Chapter 482 - 473: Blast_1

The Storm arrived at the Moon for the second time the day after Xuehu completed its maiden flight.

Through delicate orbital calculations, it approached the Black Rabbit Space Station right after decelerating into orbit and then opened its cargo bay to gently dock with the built-in node module, creating a nearly 200-ton super-large complex on the Moon’s orbit.

The spacecraft and the station’s vast space were more than enough for seven astronauts to live comfortably for a long time, so there was no need to hurry to the lunar surface, and they would take an entire day to observe the landing site.

The landing site chosen was where Explorer had detected the shallowest ore deposits. Although there was a relatively clean area, it had a significant slope angle that couldn’t be ignored, making the landing mission both challenging and valuable.

While two Abe astronauts were enthusiastically connecting with China, the other five Chinese astronauts were checking the landing supplies and equipment, preparing for the descent.

The docking for this mission was also quite complicated, but not due to technical reasons.

Astronauts could have entered the lander directly from the spacecraft’s cargo bay, detached, completed the landing mission, taken off, and then docked with the station again. This would require only one docking and be very convenient. However, this time, ground control considered the problem of lunar dust from continuous high-intensity operations.

After the ascent module took off, it wouldn’t dock directly with the space station. Instead, the Storm had to disengage and free up the node module docking port perpendicular to its body so it could dock with the spacecraft’s node module.

The other docking port parallel to the cargo bay was unlikely to be used for docking and could only be pre-docked for use on the ground.

Later, astronauts covered in lunar dust and the supplies could first be transferred into the node module and secured. Then, they would use a pre-prepared liquid cleaning machine to meticulously clean everything in there, strip off their spacesuits before entering the interior of the spacecraft, seal the node module, and dock with the station afterward.

The node module, contaminated with lunar dust and debris, would only be hoisted out for disposal after returning to Earth, to be used as a one-time transitional module to avoid polluting the environment of the Black Rabbit Space Station.

This method would be employed until XH40 came into service, which was equipped with a powerful automatic cleaning transition module.

Deng Lei was checking the approximate distribution map of ore veins drawn by the resource survey satellite, frowning at the digit marking the shallowest layer at 1083 meters deep.

United Mining had publicized a figure of "approximately one kilometer deep" to boost investor confidence. In reality, that was already the shallowest depth. The average value for profitable mining was nearly 1,400 meters.

Moreover, the main deposits at this depth were iron ore, used only for refining crude steel. To reach rare earths, they needed to dig deeper; the vein’s deepest part approached 3,000 meters, containing an extremely rich variety of minerals.

Were they supposed to dig a supergiant pit that reached 1,400 meters deep?

Of course not, even though the Moon’s gravity was one-sixth of Earth’s, the difficulty of digging didn’t equate to one-sixth of 1,400 meters, which would be 233 meters.

On Earth, mines were not unusual at depths over 200 meters, and there were even mines reaching a kilometer deep. However, lunar operations didn’t have that many engineering vehicles at disposal, and even if they could be transported there, the cost would be too high to justify.

Thus, the planned mining method within the base was the easiest and most primitive: blasting. First, they would blast a shallow pit, then continue blasting down layer by layer, all the way down to the desired depth.

Once they had blasted enough space for the mine site, they would dig an ultra-deep mine shaft from a geologically stable area using a large-diameter boring machine. Then, after laying casing and lift tracks, they could continuously bring up the preliminary crushed ore, which was somewhat easier thanks to the Moon’s low gravity.

Among the items brought to the Moon this time were two detonators and two batches of explosives, stored separately in special containers. The astronauts had to find a relatively hard surface to conduct two blasting tests and observe the results.

Although the space agency conducted rigorous tests to ensure nothing would go wrong, Deng Lei was still somewhat fearful.

Li Wei had just completed a half-hour cycling workout when he came over and saw the complicated ore vein distribution map.

"Wow, studying the mine site again?"

"No choice. The official documents say Skylight II is United Mining’s first mining exploration mission, and that’s our main purpose."

"..."

Li Wei: "So is that why we’re getting an extra United Mining travel subsidy? No matter where we go, mining is indeed the most profitable work."

Deng Lei: "Honorable Space Hero and Honor Miner, let’s work together for the great lunar resource exploitation effort."

...

August 3rd.

"May Allah bless you."

"Good luck to you all."

"Go for it, Brother Li!"

"..."

Alkali and the four other astronauts stood outside the door of Storm’s node module, waving goodbye to the four about to enter the lander.

Reyna found the Pioneer I spacesuit much easier to move in than during training. Before squeezing in, he felt the green flag on his chest, checking it wasn’t loose.

He knew that the camera he faced was connected to believers all over the world, and regardless of religious teachings, ascending to the Moon was a remarkable feat.

After all three astronauts entered the ascent module and closed the hatch, they used an hour to complete the final checks and to secure themselves and the cargo.

The securing mechanism inside the cargo bay released the lander, and once the Black Rabbit Space Station astronauts confirmed the release using their portholes, Deng Lei carefully disconnected from the node module.

Immediately after, the lander’s lateral RCS quickly ejected nitrogen gas, gently pushing itself diagonally away from the cargo bay, unencumbered by any additional attachments.

After half an hour of orientation adjustment, the lander activated its engines and began the descent orbit deceleration.

To show the significant emphasis on the Skylight II mission, Lin Ju, Academician She, and Prince Swetan all made a high-profile appearance at the ground control center. They coordinated their applause when the lander successfully separated.

Academician She tugged on Lin Ju’s sleeve and whispered:

"I heard the Prince and his people brought millions in cash, but I have no idea where they stashed it. It wasn’t found when they came in."

"Is it possible they don’t plan to throw money around here?"

"How could that be? Look at these youngsters; they’re all waiting for money to fall out of sacks. Mr. Li ran to support Mukala and got a million dollars—over seven million RMB."

"..."

Lin Ju turned to glance at the eager expressions barely concealed by the staff in the hall, thought for a moment, and said:

"Then let’s skip the fireworks for this year’s Spring Festival. How about changing it to money? Everyone comes out to pick up money off the ground?"

"Tsk, tsk..." Academician She pointed at Lin Ju before finally responding:

"You’d probably be accused of willfully damaging the RMB, and it’s a huge amount. By the time you get out, your son will... well, you don’t have one yet."

Lin Ju: "..."

"Hold on, how do you..."

"Let’s drop it, let’s drop it."