The rise of nanometers

The sudden solar storm disrupted the rhythm of NASA and the China Space Administration, and both parties could only react passively.

Humanity is still too fragile, and its technological level has not reached the level of a first-level civilization. Even Greater China, which has some super-strong technologies, has a comprehensive strength of 0.94 at most, which is still some distance from a first-level civilization.

Nowadays, humans do not even have a 100% way to resist earthquakes, volcanoes, and climate in their home planet, let alone cosmic disasters such as solar storms.

Once the intensity of the solar storm exceeds level 12, a spacecraft without the protection of a magnetic cage can only rely on its own protective layer and triple redundancy system to resist it. If it cannot withstand it, it will become space junk.

This is also an important reason why NASA still chose the low-Earth orbit area when rebuilding the space station.

If Noah's Ark is placed in the synchronous orbit of Blue Star, or the Lagrange point L1 between the blue moons, then Noah's Ark will lose the magnetic cage system of Blue Star, and the protection system will be more than twice as complex.

In terms of solar panels, nuclear battery technology, laser cooling technology, thermoelectric power generation technology, and normal temperature superconductor technology, NASA lags behind the Aerospace Science and Industry.

If NASA wanted to build an artificial magnetic cage, the weight of the artificial magnetic cage system alone would need to be at least 250 to 300 tons.

And because the heat dissipation technology of nuclear batteries is not good, once nuclear batteries are used in large quantities on the space station, not only the cost will skyrocket, but also the waste heat released by nuclear batteries must be absorbed by media regularly.

The space agency's Intelligence Analysis Office has conducted a follow-up investigation. Based on NASA's current technical level, to maintain an artificial magnetic cage system, 8 to 12 tons of heat-absorbing media must be discarded every month to ensure that the internal waste heat is contained.

8 to 12 tons of heat-absorbing media are discarded every month. Even if the space agency has a special mechanism, it cannot sustain such consumption. NASA should just go to sleep!

So it’s not that NASA doesn’t want to build a geostationary space station and a Lagrange point space station, but that I can’t do it.

Of course, you can just run naked without the magnetic cage protection.

Just be mentally prepared. The space station may be wiped out by a solar storm at any time. The astronauts on it may go on strike directly, or send their regards to the families of the directors of the Noah Society.

Just like this time, a 12.4 magnitude solar storm destroyed several satellites.

NASA cannot afford to be hurt now, so it can only divert part of the payload to strengthen protection. The result of this is that their total annual payload appears to be even more stretched.

On this side, NASA is having a hard time.

On the Guanghan Palace base side, Shi Keji and Li Jianxian were on their sixth day of exploration work.

At this time, the distance between the two of them and the Guanghan Palace base has reached about 102 kilometers. Their current location is in the No. 3 thermal well in Hongwan Plain.

Shi Keji determined the specific location, depth, temperature layer, and nearby geological conditions of the thermal well.

After filling out the information about Hot Well No. 3 on the tablet, he raised his head: "Jianxian, it's almost time. Let's return to the base!"

"Okay." Li Jianxian, who was more than ten meters away, replied through the built-in shortwave intercom.

Shi Keji, who was packing up the equipment, looked at the area illuminated by the searchlight. There seemed to be a layer of mist surrounding the area.

In fact, this is not an illusion, but a reality.

There is thin gas on the surface of the moon, that is, the content is relatively low, but the "fog" in front of you is actually the unique "lunar dust storm" during the lunar night period of the moon.

The main cause of this special weather is that the lunar soil is electrostatically charged. The low gravity of the moon and the ultra-low temperature at night cause lunar dust to float densely near the ground, forming a special lunar dust storm.

This special weather is very dangerous because dust particles with static electricity can easily be adsorbed on spacecraft and spacesuits, which can cause circuit short circuits, signal interference, equipment abnormalities, and reduced power generation efficiency of solar panels.

Before they got into the car, they first carried out a full-body static electricity elimination work to avoid bringing dust particles into the car.

The carriage is equivalent to a spare space capsule for two people, and the environment inside can serve as a temporary shelter.

If the exoskeleton spacesuit and the inner spacesuit are damaged one after another, the cabin of the off-road vehicle will be the last temporary life support system for the two of them.

If a large amount of dust particles with static electricity fill the cabin, it may not only damage the electronic equipment inside, but also endanger the lives of astronauts.

Don’t think this is a joke. The moon’s dust particles are more dangerous than the blue star’s dust particles, because these dust particles are very “angular” and may directly scratch the respiratory tract and eyes.

The moon does not have the water weathering process of the Blue Star. The lunar soil particles on the surface appear sharp and angular, just like facing dense and fine glass slag. These small things can kill people invisible.

Li Jian first turned on the navigation system and drove the off-road vehicle back to the base in a detour according to the previously planned route.

Off-road vehicles drive on the Hongwan Plain, leaving two long ruts. Human footprints are changing the place little by little.

Although there is darkness ahead, the navigation satellites in the lunar orbit are always guiding the two of them. This is the unknown path of human exploration.

The car's forward speed is not very fast, the average speed is about 6 to 9 kilometers per hour.

On a planet full of unknowns like the moon, even on a flat lunar sea, the fastest speed of an off-road vehicle is generally controlled at around 20 kilometers per hour. Driving speed is not a core indicator here, and safety is the most important. of.

Shi Keji and his two friends spent half of their time driving and half of their time doing geological exploration surveys.

There are also three underground thermal wells on the return route.

This geological exploration work is mainly to find suitable thermal wells for the construction of geothermal power stations.

From the current preliminary exploration results, Shi Keji is only interested in the No. 1 thermal well in Hongwan Plain. The distance, terrain, and heating layer are all relatively suitable.

The No. 2 thermal well in Hongwan Plain is located in a small valley, and the terrain is relatively complex; the No. 3 thermal well in Hongwan Plain is the farthest away, and the heating layer is at a depth of 750 to 880 meters, which is also not suitable.

After looking at the navigation position, he hoped that the next three hot wells would be fruitful and he could find one or two more suitable hot wells.

After all, the potential geothermal energy contained in Hongwan Plain No. 1 is about 350 to 420 million kilowatt hours per year. According to the efficiency of temperature difference power generation, only one power station with an installed capacity of 15,000 kilowatts can be built.

The 15,000-kilowatt power station can only be used reluctantly.

Fortunately, when the base was originally planned, the possibility of utilizing geothermal energy was considered. There are at least 37 thermal wells in a narrow area of ​​50 to 150 kilometers southeast of the Guanghan Palace base.

Although it is impossible to fully develop it, even if it is partially developed, the installed capacity can be accumulated to 300,000 to 500,000 kilowatts.

With the addition of nuclear decay batteries and solar panels, it is still barely possible to ensure the initial industrialization of the base.

As for the next energy demand, it depends on the miniaturization of controllable nuclear fusion technology and the option of getting rid of boiling water.

In fact, there is another advantage to arranging a controllable nuclear fusion power station on the moon, and that is the helium 3 in the lunar soil, as well as the relatively abundant ice water and groundwater resources.

However, it is still unknown whether the controllable nuclear fusion power station can be miniaturized as scheduled.

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