Seeing that he was only about two meters above the ground, Zhou Xu got rid of the rope and jumped down. This behavior is actually very risky, but from a distance of only two meters, it can be seen clearly that the ground is all solid rocks.
This is a lava lake that has cooled, and now it presents an overall gray world; there are occasional reflections, which are some crystals in the rock; and there are some simple metallic colors. In short, in this oxygen-free environment, a large amount of metals exist in elemental form. Cooling after high temperature makes the surface of some metal particles black and shiny.
Measured with an infrared thermometer, the temperature here is only a dozen degrees below zero. Obviously this is a planet that has completely cooled, unlike the earth, which gets hotter the deeper it goes! In some rocks, you can also see some metal crystals that have been isolated due to cooling and shrinkage. After a few random pulls, I found a few irregular iron beads.
It is indeed a treasure! Zhou Xu nodded secretly, feeling that it was definitely a stroke of genius for his boss to hire these geologists to investigate the interior of the moon and search for metal deposits. If a large amount of tens of billions of metal elements can be found deep in the moon, it will greatly promote the space construction of the Gaoshou Company. By then, just the metal smelting aspect will be able to save the master company at least trillions of yuan in investment and about three years of time!
Especially time, in this rapidly changing world, time is also a more precious resource than money! In particular, there is no way to turn this thing around and reuse it. What is past is past! Maybe someone said. Go back to the past, but according to existing scientific theories, it is impossible for humans to truly go back to the past!
To give an example of a paradox: If a person can travel back in time and kill himself who was assembling a pistol a few minutes ago; then it is said that the assembly of the pistol failed - then how did this person's future pistol come from? This is a scientific paradox; in science, such means are often used to verify the rationality of certain things.
After looking around, I saw that this place was already a vertical, solidified crater, about ten meters in diameter, with some holes around it, the largest of which was three meters high.
"It's safe down there. It's completely solid rock ground. You can come down now!"
"Okay, please pay attention."
Along the rope, all the people came down one by one, 50 people. Plus a lot of supplies. Gathered in this crater which is only ten meters square. Somewhat crowded.
Zhang Chen is doing detection; the composition of the surrounding materials is on the one hand, and more importantly, in the surrounding large and small pores. Find the passage to the next level goal.
It's not that the bigger the cave, the better; some caves are dead, and some caves have narrow entrances but are very spacious inside.
"This!" After searching for a long time, Zhang Chen found a cave, but it was only one meter in size on the outermost layer and two meters in size on the inside. Climbing in through such a hole is not an easy task. The best way to find such a cave is to judge by echo. Fortunately, there is gas in this cave that can transmit sound.
"I'll go first!" Li Yun, a young employee from a master company, volunteered. Put down the irrelevant items, and slowly climbed in with only the necessary supplies, such as compressed air tanks, lighting equipment, pistols, and daggers.
"Be careful. There are many sharp crystals on the surrounding rock walls. Don't scratch the space suit." Zhou Xu warned worriedly. Here, once the space suit is damaged, although there will be no life-threatening danger in the short term, rescue work will not be carried out. The next batch of supplies will take one day to arrive.
"Don't worry, Captain, I've prepared the tools!" Li Yun raised the rock in his hand; yes, this is Li Yun's tool. Of course, he also carries exquisite tools, such as hammers, chisels, etc.; they are all made of materials specially made by the master company and are extremely strong. Use the rocks in your hands to smash some sharp rock crystals around you; this process is very slow, and you have to look for crystal particles and destroy them while moving forward.
After more than an hour, Li Yun's voice came from the headset: "It's safe inside, come in. The temperature inside has been rising slightly, to minus 12 degrees. It feels like there should be a heat source inside the moon, and it is not completely cooled. .”
Zhang Chen: "That's for sure. According to calculations and observations, there should be a core inside the moon with a temperature of about 1,000 degrees, which is a remnant of ancient temperatures. We don't even rule out that there is still lava inside the moon. It's better to be careful. .”
Li Yun: "Don't worry, there is no danger here! And it is very spacious. The terrain in front seems to be declining again."
Entering the cave again, the detector began to sound.
"The radiation exceeds the safe radiation for the human body, everyone, please pay attention; if it exceeds the safe radiation for the human body by three times, we must withdraw." Zhang Chen was a little nervous. Although I had considered this issue before, I didn't expect that the radiation would already exceed the standard here. It is less than 500 meters underground.
"Teacher, we just measured that the iron content of the rocks here is as high as 33%, and the overall metal content is as high as 42%! And most of it exists in the form of simple substances, which already has the value of development."
"Well. It seems that the moon is really a rich mine. Let's move on. Strictly monitor the radiation."
Reaching the end of the cave, everyone began to lower the second rope. After descending about sixty meters, we came to a cave again, but compared to the previous cave, this place was a bit more beautiful!
A large number of rocks may have cooled too quickly, forming a branch-like structure, with branches crisscrossing across this endless underground world. Everyone can only stand carefully where the "branches" fork, and try to choose a wider branch.
"Didi, the radiation has reached 4 times. Prolonged exposure will cause permanent damage to the human body. It is recommended to evacuate immediately!" Such reports have made some veteran experts start to worry.
"Wait a minute, let's measure the elemental composition here.
At three o'clock, the content of iron atoms is 47%, copper atoms are 6%, oxygen is 10%, and silicon is 4.3%...
At seven o'clock, 32% iron atoms, 17% iron atoms, 3% silver, 12% titanium...
……
Comprehensive evaluation shows that it contains about 38.76% of elemental iron. If the ore is crushed, iron powder can be quickly screened using magnetic separation. Finally, Zhang Chen concluded, "Zhou Xu, I think we have reached a preliminary intention to search for iron ore." Next, it depends on your company. Unless the equipment is upgraded next time, we won't be able to exert much effort. ”
"It's already very good. I didn't expect that there is such a place not far from the base and not deep underground. I just don't know if it is like this on the entire moon or just in individual places."
"I think this should be a common phenomenon on the moon." Zhang Chen looked at the surrounding environment. The dark rock jungle gave people an eerie feeling. It's too big and empty, and the only lighting can't bring enough brightness here.
"Well, let's go back to the ground first. There are only so many old people, young guys, let's take the back seat!"
Walking back is not so easy. Along the way, you have to climb three rock walls. This is a great test for the elderly; although many heavy objects have already been borne by the young people. Back on the ground, Zhou Xu put the findings here into Zhang Jingyuan's hands. To be precise, it was sent to the space shuttle in space and then forwarded to Zhang Jingyuan. (To be continued...)
ps: The outbreak is over today, no need to wait.