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

Before Roy got on the rocket, he had been mentally preparing for a hard life. However, except for a long sleep after completing the landing work on the first day, the rest of the time was almost like a vacation.

Since it only carries three crew members this time, Artemis 6 has more abundant supplies, extending the mission period to 10 days, which will last until July 12, and will not be evacuated until a few hours before the nuclear bomb is detonated. .

Thanks to the huge improvement of the Nine Chapters and its strong logistical support capabilities, the plan went much easier than they imagined.

Jiuzhang not only provides a comfortable living environment, but also has as many as three large lunar rovers and four explorer robots, making the progress astonishingly fast.

The relationship between the Artemis 6 crew and the members of the Canopy Project has also quickly become closer. They are both humans on the moon, and the disputes on the earth seem not to be worth mentioning here, and they do not affect their daily work at all.

Roy has been living with other people on the Nine Chapters for three days and is almost completely familiar with everything here.

The first thing he did when he got up was to make the bed - Chapter Nine did not have the luxury of equipping a separate bedroom, but installed a folding bed on the bulkhead. However, the configuration was not crude, at least it was far better than being squeezed into the Origin lander. Much more comfortable in a circular space.

After a simple buffet breakfast, except for the two remaining team members, the rest were wearing spacesuits and continuing to prepare to go to the mine.

The three people on Artemis 6 still wore their own spacesuits, which were "big potatoes" with a semi-monocoque design. The one-piece design of the torso resulted in the head and torso being connected together. From a distance, It looks like an upright potato stretching out its limbs.

On the contrary, the "Pioneer II" worn by Deng Lei and Fu Xiangjie is both fit and flexible, and the two have completely different styles.

Roy couldn't help but think of the exoskeleton spacesuit that NACA was also designing internally. It has been under development for half a year now. It is still far from being delivered as a finished product, and it is said that the cost is huge.

The three members of Artemis 6 now fully understand the gap between NACA and China Aerospace in lunar construction. If they use more fashionable language to describe it, they are probably one version behind.

The essence of the Artemis project is not much different from the Apollo project. It just costs more money, has more landings, and the concept is still the same.

"Deng, do you have any breeding plans at your base? I think with the scale of your construction, you can definitely try to raise meat in space."

After getting familiar with the Jiuzhang, Roy was very yearning for the Yushu base, which has a weight of over 100 tons. Unfortunately, the Jiuzhang consumes a lot of fuel to take off, and the cost-effectiveness of flying only a few hundred kilometers is too low. Even the Chinese themselves have never done this. .

Deng Lei: "Meat? Then I guess we need to set aside a special cabin. However, our total plan only has 8 cabins. It should still mainly meet the needs of personnel survival. Breeding meat is too troublesome, much more troublesome than plants."

"I think white-feathered chickens can be raised with the highest cost-effectiveness. And aren't you going to build a super large base in the future? The demand for meat must be met."

"Roy, I actually think it's easier to manage the route to the moon. Dawn 2 can deliver a new batch of supplies every three days, but what you said is indeed a good idea. Maybe the company should hire you as a breeder here. "

"If XAP is willing to pay more, I can even help you build a nuclear bomb."

The two of them laughed together, and Deng Lei was also very happy to get along with Roy. The addition of the newcomer was able to liven up the already dull atmosphere.

Of course, the more critical thing is domestic instructions. The Aviation Development Commission requires that the crew of Artemis 6 be treated as colleagues. Except for confidentiality matters, everything else is very relaxed. What's more, the Canopy Project is strictly an unofficial mission. The team members Fully possess the power of personal disposal.

The chat ended after the six people on the mission put on their equipment. Deng Lei first asked them to check each other's protective measures to see if they were complete before going out through the lower hatch on the side of the Nine Chapters.

Five of the eight hydrogen bombs have been placed, and the remaining ones are the three hydrogen bombs brought by Artemis 6. Deng Lei plans to place all of them at the predetermined location today.

The placement of this batch of hydrogen bombs was very easy. They were placed directly on the lunar surface just like the first test explosion. They did not pursue maximum efficiency by drilling holes and burying them deeply.

The thickness of the lunar soil layer near the mining area ranges from a few meters to tens of meters. Drilling holes requires additional mechanical equipment and time costs. Although ground detonation is less efficient, the same effect can be achieved as long as the hydrogen bomb equivalent is larger.

So this time we used hydrogen bombs with a yield of tens of millions of tons...

After all, as long as you weigh it a little, you will know that it is much more convenient to plant a large-yield hydrogen bomb than to dig a hole hard.

Roy climbed behind the cockpit of the largest lunar rover, the T7, and while inspecting the machinery used, he couldn't help but look at the perfect parabolic crater in the distance.

The traces left by "Robin Hood" are the most spectacular man-made miracles ever created by humans on the moon. They still retain the original scene after the explosion. Molten turbid glass is scattered everywhere and reflects the sunlight. From a certain angle, it looks like a piece of land. Glowing lake.

For more than a month, the self-media on the earth have often spread rumors, claiming that the large crater left by the first nuclear explosion can be observed with an astronomical telescope. This is of course a complete fallacy, not to mention that it is not big enough to distinguish. The key point is here It's the Aitken Basin, located on the far side of the moon, which can never be seen from the ground because it's tidally locked.

The second eight hydrogen bombs were powerful enough. According to Royd's calculations, the impact range after the explosion had exceeded small craters. If it were on the front of the moon, astronomical telescopes could still observe it.

Super weapons that might have destroyed millions of people were used to develop minerals... At least the crew of Artemis 6 were very enthusiastic about this matter, especially the Chinese people who had a pretty good attitude towards them.

The "Origin" lander landed almost one kilometer away from the Jiuzhang. After arriving, the three Aramco astronauts first got in and unlocked the hydrogen bomb's fixing device.

Roy was concentrating on his work when he suddenly heard Commander Felix say:

"Roy, you are very close to the Chinese people."

Roy was startled, and then realized that they were using an encrypted channel, so he breathed a sigh of relief and replied helplessly:

"Feli, did you get the surveillance mission from NACA?"

"No, that's not the case. What I mean is that you should maintain this attitude and get along with them as harmoniously as possible."

Felix's words surprised Roy. It was really unbecoming.

"NACA has conveyed to us the latest instructions to get along well with the Chinese people as much as possible. We may have long-term cooperation in the future. It is really possible for you to raise chickens for the Chinese people."

"whaaa...what?"

"Whether you believe it or not, of course I am also guessing that NACA may have reached some agreement with United Mining, and it is very likely that they will jointly develop the moon."