I ask you to build tractors, but you build rockets?

The day after Snowbird completed its first flight, Storm reached the moon for the second time.

After decelerating into orbit through exquisite orbital calculations, it happened to be close to the Wutu Space Station. Then it opened the cargo bay and gently approached it with the built-in node module, resulting in a super-large assembly weighing nearly 200 tons appearing in the lunar orbit.

The huge space of the space shuttle and the space station is enough for seven astronauts to live comfortably for a long time, so there is no need to rush to the moon. They will spend a whole day observing the landing site.

The landing site is the shallowest layer of the mineral deposits discovered by the explorers. Although there is a relatively clean area, it has an inclination that cannot be ignored, so the difficulty and gold content of this landing mission are not low.

The two Arbor astronauts were enthusiastically connecting with China, while the remaining five Chinese astronauts were inspecting the landing materials and equipment in preparation for the landing.

The docking of this mission is actually more complicated, but it is not due to technical reasons.

Originally, astronauts could enter the lander directly from the cargo bay of the space shuttle, complete the landing mission after detaching, take off directly, and then dock with the space station. It only requires one docking in total, which is very convenient. However, this time the ground took into account the lunar dust problem caused by continuous high-intensity operations.

After the ascender takes off, it will not dock directly with the space station. Instead, it will have to wait for the Storm to detach and release the docking port of the node module that is perpendicular to the fuselage so that it can dock with the node module of the space shuttle.

It is impossible to dock the other docking port parallel to the cargo hold, and can only be used for pre-docking on the ground.

At that time, the astronauts and supplies covered with moon dust can be transferred into the node module and fixed there, where they will be carefully cleaned with a pre-prepared liquid cleaning machine, and finally they will take off their spacesuits and enter the interior of the space shuttle. , seal the node module before docking with the space station.

The node module, which is covered with moon dust and dirt, will not be lifted out separately for processing until it returns to the ground and used as a one-time transition module to avoid polluting the environment of the Wutu Space Station.

This method could only be used before the XH40 was put into use, and the latter was equipped with a powerful automatic decontamination transition cabin.

Deng Lei was checking the rough mineral vein distribution map drawn by the resource survey satellite, and frowned when he saw the figure of the shallowest depth of 1,083 meters.

In order to boost investors' confidence, the figure announced by United Mining is "about a thousand meters deep". In fact, this is the shallowest depth, with the average valuable excavation depth approaching 1,400 meters.

Moreover, the main storage at this depth is iron ore, which can only be used to make crude steel. To get rare earths, you have to dig deeper. The deepest point of the entire vein is close to 3,000 meters, and contains extremely rich types of mineral deposits.

Are we going to dig a super big pit with a depth of 1,400 meters?

Of course that won't work. Although the gravity of the moon is one-sixth that of the earth, the difficulty of excavation is not equal to 233 meters, one-sixth of 1,400 meters.

There are many mines on the earth with a depth of more than 200 meters, and there are also mines with a depth of one thousand meters. However, there are not so many engineering vehicles for lunar operations. Even if they can be sent up, the cost is too high and not worth it.

Therefore, the mining method planned inside the base is the easiest and most primitive blasting method. First, blast out a shallow pit, and then blast it down layer by layer, all the way to the appropriate depth.

After blasting out a mine that is large enough for use, use a large-diameter tunnel boring machine to dig an ultra-deep mine from a geologically stable place, lay casings and lifting tracks, and continuously lift the initially crushed ore up. This is relatively easy to achieve because of the moon's low gravity.

One of the items landed on the moon this time was two detonators and two explosives, which were stored separately in special containers. The astronauts had to find a relatively hard ground to conduct two blast tests to observe the effect.

Although the space agency has conducted rigorous tests to ensure that there will be no accidents, Deng Lei is still a little scared.

Li Wei on the side had just completed half an hour of cycling. When he came over, he saw a complex mineral vein distribution map.

"Hey, are you studying the mine again?"

"There is no way. According to the official documents, Tianmu 2 is the first prospecting mission hired by United Mining. This is our main purpose."

"..."

Li Wei: "So this is why we still need a joint mining business trip subsidy? No matter where we are, mining is the most profitable."

Deng Lei: "Dear aerospace heroes and honorary miners, let us work together for the development of great lunar resources."

…

August 3rd.

"May Allah bless you."

"Wish ya'll good luck."

"Brother Li, come on!"

"..."

Alkarli and the other four astronauts stood outside the door of the Tempest node bay, waving goodbye to the four people who were preparing to enter the lander.

Rayana's movement in the Pioneer I spacesuit was much easier than during training. Before getting in, he carefully touched the green flag on his chest to check that it was not loose.

He knew that behind the camera he was now facing was an entire world of believers, and that regardless of doctrine, reaching the moon would be an incredible feat.

All three astronauts entered the ascender and closed the hatch. It took an hour to complete the final inspection and secure themselves and their supplies.

The holding mechanism holding the lander inside the cargo bay was loosened. After the astronauts on the Wutu Space Station confirmed through the portholes, Deng Lei carefully disconnected the node module.

Immediately afterwards, the RCS on the side of the lander quickly sprayed nitrogen gas and gently pushed itself out of the cargo bay diagonally without loading anything.

After another half an hour to adjust the direction, the lander started its engine and began to slow down and descend into orbit.

In order to show the outside world that they attach great importance to the Tianmu-2 mission, Lin Ju, Academician She and Prince Sweetan all made high-profile appearances at the ground command center, and applauded in unison when the lander successfully detached.

Academician She pulled Lin Ju's sleeve and whispered:

"I heard that the prince and the others withdrew tens of millions in cash this time, and I don't know where they hid it. They didn't check it out when they came in."

"Is it possible that they are not prepared to spend money here?"

"How could it happen? Look at these young people, they are all waiting for the money to drop from the sack. Li Gong went to support Mukara and took one million US dollars, more than seven million US dollars."

"..."

Lin Ju looked back at the staff in the hall who had vaguely expectant expressions, thought for a while and said:

"Then we won't have fireworks for this year's Spring Festival. How about we change them to money? Then everyone will come out to pick up money on the ground?"

"Tsk tsk..." Academician She pointed at Lin Ju and finally said:

"You will probably be accused of deliberately destroying the RMB, and the amount is extremely huge. When you come out, you won't even have a son...you don't have one yet."

Lin Ju: "..."

"Wait, how did you..."

"Stop talking, stop talking."

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