Die on Mars

Tang Yue failed to restore contact in the end. He gritted his teeth and insisted on standing outside the door to adjust the antenna. No matter how loud the old cat shouted, he refused to go back. In the end, the old cat had to come out and drag him back in person.

Tang Yue still wanted to struggle a few times, but he felt that this signal could save him.

But the old cat immediately unplugged the cable. He said that if things continued like this, it would not be the signal that needed to be rescued, but Tang Yue.

The old cat sat in front of the workbench, surrounded by computer screens from top to bottom and left and right.

The three-dimensional model of the United Space Station was rotating on the screen in front of it. The old cat was attentive and his face was solemn.

Its eyes scanned every detail of the space station, the beard on its face trembled slightly, its eyes flashed, and it didn't know what it was thinking.

The Mars Joint Space Station is a combined structure. From 2020 to 2052, mankind spent decades and invested hundreds of billions of dollars to drive the module into orbit one module at a time, and finally put it into orbit like building blocks. Put together the space station in low-Earth orbit of Mars.

Because Mars is too far away, the construction of the Joint Space Station is much more difficult than that of the ISS. Spacecraft heading to Mars only have a launch window every twenty-six months, so the construction period of the Joint Space Station is appallingly long. , even if every window period is not wasted, it will take a full fourteen years for the people on earth to launch the cargo spacecraft desperately to launch the seven main modules of the space station into the orbit of Mars.

But the final result is great and brilliant. Since the Apollo project, human civilization has taken a big step forward. The Joint Space Station is the largest and most complex permanent resident spacecraft currently established by mankind in deep space. It is The farthest human territory from the earth is the brightest pearl in the crown of human civilization.

The Joint Space Station has a total of seven main modules, all of which use quite mature technologies. Among them, the Crystal core module and the Hub node module were the first parts to be launched. The Crystal module is a long cylinder, and the Hub module It is a short and thick cylinder. There are four cabin connections on the outer wall of the latter, which are responsible for connecting various cabin sections.

As usual, this part was developed by the American emperor.

American Emperor: I sold the aircraft carrier to build it! Now the USN has no aircraft carriers to use! Congress! Make money!

The two modules are connected end to end and docked in the low-Earth orbit of Mars to form a simple small space station, just like the Skylab and Salyut back then.

This is the prototype of the joint space station.

Next is the Chenxi experimental module. This module is docked at the other end of the core module. It has a docking port, which makes the space station grow a bit.

The Dawn Experiment Module is the smallest and cheapest module on the space station.

According to convention, this kind of thing is usually made by Mao Zi.

Maozi: Technology! We provide the technology! Again, we provide the technology!

The third batch to lift off was the Discovery and Hope experimental modules. These two modules are docked on both sides of the hub module, and they also have a docking port respectively.

The fourth batch of launches was the Harmony service module, which was docked at the last connection port of the hub module, turning the United Space Station into a cross shape. The Silence multifunctional module is docked at the end of the Harmony module. The Silence module is a dedicated dock for the Orion spacecraft. It has two interfaces. The Orion 1 and 2 spacecraft are usually parked here.

The complete joint space station has basically taken shape at this point. In addition to the astronauts' activity module, it also includes a huge truss more than 150 meters long, eight huge solar panel arrays, and a set of expensive super machinery. arm.

As usual, this robotic arm is made in Canada.

In terms of size and complexity, the Mars Joint Space Station is not as good as the ISS on Earth or the Deep Space Gateway in lunar orbit, but it costs more than the latter two combined.

The old cat rubbed his chin and carefully examined the structure of the space station.

The Joint Space Station has a total of five docking ports, one of which has been occupied by the Orion 2 spacecraft, and four are available. These four docking ports are facing different directions, and any one of them can provide docking and support for the Eagle spacecraft. moor.

"Where will the Eagle spacecraft dock at that time?" Tang Yue asked.

"Normally, the docking port of the Eagle spacecraft is this." The old cat pointed to the Dawn module with his paw, "The docking port of the Dawn module. The Dawn module is directly connected to the core module, so this docking port is closest to the core module. But it’s impossible to predict now, God knows which direction the lander will come from.”

"I remember...the space station could provide remote guidance and correction for the lander."

"Yes, yes, I never said no." Old Mao nodded, "But this is a purely manual operation, and the steps are very complicated. Miss Maidong doesn't know how to do it... It should be said that except for Lao Wang and the others, everyone In fact, there are not many people in the world who know how to do it.”

"In previous Mars missions, there were also situations where unmanned landers were launched to dock with unmanned space stations." Tang Yue asked, "How was it solved at that time?"

In the early Mars missions, there were many technical verification parts. For safety reasons, the spacecraft and space station were unmanned at that time.

"How did you solve it?" Old Cat said, "I solved it by providing remote guidance and control on the space station. Robots are not humans anyway. Missing arms and legs is not considered a work-related injury, and you don't need to pay pensions if you die. , have you heard of a saying? It's called 'Behind every successful unmanned docking, there is an unknown robot'."

Tang Yue covered his face and sighed.

The time now is a quarter past ten in the morning, and the wind speed is forty-two meters per second.

One person and one cat sat in Kunlun Station anxiously waiting for the wind speed to drop. Tang Yue sat on the chair, and the old cat sat beside him. They looked at the dark storm outside the porthole. No one knew how long this sandstorm would last.

There was only the sound of the howling wind in Kunlun Station, the numbers and images on the computer screen slid by silently, and the lights overhead flickered occasionally.

At this moment, Tang Yue inexplicably thought of Spongebob Squarepants.

SpongeBob SquarePants is clearly a children's animation with bright lighting and a cheerful atmosphere, but when he imagined SpongeBob SquarePants sitting alone on the bottom of the sea, looking up at the unknown depth of dark water above his head, he felt desolate and terrifying.

Think about this animation carefully. Sponge is immortal, and friends like Patrick and Squidward will eventually leave. In the end, only Spongebob will be left alone in the deep seabed, living in that big pineapple, going back and forth. Wandering around alone in the land, one person is always holding on to its jellyfish, laughing and laughing, and gradually becomes crazy.

Tang Yue was a little surprised. He realized that he had thought too wrong...a crazy Spongebob?

How crazy.

If he is Spongebob, then who is Maidong?

That squirrel Sandy in a space suit and helmet?