218: Chapter 218 Water Resources

Chu Ge didn't stay at the Flight Control Center all day today. With Commander Wang overseeing things there, he returned to his room after a short while; this place would serve as both his dormitory and his office from now on.

Upon opening the data terminal in his room, two flight logs were displayed: one from Yan Tianhao of the Research Department and one from a flight officer at the Flight Control Center.

Chu Ge first clicked on the latter. It displayed a set of positional coordinates, likely transmitted from the Soul Blade to the aerospace carrier, regarding the specific location and measurement data of the ice layer.

Chu Ge input the data into the lunar digital model beside him. The model showed that the location wasn't too far from their landing site, about 26 kilometers away.

Chu Ge continued scrolling down. From the photographic data sent back by the Soul Blade, this ice layer appeared to be at the bottom of a crater within the Aitken Basin, with the circular crater walls formed by meteorite impacts clearly visible.

Measurement data from the Soul Blade showed that the ice layer here wasn't continuous but intermittent, with a total length exceeding 200 kilometers.

Given that the entire South Pole-Aitken Basin spans nearly 2,500 kilometers, the area of the ice layer was neither particularly large nor small.

Chu Ge kept reading. The depth of the ice layer varied as well, ranging from tens of meters to nearly a thousand meters. Another characteristic of the ice layer was its morphology; it looked as if it had been crushed into powder and then compacted by a steamroller.

After finishing the log, Chu Ge closed it and thought for a moment. If this ice layer could be utilized, it would be enough for a period of time.

Furthermore, Chu Ge was certain there must be other ancient ice layers throughout the Aitken Basin; they just hadn't been discovered yet.

Pulling his thoughts back, Chu Ge clicked on Yan Tianhao's log. This was the test report for the ice samples, filled with dense data, as meticulous as Yan Tianhao's way of answering questions.

Chu Ge scanned the text quickly and soon found what he wanted to see. Through testing the melted lunar water, the report indicated that this water was very close to pure water in a scientific sense, similar to the water from ancient ice layers at Earth's poles, though no microorganisms were detected in it.

This also indirectly proved that the Moon is a celestial body devoid of any life.

Following that were Yan Tianhao's judgments based on the samples' characteristics: the ice layer had existed for a very long time, similar to ancient glaciers at Earth's North Pole, at least ten thousand years old. Low temperature, no sodium, and no minerals were its defining features.

Based on this, he judged that the ice layer was most likely comet water left behind by a comet hitting the Moon, or perhaps magmatic water produced by degassing during lunar volcanic eruptions; the former had the highest probability.

This was because he discovered clear stratification in the ice layer, meaning it was formed at different times over a long period. Combined with its powdery, compacted characteristics, it looked more like it was formed by comet impacts—and not just a single impact.

If combined with its discovery site, the South Pole-Aitken Basin, it could basically be determined that a significant portion of the ice layer had likely existed for billions of years, as the Aitken Basin was formed approximately billions of years ago.

This was impressive; it was even more ancient than the ancient ice layers at Earth's North Pole.

Then came the final paragraph at the end of the report: the water from the melted ice could be used directly for drinking, experiments, or industrial purposes without any issues. Moreover, it was purer and more ideal than the water resources on Earth.

Chu Ge let out a breath.

"If I'd known, I would have just skipped to the last line."

This kind of basic testing method didn't require much expert verification. With Yan Tianhao's report, Chu Ge basically made up his mind to establish a water treatment plant near the ice layer.

After finishing the two flight logs, Chu Ge got up and headed to the Research Department. He needed to gather relevant experts to see what model of plant could be built to convert these ancient ice layers into water resources he could use directly.

...

Earth, Washington, D.C., USA, NASA Headquarters.

Tom Brown finally received the bad news from the European Space Agency. Just like their own satellites, the ESA's lunar orbiter had also lost contact shortly after changing its orbit. The sequence of events was practically a sequel to the two American satellites.

Brown put down the phone. The Director of the European Space Agency had expressed a refusal to get further entangled in this matter. Although they still had one satellite in lunar orbit, the situation was currently unclear, and they didn't dare to change its orbit at will anymore. Otherwise, the losses would be too great; cutting losses was the Europeans' true mindset.

As for the lost satellite, they were sorry, but with current technology, it would be difficult to find the cause and would only waste more time. Even without China's warning, the Europeans had already designated that area as a forbidden zone and proactively withdrawn.

"Eternal cowards and losers!"

Tom Brown cursed, pondered for a moment, then grabbed the phone to report this news to the higher-ups. Whether they would seek cooperation or use threats and incentives after this was not up to him to decide...

After the call ended, he immediately dialed Rodriguez's office.

After a brief conversation, both men fell into silence. Rodriguez was thinking about the next strategy. From the current look of things, their allies couldn't be relied upon; they had become frightened birds. This matter still needed to be solved by the United States itself.

"Brown, it seems we need to launch a geostationary satellite or a polar-orbiting satellite for a specific range."

Rodriguez suggested after a moment of silence.

"Why?"

"Based on the three satellites that have had problems, they all encountered issues after changing their orbits. Polar-orbiting satellites, especially lunar ones, are mostly imaging satellites that require high resolution and low flight orbits; they are all low-orbit satellites."

"This type of satellite doesn't have a large coverage area, usually between a few hundred to a few thousand kilometers. Once the range is too large, the images will distort, affecting the survey results. Am I right?"

Rodriguez paused and asked back.

"Yes, I didn't expect a grand CIA Director to have researched our satellites so much. After you retire, I might consider letting you work at NASA, haha."

As Rodriguez's old friend, Tom Brown began to joke with him.

"Have you considered the possibility that the area covered after their orbital change is where all the problems lie?"

Rodriguez hit the nail on the head. Brown went silent; he had actually overlooked this key piece of information.

"I understand. I'll immediately arrange for personnel to conduct a technical feasibility study. Once that area is determined, I'll custom-make a few satellites for it. I don't believe it; I want to find out whether this series of accidents is due to human causes or some unknown factor."

"Good, I'll wait for your good news, Brown."

Rodriguez put down the phone, feeling a bit frustrated. Space competition is the ultimate test of a country's scientific and technological capabilities.

He increasingly felt that they had already fallen behind China by a large margin in the space race, even though at the moment, this was all just his intuition...