The Three-Body Problem: The Most Competent Wallfacer of All Time

Chapter 173 Supply Cabin

In the "Mars Staircase Project", the supply module launched into orbit in advance will stop moving and wait for the arrival of "Yinghuo" after reaching the predetermined position.

When "Yinghuo" reaches 5600 million kilometers of orbit, the second docking mission is about to begin.

When the supply module was still 3 kilometers away, the astronauts entered their posts ahead of time, and You Haoming ordered Peshkov to start the docking system of the spacecraft.

Just as they were about to dock, Rolf, who was in charge of monitoring, suddenly reported: "Commander, the radar shows that the supply cabin is still in place!"

According to the scheduled docking plan, before the docking, the supply cabin must be accelerated accordingly, and then the "Yinghuo" will catch up with the supply cabin, and finally complete the docking.

There is an intelligent computer in the controller of the supply cabin, which is used to complete the docking task with the "Yinghuo".

You Haoming looked at the astronaut Theodore: "What's going on?"

Theodore, who was in charge of the communication, was a little puzzled: "I have issued an order to the supply cabin to start the thrusters, and the data given by the supply cabin shows that the thrusters have been successfully activated!"

Astronaut Ball said: "Commander, it is very likely that the controller of the supply module has failed."

You Haoming immediately ordered: "Turn off the docking system of the spaceship, fine-tune it with the four-way thruster at the head of the spaceship, to avoid..."

At this time, Mi Jingtao reported: "Commander, it's too late!"

There are two cameras on the exterior of the spacecraft that provide footage of the exterior of the spacecraft for docking missions and spacewalks.

Everyone looked at Mi Jingtao's screen, and immediately saw a supply cabin the size of a ping pong ball.

This "small ball" quickly became bigger, and within a second or two, it was already the size of a washbasin.

You Haoming immediately shouted: "Quickly close the docking..." Before he could finish his words, the spaceship shook slightly, and had already hit the supply cabin.

The docking system is directly in front of the spacecraft, and everyone can see from the camera that the spacecraft is now pushing the supply module forward.

You Haoming immediately ordered: "Check the docking system, check whether the spacecraft is damaged, and check the air pressure inside the spacecraft." His calm order made the other astronauts calm down a lot.

Peshkov was the first to go back and say, "Commander, the docking system is not responding!"

Theodore then reported: "No other damage was detected, and the air pressure inside the spacecraft is normal."

You Haoming pondered for a while before ordering: "Mi Jingtao and Boer go out to have a look through the side door, take the connectors, and connect to the supply cabin from outside the cabin.

"Theodore reported the accident to Xichang immediately."

There are three exits in the spaceship, one at the front, one at the side of the head, and one at the tail.

Mi Jingtao and Boer put on their space suits and exited the cabin through the exit on one side. Mi Jingtao’s report soon came from the headset:

"Commander, the docking system has been slightly damaged visually. The door of the supply compartment is covered by the docking system and cannot be opened manually."

You Haoming ordered: "Use connectors to fix the supply compartment at the front of the spaceship."

The extravehicular connector is a bit like a retaining clip, tightened from both ends, and can hold two aerospace devices together from the outside.

Theodore reminded: "Commander, the impact just now has already slowed down the spacecraft. If we don't quickly throw away the burden of the supply module, the speed of the spacecraft will decrease by 4%, and we will miss Mars."

You Haoming said seriously: "I declare that the mission to Mars is now a secondary mission. Our primary task is to receive all supplies from the supply cabin, and return to Earth at any time if necessary!"

Everyone was taken aback for a moment, and after thinking about it, they realized the embarrassing situation they were facing now.

When accelerating at a distance of 3300 kilometers from the earth, the spacecraft has already used up a lot of fuel.

If the second supply is not obtained to continue forward, then it must enter Mars orbit at one time.

Otherwise, the spacecraft will miss Mars, and what is even more frightening is that the spacecraft will lose most of its power at that time, and it can only be left to drift in the solar system.

And to return to Earth without obtaining a second supply, you must first slow down, turn around, and then accelerate.

Due to the limited fuel, the speed of the spacecraft will only be about 30% of the current speed, and it will take nearly two years to return to Earth. The food in the spacecraft is only enough for the astronauts to eat for two months.

This is the first time a space accident has occurred at such a distance from the earth, and rescue operations on earth must not be counted on.

Whether it is going forward or returning, the fuel and food in the supply compartment are crucial.

Ten minutes later, Mi Jingtao and Boer fixed the supply cabin.

You Haoming ordered Theodore and Rolfo to check the docking system from the transition cabin at the docking exit, and tried to open the supply cabin.

Soon Rolfort reported that the damage to the docking system was not serious, but that the fuel pipe had ruptured and had to be replaced.

More than an hour later, the Xichang command center gave a maintenance plan, and You Haoming immediately organized astronauts to start maintenance.

Fortunately, before departure, for the sake of caution, the spacecraft carried a set of parts for the docking system.

The maintenance work went smoothly at the beginning, but after the fuel pipeline was repaired, the astronauts found that although the electronic facilities of the docking system were not obviously damaged, they did not respond at all.

After repairing the electronic facilities, it was found that no matter how pressurized the transition chamber was, there was no air pressure in the transition chamber.

After inspection, it was found that the docking system could not form an air-tight connection with the supply cabin. When the maintenance was first started, everyone wearing space suits did not notice this.

It was not until then that everyone realized that the damage to the docking system was serious.

Fortunately, Xichang has a professional team that can provide detailed maintenance plans at any time.

In front of the communicator in Xichang, three astronauts took turns to keep in touch with the spacecraft, which is an old rule from the Apollo missions.

The liaison personnel on the ground must also be astronauts, because only astronauts can understand the mood and feelings of astronauts.

……

When the accident of "Yinghuo" was announced on the earth, almost everyone sweated for the crew of "Yinghuo".

Ever since the departure of the "Yinghuo", Jiang Yu gradually began to feel restless.

This "trip" is too important for human beings, Jiang Yu regretted that he didn't use the right of the Wallfacer to board the spacecraft and go with the astronauts to complete this task.

If he was on the spaceship, maybe he wouldn't be so worried.

After learning of the docking accident of the "Yinghuo", Jiang Yu couldn't sleep for a long time. He smoked one cigarette after another, and kept standing in front of the communicator, listening to the communication between Xichang and the "Yinghuo". call.

Sometimes Di Fengyi couldn't stand it anymore, and secretly hid Jiang Yu's cigarettes.

At this time, good news came from the new nuclear energy research base. Ding Yi's team successfully realized the controllability of the nuclear fusion reaction.

(End of this chapter)