My Little Pony: My Little Pony The Martian

"Okay, Bruce," Venkat looked at the JPL director across the table and asked, "What good news do you bring today? Is it the final draft of the MAV transformation plan?"

"It feels like it's time now," Bruce replied. "We originally produced the final draft six days ago, but it was interrupted by a sudden dust storm. By the way," he added, "communication with Hermes I had just flown over New Mexico when the window opened. What was their report?"

"We walked seventy-five kilometers today," Venkat replied with a smile. "Feihuo is recovering and eating well. Although he still reports a headache, he is still recovering as expected. The better news is that they We are about to enter the Meridian Plain; the ground there is generally flat and open, with no obstacles. Now that the weather is good and the ground is flat, their trip in the next ten days should go smoothly."

"Yes." Bruce replied, "Recently I have been looking at the satellite images taken before and after the incident. It's a pity that Hermes was from a wrong perspective at the time and could not see the flight process. In fact, even if it was recorded in the onboard camera, I I feel like I can’t capture many details, but having the opportunity to try it is better than nothing.”

"Believe me, the photos we got are enough," Venkat replied. "Of course those guys who are still shouting that they are not enough must be dissatisfied with this statement. We are normal in mobile homes. Being able to have satellites in place for observation during the driving time is already considered very lucky, and it is even more rare to happen to hit them and launch fireworks within that time window. But there are some people who are always unwilling to give in, which makes it difficult for them to do so. It's like NASA has a secret time machine that can travel back and take pictures of whatever it wants at any time." He said and shook his head, "After all, those guys with doctorate degrees should have some brains."

"Then we will let you know when we have repaired the time machine." Bruce said with a smile on his face at the beginning, but the smile disappeared immediately after he took out a pile of printed materials from his briefcase, "The following is what we have done for half a year. The result of many years of hard work," he said seriously, "the goal of this transformation plan is to ensure that the life support system is not fundamentally damaged, and to retain the ability to rely on the Shining engine to directly go to the earth during emergency escape, to the greatest extent possible. Lose weight for MAV.”

"Is there anything I should pay attention to?" Venkat asked with concern.

"You will be able to count by the time I finish talking," Bruce replied. "Just a reminder, the MAV weighs kilograms when it is launched including the fuel and oxidizer it carries and minus the descent stage. We sat down and calculated it carefully, and finally The result is that without Pony's boost system, we have to find ways to increase the amount of fuel and reduce the weight of the spacecraft to 7300 kilograms to achieve the speed required to rendezvous with Hermes."

Venkat was stunned for a while, "My calculation may not be accurate," he thought for a while and said, "But Bruce, you have almost cut off half of the spacecraft. What can you do in this situation?"

"Remove the part of the pressure capsule that Mark has direct access to, and use the habitation module canvas to seal the gap, and let them sit in the spacecraft and go to heaven in their own spacesuits." Bruce answered straightforwardly.

"You are kidding me," Venkat was shocked when he heard this. "This is definitely the most outrageous proposal I have ever heard."

"Yes, it is indeed a desperate move," Bruce admitted readily. "Fortunately, we don't have to take this road. But next, we will inventory the list of steps required for the transformation one by one, and give us this ship that is originally When the spacecraft that has been extremely lightweight is further relieved of two and a half tons of load, I hope you will always remember this; you know in your heart that the situation may be worse."

"Please continue." Venkat signaled.

"First of all, I want to remind you that we have to add some more weight to the spacecraft." Bruce explained, "The Twinkle Engine built by Starlight Glimmer on Mars will take up the entire 500 kilogram weight quota originally reserved for collecting samples from the surface of Mars. In addition, we also allow each team member to carry 50 kilograms of personal belongings. Under normal circumstances, the MAV will only carry one day's rations for the team members. In the case of low-orbit escape, rationing will be adopted. But this time we will give They packed seven days of short-term food storage and brought it to the spacecraft. In addition, we will also bring the remaining onboard thrusters from the Friendship. We have also considered relying on them to completely replace the original thrusters - they are lightweight Much more, and as long as there isn't too much obstruction between you and your team members, you can run and charge at the same time. However, the trouble of adapting the existing controls to adapt to this new system was too much for us, and we finally had to give up. They will remain Use it as a backup in case it is necessary to escape directly back to Earth."

"Then how do you plan to operate these thrusters?" Venkat asked again.

"We will borrow the control systems of the secondary and tertiary thrusters." Bruce replied. "It certainly makes sense to set up a layer of redundancy for them, but redundancy is still redundancy, so they all have to be laid off. Speaking of which For redundant equipment, we also need to remove the backup communication system. At the same time, there are life support systems other than the emergency storage tank of the Mark space suit. The life support system of the Pony space suit will replace the functions of the original life support system except for heating. And we will also bring the RTGs of Ares 3 and Ares 4 MAV at the same time to expand the MAV's onboard battery capacity, so heating is not a problem. Then we have to remove three onboard batteries and the entire auxiliary power supply. system. Finally, there are the co-pilot station and related control devices, as well as every control panel that even if missing will not fundamentally affect the onboard control capabilities."

"The ones you picked are quite special." Venkat thought for a while, "I don't have any intention of asking you to make such considerations, but why can't we throw away all the onboard controls and let the computer control the spacecraft completely? What? Or let Martinez go through the MAV satellite launch process and control it remotely?"

"Because in case it is necessary to escape directly back to Earth, we need to arrange a pilot on site." Bruce explained, "If the MAV reaches the space near the Earth, then we will not be able to program the computer to make it respond to the situation. There are too many variables to make the necessary response immediately. This means that a flight control device must be kept on board. And since they are on the spacecraft at the time of launch, rather than risking computer failure or signal loss, It is more reasonable to rely on their judgment at the scene.”

"The premise is that the pilot has the appropriate qualifications," Venkat reminded. "Assuming Cherry Berry is our candidate, then as soon as they arrive at the MAV, they must arrange enough simulator time for her every day until launch. And ultimately only if she's qualified - and at least on par with Martinez - will we give her the power to manually override computer control."

"No problem." Bruce agreed, "Then let's get back to the topic. Communication, life support system, power supply system, flight control... Okay, let's continue. There is no medical kit. No tools. Except for keeping one set for Mark, the rest All the space suit interactive equipment was dismantled. The same goes for the flight seats. Except for Mark’s seat, we have to replace all other flight seats designed for humans with seats that the ponies have reassembled using MDV parts.”

"There are two big problems at the end. I'm talking about the auxiliary fuel pump, and an engine in the first stage. Both are set up for redundancy, and both are extremely heavy."

Venkat held on to the expression on his face and barely managed to keep his jaw from falling. He tried to keep his tone even, "You also want to remove an engine."

"Yes," Bruce replied, "In fact, the speed increase of the spacecraft will increase after it is dismantled. It was originally only used as a redundancy in case of failure."

"Bruce," Venkat asked slowly, holding his forehead, "Is there any backup system on the MAV that you haven't touched?"

"A few more," Bruce replied, "but that's about it. Every kilogram we pull out means a little more fuel can be saved for the second upgrade, waiting for orbital maneuvers or, if necessary, entry It can come in handy when the Earth is in orbit. And the weight we throw away also gives us room for error, so it doesn't matter if some of the pony boosters fail. As far as the current configuration is concerned, our estimate If all the booster towers can work normally, then the MAV carrying this kind of payload can directly enter orbit by relying on the thrust of the first stage alone."

"Bruce, you don't leave any backup at all," Venkat still didn't buy it and asked, "What is the expected failure rate of such a plan?"

Bruce just shook his head, "It's completely impossible to determine." He explained, "We are really not familiar with the operating characteristics of the repulsion propulsion launch system and the flash engine. If they fail at the same time, even if Mark and the others are lucky, the most optimistic result is They are all trapped in the orbit of Mars."

"Oh my God." Venkat sighed looking up to the sky.

"Indeed," Bruce said helplessly, "I still recommend that you always remind yourself that the situation could have been worse."