Chapter 875 Another Form of Carbon-Based Life

Rush back from Star City.

When the plane landed, Xu Chuan went directly to Xinghai Research Institute without even returning home.

In the Materials Research Institute, he did not go directly to the laboratory immediately, but found Zhao Guanggui first.

"Academician Xu, are you back so soon?"

Zhao Guanggui was still a little surprised when he saw Xu Chuan suddenly appearing in front of him.

After all, it had only been about three hours since he made the call, and this person actually rushed back so quickly.

Xu Chuan nodded and said, "We flew back by special plane, so it's faster."

"How is the condition of the materials? Is there any new progress in the testing?"

Putting down the pen in his hand, Zhao Guanggui stood up and said, "I'm still analyzing. I haven't made much progress yet. I'll take you over to take a look."

Xu Chuan came back a little too fast. Three hours was not enough for them to advance much research.

"OK."

Xu Chuan nodded and followed.

Go out from the corridor, bypass several buildings, and enter a corner of the institute. There is a six-story white building.

After verifying their identity and access control, the two took the elevator and entered a laboratory.

In the laboratory, two thin researchers wearing white coats looked like they could not hide the dark circles and fatigue on their faces, no matter how thick the makeup was. But the expressions of the two of them were quite excited.

In front of them, there is a load of materials in glassware.

The material is not very big, less than the size of an adult man's fist. It is dark black overall, with some peacock blue granular crystals attached to the surface.

Of course, to be precise, this material is only half of it.

It is cut from a whole piece of material, the cross section is extremely smooth, and there is some matte shine in the dark cross section.

This is their latest discovery of a brand-new mineral material from the moon. It comes from a large crater on the far side of the moon that they named "Yaochi" and is numbered HT·YCHXS20241228091176/052.

The very simple naming method of address + time rules records which spacecraft the stone was collected from, at which place, at what time, and in how many missions.

After all, lunar exploration is no longer a strange project for them now.

It can be said that almost every two to three days, a space shuttle departs from the earth carrying supplies, or returns from the sea of ​​​​stars carrying the moon’s ‘specialties’.

"Wang Hang, have the test experimental data of the field emission scanning electron microscope been released?"

After opening the door, Zhao Guanggui asked the taller of the two researchers.

"Institute Zhao, Academician Xu."

In the laboratory, a researcher named Wang Hang turned around after hearing the sound. When he saw Zhao Guanggui and Xu Chuan, he said hello and said quickly: "It will take about half an hour."

Field emission scanning electron microscope is a device for microscopic detection of material surfaces.

This kind of microscope is widely used in the analysis and observation of various types of samples, including analysis from micro to macro, as well as the acquisition of sample composition, macro-micro structural characteristics, micro-mechanical parameters, etc.

It can not only capture the morphology of the material surface, but also conduct qualitative and quantitative analysis of the fracture surface and components. It is widely used in ceramics, metals, biological materials and other fields, and provides detailed reports on micro-area components.

For this new material and the material of naturally ordered carbon nanotubes that have been dissected, it can analyze the reasons for its generation and the required conditions to the greatest extent.

Xu Chuan nodded, walked to the experimental table, and looked at the other half of the material placed in the glass vessel: "Is this the newly discovered material this time?"

Zhao Guanggui nodded, glanced at the material in the glass vessel and said, "Well, this piece is one of the samples taken from the east impact wall of the Yaochi crater."

"one?"

Looking at this new rock-like material, Xu Chuan's eyes flashed with interest, and he asked curiously: "Are there any other samples?"

Zhao Guanggui nodded and said: "The Aerospace Research Institute brought back a large amount of raw ore. I don't know how much it is, but we got a total of 17 kilograms here."

"Among these 17 kilograms, we have found a total of five lunar rocks with this arrangement of carbon nanotubes. This one has the highest content of carbon nanotubes and the most orderly arrangement."

17kg

Hearing this data, the corners of Xu Chuan's mouth moved, but he hesitated to speak.

Although he personally led the development of the space shuttle, he did not pay much attention to this aspect.

After all, these things are trivial matters to him, and the Aerospace Research Institute will not even report this kind of work to him in detail.

So he really didn't expect that the people from the space agency would transport lunar soil to the earth in such a "large amount".

The Materials Research Institute within Xinghai Research Institute alone was allocated a full 17 kilograms.

This amount is almost the entire weight of lunar soil that could be harvested from a single moon landing before the space shuttle was developed.

How many lunar and lunar rock research institutions are there in the country?

Not to mention other things, if colleges and universities alone have needs and research in this area, I’m afraid they have more than one book, right?

Taking into account other research institutions and those distributed to foreign countries, a rough estimate shows that the lunar soil and lunar rocks they collect on the moon each time are probably calculated in tons.

It can only be said that they are getting better now.

They are so rich that lunar soil and lunar rock, which were so valuable that one gram could be sold for 100 million yuan in the past two years, can now be sold by one pound.

In fact, it is just as Xu Chuan thought.

For them, lunar soil, lunar rock and other materials are no longer planned by kilograms, but are directly transported in batches.

In each batch, the number of "specialties" delivered is almost calculated by tons.

"Give me a pair of gloves."

Looking at the lunar rock in the glass container, Xu Chuan said.

On the side, Zhao Guanggui walked quickly to the counter of the laboratory and found a pair of experimental gloves from it.

After taking the gloves and putting them on, Xu Chuan opened the glass container and took out the lunar rock.

Visually, the dark rock surface is accompanied by some peacock blue granular crystals, which looks like some minerals in the cooled volcanic lava.

It is also a bit like molten material formed under high temperature and high pressure after a meteorite impact.

"Is there a specific analysis report on the Yaochi crater? Is it a crater formed by a meteorite impact or a crater formed by a volcanic eruption?"

Although most of the craters on the moon are formed by meteorite impacts.

But not all craters are like this. There is also a small part of craters formed by the high-temperature lava and gas inside the moon breaking through the surface and ejected.

Of course, there are some other formation methods, but the probability is very small.

But in any case, first find out the specific formation reasons of this Yaochi crater, which will be of great help to them in understanding the neat arrangement of these carbon nanotubes.

Each method has different conditions and environments. Once the exact formation method is found, they can simulate the corresponding environment to find a way to neatly arrange carbon nanotubes.

Zhao Guanggui shook his head and said, "For the time being, we cannot completely determine the specific cause of the formation of the 'Yaochi Crater'. It is a newly discovered and newly named crater that has not been studied before."

"But I have contacted the Institute of Aerospace Research and asked them to explore and investigate as soon as possible."

After a pause, he looked at the moon rock in Xu Chuan's hand and continued, "But from what the Institute of Aerospace Research said, it is more likely that the Yaochi Crater was formed by volcanic eruption."

"Because they said that they seemed to have observed some accumulation mouths and lava cracks?"

"I don't understand the specific situation. After all, I am not a geologist. This matter can only be handed over to the Institute of Aerospace Research."

Xu Chuan nodded and said, "Okay, I will notify them and raise the priority of this matter to the highest level. The cause and conditions of the formation of the Yaochi Crater need to be determined as soon as possible."

Holding the moon rock in his hand, Xu Chuan observed it visually for a while and walked towards a corner of the laboratory.

Before the experimental results of the field emission scanning electron microscope come out, he plans to use a high-resolution scanning electron microscope to see the specific situation of this material.

Although Zhao Guanggui had sent him the relevant experimental data, looking at the experimental data and doing the experiment by yourself are two completely different concepts.

Wipe the sample stage with alcohol and lens paper, adjust the parameters, complete the background scan, and place the sample.

The moon rock in hand is placed in the equipment in quantity. After the baseline correction is completed, the equipment starts working automatically.

The test cycle of high-resolution field emission scanning electron microscope (SEM) is usually 3-5 working days, which is the experiment that Wang Hang and his team are doing.

But if the traditional high-resolution scanning electron microscope directly observes the sample, it takes a very short time.

On the screen, the scanned image quickly came into Xu Chuan's eyes.

This is a messy picture, with structures similar to grape bunches, peaks composed of crystal tips, and block structures similar to human bones.

And the most prominent one is undoubtedly the overall carbon nanotube structure that crosses half of the interface among these messy structures!

No matter which kind of traditional carbon nanotube material, it is messy and dense under the electron microscope.

If you insist, it would be appropriate to describe it with the curly hair of black people.

Messy, curly, intertwined, it feels like I haven't washed or combed my hair for more than ten years.

The carbon nanotubes in the material in front of me are as smooth and straight as the long hair of a Jiangnan woman.

Their tight and orderly arrangement and combination in the material form a structure similar to the integrated transistor in a silicon-based chip.

If it is on a chip, the Materials Research Institute can test these neatly arranged carbon nanotubes through simple circuit experiments to see if they have the characteristics of semiconductor gates.

But unfortunately, this is on a piece of lunar raw material, and all they can do is analyze its structure, formation reasons, underlying materials, etc.

Of course, if they can really find a way to neatly hierarchically arrange carbon nanotubes from it, then this regret is nothing.

Compared to whether it has semiconductor properties, the latter is the most important.

And the semiconductor properties of carbon nanotubes can be modified by other means, such as doping.

Just like single crystal silicon doping NP secondary, carbon nanotubes can also be completed by similar means, but the technical requirements are higher.

Looking at the image displayed on the computer screen, Xu Chuan couldn't help but sigh.

"It's so beautiful. Nature can always create unexpected masterpieces in places we can't imagine."

On the side, Zhao Guanggui nodded and agreed: "If this moon rock was not collected from the moon surface by the space agency, I would even suspect that it was made by other countries specifically to tease us."

"I never thought that carbon nanotubes could be so neatly and hierarchically arranged under natural conditions."

"It's incredible, it's amazing."

Carbon nanotubes are generally very rare in the natural environment.

It is a synthetic material, and carbon nanotubes occasionally appear only in incompletely burned carbon.

For example, in forest fires that occasionally occur, carbon nanotubes are found in the ashes and charcoal that remain after burning.

Other places and environments almost don’t exist.

Especially in an environment like the moon, theoretically there are almost no conditions for the production of carbon nanotubes.

But nature is so magical. It not only exists on the moon, but is also naturally arranged into a neat and layered structure.

It's like a natural carbon-based chip built by nature.

"By the way, speaking of this, do you think there will be carbon-based life forms in this universe that are completely different from ours?"

Looking at the experimental data on the computer screen, Zhao Guanggui suddenly remembered something and asked curiously.

Xu Chuan glanced at him, pondered for a moment and said, "You mean?"

Zhao Guanggui nodded, with a look of interest on his face, and continued: "Suppose such neatly arranged carbon nanotubes naturally exist on the moon."

"Theoretically, as long as the conditions are consistent, it may not be impossible to construct a natural carbon-based chip."

Xu Chuan's eyes moved with a hint of interest, but he did not deny this possibility.

Indeed, the possibility mentioned by Zhao Guanggui is not impossible.

Although generally speaking, they usually think that this possibility will be more likely to be born in the form of silicon-based life. Because of silicon-based chips and the particularity of the silicon element, the possibility of the existence of silicon-based life will be higher.

But now naturally ordered carbon nanotubes are right in front of us. Life similar to silicon-based life chips may also exist on carbon.

The wonders of nature are beyond their imagination, and the existence of carbon-based life may be far beyond their imagination.

If there really was a neatly arranged deposit of large carbon nanotubes, it might have computing power similar to that of a supercomputer used by humans.

It might even be possible to create AI-like intelligence as a result.

Perhaps this is difficult to exist in the solar system, but the universe is so big that this possibility is almost infinitely magnified, but they are currently unable to find it.