194: Chapter 194 Deep Space Isolated Ore Marker, Lunar Base Countdown!

Alien civilization navigation timer, Day 126.

5:20 PM, Pangu Laboratory, Level B2.

Su Che expanded that line of small text.

The anomaly signal analysis report automatically marked by the Deep Space Main God AI filled half of the secondary screen.

The signal source coordinates were anchored at 23 million kilometers outside the Mars orbit, a vacuum zone that, according to the known Solar System model, should have nothing.

The echo from the Quantum Radar was broken down by the main god ai into twelve frequency bands for layer-by-layer analysis.

It was not a man-made object, nor was it a natural celestial body.

It was a cluster of high-density metal scattered in deep space.

The composition estimates were listed on the right side of the screen: extremely high content of platinum-group elements, accompanied by iridium, osmium, ruthenium, and several superheavy isotopes whose annual production on Earth is measured in grams.

Zhao Mingyuan had approached behind the main screen at some point, clutching an unopened Snickers bar in his hand.

"A lump of platinum floating in an empty area 23 million kilometers away?"

"Not just platinum." Su Che enlarged the spectrogram. "Several superheavy isotopes; the entire year's output on Earth piled together wouldn't be enough to fill the gaps between teeth."

Zhao Mingyuan bit open the packaging.

"That's not a treasure; that's a space-version Hetian jade mine."

Su Che did not respond.

If they were to truly cope with potential future interstellar threats, the Nantianmen Project would inevitably need to continue upgrading. These rare metals and superheavy isotopes would be indispensable key materials when the time came.

But 23 million kilometers.

The luan bird was still lying in the Dry Dock.

"Mark the coordinates and save them into the Deep Space Main God AI's strategic resource database." Su Che entered the command on the keyboard. "After the luan bird is completed, this will be the first stop."

Zhao Mingyuan hummed vaguely while chewing the Snickers bar and dragged his chair back to his workstation.

Su Che closed the anomaly signal panel and switched back to the code repository for the deep space in-situ resource supply system.

The third-layer control loop for the icy celestial body hydrogen isotope extraction module was waiting behind the cursor.

The bottleneck in the extraction process was temperature.

The surface of icy celestial bodies is permanently below minus two hundred degrees Celsius; hydrogen isotopes must be extracted through localized heating and sublimation.

If the heating is too intense, the ice layer shatters and explodes, and the gas disperses into the vacuum.

If the heating is too slow, deep space radiative cooling offsets the heat input, and the extraction efficiency drops to zero.

"Academician Sun." Su Che called out.

Academician Sun Qiwen walked over from the U-shaped array area.

His large enamel mug was left on Academician Zhang Weide's folding table; he walked to the main console empty-handed.

"How should we choose the localized heating for the icy celestial body?" Su Che pushed two alternative plans to the secondary screen. "Microwave directional, or laser pulse distillation?"

Academician Sun Qiwen stood there and watched for half a minute.

"Microwave penetration is controllable, and the heating is uniform, but the dielectric constant of icy celestial bodies varies greatly between individuals, making it difficult to lock in parameters."

"What about laser?"

"High precision; it can achieve precise thermal control within one square meter, but the surface temperature rises too rapidly and is prone to collapse."

"Dual-mode parallel." Su Che pulled over an A4 sheet and drew a simple diagram. "Microwave for base preheating, pulling from minus two hundred degrees to minus sixty degrees at a constant speed, then laser takes over for precise distillation—a two-stage switch."

Academician Sun Qiwen took the paper and scanned it twice.

"Thermodynamically self-consistent. I'll produce the power density parameters for the microwave source tonight." He put the paper back on the desk and turned back to retrieve his enamel mug.

Alien civilization navigation timer, Day 127.

9:00 AM.

On the east side of Level B2, Liu Huaqiang arranged a master progress chart on the whiteboard, listing four branches on the left.

Mining finalized, Surveying finalized, Synthesis in progress, Recycling in progress.

"The recycling closed-loop rate is stuck at 94%." Zhao Mingyuan's voice drifted from his workstation. "The tail gas treatment for waste metal purification hasn't closed yet."

"What is the composition of the tail gas?" Liu Huaqiang turned his head.

"Trace amounts of fluorides and carbon oxides; the concentration isn't high, but if it enters the ship's internal circulation, it will corrode the pipelines."

Wen Bo was crouching under the console, fishing for a test sample that had slipped into a crevice, half his head poking out.

"Use alkaline activated carbon for tail gas adsorption. After adsorption saturation, perform high-temperature regeneration, collect the concentrated gas, and recycle the carbon source."

Zhao Mingyuan tapped the keyboard a few times.

"The closed-loop rate is up to 96%."

"The target is above 97%." Su Che spoke from the main console. "The remaining gap is in the biodegradation of food waste."

"Academician Chen Shian is coming over from the Chinese Academy of Sciences Life Sciences Division this afternoon." Liu Huaqiang added a note on the whiteboard. "He's bringing a set of microbial degradation data."

Su Che did not ask further.

The lunar image in the lower-left corner of the monitoring wall refreshed silently. A cluster of fifty robots was operating synchronously on the south side of the crater, and the outer wall of the fifth spare maintenance workshop had been built to the last few layers.

The building material molding machine was still spitting out bricks, and the lunar soil bricks in the storage yard were piled as high as three meters.

Output exceeded consumption, and the construction speed was still increasing.

Su Che withdrew his gaze and continued to gnaw on the code.

2:00 PM.

Academician Chen Shian walked into Level B2 carrying a black briefcase.

His white lab coat didn't fit very well, but his hair was combed meticulously, completely at odds with the messy style of the room.

"Degradation data of anaerobic bacteria in a space environment." Academician Chen Shian opened his briefcase and placed a stack of neatly bound reports on Zhao Mingyuan's desk. "Seventy-two sets of control experiments."

Zhao Mingyuan opened the first page.

"The decomposition cycle in a microgravity environment is 20% faster than on the ground?"

"The bacterial biofilm structure is denser in microgravity, and the metabolic efficiency is higher." Academician Chen Shian straightened his collar. "The products are mainly methane and carbon dioxide, which flow directly into the carbon cycle."

Zhao Mingyuan connected the data and ran a simulation.

Closed-loop rate: 97.3%.

"It passed the line." Zhao Mingyuan leaned back.

"There is still room for optimization in the backend; push it toward 98%." Su Che did not take his eyes off the main screen.

Zhao Mingyuan's arm, which he had raised halfway, dropped back down.

Alien civilization navigation timer, Day 128.

10:00 AM.

Academician Zhang Weide came out of the Pangu Quantum Computer area and slapped a stack of neatly folded printed papers next to Su Che's keyboard.

"The structural verification of the asteroid capture device is complete. The torque sensor adaptive compensation is effective, and all heterogeneous targets under five thousand tons can be stabilized."

"Finalized, archived." Su Che flipped to the last page to check the conclusion and closed it.

The holographic projection of Kaitian Base lit up.

Zhou Dehai had changed into a clean anti-static suit; the processing noise of the Zhulong machine tool in the background could be felt even through the projection.

"Capture device joint drive motor, the first version is out."

Zhou Dehai held up a silver cylinder the size of a fist and shook it. "The continuous service life in vacuum conditions is twenty thousand hours. It was produced in the same batch as the drill bit blades. Wen Bo's formula is ridiculously hard; it gnawed on the iron-nickel alloy sample for two hours without chipping."

Su Che scanned the overall progress.

Mining hardware produced, survey algorithms finalized, synthesis line Academician Sun Qiwen is optimizing the purification parameters of the micro-cyclotron, and the recycling line Zhao Mingyuan is polishing the backend closed-loop.

More than halfway through; it will take a few more days to wrap up.

Academician Qian Zhenhua walked out of the cabinet area.

"The resource survey algorithm underwent a round of deep space field tests. The Quantum Radar scanned the asteroid belt for twenty minutes and screened out eleven high-value water-ice targets."

He pulled up the star chart on the public screen and marked four new points. "Four more appeared near the orbit of Ceres. The density of C-type carbonaceous asteroids in that area is 30% higher than the average."

Su Che looked at the eleven highlighted markers spread across the star chart.

Eleven natural gas stations.

The luan bird's desert supply network was weaving tighter and tighter.

4:00 PM.

Lin Waner turned in from the end of the corridor, carrying a bag of roasted sweet potatoes in a kraft paper bag.

She placed the sweet potatoes on the folding table in the middle of the hall and clapped her palms twice.

"Freshly arrived sandy soil sweet potatoes; the cafeteria auntie had a few left."

Wen Bo was the first to dash over.

"Handmade Geng's girlfriend is always better at managing life than Handmade Geng himself." Wen Bo grabbed the largest one, peeled the skin, and the orange-yellow potato flesh was hot to the touch.

Zhao Mingyuan strode to the table in three steps.

Academician Li Zhengyang didn't rush, screwing the lid of his thermos tight before getting up.

Academician Chen Shian took out a pack of wet wipes from his briefcase, wiped his hands, walked over, and chose one.

Academician Zhang Weide didn't move, keeping his head down and continuing to press the calculator.

Academician Sun Qiwen finally retrieved his enamel mug from Academician Zhang Weide's desk, with the mug in one hand and a sweet potato in the other, crouching beside the folding table to eat.

Su Che glanced back from the main console.

A group of top scientists with an average age of over fifty, crouching beside a folding table eating sweet potatoes.

He turned back to the keyboard.

Lin Waner walked to the side of the main console and placed a sweet potato next to his right hand.

"Don't refuse to eat."

Su Che picked it up and took a bite.

The taste was good.

His left hand continued to type code, while his right hand held the sweet potato.

Alien civilization navigation timer, Day 129.

8:00 AM.

Su Che sealed the third-layer control loop for the icy celestial body hydrogen isotope extraction module.

The dual-mode parallel heating simulation ran seven perfect rounds, and the mining and survey lines of the supply system had been finalized and archived.

The synthesis line and recycling line still had final loose ends to be tied up; it would take a few more days.

An encrypted communication request from Lieutenant General Peng Zhenbang popped up on the main screen.

Su Che connected.

"Chief Engineer Su." Lieutenant General Peng Zhenbang's voice carried an uncommonly relaxed tone. "The six infrastructure facilities, including the lunar base and the energy station, are basically completed."

Su Che switched to the real-time lunar image in the lower-left corner of the monitoring wall.

On the wasteland on the south side of the crater, the indicator light of the fusion energy station was steadily glowing green, and the other five main buildings were scattered around.

The anti-radiation coating shimmered with a uniform metallic luster under the long, oblique sunlight.

The Quantum Communication antenna at the top of the communication relay station was fully deployed, and the resource module, life support module, and logistics center were all topped out.

The internal pipelines of the last spare maintenance workshop were being laid.

Of the fifty robots, ten were assigned to interior decoration, and forty were working on hardening the surrounding site and walkways.

Lieutenant General Peng Zhenbang continued, "Spend two more days on finishing work, and it will be completely done the day after tomorrow."

Su Che stared at the warm yellow lights on the lunar surface.

380,000 kilometers away, from nothing to something.

One energy station, five main buildings, one complete permanent base.

"Received."

He hung up the communication.

No one in Level B2 specifically looked at the monitoring screen.

But everyone knew what was happening up there.

Liu Huaqiang sat in his seat on the east side, writing two characters in his notebook with an automatic pencil: Moon.

He drew half a checkmark behind it.

When everything was finished, he would complete the checkmark.

Su Che turned back to the code repository.

The Moon was almost done.

The supply system was still a few days away.

The luan bird continued to swallow components in the Dry Dock.

The Solar System is vast.

But the footprints of the Dragon Nation had already stepped on the lunar soil 380,000 kilometers away.

The next step is to step even further.

He flipped through the coordinates of that isolated deep space mineral deposit 23 million kilometers away in his mind.

The luan bird needs to be faster.