Scientists pointed out that in order to develop the moon, we must conduct a comprehensive exploration of the moon, understand its resources, and gradually develop resources. The moon is extremely rich in mineral resources, and the most common element 17 on the earth is everywhere on the moon. Take iron for example. Only the sand 5 cm thick on the surface of the moon contains hundreds of millions of tons of iron, while the sand on the whole surface of the moon is 10 meter thick on average. The iron on the surface of the moon is not only extremely rich, but also convenient for mining and smelting. It is reported that the iron on the moon is mainly iron oxide, as long as oxygen and iron are separated; In addition, scientists have developed ways to make cement and glass from lunar soil and rocks. On the surface of the moon, the content of aluminum is also rich.
The lunar soil is also rich in helium -3. Helium fusion using deuterium and helium -3 can be used as energy for nuclear power plants. This fusion does not produce neutrons, which is safe, pollution-free and easy to control. It can be used not only for ground nuclear power plants, but also for space navigation. It is reported that the content of helium 3 in lunar soil is estimated to be 7 15000 tons. For every ton of helium 3 extracted from lunar soil, 6300 tons of hydrogen, 70 tons of nitrogen and 1600 tons of carbon can be obtained. From the current analysis, due to the large reserves of Helium 3 on the moon, it is undoubtedly a timely help for the future energy shortage of the earth. Many space powers regard obtaining helium 3 as one of the important goals of developing the moon.
1on March 5, 998, NASA released a big news to the world: the "lunar probe" was launched.
At present, there is a large amount of liquid water at the two poles of the moon, with a reserve of about 0.1-300 million tons, distributed in the North Pole of the moon of nearly 50,000 square meters.
Square kilometers and nearly 20 thousand square kilometers of Antarctica. If the water and soil layer at the bottom of the lunar crater is deep, then the moon
Global water resources reserves may eventually reach 654.38+300 million tons.
Water resources on the moon were confirmed for the first time. This exciting news made scientists all over the world ecstatic and produced in succession.
The response is strong, because this discovery is a milestone for mankind to establish a permanent moon base in the next century.
Meaning.
Scientists believe that the water resources on the moon may be the most precious "real estate" owned by human beings in the solar system.
Even if the water reserve of the moon is only 33 million tons, it is enough to ensure that 2000 people will live on the moon 100 years.
Extracting water from soil is a "simple" process. Soil mixed with ice is collected and heated to melt the ice.
Get the water. It is estimated that the ice water found now can fill a lake with a depth of 1 1 m and an area of 10 square kilometer. moon
Spherical water is the source of life, which can not only provide drinking and living for astronauts, but also make them stay on the moon for a long time.
Longer, you can also cultivate crops or feed animals in space; Water is also a power source, which can be decomposed into hydrogen and oxygen.
The planetary exploration spacecraft provides fuel, which greatly prolongs the service life of the spacecraft. With water, scientists can easily develop the moon.
All kinds of natural resources in the world, you can also use the moon as an outpost to explore space; Water plays an important role in studying the origin of the moon.
And its nature is also very meaningful.
Of course, it is not easy to develop water resources on the moon because the ice on the moon is not concentrated in a frozen layer.
A large amount of ice is mixed with rocks and dust, and its content is estimated to be only 0.3%- 1%. In addition, due to the lunar crater,
It's already dark, and there's too much mixing in the pit. I need a machine that can work at the low temperature of -230℃ at the poles of the moon, but I made this.
This kind of machine is extremely difficult.
Nevertheless, since there is water on the moon, the day when human beings return to the moon, set up lunar bases and develop lunar resources.
Will become the goal of 2 1 century science and technology. In addition, the development and utilization of lunar water resources will also make space tourism from ideal to reality.
Real.
It is very necessary for human beings to carry out scientific exploration and research activities on the surface of the moon, develop and utilize lunar resources, and establish a permanent lunar base. As for the construction of lunar base and lunar surface activities, there have been many suggestions, and the suggestions are quite different because of different purposes and different proponents. However, as long as these proposals are analyzed from the overall concept, they cannot be separated from the following development stages.
① Preparation stage of base construction: investigation of topography and resources;
(2) Establishing an outpost: living on the moon to prepare for the transition to the next stage;
(3) Establishing a lunar production base: living on the surface of the moon for a long time and starting production activities;
(4) Developing the lunar base: production activities have entered the normalization stage;
⑤ Mature lunar base (i.e. permanent lunar base): establish various industries and be economically independent.
The construction of the lunar outpost means that mankind has entered the second stage of the construction of the lunar base. It should be said that human exploration of the moon at this time is only the beginning. Young scientists will go to the moon outpost to participate in the actual investigation in the first line, hoping to master more first-hand information and dedicate their beautiful youth to the development and construction of the moon. Industrialists in their prime are attracted by the rich resources on the moon. They will open up new battlefields, go to the moon to mine, set up factories and start businesses, speed up the utilization of moon resources and make great achievements on the moon.
It must be emphasized here that when a large number of people enter the lunar base and turn to the construction stage of the lunar production base, the problem to be solved is much more complicated and difficult than the construction of the outpost. This is because the number of people has increased, and it is necessary to build houses on the spot, but relying on the astronaut residence on the lander is far from meeting the requirements. The surface of the moon is vacuum, and the surface temperature changes from-170℃ to+130℃, with great temperature difference. In addition, it also needs to withstand the test of dangerous environments such as cosmic rays and tiny meteorites. In order to enable astronauts to live in such a harsh natural environment for a long time, the structures of various buildings in the base must have high air tightness, heat insulation and radiation resistance. For this reason, scientists outlined the basic outline of the lunar production base, and put forward the layout of industrial and agricultural production and scientific research on the moon for designers as the basis of architectural design.
Based on the research and analysis of lunar rock samples and a large number of related materials, the principle of focusing on products produced by the moon is determined, which is mainly to make full use of lunar resources to produce raw materials necessary for expanding the lunar base, with emphasis on oxygen production, metal smelting and preparation of building materials. In order to achieve this goal, people have studied the production technology and preparation method of the processing factory on the moon from many aspects.
Scientists have been studying the method of extracting oxygen from the surface soil of the moon for a long time. They used the moon sand retrieved by Apollo spacecraft for experiments. At the high temperature of 1000℃, ilmenite in lunar sandy soil contacts with hydrogen to generate water, and then the water is electrolyzed to extract oxygen. Research shows that it takes about 70 tons of lunar topsoil to extract 1 ton of oxygen. Considering the special situation of production on the moon, it is suggested that a set of small chemical treatment equipment should be equipped while building the lunar base, which is powered by solar energy and can produce about 100 kg of liquid oxygen every day. The specific technological process is that moonstone reacts with methane at high temperature to generate carbon monoxide and hydrogen. In the second reactor with lower temperature, carbon monoxide reacts with more hydrogen and is reduced to methane and water. Then the water is condensed and electrolyzed into hydrogen and oxygen, and the oxygen is stored for later use, and the hydrogen is sent to the system for recycling. It is predicted that the original intention of the lunar oxygen-making equipment is to provide oxygen for astronauts on the surface of the moon, but they don't need much oxygen. A base with a scale of 12 people only needs 350 kilograms of oxygen every month. A set of oxygen-making equipment can produce a considerable amount of oxygen after continuous operation. Therefore, when building the lunar base, a permanent liquid oxygen warehouse should be built at the same time to supply the spacecraft with cryogenic propellant fuel.
It is significant that the "slag" obtained after chemical treatment in the process of oxygen production becomes a high-quality by-product. This is because it is rich in meltable free silicon and metal oxides. As long as appropriate industrial methods are adopted, smelting can be continued and titanium metal with great industrial value can be extracted. The technological process of producing titanium proposed by scientists is to extract iron and titanium oxides from "slag" through mechanical crushing and magnetic separation, then hydrotreat at 1273℃ to generate titanium oxides, then replace iron in them with sulfuric acid, then mix with carbon, introduce chlorine gas at 700℃, generate titanium tetrachloride after chemical reaction, and then heat it to 2000℃ and put it into use.
The refining method of aluminum is more novel. The aluminum on the surface of the moon is composed of a complex structure called plagioclase. If aluminum is made by conventional refining methods, it is difficult to succeed on the surface of the moon. After repeated experiments and research, scientists put forward a new aluminum smelting process. Specifically, the moonstone is crushed, heated and melted at 1700℃, then cooled to 100℃ in water to make multi-quality balls, and then crushed and added with 100℃ sulfuric acid to leach aluminum. After centrifugal separation and filtration to remove silicide, the mixture of alumina and sodium sulfate was obtained at 900℃. Subsequently, sodium sulfate was washed and dried, and then mixed with carbon. At the same time, chlorine gas was introduced to react with it to generate aluminum chloride, and the final product-pure aluminum was obtained by electrolysis.
Glass is indispensable to the construction industry, so it is particularly important to produce glass on the moon. Ordinary glass consists of 7 1 ~ 73% silica, 12 ~ 14% sodium carbonate and 12 ~ 14% calcium oxide. The lunar soil contains 40 ~ 50% silica, and the glass made on the surface of the moon is mainly silica glass. Its refining method is relatively simple, that is, various trace additives are added to the lunar soil as needed, some useless components are dissolved by sulfuric acid, then melted at 1500 ~ 1700℃, and then calendered and cooled to make lunar glass.
With the amazing achievements in the development of lunar resources, the trial production stage has come to an end, and the small-scale trial production products are far from meeting the demand, so it is necessary to further expand reproduction and make the lunar production activities gradually move towards mass production. At the same time, due to the increasing number of people entering the moon to participate in the development, the completed lunar base has become crowded. To complete the reconstruction and expansion of the base project, a large amount of building materials, especially the amount of concrete, is undoubtedly needed. Fortunately, the sand, stone and cement needed to make concrete can be obtained from local materials. Concrete structure has the advantages of low cost, easy molding and radiation resistance, and is the most promising building material for building the lunar base. The new lunar base can be built with concrete prefabricated cabins as designed. Of course, there are many forms of lunar concrete components. This paper introduces a universal module with hexagonal prism shape, which is made of concrete and then assembled. The biggest advantage of this cabin is its flexibility. Because it is hexagonal, it can radiate and spread through all surfaces in parallel direction and vertically (upward). Walls, ceilings and floors can be dismantled at any time, and they can also be assembled and spliced as needed to expand the base and adjust the space. Finally, the cylindrical compression chamber nested in it is connected to form an assembled lunar base.
People set up bases on the moon, in addition to developing resources and production, the ultimate goal is to expand the moon into an immigrant area, so that more people can go to the moon for sightseeing, or move their families to the moon to be a lunar man. In this way, its construction scale is larger, more building materials are needed and simpler construction methods are needed. Some scientists have suggested that a construction technology called "excavation-filling" applied in Antarctica is also fully applicable to the moon. Bulldozers will dig a ditch in the soft rock or "residual soil" on the surface of the moon, and then put a cylindrical compression chamber into the ditch. After the connection is fastened, it will be covered with a thick layer of lunar rock and soil, which can resist heat, heatstroke and radiation. Scientists have designed an experimental base for lunar research, whose main tasks are astronomical observation, geomorphological geological survey and mineral resources exploration on the lunar surface. Its design scale can accommodate 60 astronauts and provide energy and daily necessities for life for more than 6 months.
The lunar surface research and experiment base consists of a spherical module and a cylindrical module, which is divided into two parts: a working area and a living area. The work area consists of research and experiment cabin, industrial production cabin, crop planting cabin, ecological environment and life support cabin, management cabin, energy cabin, material supply cabin and space port. Among them, the crop planting cabin not only produces crops, but also raises animals such as chickens, sheep, rabbits and fish, and grows algae, ferns, fruits and vegetables. The eco-environmental life support cabin is equipped with gas purification treatment, water treatment and excreta treatment facilities. The energy cabin is mainly solar power generation equipment, and a large area of solar cell array is placed on the flat ground outside the cabin. The space port is a little far from the research and experimental base, and it is used to receive and launch lunar spacecraft. Entering the living area is another world, where the environment is beautiful, people feel comfortable and happy living in it, and can wash away the fatigue of a day's work. There are public places, houses and living facilities in the living area. Public space is for astronauts to exchange feelings, chat, exchange information, have meals, get together and entertain. Astronauts can dance in soft music or drink in videos and get enough rest. The ceiling and walls are painted white as a whole, making people feel bright and comfortable. Personal residence is a space for astronauts to sleep, read books, read newspapers and entertain themselves. Based on the blue-green cool color, the interior decoration is softer, and the lighting arrangement makes the space three-dimensional. Living in such an environment, people will feel very quiet and fall asleep easily. Living facilities include gymnasiums, health care centers, etc.
What kind of lunar base should be built is a concern of many people. Some energy scientists have suggested that there are a lot of elements such as silicon, iron, aluminum, titanium, calcium and oxygen on the moon, and these elements are enough for human use on the earth, so mining them is not a top priority. Only helium is unique on the earth, especially helium -3, which is an energy source that does not exist on the earth and is quite rich in reserves. It is an ideal fuel for future nuclear fusion reactors. Therefore, priority should be given to the development and establishment of lunar energy bases. Other energy experts pointed out that we should also focus on building a lunar solar power base. In fact, the two are not contradictory, which shows the urgency of solving the energy shortage problem of the earth in the future.
Because the moon and the earth have similar geological characteristics and are rich in nuclear resources and raw materials needed for building nuclear power plants, it is very suitable for building nuclear power plants on the moon. On earth, turbines and water are used for nuclear power generation. On the moon, nuclear energy can be directly converted into electric energy by using efficient composite energy conversion systems, such as thermions and thermoelectric generators. The envisaged lunar nuclear energy base will include nuclear fuel supply plants, nuclear power generation facilities and power transmission facilities. The power on the moon is transmitted to the energy relay satellite in the geostationary orbit by the short-wave laser beam with high transmission efficiency, that is, the laser in the ultraviolet region. On the relay satellite, electric energy is converted into laser with high transmission efficiency in the air, and then transmitted to the receiving station on the earth. The receiving station then distributes energy to each area for users to use.
The lunar nuclear energy base is usually built in the polar region of the moon, because the polar region is the best place to transmit energy to the earth. Once the lunar nuclear energy base is built and put into stable operation, it will be operated, controlled, maintained and repaired by robots, which will never pose a pollution threat to human beings. In order to establish the lunar nuclear energy base, there are many engineering problems that need to be studied and solved as soon as possible, such as ultra-efficient energy conversion system, space nuclear reactor, space robot, high-power output and efficient laser generating equipment, receiving equipment and laser transmission safety technology.
As mentioned above, helium -3 on the moon is not only rich, but also a clean source of nuclear energy, which is very beneficial to purify the earth's environment and attractive to human beings. If it is mined from the moon and transported to the earth for human enjoyment, it will undoubtedly benefit mankind. It is predicted that helium -3 extracted from lunar minerals is enough to meet the energy demand of the whole earth for 400 years. It is estimated that to build a 500 MW deuterium-helium -3 nuclear fusion power station, it needs about 50 kilograms of helium -3 every year, that is, only a pit with an area of 1.5 square kilometers and a depth of 3 meters needs to be dug on the surface of the moon every year. Moreover, it does not contain radioactive substances and can generate more energy. Using helium -3 as raw material, the cost of nuclear reactor will be reduced by half. Just developing the resources of the Helium-March Ball is enough to make people understand the far-reaching social and economic significance of returning to the moon.
In a word, the lunar base will be the beginning of human existence extending to other planets outside the earth, the first settlement area of human space, and the transit point for human marching to other planets in the solar system. The construction of the lunar base is a new technological revolution, which will have a great and far-reaching impact on the world culture, economy, society, science and technology and other fields.