My Little Pony: My Little Pony The Martian

AMICITAS Mission Three – Mission Day 337

ARES 3 solar day 332

Transcript – Hydraulic Telegraph Switch – ESA Maltimore Center ＜–＞ ESA Spacecraft AMICITAS

ESA: Maltimore calls Amicitas, over.

AMICITAS: Amicitas is calling Maltimore. It's urgent. What's the situation? complete.

ESA: We are testing a propulsion solution as a power source for your upgrade vehicles. If successful, we will send you relevant performance data and design guidance. A very long message will be sent out over the next few weeks, over.

AMICITAS: Great to hear that. We'll be ready, done.

ESA: Basic plan: Give three solid and durable crystals, currently estimated to have a mass of one hundred kilograms each, set up enchantments, fix them to the bottom of the first upgrade, and place them on the engine nozzle of the upgrade flying vehicle. above the tube. This enchantment will link all three crystals to each of the fifteen repulsion field projectors that draw power from the oversized batteries you created. This link will ensure that the ship, and only the ship, is propelled and launched by the full and concentrated power of the enchantment. The operating mode of the enchantment will be set to "away" without any directional control input, so the directional control of the aircraft will rely on the onboard chemical energy thrusters. complete.

AMICITAS: Good idea. Is there any preliminary data?

ESA: The system has not yet been tested with a target payload. Previous tests conducted without a target block showed that the aircraft lacked controllability, but the potential acceleration capability of a seven-ton object was at least more than 1,200 meters per second in one minute, completed. We anticipate that the final system design will achieve greater efficiency.

AMICITAS: This is an earth-shattering and groundbreaking achievement! Further development of this system will greatly reduce the weight and manufacturing cost of the launch vehicle! What a great experience! complete.

ESA: We still need to do more testing. We don't want to launch you into space based on the results of a single test. But based on the experience we accumulated in the first test, we can let you start preparing in advance, over.

AMICITAS: Very good! We are waiting for your good news! End of Amicitas newsletter.

HERMES – ARES 3 Mission Day 466

The window guards of all the portholes on the Hermes aircraft were kept tightly closed, and the scene seemed as if the largest spacecraft ever built by mankind was about to undergo aerodynamic deceleration. Of course, it is unlikely that this spacecraft will arrange such maneuvers in the next one or two years. And in recent weeks, the shutters have been closed to block a force that is potentially many times more deadly than air flowing at hypersonic speeds, a force that is more deadly than micrometeorites, space junk, or any other simple physical obstacle. Everything is more difficult to guard against.

These window guards are blocking the sunlight.

At a distance of only 95 million kilometers from the sun, Hermes is currently absorbing two and a half times more solar radiation - light and heat - than the worst-case scenario it would encounter in Earth orbit. , and even worse ones. Most of the photons in the visible and infrared bands were reflected away by the ship's shiny white paint and silver cooling fins, but the few that remained were enough to push the various cooling systems on board to their absolute limits. The cooling pump is almost always kept at the highest speed, even though the spacecraft is still rotating; this rotation not only provides a simulated Martian gravitational environment for the ring-shaped habitation module, but also provides additional passive thermal management capabilities, which was used in Apollo. Planned Time is also known as PTC - it's also better known as "Sunlight Grill".

As for the more difficult radiation, Hermes' hull also has an inner lining and an experimental electromagnetic field generating device that can create a miniature protective bubble in deep space similar to the Earth's electromagnetic shielding layer. This arrangement will create two slightly offset poles, one directly below the bow vehicle airlock and the other directly above the VASMIR engine exhaust. Theoretically, the charged solar wind a and beta particles will be trapped here, keeping a relatively long distance from the astronauts. If Hermes still had an atmosphere, the auroras it would produce would be fantastic—and terrifying—but due to the near-vacuum of space, this extra layer of (theoretical) protection is invisible and intangible.

Of course, there is their last line of defense on the spacecraft: if there is such a solar storm whose intensity exceeds the safety threshold specified by NASA and is enough to endanger the health of astronauts, the crew members will all evacuate from the rest of the spacecraft. And retreat to the compartment on the ship that has the strongest radiation protection measures and also provides the most redundant cooling system capabilities...the reactor room.

When they first learned about such an operation during a briefing, both Watney and Martinez laughed and joked about the irony of having to get as close as possible to a small reactor to avoid the harmful products produced by the oversized reactor outside. . Of course that was more than three years ago. Now that Watney is trapped on Mars, Martinez can't laugh when he recalls this incident - not only because this scene of stepping into a dangerous chamber is very likely to happen, but because the sun is small Burning them all in a fit of temper was probably barely fifth on his list of worries for the day.

Number four was his bunk. He noticed two weeks ago that he was sweating at night while sleeping. He hadn't felt any heat during his waking hours—well, nothing compared to the time he'd spent at Edwards Air Force Base—but the sweat glands didn't lie. There was something wrong with the cooling system near his cabin. He would have to find a chance to talk to Johnson about it, and maybe call Baker.

Ranked third is training for MAV launch. All MAVs can accept remote control; after all, all but the first MAV landed this way. But NASA has not yet decided whether Martinez will remotely control the spacecraft during launch, or whether the pony commander Cherry Berry will manually control the flight on site. What's more important is that NASA has not yet been able to decide on the final technical parameters of the modified spacecraft, so the two pilots are currently unable to conduct any simulations. Martinez wants to start training as soon as possible, the sooner the better.

Next on the list are matters involving Mark Watney, and his friends are somewhere far down the list. Yes, those aliens were cool, but Mark was his crewmate and friend. They trained together and spent several years together, but were forced to separate after a series of bizarre accidents. Now that they were finally on their way to pick him up, Martinez never forgot to take out the homemade rosary beads he used to replace the lost cross day and night, and pray silently and devoutly for his good partner, wishing him eternal blessings. Healthy and safe.

Normally Mark is always at the top of the list, but something new happened yesterday that pushed him to the top. Now Martinez was sitting in the pilot's seat on the bridge, trying to restrain himself from jumping up every thirty seconds to glance over Johnson's shoulder at the control interface of the Hermes radio system. Since yesterday, Hermes' onboard computer has been constantly trying to establish a connection with Pathfinder. Not only is Hermes far ahead of Earth in its orbit around the sun, it is also three light minutes closer to Mars. Therefore, it would certainly be a reasonable decision to restore communications via the ship's relay... assuming that Pathfinder still has any ability to function.

Johansen wasn't even on the bridge now. He is now completely on duty alone. Johnson is performing diagnostics on the reactor. While Lewis and Vogel carried out the various experiments they had planned in the laboratory—NASA was unwilling to waste extra mission time in deep space—Baker was in his bunk and medical office, testing the samples collected from the crew members. Samples are taken and observed for signs of exposure to radiation.

So when Johnson's console beeped, Martinez took a moment to realize that he needed to go take care of it... and another moment later, he suddenly realized that this was what he had been doing for the past day and a half. Looking forward to something that can be dealt with. The data link to Pathfinder was re-established. Pathfinder is still powered and running... and if the solar activity stops, they can communicate with it.

Martinez switched to the spacecraft radio channel. "Status update," he called, "We have received a signal from Pathfinder. Repeat, we have received a signal from Pathfinder."

"Coming." Lewis's reply came immediately - there was no hesitation in his tone, and there was not even any gap between Martinez's last syllable and her words.

Within a minute they were all there - all five of them - huddled together in front of Johnson's control terminal. Of course there was no need to do this - they all knew that even with the best of luck, any messages they sent out would never receive a reply for nearly an hour. But they all still wanted to be there and watch with their own eyes as Johansson sent the instructions to initialize the conversation function and sent the briefest message:

[13:21] HERMES: Test

Then they waited, chatting from time to time, for fifty-one minutes, most of which was spent in silence, before any response could come from the other party.

Then came the response - at least an attempt.

[14:16] System Message: Error – Signal loss exceeded recovery threshold – Content cannot be displayed

[14:18] System Message: Error – Signal loss exceeded recovery threshold – Content cannot be displayed

[14:19] System Message: Error – Signal loss exceeded recovery threshold – Content cannot be displayed

[14:20] Watney: Frodo lives!

[14:22] System Message: Error – Signal loss exceeded recovery threshold – Content cannot be displayed

The first message I received was met with a sigh of disappointment. The second one brought a surprise - they didn't expect to receive multiple replies in a short period of time. But that last one elicited little response.

"Frodo lives?" Vogel asked. "Does this sentence have any special meaning?"

"I had read it," Lewis said, "but I thought I would have to be twenty years older to see it with my own eyes."

Martinez couldn't help but smile. "I hope the signal will be clear as soon as possible," he joked. "If this sentence becomes the last clear signal from the residential area, those conspiracy theory weirdos will be able to write as much articles on this matter as 'Croatoan 'A lot more."

"I think we should still be optimistic about this matter," Vogel said.

"How do you say this?" Baker asked.

"Only two words made it through," Vogel replied, "and neither of them was 'fuck.'"