Die on Mars

Lao Mao said this very forcefully and seemed confident.

But Tang Yue was very uneasy. Each of Lao Mao's plans was more unreliable and weird than the last. Making Orion 2 land vertically was already a whimsical idea. Now Lao Mao claimed that the Eagle lander would be strapped with inflatables. The cabin enters the atmosphere?

"I don't think there's any problem." Maidong was eating, and it was rare for her to have time to rest.

Since the launch of the landing plan, Maidong has become the busiest person. She is alone on the joint space station. She has no one to turn to and has to do everything by herself. In the past few days, the girl's sleep time has become shorter and shorter. , and had little time to take care of the plants in the space station. She always carried dry food and wrenches, and took a bite when she was hungry.

There is a separate kitchen in the United Space Station, located in the Harmony service module. It has a large dining table with its own heater, water gun and oven. It can seat six people in a circle. All utensils and plates are made of metal. Magnetic table top holds in place. When supplies are sufficient, crew members can heat food in the galley and even fry steaks and tuna.

But Ophiopogon japonicus was no longer needed. She sat on the seat, her feet fixed with straps, and there were only compressed biscuits, sandwiches and tomatoes in front of her.

"Of course there will be no problem." Old Cat said, "As long as we tie it firmly enough, the thrust of the rocket is strong enough, and the descent speed is slow enough, the balloon will not fall off. Do you know how to tie it firmly?"

Tang Yue shook his head.

Maidong also shook his head.

The old cat smiled proudly.

"Look at you two rookies. Compared with your Captain Wang, you are still far behind. Lao Wang has rich experience, so he knows how to tie the strongest."

"Then what did Lao Wang say?" Tang Yue and Maidong asked at the same time.

The old cat shook his ears and recalled.

"He said tortoise-shell binding."

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Tang Yue cut the biscuits on the plate horizontally with a table knife, then cut them lengthwise, then cut them horizontally, and then cut them lengthwise again.

"No matter how you slice it, the biscuits flavored with pickled cuttlefish will still taste like pickled cuttlefish." The old cat sat beside him, "It won't taste like braised pork."

Tang Yue sighed. For him, eating had become a burden.

Tang Yue has long been tired of eating compressed biscuits. Tang Yue suspects that the taste buds on his tongue have been completely destroyed, so no matter what he eats, he tastes the same. There are so many compressed biscuits in Kunlun Station, Lao Tan pickled cabbage flavor, braised beef flavor, shrimp fish pan noodles flavor It tasted like salted cuttlefish, and he couldn't tell the difference anymore.

If he didn't have to replenish enough carbohydrates every day, Tang Yue really didn't want to touch these things anymore.

"How much fresh water do we have?" Tang Yue threw the knife on the plate and decided to eat half a tomato first.

"One thousand one hundred liters."

"Has it consumed one hundred liters?" Tang Yue did the math. "On average, it loses 0.36 liters of fresh water every day. This is different from the previous estimate. I remember you said, Old Mao, that Kunlun Station loses 0.28 liters of fresh water every day."

"Obviously, the freshwater recycling situation at Kunlun Station is not as ideal as we imagined. Under gravity, it is impossible to recycle every milliliter of wastewater." Lao Mao said, "In fact, the freshwater recovery rate at Kunlun Station is more than At 0.36 liters per Martian day, we currently still have 1,100 liters of fresh water, thanks to the replenishment of the Eagle spacecraft’s descent stage, otherwise we would lose more water.”

"Then if the loss continues at this rate, the fresh water in Kunlun Station can still be maintained..."

"Three thousand Martian days."

"When I calculated it half a year ago, there were still four thousand Martian days. Now, more than two hundred days have passed, and there are only three thousand Martian days left." Tang Yue muttered, "The water level is not falling at a uniform speed. This is not a uniform movement. It is uniformly accelerated motion.”

"It's a uniform acceleration in itself." Old Cat turned his head, "As time goes by, the efficiency of the fresh water recovery system will gradually decrease. You have to be lucky that the water circulation device is very reliable and has not had any problems so far... If it If a serious failure occurs, the situation will be more serious than if the temperature control processor of OGS is damaged."

"What is the most serious failure of the water circulation system?" Tang Yue asked.

"The water tank is damaged," the old cat said, "1,100 liters of fresh water have been lost."

"Then I can die."

Tang Yue finished chewing the tomato in his hand. I don't know since when, he no longer avoids the word "death". From a certain point of view, Tang Yue is competing with God for his life. Every day he lives longer, he earns a day.

"If we can successfully remove Miss Ophiopogon japonicus, then the fresh water consumption in Kunlun Station will be doubled. I estimate that the current fresh water reserve in Kunlun Station can last for up to a thousand Martian days." Old Mao calculated, "If not In the words of comet Tomcat-Tang-Mai.”

"Yeah, if it weren't for that comet, we could still live on Mars for a thousand days." Tang Yue threw the biscuit pieces into his mouth, "Didn't you say that when the comet crashed down, trillions of tons of dust If the atmosphere is full, will the entire Mars be dark? Will the solar panels at Kunlun Station be useless? How do we rely on to generate electricity? Rely on love to generate electricity? "

"Rely on the bicycle's feet to power the generator." The old cat pointed to the exercise bicycle in the corner with his toes.

The bicycles in Kunlun Station are used for fitness. Tang Yue rides five kilometers on them every day to ensure that his muscles and bones will not atrophy. Such fitness equipment is available on the Kunlun Station and the United Space Station. Its main purpose is It is to ensure the health of the team members.

But later, an engineer surnamed Tang felt that it was a pity that the team members were pedaling wildly on the bicycles every day, and it was a waste of energy, so he installed a homemade generator on the bicycle pedal axle. The output of a strong muscular man like Lao Wang during exercise The energy can light up the light bulbs in Kunlun Station.

"How powerful is that thing?" Tang Yue was stunned, "Using it to generate electricity like wool? Wouldn't I have to sit on it and step on it 24 hours a day?"

"You are an electrical and mechanical engineer, how can these small problems trouble you?" Lao Mao showed full confidence in Tang Yue, "Make a gear set or something, and then make a few parallel generator sets, etc., as long as there are Enough torque and speed are no problem!”

Lao Mao described his future life to Tang Yue: After the comet hit Mars, the whole world was dark, the wind was howling, and there was no sky. Tang Yue was sitting on the exercise bike sweating like rain, pedaling like flying wheels!

The friction between the generator's rotor and brushes emitted sparks, outputting a steady stream of current to charge the Kunlun station's battery. Lao Mao and Miss Maidong sat under the warm light, blowing the soft heater of OGS, and felt comfortable. Drink tea.

"Are you trying to use me like a cow or a horse..."

Tang Yue thought of the hamster scurrying in the roller.

"How can you be a cow and a horse?" Old Cat waved his hand and said in an encouraging tone, "You are electricity, you are light, you are the only myth! You are our only Super Star!"