One step ahead of the United States, it seems that the United States is going to be surprised again!
At present, the mainland is comprehensively advancing the relevant plans of the fourth phase of the lunar exploration project, including the Chang'e-6, Chang'e-7 and Chang'e-8 missions.
Then around 2030, a manned landing on the moon will be carried out, and after that, a scientific research base will be built on the moon.
When it comes to base construction, no, Huazhong University of Science and Technology has shown a mysterious construction method to the outside world, which is simply admirable!
Construction of a Chinese lunar base
You probably don't know how hard it is to build a house on the moon?
First, the Moon's gravity is only one-sixth that of Earth, which means that building materials and structures need to be redesigned to accommodate different gravitational environments.
However, the Moon does not have a protective atmosphere and magnetic field like the Earth, so the surface of the Moon is completely exposed to solar and cosmic radiation, which poses a serious challenge to building materials.
The house is not only able to withstand this radiation, but also provides the necessary protection for the occupants.
In addition, because there is almost no atmosphere on the surface of the moon, after the lack of temperature regulation by the atmosphere, the moon will be hot and cold, and the temperature difference between day and night can reach about 300 degrees.
Relevant data show that the temperature on the moon during the day, that is, the place where the sun is illuminated, is about 127°C;
At night, where there is no sunlight or shade, the temperature is -183°C.
Traditional civil engineering construction methods are almost impossible to implement, and structural stability cannot be guaranteed.
This is a great test for the building, which requires strong thermal insulation and regulation capabilities to ensure a stable internal temperature.
What's more, there are also moonquakes and micrometeoroids on the moon, and if there are not enough protective measures, a slight shock, or a collision, the house can easily be damaged.
Therefore, building a house on the moon is a very challenging mega project.
No, Huazhong University of Science and Technology unveiled the prototype of their moon house, a building with an arc structure like an eggshell, which engineers called "Moon Huzun".
Different from ordinary buildings, the interior of the "Moon Huzun" is hollow, with no load-bearing beams and eight columns;
At the top of the eggshell is a dome structure, which is divided into two layers, the inner and the outer layer, and a layer of rib-like structure in the middle, which enhances stability.
The interior space is divided into two floors, the upper floor is the living area and the lower level is the work area.
Why did you come up with this shape?
On the one hand, such a structure can maintain better stability, and at the same time, the air bag put into the eggshell can also be automatically deployed, which has good thermal insulation performance and can form a real living space.
So that the astronauts who work and live on it in the future can better survive on the lunar surface.
However, even if you build a house on the moon, you still need bricks to build it.
So how to prepare the first brick on the moon?
First of all, excluding transportation from Earth, because the cost is too high, it is said that it costs $200,000 to go to the moon just to transport the weight of a bottle of mineral water.
Not to mention the tens of thousands of tons of materials for a base, the cost of such construction is unaffordable for any country.
Therefore, it is only possible to use the nearest material, that is, to use lunar soil as a construction material.
So, by what means can lunar soil be sintered into bricks?
Regarding this, the team of China University of Science and Technology first simulated a material similar to lunar soil in the laboratory, and then put it into an electromagnetic induction sintering furnace for high-temperature firing, and the internal temperature can reach more than 1,000 degrees.
In about ten minutes, a simulated lunar brick was fired.
In addition, a vacuum sintering furnace can also be used, which simulates the vacuum environment of the moon.
The principle is mainly to use electric heating, there are 10 heating rods distributed inside, and heat can be generated after being electrified.
The lunar soil material is packed with graphite molds in advance, and then put into the sintering furnace for firing, and the researchers introduced that it takes about 24 hours to fire a simulated lunar brick in a vacuum environment.
What's more, researchers also said that through the Fresnel lens, the parallel light of the sun's rays is focused at a point to achieve the effect of solar sintering construction.
Now that the bricks are there, how do you build the house next?
This has to mention the 3D printing construction technology of Huake University.
The technology combines traditional Chinese masonry mortise and tenon joints with 3D printing, and the whole process is automatically built by the "Moon Spider" robot, which is as simple as building blocks.
It is reported that the robot will be able to print and assemble buildings several meters high, and the energy consumption and cost are lower than traditional construction.
And it is worth mentioning that this robot can also take off autonomously on the lunar surface, in addition to building houses, it can also help mine lunar resources, and at the same time carry out many tasks such as patrol protection and cargo transfer.
Of course, the robot-related design is still being improved, and in the future, after the research and development of the principle prototype, it can become a "Chinese super mason".
Experts predict that around 2028, the "Chinese Super Mason" will land on the moon and use in-situ construction to prepare the first lunar brick, which will become the building material for building a lunar base.
Tut-tut, it's going to be fast until 2028, and it's a little bit of a little anticipation when you think about it.
Historically, after the first human landing on the moon in 1969, there was a huge increase in interest in the moon, which led to a wave of enthusiasm for the construction of the lunar surface.
The original idea was that all the necessary building materials and equipment would be manufactured and assembled on Earth and then transported to the moon by spacecraft.
Once on the moon, these building materials and equipment are used directly to build infrastructure.
The advantages are that the technology is relatively mature and the risk is low, but the disadvantages are that the transportation cost is extremely high, and the flexibility and scalability are extremely limited.
Then between 1993 and 2018, the thinking changed again.
For example, NASA proposed the concept of "lunar outpost", and the European Space Agency also proposed the concept of "lunar habitat".
This approach means that part of the infrastructure is still manufactured on Earth, but after being transported to the Moon, it is further expanded, assembled, and maintained on the lunar surface.
The advantage is that it can reduce transportation costs, and at the same time improve the flexibility and adaptability of construction.
Now, engineers on the mainland have proposed that it can be built close to the moon, which is undoubtedly a huge breakthrough for the scientific community.
Although it will be difficult to achieve in the short term, it will certainly be possible in the future at our current pace.
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I feel more and more that "The Wandering Earth 2" is not a science fiction film, but a documentary.
Because what happens in the movie may not take long to come true in reality.
The infrastructure madness is really scary.
There's no way, the moon has been our inherent territory since ancient times, and we just went up to rebuild the Guanghan Palace.