The rise of nanometers

The two lay down for a long time and rested for a while before getting up. Wade put on the extravehicular space suit, while Hawke stayed in the base.

If there weren't only two of them, they would all want to go to the supply cabin together.

However, there are only two of them in the base now. No one is left behind, and it does not meet the safety regulations, so Wade can only go there alone.

After leaving the cabin.

Wade drives a moon rover, a convertible.

This is one of the devices previously launched by NASA. After the base was built, the lunar rover performed a mission and was then covered with a radiation-proof thermal blanket.

He rolled up the thermal blanket, and inside the parking tent was the lunar rover. Due to financial problems, NSAS did not use plutonium batteries on it, but ordinary safe lithium batteries.

The lunar rover was charged yesterday. Based on the lunar environment, this vehicle can transport up to 500 to 600 kilograms of items, and its cruising range is about 150 to 160 kilometers.

However, it had not been used for more than half a year, and he did not know if there were any problems. Wade could only drive the base's only means of transportation, pulling a cargo loader, and headed northwest.

The supply cabin was only about 1.1 kilometers away from the base. Wade, who was worried about something going wrong, didn't dare to drive too fast. It took him about five minutes to reach the supply cabin.

Following the instructions and password given by the headquarters, the door of the supply cabin was opened.

First, take away the food package. In fact, the 8.7 tons of supplies in the supply cabin are not entirely food, but also daily necessities, medicines, spare spare parts, and equipment for repairing the capsule.

This time, the two scientific research capsules were seriously damaged. If it were the Guanghan Palace base, they might have been abandoned directly. However, NASA now wishes that one space capsule could be used as two, and of course it will not abandon the two space capsules.

Therefore, the two space capsules must be repaired. Even if they cannot be used as scientific research capsules, they can still be transformed into living capsules.

After getting the food, Wade carefully drove the convertible back to the base slowly.

But neither of them noticed that in the previously damaged scientific research module B2, the plutonium nuclear decay battery that was damaged by debris was melting little by little.

The nuclear decay battery equipped in the scientific research module B2 is the only two nuclear batteries in the entire base. The other one is in the living module A3.

Due to the breakdown of the nuclear battery, the power supply to the scientific research cabin was naturally suspended.

But one characteristic of nuclear batteries is that they will continue to release heat regardless of whether they are used or not.

Speaking of which, the power generation systems of these two nuclear batteries have something to do with the Suiren system.

In order to improve the thermal efficiency of nuclear batteries, NASA smuggled a batch of cars from Asia equipped with thermoelectric power generation systems, then removed the thermoelectric materials and transformed them into nuclear battery power generation systems.

Under normal circumstances, part of the heat of the nuclear battery will be used to generate electricity, and the other part of the heat will be used to heat the water in the base, which is mainly used for constant temperature, bathing, heating food and drinking water.

The last part of the waste heat that cannot be used is released to the surface environment through the cooling sand flow system set up outside the cabin.

The heat dissipation quicksand system is a design adapted to local conditions. It uses a design similar to a waterwheel to use lunar soil to take away waste heat from the heat sink.

However, as the nuclear battery power generation and heating systems stopped working, the heat dissipation quicksand system that relied on the nuclear battery power generation system to self-sustain also stopped working.

Therefore, the heat of the nuclear battery cannot be released, and it continues to accumulate inside the nuclear battery, then burns through the protective layer and spreads little by little to the surroundings.

Wade and the others were not aware of this terrible phenomenon, because the monitoring system of the scientific research module B2 was also shut down.

At this time, the melting phenomenon of B2's nuclear battery began to spread to the internal hot water pipes on the bottom side. Although nuclear decay is relatively mild, no matter how mild it is, it is still a type of nuclear reaction.

The neutrons released by nuclear decay continue to bombard the hot water pipes, heating the water in the water pipes and changing the hydrogen and oxygen atoms in the water.

Fortunately, in order to repair the living cabin A2, Hawke removed the thermostat of B2, which caused the temperature of the hot water pipe to be abnormal, which was not discovered by the computer system in time.

If it were just an abnormal temperature, there would be no problem. The key is that the neutrons irradiated the water, causing some of the hydrogen atoms in the water to be converted into tritium.

The water resources in the base are very precious. Even urine must be filtered and turned into drinking water again. The water circulation system of the entire base is interconnected.

Although there are three independent water circulation systems, the water in them is not divided into three parts.

Starting from October 28th, B2's nuclear battery leaked and began to come into slight contact with water pipes, and it is now November 5th.

In other words, Wade and Hawke have been drinking nuclear-contaminated water for more than a week without knowing it.

And as time goes by, it will be difficult to find that the water is contaminated before the water pipes are burned out, or before they take the initiative to repair the scientific research cabin B2.

What's even more terrifying is that the contaminated water has passed through the base's water circulation system and been mixed with safe water.

With the water purification equipment at Outpost 1 at this time, they had no way to treat the nuclear-contaminated water.

The supplies sent by the Lunar 8 spacecraft only included a small amount of nutrient solution and some beverage granules. Unknowingly, the two of them fell into a dead situation again.

What's even more terrible is that they haven't discovered the problem yet.

Coupled with their recent frugality, they have become very weak and neglect other problems.

Even if there is an abnormality in the body, the two people may think that it is the impact of hunger, malnutrition and space syndrome.

At this time, Wade pulled supplies five times and finally brought food, medicine, daily necessities and a small number of spare parts back to the base.

Considering that there were only four cabins left in the base and there was not much room to store supplies, the two did not continue to pull the remaining things over.

But eat, wash, and sleep.

After the exhausted Wade washed up, he put on earplugs and eye mask and went to sleep.

Hawke, who was on duty, was communicating with the ground command center to make relevant plans for the subsequent repair work.

After just over an hour of busy work, he felt a little dizzy. He rubbed his temples, picked up the special drink bottle, stuffed the coffee cubes he had just brought back, and then went to the water dispenser and added a bottle of hot water.

A pot of hot coffee appears in the drink bottle.

Hawke, who continued to work, did not know that he was drinking nuclear-contaminated water.

High-concentration neutron irradiation continues to irradiate water pipes, and more and more hydrogen and oxygen atoms are turned into radioactive isotopes.

The deadly atomic poison is already eroding Hawke's body.

It's just that he didn't notice the problem. He just thought that he was too tired and would recover after resting for a while.

As for NASA, since it is 380,000 kilometers away from Outpost 1, even daily communication is inconvenient, let alone discovering abnormalities in the water circulation system.

Especially those two failed launches, leaving a huge mess.

The situation of Outpost 1 can only be discovered by Hawke and his two men.

After drinking nuclear-contaminated water for more than a week, my health is definitely in danger.

Even if the problem is discovered now, it is too late.

After all, relying solely on nutrient solution and fruits and vegetables will definitely not last for a long time. People can survive for about seven days without food. Without drinking water, they need to receive boxed meals in three days.

When the time comes, should we drink seeds to quench our thirst? Or die of thirst?

Thank you for your support (ω｀)