"Keep moving forward and go straight over the crater."

In the Yutu No. 1 telemetry command center, Li Zhiyun stared at the latest panoramic camera data transmitted back from the screen and gave this somewhat "risky" order.

In fact, in the last data return, the ground command center had already discovered the small crater lying across the path of Yutu-1, and the discussion on follow-up strategies had been going on for nearly two hours.

The Jade Rabbit had to enter the crater, because in the crater, there is a rare central peak.

It must reach the central peak, analyze the composition of the peak body with a spectrometer, and determine whether this central peak belongs to ilmenite peak.

But how to get in is not easy to decide.

The vast majority of people believe that a more secure approach should be taken, bypassing the outer wall directly in front of it and the overflow sediments, and entering through the gentle slope on the east side of the crater.

After all, now the Jade Rabbit is "alone" on the far side of the moon, and once there is a problem that exceeds its design capacity, then if you want to go to the rescue, you can only wait for Chang'e-5 to launch and send a new probe.

But the problem is that if you want to go around the outer wall of the crater, it means that Yutu-1 will have to travel close to 200 meters more.

It may not sound too far, but in reality, even the design standard speed of the Jade Rabbit can only reach 200 meters per hour.

The expected service life of its motor motor is actually only 20 hours.

According to comprehensive calculations, if you can walk two kilometers, you have fully achieved the expected goal, and the distance of two kilometers is still planned to be completed within three months.

One can imagine how significant the extra distance of 200 meters is for the Jade Rabbit.

Perhaps, with an additional 200 meters of life, the Yutu will be able to successfully reach the "iron mountain" of the "ultimate goal", find the ilmenite rich area, and mark the landing position for the subsequent Chang'e-5 and Yutu-2.

Therefore, in the choice of strategy, Li Zhiyun is particularly cautious.

And the reason why he finally made the decision to "directly cross the obstacle" is also related to the design of Yutu-1 itself.

In fact, this is no longer the original design of the Yutu, before the launch of Chang'e-3, due to the increase in the carrying capacity of the Long March-3 rocket, the Yutu also underwent an upgrade.

THE ORIGINAL WHEELED MANEUVER SYSTEM HAS NOT CHANGED, BUT IN ADDITION TO THE WHEELED SYSTEM, AN ADDITIONAL ESCAPE SYSTEM WEIGHING 29KG HAS BEEN ADDED.

Inspired by the four-claw excavator of the Moving Mountains project, the system can be activated when necessary to help the Jade Rabbit overcome rocky and dust obstacles.

In addition, the Jade Rabbit also adopts a more powerful motor, more abundant energy, and a more flexible operating system.

It is precisely because of the blessing of these systems that Li Zhiyun is willing to take this risk.

He is also afraid of failure, but he is more afraid of this world-renowned project than failure, which can only achieve mediocre results.

——

What is the ability to go to the moon? What kind of ability is it to shine a few stones with a spectrometer?

We were originally aiming for helium-3, and only when we really found the enrichment point of helium-3 could we complete the challenge.

As his order was given, it was quickly accepted by the Yutu, which was far away from the moon, after the transmission of the relay satellite.

After hours of waiting, its motor turned again, and the little "off-road vehicle" began to rush to the first "dune" to be conquered.

Everyone stared nervously at the screen in front of them, the transmission of information was not real-time, and the operation of the Jade Rabbit had to be quite predictable.

After a full half hour, the Jade Rabbit finally reached the edge of the crater.

Judging by the panoramic photos, its front wheels are already pressed against the raised outer wall of the crater rim.

The scale of this crater is not large, and the inclination angle of the outer wall is not high, far below the 20-degree climbing limit designed by the Jade Rabbit, and there is no difficulty in climbing the outer wall.

The real challenge is in the inner wall, which is much more inclined than the outer wall due to the ejection and accumulation of material during the impact formation, with a slope of more than 30 and is directly connected to the bottom of the pit, and in the event of a slippage, it is even possible for the Jade Rabbit to roll directly to the bottom of the pit.

But in reality, at this point, there is no room for the staff on the ground to operate.

All they can do is wait.

In the entire command room, there were only short command calls and the humming of machines.

And a full hour later, with the latest panoramic photos being transmitted, everyone in the command room let out a unified sigh of surprise.

Spontaneous applause followed.

"Good! It's to the bottom of the pit! ”

"Keep going! 110 meters from the central peak! ”

"The signal is normal, the Jade Rabbit has completed the self-test, and it is in good condition!"

"The heat dissipation of the motor is normal, the temperature is normal!"

"The modules are working fine!"

Successive commands sounded, and Li Zhiyun finally breathed a sigh of relief.

It seems that the reliability of the Jade Rabbit is even higher than expected, and it has not even suffered the slightest damage other than more dust on the solar panels.

In addition, the operation of the motor is extremely stable, and it is clear that the performance of this upgraded motor is much more powerful than what is written in the paper report

The next step is to go to the central peak and determine the composition of the Iron Mountain.

At a distance of 110 meters, the Jade Rabbit was moving at full speed.

The inside of the crater is a smooth road, and on the soft and dusty ground, the advantages of wheeled drive are not as good as those of tracks, but they also fully achieve the desired effect.

In just two hours, after two short heat dissipation repairs, the Jade Rabbit reached the south of Iron Mountain.

The robotic arm is extended, the sample collection is complete, and the spectrometer begins to work.

The first compositional analysis report was sent back two hours later and was immediately sent to the relevant researchers of the Institute of Geology and the Institute of Materials.

By this time, the work of the command center was almost complete.

In fact, it's time for their shifts too.

But no one left.

Because they all know that the analysis of the Institute of Geology will reach a conclusion within half an hour, and their conclusion will determine the "upper limit" of what can be achieved in the final part of this mission in a real sense.

"It should be ilmenite, I heard that the central peak of the crater is most likely a metal rock sedimentary area, and the results of several previous spectral measurements on the periphery are also relatively optimistic."

"Not necessarily, the distribution of ores on the surface of the moon is still relatively random."

"It's a matter of luck, but I think we're lucky."

"What if I can't find it this time?"

"There is also a potential mine about 400 meters to the northwest that can be climbed up a gentle slope"

Li Zhiyun was still sitting in front of the computer, listening to everyone's whispers, he was both a little amused and relieved.

Everyone was looking forward to the success of the mission, but they were ready for failure.

——

However, it seems that such preparations are unnecessary.

He stood up, raised his hand to everyone, and said:

"Everyone."

"I just received the results of the analysis from the Institute of Geology."

"According to their conclusions, the ore samples collected from the central peak of the crape myrtle ring pit in the Guanghangong area are rich in titanium."

"At the same time, according to the spectral results, a large number of nanoscale bubbles were found in the perovskite."

"We've found a helium-3 mine!"

"So, why is it said that there are bubbles in iron ore, which means that there is helium-3 on the moon?"

In the office, Li Xiang asked curiously.

"It's not iron ore, it's ilmenite."

"In addition, this does not mean that there is helium-3 on the moon, and the fact that there is helium-3 on the moon does not need to be explained, it shows that there are obvious helium-3 enrichment areas on the moon."

Chen Nian continued to explain while flipping through the latest report in hand:

"First of all, let's make it clear that ilmenite and helium-3 are not primitive symbiotic relationships."

"Ilmenite is 'indigenous' on the moon and was formed by magmatic activity on the moon 2 billion years ago."

"In these ilmenites, the atoms are neatly arranged, figuratively like neatly stacked stones."

"Because there is no magnetic field like the Earth, the solar wind will inject helium atoms into the ilmenite lattice, like injecting sand into the void of gravel, and this process is like a 'charging' of helium."

"After the charging is completed, the helium atoms, which should come and go freely between the voids, are blocked by the disorderly accumulation of ilmenite surface atoms due to the solar wind, forming a glass layer."

"Due to the dense glass layer, the fine "sand" can no longer pass through the "compacted" surface and will eventually stay in the glass layer in the form of bubbles. ”

"And this is the process of helium-3 enrichment in ilmenite."

After speaking, Chen Nian took a sip of water, eased his throat a little, and continued:

"The reason why we say that the discovery of helium-3 bubbles this time is significant is that the helium-3 elements we have discovered in the past are basically distributed in the lunar soil in an 'average' way."

"It's very difficult and inefficient to collect these helium-3 elements."

"There have even been assumptions that the collection will be done through dust collection, but the problem is that in the process of dust raising, the problem of helium-3 diffusion will be infinitely magnified, and the end result may be that the helium-3 present in these plasmas will be released back into space."

"There is no doubt that this is a huge waste. But this time is different, after determining the presence of helium-3 bubbles in ilmenite, we can collect ilmenite first, and then collect helium-3 in a closed environment by mechanical crushing. ”

"Groundbreaking both in terms of efficiency and safety"

"Understood."

Li Xiang nodded slightly, then said with a smile:

"So, your prediction has come true again."

"I still remember when you said that there must be ilmenite-rich areas and helium-3 bubbles on the moon, many scholars still objected."

"Now, they all have nothing to say."

"Not really."

Chen Nian hurriedly shook his head.

"The basis for their judgment is actually very convincing, after all, our research in this field is still relatively lagging behind."

"Can the lattice structure of ilmenite on the Moon really support the encapsulation of helium-3? Can it really be stable after the package? These are all problems that can only be solved by relying on field surveys, and I am just making bold assumptions and carefully verifying them. ”

Chen Nian's words were modest, but in fact, he never had any doubts about helium-3 bubbles.

After all, in the last life, this was an already proven "fact".

Even at that time, the media gave this special ilmenite a name called "Chang'e Stone".

According to theoretical speculation, a ton of Chang'e stone can extract ilmenite weighing more than 30 kilograms, and the total amount of helium-3 contained in it is more than 100 grams.

Looking at Chen Nian's expression, Li Xiang smiled understandingly, and did not continue to ask.

After a pause, he digressed and continued:

"The discovery of helium-3 this time is estimated to blow up another wave in public opinion."

"Do you remember the new North American alliance we talked about earlier? They have been making a lot of trouble recently, and as soon as Yutu-1 landed, they were already used as a weapon to attack NASA. ”

"Now that there are new achievements, I guess, they will not let go of this opportunity."

"What did they do?"

Chen Nian asked curiously.

"Hacked NASA's system, retrieved some information with a low level of confidentiality, and attacked NASA with the data in the data, accusing them of abusing R&D funds, transferring interests with commercial companies, deliberately slowing down the progress of the Artemis project, and manipulating the stock market."

"In short, all the points they can think of, basically have been rotated."

"What's even more outrageous is that they have also set up a special team to do this, legally separating themselves from the main body of the new North American alliance."

"The U.S. officials want to arrest people, and they only catch peripheral personnel doing black work."

"I have to say that they did a very professional job, maybe someone is remote behind it."

"Something to do with us?"

Chen Nian asked subconsciously.

"No, we guess it's CUBA."

"CUBA can they have the strength to get NASA data??"

Chen Nian's eyes widened in surprise.

Hearing Gao's words, Li Xiang couldn't help but laugh.

"This is the funniest point in this matter-—— they didn't really hack the system, but used social workers."

"They rebelled against three core NASA personnel, one was responsible for getting the data, one was responsible for security clearance, and one was responsible for moving the data as a cleaner."

"Do you know how low the cost of this solution is? According to the information we got, it cost less than two million dollars, which made us all excited."

"it."

Chen Nian couldn't help but exclaim.

Two million dollars is really a small amount on the intelligence battlefield.

——

However, objectively speaking, the ability to achieve such an effect is actually related to the foundation of the new North American alliance itself.

If Huaxia does this, it is estimated that it will not be able to take ten times the price.

The two chatted casually, and at this time, the news of Yutu 2's discovery of helium 3 had also spread to the world through official channels.

But neither Chen Nian nor Li Xiang could have imagined that the first "major impact" caused by this news did not occur in the field of scientific research, or even in the field of economics, but in the field of .

In the middle of a desert, in a small village.

Under the moon.

A bearded man said in a heavy tone:

"The moon has been destroyed, and the end of mankind is coming!"

(End of chapter)