Origin of Mars

Chapter 10
Finally, while Fang Liang waited with anticipation, all the industrial robots had climbed over the hills and rocks and arrived at the huge crater.

The pictures they transmitted back were pieced together by zero, showing Fang Liang the magnificence and shock of this huge pit in a more concrete way.

"It was found that a high concentration of iridium exists, not only in the crater, but also in a large area around it."

"The presence of ice was found 6 meters below the surface of the pothole."

"There are many types of metals, and further exploration is underway~"

Zero said in an orderly manner, and Fang Liang's eyes widened when he heard the second message!

ice? !
This crater is really a huge cornucopia. Not only does it have a very high content of iridium, but there is even an ice layer less than ten meters underground!
The existence of ice means that there is liquid water, and these ice layers must not have been polluted, which means that the produced liquid water source is likely to be drinkable, as a daily need.

Although Fang Liang's exoskeleton armor gave him many abilities, such as long-term oxygen supply, propulsion device, armor deformation, and a series of BT abilities.

But he is still a mortal body and must eat and drink.

Previously, Fang Liang saw some portable liquid food and three tubes of purified water in the origin base, which should be the "novice gift package" that comes with the system.

How long can these supplies last, five days?a week?Or a month?

At first Fang Liang was complacent about his grand vision, but later he realized that everything he said was empty talk without solving the most basic living supplies.

If you have nothing to eat or drink and want to start a big business, it’s not bad if you don’t starve to death.

"Let the industrial robot enter the pothole to see how big the ice layer is."

At this time, compared to the hard and domineering iridium, Fang Liang is more interested in this gentle ice layer and the tender water in it.

"These ice sheets cover the entire pothole, spanning four kilometers and nearly 500 meters deep, like an ice sheet, covering it."

"Due to the cold trap effect, the air flowing over the ice is cooled, forming a hard barrier between the ice in the crater and the warm atmosphere. This barrier is the key to keeping the ice in the crater for a long time."

The industrial robot continued to march towards the pothole according to the zero-planned route, and the returned data was clearly displayed on Fang Liang's mask.

awesome.
Fang Liang nodded excitedly, staring at the layer of ice marked as the blue area, not knowing what to say.

"The plan changed to have industrial robots start exploiting these ice formations to get enough water."

A few minutes later, Fang Liang collected his thoughts and issued a new order.

"Understood, do you need me to set up a plan for you?"

"I don't need it for now, I have an idea!"

Fang Liang stared at the robotic arm on the lander beside him with piercing eyes, and a sudden idea had already formed in his mind.

Could water be extracted from these ice sheets, which are hundreds of meters thick, in a similar way to drilling oil wells?
The ice that has been deposited for countless years is even as hard as rock. Fang Liang's idea is to use a drill to drill through the overlying debris layer and heat the ice layer to form an underground water storage layer.

This underground aquifer is a huge pool of water that is maintained by a continuous supply of heat, forming a reservoir and a continuous water supply system.

This thought made Fang Liang tremble with excitement, and he immediately told it and Zero in full.

Ling Wenyan, his pupils flickered rhythmically, thinking and analyzing at the highest speed.

"It is entirely possible to realize it, and it can even be regarded as the optimal solution."

Then, Zero replied with a smile.

"The only thing to determine is the size of the reservoir, and the proportion of heat that is transported."

"...The bigger the better, we need a lot of water resources, enough to open a planting base, this is my current thinking."

Fang Liang pondered and gave an answer.

"Regarding the matter of planting farms, after analysis and exploration, some soil conditions on this land can meet the growth needs of crops. The basic conditions that need to be considered are light and nutrients."

"What about that seed?"

"There is a refrigerated warehouse in the origin base, which stores nearly thirty kinds of plants, eleven of which are edible crops."

Are there seeds in the base?

Fang Liang was a little surprised. The series of harvests made him a little overwhelmed, and he even forgot to think about where to get the seeds.

But he didn't expect that there would be seeds stored in this origin base.

"Okay, let's do one thing at a time. Tomorrow we should think about the transportation equipment."

Fang Liang exhaled, suddenly feeling a little tired, and subconsciously glanced at the sky, but saw a small round ball approaching the top of the mountain, filling the whole sky with a faint blue halo, and he was stunned for a moment. land.

Is that the sun?
Fang Liang didn't realize it for a while. In his impression, the sunset was brilliant and beautiful. The orange light filled the whole sky. The huge round sun slowly set down the hill. It was a very shocking moment.

In the picture in front of me, the sun seems to have shrunk by a large circle, like a stunted child, exuding a slightly weird blue light, and is gradually disappearing on the edge of the mountain.

This picture is not beautiful, and even has a slightly weird atmosphere, but against the backdrop of a vast and barren land, it actually reveals the charm of vastness and loneliness.

This spectacle made Fang Liang smile slightly. He immediately stepped forward, moved the lander, and pointed the camera at this fantastic "blue sunset".

And this scene completely fell into the big screen, and the wild and hazy blue fell into Yu Han's eyes, making him a little at a loss.

What's the situation. This alien robot is sharing the sunset with them? ?

"Blue Sunset"

Lin Lu murmured.

"It should be because some suspended particles with larger diameters in the Martian atmosphere block the warmer light with longer wavelengths, so it appears such a dreamy blue color. The normal sunset on Mars should also be yellowish in color."

A scholar quickly saw the reason behind it and explained.

"This is almost a gesture of goodwill, right? You don't see such a scene on Mars a few times a year."

said an engineer.

Not only him, everyone present could clearly see Fang Liang walking in front of the lander, gently moving the [-]-jin behemoth, and pointing the overhead camera at the sky.

"If it's a gesture of goodwill, I think we can celebrate with a bottle of champagne."

Yu Han smiled wryly.

Based on his thinking, he still can't see what this robot wants to do. Its every move is extremely similar to that of a human being, and even its body proportions are similar.

This makes Yu Han have a weird idea from time to time: Could this be a blue star person? ?
"It may not be a robot at all, but an alien with countless pieces of exoskeleton machinery!"

Lin Lu excitedly licked his lips and clenched his fists back and forth. This is his old habit. He would do this even when he solved a math problem in college: "This can explain its various actions! It doesn't look like a The action that the robot should make, the slender robot floating in the air should be attached to it!"

He has been immersed in the field of machinery for many years. To use an unscientific term, Lin Lu has a strange feeling for these cold metal products.

Lin Lu would never believe that this guy composed of countless mechanical bones might be driven by just a smart chip.

It's an intuition, born of a confident intuition.

"So they should not be the natives of this planet, and they can't perfectly adapt to the harsh conditions on the surface of Mars. They still need to seek protection!"

A young scholar stood up and extended Lin Lu's idea.

"That's right!"

Lin Lu pumped his fist excitedly, and made eye contact with the smiling scholar.

Just when Yu Han looked at his favorite student with admiring eyes and wanted to say something, the assistant at the side suddenly ran over in a little panic, holding a stack of thin documents in his hand:

"Chief engineer Yu, this is a message from the International Astronautical Committee!"

(End of this chapter)