Reborn in 2011, I am the chief designer of aerospace.

After a moment's thought, Song Xingye said, "Before making a decision, I'd like to ask a question. The wording of the second question about oxygen production on Mars is a bit too general. Isn't there a more specific list of resources or engineering constraints?"

General Manager Liang waved his hand.

"Hey, don't worry about it. These are all open-ended questions with no standard answers."

Just let your mind wander and speak freely, as long as it doesn't violate basic laws of physics and makes sense, you'll pass. Create whatever you want!

As he spoke, he looked Song Xingye up and down with amusement in his eyes: "What... from what you're saying, you're quite interested in the second question?"

Song Xingye chuckled, "Yes, President Liang."

Liang Jianping leaned forward, asking curiously, "Why? There's never been a precedent for generating oxygen on Mars. But you should have some experience with manually calculating ballistics. Even our country's atomic bomb was calculated using an abacus, so you should have a better understanding of this."

Song Xingye said, "President Liang, although math isn't exactly my strong suit, I'm definitely not afraid of it. The reason I chose the second question is that I think the problem of oxygen production on Mars is obviously more meaningful and interesting."

Furthermore, I believe that under the current technological framework, a global, full-band jamming or interference scenario is virtually impossible. Instead of worrying unnecessarily, it's better to concern ourselves with what might happen in the future.

"Hehe, that makes some sense."

Instead of refuting the question, Mr. Liang posed a deeper one: "What's the point of producing oxygen on Mars? Or, more broadly, what's the point of going to Mars? Why are our astronauts going to Mars and encountering this kind of trouble?"

Song Xingye stroked his chin, not in a hurry to answer.

After a moment, he slowly spoke:

"Kristofio Tsiolkovsky, the father of rocketry, once said that Earth is the cradle of humanity, but humanity will not be confined to the cradle forever, right?"

Mr. Liang nodded. "Of course, babies always grow up and leave home."

"Since we're leaving home, we need to find a place to stay."

Song Xingye spoke eloquently: "The result is obvious. Humanity should leave Earth, the cradle, and go explore the universe. But we can't get fat in one bite. At least at this stage, with the specific impulse of chemical rockets, humanity can only be trapped in the solar system."

Since exploration is limited to within the solar system, humans generally focus more on survival-related explorations, that is, finding a second home.

Within our solar system, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are gas giants, while Mercury and Venus are too close to the sun. Therefore, we have no choice but to go to Mars!

It is the only backup home.

Mr. Liang smiled and said, "That's right. From the perspective of a second home, Mars is indeed the only destination. But Earth still has billions of years to live, and many people feel that spending hundreds of billions on space exploration now is a waste of resources."

The internet was filled with criticism, with many saying that the money would be better spent on desertification control or poverty alleviation, at least preventing several children from starving to death in Africa. Some even argued that we haven't even explored 71% of the deep sea, so why the rush to space?

At this moment, Engineer Chen couldn't help but interject, his gaze fixed intently on Song Xingye:

"That's right, this 'spaceflight is useless' argument is quite popular. Young man, what do you think? What do you think of those voices who believe we're wasting taxpayers' money?"

As a key participant in the Mars project, Engineer Chen was clearly preoccupied with this issue.

Without hesitation, Song Xingye glanced at the four veteran experts and asked in return:

"Dear seniors, I have a question—how powerful is human civilization?"

After a moment's thought, Mr. Liang said, "It's hard to say. But on this small piece of earth, we are indeed at the top of the food chain."

Engineer Chen added, "While we may not have the power to blow up the Earth, our nuclear weapons stockpile is enough to reboot the ecosystem!"

"Yes, it seems powerful."

Song Xingye then changed the subject, "What about threats in the universe? For example, if there is a comet coming from the direction of the sun's glare, and no telescope can observe it, how long can this powerful civilization last after it enters the atmosphere?"

Or let's lower the difficulty: suppose this comet was observed as soon as it approached our solar system. What could our "powerful" civilization do then?

The four senior experts in front of them fell silent.

The answer is obvious.

"There's nothing we can do."

"Humans aren't even confident in intercepting intercontinental ballistic missiles, let alone a comet hitting Earth. The only thing we can do is find a place to sit down, bask in the sun, and say goodbye to our families."

Song Xingye spread his hands and said, "Perhaps this situation is absurd. Most of the time, humans are carefree and live in peace and prosperity. But when disaster strikes, that 0.1% probability is enough to end the efforts of an entire civilization over tens of thousands of years."

This is just about comets; there are also asteroid collisions, extreme climate change, nuclear war, and other catastrophes. In reality, even so-called powerful civilizations are quite fragile.

Song Xingye's gaze was firm, and he spoke each word slowly and deliberately.

"From this perspective, finding a 'backup plan' for Earth becomes extremely urgent, because we never know whether tomorrow or an accident will come first."

"Therefore, spaceflight is not for fun, nor for prestige. It's about finding a 'backup' for human civilization, buying 'insurance'..."

After listening, General Manager Liang smiled at Engineer Chen and said, "Looks like there are still people on the same wavelength as you guys?"

Engineer Chen was also very pleased and nodded frequently.

"Alright." President Liang tapped the table, steer the conversation back to reality, "Since you insist on going, let's assume you've already crash-landed on Mars, your oxygen generator is broken, and you're about to suffocate. Give me a self-rescue plan in 15 minutes."

"start!"

Song Xingye sat in the swivel chair, his brain working at lightning speed.

This question was a piece of cake for him.

In the hard science fiction masterpiece "The Martian" from my previous life, the protagonist Mark had already demonstrated textbook-level operations.

The movie hasn't been released yet, so it's a good time to "borrow" some ideas.

Soon, he picked up a pen and listed the outline on the draft paper, and the mind map spread out like a tree.

Fifteen minutes later.

The four men, including General Manager Liang, entered the room, their bodies still faintly smelling of tobacco, suggesting they had gone to the smoking room together.

Mr. Liang glanced at Song Xingye's paper and saw that it was covered with dense writing. He couldn't help but raise an eyebrow in admiration:

"You've got a lot of ideas, haven't you?"

Song Xingye showed no shame whatsoever for plagiarizing "The Martian," and laughed frankly: "It's alright, I wrote so much after just a little thought, I haven't even had enough fun yet."

"Alright, alright, you're getting all worked up after I just praised you a couple of times."

Mr. Liang sat back down in his chair. "It's not like I'm actually asking you to build an oxygen generator. Just verbally explain your thought process. Now, begin your performance."

Song Xingye nodded, picked up his draft paper, and then began to speak without notes.

"The quickest way to produce oxygen on Mars is through the chemical reaction of water electrolysis. But this raises the question of boiling point!"

"Mars has a very low atmospheric pressure, only 0.6% of Earth's, so the boiling point of water would be very low, probably not exceeding 5 degrees Celsius. This means that any liquid water would likely boil violently almost instantly, and then freeze rapidly due to the heat absorbed during evaporation."

"Therefore, containers holding water or urine must be pressurized during chemical reactions..."

Mr. Liang and the others nodded slightly, their eyes revealing their approval.

The fact that he could immediately consider the differences in environmental thermodynamics shows that this guy is very clear-headed.

Song Xingye continued to push forward:

"Another point is that while producing oxygen, we should also pay attention to carbon removal. Physiologically speaking, the human body has a certain tolerance to a temporary decrease in oxygen concentration, but carbon dioxide poisoning can instantly lead to respiratory acidosis, confusion, or even coma."

"Once you lose consciousness and interrupt the oxygen production process, you are not far from death. Therefore, in addition to oxygen production, the carbon removal process is also very important."

At this point, Song Xingye boldly proposed a solution.

"Based on publicly available NASA space data, Martian soil contains a large amount of zeolite, which has an extremely high specific surface area, so it can be used to physically adsorb carbon dioxide!"

Engineer Chen's eyes lit up: "You...you even know this kind of obscure knowledge? Do you know how to use zeolite?"

"It's very simple. We put the collected Martian soil in a container and heat it to expel the gas and moisture from the pores. Then we seal the container and wait for it to cool naturally."

Then find any tube or similar material, insert it into the container, and let the carbon dioxide produced when you exhale go in; it will naturally be absorbed.

The only slightly troublesome thing is that its adsorption capacity is limited, and it needs to be constantly replaced with new Martian soil...

Engineer Chen snapped his fingers. "Good. Go on, what about the oxygen production process?"