Die on Mars

"Eagle spaceship?" Old Mao took off his headphones and didn't understand what Tang Yue meant.

"During the ascent stage of the Eagle, isn't the little guy we shot up still docked on the Joint Space Station?"

The old cat waved its paws. Of course it knew that the Eagle spacecraft was still docked at the Joint Space Station during its ascent stage. It and Tang Yue had gone through untold hardships and dangerous maneuvers to successfully send the Eagle spacecraft to the space station. embrace. Looking back to this day, Lao Mao feels that he was really crazy at that time to agree to such a risky action.

However, the ascent stage of the Eagle spacecraft can no longer be used as a re-entry vehicle into the atmosphere. It is a one-time vehicle and has completed its mission after entering orbit.

Today's Eagle spacecraft is just a large piece of space junk, which should be discarded. Maidong did not discard it just because the earth is disappearing, and man-made space junk is extremely precious.

"The Eagle spacecraft is no longer capable of entering the atmosphere." Old Cat said, "It has been scrapped long ago and its propellant has been exhausted. Are you going to let that girl land in a scrapped spacecraft?"

"According to normal flight standards, the Eagle spacecraft has been scrapped, but it must have design redundancies, and there must be room for exploitation...right?" Tang Yue's pupils dilated and he lowered his voice. Old Mao was secretly surprised when he heard this. Tang Yue was a complete gambler. He wanted to approach the design limit of the spacecraft infinitely, betting that it could survive.

This is like the city is about to be destroyed. You still have the last Boeing 737 on hand to escape, but people from Boeing tell you that the aircraft body has reached the end of its life.

At this time, you have to bet that the designers of the aircraft have left enough safety redundancy. Even though the aircraft can only fly for 10,000 hours, you have to bet that it will not have problems in the first thousand and one hours.

Lao Mao and Tang Yue also bet like this last time. Fortunately, they won the bet.

"Except for the Eagle spacecraft, we do not have any other vehicles capable of entering the atmosphere. The space station and Orion are not allowed to enter the atmosphere structurally. They will inevitably disintegrate and burn." Tang Yue said, "But the Eagle spacecraft is designed to be able to enter the atmosphere. Atmospheric, it is a blunt lifting body, not a fragile truss structure, so it can withstand the resistance and overload that the space station cannot withstand!"

The old cat was silent and thinking.

Tang Yue's idea is very bold and crazy, but he is right. Structurally, the Eagle spacecraft is indeed much stronger than the space station. The space station will die when it enters the atmosphere, but the Eagle spacecraft may still have a glimmer of hope.

"If we have a way to stabilize the lander's re-entry attitude, then the heat-insulating coating on its surface may be able to help Ophiopogon japonicus overcome the heat barrier." Tang Yue spoke very quickly, without thinking, he had obviously already thought about this issue. a long time.

Thermal insulation ablation materials are a unique advantage of the lander. The belly of the Eagle spacecraft is covered with a layer of solid black thermal insulation tiles. When it enters the atmosphere, it faces the ground with its belly to resist the high temperature generated by air friction.

Thermal tiles on the lander are the only hope against the heat barrier.

"During the first landing, the insulation tiles of the Eagle spacecraft were already burned." Lao Mao reminded.

"What those people on Earth like to do most is to have at least double the redundancy." Tang Yue raised two fingers, "Do you still remember Yang Huanji? He told me that on the lander The thermal insulation tiles can theoretically support the Eagle spacecraft for three high platform dives."

"Yang Garbled Code?" Of course the old cat remembered this person. The heroic deeds of trying to make canned Swedish herring soaked in Laoshan Snake Grass were still fresh in its memory. "Isn't he making compressed biscuits in the nutrition center? What does it have to do with the insulation tiles? "

"His girlfriend's brother's mentor's great-nephew's seventh uncle is a department director at NASA."

"But we don't know the current condition of the insulation tiles on the Eagle spacecraft. If there is any damage or fall off, it will replicate the tragedy of Columbia." Lao Mao said, "This needs to be carefully inspected."

"But at least we have hope."

"It's too early to say there is hope now." Old Mao looked serious. "Even if the Eagle spacecraft can withstand the heat barrier, it has no power and cannot slow down. It will fall freely when it enters the atmosphere. If you put a person into an iron Put it in a can and then drop it from an orbit four hundred kilometers high. Unless the Hulk is inside, no one will survive."

Tang Yue nodded and frowned.

He is trying his best to find a feasible landing method, but this cannot be a delusion. Tang Yue and Lao Mao are gambling. The bet is Ophiopogon japonicus's life. In a matter of life and death, there is no room for error. When entering the atmosphere, as long as there is One wrong step and the girl will be wiped out.

The several major difficulties mentioned by Lao Mao are structural strength, high temperature thermal barrier, and reverse thrust deceleration. At best, the Eagle spacecraft can only overcome the first two, and the last hurdle is an almost insurmountable obstacle. Think about how many deceleration plans engineers on Earth designed for the complete version of the lander to land safely. The technical geeks at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory ate instant noodles for half a year and racked their brains to design such a plan. A watertight plan.

Now Tang Yue only has half of the lander in his hand, and it is still a shell without propellant. Want to land with an empty shell? You also despise physics and engineering too much.

From ancient times to the present, all projects that defy the laws of physics will end up with bloody results.

Anyone who tries to anger Newton to death will eventually get his face swollen by Sir Alex.

Tang Yue set up several tablets with white paper and wrote: "Uncle Newton", "Uncle Tsiolkovsky", "Uncle Braun" and "Uncle Korolev" , and then kowtowed heavily on the table.

"Uncles, please give me some advice for your disciples and grandsons. If your spirits in heaven don't show up again, humanity will be doomed."

"The last problem is navigation. If we want Miss Maidong to land, we must let her land exactly at the Kunlun Station." Old Mao said, "We don't have a large number of search and rescue teams and helicopters on Mars. If The lander fell hundreds of kilometers away, and no one could rescue it in time."

"Hey, Mr. Cat, what are you talking about secretly?" Maidong appeared on the screen.

"Nothing, nothing." Old Mao put on the headphones, "I'm just trying to persuade Tang Yue not to hide in bed and watch Japanese instructional films every night, otherwise it will lead to kidney deficiency... His physical condition is not very good to begin with. …”

Tang Yue sat on the side, holding his head and drooping his eyelids.

Seeing the supplies on the space station gradually depleting, the desperate situation faced by Maidong has been exposed again. If the latter stays like this, his physical condition may further deteriorate.

To be honest, even if Ophiopogon japonicus is removed, the two of them probably won't live long. The supplies at Kunlun Station are also limited, but the two of them can help each other by staying together. Tang Yue may not be plotting anything. In this situation where he has neither enough food nor clothing to keep him warm, even if he really wants to plot something, he is powerless. He is just in a desperate situation and always wants to have one more person to accompany him and share with each other. Warm up.

Every time he sat at the entrance of Kunlun Station and watched the sunrise and sunset, Tang Yue thought to himself that it would be great if someone could watch it with him.

In this way, he could say to that person, "Look, does the sun look like an egg yolk?"

"It's impossible to directly upgrade the Eagle spacecraft to land." Old Cat came over and held his shoulders, "But it's not all hopeless."

Tang Yue was startled.

"Do you have any idea?"

"No." Old Cat shook his head, "This has to be done slowly and not recklessly. I need to make precise calculations. The Eagle spacecraft can help us overcome the thermal barrier problem. This is a big step forward. , the remaining steps need to be considered in the long term.”