Great Country Academician

While the two lunar landers were busy preparing various materials and equipment from the lunar module, a silver-white lunar rover slowly drove over here not far away.

Soon, the lunar rover drove in front of them, and an astronaut wearing a blue and white extravehicular activity spacesuit got off the car and jumped over here.

At the same time, the voice of that person came from the communication channel of Jiang Xinlin and Xi Hongwen's headsets.

"Welcome, welcome to the moon, I am Bu Qi from the lunar outpost research station."

Bu Qi's smiling voice came from the space suit, and the three met and shook hands with each other.

After a few greetings, Bu Qi smiled and said, "Let's go to the research station base first, we will have plenty of time to chat later."

Jiang Xinlin and Xi Hongwen nodded at the same time, and the three of them sent all the materials carried by the lunar module into the two lunar landers, and then boarded the vehicles.

On the moon, the moon dust rolled, and two lunar rovers drove one after another towards the lunar outpost scientific research station base not far away.

Soon, an outpost consisting of living cabins, life support units and scientific research platforms came into the eyes of the three people.

On the lunar rover, Xi Hongwen looked at the scientific research base in front of him with curiosity and interest.

In the vast Aitken Basin, on a flat land that almost could not see the end, a silver-white building that looked like a "yurt" first came into his eyes.

If it were placed on the earth, these buildings in front of him would not be a big deal.

Each silver-white yurt building is not big, and the diameter is about 20 meters.

These buildings are composed of a cylinder + semicircle, the lower half is a cylinder, and the upper half is a semicircle.

Of course, this is just a general look, and the details are actually very different.

For example, the semicircle in the upper part is actually more like a 'radio telescope, such as the '500-meter aperture spherical radio telescope' in Guizhou, which is composed of panel units, back frames, adjustment devices, connecting mechanisms, etc.

But this one is turned upside down, like a pot lid.

In addition to these, at the same time, he also saw two other lunar rovers driving slowly, and the direction of the other party seemed to be different from theirs.

Their purpose seemed to be the yurts not far away.

As for whether they were the same as them, Xi Hongwen, a researcher who landed on the moon this time, was not sure.

"Is this the lunar research outpost?"

Looking at the building in front of him, Xi Hongwen's eyes flashed with excitement.

On the lunar rover in front, the leader Bu Qi's eyes also fell on the building not far away.

With pride in his eyes and a smile on his face, he explained: "Yes, but only a part of it."

"Part?" Xi Hongwen asked curiously.

Bu Qi smiled and said, "Of course, we spent a whole year building the lunar research outpost for it, how could it be just this small."

"These facilities that look like yurts are formally called 'lunar biological cultivation bases'."

"The team of lunar rovers you just saw are the ones responsible for this part."

"The 'lunar biological cultivation base' is divided into plant and animal areas, where various lunar biological experiments can be carried out."

"In addition, more importantly, it is one of the food sources for the lunar outpost scientific research station. We have already harvested some fruits and vegetables grown there many times."

Hearing this, Xi Hongwen couldn't help but spit, and said in shock: "No, you have all started to grow vegetables on the moon?"

Bu Qi laughed and said, "Why do you think we have spent hundreds of millions of dollars on the moon landing activities in the past year?"

"Just dig some moon soil and take it back for research?"

After a pause, he continued to explain, "Of course, we mainly use the mature soilless cultivation technology to provide some fruits and vegetables."

"Protein and fat foods such as fish and meat still have to be transported from the earth by space shuttles."

"But it can solve the supply of about 20 to 25% of vegetable and fruit fiber foods in our daily life."

"Although it is not a lot, it is also very valuable. After all, these are fresh vegetables and fruits."

Looking at the "Lunar Biological Cultivation Base" not far away, Bu Qi's eyes were full of pride.

Although the supply of about 20% to 25% of fresh vegetables and fruits is not much, it is indeed a very valuable food for them who are carrying out activities on the moon.

After all, if it is transported from the earth, even with the efficiency of the Xinghai space shuttle, it will take at least three days.

No matter how powerful the cold preservation technology is, it is not as fresh as freshly picked.

Of course, freshness is secondary. The most important thing is the development of lunar cultivation technology and the reduction of costs.

After all, when expanding to extraterrestrial planets, they cannot rely on the Earth for all resources, especially in terms of food. The more they develop, the more people there will be, and the consumption of food and drink will increase.

Then it is very important to achieve self-sufficiency in food development on alien planets.

Looking at the large and small yurts, Xi Hongwen's eyes were full of shock.

He really didn't expect that the country's aerospace strength has developed to this point.

Growing vegetables on the moon!

This was something he had never thought of before.

Of course, he had never thought that he could do research on the moon in his lifetime.

After recovering from the shock, Xi Hongwen couldn't help asking: "What about the technology? Although soilless cultivation is a mature technology, this is on the moon."

"Let's not talk about other things, how did you solve these things such as temperature, humidity, oxygen, and water resources?"

While being shocked by this "lunar biological cultivation base", the desire to explore from a scholar quickly filled his mind.

You know, there are not just one or two problems to solve when growing vegetables on the moon.

Let's not talk about other things, the first is temperature.

You know, the temperature difference between day and night on the moon is very large, and the area with sunlight during the day can be as high as 120 degrees Celsius.

And the lowest temperature at night can reach minus 180 degrees.

If it is under such a large temperature difference, it is quite difficult to maintain the temperature inside the lunar outpost scientific research station stably.

In addition, there are various problems such as oxygen and water resources, which are also very troublesome problems.

But since they have built this base now, it means that these problems have been solved.

At least they have been solved temporarily, and they can maintain the normal operation of their base.

As for these things in front of him, he couldn't wait to understand them, even though he was a physicist.

Bu Qi thought for a while and replied: "I don't know much about technical things. If you are interested, you can go there and find the technicians there to learn about it."

"But I still know some simple things. The main body of these buildings is basically made of high-strength and low-weight aluminum alloy, and the outer edge is filled with insulation materials to maintain the temperature."

"And the top floor is a high-efficiency graphene solar panel, which can convert the absorbed sunlight into electricity and provide part of the energy for the cultivation base."

"As for air and water resources, part of them comes from the transportation on the earth, and then reused through the air circulation system and water circulation system, so we still have to try to save these things as much as possible."

"The other part comes from under our feet."

"Under our feet?"

Xi Hongwen was stunned for a moment, and he didn't react.

Bu Qi smiled and said, "Yes, when we were exploring the base we built, we found several caves. Guess what we found in these caves?"

"What?"

Xi Hongwen asked casually, but he quickly reacted and looked at Bu Qi with surprise.

Bu Qi smiled and replied, "Lunar ice!"

"Although the amount of lunar ice we have found is not much, it has confirmed that there are indeed water resources on the moon, and it may not be just a little bit. There may be a certain amount of water resources in the caves under the lunar surface."

"We are already searching through satellites and probes, but don't tell anyone about this for the time being."

"You know the reason."

Hearing this, Xi Hongwen nodded and quickly replied, "Of course, I signed a confidentiality agreement before coming here, and I will definitely not talk about these."

As they chatted, the two lunar rovers dragged the supplies and soon arrived at the core area of ​​the lunar outpost research station.

Sitting in the car, Xi Hongwen looked up and finally saw part of the mysterious lunar outpost research station.

That's right, only part, not all.

Because the core buildings of this lunar outpost research station are mostly not on the surface, but underground.

This is a research base built on a medium-sized cave in the Aitken Basin.

"Semi-underground research base?"

Looking at the building in front of him, Xi Hongwen asked curiously.

The base in front of him doesn't look very big. The structure on the ground is a semi-elliptical building, and the diameter is probably only about 50 meters.

Of course, this is not very big. This judgment is made after comparing it in his mind. After all, the diameter of the biological cultivation units not far away is about 20 meters.

The core base in front of him, with a diameter of about 50 meters, obviously does not meet the scale of this outpost research station.

And before coming, he also had an understanding that there are currently nearly 50 staff members in this lunar outpost base.

Obviously, if there is only this elliptical building on the surface, it cannot meet the daily life and scientific research needs of so many people.

Bu Qi nodded and said, "Yes, a semi-underground base."

After a slight pause, he continued, "Do you remember the crack in the ground that happened to get stuck in the US Artemis lunar module last year?"

"Remember, what happened?" Xi Hongwen asked curiously.

Last year's manned lunar landing project can be said to have made a sensation around the world, so he naturally knew about it.

Bu Qi smiled and said, "After exploration, we found that there is a cave of considerable size along the crack to the east for a distance."

"After investigation, we found that this cave meets the requirements for building a base in all aspects. So we reported it, and finally, after discussion, the Xinghai Research Institute and the Space Administration decided to build a semi-underground lunar base based on this cave."

Hearing this answer, Xi Hongwen couldn't help laughing.

"So, we are "a blessing in disguise"?"

Bu Qi smiled and said, "I guess so."

A blessing in disguise, this adjective is quite interesting, it's just that it's the United States's misfortune and theirs.

The construction of a lunar base is a task that countries with aerospace strength and the ability to land on the moon will consider.

With current technology, there are two main types of plans.

The lunar surface base and the lunar underground base.

The former can be divided into three types, namely, the rigid structure lunar base, the flexible structure lunar base, and the mobile lunar base.

At the beginning, Xinghai Research Institute and the Space Administration considered the lunar rigid structure base.

Because the moon has no atmosphere and is completely exposed to the universe in a vacuum, it not only has to accept all kinds of cosmic rays, but also has a temperature difference of more than 200 degrees between day and night.

In addition, there are problems such as meteorite impact, solar wind, cosmic rays, particle radiation, etc.

The biggest advantage of the rigid structure is its long service life and convenient maintenance. It can be built with special metal materials or composite materials, and it can also be built with lunar concrete using local materials.

Relatively speaking, it is more suitable for long-term stay and can better protect astronauts and scientific researchers.

However, the rigid structure requires a large amount of metal materials, composite materials, lunar concrete and other materials to build, which is difficult to construct and requires a large investment. The pressure on space transportation resources is also huge.

But with the discovery of the cave in the Aitken Basin, the lunar rigid structure base was quickly rejected, and the lunar underground base was considered instead.

It's simple. The lunar cave underground base has more advantages.

First of all, the lunar cave can provide natural shelter and protection, protecting the lunar base from external environmental factors such as cosmic rays, meteor crater impacts and extreme temperatures.

Such a protective structure helps reduce the risk of base construction and operation.

Secondly, compared with the lunar surface, the temperature and pressure changes in the cave are small. This stability can reduce the impact on the base system and equipment, and improve the reliability of the base and the stability of the living environment.

In addition, relying on the cave to build a base can also save a lot of rigid materials and building materials, greatly reducing costs and related aerospace pressure.

So after careful exploration and discussion, this semi-underground lunar outpost scientific research station was finally decided.

If the space shuttle represented by Xinghai is the crystallization of human wisdom in aerospace technology.

Then this lunar outpost research station base in front of us is undoubtedly the crown of the highest technology in human architectural history.

In front of it, whether it is the Burj Khalifa, Tokyo Skytree, or other towering buildings, they all have to crawl in front of it.

Because in human history, this is the first large-scale alien base!

Not only is it difficult to build, but also because it means that this is a bridgehead for humans to cross into the deep space of the universe.

Of course, it also has a very nice name.

[Yuehuatai! ]

Originally, Xu Chuan planned to name it Guanghan Palace, but this overlapped with the name of the landing site of Chang'e 3, so he changed it to Yuehuatai!

It means that this lunar base will become a platform for human exploration of the new world under the moonlight.