Scholar’s Advanced Technological System

Tires crumble over the gravel, making a creaking noise.

In an endless desert, a Mars car travels slowly in the wind and sand dancing across the sky.

In addition to the AI-run ATV, only a few microbes remain stubbornly asthmatic in this no-life zone, which has long been uninterrupted.

Time seems to have taken everything it can.

In this already dead world, every gravel is engraved with desolation.

But today is definitely an extraordinary day for this dead planet.

As the sound of the engine came along the thin atmosphere, a silver-white circle slowly landed from the air. Four long, rough flames and aircurrents pushed an arcuate umbrella across its front edge, blowing red sand across the ground and even causing a sandstorm of considerable magnitude.

Seems to have heard movement from the sky, and this all-terrain survey vehicle probe turned the top full-angle camera and cast a "bewildered” gaze into the air.

It was this glimpse of the eye that recorded the shocking scene.

Like a comet hitting the surface, the umbrella flame was instantly extinguished when the circle hit the ground. Instead, rolling sand and dust rushed into the sky like a waterfall, like cloudy clouds pulling open the dim sky.

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No emotion flashed from the display, losing interest in this silver white circle, the "reptile” continued along its intended course, and its owner assigned it the task of exploring the topography and natural resources of the Mars surface.

It has been doing this for years, and it will continue to do so until the machine is damaged or the battery runs out. Unlike the artificial intelligence that communicates with it, it has no superfluous curiosity other than a record for anything else that doesn't matter.

No photograph was taken of this “colleague” who had arrived on Mars earlier, and the colonial compartment did not even take a short break after landing and immediately began to deploy.

Around four or five metres long, alloy poles penetrated the surface straight, securing the colonial compartment firmly to the ground.

Immediately after that silver-white metal housing, it expands outward along four directions, like an expanded doughnut, expanding an area of cultivation somewhat similar to the airbag.

The deployment was very smooth.

Just like they practiced countless times in the desert in the Great Northwest.

Standing in the communication room of the colonial compartment, Liang Yucheng connected to the Xufu hovered around the orbit through the console, briefly reporting on the current situation.

“This is the Mars Colonial Outpost, and we have successfully landed. ”

“The climate and environment here are worse than we thought, but fortunately everything is going well… The colonial module has been deployed and so far the installation has been operating fairly steadily without any tricky breakdowns. ”

“We will begin our work today as soon as we have some rest. ”

As briefly as possible, Leung Yucheng sent the newsletter to Jinling Space Launch Center, while updating it to the mission log of Xu Fu.

And then there's a series of routine rituals like walking out of the cabin, flagging and taking pictures.

Just as these routines were under way, a four-wheeled Mars vehicle, which looked like a Land Cruiser, slowly pulled out of the buffered outdoor garage and was driven by the planetary geologist Dr. Van, into a sandy sea along a straight trajectory.

His destination was “watershed" 7.2 kilometres from the colonial pod.

It is an underground ice layer, 20 metres below the surface, situated directly in the middle of a small basin, which, according to estimates provided by the Jinling Institute of Higher Studies, has a reserve of approximately 150 to 400 million cubic metres.

While many reservoirs on the planet can easily explode this reserve size, it has been able to highlight Mars' “vast earth mass” relative to the state of water resources on the moon.

For this colonial outpost, water resources are the first thing that must be ensured. It implies that freshwater resources and oxygen are the most fundamental physical foundations on which the entire artificial ecosystem can function.

Secondly, solar, wind and other renewable resources.

Although the thin and turbid atmosphere on Mars makes solar and wind energy less accessible, it is better to harvest energy locally than to use expensive nuclear energy.

After all, the nuclear fusion technology applied to space stations, spacecraft, and Pangu piles are still somewhat different.

The latter is the Magnetic Constraint Ignition Device of the Eight Scriptures of Zhengzi, which releases star-grade energy. Each link from ignition to heat emission is designed according to local conditions and requires hundreds of engineers to maintain the stable operation of the device.

The former is merely a pulsed fusion device based on acoustic luminescence in liquid phase metals.

While the unit is countless times smaller than a series of giant heaps such as Pangu heaps, bamboos, and heaps, neither the efficiency of energy use, nor the total power, nor the cost per unit of electricity, is much smaller than the former.

And that's one of the reasons why even though the Moon Palace is equipped with such fusion cells, it still lays solar panels many times larger than the body.

At present, the Jinling Institute of Higher Studies is studying how to build a streamlined generation magnetic restraint ignition device on the Moon to power the IMCRC collider and other “high-power experimental equipment" in the lunar research station, while simultaneously inspiring the second-generation helium trifusion technology to liberate the productivity of Guangdong Special Economic Zone.

After all, after all these years of development, the energy gap on the Moon is still quite small, and it is still somewhat difficult to rely entirely on solar panels and power storage plants.

As for the "Mars Science Examination Station" which currently doesn't even have a name...

Forget about this kind of pendant-level power supply.

The Mars car parked in the center of the basin, Fantong from the car dropped the mobile borehole towed behind the Mars car, skillfully operated the plank in the hand, first measured the formation data with seismic waves, and then sampled multiple sets of cores of rock formations 10 and 20 meters deep in each of the three areas.

“Core sampling complete. ”

Captain Liang's voice quickly came from the communication channel after a series of current sounds.

“How's it going? ”

“It's incredible... I mean incredible in the positive sense," Leaning next to the mobile drilling device that has been hidden behind the Mars cart, Fantong looked at the tablet in his hand, with a strange expression on his face, "The data provided by the Golden Ring Institute of Higher Studies is inconceivable and makes one wonder if they had ever sneaked off to Mars... how they collected such accurate data. ”

Liang Yucheng was not very clear about what was in it, but he was not particularly interested in what was at the end of these branches. As the world's top research institution, the Jinling Institute of Higher Studies naturally had its own methods.

Besides, they have Master Lu.

Anything fantastic, put on that man, will make sense.

“Perhaps it was from the wreckage of the New Virginia that the Americans gathered, as if it were a long time ago… Fuck it, now that the information is accurate, we don't have to worry about freshwater resources in the last three years. ”

Over 100 million cubic metres of fresh water reserves.

Don't say it's three years, it's ten times their population, and it won't last three hundred years.

Originally, colonial classes were ecologically friendly, and the demand for external resource inputs was very small. If they were optimistic, they could even make a complete internal cycle of water resources, although they would consume relatively more energy.

“Anything else? ”

“Well… there is one more thing I have to report to you. ”

There was a little excitement in the tone, Fan Tong continued.

“Earlier, when I was doing a seismic wave test, I found a... somewhat exaggerated seismic crack around here. ”

“Earthquake cracks?” Liang frowned, "Are you sure… it was an earthquake crack? ”

“I'm sure! There is absolutely no mistake, and that fracture structure can only be produced by natural seismic activity. Because of the lower ground, it is fortunate not to be buried by the wind and sand! Surprisingly, however, according to what I have learned in the literature, the geological activity on Mars should have ceased billions of years ago, a very unusual geological formation that is common in active areas of the plate… Can I come down and check it out? ”

Planetary geology is his specialty.

The excitement and excitement in his heart at this moment can no longer be described in words.

Although it is only a small fracture, its discovery has the potential to rewrite the perception of Mars in human civilization! Is there anything more exciting about being a scholar?

In contrast to Dr. Van's excitement, Liang has a relatively calm appearance.

After a moment of careful consideration, he eventually rejected the risky proposal.

“You should come back first and say that your assignment today is over, or it is better not to lose the extraneous branch. ”

Fantong: “I assure you, there will be no danger! It's about 10 meters deep and I can climb up without a safety rope... of course I'll tie it to my waist. ”

“Now come back, this is an order,” Liang said in a useless and unacceptable tone, "to record your findings in today's work log, tomorrow I will let Ming Wenche follow you. ”

The silence lasted for a long time, and a sigh finally appeared on the communication channel.

“Well... you're right. ”

Some reluctantly glanced at the fracture behind them, while some unfortunately shook their heads and threw the tool back into the Mars car, drilling it back into the cockpit.

Looking at the positioning signal that began to return on the screen, the beam standing in the communication room was finally relieved.

Recognition of freshwater resources is the last exercise of the day.

Everything went well from landing to now, and he didn't want to do anything extraneous.

Nevertheless, he was equally curious about the “earthquake crack” that should not have appeared.

He has decided that when Dr. Van returns, he will report the situation to the Ground Command Center, and it will be up to the researchers on Earth to decide whether to investigate it further...