The steam generator and steel-making blast furnace have been built, but they cannot be put into use at the moment. Because high-capacity thermal generators require more fuel supply. The current mining team is already doing its best to support the two existing generators. If another generator is added with a demand several times greater than the two existing generators combined, these clones will not be able to supply it even if they are exhausted. Even if the five new clones were added to the mining team, it wouldn't work. The current mining mode of the mining team is to drive a planetary vehicle, use the power of the planetary vehicle, use electric heating equipment to heat and cut solid oxygen and solid tholin, and then put them into the truck bed and pull them back. Because the planetary car was not originally designed for mining, its capacity and cutting power are limited. Moreover, even on Rosen, where the gravity is extremely low, it is very tiring to repeatedly transport solid oxygen and solid tholin for a long time, and the efficiency of the clones' transportation is also very low. It is not realistic to continue to invest manpower in mining. First, there are not enough people, and second, even if there are so many people, manpower cannot be wasted like this. Li Qingsong has a better idea. Then... build a tractor! With a tractor specially used for transportation, the difficulties I am facing at this moment will be solved. Whether it is the transportation of iron ore or the fuel demand of high-power generators, it can be solved.
The question now is how to build this tractor. The two clones who stayed behind on the Deep Space spacecraft began their intensive studies again. After learning the basic principles, the 22 brains he controlled at the moment began to think together, and he quickly completed the drawings with an efficiency far exceeding that of ordinary people. So the smelting and processing equipment started running again, producing parts one after another, which were then carefully assembled by the clones. At first, it was impossible to tell from the outside what the clones were assembling. It looks like a big iron can, covered with irregular protrusions and connecting holes. But as time went by, more and more parts were produced, and it gradually took shape. Finally, a smaller steam engine appeared in front of the clones. That’s right, this tractor is not powered by an internal combustion engine, nor is it powered by electricity like a planetary car, but by a steam engine. Apart from the steam engine, Li Qingsong can't find any other source of energy at this stage. After the "heart" of the tractor was built, the rest of the parts became much easier. Finally, after more than a month, the front of the tractor was finally built. Looking at the tractor head in front of him with four steel wheels, about meters high, 2 meters wide, and meters long, which looked rough overall, Li Qingsong, who had been busy for more than two months, finally breathed a sigh of relief. “It’s finally done…” This is a tractor head with a fully mechanical structure and no electrical structure. It completely uses mechanical mechanisms inside to complete power transmission, fuel adjustment, etc. It can be said to be extremely stupid, clumsy and backward. If this kind of thing were thrown onto Earth, it would probably only end up in a museum. But for Li Qingsong at this moment, it can be of great use. After providing the initial heat and melting the solid oxygen and solid tholin provided to the tractor locomotive steam engine, the steam engine finally started. Li Qingsong waited patiently for the water ice to melt and steam to be generated.
This process took about ten minutes. Finally, a slight vibration was felt from the car body, indicating that the power was ready. Yes, every time this tractor is started, it takes more than ten minutes, and it cannot be started from cold, and it must be started with the assistance of an external heat source. If it breaks down in the wild, it will not be able to start on its own and can only wait for external rescue. One of the clones went up, grabbed the gear lever and shifted gears. Immediately, the steam power was transmitted to two of the four wheels. The two drove the four, and the four wheels rolled at the same time, dragging the car body and began to move forward slowly. As the power of the steam engine increased, the speed of the car body became faster and faster. Finally, the steam engine was running at full capacity, and the speed of the front of the car reached its maximum, about ten kilometers per hour, which is about the same as the speed of an ordinary person running. "This speed is fine." Li Qingsong immediately started the next experiment. The bed of this tractor has been built. It is a steel compartment that is two meters wide, four meters long and half a meter deep. It has a connection hole in the front, which can be directly connected to the front of the car and can be moved by the front of the car. Li Qingsong controlled the clones and moved large chunks of tholin ore and oxygen ore onto the truck bed, piling up a total of seven or eight cubic meters with a total mass of about six or seven tons, and then started the truck again. This time, the front of the car was obviously struggling a lot. Large streams of black smoke came out of the chimney, then quickly dissipated in the vacuum environment on the surface of Luoshen, and turned into black snow falling from afar. The front of the car was shaking, and the four steel tires were rolling with difficulty, dragging the heavy cargo box slowly forward, with the maximum speed being only about six or seven kilometers per hour. Li Qingsong stared at it closely until the clone controlled it to walk one or two kilometers along the canyon and then turned back. A group of clones immediately stepped forward and carefully checked the condition of the front of the car. After finding that the front of the car was in good condition and there was no malfunction, they finally felt relieved. After the inspection, the tractor was immediately put into use. Following a gentle slope leading to the surface of the canyon, the tractor trembled and roared silently as it drove to the desolate and silent land of Luoshen Star. It took more than an hour, bypassing gullies and ups and downs, driving more than ten kilometers, and finally arrived at an oxygen-rich area that had been explored before. On the surface of Luoshen, there are tholin mines everywhere, so you can get them nearby. Oxygen mines are relatively rare, and you need to travel a distance to find them. Two clones jumped down from the front of the car and each took out a heat pipe - one end of the heat pipe was connected to the steam engine, which was used as a heating and cutting device at this moment. Underground, the pale blue oxygen mines shone with a strange light under the dim sun and mining lamps in the distance. Under the heating of the heat pipe, a large amount of solid oxygen quickly rose and disappeared. After a while, a large piece of oxygen ore was cut off and directly lifted by the clones and placed in the truck bed. After a while, a full bucket of materials was collected, with a total mass of about seven or eight tons. Then the tractor roared again, and slowly drove back to Base No. 1 at a slower speed than before. The fuel storage area, which was originally slightly empty, was immediately filled up. Looking at the full tank of fuel, Li Qingsong breathed a sigh of relief. "That's good. With this tractor, the mining team not only doesn't need to add more manpower, but can also reduce the number of people from the previous five to the current two, freeing up three clones to do other things."
