My Little Pony: My Little Pony The Martian

AMICITAS Mission Three – Mission Day 242

ARES 3 solar day 240

[08:09] JPL: Mark, Berry, Starlight, Fireball, Fireball, good morning everyone. This is Bruce Wu in Pasadena. We have already begun preparations for the modifications you will make to Ares 4 MAV when you arrive at Schiaparelli. To do this we have to experiment and simulate various scenarios that we would never consider under normal circumstances, and it seems that it will take a lot of time.

We are now trying to find ways to use your spacecraft engines. According to the static test results you conducted a few days ago, their thrust specific impulse is pretty good. Unfortunately, in terms of mass, they don't work as efficiently as the methane-liquid oxygen rocket propulsion systems we use, so we can't simply tear out our engines and replace them with yours. In order for them to function as they should, we had to figure out some way to make them work with the existing engine.

So far, we believe that the most ideal solution is to use the MAV landing stage as the zero stage of the ascent stage, but the prerequisite for success is that we can fully utilize the three-minute working time of the upper lander engine design. A MAV fully loaded with fuel cannot take off solely by relying on the landing thrusters. Even with the pony engine and attached battery, the response of the spacecraft when taking off and accelerating will be very slow. If the pony engine it is equipped with cannot operate for a full three minutes, this plan will have to be completely abandoned.

The remaining options are decidedly less friendly. The second option we are considering is to replace the central engine of the first stage with yours. The third option is to dismantle all three engines upgraded on the first stage according to the downgrade processing method we currently envision. Both of these are actually unacceptable to us, because such modifications will increase the weight of the upgrade, thereby affecting the efficiency of the existing propulsion system. If the thrust specific impulse of your engine is the same as ours, it is still possible to implement it, but judging from the actual situation, it is too far behind.

The bottom-ranked plan is to completely abandon all backup means (really not leaving any), including the Shining engine. Therefore, there is absolutely no room for any mistakes in the rendezvous and docking with Hermes. We would definitely not choose this path, because accidents will happen, and considering that things related to Mars have not been going well recently, it is too risky to do so.

In fact, in addition to the above examples, we have also considered another option - replacing the single engine in the second stage with yours, plus three tons of batteries. Although this will lose a little thrust specific impulse, it can be exchanged for the ability to slowly charge the engine in orbit. But the problem is that the difference in speed is too big; we have to work hard to push a spacecraft that can only accelerate to 4.1 kilometers per second according to the original design to 5.8 kilometers per second, so there is no room to consider backup or Fuel regeneration.

Finally, I would like to emphasize that although the setting of Rich Purnell's plan is to use the flash engine in large quantities to achieve the predetermined speed, we will not use it easily unless it is really necessary. The Flash Engine is still an experimental means of propulsion. We don't know what the consequences will be if it is started in the atmosphere, nor do we know how it works in our universe - assuming it can really work - whether it can avoid the original consequences. The energy overload ripple effects of your crash.

Therefore, in order to ensure that any of the above ideal plans is feasible, the following two points must be met...

Could you use electronic parts recovered from your spacecraft to create a larger battery with a usable capacity proportional to its size?

Can you synthesize hydrazine to refuel the MAV descent stage tanks? The reason we use hydrazine as the descent stage monopropellant is that engines using this fuel have the highest reliability in terms of ignition. The MAV fuel generator is not designed to synthesize this fuel, and the nitrogen content of the Martian atmosphere is already low anyway.

[08:51] Watney: The stars are here. I could try to convert hydrazine, but this process is extremely dangerous. Transmutation heats hydrazine, so may cause it to explode in the tank. And there is a high chance that the final product is not pure hydrazine. I have to discuss this matter with Twilight where we are and let her study the feasibility.

As for the battery, it’s not a big problem. In our country, most enchanted artifacts or magic-driven devices have built-in batteries to store energy.

It's not common to create magic batteries solely for the purpose of battery storage. The enchantment used in batteries is basic common sense, and you guessed it right, the larger the crystal, the greater the capacity.

However, there are mainly the following problems.

First, the gauge on the battery cover is calibrated to a cubic crystal of approximately sixty kilograms. It's true that altitude can be increased, but the battery energy reading becomes extremely unreliable.

Secondly, crystals grown here on Mars are more likely to be flawed and damaged than crystals from our world. It doesn't mean that if I just pick a larger crystal, everything will be fine; what I have to do is to search the entire cave and select the largest and flawless crystals as raw materials to succeed. This cave is quite large, and there are many large branches that still need to be explored, but finding a large crystal with clean texture is not a small challenge.

Finally, it’s important to note that the battery case is designed to protect the battery crystal inside if dropped or impacted. A strong enough impact can destroy the battery, and even if it is still usable, the output power will be severely weakened; and a completely broken crystal will have no enchanting ability at all. A crystal that is too large will not get the protection it deserves even if it is covered with a battery casing.

How tall do you need to build the battery?

[09:17] JPL: Based on your revised performance parameters, our calculations indicate that running all three engines at full thrust for three minutes would require seventy-two normal-sized batteries. It would be strange if there would be no accidents if this number of batteries were all fixed to the outer shell of the spacecraft. If your engine is to be used in the MAV descending stage, we hope to compress the number to fifteen pieces, and extend the height of each block to five times the normal; if you want to install the first upgrade, at least It's twice as high.

[09:46] Watney: Your demands are not too high! Theoretically, I can solve the first problem; as for the second one, I really have no idea. But even so, it takes a long time to find something.

[10:13] JPL: Okay. Regarding that aspect, please let us know as soon as you have any news. Just give up when you hit a dead end, we don't have much time to waste.

The last name on the door to the office in the Meteorology Department was Carter, so naturally some trickster secretly covered it with tape and changed it to "John." A note on the wall next to the door ("Stop fucking changing the name on my door! It's not funny.") indicates that this happens often.

Stepping into the office, Mindy saw an anxious-looking man named Randall. "Good morning, Miss Parker," he said hello and asked, "Did you find anything?"

“I went back two days to this dust storm,” Mindy replied. “At least I don’t think there is anything wrong with it, and at the given time and place, there was really nothing else in the corresponding area, so I am quite satisfied with the result. Confident. The dust storm began as a wind squall on the southeastern edge of the Tempe Mesa. It moved westward through the opening between Mount Arab and the line between the Tarsis Mountains, and then southward along the west side of the mountains. Descending steeply, looping around Mount Olympus, and finally descending into the Amazon plain to accumulate energy.”

Randall nodded. "That's right," he said. "That's what our analysis showed."

"What?!" Mindy threw out a pile of printing materials she brought and slapped it on Randall's desk. "You already know it? Then why do you want me to analyze it again?"

"Because this situation is simply impossible," Randall responded with a bit of excitement. "Tarsis is the nemesis of the weather system, just like a climate wall on Mars. No weather system can pass this barrier. . And this dust storm system is not only extremely energetic from the beginning, but it can also pass through Tarsis almost unscathed." He glanced at a map of Mars in Mindy's printed materials and used it to demonstrate the dust storm. Movement route, "This trajectory is like a typhoon effortlessly crossing the Himalayas...and the energy is getting stronger and stronger on the way. It's completely fantasy."

"But this is a definite fact."

"Indeed, but we have to find an outsider to verify this. After all, this is a phenomenon we have never observed before."

"Excluding the time on Sol 6."

"Even that time. Although the dust storm on Sol 6 was in the wrong season, at least its moving speed was normal, and its intensity had been at a reasonable level until the morning of Sol 6. Since that dust storm left the Arabian Platform, we have been tracking it continuously It lasted three days. At first it was just an ordinary dust storm, and then it gradually deviated from what was expected; but now this one," he looked a little annoyed, waving his hand at Mindy's material, "has been outrageous from the beginning."

"Okay," Mindy gradually calmed down after understanding Randall's intention, "So, any predictions?"

"It's too early to say anything now, at least it will have no impact on Watney," Randall replied. "The dust storm is now located directly south of Mount Elysium. If it continues to move at this high speed, it will take about two days. After half a day, it will reach the Isidis Basin or the eastern edge of the Arabian Platform. Normal dust storms will gradually weaken or stay in the basin, or they may go north around the Arabian Platform and be forced into the mid-latitude westerly belt and return to the Arab Mountains. .”

"But you don't think the dust storm will behave this time," Mindy guessed.

"Yeah, based on its performance so far, and considering our bad luck lately, I'd be willing to bet this one is here specifically to trouble Watney. Or more specifically, 'Mark Watney' Ni or current residents, Ares 3 residential area collection'. After I get the appointment, we will immediately hand over all these materials to Dr. Kapol, suggesting that we start taking action." He grabbed a handful of documents and began to organize them.

"Start what? Haven't we already started?"

"Start reinforcing the residential area and prepare to deal with another Sol 6 dust storm." Randall concluded, "Last time there was a MAV that could terminate the mission and evacuate. This time Watney and the aliens can only endure it. ”