The Moon is the only natural satellite of the Earth and the fifth largest in the solar system. www.biquge.info The diameter of the Moon is a quarter of the diameter of the Earth, the mass is 1/81 of the Earth, relative to the planets it orbits, it is the most massive moon, and the second densest satellite in the solar system, second only to Europa.

The astronomical community generally believes that the Moon was formed about 4.5 billion years ago, not long after the appearance of the Earth. There are several hypotheses about the origin of the Moon, the most commonly accepted explanation being that it was formed by debris from a huge impact between Earth and Theia, a Mars-sized celestial body.

Because the Moon is very conspicuous in the sky, coupled with the regular changes in the phases of the Moon. Since ancient times, in addition to astronomy, the Moon has also had a significant impact on human culture, calendars, art, and mythology.

It is not too far from the orbit of the space city to the orbit of the moon. As the two orbits approached, the First Deep Space Resource Development Fleet chose an opportune time to set off.

The reason why the Moon was chosen as the first stop for interstellar resource collection is because the Moon is the closest celestial body to Earth. The Moon is now about 30 times the diameter of the Earth.

100 spaceships are traveling through the darkness of space and heading straight for the moon.

Yuan Haochen looked out of the porthole, and the moon hanging in the universe was already becoming more and more eye-catching.

Since the rotation of the Moon is synchronized with its revolution (tidal locking), it always faces the Earth on the same side.

In the vast universe, at this distance, the brightest celestial body other than the Sun is the Moon. Although it has a very bright white color, its surface is actually very dark and the reflectivity is only slightly higher than that of old asphalt.

"Slow down and prepare to enter the orbit around the moon."

The 1st Deep Space Resource Development Fleet, under unified deployment and command, entered the lunar orbit in an orderly manner and selected the right opportunity to land in a suitable target area.

Because there is no atmosphere on the Moon, and the heat capacity and thermal conductivity of the lunar surface are very low, the temperature difference between day and night on the surface of the Moon is very large. During the day, where the sun shines vertically, the temperature reaches up to 127C. At night, the temperature can drop to -183C.

"The Group A spacecraft successfully landed in the target area - Dream Lake."

"The spacecraft of Group B successfully landed in the target area - the Apennines."

"Group C spacecraft successfully landed in the target area - Platonic Crater."

"Group D spacecraft successfully landed in the target area - the Cold Sea."

......

The First Deep Space Resource Development Fleet is divided into a total of five groups, each of which has landed in their respective target areas as planned.

Before this lunar mineral resource mining operation, scientists of the Interstellar Exploration Alliance had already carried out a comprehensive exploration of the moon and had a detailed understanding of the moon's geological structure and resource reserves.

The Moon also has a layered structure such as crust, mantle, and nucleus. The average thickness of the outermost lunar crust is about kilometers. Below the lunar crust to a depth of 1,000 km is the lunar mantle, which occupies most of the moon's volume.

The bright areas of the moon's surface are highlands. The dark zone is a low-lying area such as a plain or basin, which is called the moon land and the moon sea, respectively. The bright part is the mountains, which are dotted with craters, known as moon craters, which are low-lying forms of annular uplifts. There are more than 33,000 craters on the moon with diameters greater than 1,000 meters. Located near Antarctica, the Bailey crater is 295 kilometers in diameter and can fit the entire island of Hainan. The deepest mountain is Newton's crater, which is 8,788 meters deep.

"The mountains and deep valleys are stacked on top of each other, and it is really a unique scenery."

Yuan Haochen successfully landed in Dream Lake with the A group of spacecraft, and he also stepped on the land of the moon for the first time, looking at the scenery in front of him, he said with emotion.

"Report to the commander, the teams of the First Deep Space Resource Development Fleet are ready, please instruct the next move!"

The head of the First Deep Space Resources Development Fleet, Crion, asked Yuan Haochen for instructions.

"Follow the set goals and start acting immediately!"

Yuan Haochen ordered succinctly.

"Obey your command!!"

A series of strangely shaped "mechanical monsters" roared out of the spaceship's back compartment.

Because the moon has no atmosphere, you can't hear the roar, but the sound of mechanical vibration can still be clearly transmitted to everyone through the ground beneath your feet, and the scene is very shocking.

These large, bizarre "mechanical monsters" were designed in combination with the prototypes of the exploration and excavation robots left by the Creator in the Sand Star underground city.

These exploration and excavation robots are highly automated and are able to work independently in the deep underground world, just like the Geocentric Builders responsible for building the Geocentric City.

"Boom~"

Another series of vibrations came from underfoot, this time with a different model of machinery for the exploration and excavation robots. With these two types of robots, it is possible to smelt ore directly on the surface or even underground into a variety of metal materials for extremely efficient resource harvesting.

"On the surface of the moon, both iron and aluminum are abundant. Taking iron as an example, the 5 centimeters of sand on the surface of the moon alone contains hundreds of millions of tons of iron, and the entire lunar surface has an average of 10 meters of sand. Iron on the surface of the moon is not only abundant, but also easy to mine and smelt. The moon is also extremely rich in other mineral resources, and the 17 most common elements on the earth abound on the moon. ”

The head of the First Deep Space Resource Development Fleet, Crion, enthusiastically introduced some specific mining plans to Yuan Haochen.

"For different mineral resources, the team of engineers also set up different collection procedures for the mining robots."

"Aluminium on the lunar surface is made up of complex structures called plagioclase, and it would be difficult to succeed on the lunar surface if it were made using conventional refining methods. After experiments and research, engineers set up a new process for aluminum-making for the mining robot. The specific method is to crush the moon rock, heat and melt it at 1700C, and then cool it to 100C to make a multi-mass ball, and then crush it, and add 100C sulfuric acid to it to leach aluminum. After the silicide was removed by centrifugal separation and filtration, it was pyrolyzed at a temperature of 900C to obtain a mixture of alumina and sodium sulfate. The sodium sulfate is then washed and dried, then mixed with carbon and heated at the same time, chlorine gas is added to react with it to produce aluminum chloride, which is electrolyzed to obtain the final product, pure aluminum. ”

In addition, the "slag" obtained after chemical treatment in the oxygen production process can continue to be smelted as long as appropriate industrial methods are used to refine titanium metal, which is extremely valuable in industry. The lunar soil also contains 40~50% silica, as long as the mining robot adds various trace additives to the lunar soil as needed, dissolves some useless components with sulfuric acid, and melts it at 1500~1700C, it can be made into lunar glass......"

(To be continued.) )