Chapter 798: Traces of Underground Ice?
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
America’s artificial biosphere technology was state of the art.
There were no problems with the design of the entire life support system unit. In fact, one could even make the argument that the design was perfect.
From the air circulation system to the water filtration system and automatic planting irrigation device, each resource was utilized to its maximum efficiency. The biosphere was on the boundary of science fiction.
There was even a three-diameter circular interface door on the side of the life support system, presumably for future colony expansion uses.
s.p.a.ce-X and NASA wanted to expand New Virginia into a hundred-person colony. They wanted to create an ecosystem cycle using the rich methane and carbon dioxide resources.
The only problem, or the only problem Lu Zhou could find, was that the Ares program was executed too hastily. They just happened to encounter a global sandstorm…
This was 70% nature’s fault, and 30% human’s fault.
If this sandstorm didn’t come so suddenly, maybe the New Virginia colonists would have had more success on Mars. Once the geothermal wells and methane collection points were deployed, even during a sandstorm, these collection points could supply energy to the electric generator.
Of course, this was all in hindsight.
After Lu Zhou downloaded the data of the life support system, the crawler opened the sample library door.
The alloy door slowly opened, and highly concentrated carbon dioxide air immediately flowed into the experimental area. If there were a living person there, it would be difficult for them to breathe.
However, this wasn’t a problem for the crawler.
The little guy drove through the dusty corridor and quickly arrived at the sample library. Rows of neatly arranged sample racks could be seen through the camera lens.
According to the labels attached to the sample rack, the rock samples of areas around New Virginia were stored. The numbers and letters represented the coordinates of the samples.
Even though these astronauts on Mars were called “colonists”, they were more focused on scientific investigations.
These precious samples were part of their research tasks.
“It seems like the experimental area doesn’t have a direct channel to the sample library… It’s a pity we can’t take these things away,” Lu Zhou said as he looked at the samples.
If he could bring these samples back to Earth, it would greatly benefit humans’ understanding of Mars.
Unfortunately, the colonists weren’t able to take these samples into their escape capsule.
Xiao Ai: [Master, do you want to begin the scan?]
Lu Zhou nodded and said, “Yeah, begin.”
After quietly waiting for five or six minutes, the Mars crawler drove to the first row of the sample racks. A searchlight-looking component slowly came out from the top of the crawler.
A clear blue light emerged from the searchlight, s.h.i.+ning on the shelf samples.
The reflected light was received by the crawler and fed into a special processing algorithm. A series of physical features such as the size of the rock, weight, and element composition was sent to Lu Zhou.
Location and retrieval depth data of the samples were also sent to Lu Zhou.
Within 10 minutes, Lu Zhou saw a circular sample distribution map in front of him. The map was around 10-20 kilometers in diameter.
Lu Zhou looked at the map and suddenly seemed curious.
He was already satisfied with collecting the life support system data; he didn’t expect to retrieve even more useful information!
According to the map, there were at least two methane gas emitting craters near New Virginia, as well as a possible underground ice layer!
In March 2019, the European s.p.a.ce Agency’s Mars s.p.a.ce probe found traces of liquid water under the Martian Antarctic ice sheet. NASA also previously published the discovery of perchlorate in craters. However, these resources were located in extreme conditions and difficult to retrieve.
If they could find a shallow underground ice layer, it would benefit the future Mars colonists!
“It seems like NASA has more information about Mars…”
Lu Zhou stared at the area marked with the suspected underground ice layer. He pondered for a moment before tapping the keyboard.
Xiao Ai immediately knew what he meant.
Xiao Ai: [Master, do you want to explore this area?]
Lu Zhou nodded and said, “Yeah, after the crawler finishes investigating the New Virginia village, tell it to explore that area. If it finds the underground ice layer, tell me immediately.”
Xiao Ai: [Yes, sir! (๑•̀ᄇ•́) و✧]
Lu Zhou finally saw what kind of high-tech life support system NASA had, and his curiosity was satisfied.
He left the crawler alone because Xiao Ai could execute the orders for him.
After telling Xiao Ai to keep the life support system in its original appearance, Lu Zhou copied the life support system data onto a mobile hard drive. He then took the hard drive and returned to the first floor of the Inst.i.tute for Advanced Study building.
He took out his phone, opened his address book, and called a number.
The phone immediately connected.
A husky voice was heard.
“h.e.l.lo?”
Lu Zhou: “Is this Professor Hu?”
Hu Yang paused for a second and replied, “You are Professor Lu?”
“Yes, it’s Lu Zhou.” Lu Zhou paused for a second before asking, “Where are you right now?”
“I’m in the aeros.p.a.ce inst.i.tute at the Chinese Academy of Sciences… Why?”
“Ok.” Lu Zhou skipped the small talk and said, “If you are free, please come to the Jinling Inst.i.tute for Advanced Study. I can’t tell you why over the phone. We have to meet in person.”
Professor Hu held his breath.
He asked with excitement, “Is this related to the Garden project?”
Lu Zhou’s reply was exactly what Professor Hu wanted.
“Correct, it’s related to the Garden project!”