Die on Mars

Tang Yue and Lao Mao drove the Mars Stray Dog around the Kunlun Station, marking and sampling the soil under their feet. As a means of transportation, the Mars Stray Dog is undoubtedly unqualified, but as a scientific research instrument, the Mars Stray Dog is probably the best in history. The most complex and expensive geological exploration equipment ever created by mankind.

Not counting transportation costs, the cost of this battery car is as high as 400 million US dollars.

In addition to the front end of the car and the power system, the money spent on stray dogs is mainly concentrated on the experimental cabin. The experimental cabin itself has no power, only four wheels, and can be towed by the front of the car. It integrates almost everything needed for surveying. All functions, from mapping to drilling to spectroscopy to hydrocarbon analysis, these sophisticated and expensive instruments are powered by the vehicle's solar panels and can support a comprehensive field trip.

Tang Yue was sitting on a chair. There was a microscope and a computer screen on the workbench in front of him. On the other side of the workbench was a row of glass dishes, holding soil samples. The space in the experimental cabin was very small, with the top, bottom, left and right occupied. It's so full that if two adults sit back-to-back in the cabin, it would be difficult to turn around.

"Have you finished grinding B3?"

The old cat stood on a stone outside the car, looked around, leaned down to extract the soil sample, and then put a label on the glass dish.

"Sample B3 is being ground." Tang Yue, wearing a mask and goggles, mashed the soil sample in the mortar with a pestle, ground it evenly, and then pushed it under the lens of the microscope.

Lao Mao and Tang Yue have a clear division of labor. Lao Mao is responsible for driving and sampling, while Tang Yue sits in the experimental cabin and is responsible for measurement and analysis.

Tang Yue took off his extravehicular spacesuit, Mingguang Armor, because he couldn't perform precise operations in such a bulky suit. The Mars Stray Dog's geological experiment cabin is an airtight cabin with two doors. In this regard, it is different from the pilot. The cabin is different, so the crew in the experimental cabin can take off their extravehicular clothes and work in only their cabin clothes or even ordinary clothes.

However, there is no OGS system in the experimental cabin, and oxygen can only be provided by Mingguang Armor.

"How many layers of masks do you wear?" the old cat asked.

"Two floors."

"I think you should wear two more layers," said the old cat.

Tang Yue was startled, "Why?"

"You have to know that the soil in front of you comes from Mars. They are things that the immune system of the earth's creatures has spent hundreds of millions of years evolving and has never been exposed to." The old cat replied slowly, "If you accidentally inhale this dust If it enters the respiratory tract or mouth, and comes into contact with the skin and mucous membranes, who knows if there will be any strange immune stress and allergic reactions?"

"For example, if rapid edema occurs in the inner wall of the respiratory tract, blocking the respiratory tract and causing suffocation, you will belch within three minutes." Lao Mao continued, "Or it may cause abnormality of the immune system and incorrect recognition of lymphocytes, leading to massive bleeding in the lungs. , you’ll also burp in three minutes.”

Tang Yue was silent for a moment, then took off the helmet of his cabin suit and put it on his head.

The microscope magnified the sample powder hundreds of times. Under high magnification, the originally dark brown powder became colorful, and the crystal polyhedral small particles looked like quartz or diamond. Tang Yue moved the mouse, and the subtle minerals appeared in Glittering under the background light.

"Tang Yue, how is the quality of this batch of soil?" Ophiopogon japonicus asked.

"I can't tell." Tang Yue shook his head, "Just wait a moment and I'll send you the screenshot. You can see how it goes."

Tang Yue took a screenshot of the magnification results of the microscope and sent it to Ophiopogon japonicus.

"Hmm...is this the third batch of samples from line B?"

"Yes." Tang Yue nodded.

"Tang Yue, look at these minerals under the microscope. These layered flakes are silicate compounds, mainly nontronite, montmorillonite and muscovite. These gray and white particles are sulfate minerals, mainly Gypsum, and these shiny things at the end are calcite." Ophiopogon japonicus analyzed it for him, "Obviously this is gravel formed after rock weathering. It has no water retention capacity and is not suitable for growing tomatoes."

Tang Yue suddenly realized it with a confused look on his face.

The confusion on his face was because he didn't understand the names of those minerals at all.

It dawned on him that the soil could not be used to grow tomatoes.

However, Ophiopogon japonicus' understanding of the Martian soil was somewhat beyond his expectation. This girl studied plants. Could it be that she also studied the soil quality on Mars while growing tomatoes?

Tang Yue didn't know much about Maidong's background. At most, he knew that he had a bachelor's degree from Zhejiang University and a master's degree from the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He was planning to study for a PhD at Princeton or MIT. Although he knew that this girl was an academic master, he didn't know to what level of academic master Maidong had reached. Is he an entry-level academic master who could get perfect marks in exams by crazily completing questions, or was he the supreme academic master who could learn both Chinese and Western knowledge at his fingertips?

Judging from the current situation, Maidong is very likely to be a high-level academic master with a very deep secret, and the possibility of being a supreme master cannot be ruled out.

"C1 sample."

Old Mao opened the first hatch of the experimental cabin and put the glass dish in.

Tang Yue glanced at the soil in the glass dish, and to his surprise, it was probably another sample that couldn't grow tomatoes.

After grinding it, he added water to dissolve it, filtered it, and then put the filtrate into the sample cell of the spectrophotometer.

The result was as he expected.

"Tang Yue, look at this absorption spectrum. The highest peak is perchlorate ion, and the one behind is chlorate ion. These two indicators are very prominent, indicating the content of soluble perchlorate and chlorate in this sample. It's all too high. Excessive salt ion concentration will destroy the osmotic pressure balance of plant root cells. This kind of soil is not suitable for growing tomatoes." Ophiopogon japonicus shook his head.

C2 sample.

"Tang Yue, this won't work."

C3.

"Unqualified."

C4.

"Inappropriate."

Tang Yue put aside all the samples that failed the review and recorded the results in his notebook.

Tang Yuexin said that this corner of Mars is really not a place for people to live. He couldn't even find a handful of soil to grow tomatoes. He immediately missed the fertile black soil on the earth. You can harvest whatever you sow. Sow in spring. One grain of millet, thousands of seeds in the autumn harvest. This is simply a selfless gift from nature and the source of human civilization.

In "Gone with the Wind", Scarlett Hao's father once told his daughter that there is nothing in this world worth your life, except the ground under your feet.

Now that I think about it, Scarlett Hao's father is really a philosopher. He can see at a glance the central position of land in the history of human civilization.

How precious is a piece of land that can grow tomatoes.

Now if someone had such a piece of crop land, Tang Yue would be willing to risk his life to get it.

"Tang Yue, how many samples have we collected now?" Old Mao patted the wall of the experimental cabin.

"Eleven."

"Did you find anything?"

"Yes." Tang Yue replied, "I discovered that the soil on Mars is not suitable for growing crops at all. Whatever you plant will die."