The rise of nanometers

Mars, Utopia Planitia.

The special drill bit of Probe No. 15 continues to work.

In fact, Probe 15 is the third-heaviest probe launched by the Ministry of Space Affairs on Mars, with an overall weight of 28.7 tons.

Excluding all kinds of fuel and consumables, the instruments and equipment carried on it weighed about 12.2 tons.

The core equipment is ultrasonic transmitters, acoustic wave receivers, and drilling equipment.

There are two sets of drilling equipment on it, which can drill down to a maximum depth of about 800 meters.

Of course, if you use a drill bit to drill down 800 meters from the beginning, the gain may outweigh the losses, because the drill bit and drill pipe carried by the No. 15 probe are limited consumables.

After more than two years of continuous missions, the No. 15 probe had completed most of its scheduled tasks. The Mars Exploration Bureau of the Ministry of Space Affairs decided to launch the final drilling mission-extreme drilling.

The nuclear battery of Detector No. 15 is fully powered, sending a steady stream of electrical energy to the motor. The motor drives the gear, and then the drill pipe continues to drill downward.

As time went by, the drill bit broke through the soft soil on the surface and encountered hard rock at a depth of 43 meters.

Based on the withdrawn drill string samples, the onboard supercomputer of the No. 15 detector analyzed the main components of the rock formation through a mass spectrometer and other equipment.

Immediately began to change the drill bit, using a drill bit specially designed for drilling granite.

Although the drill bit made of nanotechnology is a product two years ago, its hardness, strength, wear resistance, heat resistance, and corrosion resistance are all very strong.

After replacing the drill bit, the rock below 43 meters was drilled like tofu.

However, considering the heat dissipation problem, since there is no liquid water on Mars that can be collected, the drill must stop every once in a while to dissipate the accumulated heat.

Five days passed before I knew it.

The drill bit mission of Probe No. 15 is still ongoing.

At this time, the drill bit has drilled to a depth of 436 meters.

Suddenly, Probe No. 15 trembled slightly, and the resistance under the drill bit seemed to disappear all of a sudden.

The program on the on-board supercomputer starts running automatically.

He tried to operate the drill bit and continued drilling downward. In less than twenty seconds, the drill bit had penetrated 18.36 meters before encountering new resistance.

Half an hour later.

Blue Star, Australia’s Dasha Aerospace City.

The Mars Exploration Bureau of the Ministry of Aerospace is established in Dasha Space City, and their job is specifically responsible for Mars exploration.

The final control of the Mars 15 probe lies with the Mars Exploration Agency.

After half an hour and several transfers, the latest status data of Detector No. 15 finally returned here.

The 10 staff members who were specifically tracking the No. 15 detector began to discuss in low voices while looking at the latest feedback data.

After reading the data, geologist Huang Kaixuan looked thoughtful: "The stratigraphic interval between 436.21 and 454.57 meters is obviously a hollow fault."

"From the samples taken out, it is obvious that this is an underground river." Another researcher said.

Huang Kaixuan pointed to a line of data: "But this temperature has reached 28.3 degrees Celsius. This is a quite warm environment, and there is still liquid water..."

But he hasn't finished speaking yet.

Another staff member stared at the communication screen, widened his eyes and said, "There is something new!"

"What discovery?"

The staff member quickly replied: "13 organisms were found in the extracted water, with a length of about 2.3 to 2.8 centimeters and a shape similar to tadpoles."

Another biologist, Zhang Maosheng, quickly ran over and stared at the various photos on the page sent back after being taken by the No. 15 detector.

In these photos, people can clearly see the creatures in them without even using the microscope mode.

A creature similar to a tadpole appeared in front of everyone.

"It should be an underground water creature similar to a blind fish." Zhang Maosheng made a preliminary judgment.

Another biologist touched his chin: "Judging from the data, there are other microorganisms and another creature similar to Paramecium."

After the initial surprise, everyone was not too surprised.

Because there are living things on Mars, we can deduce it through the existence of fluorescent fungi.

Since microorganisms already exist, the existence of multicellular organisms is also possible.

If we follow the ecosphere analogy of Blue Star, the conditions for the production of carbon-based organisms can be summarized as "liquid water" and "heat."

That's right, it's that simple.

The conditions for the birth of carbon-based organisms are liquid water and heat. Other oxygen, gravity, radiation, etc. are actually not certain.

For example, anaerobic bacteria do not need oxygen; there are also small ecological circles around black smokestacks on the seabed, and blind fish in underground rivers.

These are all special cases that exist.

As long as there is liquid water and continuous stable heat, it is possible to form a small ecological circle.

Although the atmospheric concentration on the ground of Mars is very low and the carbon dioxide content is very high, there is basically no oxygen.

At the same time, there is no liquid water on the surface of Mars, and the heat radiated by the sun is much less than on the Blue Star.

But many people have forgotten that in the planetary system, the source of heat actually has two parts. One part is the radiation from the star, and the other part is the heat generated by the nuclear decay of the earth's core.

The solar energy received by Mars is indeed pitiful, but there is still geothermal energy deep underground on Mars.

If geothermal energy happens to meet an underground river, both sides may form a special environment suitable for biological reproduction.

Obviously, the drilling results of the No. 15 detector have verified this conjecture.

Zhang Maosheng said with bright eyes: "The combination of Mars' underground rivers and geothermal energy has formed its own ecological circle. In other words, this possibility also exists on similar planets."

"In this way, it is natural satellites of Jupiter and Saturn, which are more likely to have life, such as Europa." Huang Kaixuan reasoned based on the planet data he knew.

In fact, the situation may be just as Huang Kaixuan guessed.

Mercury and Venus in the inner solar system receive too much solar radiation, their temperatures are very high, and their geology is active, which is not enough to form a stable carbon-based ecosystem.

On the contrary, except for the gaseous planets, life may exist on the planets in the middle and outer layers of the solar system.

For example, the famous Europa, a natural satellite, has an ice layer several kilometers thick on its surface, and beneath the ice layer, there may be a liquid water ocean.

In observational data in recent years, the phenomenon of hot fountains on Europa has been detected many times.

This shows that there is active geothermal energy and a large amount of liquid water under the ice of Europa.

The existence of the two is enough to form a primary ecosystem, which is more than enough to support some simple microorganisms.

Planets like Europa are actually quite rare in the universe.

There are many such planets in the inner solar system alone.

To some extent, where the life of Blue Star originated is still a highly controversial issue.

After all, the probability of discovering microorganisms and organic matter on a series of asteroids captured by the Federation is not small.

This situation shows that it is possible for alien organisms to spread to other planets following the activities of celestial bodies such as asteroids.

In the process of spreading, if it happens to encounter a relatively suitable environment, the seeds of life will take root and sprout on that planet.

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