Hand rubbing nuclear fusion live in the wilderness

Chapter 534 Possibility of Transforming Mars

On the virtual screen, both the earnestly-named barrage and the teasing barrage show big Korean won heads.

When will these sand sculpture netizens become individuals?
But the few names that occasionally flow through are still good.

For example, Chang'e Stone, Moon Rabbit Gold, Guanghan Palace and so on.

As a Chinese, he naturally knows the allusions behind these names, and naming them with traditional culture is indeed a good choice.

Han Yuan vaguely remembered that the satellites and rockets that took place in Huaguo had their own unique names if they were used for moon exploration or for special purposes.

For example, the moon exploration satellites are the 'Chang'e' series, the lunar patrol is called 'Yutu', or the previously established space station is called 'Tiangong'.

They are all beautiful names.

Judging from this naming method, Chang'e Stone and Moon Rabbit Gold also seem to be good.

Chang'e is in charge of the moon palace, and the entire moon is her territory, and Chang'e stones are also spread all over the moon from the current sampling.

Moon Rabbit is in charge of smashing medicine, and is relatively less responsible, and Moon Rabbit Gold has only been found in some of the moon rocks that were sampled.

The four exactly correspond to each other. It is indeed good to use this as the name of these two ores.

After all, no one stipulates that the name of a mineral must be defined by element names such as ferric oxide and aluminum oxide.

Moreover, the naming of Chang'e Stone and Moon Rabbit Gold is more in line with the aesthetics of Chinese people.

After finding several elemental minerals that were not found on Earth in simulated space, Won focused his attention on lunar water.

The basic task of the outer space exploration side-chain task 'resource collection' has been completed, and the remaining things can be analyzed by Xiao Ling.

Of course, if there is something of great value and noteworthy, he will definitely not miss it.

As for now, what is more important is whether the piece of lunar ice discovered by Xiaoqi meets the standards for use, and whether it contains any radiation-bearing substances is the key.

After all, this thing is related to whether the lunar base can be built and used normally.

Of course, for him, even if there are some impurities or harmful substances in the moon ice, he can remove them through some means.

It's just that the energy to be expended is even greater, and it would be better if it could be done.

Moreover, if there are impurities and harmful substances in the moon ice, it is not good news for the development of China in reality.

After all, compared to his own base, what Huaguo needs to build is definitely a city, and a city needs far more water than he alone.

It is temporarily unrealistic to transport water from the earth with space shuttles and spaceships. The water transported by this method is more expensive than gold.

So at present, if you want to build a base on the moon, you can only rely on the water resources on the moon.

This is also the reason why the aerospace communities of various countries are preparing to build bases on Mars instead of the moon in the current reality.

Because there are proven water resources on Mars.

Although no matter from the pictures circulated on the Internet or the photos of Mars sent back by the Mars probe, what we all see is an extremely barren world of Mars, just like the desert of the earth.

It's easy to give us a feeling that Mars is an extremely water-scarce world.

But in fact, there are actually a lot of water resources on Mars.

Not to mention the long-proven underground glaciers at the poles of Mars contain a large amount of water, even at the equator of Mars, there may also be a large amount of water resources.

A few years ago, the European Space Agency ESA's Trace Gas Orbiter detected a large amount of hydrogen in the central region of Mars' Mariner Grand Canyon.

If this hydrogen is all in the form of water molecules, then this means that as much as 40.00% of the near-surface material in this region will be water!

Of course, these data are only conjectures, which are only detected by the analyzer carried on the trace gas orbiter, and it is not necessarily certain that there is a large amount of ice at the bottom of the Grand Canyon.

After all, Europe does not yet have the strength to launch a probe vehicle into the central area of ​​the Mariner Grand Canyon.

However, for Won, it is certain that there is a large amount of Martian ice in the central area of ​​the Mariner Grand Canyon on Mars.

The first target point of the rover he launched to Mars is the central area of ​​the Grand Canyon.

There is a super ice layer with a thickness of nearly ten kilometers, a length of nearly a thousand kilometers, and a width of hundreds of kilometers, which is enough to support the construction of bases in various countries.

The detection structure of the moon water from the melting of the moon ice came out together with the detection results of the lunar soil and rocks.

When Han Yuan got the test data, his brows frowned slightly, and the expression on his face became more and more weird.

Destiny is really deceitful sometimes, often the more you worry about something, the more something will happen.

In this lunar water detection report, Xiaoling detected a large amount of carbon dioxide, dust impurities, and some beta radiation through the instrument.

These things are impurities. With these things, the moon ice cannot be melted and used directly, and needs to be purified by various means.

In addition, what surprised Han Yuan even more was that in the moon water melted by moon ice, more than one-third of the aqueous solution was not ordinary water, but heavy water.

Like ordinary water, heavy water is also a liquid compound formed by the combination of hydrogen and oxygen.

It's just that the hydrogen atoms of heavy water molecules and ordinary water molecules are different, which is related to the isotope of hydrogen.

As we all know, hydrogen has three isotopes.

One is 'proton', which contains only one proton; it combines with an oxygen atom to form an ordinary water molecule.

The other is heavy hydrogen 'deuterium', which contains a proton and a neutron; it can combine with an oxygen atom to form heavy water molecules.

There is also a superheavy hydrogen 'tritium', which contains two neutrons and a proton; after combining with an oxygen atom, superheavy water molecules can be produced.

The heavy water he found in moon water is the second type, D2O composed of deuterium oxygen, with a relative molecular mass of 20.0275; 2% higher than the relative molecular mass of ordinary water (H18.0153O) '11', so it is called heavy water.

It is a pity that although deuterium is the same number of hydrogen, the difference in properties is very small, and the chemical properties of the formed heavy water and ordinary water are also very similar, but the heavy water cannot be drunk!Can't drink!Can't drink!
It cannot be used to grow vegetables either, as it cannot germinate the seeds.

Moreover, if people and animals drink heavy water, it will cause death.

However, the special value of heavy water is reflected in the application of atomic energy technology.

First of all, to manufacture powerful nuclear weapons, heavy water is needed as a moderator in the nuclear fission reaction, as a moderator for neutrons, and as a material for producing heavy hydrogen.

In addition, part of the fuel used in the first generation of controlled nuclear fusion is heavy water, that is, deuterium oxide.

It is not surprising to find the existence of heavy water in the moon ice. After all, there is heavy water in the water on the earth, whether it is fresh water or sea water.

It's just that the content is very low, even in seawater, the content is less than 0.02%, and the content in fresh water is even lower, so there is no problem for daily drinking.

However, the content of heavy water in the moon water is astonishing, accounting for nearly one-third.

With this level of water, one sip can enter the hospital, two sips can enter the ICU, and three sips can lie on the board and go directly to the mountains.

Nearly one-third of the water in the moon water is heavy water, which Won never expected.

There is no shortage of this thing on the earth. Whether it is fresh water or sea water, there is a certain amount of heavy water, but it requires certain means to extract it.

Therefore, the value of the heavy water in the moon ice found on the moon is actually not that great.

On the contrary, if the content of this thing is too rich, it will be a trouble.

Because it is actually quite troublesome to separate this thing from ordinary water resources.

The first is that heavy water has similar physical and chemical properties to water.

比如普通水的密度为1克/立方厘米，而重水的密度为1.056克/立方厘米；普通水的沸点为100℃，重水的沸点为101.42℃；普通水的冰点为0℃，重水的冰点为 3.8℃.
Various physical and chemical properties are quite close, and common centrifugation or layered separation methods are not applicable.

In order to separate heavy water and water, it can only be obtained by repeated distillation by using different boiling points, or separated by electrolysis by using heavy water that cannot be electrolyzed.

In either case, it needs to be repeated continuously in order to completely separate water and heavy water.

So if you want to build a base or city near this lunar ice, and if you want to use these tens of billions of tons of lunar ice, how to separate heavy water from ordinary water must be considered.

But relatively speaking, separating heavy water is a troublesome thing.

But the separated heavy water is not without value and usefulness. On the contrary, its usefulness and value are actually quite large.

After all, a controlled nuclear fusion reactor burns heavy water.

So the best way is to build a controllable nuclear fusion reactor near this piece of lunar ice.

On the one hand, controllable nuclear fusion reactors can provide sufficient energy.

On the other hand, there is no need to transport deuterium-tritium fuel from the earth to the moon.

However, for bases on the moon, what is lacking is not heavy water, but ordinary water resources.

Heavy water accounts for nearly one-third of the proportion, which means that ordinary water resources are one-third less.

Calculated based on the total amount of lunar ice of 100 billion tons, nearly 30 billion tons of ordinary water resources have been lost in one fell swoop.

It is enough for an ordinary first-tier city with tens of millions of people to live for a whole year.

And 30 billion tons of heavy water, for a controllable nuclear fusion reactor, even a very large fusion reactor that can supply a province with one, can be used for tens of millions of years.

It can be said that after the discovery of this lunar ice, human beings will not lack deuterium fuel at all in the next development.

30 billion tons of heavy water is enough for human beings to waste every ton.

If there was no such thing as heavy water on Earth, the discoveries inside this patch of lunar ice would be huge.

But the problem is that there is no shortage of heavy water on the earth.

Although the content of heavy water in seawater is less than [-]/[-], if all the heavy water in seawater is extracted, it will be enough for human beings to use for billions of years, and there is no problem in using it to explode in the sun.

Therefore, the value of heavy water found in lunar ice is a bit embarrassing.

"Master, there is news from the rover on Mars."

In the laboratory, Xiaoqi's voice rang in Han Yuan's ear again.

"What news?" Han Yuan asked, looking up.

"Water sources. There are a lot of water sources under the surface of Mars. As of now, the rover has sent back the data. The rover has found a large amount of water in [-] places including the north and south poles of Mars, the Grand Canyon of the Mariner, and the Sassis Highlands. glaciers exist."

"According to current data estimates, if all these glaciers melted into water, it would be enough to cover the surface of Mars to form a nearly [-]-deep ocean."

"At present, the detector is still collecting data, and the total amount of water ice resources cannot be accurately determined, but it is initially estimated to exceed [-] million cubic kilometers."

Hearing this news, Han Yuan was a little surprised.

Although he knew there was water on Mars, he didn't expect there to be so much.

[-] million cubic kilometers of water ice, can be said to be described as a mass, which is about the same.

If all these water ices melt, a deep ocean of nearly 300 meters can be formed on the surface of Mars.

Mars, which was dry in the past, will completely become a Mercury.

The audience in the live broadcast room who heard the news were also surprised.

[On Mars, is there so much water? 】

[One billion cubic kilometers?How much is there, can you describe it with water. 】

[The total amount of water on the earth is about 13.86 billion cubic kilometers, and the total weight is 1.26 million tons.Calculated according to this data, the water ice resources on Mars are almost one-fifteenth of that on Earth, definitely a lot. 】

【Is it said that the surface of Mars is very dry?A bunch of liars! 】

[That's right, the surface of Mars is very dry and there is nothing wrong with it. The water exists underground in the form of ice. 】

[Can it be developed?With so much water, can Mars be developed into the next Earth? 】

[With so much water, immigration is definitely possible. As for whether it can be developed, I don’t know. 】

[It cannot be developed. The atmosphere on the surface of Mars is very thin, and the gravitational force is not strong enough. Once the water melts, it will run away and directly enter the universe. It will not stay at all, unless you can increase the thickness of the atmosphere on Mars. 】

[Then find a way to move some air from the earth? 】

【. . . . . 】

[Upstairs you have a good idea, it is a super super super super super super project. 】

[Upstairs, do you know how big Mars is? 】

[For this project, I might as well install elevators for Mount Everest and tiles for the Great Wall. 】

In the live broadcast room, the audience discussed a lot. At first, they were surprised by the abundance of water resources on Mars, but then, their attention quickly shifted to whether Mars can be developed.

After all, there are so many water resources, enough for human immigration.

But simple immigration cannot satisfy everyone's fantasies, and what can most satisfy fantasies is undoubtedly to transform the entire Mars and turn it into the next Earth.

Not only the audience in the live broadcast room are fantasizing, but even countries are also thinking about whether it is feasible to transform Mars into the next Earth after hearing the total amount of water ice resources on Mars.

If it can be done, the significance will undoubtedly be huge.

But the difficulty of this kind of thing can also be imagined.

(End of this chapter)