Zhao Changxing is not an expert in organic chemistry, but as an outstanding astronaut responsible for reviving human civilization, he also received relevant training when he was on earth. It is definitely not possible to do cutting-edge research, but he is an expert in digestion and absorption.
It is still possible to make some elementary changes that can be flexibly adapted to different practical situations based on their theoretical ideas.
Reactors, catalysts, fume hoods, biological enzymes, energy modules and other things were all finally created by him with the help of things already on the spacecraft. Everything was ready, and he immediately started trying.
The first attempt failed. During the process of synthesizing methanol from hydrogen and carbon dioxide, too much formaldehyde and other impurities were accidentally generated due to operational errors, which lost their use value and had to be thrown away.
This attempt took about three hours.
The second attempt took four hours and still failed. The temperature was not well controlled during the reaction. As a result, all the synthesized organic matter was carbonized under the lack of oxygen. It is easy to use it to keep warm, but forget about eating it.
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This was the critical moment for synthesizing starch, a type of carbohydrate or sugar. He had temporarily stopped the construction mission on Sedna and devoted all his attention to it.
"Xiao Xi, report the pressure and temperature data."
"Okay Captain, the temperature is..."
"Elemental proportions?"
"normal."
…
With Zhao Changxing's full attention, more than five hours have passed. The synthesis experiment has ended. If nothing goes wrong, this synthesis should be able to produce about 50 grams of starch and other by-products.
He carefully opened the reaction kettle and looked at the thin layer of white powder scattered all over the tray. Zhao Changxing's heartbeat immediately accelerated. He carefully collected it and stared at it carefully.
This white powder seemed to exude an alluring aroma, causing Zhao Changxing's mouth to secrete saliva unconsciously, and his stomach growled crazily.
He suppressed his hunger and ordered: "Xiao Xi, take it for testing and identify its ingredients."
This thing is undoubtedly starch, but the key question is how many impurities are mixed in it and what are the ingredients of the impurities. If you accidentally eat some formaldehyde or methanol, and you are poisoned to death or your eyes are blinded by poison, then
The joke is on.
Carrying the mission of reviving human civilization, Zhao Changxing cherishes his body very much.
"OK."
Xiao Xili agreed quickly, and immediately controlled various equipment and began to test it.
The results came out quickly.
"Congratulations, Captain, these starches are very pure and have very few impurities. You can eat them."
"That's good."
Zhao Changxing immediately became happy. He rushed into the kitchen, lit a fire and boiled water. When the water boiled, he used cold water to make a paste of 50 grams of precious starch. After the water boiled, he poured it into the boiling water and slowly stirred evenly.
After a while, a bowl of thick paste came out of the pot.
Sprinkle salt, pour a little soy sauce and sesame oil, pick up the spoon, and devour them hungrily before it cools down completely.
The satisfaction of having his stomach filled emerged, and Zhao Changxing felt that his whole body was full of strength again.
The feeling of eating nutrient solution is completely different from eating starch.
"Now it seems that it is completely possible to solve the food gap by artificially synthesizing starch. However, the efficiency is too low now. Even if we work 24 hours a day, we can only synthesize about half a catty, which is completely insufficient in terms of calories. We need to continue to improve.
Either expand the scale or improve the conversion ratio.”
He recalled the data from these experiments, made some explorations and improvements, and finally stabilized the daily output of a single reactor at 350 grams. In order to improve it, he took the time to assemble a reactor. In this way,
The daily output is 700 grams of starch.
700 grams of starch can provide the human body with about 2,500 calories. For Zhao Changxing, who must perform heavy physical and mental work every day, his daily basal metabolism is almost the same, which is basically the same. Even if there is a slight gap, it is still the same.
It will not cause any damage to the body.
The only thing to worry about is the lack of trace elements and vitamins. After all, these synthetic starches are not born in nature. But it doesn’t matter, synthetic vitamin tablets can perfectly solve this problem.
The food problem was finally solved, and Zhao Changxing could finally focus his energy and time on building a soilless cultivation workshop and replenishing the spacecraft's energy reserve.
After installing the double-layer screen door for the soilless cultivation workshop, Zhao Changxing immediately started the sealing test. This task was relatively simple. He first placed a barometer in the workshop, and then directly put various gases from the gas sealing tank.
The mixed gas was released and was pressurized until it reached a pressure equivalent to two atmospheres before stopping.
After that, he left the place through the double-layer screen door, connected the power supply from the Falcon spacecraft, and turned on the electric heating equipment in the soilless cultivation workshop to ensure that the temperature in the workshop remained unchanged. After all, temperature changes may also have an impact on the environment.
Air pressure causes changes.
All he had to do after that was wait. Of course, he was not idle during this period, but once again started collecting and transporting water ice. After getting another large piece of ice, he started the next step
construction tasks.
It is obviously not feasible to have only one soilless cultivation workshop on Sedna. In the original plan, the astronauts were going to build a comprehensive base here that could accommodate two hundred people. This base would be powered by nuclear fusion.
As a source of power, the soilless cultivation workshop is used as a source of food, covering different areas such as living areas, office areas, and industrial areas. At that time, people can use the industrial equipment brought from the earth, such as simple mineral processing and refining equipment
, metal processing equipment, etc., trying to slowly advance industrialization step by step.
Even if there is missing equipment, people can rely on 3D printers to print it out directly. Anyway, the Spark spacecraft database contains drawings of all equipment in the history of human civilization, from as small as a shovel to as large as nuclear fusion reactions.
Stoves are available.
After building the most urgent soilless cultivation workshop, the next thing Zhao Changxing wants to build is the life-sustaining area. The life-sustaining area includes a nuclear fusion reactor, water circulation and purification system, air circulation and purification system, and temperature control system.
And so on, all the systems necessary for survival. It will provide power, oxygen, water, and heating support for all subsequent construction tasks, as well as the current soilless cultivation workshop.
According to the original plan, the living area was the first area to be built. After all, without it, the soilless cultivation workshop would not be able to produce. However, Zhao Changxing calculated that during the debugging process of the soilless cultivation workshop, he would take some time to
Just proceed with the construction of the living area. As long as it can provide support for the soilless cultivation workshop, the rest of the area can be postponed.
This does not require the subsistence area to be built too well, and it will not take long. What's more, in the early stages, the Falcon spacecraft can also directly provide power support for the soilless cultivation area.
After recalling the planning drawings of the entire base, with Xiao Xi's assistance, Zhao Changxing determined the construction site about 50 meters away from the soilless cultivation workshop and in the west direction.
It is still an off-the-ground construction plan supported by support columns. First use electric heating equipment to remove tholin, solid gas, dry ice and other things in this area to expose the surface, and then use electric drilling equipment to drill the support columns in.
Zhao Changxing is already very proficient in this process of fixing and laying the floor.
While building the thirteenth support column, he ended his work for the day. Thirteen hours had passed since the soilless cultivation workshop was pressurized and inflated, but the time was not enough. This test must last three days.
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During this period of time, the Falcon spacecraft will stay here to provide energy for the electric heating equipment in the soilless cultivation workshop. Zhao Changxing can only communicate with Xiao Xi and use remote control to send another backup landing spacecraft, the Falcon
Spaceship No. 2 landed and carried him away from here.
Returning to the Spark spacecraft, he first transported the building materials needed for the next day to the Falcon 2 spacecraft before he had time to rest for a while. At this moment, the two reactors had stopped working, and a total of about 500 grams of starch had been produced.
come out.
This process no longer requires Zhao Changxing's intervention. Xiao Xi has a certain level of intelligence. As long as Zhao Changxing writes the entire steps into a program, Xiao Xi can complete the subsequent work. All Zhao Changxing needs is to add raw materials, equipment maintenance, and the final harvest.
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After cooking a large bowl of thick porridge and eating it deliciously, Zhao Changxing began to think about another thing.
Today, the construction of Humanity Base No. 1 - this is the name he gave to the first human base to be born on Sedna - is on track. It is expected that in more than seventy days, the soilless cultivation workshop
The first batch of food will be produced. In about 8 months, the main buildings of Humanity Base No. 1 will be completed. In about a year, the entire base will be fully operational.
At this time, it is time to consider the issue of human reproduction.
Now is undoubtedly the time when the inheritance of human civilization is at its weakest. There is only one human being left in the entire universe. If he dies, humanity will be finished. Population development is also an urgent problem.
It’s just that he is not too confident in himself. After all, in the original plan, the task of taking care of young children and raising them was borne by several female astronauts.
But this problem cannot be circumvented after all, it must be done. No matter how difficult it is, you have to grit your teeth. What's more, Xiaoxi is still here, so she should be able to share some of the burden for herself.
So, how many people will you reproduce in the first batch?
He gritted his teeth and decided to set the number at 10 people.
Five men and five women.
In this way, excluding the more than nine months of gestation in the artificial womb, when they reach adulthood in 18 years, they will have five more people to help with the construction of the base. The remaining five will continue to raise the next generation, and they can raise approximately
50 people. Still choose half male and half female. In this cycle, plus the offspring they give birth to naturally, when they die of old age at about 90 years old, the population of human civilization will return to about 1,780 people.