Chen Mingâs consciousness can control the spaceshipâs operation.
Naturally, he can also control the equipment inside the spaceship.
Under Chen Mingâs mental command, the asteroid scanning probe quickly located all mineral-containing asteroids on its equipment screen.
Although the quantity is not substantial, itâs enough for Chen Ming to become familiar with the spaceship equipment.
Under normal circumstances, this part of the spaceshipâs system will plan routes to collect minerals based on preset material priorities and different mineral contents in asteroids.
However, Chen Ming is just experimenting for now, so he manually locked onto an asteroid about half the height of a human.
Scanning reveals that its interior contains a large amount of iron and some scattered ancillary minerals.
Among them are materials used to repair the landing module.
Chen Ming controls the spaceship to approach the asteroid and activates the asteroid traction device.
Having pre-locked the target, he soon towed and secured the asteroid to the spacecraftâs work cabin-facing direction.
Type II mining laser begins its work, with orange-yellow laser beams from the cabin side rapidly shattering it.
The traction device accurately collects the high-quality minerals scattered flying out through pipes connecting the spaceshipâs interior and exterior, feeding them into the shipâs smelting furnace.
Before the work cabin heats up due to smelting, Chen Ming wisely put on a partially charged protective suit.
He stayed in the work cabin, watching the shipâs smelting furnace gradually separate metals with different melting points, casting them into ingots.
Until the smelting ended, slag and waste discharge from the spaceshipâs interior.
Chen Ming immediately approached to tally the haul from this mining operation.
36.5 kilograms of iron, 2 full kilograms of zinc, 1.63 kilograms of copper, 0.9 kilograms of lead, and 0.3 kilograms of aluminum.
The quantity of aluminum, which Chen Ming hoped for most, was extremely low.
However, the furnace at the end spat out about half a gram of gold, making up for it in a way.
No matter its intrinsic value, goldâs properties make it indispensable in many electronic devices, meaning itâs among the materials Chen Ming needs for future spaceship maintenance.
Though the most desired and high-value yields were lacking, this was just an asteroid Chen Ming picked randomly that looked pleasing to the eye.
Even a random asteroid contains such a rich variety of minerals, itâs no wonder the company went through such efforts to build a Space Station in this remote place.
Yet, seeing the company abandon the Space Station like this adds to the mystery behind it.
Chen Ming did not dwell on issues unlikely to be solved just by thinking alone.
Instead, he piled the smelting results onto a small cart and moved them to the storage cabin.
He also planned to check the warehouse to understand what exactly he owns now.
But before he started, Chen Ming suddenly had an idea and opened the storage cabinâs panel.
[Storage Cabin]
[Space: 5*5*5]
[Warehouse items: Metal minerals (iron, zinc, copper, etc.) totaling 135.15 kilograms, fuel (fusion fuel) totaling 492 kilograms]
[Refrigeration items: Food (packaged survival food) totaling 102.5 kilograms, miscellaneous items (Insect Race Thorn Insect corpse, Insect Race Thorn Insect egg corpse) totaling 72.6 kilograms.]
"Uh..."
Though not surprising to Chen Ming, everything in the warehouse was written very detailed on the panel.
But looking at those two miscellaneous items among the refrigeration items, Chen Ming suddenly didnât know what to say, not expecting these to be counted as objects on his spaceship.
After thinking it over, Chen Ming still decided to ignore them for now, as they might be useful in the future.
Chen Ming continued to look at other parts of the panel.
Items like metal minerals and food categories in the warehouse can be clicked open to see even more detailed information on the variety of goods within each category.
Allowing Chen Ming to clearly know whatâs in the storage cabin.
After thoroughly reviewing it, Chen Ming gained a clear understanding of his spaceshipâs inventory and shut the panel down.
Considering that the scarce variety and the empty-looking warehouse always bring a bit of heartache.
Perhaps the crew of Iron Ore No. once sold the mined goods directly to the Space Station or the company for universal currency, facilitating rapid conduct of the next mining operation.
Leaving only a small portion of materials that might be needed for spaceship maintenance.
This time, Chen Ming couldnât go find fault with the previous crew who might have died in some corner of the Space Station thirty years ago.
At least they left some materials for Chen Ming to repair weapons.
Moreover, with this mining spaceship, starting fresh is not difficult for Chen Ming.
Three monthsâ time might not be enough to reach the Pirate Space Station, but itâs more than sufficient for Chen Ming to mine minerals in space and repair the spaceship to land on the planet.
After thoroughly going through the mining process, Chen Ming returned to the work cabin again.
The first mining experiment took less than an hour, and with more than a dozen hours left until the planet completes one rotation, they canât be wasted.
The spaceshipâs mining operations can be fully automated; he only needs to set the program for the desired types of minerals, and the spaceship can handle automated navigation, capture, collection, and smelting.
Everything is seamless except it canât automatically send the smelted minerals into the storage cabin.
Though mineral asteroids near the Space Station arenât numerous, Iron Ore No. wonât be able to mine them all in one day.
Chen Ming doesnât need to worry about his spaceship flying too far out and losing track of the Space Station while resting.
The real flaw of this system is that during mining operations, the overall fuel consumption of the spaceship is slightly higher.
Yet these necessary consumptions are within Chen Mingâs endurance.
Chen Ming set the priority for aluminum, gold, and other urgently needed metal materials for spaceship maintenance as the highest on the asteroid scanning probe.
Chen Ming pondered if thereâs anything urgent that needs his attention.
His recent actions aimed to familiarize himself with the spaceship as a whole.
The spaceship has six cabins: the captainâs cabin, engine cabin, working cabin, cultivation cabin, living cabin, and storage cabin.
He already checked the engine cabin when fueling, with nothing particularly notable needing attention.
Besides a layer of dust, the living cabin is pretty tidy overall, a little cleaning would make it livable.
After long periods of working in space, few choose to sleep on the spaceship upon returning to the Mining Space Station.
Thus, previous crew tidied the living cabin at the end of a mining mission, leaving a new set of living supplies for the next departure while opting for accommodation in the Space Station.
Then they never returned.
The left items benefited Chen Ming.
At this point, Chen Ming didnât care if these supplies had expired for thirty years; after all, thereâs nothing in the Space Station that hasnât expired for thirty years, as long as they are functional.
By now, Chen Ming basically had a complete understanding of the spaceship.
Yet not even four hours had passed since Chen Ming woke from the cryogenic chamber.
Though a bit mentally exhausted from recently repairing two machine guns, Chen Ming felt no sleepiness.
After some thought, Chen Ming now has two choices.
One is using current materials onboard to repair parts of the spaceshipâs external armor.
The spaceshipâs armor is aluminum-steel composite; although aluminum comes first in name, steel actually constitutes the bulk.
Aluminum consumed relative to armor repair needs wonât affect the subsequent repair of the landing module.
The other choice is for Chen Ming to take a look at whatâs inside his two personal terminals now.