Hearing Zhang Jun's question, Zhou Xiangming replied with a smile: "The previous exploration only gave us a general understanding of the basic situation of this area, and judged that this area meets our requirements for building a scientific expedition team.
But we still don’t know what is going on here, so we need to conduct a more detailed exploration and trial mining to find out the specific and detailed resource reserves of this area, which is very important for our next use of this area. "
After listening to Zhou Xiangming's introduction, both Zhang Jun and Wu Hao nodded involuntarily.
Zhang Jun then asked: "In other words, we will have to transport a larger lunar soil resource mining and extraction equipment later."
Yes, this machine is too small, and the resources it produces cannot meet our needs, so we need to send in a piece of equipment with a larger output in the future.
The results of this trial mining will be directly related to the specific performance and output of our equipment and will be helpful to our research work. If the output is too low, it may not be able to meet the operation of our lunar surface scientific research station, which will have an important impact on our subsequent related work.
Speaking of this, Zhou Xiangming paused for a moment, and then continued: "Of course, this does not mean that this lunar soil water resources mining and extraction equipment is useless. It will also follow our detection equipment to the vicinity of the research station. Conduct trial mining in other areas, or further away areas, to further explore the mineral reserves in these areas and accumulate data for the next large-scale mining."
After hearing Zhou Xiangming's introduction, Zhang Jun and several others nodded.
Wu Hao looked at the picture of the lunar soil water resources mining and extraction equipment in operation on the big screen, glanced at Zhou Xiangming and asked: "How much lunar soil can be mined in twelve hours?"
About three to four tons, the power of the entire equipment is relatively small, so the mining capacity is relatively limited. In addition, because we are on the moon, we set the power to a relatively low level to ensure that the entire device can continue to operate stably. Zhou Xiangming replied.
Wu Hao nodded when he heard this. He had learned about this project in advance and also knew that the lunar soil water resources mining and extraction equipment could mine about 0.8 tons per hour when tested on Earth. This is what it takes in twelve hours. Nine tons is almost ten tons. The mining volume that Zhou Xiangming answered was less than half, and it can be seen that they are very cautious.
So how much water do you think these three to four tons of lunar soil can extract?
After hearing Wu Hao's words, Zhou Xiangming did not answer immediately. Instead, he pondered and calculated for a moment, then raised his head and replied: "We think if it is considerable, it will probably be around one hundred to two hundred milliliters. If it is not that considerable, it will be around one hundred to two hundred milliliters." Then it may be only a few tens of milliliters, or even less.”
So few? After hearing Zhou Xiangming's answer, Zhang Jun couldn't help but ask.
Zhou Xiangming smiled when he heard this and said: "It's already quite a lot. After all, this is the surface lunar soil. You must know that the water content of the lunar soil we brought back from the samples taken from the moon is very small.
The moon has no atmosphere, so when the sun shines directly on it, its surface temperature can reach 130 degrees. Therefore, the moisture from the surface layer will continue to evaporate with the continuous high temperature and gradually lose over a long period of time.
The dimension here is relatively high, and it is near the Riffey Mountains, so some water resources will be retained on the surface. "
If it is this amount of mining, then the mining cost will be high. Zhang Jun couldn't help but show a hint of worry.
Zhou Xiangming immediately understood what Zhang Jun meant when he heard this, and immediately explained: "This is only the surface lunar soil. The deep lunar soil is not easily affected by the external environment, so the water reserve may be higher."
After hearing Zhou Xiangming's explanation, Zhang Jun nodded.
When Wu Hao heard this, he smiled at Zhang Jun and said, "Don't worry, you will see the results soon anyway, it won't take a while.
Besides, even if there is no water in this area, there is still water in other areas. It is closer to the south pole of the moon and the water resources are still very abundant. It’s just that we now need a method and technology that is easier and cheaper to mine. .
This technology that has been proven so far is the best overall. If it doesn't work, we have other alternatives.
For example, the Chang'e-5 lunar soil research team published a paper in March 2023, saying that they found water in the impact glass beads in the Chang'e-5 lunar samples. The researchers measured the water content in the center and edges of the glass beads and found that the water content in the glass beads gradually decreased from the edges to the center. They concluded that this was because hydrogen atoms in the solar wind entered the glass beads, where they were diffused and preserved.
They said that the water content in glass beads can reach an average of 0.05%, which is equivalent to 0.5 kilograms of water in one ton of glass beads. This shows that the impact glass beads on the lunar surface are a huge "reservoir", and they can maintain the water cycle on the moon. Combining the analysis of the moon's global-scale lunar soil thickness, they inferred that the lunar soil's water storage capacity is up to about 270 billion tons.
Of course, the water they are talking about is not the liquid water we usually talk about, but exists in the form of hydrogen atoms in glass beads. It needs to be converted into water that we can use through chemical reactions.
Although it requires more steps and higher costs than direct extraction, it is a very reliable water resource extraction solution. If our direct mining method cannot meet our needs, then we can use this method to extract water.
Each ton can extract approximately one kilogram of water, which is 500 milliliters. This number is still very considerable and can fully meet the operational needs of our lunar surface scientific research station. "
Hearing what Wu Hao said, Zhou Xiangming on the side also nodded: "Yes, this is also one of our best alternatives. If the water resources we directly mine cannot meet the demand, then we will start This way enough water resources can be extracted.
In fact, in the future, we will adopt a variety of mining methods to meet the energy needs of our lunar surface research station.
For example, during our patrol inspections, we found that many meteorite cores are actually preserved in many craters on the moon, and many of them are ice meteorites. So if necessary, we can also mine water resources by looking for the ice cores left by these ice meteorites.
In addition, the South Pole of the Moon has abundant reserves of solid water resources, and we can also mine enough water resources from the South Pole of the Moon.
In the future, the Zhihai Lunar Lunar Surface Scientific Research Station will serve as a base and then expand gradually in all directions as our exploration progresses. We will also establish a scientific research station at the lunar south pole to survey and study the lunar south pole environment and resources.
And we will also use this lunar scientific research station as a basis to further develop and utilize the moon's Antarctic resources. "
(End of chapter)
