Duan and Xu immediately came up with tools, and the three of them worked together to dig out the one-meter-long block of ice from the ice and carefully placed it on the lunar rover.
Such a large piece of ice would weigh at least three hundred kilograms on earth, but here it only weighs fifty or sixty kilograms, which is the weight of a weak girl. Let alone three people working together, even if it is carried by two people
It's not strenuous either. The reason for being so cautious is that I'm afraid the sharp edges of the ice will damage the spacesuit.
The sharp edges of an ice cube with a hardness of 6 are no worse than a real blade. It is no problem to cut the ice cube with a blade and use it as a knife.
The space suit is composed of multiple layers of materials. The outermost protective layer has a certain degree of scratch resistance, but scratch resistance is not puncture resistance, so you must be careful when paying attention.
In order to protect the safety of astronauts, all equipment shipped to the moon has very rounded edges and corners, minimizing the daily wear and tear of the spacesuits.
With the successful experience, the next work became much easier. Ye Han quickly cut out more than a dozen pieces of ice ore, with a total volume of about one cubic meter.
But this is only the volume of ice ore. In addition to removing impurities, there are many holes in the ice body. Ye Han believes that the holes in the ice body are left behind when the ice lake condenses. It may be the water vapor generated by the boiling ice lake. In the near future,
A large number of bubbles popped up in the condensed water.
However, the gas in the bubbles cannot be preserved until now, because after the ice layer condenses, the temperature of the glacier lake drops lower and lower, and the water vapor in the bubbles will only re-solidify due to the severe cold, and cannot always remain in a gas state.
If all the impurities and cavities in the ice ore were to be removed, about one-third of the total volume would have to be removed!
This is still mining rich ore. If we encounter poor ore, after the ice ore mined melts, it is hard to say whether the water obtained will be enough to cover the electricity bill.
The space on the lunar rover was limited, so Ye Han simply asked his two companions to send the first cart of ice ore back first, while he stayed behind to continue mining.
However, with the distance of several hundred meters, there was no chance of an accident. The two people drove the lunar rover away, leaving Ye Han alone on the ice lake.
Since arriving on the moon, Ye Han has been alone for the first time, and everything around him suddenly became quiet. The loneliness on the moon is hard to describe, it is the kind of deathly silence without any sound, the breathing is like thunder, and the heartbeat is like beating a drum.
, even the sound of blood flowing is like a rushing river.
Then he seemed to have auditory hallucinations. First he heard the sound of the ice breaking, then the sound of the breeze blowing. The most bizarre thing was that he actually heard Bai Xiaoting's vague murmurs.
Auditory hallucinations were not a good experience, so Ye Han decided to find something to do for herself and started the cutting machine to continue mining ice. As a result, she heard the hissing sound of the laser cutting ice cubes again.
This time it wasn't an auditory hallucination.
Although the moon has no atmosphere and lacks a medium for sound transmission, sound can be transmitted into the spacesuit through the glacial lake at Ye Han's feet and the cutting machine in his hand. However, the sound of cutting is too weak and cannot be heard even if he wants to hear it.
In this extremely quiet situation, only extremely sensitive ears can pick up some clues.
People are social creatures. Even though Ye Han's nerves are much tougher than ordinary people, facing such an extreme environment alone, he can't help but feel a little uneasy in his heart. Even though he knows that there is no one around, he still can't help but look around.
After laughing at himself for being suspicious, Ye Han activated the playback function and played some music for herself to break the silent atmosphere.
However, even though he had turned the volume down to the lowest level, the sound of music that penetrated his eardrums was still like a continuous muffled thunder, which made him want to cover his ears. After a few seconds, his eardrums adapted to normal intensity sounds, breathing, and heartbeat again.
Leave him alone, no matter what.
Everything returned to normal, and Ye Han continued his work. With his previous experience, he was now able to operate the cutting machine easily. The ice cubes he cut out were no longer nondescript triangular prisms, but nearly cubes. He did not forget to
Punch two holes in the ice to serve as grips.
Such a size does not require three people to handle it, but only one person can easily carry it. Every time he cuts a piece of ice ore, Ye Han can throw it aside with one hand. It has a suitable shape and can also be used when unloading the truck.
Ice cubes coded together.
As a soldier, uniformity has been buried in Ye Han's bones. What's the matter with a triangular pillar without edges and corners?
He cut out another piece of ice ore. Ye Han held it in his hand and observed it carefully. He found that the upper layer of the ice cube had the most impurities, while the lower layer contained relatively few impurities. This phenomenon immediately aroused his interest. He immediately threw the ice cube aside and continued to move towards it.
Cut it down, take out the ice cube from a position more than a foot below the ice surface, and continue to observe.
The newly taken out ice is obviously more transparent than the surface ice layer. When the light of the headlight shines on the ice, the impurities in the ice are like a fog. You can barely see two fist-sized holes in the ice.
Throwing the ice cube aside casually, Ye Han continued to cut downwards. When it was cut to a depth of more than one meter, the transparency of the ice cube was greatly improved, and the impurities in the ice were significantly reduced.
Ye Han couldn't help but get excited and continued to cut downwards.
The temporary base only requires water, not impurities in the water. The ice ore must be processed after it is sent back. The fewer impurities in the ice, the easier it is to process, and it can also reduce the wear and tear of water treatment equipment.
So Ye Han dug deeper and deeper, and within a short while, he cut an ice pit three meters square and as deep as one person in the ice lake. Ice cubes thrown out of the pit were everywhere.
When Duan Zhiyang and Xu Hua returned to the ice lake, they only saw a mess of ice outside the pit, but they could not find where Ye Han's space was.
Ye Han happened to throw out an ice cube about a foot long, hitting the ice pile and startling the two people.
Duan Zhiyang shouted on the radio: "Yi Zi, what are you doing?"
Ye Han jumped out of the pit: "I don't want the ones on the left, and put all the ones on the right on the truck!"
"Hey, the two sides are still different?"
"The quality of the bottom layer is better." Ye Han said, "I plan to continue digging underneath."
Duan Zhiyang joked: "Lao Gao is digging a wall over there, and you are digging a hole here. Are you planning to compete with a group of others and dig out an underground base first?"
"Do I still need to send ice cubes outside when digging the base? Wouldn't it be faster to melt it directly at the bottom? Stop talking nonsense and load the truck quickly. I still have two hours of air. Let's transport a few more trucks back and see if we can use it.
A few days." Ye Han said.
The temporary base currently uses recycled water. Although the treated recycled water does not have any odor, every cup of water is a collection of everyone's urine. Every time he thinks about this, Ye Han will feel disgusted from the bottom of his heart.
