was referring to.
Fefferman smiled and said with emotion: "It's good to be young and to be able to do things."
He also liked to toss when he was young, or in other words, every genius loves to toss when he is young.
However, it is still very rare for scholars to be able to work among different scholars across fields.
Looking at the news related to the lunar biosphere project, Fefferman suddenly remembered another thing and looked at Deligne curiously: "By the way, speaking of which, how is the verification work on the unified theory of strong electricity going?
?”
Deligne shook his head and said, "Not sure."
He really didn't pay much attention to the news in this area. The last piece of information he knew was the last verification work on the coupling prediction constant about the breaking of strong electric symmetry.
Opposite me, Fefferman said with a joking smile: "You are one of the authors of the unified theory of strong electricity... and you don't even care about this?"
Deligne raised his head, glanced at him without any emotion, and said nothing.
Fefferman shrugged and said, "It's really boring. This is a Nobel Prize-level achievement. Aren't you also interested in the Nobel Prize?"
Hearing the Nobel Prize, Deligne's eyes flashed with excitement.
As the highest award in the current academic world, at least in the field of basic science, the Nobel Prize can be said to be the award that any scholar looks forward to.
He is no exception and definitely yearns for the Nobel Prize.
To be continued...