The main members of the advance team came from the exploration department, and they longed for exploration, but they knew that in the harsh environment, without reliable rear support, no matter what they did, it was unrealistic, and everyone forced themselves to calm down and complete the construction of the base first.

In the original planning of the Hope Base, the resettlement area was the most priority, which was the source of the small home of the advance team members, so that they could work with peace of mind.

With the completion of the construction of the resettlement area, the three joint production workshops were completely launched, and the raw ore provided by the mine 3 kilometers away, combined with the spare parts carried on the spacecraft that could not be produced by itself, endless unmanned units poured out one after another.

Unmanned units join the production sequence, which is equivalent to letting them burst out of 1,000 people, 10,000 productivity, the underground space is becoming more and more spacious day by day, forming an underground passage extending in all directions, which connects more underground space, and successively, there are medium-sized storage space, medium-sized life-supporting facilities, small firearms factories, small daily necessities factories, small chemical factories, small synthetic food factories completed...

In order to enrich the lives of the team members, the underground space has also been circled as a small space of 1,000 square meters, as a commercial area, which includes completely unmanned medical, entertainment, food, relaxation and leisure facilities, so that the good attitude of the team members can continue to be maintained after the end of the "Starting from Zero" experience and the completion of the immigration area.

Even if the second-generation city module is adopted, in the case of low productivity and shortage of materials, the construction of the base cannot be comparable to the speed of one urban area a month in the base camp, and in the blink of an eye, in the past two months, during which the advance team has spent most of its time in construction. It's not that you're completely stuck at the base, and you're going to be able to hold things back if you stay like this.

The advance team organized several expeditions as a pastime, and not far away, once they went 10 kilometers underground, allowing them to discover an underground gem mine, mainly rubies. It is alumina that appears red when chromium is penetrated.

It stands to reason that human technology has long been able to create artificial gemstones, because it is completely natural, and there are high reserves of more than 10 billion carats, plus everyone will be given a fingernail-sized ruby on their head after returning home, which makes the team feel that the trip is worthwhile.

On another occasion, the Joe Canal brought the employees to the surface, aiming for a high mountain 8 kilometers away. According to satellites, the peak is the highest within a 100-kilometre radius of 3,000 metres. They plan to set up a temporary camp on it, so that even if the White Lotus Princess is temporarily hidden, it can still maintain neutrino communication with the base camp.

Climbing the mountain is a joyful and painful process, and the temperature around the mountain can plummet to 50 degrees Celsius above 1,000 meters, but many people are tired and out of breath because of the 1.8 times the standard gravity. Muscle soreness before overcoming gravity. Arrive at the finish line.

……

Qiao Canal swept the report, by the end of 2075, I hope that the initial construction of the base will be completed, due to the arrival of the New Year, so there is a lot less work arranged these days, and many people simply ask for leave.

I have to admit it. Life in Centaur Alpha was indeed difficult, and so was the city of Paradise outside the world, but after the completion of the construction of the urban area from the three underground floors to the underground ocean part, the environment suddenly became comfortable and pleasant.

No matter how you look at it, there is no way to solve this problem, and there is no place that can become livable. Or where there is value in transformation, unless it costs trillions, tens of trillions of patience to transform, which is obviously not necessary.

This long-lost hardship made him feel his own existence, and even proud that humanity had conquered this remote and terrifying planet.

"But starting next year, this situation will be alleviated, and we will have to step farther." He muttered to himself, thinking about what he was going to do next year.

The first is the construction of the air port, so that their two Moon-Leap ships can fly out and start exploring the entire planet, and even if the full maintenance of the White Lotus Princess is completed, they will be able to do a more detailed survey of the rest of Centaur Alpha.

Then there's the issue of water and energy, which are scarce on Hope.

So close to the star, no natural water remains, and either evaporates into the void of space or evolves into other forms; Energy is another issue, so far they have not found helium-3, deuterium-tritium and other conventional raw materials for fusion energy reactors, so they have to rely on the spacecraft to reserve enough raw materials to meet short-term needs, after the establishment of the city, it will definitely not be enough.

"Water and energy, do you have a solution to these two problems?"

During the last internal discussion before the New Year, Joe Canal called everyone together to discuss plans for next year and asked questions.

"I'm proposing a chemical way to make water." The team member who spoke was once a Master of Science student and knew this very well.

"There are many chemical reactions that can obtain water, and if the raw materials are abundant and cheap, then with a little more energy, you can get an infinite amount of water," he said. ”

"For example, acid-base neutralization can produce water; There are hydroxide in the chemical reactants, and hydrogen can form water; Water can be generated by heating the crystals; Hydroxides, which are insoluble in water, can be heated to produce water; The reduction of oxides and hydrogen produces water, which is actually present all around us. ”

"Chemically made water? Even water-scarce countries such as Persia have not used this method, is it really possible? It didn't take long for more players who felt they rarely heard this approach to question.

"Of course...", the proposed team members calculated for everyone, such as the acid-base neutralization formula known to middle school students, Fe2O3 + 6HCl = 2FeCl3 + 3H2O, 1 ton of raw materials will produce about 160 kg of water. Everyone saves every year, it needs about 10 tons of pure water, as for agricultural and industrial water, if the way of recycling and saving water production technology is up to 10 times that of domestic water, we will consume no more than 5,500 tons of water resources next year, according to the above formula, find 30,000 tons of raw materials can be achieved, is it very difficult? ”

"Actually, the main reason why we have never used this method in the past is the cost, but unlike Hope, water is always more expensive than the raw ore that can be found everywhere, and any way to convert the raw ore into water is cost-effective."

The proponent's argument was reasonable, which gave the team a lot of confidence, thinking that it was worth trying, and even hoped that they would not produce the 5,500 tons of passing line, and that would be a good thing if there was more enough to give the advance team hundreds of thousands of tons of water to squander. (To be continued.) )

PS: It's the New Year, don't say anything, first wish everyone a good year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!