Sirka and Fan Yunfeng, the logistics team leader of this secret base, went to check the storage and production conditions of the base.
The construction work of this base has been ongoing. After nearly two years of expansion, it has become fully equipped and accessible in all directions.
In this base, there are two core areas.
At this time, Sirka and Fan Yunfeng were inspecting one of the core areas.
This is an area with a single floor area of 5,000 square meters, divided into four upper and lower floors. It is equipped with a large number of cultivation tanks, genetic recombination media in the cultivation tanks, and biological material culture media secretly transported from Hongshawadi.
The bottom layer is a nutrient absorption tank, which can use animal excrement and plants as nutrients, and then supply nutrients and energy to the cultivation tanks on the upper layers.
As for other metal powders, inorganic salts, etc., they can also be collected nearby through bioconcentration of lichens and mushrooms.
At present, this material and parts cultivation area can produce most alloys, non-metallic materials, biological materials, and parts with less complex structures if there are sufficient raw materials.
The production volume is about 1,200 to 1,500 tons per month.
For example, firearms, small hardware, glass products, generators, purely mechanical equipment, crystal sponges, and rubber products in the base can all be produced here.
It is precisely because of this highly self-sustaining model that Tianzhu did not realize that such a powerful force was hidden in such a remote mountain village.
After all, there is no need to import a large amount of equipment and equipment from the outside, which is the biggest advantage.
Even inside the base, a small number of precision parts and biological computers are supplied through Hongsawady, and a mini chemical factory has been established that can produce more than two hundred tons of TNT or other chemicals every month.
After inspecting the parts production area and the chemical production area, Sirka and Fan Yunfeng went to another core area.
The other core area is a "farm" built deep underground in a mountain.
As a highly self-sustaining base, food supply must be self-sufficient.
Although new humans can install external auxiliary digestive sacs, and then directly feed the auxiliary digestive sacs with grass, trees, poisonous insects, carrion, cow dung, etc., and then obtain energy and nutrients from them, thereby maintaining the normal life needs of the human body.
Even in more extreme environments, "plant exogenous armor" and "hibernation vitamin capsule" can also be used.
Plant exoskeleton is actually a variant of exoskeleton armor. Its function is more focused on survival in the wilderness and doomsday survival. It can directly perform photosynthesis and absorb nutrients from soil, air and water through genetic recombination of plant cells on the surface.
Thereby maintaining the life of the user.
The hibernation life-sustaining capsule is used in special environments, such as being surrounded by deserts, polar ice sheets, and areas heavily polluted by chemicals, and it is difficult for the body to support itself in escaping from these places. This capsule is used to wrap the body and enter a kind of environment.
Suspended sleep state.
At present, the hibernation life capsule can maintain dormancy for up to 120 days. Some new humans who perform special tasks need to use this kind of thing.
The base where Serka is located is equipped with auxiliary digestive sacs, plant exocysts, and hibernating vitamin sacs.
However, these devices are only considered to be used in extreme circumstances.
When you are not at the end of your rope, some normal food is still very necessary.
So "Farm" came into being.
Since it is in an underground environment, natural light basically does not need to be considered. Artificial light requires a lot of energy, and the energy efficiency of photosynthesis of plants is actually not high.
Genetically recombinant organisms such as luminous lichens are not suitable as light sources for underground farms.
After many studies and experiments, Li Qingye finally found a technology that does not require sunlight, but allows plants to grow quickly, and increases the rate of organic matter production in plants by more than ten times.
The specific principle is to use a composite electrocatalytic system to convert carbon dioxide and water into acetate, and then the plant body can directly absorb the acetate, thereby bypassing the photosynthesis stage.
At present, this technology has been successfully applied to some genetically recombinant plants.
And this technology is also the core of underground farms.
In this way, a large number of planting rooms have been built in the farms in the base, which can produce cucumbers, tomatoes, soybeans, sweet potatoes, potatoes, corn, eggplants, pumpkins, winter melons, peppers, green peppers, strawberries, watermelons, and sugar cane.
Seka picked a small cucumber, wiped it casually, and started to nibble on it: "Can farm production completely replace surface farmland now?"
"If we only maintain the current population, there will be no problem." Fan Yunfeng replied.
Serka frowned. The current population of the base is 793 people.
But this is only for now. As the plan unfolds, the population of this base will definitely skyrocket.
He continued: "How many people can the maximum capacity supply?"
"3,000 people is basically the sustainable limit."
"Is there any way to expand it?"
Fan Yunfeng thought for a while: "We actually have no shortage of underground space. After all, we can arrange more floors. The key issue now is the power supply."
"Electricity..." Seka also felt very troubled when she heard this question.
The electricity currently used by the base is actually a dozen small gas turbine generator sets with a total power of 1,400 kilowatts.
Its fuel source is the methane fermentation tank, which relies on human and animal excrement on the one hand, and plant raw materials collected on the other hand, such as straw and dead branches and leaves.
The power generation power of 1,400 kilowatts is already the limit of this base.
Even with gas turbines and generators, there is not enough biomass to produce methane.
After thinking for a while, Sirka asked: "Can shale oil and shale gas underground be developed?"
"Haha... It's a pity that there is not much oil-bearing shale in the rock formations near Shillong." Fan Yunfeng spread his hands.
The energy problem at the Shillong base left Sirkar scratching his head.
There is only a population of more than 700 people now, so there is no big problem. Once the population increases, the demand for energy will definitely skyrocket.
The problem is that according to the headquarters' estimates, the Tianzhu people will not give up on the Assamese states, and this place will definitely become a millstone of flesh and blood.
Thermal power plants, solar farms, wind farms, hydropower stations, etc. that are too obvious on the ground will definitely become targets.
Even if it is built, it is just a target.
Therefore, we must find a way to solve the energy problem of the base. Only by solving the energy problem can the maximum population capacity here be increased.
Although Serka considers himself a new human being that transcends race.
But ordinary people are innocent after all. If he can save more ordinary people, he is still willing to give it a try.
Suddenly, he had a flash of inspiration, opened the tablet he carried with him, and called up the three-dimensional terrain map of the surrounding area. He soon found what he wanted.
"Old Fan, do you think this will work?" He pointed to a nearby valley with a drop of more than 80 meters: "We can use artificial debris flow technology to artificially block this valley and form a barrier lake."
"Barrier lake?" Fan Yunfeng looked at the three-dimensional terrain map: "You plan to build a hydropower station? But this is too obvious."
"No! We can use rapid excavation technology to create an artificial underground river, and then install the hydropower station inside the mountain." Serka said while drawing a line hidden in the mountain between the two drops.
Underground river.
Fan Yunfeng recalculated and found that this plan is indeed feasible. With the flow of this river, it can probably drive a hydraulic turbine with an installed capacity of 10 to 20 megawatts.
This power generation capacity is almost 10 times that of the base.
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References for acetate replacement photosynthesis: Elizabeth C. Hann, Sean Overa, An inorganic-biological hybrid artificial photosynthesis system for efficient food production. [J]. Natural Food. 2022(23