The term biosphere is no stranger to the scientists here.
The earth is a huge biosphere, ranging from 10,000 meters above sea level to 11,000 meters deep in the ocean, which all belong to the category of ecosphere. The earth's biosphere is mainly composed of three parts: living matter, biologically generated matter and biologically inert matter.
Among them, living substances can be divided into three categories, namely producers, consumers and decomposers.
Producers, that is, green plants, convert carbon dioxide into organic matter through photosynthesis and release oxygen. Producers and consumers breathe in oxygen and convert organic matter into carbon dioxide again. This is the carbon cycle.
The Earth's biosphere has a large volume, high biodiversity, complex nutritional structure, and strong self-regulating capabilities. Therefore, the carbon dioxide and oxygen concentrations in the Earth's atmosphere have always maintained a balanced state.
It sounds very simple. You only need to maintain the balance of carbon and oxygen. But in the complex and huge system relationships, every breeze may be indispensable to life. Human beings have done many things based on artificial ecosystems.
Experiments on subjects, but without exception, all ended in failure!
In the 1990s, the United States built an artificial closed ecosystem called "Biosphere 2", in which eight scientific researchers conducted experiments for 21 months.
They conduct ecological and environmental research in a closed state to help humans understand how the earth operates and study conditions that simulate the earth's ecological environment.
However, the experiment failed after 21 months. The reason was that the atmospheric composition ratio of oxygen and carbon dioxide in Biosphere 2 could not reach a balance on its own. Most animals and plants were unable to grow or reproduce normally, and they became extinct faster than expected.
.However, cockroaches and ants are full of offspring. What's even worse is that its oxygen content has dropped from 21% to 14%. If humans live in it, it may be life-threatening.
Scientists thought they had found the cause of the failure. Immediately afterwards, Biosphere 2 ushered in the second batch of residents, but only half a month later the experiment failed again because of the excessive accumulation of laughing gas.
Since then, people have known that the earth is still the only home for mankind.
The existence of the lunar base depends on the continuous supplies from the earth, and it cannot survive alone.
"Now, we must build a real ecosystem!" Dr. Roman shouted, "Maybe it can be simpler, just achieve carbon balance."
He frowned. With the existing technology of mankind, can a completely balanced biosphere really be established? Moreover, once this experiment is started, it must succeed. If it fails, the entire race will be destroyed.
"No, no, Roman, you are thinking too much, it's too complicated!" A female scientist stood up and said loudly, "We don't have that much time to think about this right now."
"As for the carbon dioxide problem you mentioned, we can completely use methane and carbonates on the moon to produce carbon dioxide. The top priority is to solve this food crisis, not anything else!",
"Oxygen and water, don't think about it for now. We still have them in stock."
A group of scientists quarreled like this. They began to calculate the feasibility of various solutions and wanted to get the best result.
Yu Yifeng listened and sorted out relevant thoughts. Slowly, his heart began to heat up. Hope, there is still hope!
After all, they are 50,000 people carefully selected from the earth, including the best scientists, the most skilled technicians, the most experienced engineers... The productivity of the lunar base is comparable to that of a small country.
The mineral resources here are also much richer than imagined. The original location of the moon base was chosen here not only because there are alien spacecrafts here, but more importantly, there are nearly 220 million tons of ice deep underground!
Don't think that there is no water on the moon. It is only hidden in the form of ice deep in the earth's crust. 220 million tons of ice is not much compared to the water resources on the earth, but it can be regarded as a rich treasure.
Human survival is inseparable from water, but water cannot be compressed, so transportation is very troublesome. It is almost impossible to transport such a large number of hundreds of millions of tons from the earth. You must know that the carrying capacity of the Victory is only 500 tons.
!So, these ice mines have become the best resources.
Due to the ice mines underground, there is no shortage of water resources for the time being. Although nearly half of the ice has been mined over the years, there is still at least 100 million tons of storage! Use it sparingly, it will be enough for humans to use it for decades. Even if you use it
After all, humans can still use mineral rocks underground to decompose crystal water, but it's just a little more troublesome.
As for oxygen, part of it is transported from the earth, and part of it is obtained through photosynthesis of plants, but most of the oxygen is obtained by electrolyzing minerals. For example, oxygen can be obtained by electrolyzing metal oxides or electrolyzing water.
The entire base needs about 15,000 tons of oxygen per year. This number is not high. It only requires electrolysis of 17,000 tons of water. Therefore, the oxygen problem is also solved.
As for carbon dioxide, it can be obtained by decomposing carbonate or by burning methane. There is abundant solid methane in the lunar poles, which is found near the base. However, carbonate near the surface is very scarce, so it can only be excavated deep underground, which requires a large amount of work.
, burning methane creates some new problems. The burning of methane requires an oxidant, which is oxygen!
However, producing oxygen requires a lot of energy, so energy output must be increased... Solar energy alone is not enough. The easiest way is to increase the development of uranium resources and build nuclear power plants!
In the end, the stall got bigger and bigger, involving more and more aspects. It felt like nothing was enough and everything needed to be rebuilt. Yu Yifeng was already a little confused.
After all, he was not an orthodox scientist. He just wrote down some numbers and considered whether they were feasible. As for other details, these scientists could only consider them.
"You are overdrawing the future!" Roman roared, putting his hands behind his head and rubbing his hair deeply. The main consideration now is the issue of food production, and the plan to build an ecosystem has been put on hold for the time being.
"Our water resources are also limited..." He wanted to say something more, but was stopped by someone, his adopted daughter Yuriko.
Yuriko said softly, "Father, we always have to get through the immediate difficulties before we can think about further things, right?"
"Yes, alas... You are right, a complete ecosystem cannot be completed overnight." Roman said with a wry smile.
At this time, Yu Yifeng suddenly had a flash of inspiration and thought of an odd-second idea. He jumped up from his position and said, "Everyone, everyone! Listen to me, why don't we move to an alien spacecraft?"
"
"Originally, there was no vigorous development of alien spacecraft because the government wanted to keep the spacecraft and its perfection secret. Now, everyone knows this secret, so why should they abandon it and ignore it?"
“Whether it’s safety or other considerations, it’s a very good choice!”
Everyone suddenly became quiet, whispering to each other and discussing the feasibility of this plan in low voices.
"I agree!" A male voice came from behind, it was Chief Physicist Felix, "If everyone moves into the alien spacecraft, we can plant all the vacant places on the earth's surface with plants, which can save money.