Chapter 292 - 285: Technical Reserve_1

Yutu-3A and its sibling landed on the ice layer, and New Yuan was the first to lose their cool upon hearing this news.

Explorer No. 1 had already traveled a maximum distance of 45.4 kilometers from the landing site, with the biggest discovery being a one-kilogram meteorite containing 1.5% rhenium content, which is more than ten times that found in rhenium ore on Earth.

This could be a fragment from a meteorite impact or an inherent mineral deposit, but its significance at the moment is not too great, something to be left for later on.

Meanwhile, the other four new Explorers of the Chang’e 5 mission had just touched down at two landing sites with no surprises and were prepared to dig ceaselessly until they were scrapped.

And now the Aerospace Agency had landed straight on top of an ice layer??!

It’s known that the landing sites weren’t chosen blindly; the three "Laurel" satellites had collected a significant amount of data over the past few months, with all three landing sites of Chang’e 5 being very likely locations to find ice at the Lunar South Pole.

Even if not an ice layer, the remains of ice meteorites alone would have meant that the water resources of the Kuom Impact Crater were fully sufficient!

Upon receiving this news in the Capital, Lin Ju didn’t know how to react, considering that the third batch of new Explorers for the B-level Base had already been completed, six in total, ready to be launched next January to continue the search. Now it seemed it might not be necessary?

"Lin! There’s a good saying, ’Out with the old, in with the new; gain and loss are parts of life.’ I gave you a couple of special supply tea leaves, and I’ve gained ten million tons of ice. I’m not at a loss, not at all!"

The Big Shot was the first to call Lin Ju, bursting into uncontrollable laughter throughout the call.

The ground command center conducted continuous exploration of the impact crater and had made the latest assessment: the ice layer reserves that could be mined just from the top 10 meters were about ten million tons, more than enough for the early phase of base site selection!

Lin Ju: "Then you better hurry up and plant the flag, otherwise it’ll be bad if others come up and stake their claim."

"Eh, you have a point. We need to start preparing for the Chang’e 6 mission right away; even if we throw in ten rovers just for this Kuom Impact Crater, it would be worth it. And besides the Explorers, we need to start manufacturing equipment that can mine and utilize the ice."

After thinking for a bit, Lin Ju said, "Leave that to us, New Yuan has the technological reserves."

The Big Shot was somewhat surprised: "When did you guys have this kind of technological reserves? This is going to be large-scale mining."

Lin Ju: "Some clients from the Northeast once custom-ordered ice-drilling kits for their tractors. With some modifications, they can become mining equipment."

"..."

The Big Shot imagined astronauts on the Moon driving tractors, lowering the levers to drill into the ice layer with sharp-bladed drill heads, and his expression became frozen in awkwardness.

Alright then, he had forgotten that New Yuan’s predecessor had such a line of business, but considering that lunar utility vehicles might be designed with open tops and taking into account the lunar surface’s road conditions, perhaps the tractor’s chassis structure could actually be a viable solution?

The Big Shot shook his head vigorously; he couldn’t think about it anymore—it was just getting more and more preposterous.

He cleared his throat, his tone becoming more serious:

"Lin, since you’re also in Beijing, we should have even more precise detection results in a day or two. The Aerospace Development Committee is calling an emergency meeting to organize subsequent detection missions as quickly as possible.

The Kuom Impact Crater is of great importance to those above; we must keep as much control over it as possible."

"And the news outside...?"

"Let it be. It can’t be hidden. There was no discovery before, so the satellites couldn’t locate anything over such a large area. If we focus on exploration, it will definitely be found. We have to try hard to explore the surroundings and ascertain the extent of the ice layer as much as possible!"

Lin Ju nodded. After all, the Moon’s resources were there for the taking, and it came down to each entity’s capabilities and rocket capacities!

"New Yuan will cooperate fully, and the Aerospace Development Committee should also immediately start the planning and verification work for the base’s construction. The work must start now."

...

NACA.

More than ten hours had passed since the Aerospace Development Committee released the information. The LRO satellite had focused on the Kuom Impact Crater and its surrounding areas for intensive exploration. After analysis, it was basically confirmed that the ice deposit found by the Chang’e-5 was real, with the possibility of ten million tons of ice being quite substantial.

Ten million tons of ice!

Claire was shocked by this news, not knowing what to say, because the Artemis program had never actually included a long-term Moon Base.

The significance of the Artemis program mainly lay in returning to the Moon and establishing Laurel’s "Gateway" transfer space station. A module left on the lunar surface that could house a few astronauts for a handful of days to perform some survey missions was enough.

But if there were ice reserves, it would be a whole different story. Equipment could be sent ahead to provide astronauts with oxygen, fuel, and drinking water, greatly reducing the logistics needed for missions, and even allowing for the gradual, semi-autonomous establishment of a large base or research station capable of housing dozens of people, similar to Earth’s polar research stations. The implications were vastly different.

It was like the advent of the space station; With gravity, the Moon could allow astronauts to live for even a year or more, actually enabling substantial work to be done.

Claire’s reason told her that NACA should immediately follow up by sending a Lunar Rover to the Aitken Basin. The Moon’s ice reserves might total up to two hundred billion tons, with most concentrated at the Lunar South Pole.

Even calculating just a 30-meter-thick surface layer of ice, that still amounted to a quantity that needed to be measured in the billions of tons. If the ice found in the Kuom Impact Crater was part of an ice layer, it meant that countless more ice deposits lay underground in the surrounding areas.

However, the problem was: NACA had no Lunar Rover available.

America’s unmanned exploration of the Moon was focused before the Apollo missions, as a preparation for manned landings. After the completion of the Apollo program, the focus shifted to Mars. Currently, the largest lunar exploration satellite NACA had was the LRO Resource Exploration Satellite.

NACA had always looked down on China’s concentrated exploration of the Moon through the Chang’e series of missions, still focusing its attention on Mars. Now, it found itself at risk of being outflanked.

As Claire was getting anxious, his assistant hurried over with a phone, whispering,

"Director, it’s a call from the Boss Mansion."

Claire immediately took it, without needing to be told, it was definitely about the Moon.

"Hey, Director Claire, I’ve heard there’s a very important spot on the Moon, and the Chinese People got there first."

Claire: "The United Nations set up the Outer Space Treaty a long time ago, which includes a provision that states no country, organization, or individual may claim sovereignty over outer space. That is to say, even with the Moon, no country can declare sole possession."

"But we both know what it means—no one can own it alone, so it’s all about who has the strength, right?"

Claire: "If it truly is an ice layer, then we’re talking about an area with a diameter of at least several dozen kilometers, enough for two bases."

"But if not, there’s only that one place. Scientists tell me it’s extremely important. Without water, our astronauts can’t stay for long, and that doesn’t count as truly occupying land.

I hope NACA can come up with an unmanned probe landing plan as soon as possible, and include it as part of the Artemis program. My word carries weight."