Chapter 808: Lunar Surface Engineering

in lunar orbit hundreds of thousands of kilometers away.

Not far from the Moon Palace space station, a silver-white device in the shape of a hexagonal prism was dropped from the belly cargo compartment of the Queqiao and fell towards the surface of the moon.

As early as a few months ago, the Jinling Institute for Advanced Study, in conjunction with several domestic research institutions, initiated a project for the research and development of automatic mining equipment on the lunar surface.

Today, the project has made some progress. And this 300 million RMB device named "Pioneer" is one of the research results of the project, and is mainly responsible for the initial mining of titanium-rich moon rocks.

If the device is successfully deployed and works successfully. In the next step, the Lunar Orbit Construction Committee will consider continuing to deploy an automated vacuum consumable arc melting device on the lunar surface to process the mined titanium ore into titanium ingots or even titanium alloys to fill part of the second phase of the Lunar Palace and lunar surface research. The structural material requirements of the facility.

Under the traction of the moon's gravity and inertia, the silver-white prism-shaped equipment slowly approached the moon's surface.

And as it got closer to the moon, the expressions on the faces of the two staff members stationed on the Moon Palace and the pilot on the Queqiao also tensed up in unison.

"Countdown on impact...5, 4, 3, 2, 1...Successful landing!"

"Unfold the fixed bracket!"

The moment the silver-white prism came into contact with the lunar surface, gray moon dust shot up into the sky under the impact of mining equipment.

The fixed tripod on the side of the device quickly opened, like four hooks, firmly nailed into the moon rock under the feet.

The two staff members of the Moon Palace who had not dared to relax for a moment staring at the screen before finally breathed a sigh of relief. After giving each other a simple high-five to celebrate, they immediately returned to the mission.

"This is the Moon Palace. The experimental type of automatic lunar mining equipment has successfully landed. I'm requesting instructions on the next step."

"This is the ground command center. Congratulations on completing the mission. Now please check the deployment of the automatic mining equipment on the lunar surface. If you confirm that there is no abnormality, please start the next test subject in ten minutes."

"receive."

After proficiently completing all the testing items and confirming that the device had been successfully deployed, the staff on the Moon Palace immediately pressed the button to start the device.

Almost at the same time as the button was pressed, the signal light on the top of the automatic mining device flickered slightly, as if responding to the call of the Moon Palace, and moved like a giant beast crawling on the moon.

The alloy plate at the bottom opened slowly, and then a huge drill bit protruded from it, firmly nailing into the lunar soil.

As the drill bit began to rotate and push down, the titanium-containing moon rocks blocking the front were quickly cut into countless pieces. After being processed through a spiral crushing pipeline, it gushes out from the outlet on the side of the device.

After the supporting smelting device is deployed, the discharge port of the entire automated mining device will be connected to the smelting device through a special pipeline, and will be transported by the crawler into the smelting furnace to realize fully automated production.

But now, the mined titanium-containing moon rocks can only be piled here, so after confirming that the device can operate successfully, there is no need to keep it on.

"The device started successfully and is running in good condition."

"Let it stop."

"receive."

As the drill bit slowly stopped and was received in the belly of the mining device, the broken ore no longer gushed out from the discharge port.

However, due to the low-gravity environment on the moon, the moon dust flying around has not settled for a long time.

Standing by the porthole of the living cabin of the Moon Palace, looking at the dusty lunar surface from afar, Johnson opened his mouth, shock written all over his face.

"God... what are those Chinese people doing to the moon?"

No one answered him.

Because Jones, who was standing next to him, didn't look much calmer than him at the moment.

She only saw the Chinese throw something down from the spacecraft, and then billows of moon dust floated up, covering the sky and covering the sun, as if being hit by a missile.

"Are they... testing weapons on the moon?"

There was silence for a while, until the "construction site" covered by moon dust disappeared from his field of vision as the space station moved slowly, then he said something in a voice that seemed to be talking to himself.

"...I hope not."

Theoretically speaking, it is impossible. The peaceful development and utilization of outer space resources is a consensus reached by all countries. Experts from all over the world are on this space station, and there are countless astronomical observatories on the earth pointing their cameras at this side.

If the Chinese are going to test weapons on the moon, they must be crazy.

Johnson prefers to believe that they are planning to build something on the surface of the moon, just like the planting unit they deployed some time ago.

Glancing at the captain next to him, Jones asked in a worried voice, "Speaking of... when can we go home?"

Johnson shook his head: "I don't know."

"What about Taiwei? Why can't I see anyone else recently?"

Johnson was silent for a while, then continued.

"There might be something wrong with him."

"I heard...he seems to be infected with the terrible Martian virus. Could it be that we also..." Thinking of something terrible, Jones' face turned pale.

Glancing at his teammates, although feeling irritable, Johnson still casually comforted him.

"Don't worry, the world's top biological experts are gathered here, whether it is Taiwei or us, everything will be safe in the end."

Even though he said that, he didn't have a clue in his heart.

When he reported safety to the North American people through the communication device of the Moon Palace, he had a brief exchange with NASA.

Fortunately, the Chinese people did not prevent him from knowing the truth of the matter. During the communication with the director of NASA, he basically had a general understanding of the whole story.

To put it simply, an extremely tenacious Martian bacterium is hosted on them, and this bacterium may have an unpredictable impact on the earth's ecosystem. So they were temporarily isolated on the space station, and after a while they would be transferred to a research facility on the surface of the moon for placement.

As for what will happen to them in the end, and if this bacteria proves to be invincible, even the world's top biologists are helpless, what will happen to them in the end? Johnson didn't even dare to think deeply.

Perhaps it is the best solution for the three of them to take the initiative to sacrifice their lives. He even vaguely felt that Director Carson had hinted at himself when he was talking to him.

However, life is only once for anyone, no matter what kind of glory is behind it, how easy is it to give up voluntarily?

At this moment, the hatch of the living cabin suddenly opened.

The Huaguo researcher who checked them earlier, accompanied by two astronauts, floated into the living cabin and stood in front of them.

Johnson tensed subconsciously, but soon relaxed and asked.

"What's the matter? Has the research progressed?"

When he asked this sentence, Johnson originally did not report any hope. After all, only a few days have passed since the arrival of the international experts on the Moon Palace. A solution to the problem can be found in such a short period of time. It's just too difficult.

However, Zhao Shuxuan's words were beyond his expectation.

"A little bit."

Seeing Johnson's face full of surprise, Zhao Shuxuan paused for a moment, and continued in a serious tone, "In order to verify our conjecture, I need you to cooperate with us in some experiments."