Chapter 420 Good News
November 24th.
The Sperm Whale 003 transport airship, which was converted into an Antarctic scientific research airship, flew from Madagascar to Antarctica.
Weng Xuehai, who was transferred from the Suez branch, and the head of the scientific expedition team, Kain Francis, were on the scientific expedition airship.
Looking at the data on the holographic map.
Weng Xuehai raised his head and said, "Kain, go 27 kilometers southeast and you will reach your destination."
"OK, Doctor!" Kain picked up the intercom and said, "Go 27 kilometers east by south. Be careful of strong winds."
In fact, it is summer in the southern hemisphere now , which is a good time for annual Antarctic scientific research.
However, Weng Xuehai and several researchers from the Geological Department were looking intently at the earth model. Through the high-power magnetic field radar and supercomputer carried by the airship, they had a preliminary understanding of the nearby geological structure and composition.
The airship is currently located in Wilkes Land, Antarctica.
The specific coordinates are roughly in the area of 80 degrees south latitude and 120 degrees east longitude.
Xuehai Weng zooms in on the simulated strata of Wilkes Land, an impact basin with a diameter of about 500 kilometers.
It’s just that the Antarctic ice sheet conceals the existence of this huge impact crater, but the anomalies here can still be discovered through magnetic field radar and gravity satellites.
Many scientific research groups are studying the Wilkes Basin and the Wilkes Massoma.
Although the international academic community has not yet reached a definite answer as to whether the Wilkes mascon was formed by the eruption of a mantle plume or by an asteroid impact.
However, the Homo Sapiens Geology Department determined through magnetic field analysis that the Wilkes mass was formed by an asteroid impact.
The evidence is that during the process of magnetic field sectioning and positioning, a large number of iridium magnetic field signals were found in the center of the Wilkes Basin, and their abundance was very high.
The content of iridium on Earth is very small, but its content is abnormally high on some asteroids.
Therefore, researchers from the Geological Department initially determined that this was an impact crater, and the Wilkes mass mass was the remains of the asteroid.
In addition, a large number of magnetic field signals of gold and other heavy metals were found in the central area of the Wilkes Basin.
…
The airship flew for twenty minutes and finally arrived over the target.
Kaiyin immediately ordered: "Captain Mu Qing, please start lowering the container modules according to the plan."
"no problem."
The scientific research airship carried 13,000 tons of supplies, the core supplies of which were modular containers. There were 634 modular containers with a single weight of 8 to 20 tons.
The first batch of modular containers to be lowered were foundation modules, a total of 100.
After the foundation module is unfolded, a silver-gray metal foundation with an area of 30,000 square meters is formed. There is a latch device on the foundation module to fix other module containers.
The next modular containers to be put down were dormitory modules, kitchen modules, shower modules, storage modules, heating modules, and water purification modules, a total of 136 living-type modular containers.
These modules are stacked together like building blocks to form several five-story buildings with a height of 15 meters.
Then come the nuclear power module, power distribution module, greenhouse module, scientific research module, equipment module and so on.
It is even equipped with four automatic machine gun modules, transformed into defense towers, which are placed at the four corners of the base.
After two days of unloading, the airship finally landed all the module containers and some small vehicles.
The 153 members of the scientific expedition team, as well as the six people including Weng Xuehai who came to assist, all got off the airship and moved into the dormitories at the base.
Sperm Whale No. 003, by vacuuming the air, quickly flew into the stratosphere and returned to Madagascar at full speed to prepare to transport the next batch of supplies.
Weng Xuehai, Kaiyin and others quickly deployed a magnetic field radar to further detect the asteroid debris underground.
over time.
About a week passed.
The base not only collected a large amount of magnetic field data through magnetic field radar, but also drilled a well to a depth of 2,000 meters.
Inside the core analysis room.
Weng Xuehai, wearing protective clothing, and several assistants skipped the core from the ice sheet and instead focused on the rock core.
As they conducted mass spectrometry analysis on rock cores at depths of 500 to 2,000 meters, they found that the content of heavy metals in these cores was very high.
"It's just as expected." Weng Xuehai's eyes were full of joy.
According to magnetic field detection data, the asteroid has a diameter of about 55 kilometers.
Although it collided with the Earth's crust once, the asteroid did not break into pieces because its core is composed of iron and nickel. Instead, it remained relatively intact and embedded in the Earth's crust.
That is to say, starting from 850 meters below the ice sheet and extending downward for 50 to 55 kilometers, it is all the body of this asteroid.
The volume of this asteroid is 100 trillion cubic meters, and its iron content is about 20-30%. The iron ore alone accounts for 140-210 trillion tons, which is thousands of times the current shallow iron ore reserves on the earth's surface.
Of course, Homo sapiens don’t really care about things like iron ore and nickel ore.
However, the gold and other heavy metals contained in this asteroid are what the Sapiens company is determined to obtain.
According to the core samples collected so far, the average gold content per ton of ore is about 40 to 60 grams.
Although it is impossible for the entire asteroid to have such a high gold content, it is estimated that at least 0.8% of the ore can reach this level.
This means that the asteroid contains 200 to 300 million tons of gold.
With such a huge gold reserve, the lead-tungsten-gold electric heating materials that were previously difficult to use can finally be used freely.
This is why Homo sapiens hurriedly dispatched scientific research airships to quickly establish an outpost base.
As for the Antarctic Treaty, Sapiens has no intention of complying with it.
You have to know that this is 200 to 300 million tons of gold. Even if it means making enemies with the whole world, Homo sapiens will not hesitate.
As long as this super large mine is taken over, it will not only be enough for Homo sapiens to carry out internal industrial upgrading, but also greatly reduce production costs.
Currently, electrothermal materials can only be used in the aerospace field because their production costs are too high. A 100-megawatt thermoelectric generator unit requires 250 kilograms of gold.
At the current gold price, 250 kilograms of gold would cost 150 million gold yuan, which is obviously too expensive.
Once the gold mines in the Wilkes Basin are taken over, the cost of gold production can be reduced to almost the same as copper, a cost reduction of thousands of times, which would drive anyone crazy.
After receiving the news in early November, Li Qingye quickly took time out to hold a small management meeting and made various arrangements.
Sending a scientific research airship to land on the beach is just one of the arrangements.
In order to ensure the safety of the entire mining area, Homo sapiens must completely take over the entire Wilkes Land, especially within 100 kilometers of the center, and not give up an inch of land.
Therefore, Li Qingye ordered the Defense Department to form an Antarctic escort fleet, and the Quetzalcoatl Legion was also accelerating.
Although other forces are unlikely to go to war with Homo sapiens, in the face of such huge interests, it is hard to guarantee that someone will take risks.
Li Qingye ordered all branches of the Homo sapiens to strengthen their security forces and also to increase the speed of exploration of outer space.
Strengthening security is to deter the great powers, while strengthening the exploration of outer space is to provide another way out, so that Homo sapiens will have the confidence to turn the table.
Of course, the Homo sapiens must have strictly guarded the large gold mine in the Wilkes Basin to ensure that the secret would not be leaked in a short period of time.
In order to cover up the mining plan in the Wilkes Basin, Li Qingye has ordered the Ministry of Science to build five more Antarctic research stations and five Arctic research stations to conceal the plan.
