In the Sea of Tranquility of the Moon, in the lunar mining base of the Galaxy Group, the astronauts gathered together and enjoyed a delicious dinner on the moon.
Of course, outside the mining base, the sun was high in the sky, and there was no hint of night at all.
Outside the window, the figure of the earth is clearly visible, like a sapphire embedded in the dark void. The side facing the moon is darkness, and China has just entered the darkness.
According to the plan and schedule, it was time for them to rest.
Although they are on the moon, they are not alone. The moon also has a communication and positioning system that covers the entire moon. They can call, surf the Internet, chat, etc. with their family members on the earth.
Wu Renjie was about to make a call to his family, because he had already bought an astronomical telescope for his daughter, which would allow him to make phone calls across the long distance between the earth and the moon.
"Buzz~"
Wu Renjie took out the satellite phone specially equipped by Galaxy Technology Group and dialed his home phone.
"Dad~"
After waiting for several minutes, the phone was connected, and Wu Renjie's daughter's voice came from the phone.
"Baby, do you miss daddy?"
"Yes~ I really want to, Dad, is it fun on the moon?"
"Is there Fairy Chang'e? Have you seen the little white rabbit?"
Wu Renjie's daughter was like a curious baby. Questions kept popping up one after another, leaving Wu Renjie with no time to answer.
"Didn't Dad tell you that there is no Fairy Chang'e or little white rabbit on the moon?"
Wu Renjie couldn't help but smile and said very patiently.
"But why did the teacher say there is a little white rabbit on the moon? I also want to ask dad to bring one back for me."
"That's because the teacher didn't come to the moon, so she doesn't know. Dad is on the moon now, and he can't find the little white rabbit no matter how hard he looks for it."
"Is that so? When I grow up, I will come to the moon to find the little white rabbit."
"Then baby, you have to grow up quickly~"
"Have you ever looked at the moon through a telescope?"
"Yes, have you found the location of dad?"
"No~ Mom said she is trying to find dad and will tell me when she finds him~"
"..."
Wu Renjie chatted non-stop with his little lover, and the other teammates were also busy posting on Moments or video chatting with family and friends. Some even did a live broadcast for a while, although the delay was a bit severe.
But it still attracted a large number of fans.
Early the next morning, the biological alarm clock that he had cultivated for a long time automatically woke Wu Renjie up. Looking at the time, it was only 6 o'clock, which was still very early.
When I got up and opened the window, I saw that nothing had changed.
The sun is still in the same position, the earth is still the same, and there seems to be no change at all. On the moon, if there is no time calculation, it is difficult for you to detect the flow of time.
Because everything seems to be eternal, there is no change in the weather, no rising of the sun, moon and stars, and there is no distinction between spring, summer, autumn and winter throughout the year.
It is like this today, it will still be like this tomorrow, it will still be like this even ten thousand years ago, millions of years ago, and it will remain the same forever.
Soon, the teammates all woke up from their sleep. None of them felt sleepy last night and they all played very late.
Of course, it's not just that they played late, but that their relatives and friends on this side of the earth were like curious babies, asking all kinds of questions endlessly.
As a result, everyone slept very late last night. Fortunately, Galaxy Technology Group does not have any special strict restrictions. If you go to bed later, you can go to bed later, as long as it does not affect your work.
At 7 o'clock Earth Chinese time, after breakfast, everyone started to get busy again, and there were still many things to be busy with.
The expansion of the lunar mining base, the installation of solar cells, the construction of a lunar laboratory, etc. There are many things to do, and the day is full.
On Wu Renjie's side, he drove a lunar mining vehicle and began to explore resources in the area around the base, collecting rocks, soil samples, etc.
Although scientists have already conducted preliminary exploration of resources on the moon through resource exploration satellites, resource exploration satellites are in space after all, and there are limitations in utilization technology.
The best way to explore this resource is to go out in person, collect a large number of samples, and send these samples to the laboratory for testing, so that we can accurately grasp them.
"Didi~"
Wu Renjie driving a lunar mining vehicle on the desolate moon showed that the resource exploration equipment on the vehicle kept making beeping sounds.
The surrounding area is very rich in resources and there are many kinds of mineral deposits. If it can be selected by the Galaxy Mining Group, there will naturally be no shortage of resources here.
The mining rover is driving on the lunar surface. When something is discovered, Wu Renjie will control the lunar rover to collect soil and rocks on the lunar surface every 100 meters or so, and then drill holes to collect underground rocks and soil samples.
Using points as surfaces, scientists can clearly know the distribution of resources in the surrounding area by analyzing samples at different points and different depths.
This work is very simple, but very tedious. Fortunately, there are lunar mining vehicles for all of this, otherwise it would take a long time to explore the surrounding resources.
Earth, the ground control command center is here.
On a huge map, various points are displayed on it. Each point represents a mineral resource. The larger the point, the richer the resource reserves it represents.
Surrounding the location of the lunar mining base, there are densely packed dots, many of which overlap. The most numerous of them are white dots representing rare earth minerals.
"To the northeast of our base, the distribution of rare earths in this area is very dense. According to the current data, the content of rare earths is extremely amazing. And looking at this data, the reserves should exceed 30 million tons. It can be said that every square of soil here,
Every rock contains extremely rich rare earth resources."
Several scientists continued to analyze the existing data and soon roughly determined an area.
Rare earth ore is the most important resource mined by Galaxy Mining Group on the moon, because rare earth ore contains a large amount of rare metals. Through in-depth smelting of rare earth ore, various rare metals can be obtained, and rare metals are
What Galaxy Technology Group lacks the most right now.
"I remember that the total amount of rare earth resources that have been clearly explored on our planet is only about 130 million tons, right? The reserves of this rare earth mine will be 30 million tons?"
I don’t know when Qin Yi and Lu Qingwei came over. After hearing the analysis of several scientists, Lu Qingwei asked with some disbelief.
Although the resources on the moon are extremely rich, and Lu Qingwei has heard about it many times, it is really unbelievable that this random rare earth mine has reserves of more than 30 million.
"This is just our preliminary estimate based on the current exploration situation. The specific situation can only be determined by analyzing the samples collected from the moon."
"These rare earth resources are very precious and scarce on our earth, but this does not mean that they are also very scarce on the moon."
"It's like gold. The reserves on the earth are extremely rare and limited. But in the universe, there may be a planet made entirely of gold. Everything is possible."
"This is just like on earth, in the desert, water resources are extremely scarce, but in some places, precipitation is abundant all year round and water resources are extremely abundant. Do people living in the desert think that the whole world is the same as them?
"
"Putting it into the universe, this principle is the same."
After hearing Lu Qingwei's words, someone smiled and explained.
"That's it~"
Lu Qingwei nodded in understanding, which made Qin Yi on the side couldn't help but laugh.
In the Science and Technology Tower, Qin Yi has seen too many such cases. There is a very classic saying about trade in the interstellar universe, his poisonous weeds, my fairy grasses.
A thing may be very common on this planet, but on other planets it is worth gold. Just like before the age of sea navigation on earth, spices were just common weeds on the islands of Southeast Asia, but
When it arrived in Europe, it became a spice that countless nobles competed for. This is the reason.
"It seems that our first pot of gold on the moon will be dug out in this area."
Qin Yi looked at the data on the monitor, smiled and said.
Here in the Sea of Tranquility of the Moon, the astronauts have completed various tasks, but there is still a big thing waiting for them to do next.
The 'Lushan' spacecraft is about to return, and it will go back and forth between the earth and the moon every day, transporting massive supplies from the earth to the moon, setting up smelting plants, testing laboratories, etc.
This spaceship goes to the moon, even if you just calculate the electricity bill, depreciation of the spacecraft, etc., it will cost several million for a trip.
It's packed here, so it's impossible to go back empty.
Near the mining base, an area rich in rare earth resources has been explored, and there is a lively scene. The three lunar mining vehicles are very busy.
The huge digging shovel loaded shovelfuls of lunar soil, rocks, etc. into standard boxes. After each box was loaded, the box was immediately transported to the Lushan spacecraft.
The working efficiency of the lunar mining vehicles is very high. Soon, a small hill was hollowed out by three lunar mining vehicles, all of which were packed into boxes and transported to the Lushan spacecraft.
These soils, rocks, etc., which are rich in rare earth minerals, will be transported back to the earth, and the rare earth minerals will be smelted here on the earth.
ps: Does anyone know how to extract rare earth minerals from soil and rocks?