Given the current situation at Base 1, growing crops is clearly not feasible.
First, Tom needs a stable heat source to maintain a sufficient temperature inside Base 1.
Second, Tom needs a stable power source. Since there is no sunlight on Loshen Star, fluorescent lights are needed.
And fluorescent lights are major power consumers.
These two demands cannot be met by the fission reactor on the landing spaceship, because the amount of fission fuel he has left is too small and will be gone once used up.
He must find a way to obtain energy from Loshen Star.
Tom's 12 brains began to ponder simultaneously.
"Then let's build the simplest steam turbine to generate electricity by driving a generator. At the same time, the waste heat can be reused, piped into the Base to raise its temperature."
Therefore, the two bodies remaining in the (Deep Space) Spaceship immediately began to study knowledge related to steam turbines, while the other two Clones started shuttling between the Shenkong (Deep Space) Spaceship and the surface of Loshen Star, bringing down various materials and parts that were needed.
The remaining 8 Clones, riding the only two rovers, began to speed across the dim, reddish-glowing land of Loshen Star.
They were searching for and collecting some minerals that would be needed later.
The principle of a steam turbine is very simple: it generates high-pressure steam through the combustion of fuel, and then this high-pressure steam drives a generator to produce electricity.
But simple in principle, difficult in practice. The two Clones remaining on the surface of Loshen Star put in a lot of effort to barely assemble a steam engine using the existing tools and materials.
This steam engine is divided into inner and outer layers. The inner layer is a combustion chamber and boiler, like a common steam engine, while the outer layer consists of two independent thawing chambers.
Each of the two thawing chambers is connected to the outside world through a feed port.
While the steam engine was being built, the other Clones were not idle.
They busily dismantled the generator from the landing spaceship, which was originally connected to the nuclear fission reactor, and connected it to the steam engine with gears and belts.
At the same time, Clones also brought a large number of pipes, both rubber and metal, from the Deep Space.
These pipes, only a few centimeters in diameter, were all connected together and then laid on the floor of Base 1 like underfloor heating pipes.
Its inlet and outlet were also connected to the steam engine.
After all this was done, the Clones who had gone out to collect minerals also returned in their rovers.
Each of the two cargo beds was loaded with some minerals that were either transparent, milky white, dark red, or light blue.
After unloading these two loads, the temporarily built fuel storage area was completely filled.
"Then… first ignition, begin!"
Tom made the decision with great solemnity. So, two Clones each carried a piece of ore—one was dark red, which was tolin, and the other was light blue, which was solid oxygen—and put them into the thawing chambers through the two feed ports.
The heat temporarily drawn from the nuclear fission reactor was transferred to the steam engine's thawing chambers, causing these substances, which had been frozen into hard solids by the extremely low temperature, to slowly melt and gradually turn into gas.
When the gas concentration reached a certain level, the two different gases broke through the preset multiple barriers and entered the combustion chamber.
With the appearance of an electric spark, the mixture of the two gases immediately began to burn violently.
Inside the boiler, the water, which had been frozen into solid ice, slowly began to melt under this heat, turning into liquid, and then slowly began to boil.
Feeling the slight tremor of the steam turbine caused by the boiling water, Tom was filled with joy.
The water boiled, and steam began to be produced continuously, with the pressure growing higher and higher.
When their pressure was high enough, the heavy rotor was finally pushed and began to rotate reluctantly. This rotational force extended through the mechanical structure to the generator, and thus an electric current finally appeared.
In front, in Base 1, which was completely dark due to the power cut, the lighting fixtures finally lit up, bringing light back to this dark planet.
But this was not the whole change.
As more and more solid oxygen and tolin were put in, continuously heated, melted, and began to burn, the steam that had completed its work on the rotor but still possessed extremely high heat was extended through the pipe connected to it into the "underfloor heating pipes" of Base 1.
The surface of Base 1, which had already cooled down again, began to be heated once more. Oxygen, nitrogen, and other gases that had turned back into snowflakes due to the extremely low temperature began to melt and rise again.
The deflated Base 1 began to swell again due to the appearance of these gases, eventually returning to its original appearance.
And this cooled steam returned to the steam engine through the end of the pipe, for a new round of heating, a new round of work, and then was led into Base 1, completing its own cooling while also raising the temperature of Base 1.
Watching this entire system, organically combined and running smoothly, Tom was filled with joy.
With this steam engine, he now had a stable power source.
As for fuel, Tom was not worried at all.
Billions of years of evolution and accumulation have allowed enough tolin to accumulate on the surface of Loshen Star, with a total amount likely reaching hundreds of trillions of tons, more than enough to use casually.
Solid oxygen ore, which serves as an oxidizer, also exists in large quantities on Loshen Star; if it runs out, he can simply mine more.
Currently, the temperature inside Base 1 is still relatively low, only about 0 degrees Celsius. But it doesn't matter; Tom knows this is because the steam engine is not yet operating at full power.
Currently, there is not too much power consumption demand, so the steam engine does not need to operate at full power. Otherwise, the extra electricity generated would simply be wasted.
After the steam engine was built, several Clones began to busy themselves again.
They continuously shuttled between the Deep Space and Base 1 on the landing spaceship, dismantling all the planting area equipment from the spaceship and bringing it to Base 1.
At the same time, a grinding device was also brought over.
After connecting the grinding device, this steam engine could finally begin to operate at full power. Consequently, the temperature inside Base 1 began to rise rapidly, eventually stabilizing at around 30 degrees Celsius.
The grinding machine also began to hum, grinding into powder some ores containing potassium, nitrogen, phosphorus, and other elements that Tom had found.
Inside the small Base 1, ten Clones were busily working.