The work continued, and the three people had a clear division of labor. More than an hour later, seven trucks of ice ore and about ten cubic meters of water ice had been delivered to the base.
Ye Han stopped working when he still had half an hour of air left, and returned to the base with the lunar rover. At this time, it was four hours before breakfast and it was already lunch time.
The three people returned to the living cabin, took off their spacesuits, washed briefly and prepared to eat.
As soon as Ye Han entered the restaurant, he saw half of the group and couldn't help but curiously asked: "Why are only half of them back?"
Fang Xu tugged at the corner of his mouth helplessly: "People are resting and the equipment is not resting. Lao Gao and the others are still on the construction site. We will go over and replace them after they finish eating."
Ye Han sat next to Fang Xu and asked with concern: "Do they have enough air?"
"We brought gas tanks. Once we are familiar with the situation, we will have to break it down. Four groups of people will circulate throughout the day and work non-stop 24 hours a day."
Ye Han breathed in hissingly: "This is really" There is no need to say anything. Everyone understands the importance of the moon base. If it can be put into use one day in advance, a huge amount of money and resources can be saved.
Every person sent to the moon by the country has undergone the strictest political review. How can continuous construction be difficult? Not to mention four shifts a day, even if there is one shift every 24 hours, there will be no problem.
Perhaps a four-hour shift may not seem difficult on the ground, and you may even think that such an arrangement is easy, but on the moon, a four-hour shift is not that simple.
The air carried by the spacesuit can be used for up to five hours, and the four-hour flight is an arrangement that is very consistent with the actual situation.
In addition, the problem of excretion is a big trouble. Although this topic is not elegant, it is a real issue and an important issue that no one can ignore.
The spacesuit can absorb urine, but cannot handle large sizes, so it is stipulated that everyone must clear the inventory before leaving the living cabin to avoid the need for large sizes during extravehicular activities. People with diarrhea are excluded from the mission and cannot work half way through.
Son, why don't you hurry back to the living cabin to use the toilet?
If the shift is four hours, the trumpet can try to wait until after the shift to return to the living cabin to solve the problem.
In addition, it is not easy to wear a space suit for construction. Although the gravity on the moon is low, the total weight of the astronaut wearing the space suit is almost the same as the weight on the ground, but this equipment requires a lot of extra physical strength, even if
Just operating mechanical equipment is not as easy as imagined.
Fang Xu also sighed: "How are you doing there?"
"It's not bad." Ye Han said, "The ice here is quite complicated."
Yuan Yu walked into the restaurant carrying a plate, and everyone immediately greeted him and put lunch on the table in a hurry.
The lunch meal is very simple, including rice, fish-flavored eggplant and twice-cooked pork. It is still a fixed-person meal.
Everyone finished lunch in silence. After Fang Xu and others finished eating, they immediately returned to the construction site to replace their companions. Ye Han hesitated for a moment and also asked Xu and Xu to leave the living cabin.
The water treatment cabin is located between the living cabin and the vegetable garden. The ice cubes returned in the morning are piled outside the treatment cabin. The square ones are neatly stacked on one side, and the irregular ones are piled directly on top of each other.
Opening the shell of the water treatment equipment, revealing about half a cubic space inside, Ye Han gritted his teeth and took a look. He found that most of the first batch of ice cubes sent back were too large and could not be put in. He simply gave up all the low-quality ice ore and directly
Put ice cubes with few impurities into the container, and then close the lid tightly.
After getting ready, Ye Han started the melting function.
This thing is essentially a large microwave oven, a device specially used to melt ice. The inconspicuous lid is actually an airtight door, which can ensure the pressure inside the container.
As the microwave heats, the ice cubes in the container gradually melt. Since there is no air pressure in the container, the newly melted water immediately enters a boiling state. The water vapor quickly increases the air pressure in the container, causing the newly melted water to no longer boil.
After a while, all the ice melted. When the ice melting process ended automatically, the filtering equipment started and the water in the container drained away quickly, leaving only a layer of sediment at the bottom.
After water enters the equipment, it must go through several filtration procedures, and the water quality must be strictly tested. Not only must the composition be tested to prevent residual radioactive substances and other harmful substances, but the volume and quality must also be tested to ensure that the collected water does not contain heavy water.
Don't doubt it, it's just testing the heavy water content.
The only difference between heavy water and light water is that there is one more neutron in the hydrogen atom of heavy water. The chemical properties of the two are exactly the same, but the physical properties are slightly different. It is said that there will be no abnormalities when heavy water enters the human body, and there is no need to be as deliberate as facing a powerful enemy.
Detection.
But the situation in this world is so weird. Heavy water, which is completely non-toxic, actually accumulates in the body after entering it!
The extra neutrons in heavy water are not noticeable, but they double the weight of hydrogen atoms, strengthen various chemical bonds, and slow down chemical reactions.
In other words, after light water enters the human body, it will be excreted normally, but heavy water will stay in the body. If a large amount of heavy water accumulates in the body, the heavy water will interfere with the body's metabolism and reduce the speed of metabolism, which will require rapid division of cell tissues.
An exception will appear that should not be present.
Even the rampant cancer cells will slow down their spread due to the accumulation of heavy water, but the degree of slowdown is limited and cannot be used to treat cancer.
The content of heavy water in the earth's water is about 0.02, which will not affect the life of the earth. However, the source of the water ice on the moon is a mystery. No one knows how much heavy water is contained in the ice. It may even be composed entirely of heavy water, so it must be strictly tested.
Eliminate any possible hidden dangers.
It may be unfounded to worry about on the earth, but it may directly threaten the health of astronauts on the moon.
The test results shocked Ye Han and others. The heavy water content in the ice mine was actually more than 30 times that of earth's water!
Although 06 should have no impact on humans, and heavy water can be separated through water treatment equipment, the impact in other aspects is greater.
This moderator and coolant for nuclear reactors is also an important raw material for the production of nuclear weapons!
After the asteroid impact, nuclear weapons in various countries around the world were depleted, and nuclear raw materials in reserve were running low. The demand for nuclear raw materials was incredible. Even if the separated heavy water was sent directly to the earth by spacecraft, it would be a waste of time.
A deal that couldn't be more cost-effective.
However, the cost of launching a spacecraft from the earth is too high. As long as the moon must have certain manufacturing capabilities, a spacecraft with a very simple structure can be used to transport raw materials to the earth.
If you think about it further, the moon has no atmosphere. The lunar base can drill a deep enough hole in the ground and lay out a long enough electromagnetic track to launch spacecraft.
A blessing in disguise is a blessing in disguise. People have come up with solutions.