After watching the two board the lunar rover and leave, Bai Yixuan turned around and secured himself with a grappling hook.
Then, he raised the specially made shovel in his hand and smashed it against the moon rock next to him.
Because the moon's gravity is only one-sixth that of Earth, Bai Yixuan's movements appeared somewhat light and airy.
But at the moment the shovel collided with the moon rock, a powerful recoil force traveled through the shovel.
What seems like a negligible recoil force on Earth is a nightmare on the Moon.
Before Bai Yixuan could react, he was thrown into the air.
The hooks used to secure Bai Yixuan's body snapped straight instantly, pulling him back to his original position.
Bai Yixuan subconsciously raised his hand to wipe the cold sweat from his forehead, but instead touched the slightly cold mask.
That was close...
It seems I was still trying too hard.
He carefully adjusted the force with which he swung the shovel.
More than ten minutes later, he slowly breathed a sigh of relief and put the few broken pieces of moon rock into the storage box next to him.
Just as he was about to ask Hong Fan and the others about their situation via radio, a piercing scream came from inside his helmet!
"This is!!"
Bai Yixuan's heart clenched instantly.
Without a second thought, he immediately activated the radio call function inside his spacesuit: "Wanyi! What happened?"
After a brief silence, Xia Wanyi's terrified voice came from inside the helmet.
"We...we've found something strange!"
Upon hearing Xia Wanyi and Hong Fan's description, Bai Yixuan's pupils contracted slightly, and he immediately said, "You two, don't move! I'm coming right away!"
After interrupting the team's internal communications, Bai Yixuan gritted his teeth and quickly reconnected to Earth's communication channel.
"Calling ground control center!"
"Anomaly detected! I repeat, anomaly detected!"
...
Twenty minutes later.
Bai Yixuan, panting, found Xia Wanyi and Hong Fan standing beside the meteorite crater.
Seeing that the two were unharmed, Bai Yixuan breathed a slight sigh of relief.
fine……
"Ground command center, I've found them!"
Bai Yixuan said with a sigh of relief, "They're fine, they were just standing next to a meteorite crater."
A few seconds later, Lü Yongchang's solemn voice came through his earpiece.
"Received. What are the specific details?"
"Wait a moment, I'm connecting the camera." He said as he turned on the camera mounted overhead.
"drop!"
A crisp notification sound rang out inside his helmet.
Seeing that the camera on the panel had started transmitting signals normally, Bai Yixuan "jumped" over to his teammates: "What's going on?"
Hong Fan didn't speak, but simply pointed to the inside of the meteorite crater.
The impact crater is very small, less than 1 kilometer in diameter.
On the moon, it is considered a relatively small impact crater.
In addition, the crater is relatively shallow, allowing sunlight to shine unobstructed onto its bottom.
The moment Bai Yixuan saw the scene inside the meteorite crater, his pupils contracted sharply!
On the silvery-white surface of the moon, a black concentric circle suddenly appeared.
There are nine concentric circles, and Bai Yixuan estimates that the outermost circle is at least twenty meters in diameter!
...
Earth, ground command center.
The moment the black concentric circles appeared on the screen, the entire command center fell silent!
Ten seconds later, Cao Liangcai, standing to the side, said in a trembling voice, "What...what is this thing..."
Compared to Cao Liangcai, Lü Yongchang's reaction was much more subdued.
After all, he had been mentally prepared for this.
He took a deep breath and said softly, "Have the technical department analyze the image."
"I need to know the diameter of these concentric circles, and whether the position of their centers is standard!"
This approach is also to rule out the possibility that the concentric circles are naturally formed.
After all, the universe is full of wonders, what if it really was a pattern created when a meteorite fell?
Although the probability is extremely low, scientists should always be rigorous.
The analysis results came out quickly.
"Professor Lü, the center positions of the nine concentric circles are perfectly precise, and not only that, their curvature is also perfectly precise!"
A researcher, holding a report in his hand, rushed up to Lü Yongchang and whispered something.
Lu Yongchang's expression changed slightly, and he quickly reached out to take the report.
Looking at the data in the report, Lü Yongchang's face instantly turned ugly.
"Old Cao, come and take a look. These nine concentric circles are so perfectly aligned, it's as if they were drawn with a compass!"
Cao Liangcai leaned closer.
Upon seeing the data on the report, Cao Liangcai's expression changed slightly: "It seems that these concentric circles are not a naturally formed pattern."
"Could it be something left behind from the last US moon landing?"
Cao Liangcai's eyes flickered slightly, and he said softly, "Don't forget, this area is also the landing site of the American Apollo 11 mission."
After a moment of contemplation, Lü Yongchang slowly shook his head and said, "No, it definitely wouldn't be a trace left by Apollo 11."
"Look, based on the diameter of this crater and the scale of the picture, the largest concentric circle has a diameter of 20 meters."
"The Apollo 11 command module was conical with a base diameter of 3.9 meters, while the service module was a cylinder with a diameter of 3.9 meters. The difference in size between the two was too great."
At this point, Lü Yongchang paused slightly: "I don't know if you've noticed, but these black concentric circles look a bit like the nozzles of a Hall thruster?"
Cao Liangcai's pupils suddenly contracted!
He hadn't even noticed yet!
The Hall thruster nozzles of the Xuan Nu-1 are also composed of several regularly shaped concentric circles!
Hall thrusters
He swallowed hard and said softly, "Could it be... that there are other countries on Earth besides us that have mastered mature Hall thruster technology?"
Lü Yongchang shook his head with a solemn expression.
"Won't!"
"Before mastering small fusion reactor technology, Hall propulsion technology is essentially useless."
"Moreover... there shouldn't be any spaceships this big on Earth."
"A Hall thruster nozzle with a diameter of twenty meters... In my opinion, this is definitely an engine that only spaceships that can traverse star systems would have!"
A bead of sweat slowly slid down Cao Liangcai's forehead.
The situation is now completely out of his control.
He looked nervously at Lü Yongchang beside him: "Professor Lü, what should we do now..."
Lu Yongchang's expression hardened, and he turned to the researcher beside him, saying, "Report this matter to the Speaker of the Council. Remember, be quick! Also, take precautions to maintain confidentiality!"
As the researcher left, Lü Yongchang's eyes gradually became conflicted.
"Perhaps, only by getting closer to that dark circle can we find out the truth!"
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