Chapter 106 Construction of the Moon Base_1

Lin Sen: "This speed has far surpassed my expectations; it seems I had underestimated you all before. You have given so much in this era."

Rey Diaz: "No... it's you who have brought hope to this era. Without you, we could never have achieved this. We all believe in your leadership, that you can lead us to victory. You are the pillar of everyone's spirit."

Lin Sen: "The real pillars are you all. You must have encountered countless difficulties in constructing the Moon Base, and you've solved them all. You are the true hope."

Rey Diaz: "Indeed, we faced innumerable challenges in the early stages, but we resolved each one of them. In fact, the construction of the Moon Base has gone better than we initially thought, and it wasn't as difficult as we imagined.

"The Moon is quite similar to the Earth; many of the lunar geological components are consistent with those on Earth, which has brought us a lot of convenience.

"The conditions for mining its ores are even better than on Earth; its surface contains abundant titanium, aluminum, iron, and rare earth elements, which are sufficient for our industrial development. Furthermore, ores of silicon, magnesium, calcium, vanadium, and others are also quite astonishing, suitable for processing into construction materials.

"We also made a discovery; we found that when lunar soil is mixed with other materials and sintered, it forms a new type of plastic steel powder that gradually solidifies upon contact with water.

"Like cement, this new material exhibits extremely high strength and rigidity once it sets, and it also has good thermal stability. It's like a gift from God for base construction. It's because of this material that the construction of the Moon Base has been so rapid.

"Its biggest advantage is the large quantity and ease of production. The reserves on the Moon are quite astounding, and my scientific team has not yet fully understood how this type of lunar soil came to be.

"You know that lunar soil is not like soil; it is, more accurately, tiny pebbles, most of which are formed by the bombardment of high-energy particles from the sun. However, this lunar soil is somewhat special, and we speculate that it likely originates from a certain type of meteorite.

"We've transported a lot of this material to Earth, after all, we can't let the transport ships return empty-handed. You proposed constructing a large number of underground shelters, and this material is great for such constructions, but they don't seem to care much.

"We've already been using 3D printing technology, utilizing this material for rapid base construction. This technology allows us to construct a large base for millions of people to live on the Moon in a short time.

"Not only are we utilizing the Lunar Caves beneath the lunar surface, but we are also using tunnel boring machines to excavate a large amount of space and then quickly building with this material. Within 10 years, the Moon Base can accommodate tens of millions of residents."

Lin Sen: "So many people? That would rival a large city on Earth.

"The Moon Base isn't short on other resources, is it? Like water, oxygen, the carbon cycle... These things are the cheapest on Earth, but they must be extremely precious on the Moon, right?"

Rey Diaz: "That's not something to worry about. The Moon contains a large amount of oxides, and its surface dust also has a lot of oxygen.

"We have ways to extract it, but the downside is that it's too energy-consuming. We're also finding ways to convert them in large quantities into water and oxygen; if all this oxygen were extracted, it would be enough for several billion people to consume.

"Additionally, there are considerable layers of ice buried underneath the lunar poles; the water we use now comes from there.

"My science team also discovered that at the birth of Earth and the Moon, they both suffered comet and meteorite impacts for tens of millions of years, and these meteorites are rich in water. Earth retained its water resources.

"But since the Moon is a dead star with no magnetic field to protect it, the high-energy particles from the sun decomposed the water on the Moon, and hydrogen directly escaped from the Moon, but a lot of oxygen remained in the lunar soil under various effects.

"The early lunar geological changes were also quite significant, and there are subterranean rivers underneath the lunar crust. Water from these ancient rivers still exists in the form of ice and rock mixtures. Our geological surveyors have also traced them, and we've drilled many deep wells into these subterranean rivers to extract the ice and rock mixtures and then refine them into water.

"As for carbon, the Moon naturally won't have coal, but there are many carbide minerals. Earth and the Moon are of the same origin, and the carbon content on the Moon is no lower than that of Earth; some minerals can be directly calcined at high temperatures to release a lot of carbon dioxide.

"On the Moon, there is no air, no concept of burning; the main process involves using catalysts for high-temperature decomposition, but we still call it calcination. Our scientific team has overcome numerous technical difficulties and built many calcination furnaces, which greatly strengthened our ability to survive.

"At the same time, we use these carbide minerals to calcine and produce carbon oxides for synthesizing starch and protein. This also provides us with a large amount of food. In the near future, we'll be able to break free from Earth's food supply.

"However, this technique is still continuously being improved, and once we have controlled nuclear fusion power plants, we plan to combine genetic engineering with synthesis techniques to make a significant breakthrough in food production, and then we will be forever free from the constraints of food.

"It won't be long before we can be self-sufficient here, combined with a life cycle system, we will also have a complete carbon cycle here.

"On the Moon, as long as there is energy, everything else isn't a problem; in fact, many things are more convenient than on Earth. Whatever Earth has, the Moon has too, and even what Earth doesn't have, the Moon does.

"In the end, without the valuable data you obtained, without the third generation of controlled nuclear fusion, who knows when a real human Moon Base could have been established.

"I've been thinking all along, whether all this was part of your plan. Four years ago, had you already plotted all this?

"You anticipated that the Trisolarans would teach the ETO quantum computing technology, and perhaps even the Trisolarans' teaching of this technology was under your inducement. In the end, you took them down in one fell swoop and obtained these technologies.

"Quantum computing plays an immeasurable role in the third generation of controlled nuclear fusion. The best place to build it is on the Moon; it is tailor-made for the Moon.

"I would not have thought much about it, but it's all too coincidental. You had me start building the Moon Base four years ago as a way to have a chance to break free from PDC's control. Without the third generation of controlled nuclear fusion, we could never have escaped PDC's grasp, which is why I think all of this was your doing.

"It was incredibly wise of us to take possession of the Moon, this treasure trove, ahead of time. On Earth, they argue endlessly over some resources and territories, never looking up to see the inexhaustible resources above their heads."

Lin Sen: "You're right about some of your guesses, we need our own strength, and the Moon Base is our best opportunity. The Moon's utilizable resources are even better than Earth's, but more importantly, the Moon Base serves an even greater purpose."

Rey Diaz and Lin Sen didn't care if this conversation was overheard by the Trisolarans. Even if the Trisolarans don't react now, they will eventually realize it, so it's better to lay everything out in the open.