Die on Mars

Tang Yue's heart skipped a beat when he heard this.

The old cat had sworn it when he explained it to him and Maidong before, but God knows if this cat was just trying to make a fool of himself. As an electrician and half-assed astronaut, he had also taken a course in orbital dynamics before going to space... Although he took the course It was like listening to a book from heaven, and he dozed off most of the time, but he remembered a few words from the teacher.

"Don't operate illegally!"

“Never operate illegally!”

"No matter what, do not operate illegally!"

"As long as you strictly follow what the work manual says, then Orion and the lander will be able to bring you back intact, otherwise it will be difficult for us to collect all your ashes, because the strong winds in the stratosphere will blow you everywhere .”

What does the workbook say?

——Don’t touch any buttons.

But this is obviously a serious illegal operation by Laomao. Not only is it operating illegally, it also overturns all the regulations in the work manual.

Tang Yue re-erected the Orion spacecraft model that had fallen on the table, "Only five degrees of margin?"

"Yes, this is the result of my current calculation." Old Cat held up the model, "You know that Orion must ensure a vertical attitude after entering the gravitational circle. Its angle of attack cannot exceed plus or minus five degrees during landing, because the engine is propelled The structure of the fuel tank is very fragile. The thinnest part of those large tanks is only three millimeters thick. To maintain its normal shape, it even needs the pressure of the internal fuel - for example, the Orion fuel tank is a full tank. Water taut balloon.”

The old cat gestured, "Obviously we can't let this balloon move in any way, otherwise it will burst - and we have four such balloons in total."

How steady do you have to be to hold four inflated water balloons during a rapid descent without letting them burst?

Tang Yue really doubted whether the nine Raptor 10D engines on the Orion spacecraft could do this. He had never seen the Raptor 10D. The nozzle was so thick that an adult could stand in it. Such a silly, big, black and thick thing could really satisfy the need for maintenance. Such a precise and detailed requirement for a deviation angle of less than five degrees?

This is no longer Zhang Fei threading a needle.

These are nine Zhang Yide who want to cooperate to dance ballet on the tip of a needle, and the needle cannot fall.

"It's difficult." Lao Mao said bluntly, "The Raptor 10D is not used for this. It is not a specialized attitude control engine and cannot achieve this accuracy."

"Is there any solution?" Tang Yue stood up a model of the Orion spacecraft, deviating slightly from left to right, simulating in his mind the concept of a five-degree deviation.

"I can only improve the control accuracy as much as possible, and the rest depends on luck." Old Cat replied.

"By luck?"

"Of course it depends on luck, do you do everything you want and do your best?" Lao Mao nodded, "Luck is very important in most cases. As the saying goes, three points comes from strength, seven points depends on hard work...the remaining nine points Ten percent is luck.”

"Can you be more reliable?"

"I can't trust you, can you?" Old Mao rolled his eyes.

"Holy shit!"

"Okay then, please tell me how to solve the engine control problem? How to maintain the attitude of the Orion spacecraft within a controllable range?"

"You..." Tang Yue held his breath in his throat.

"Come on, we can still do our best to control the engine, but some parts just depend on luck, such as the structure of the truss, the strength of the interface, etc. We have no control over these things. We can only pray that they don't go out. Problem." Old Cat said lightly, "Letting the Orion spacecraft enter the atmosphere is essentially a gamble. It is never 100% sure. Even if we can ensure that there is no problem with the spacecraft, if there is a strong crosswind during the landing, it will be over. "

"Probability!"

"What's the probability?" The old cat was startled.

"What is your best probability? Can you calculate the probability?" Tang Yue asked, "How high is the probability that the Orion 2 spacecraft will successfully land?"

The old cat sat on the chair, tilted his head and looked at the monitor, was silent for a moment, and shook his head.

"This doesn't count." The old cat said, "We are not guessing coins, but crossing the river by feeling for stones. Can you calculate the probability that there are stones under the water in front? We can only put our feet out first. With luck, If you can step firmly, you will be one step closer to the other side. If you are unlucky and miss the step..."

The old cat's voice lowered and he didn't say any more.

The old cat was too powerful, and this power gave Tang Yue the illusion that everything was under control. In fact, there are too few things they can control. A loose screw on the Orion spacecraft may ruin the entire spacecraft, but no one knows where the screw is and when it will fall off.

Tang Yue twisted his neck, turned around, took off his Mingguang Armor outer suit, and removed the life support system from the wall.

"You want to go out?"

"yes."

"Isn't the extravehicular operation completed?" Old Cat asked, "Why did you go out again just after you came back?"

"Go out and look at the stars."

"It's not dark outside yet."

"Then look at the sunset."

"There is no sunset on Mars."

"Then I'll go see the flying saucers."

"There is nothing on Mars... remember to take pictures if you see a flying saucer."

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"Tang Yue, are you lazy again?"

"I'm not lazy. I've finished all the work, and the part of art history I'm responsible for is almost done." Tang Yue leaned on the garage door and sat on the sand. "I'll revise it carefully tomorrow and I can file it. ”

"Then what are you doing?"

"I'm watching the flying saucer." Tang Yue looked up at the sky, looking at the white sky above his head through the glass mask.

"UFO?" the girl was surprised.

"Yes, I feel that my life is meaningful only when I go out to watch flying saucers every day." Tang Yue replied, "Although I haven't seen it so far, I think that as long as I continue to watch it day by day, one day I will What I can see...my beloved is a peerless hero, and one day he will come to see me with colorful auspicious clouds."

Maidong closed the control panel in the core cabin, and she was working with Lao Mao to adjust the system computer of the United Space Station.

"You still have to have some hope in life, otherwise why are we living in this world?" Tang Yue said, "Every day in this universe is different. No one stipulates that the earth will not disappear tomorrow, so no one stipulates No flying saucer will land in front of me tomorrow. There will be tomorrow after tomorrow. Time is endless. This is like giving a monkey a typewriter. As long as there is enough time, it will sooner or later write Shakespeare's four tragedies verbatim. Fight it out... so the appearance of flying saucers is an inevitable event."

"I hope one day." The girl smiled.

"There will definitely come a day." Tang Yue said, "In this universe, as long as you believe in something, it will definitely happen one day."