Military Technology

Compared with this inflatable inflatable lunar short- and medium-term commercial research station, the permanent scientific research station is of course a long-term building, so its operating life is naturally much longer.

As he spoke, Wu Hao slid the folding screen under his hand, and the first bird's-eye view rendering of the lunar scientific research station was displayed on the big screen.

"If you want to build a permanent lunar commercial scientific research station and rely solely on transporting materials from the earth, the efficiency is too low, and the cost is very high. It is definitely not cost-effective. Such a permanent lunar commercial scientific research station is not to mention an enterprise. , even if the country wants to bear it, it is very difficult.

Therefore, the best way is to make full use of the existing resources of the moon and use local materials to build this permanent lunar commercial scientific research station. "

Experts do not find this idea surprising, because using local materials and using lunar resources to build a lunar scientific research station can be said to be one of the more economical and reliable solutions considered by academic circles. Therefore, no one was surprised that Wu Hao and the others adopted this construction plan. Instead, they thought it was quite reasonable.

As for Wu Hao, he went on to say: "Among the lunar resources that we have discovered, in addition to some metal element mineral resources and the helium-3 resources that we humans are very eager to obtain, the most abundant ones in the lunar soil are probably quartz and basalt. Come on.

Our materials for building a permanent lunar commercial scientific research station mainly focus on these two substances.

Whether it is basalt particles or quartz stone particles, they are relatively hard and stable, and can be said to be good building materials. Therefore, we believe that the high-temperature dissolution characteristics of quartz can be used to combine these two materials and press them into bricks under high pressure and high temperature. , such bricks are more suitable for use in some foundations, pavements outside the scientific research station, and other materials.

Of course, it is also possible to use these bricks to build some houses. But in comparison, we have better materials. "

Better materials? Everyone present was puzzled.

Yes, better materials. Wu Hao nodded and said: "This is glass. Use quartz sand to bake glass, and then use glass as the main building material of our permanent lunar commercial research station."

Glass?

Experts and leaders started talking about it, and it was obvious that everyone had different opinions on Wu Hao and his team's choice of this material to build a permanent lunar commercial research station.

Are there such conditions for making glass on the moon? Zou Huanyi, Mr. Zou asked Wu Hao.

Facing everyone's gaze, Wu Hao smiled and slid the transparent tablet under his hand, then displayed a new picture, and then introduced it to everyone.

Of course, we have already begun to verify this technology and have made great progress in the laboratory. Wu Hao said with a smile: "It is very difficult to make glass in the harsh vacuum environment of the lunar surface, so we cannot use our current conventional glass production methods, at least not in the early stages."

So how to make glass on the moon, we came up with an excellent plan. "

Wu Hao said that Wu Hao was deliberately trying to pass it off. He paused for a moment until everyone started to look curious, and then he continued: "Why can't we print out these glasses?"

print it out?

The conference room suddenly became noisy, and one of the experts in his fifties asked him: "You mean 3D printing technology."

Wu Hao smiled and nodded: "Yes, 3D printing technology. At present, 3D printing technology has matured. We can now use various consumables to print a variety of products and models. From some toys to as large as airplanes and rockets Some important parts and so on.

So why can't we apply this technology to the moon? Melt the quartz sand on the moon into pure glass consumables, and then put these glass consumables into a special 3D printer, dissolve them again at high temperature into liquid glass, and then The required glass shape is printed using a special printing nozzle.

Then, these printed glasses are installed and assembled to build a glass lunar module. "

With that said, Wu Hao slid the folding screen under his hand, and a video was played on the big screen.

"This is a video recording of glass printed by our self-developed 3D glass printer in the laboratory. Please watch it.

We put these initially dissolved glass consumables into this 3D glass printer. The small electric furnace on the printer can quickly heat the glass to 1,600 degrees to form liquid glass. At this moment, these liquid glasses are like liquid juice, flowing very well. The liquid glass is introduced through a heating tube, flows into a special nozzle, and then 3D printed to print such a piece of glass product. "

"In the early days, because the technology was not mature enough, the glass we printed was not transparent, but the surface was uneven layer by layer. There were also some bubbles in the glass, which were trachoma produced during printing. Although Printing on the moon is in a vacuum state, and bubbles cannot appear. However, such trachoma holes will definitely affect the quality of the glass, thus posing safety risks.

Therefore, after our continuous experiments and improvements, the quality of our printed glass products has improved a lot.

You see, this is our latest printed glass. Not only is the surface very smooth, but it also has no layers of texture from previous printings. This also makes the glass very transparent, and there are no trachoma or bubbles on it. Such glass is very suitable for use in the construction of lunar cabins in permanent lunar commercial research stations. "

Looking at the light reflected on the 780-80cm square piece of transparent glass shown in the video, the experts and leaders watching nodded their heads one after another. The glass printed by this 3D glass printer is good, but can such glass really be used to build scientific research stations? Is it safe?

How thick can this glass be printed? Some experts asked.

Wu Hao smiled and answered: "The thickness can reach two centimeters."

In response to his answer, the expert nodded slightly, but still said with some worry: "The thickness of two centimeters is not bad, but if you want to withstand the huge pressure inside and outside the field, as well as various radiations from the universe, I am afraid it is still It's a bit weak. And if such a large glass breaks, the consequences may be disastrous."

After the expert finished speaking, other experts present nodded in agreement. Indeed, in everyone’s perception, glass is a fragile product. When using glass to build a scientific research station, the first thing everyone thinks about is whether it is really safe. And as this expert said, once such a large piece of glass breaks, it will have a devastating blow to the astronauts and scientists living in the scientific research station, so we have to be cautious.