In the "Concept Video of the International Lunar Research Station" released at the opening ceremony of the "China Space Day", the China National Space Administration revealed that the International Lunar Research Station plans to be built by 2035 to carry out normalized lunar scientific experiments, resource utilization and technical verification.
With the continuous progress of science and technology, the concept of a lunar scientific research station is gradually moving from science fiction to reality. Now, this plan of the China National Space Administration not only demonstrates our firm determination to explore the moon, but also heralds the beginning of a new chapter in human space exploration.
How to stay in space, human beings can be said to be more and more skilled, of course, to "do things" on the moon, it is more difficult than on a space station in low earth orbit, and more importantly, more expensive, much more expensive! Isn't there an analogy before, the Saturn 5 rocket used for the moon landing, launched once, is equivalent to burning an aircraft carrier.
Of course, there is a reason why it is expensive, the average of the earth and the moon is 380,000 kilometers, which is enough to circle our earth's equator more than 9 times, and the space station in low earth orbit is only 400 kilometers. There is almost no atmosphere on the moon, and it is hot and cool quickly, with more than 120 degrees during the day and more than minus 180 degrees at night, with a temperature difference of more than 300 degrees between day and night. It's no different from a space station running naked in space.
But fortunately, the moon is a slow sub, and it rotates very slowly, and it takes 29.5 days to make a revolution, which is like "one day on the moon and one month on the ground". Therefore, the day and night on the moon are as long as two weeks, otherwise it is really easy to catch a cold if it is cold and hot.
Is it all day and night on the moon in this cycle? No, similar to the earth, the north and south poles of the moon also have polar day and night phenomena, especially near the poles, the cumulative light time can reach 300 days a year, and the number of continuous light days can also be more than 200. This is definitely a treasure of feng shui for a probe or a lunar base.
Because continuous sunlight means a continuous supply of solar energy, the working time can be fully extended, and the efficiency will be greatly improved! At the same time, the solar altitude angle of the north and south poles is very small, usually only 2 degrees.
As we know, there are many impact craters on the moon, and the north and south poles are no exception, and even the terrain is more complex. Extremely low sun heights, combined with terrain occlusion, can result in continuous, unlit, permanently shadowed areas. This means that there is likely to be water in the form of ice. In 2010, a satellite struck the moon's permanently shadowed area, which was also confirmed by an analysis of the sputtered dust.
With water, there are a lot of things that can be done, for astronauts to drink, to prepare oxygen, the cost of survival support can be greatly reduced. But more significant than this, electrolysis of water can also produce liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen propellants, reducing the burden of transportation from Earth to the moon and supporting the exploration of more distant deep space. Remember when we talked about the space toilet, every resource in space is precious. Sun Tzu said in the Art of War, eat the enemy for one minute, and be me for twenty minutes. This was still the case in the agrarian era, let alone now. You have to build a supply depot halfway, and use it all the way.
However, although the North and South Poles are excellent choices for building a lunar base. But at present, only one-tenth of the landing sites can be selected, after all, the terrain of the North and South Poles is very complex, and it is still very difficult to land.
Once the location is chosen, how should the base be built? One is the Musk-style multi-cabin connection model, which uses multiple rigid modules to make a soft landing on the moon and then connect them to form a work-living area. Doesn't it sound familiar? Yes, it's kind of similar to assembling a space station. This kind of base is relatively quick to build, but it is too small to provide the residency and working life of 3 to 6 astronauts.
Another is to mine the ore and lunar soil on the moon, process it into usable building materials, and use 3D printing to build houses. This makes it possible to take full advantage of the moon's topography by choosing a lava cave or crater and adding a dome. In this way, the lunar base can truly become an important supply station for deep space exploration.
It won't be long before the first lunar research station will appear, and then from unmanned to manned, from short-term operation to long-term duty, the pace of human beings out of the cradle and into deep space may not be fast, but every step is solid.