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Lead
It is understood that the continental probe completed the historic lunar return voyage, which sent lunar samples back to Earth, making the continent the second country to bring lunar samples back to Earth in 40 years.
But the probe also discovered lava tube caverns on the moon, which it calls "natural dwellings" deep on the moon.
Chinese scientists have also systematically carried out research on the moon's caves through data analysis from the M^3 probe, hoping to accumulate more scientific research capital for future lunar exploration work.
So how exactly did these "natural dwellings" come to be?
And what are the benefits of living in these caves for humans?
Will these lava caves solve the problem of habitation for our future bases on the moon?
Has the dream of a future human settlement on the moon come true?
At the same time, there are various research directions about lava caves, such as what the search for lunar caves can bring us, which is reminiscent: if a lunar base can be built on the moon, will the future of human life start a new history?
Regarding the lava cave in the depths of the moon, the scientists' analysis of it.
On the Moon, these lava caves extend from deep above the surface to become underground craters, and according to statistics, the circumference of these lava tunnels is generally more than 100 meters, or at least tens of meters.
At the same time, from the shape of the lava pipes, there are various shapes of the pipes, there are curved passages formed by circular bending, and there are also flat passages like ovals.
Undoubtedly, the caves formed by these lava pipes have a very large space and can provide a wide living space, and at the same time, these lava pipes are deep underground, covered by a thick layer of lunar soil and stone layers underground, so the caves formed by these lava pipes have a very huge radiation resistance, which can protect the inhabitants from the threat of cosmic rays.
But how are these lava pipes formed?
These lava pipes are actually the result of a form called a "cave collapse morphology".
In the structure of the lunar crust, there are many lava pipes on the surface, which are left by the flow of lava that erupts from the mantle layer of the moon's interior.
Dozens of meters underground, at the junction of the earth's crust and mantle, the underground lava pipes and surface rock structures on the surface are eroded by groundwater, and eventually a lava pipe cave with a hole above and a pipe below is formed.
It can be seen that it is natural for lava pipe caverns to eventually form such a result, which can be said to be everywhere on the moon, so researchers began to study these lava pipes to see what kind of use they can provide for living on the moon.
Construction of a lunar base.
From the current point of view, we have the ability to build a lunar base suitable for human habitation for a long time.
The biggest reason for this is that the Moon already has three essential elements for human habitation: water, oxygen, and fuel.
In the lunar samples brought back to Earth by Chang'e-5 in 2019, scientists found large amounts of water and oxygen in them.
Chinese scientists have come to the conclusion that there is water on the moon by using satellites to detect the composition of material on the moon's surface.
In the south and north poles of the moon, because their terrain has a difference of several hundred meters at most, this makes a large part of the place there in a state of darkness all year round, no sunlight shines through, and the temperature is very low, so the material stored in the soil there will not be lost due to evaporation, including water.
But scientists soon discovered a problem, that is, whether in the South Pole or the North Pole, only the surface area of water is very small, and a large number of places are places where water particles are not illuminated by the sun.
And this lunar water is distributed in the far side of the moon in the world, the most extensive and most abundant place in the world.
It is this discovery that has led scientists to be more certain that there are large reserves of water in the dark regions of the Moon.
There are a lot of water resources distributed on the moon, and lunar water can be said to be of epoch-making significance, because lunar water can be used not only to solve the problem of drinking water in the daily life of people living on the moon, but also to solve the energy problem of lunar living bases.
According to a study published in 2017, the moon's water resources can provide 90% of the daily water used by lunar base personnel, and that the lunar water could provide 70% of the power for solar power plants built on the moon's isothermal points.
Therefore, it is not difficult to conclude that the use of water resources on the moon can solve the problem of oxygen and fuel on the moon very well.
First, the moon's water can break down oxygen and hydrogen.
On the Moon, scientists can use a physicochemical method called "electrolysis" to split water to extract oxygen and hydrogen.
The role of oxygen is to be able to breathe for humans, and the chemical and physical properties of oxygen are very stable, and people can transport oxygen from the moon back to Earth for human use.
Secondly, the water of the moon also contains a large amount of hydrogen, hydrogen is the most important chemical element in the universe, so in addition to oxygen, the main role of the moon's water is to decompose hydrogen.
Hydrogen and oxygen can be mixed together in a 2:1 ratio to get water, so it can be said that with water, people can produce enough fuel.
Therefore, it can be said that the presence of water on the moon is equivalent to the existence of oxygen and fuel, two very important survival resources on the moon.
Secondly, the solar energy resources on the moon are also a huge advantage for human beings to explore and build bases on the moon.
There is no atmosphere on the moon to block the sun, so it can be said that every inch of the moon can be exposed to the sun and become a giant solar panel.
According to NASA statistics in 2017, if a solar power plant like United States United States was built on the moon's isothermal point, it would be enough to provide people with tens of megawatts of energy, and even directly supply electricity to large cities.
Therefore, it can be said that such a solar resource is absolutely sufficient to meet the electricity needs of the population living in the lunar base.
However, at the same time, the lack of an atmosphere on the moon also brings a big problem, that is, there is no atmosphere, no rain, can not resist the high-energy radiation in the universe, that is to say, the base of the ecological environment built on the moon, people will not have the ability to resist cosmic radiation, and there may be some corresponding sequelae later.
Therefore, to settle on the moon, human beings also need to build facilities such as "space suits" in the base that are enough to block cosmic radiation.
Therefore, the living environment of the lunar base needs to be further improved.
The construction of a base on the moon involves many issues, including the issue of building materials, construction, and transportation.
The most immediate problem is the problem of building materials, that is, whether people can find enough building materials on Earth to eventually transport them to the moon to build a lunar base.
On Earth, of course, there are enough building materials, but the key question is how to transport them to the moon.
People can use rockets to transport building materials to the moon, but the problem is that rockets have experienced a lot of resistance when they enter the atmosphere, so it can be said that people have consumed a lot of material resources before transporting building materials, so as the rocket flies into space, in order to make the rocket more energy-efficient, quality is particularly important.
One can reduce the weight of the rocket according to what the leader Sun· Hollermeier called the "earth push method", but the question is, how do people transport these huge rocket parts to the moon and assemble them?
Nowadays, people can use spacecraft to transport these huge containers, but what do people do to transport containers from Earth to the moon?
The spacecraft can go to Mars for replenishment, but when the spacecraft returns from Mars and prepares to fly to the moon, the earth is on the other side of the earth, so the earth and Mars are dragged by the gravitational pull of the moon, which is the so-called "three-body problem", so people are not without difficulties when using the spacecraft to transport containers.
In order to solve this problem, people have proposed a solution, that is, to raise an aerial body between the earth and the moon, and let it and the earth orbit the moon, so as to solve the three-body problem.
In addition, people can also build space elevators on aerial objects, and use cosmic high-energy lasers to heat the surface of the moon on aerial objects, so as to heat the stones on the surface of the moon into lava, and then directly transport the ore extracted from the heated lava back to Earth from the aerial bodies.
This not only alleviates the problem of resource scarcity on the planet, but also greatly reduces transportation costs.
People can also directly use materials from the moon to build a lunar base, which is called "local materials".
On the Moon, there is a large amount of lunar soil and stones, and people can use these materials to build a lunar base.
Scientists are studying how to print lunar soil and stone on the lunar surface into building materials through 3D printing, so that a large number of building materials can be "taken from local materials".
If people can really make 3D printers, then the moon base can be said to be more than half successful, and people can even build a moon base without too much money.
Challenges in building a lunar base.
So far, people have the conditions to settle on the moon, but people do not have the ability to settle on the moon.
First of all, the problem facing the lunar base is the problem of energy.
It can be said that the energy problem is the core problem of the lunar base, and even if only this one problem is solved, the other problems of the people have also been solved.
Because, if there is no energy, people's living foundation will be gone, and people's production, transportation, communications, health and other aspects of life will also be gone, therefore, only by solving the energy problem, people will be able to solve other problems in the future.
On the earth, people can use a variety of fossil energy, such as coal, oil, gas, etc., to supply energy for people's lives, but on the moon, because the moon is very rich in water resources, people can use the water resources on the moon to supply energy for life.
The use of solar and wind energy can also solve part of the energy problem, but solar energy and wind energy are inexhaustible, they are a natural resource that does not stop, therefore, people cannot use solar and wind energy to solve all energy problems.
Therefore, people also need to use some other alternative energy sources that do not consume too much energy to solve the energy problem.
One of the most important alternative energy sources is nuclear energy.
Scientists are studying how to generate electricity on the moon, and they are studying how to use nuclear energy on the moon to generate electricity, thus solving the energy problem.
So far, people can only use the nuclear energy on the earth to transport fuel to the moon, and people have not been able to use the nuclear energy on the moon to solve the energy problem of the lunar base.
Secondly, the problem facing the lunar base is the problem of electricity.
On Earth, people can use thermal and thermal generators to generate electricity, but on the moon, since there is no atmosphere on the moon that can fuel thermal generators, people can only use solar and nuclear energy to solve the problem of electricity.
On Earth, people can use solar cells to collect solar energy and then use it to store electricity