Space Center Sky Station.

Tang Xiaochuan is observing the situation of lunar soil collection by the construction vehicle of the Helium III supply plant on the moon through the moon satellite, while talking with the director of the Helium III refinery plant to learn about the current lunar soil collection and refining progress.

After understanding the relevant situation, he asked: "Do you think that with the current proficiency and technical level of engineering and technical personnel, can we consider increasing the scale of lunar soil collection and refining?"

In the video, the director of the Lunar Soil Collection and Helium III Refining Plant said: "Boss, with the current quality of personnel, technical conditions, and equipment running-in, I think it is time to increase the scale of collecting and refining helium III. Adding a group of people to apprenticeships for veteran technicians and workers will be able to leave in two or three months. As long as the current management level is maintained, there shouldn't be any problems!"

"While the old technicians and old workers bring new technicians and new workers, a new batch of equipment can also be manufactured and shipped. At that time, the new technicians and new workers also have a certain foundation and can operate independently. It is just a proficiency check. Some, the speed is slower, and it will gradually increase after a period of time. At most three months, the production speed of lunar soil collection and helium three refining can be doubled, and then we will train the next batch, batch by batch. With continued training, the production capacity can be increased tenfold in less than two or three years!"

Tang Xiaochuan thought about it, although Feitian Technology is quite mature in the use of helium III, even if it is still very, very small, it is basically only used on unmanned or manned spacecraft. Even the current energy used by lunar nuclear power plants is only from Uranium and other metal nuclear materials mined on the moon have always been highly secretive about the use of helium III and are not known to the outside world.

Therefore, the large-scale collection of lunar soil on the moon for refining helium III is basically at a loss, and the loss of the hole is getting bigger and bigger, because the refined helium III cannot and is not used in the commercial field for the time being, and can only be hoarded. However, the salaries of the machinery and equipment sent to the moon must be paid. The bonus must not be less. The longer the time, the greater the loss. You must know that the salary of the employees sent to the moon is not low. The same type of work is The earth only needs a salary of 20,000 yuan. After being sent to the moon, the salary will be doubled, that is, a monthly salary of 60,000 yuan, and there are also compensation for disability due to work accidents, death, and pensions. This annual loss is not A small number.

What's more, there are vacations every few months. Returning from the moon to the earth, or employees from the earth to the moon to work, all need to take a special land-moon spacecraft. The spacecraft use helium III as energy, so the annual transportation expenses are all Not a small number.

If only one lunar soil collection and helium three refining factory, the annual loss is not too much, but Feitian Technology also has a mining and metal refining factory on the moon, and the number of personnel in this factory has reached more than two hundred. people.

The lunar nuclear power plant does not count. This large nuclear power plant can currently use long-distance long-distance wireless transmission lines to transmit electricity to the earth. It has already been able to make a profit. Therefore, this nuclear power plant is not counted as a loss, but the lunar soil collects helium-3 refinery plants and lunar minerals. The two factories, mining and metal refining factories, have basically no inputs at all, only inputs.

According to the current total number of the two factories is 520 people, and based on the average monthly salary of 100,000 yuan per person, the monthly salary alone will cost 52 million yuan, and the loss will be more than 600 million yuan a year. It does not include transportation costs, equipment wear and tear, and maintenance and updates between the earth and the moon.

Of course, Tang Xiaochuan can still afford this little money. He doesn’t know how much the mined helium III and various mineral metals need to be put into commercial use on a large scale to recoup costs and make profits. It is necessary to stock up with mines for future use.

After listening to the factory manager’s opinion, Tang Xiaochuan thought for a while and said: "You write a detailed proposal and pass it over!"

"Okay, boss!"

After finishing the video connection with the director of the helium-3 refinery plant, Tang Xiaochuan sent out a video connection invitation to the director of the lunar mineral mining and metal smelting plant.

The video was quickly connected, "Hello boss, Ai Menghe, the director of the lunar mineral mining and metal smelting plant, greets you!"

"Director Ai, hello! You have worked hard. On behalf of all employees and colleagues of the group, I would like to extend my greetings to you. Are you all okay on the moon?"

"We are all very well, our bodies are very healthy, and our mental state is also great. We often hold group activities here, and everyone's spiritual and cultural life is very rich!"

"That’s great. The video connection with you today is to inform you about the life and work conditions, emotional and spiritual conditions of the employees in the factory. In addition, I would like to ask you to introduce the current production situation in the factory. Can you introduce it to me?" Tang Xiaochuan asked.

Ai Menghe said: "Okay, boss! Let me first talk about our living conditions. At present, we have work and life schedules. In order to ensure the physical health and mental state of employees, we follow the established work and life schedules. The working hours are basically arranged in the morning and evening in the afternoon, because only during these two periods are the temperature of the moon still within the range that the spacesuit can withstand. Other times are either too hot or too cold, even if the employees’ spirits Every problem in terms of condition and stamina, space suits and machinery and equipment can't bear it!"

"One day on the moon is equivalent to one month on the earth, and our daily working hours here are approximately equivalent to about ten days on the earth, which is basically equivalent to eight hours a day on the earth!"

"Now the ratio of male to female employees here is 2 to 1. This ratio is still relatively high in our work environment. We often hold some collective competitions and spiritual entertainment activities. Everyone is very motivated to participate in the competition! Such games mainly include mechanical equipment manipulation competitions, sports competitions, and lunar survival guide knowledge competitions; spiritual entertainment activities mainly include singing, dancing, and holidays. Several factories unite to hold a song and dance party, etc. Now we have twelve pairs here. After a long period of work and life, young employees have created sparks of love and confirmed their romantic relationship!"

"At present, the average amount of lunar soil collected on each lunar day is 2.8 million tons, and an average of 15 tons of helium can be extracted per lunar day..."

Tang Xiaochuan asked: "If I want to extract all the helium on the moon within ten years, how many personnel and equipment are needed?"

Director Ai calculated and said: "With our current equipment technology and personnel quality level, we need to increase the number of personnel to 13,200, and the corresponding equipment also needs to increase sixty times..."

The work efficiency is still too low, the speed is still too slow, we must find ways to improve work efficiency!

"I see!"

Afterwards, we talked about some things. Tang Xiaochuan ended the video connection. It is impossible to increase the number of personnel to 13,200. Without profit, so many people just pay monthly salary will drag the company down. Without a large-scale increase of employees, if you want to extract all the helium on the moon and complete the storage in the shortest time, you can only find a way to make a technological breakthrough from the equipment.

To this end, Tang Xiaochuan contacted Professor Gao from the R&D Center to ask questions about related equipment technology.