Facing the east, I drove the Hongqi space vehicle for about five or six kilometers before arriving at the Huangtie No. 1 Mine. At this moment, the ground here was no different from other places, everything was covered with a thick layer of
Covered by dark red tholin. There was no other way, Zhao Changxing could only find a way to remove the tholin before further mining could begin.
Still using the electric heating cleaning method, in just half an hour, Zhao Changxing had already cleared an open space of about tens of square meters.
What is exposed on the surface now is not the yellow pyrite, but the same black and gray impurities as the rest. These things also need to be removed.
After cleaning up a thick layer of about ten centimeters, the yellow pyrite was finally exposed.
Zhao Changxing returned to the Hongqi space vehicle, first used a punch to punch holes in the ground, and then used a crusher - which uses the process of thermal expansion and contraction rather than direct violent crushing - and worked for a while. The largest piece was more than one meter long.
Iron ore with a diameter as short as the size of a human head was mined.
The next step is to crush the iron ore that is too large. They are too big to even enter the door of Base No. 1. Besides, they are too big for the next step of smelting.
It wasn't until the truck bucket was filled, with the total mass estimated to be about fifteen tons, that Zhao Changxing ended today's mining work and drove the space vehicle to Base No. 1.
If these fifteen tons of iron ore are refined into steel, it is estimated to be about five tons. The quality is pretty good.
After using manpower to transport it to the industrial zone, Zhao Changxing did not start smelting immediately.
The steel required to make a blast furnace obviously requires special steel, which requires adding various trace elements to the molten iron, such as titanium, manganese, aluminum, zinc, etc. These things also need to be mined.
.However, compared to iron ore, their usage is much less.
It took another busy day to collect all the required trace elements.
Under the operation of Zhao Changxing, the small multifunctional electric furnace first began to purify and refine trace elements. This process is nothing more than relying on chemical reactions between different substances to achieve the purpose of removing impurities in the ore.
The principle is not complicated, and the equipment here in the industrial area can completely do it, but at this scale, if engineers from the Earth Age saw it, they would probably shed tears.
When the furnace was opened for the first time, Zhao Changxing refined a piece of about ten kilograms of ore and produced three kilograms of higher-purity zinc, which was no bigger than a brick.
The second time the furnace was opened, 2.6 kilograms of minerals were produced, which was a little larger than a fist.
And this had already taken a whole day, and Zhao Changxing was so tired that he was sweating profusely.
After five days of busy work, Zhao Changxing prepared all the auxiliary materials needed for steelmaking. Finally, it was time to start steelmaking. Zhao Changxing controlled his excitement and smashed the pile into pieces, which were about the size of a bucket.
The iron ore was placed in the electric furnace, and after a lot of work, about 20 kilograms of special steel powder were produced.
Yes, what is produced is steel powder instead of steel plates. The reason for this is because Zhao Changxing does not have any metal processing and casting abilities at the moment. It is impossible for him to make the steel take on various shapes according to his own ideas.
, into various parts.
The only way is to "print" it through 3D printing. But for this, the steel can only be turned into steel powder first.
It took Zhao Changxing about two months to completely refine the 15 tons of iron ore mined for the first time into 5 tons of steel powder that met the demand. This was because he became familiar with the subsequent operations and the speed was greatly accelerated.
Then there was the second mining and the third mining. It took almost a full year of busy work to prepare all the metal materials needed to build the first blast furnace.
After that, Zhao Changxing had to be busy in the chemistry and chemical engineering laboratories.
To build a blast furnace, only metal materials are obviously not enough. Other materials such as cables, heat insulation, and insulation are also needed. The most important of these is rubber.
It is obvious that there are no rubber trees on Sedna, and it is impossible to produce natural rubber. But fortunately, people in the earth age have developed a complete synthetic route for artificial rubber. In the laboratory, Zhao Changxing can use various chemicals to
React to produce it yourself.
It took several more months to prepare for this. A year and a half after the completion of Base No. 1, Zhao Changxing finally prepared all the materials, put them all into the 3D printer, and called them out from the database.
The drawings of the blast furnace were input and printing started.
There is nothing to say about this process, it is one-piece molding and fully automated. So three days later, Zhao Changxing got the first one that could be used on a large scale - the maximum daily output is estimated to be as high as 2 tons, far exceeding the output of the existing electric furnace -
of blast furnace.
As a result, the demand for various ores immediately began to rise. Zhao Changxing had to work hard. Every few days, he had to take a special day to mine minerals in places such as the No. 1 Pyrite Vein, the No. 1 Manganese Mine, and the No. 1 Rare Earth Mine.
, and then pulled them back to Base No. 1.
Although 3D printing is powerful, its efficiency is still too low. Zhao Changxing must have his own metal processing capabilities, such as cutting, casting, stamping, etc. Only in this way can he produce parts of various types and specifications on a large scale.
The various metals he is smelting now are preparing for the manufacture of the first lathe.
The Pyrotechnic spacecraft is equipped with industrial-grade chips and CNC modules. This thing is small in size and light in weight, but has high technical content. It is impossible to build the No. 1 Base in the short term. So it is obvious that the original Pyrogen
The plan executors must have a large stockpile of these things in the Spark spacecraft.
Therefore, this first machine tool will be a very high-tech CNC machine tool. It can produce a variety of precision parts under Xiaoxi's direct control.
The construction of the machine tool took another half a year. As a result, at this moment, Zhao Changxing finally had the ability to smelt and process metal, and his production efficiency was greatly improved.
But this is not enough. One machine tool obviously cannot meet all needs, and some other metal processing machinery must be manufactured later.
In Zhao Changxing's busy day after day, more than four years passed in the blink of an eye. Before he knew it, the 30 children of the second generation had also arrived at school. Zhao Changxing took time out to return to the Spark spacecraft.
, gave them their first lesson, and engraved the two terms "Earth" and "Humanity" in their minds.
As the second generation of children grow up, the pressure of the first generation of children is greatly reduced. But this does not mean that their overall pressure will be reduced. Now they are almost 18 years old, almost adults. And once they become adults
, we will move to Base No. 1 and officially start work.
This day came soon. In the classroom, Zhao Changxing was filled with emotion when facing ten young men and women whose faces were still a little immature but who were already full of heroic spirit.
At first, each of them was just that big. They ate, slept, ate, and cried all day long. As a result, they have grown to this big now.
Zhao Changxing still clearly remembers the scene of them gathering around and calling him daddy to this moment.
"You have all grown up... Today is the day when you become adults. After you become adults, you will truly take on your responsibilities, fight for and contribute to the continuation of our human civilization."
The expressions of the young men and women are slightly nervous. The future is full of confusion for them. After all, they have spent their entire lives up to now in the Spark spacecraft and have never really had contact with the outside world.
But seeing that calm and determined figure on the podium, my heart gradually calmed down.
"Let's go, I'll take you to Base No. 1 to have a look."
He led the teenagers to put on spacesuits, ride on the Falcon 1 spacecraft, and came to Base No. 1 again.
Base No. 1 is already very familiar to Zhao Changxing, but it is full of novelty for the teenagers.
For the first time, they saw the endless land, the undulating mountains, and Base No. 1 lying on the earth like a giant beast.
They saw the golden ears of wheat, the tall and straight corn, the soybeans, the rice, the chickens, ducks and geese, the pigs, cattle and sheep, and the numerous food reserves in the storage area, and for the first time they understood
When it comes to how the food you eat is produced...
This brought great shock to the young people.
Zhao Changxing finally brought them to the living area.
"You will spend most of your time here in the future."
Looking at the expressions on the children's faces, Zhao Changxing breathed a sigh of relief.
"Fortunately, it seems that they quite like it here."
After settling down, Zhao Changxing quickly divided the work.
Two of them will stay in the Spark spacecraft and be responsible for taking care of the children, as well as other tasks, such as repairing the spacecraft and providing data support for people on the ground.
The other two are specifically responsible for mining and transportation work. The other two need to assist Zhao Changxing in the current stage of preliminary industrialization, and the other two are specifically responsible for chemistry and chemical engineering work.
The last two remaining people do not have fixed jobs and will provide support to the rest of the team as needed.
Of course, these tasks are not static. Every month, these tasks will be rotated. And as time goes by, as the No. 1 base becomes more and more perfect, adjustments may be made at any time.
With the addition of this new force, Zhao Changxing's advancement of industrialization has been greatly accelerated. At the same time, just when the children had just grown up, Zhao Changxing received an urgent message reported by Xiao Xi.
"Captain, I just received a special signal. This signal has very similar characteristics to the one six years ago..."