Seven days later, Second Near-Earth Orbit Factory.
This is a new work area that has been expanded from the first factory in the past few months.
The control cabin in the weightless environment was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop, with only a slight hum coming from the circulation ventilation system.
The old engineer buckled his feet into the limit magnetic buckle at the bottom of the workstation, stabilizing his posture during operation, pressing the edge of the console with both hands, his deep eyes looking through the wrinkles like knife carvings at the corners of his eyes, and fixing them unblinkingly on the main monitor screen in front of him.
In the picture, the lifeless, desolate, cold and gray vast sea of moon is being rapidly enlarged in the lens.
The tail flame of the landing buffer rocket stirred up a low arc-shaped moon dust, which was thrown silently into the sky, and then fell slowly under the weak gravity.
At the lower edge of the lens, four thick bionic titanium alloy landing legs are leaning down heavily!
The screen trembled silently.
The lunar soil splashed, the lander's huge metal body jolted violently, the hydraulic buffer damper compressed violently, and then... came to a complete standstill.
The lunar surface telemetry was transmitted back to the ground, and the confirmation report from the flight control hall passed through the measurement and control link, clearly resounding in every speaker of Orbital Factory near the ground:
"The main engine of the lander was shut down, the moon landing attitude was normal, and the landing was successful!"
Beside the workstation, the young researcher was shaken all over. He clenched the armrests with both hands, grinned from the corner of his mouth to his ears, his eyes surged with ecstasy, his chest heaved, and he even forgot how to breathe.
The old engineer's face was as cold as iron, and his calloused right hand calmly pressed down:
"Hold your temper and don't move."
"The big goods have not yet been secured, and the real tough battle has just begun."
From the time when the first set of verified high-power power module for the lunar surface was assembled on the ground Workshop and passed the extreme vibration test, to today when it actually crossed the sea of stars and set foot on the lunar soil, the entire engineering team worked hard in shifts for three months.
The plan was overturned one version after another.
The batches of ultra-high-precision space casting components that were previously sent back to the ground from near-Earth Orbital Factory have undergone comprehensive and rigorous testing by national laboratories. Qualified parts that meet the design requirements have been assembled deep into the skeleton of this advance device according to the most stringent standards.
This is a real battle with no retreat.
The heavy-duty chemical rocket first sent the equipment into low-Earth orbit, and then the Earth-Moon Relay Transfer Stage equipped with High-Purity Psionic Propulsion Circuit and cryogenic refrigerant completed the Earth-moon capture, orbit change and precise deceleration. Finally, a special lunar lander took over the terminal hover, and accurately delivered the core power module and unmanned heavy-load operation vehicle carrying the ambition of civilization to the scheduled landing area.
Today's Blue Star has long been a world where everyone is extraordinary.
The physiques of First Tier and Tier Two were enough to stun the armies of the old era, and they continue to transform in the evolution of life. The Tier Four strong men who have reached the forefront, after Reality Projection, can even cross Void!
The vacuum that used to be enough to shut out mortals could no longer stop them.
But to send tens of thousands of tons of raw materials and complete sets of production lines to the moon, and to allow tens of thousands of people to build and live here for a long time, after all, a complete set of industries that can continuously operate is needed.
Ore, smelting, alloying, machining, energy storage and supply, and thousands of ground thermal vacuum tests...
The purest and most solid industrial flesh and blood is truly carving the ultimate dream on the drawings on this alien wasteland that has not yet been laid out on the construction site.
But now, there is still one final threshold left before this huge system can truly "come alive".
During the monitoring, the huge gull-wing cargo door on the belly of the lander slowly opened outwards driven by mechanical gears, and the inclined orbital unloading platform steadily emerged.
The power cabin lying in the center of the platform is square and thick, covered with multiple layers of radiation-proof gold film and composite armor, and the bright red factory number on the ground is clearly sprayed on the front.
A precision multi-joint hydraulic manipulator swung out from the top of the lander's cabin to support the power cabin, while four folding load-bearing feet on the bottom of the lander stretched out one after another toward the rough lunar surface.
However--
At the moment when the outer main supporting leg almost touched the lunar soil, the corresponding vertical force curve on the telemetry light curtain only bounced a negligible half a grid with the movement of the mechanism, and then solidified smoothly.
"It's hanging."
The old engineer's upper body suddenly leaned forward, with the tip of his nose almost touching the auxiliary window.
The coordinates of the landing site were completely within the allowable tolerance range, but there was a gentle slope on the edge of a small crater just below the platform.
The two inner legs were already holding on to the force, while the outer main support legs... were still suspended a full three centimeters from the pitted lunar soil below!
The safety interlock program instantly determined an abnormality, and the entire automatic decentralization process was forced to stop and hang up.
The calm and solemn instructions from the ground commander roared along the radio waves:
"Orbital Factory Attention, uninstall the hover and review the grounding force topology immediately."
The young researcher's knuckles turned white as he stared at the tiny gap.
If under the gravity environment of the Blue Star ground, even if this behemoth weighing more than ten tons tilts slightly, the on-site assembly workers and heavy-duty cranes can work together to level it in minutes.
In today's factories, veteran engineers can hold the entire ground simulation platform with one hand and adjust the stress point with the other hand, even without the need for heavy overhead cranes.
But at this moment...
At present, there are only advanced equipment in this landing area, and there are no construction workers nearby. Far away in low-Earth orbit, they have to let this machine, which will be unmanned for a long time, complete the task by themselves.
The old engineer's rock-steady palms, which had been assembled with countless precision circuits in space, had now fallen towards the auxiliary control screen.
"Forcibly extend the hydraulic stroke of the outer legs... by another five centimeters?" the young researcher suggested through clenched teeth.
"You can't blindly buy the top."
The old engineer did not hesitate at all and categorically rejected it. He quickly pulled the screen with two fingers, overlapping the high-resolution three-dimensional radar scan with the side Wei Guang lens, and accurately pointed his index finger on a slightly raised rock edge on the outside of the pit wall that reflected cold light:
"The edge of the foot is facing the convex rock, and the contact slope exceeds 45 degrees. If you extend it blindly and the stress point slips, the unbalanced load will be thrown violently to the mechanical arm, and the support mechanism may be twisted and damaged!"
His eyes flashed coldly, and he quickly called up the underlying motion control code and reconstructed an inverse kinematics trajectory directly on the secondary screen:
"First let the robotic arm receive the load, retract the feet, and then rotate the main joint twelve degrees outward to avoid the hard corners of the convex rocks; move the landing point thirty centimeters toward the flatter lunar soil outside, perform preloading in stages, confirm that the settlement is stable, and then transfer the load to the four legs!"
The plan is immediately sent to the ground measurement and control center.
After verification by the expert team, the instructions were reconstructed and issued immediately.
Wait.
Suffocating waiting.
The one-way light speed communication between the earth and the moon is delayed by one point and three seconds. The command is issued, the underlying servo motor is executed, the telemetry sensor is sampled, and the confirmation data is packaged and projected back to the screen...
The round-trip signal journey of nearly three seconds, coupled with the time required for the mechanism to move step by step and for sampling and confirmation, was as long as a century in the breaths of two generations of engineers.
In the holographic vision.
Following the recalculated trajectory, the robotic arm slid outward very gently at a slight angle under the low gravity of the moon, avoiding the fatal stone edge.
The alloy foot is pressed down slowly, and the wide foot pads eat the dark gray lunar soil, compacting the floating soil below little by little!
Di--
A crisp and melodious high-frequency electronic buzz suddenly sounded!
The stress curve of the outer leg was like bamboo shoots rising from the ground, rising rapidly, and finally stabilized, falling into the predetermined safe zone together with the other three curves!
Phew...
The old engineer let out a long breath of turbid air accumulated in his chest, pressed his knuckles on the edge of the console, and slowly became pale and relaxed.
"That's it."
The old man's eyes stretched out, and his voice was soft but loud:
"This foot... is solid."
On the screen, the cabin shook slightly.
The final latch is unhooked.
The high-power Lunar Surface Power Module is supported by four heavy-duty legs like elephant legs, standing as proudly and steadily as Mount Tai on the dead moon sea plain!
The small unmanned multifunctional vehicle put down its folding crawler tracks and drove down the low-angle ramp. The robotic arm rotated lightly and accurately pushed the main power supply high-voltage cable into the sealed interface on the side of the cabin.
The sealing cover engages and the physical latch locks!
On the outer shell of the power cabin, three sets of blue working indicator lights, indicating that the energy system self-test is normal, light up sonorously from the inside out!
Buzz----!!
Inside the energy storage module, those high-purity spiritual energy media that have been deeply charged through countless extreme processes on the surface release the accumulated energy, like an awakened golden dragon, rushing along the energy conduction bus Berserk, officially connecting the entire powertrain with the thermal control and operating circuits!
This advanced energy supply topology caused the entire Blue Star manufacturing team to argue for three months and disassemble and assemble hundreds of times...
At this moment, for the first time, in the harsh cold of an extraterrestrial body, it was firmly connected to full load operation!
"Psionic Circuit is connected to the grid normally! The total power output is 100% rated! The bus voltage fluctuation... is less than three thousandths!!"
In the measurement and control hall on the ground, someone's voice was filled with sobs that were so strong that they couldn't be resolved, and they screamed out in an almost broken voice.
And in this millisecond.
Above the moon.
Four special high-power industrial-grade high-pressure floodlights mounted at the four corners of the power cabin lit up violently without warning!
Ugh----!!
A pure, blazing, snow-white light beam like the dawn of dawn bursts out from the depth of the alloy lampshade Berserk!
The beam of light shredded the darkness below the cabin, passed over the cold and cold metal armor of the power cabin, and was projected onto the desolate lunar soil beneath the feet that was shrouded in the shadow of the lander!
The shadow fades!
Under the light, the gray lunar soil compacted by mechanical feet was clearly illuminated, and it was also clearly illuminated... the first winding and deep rut created by the unmanned operating vehicle in this landing area!!
In front of the track work station.
The old engineer clung to the anti-roll armrest. In the corner of his eyes, tears burst out without warning, gathering into trembling water droplets in the weightlessness, and his face was wiped wet.
Once upon a time, he was also a young technician who could only raise his neck and watch the astronauts on the other side of the ocean energetically step onto the lunar module gangway in front of the black and white TV;
In the darkest years when the system was undergoing transformation and funding was at the bottom, with red eyes, he personally locked three boxes of unfinished structural sketches of the moon landing rocket into the bottom layer of the wooden box where he was preparing to pack up and retire.
That year, everyone said that there were some gaps that could not be filled by one generation and that could not be caught up by two generations.
And later...
He came to this near-earth Orbital Factory.
He used his calloused hands to tighten his country's first space Dragon Bone;
And today!
On this mythical planet that humans have looked up to for millions of years...
The lights they made with their own hands finally illuminated this extremely dark frozen land!
"Old man!! It's bright!! It's so bright!!"
The young researcher next to him could no longer contain the blood boiling in his chest. He rushed forward desperately under the constraints of the magnetic shoes, grabbing the old engineer's shoulders and shaking him like crazy. He laughed so hard that his whole body was covered in chaff, and his face was covered with tears and snot.
The old engineer was also laughing, and he slapped the young man's palm hard with his backhand!
Snap!!
The crisp and crisp claps echoed in the weightless cabin for a long time, and neither of them was willing to let go of the suction cups under their feet, allowing the hot ecstasy to wash through every corner of their souls.
Above the lunar sea, two sets of huge flexible solar wings on the top of the power module are slowly extended and spread out driven by micromotors.
Conventional aerospace-grade gallium arsenide battery panels are responsible for providing basic power during the sunshine period, and under the strong gold film armor, high-density spiritual energy storage modules are spitting out abundant power for unmanned operating vehicles and cabin equipment at a constant and surging rhythm.
After the full load test is completed, the equipment will switch to operating power as planned. In the corner of the screen, the remaining energy storage and mission energy consumption are refreshed one by one; subsequent supply, expansion and moonlight support are all listed on the next batch of delivery lists.
The unmanned operating vehicle drove out of the halo under the snow-white light. The high-definition panoramic camera on the vehicle slowly rotated, recording the unfolded power cabin, the bright solar wings, and the desolate moon sea extending to the skyline behind it into the holographic film, spanning the sea of stars and transmitting back to the mother planet.
The first shallow drilling sampling of lunar soil was successfully completed.
The metal can containing the first lunar soil sample of this mission was firmly locked into the lock position, waiting for subsequent composition analysis and return mission.
And in the deepest part of the flight control hall on the ground.
Commander-in-Chief Ban Jianguo stood behind the boiling crowd with his hands behind his hands. It was not until the long green signals of normal operation popped up on the large screens of all sub-systems that the Commander-in-Chief, who was always sullen, took a deep breath, lowered his head and opened the mission startup document at the bottom of the folder.
On the title page of the document, a line of bold black characters shines brightly under the light -
"National Deep Space Strategy: First-Phase Crewed Lunar Research Outpost·Crewed Advance Mission Launch Plan".
Ban Jianguo pulled out the pen and without any hesitation, signed the vigorous name that penetrated the back of the paper at the commander-in-chief's approval column.
Buzz.
The low-latency dedicated line video of Orbital Factory is still hanging high on the side screen of the hall.
The old engineer on the space station caught the commander-in-chief's action of sheathing his pen at a glance.
The old man wiped away the tears on his face, and across the measurement and control line connecting low-Earth orbit and the ground, his back was as straight as a javelin, and his voice was as loud as a bell:
"President, the registration list for the manned construction team... is officially open?"
On the other side of the big screen, Ban Jianguo raised his head, with a gentle and proud smile in his bloodshot eyes:
"It's ready to start. The first batch of Lunar Engineering Corps is composed of one hundred and twenty people. Low-gravity precision construction, multi-person collaboration, equipment emergency repair... all are assessed according to monthly practical operation standards. No matter how powerful you are, you must put every effort steadily where it should fall."
"I know."
The old engineer was categorical, without even half a second of hesitation:
"When I finish handing over the next season's process parameters of Orbital Factory to the second shift... I will be the first to apply for the decentralization of Ground Training Base!"
Ban Jianguo did not make an extraordinary promise on the spot, but he faced the fiery eyes of his old subordinate and nodded solemnly:
"Submit your application, and the committee... will wait for your practical results. Don't lose your old skills to young people."
Communication is cut off.
The young researcher came over with gleaming eyes and bumped the old man's elbow like a thief:
"Old man, are you really going?"
"Nonsense, I have been drawing blueprints for most of my life, and at the end of the day, am I still working as a supervisor in the sky for the rest of my life?!"
"Hehe, I heard that when Ground Training Base is mounted on Active-Unloading Lunar Gravity Simulation Rig, several people are required to lift the heavy components for docking. Whether the hands are steady or the reaction force cannot be controlled depends entirely on the seams. Someone squeezed the test piece hard and deformed it. The instructor was scolded bloody by the instructor during the rework..."
The old engineer quickly rearranged the factory's production schedule without raising his head. He snorted coldly and glanced sideways from the corner of his eye:
"What? After working for Orbital Factory for so long, you are still afraid that you can't match that seam?"
The young researcher didn't answer.
He just grinned silently, swiped his fingertips quickly on the personal Terminal, and directly pushed the "Voluntary Application to Participate in Lunar Development Advance Team Pledge" that had already been filled out and stamped with a bright red fingerprint in the upper right corner to the old engineer's eyes.
Two big hands that were also covered with calluses touched each other again. They looked at each other and smiled, saying nothing.
The old engineer turned around, and his penetrating eyes fell back on the main screen directly in front of the work station.
Outside the factory, in the deep and dark low-Earth orbit, the robotic arm is like a tireless giant, moving a new batch of high-precision components with a cold luster to the quality inspection platform;
And next to the "Long-Term Plan for a Permanent Lunar Base" that was originally full of abstract dotted lines and imaginary illustrations, at this moment... there is a high-definition freeze-frame photo that was just transmitted back from 380,000 kilometers away.
In the middle of the desolate moon sea, which is gray, dead, eternally cold.
A small patch of snow-white, warm, blazing and strong industrial lights, just like the spark of civilization cutting through the darkness, proudly shining into the distance.
The old man stared at the beam of light for a long time, then stretched out his slightly trembling fingertips and very gently enlarged the photo inch by inch.
"Next time..."
The old engineer's eyes reflected the stars in the sky, and he whispered softly:
"--It must be one of ours... stand next to that lamp in person and take a picture of our Blue Star!!"