My Little Pony: My Little Pony The Martian

This time Teddy was a full four minutes late, but he didn't even say an apology. He strode into the office, put his briefcase on the table, sat down and said, "I know everyone is very busy recently, so we will try our best to solve this meeting quickly. I need each department to report on the Sleipnir project The latest progress. Xiaowen, let’s start with you.”

"We are proceeding as planned." Venkat replied, "The only problem at the moment is that the supply teams of Ares 3 and Ares 4 are competing for cruise and landing control of the aircraft. I decided to let them each state their reasons before making a choice, or It is also possible to form a new team from scratch. Unless they can come up with a reasonable and convincing reason, this task will most likely be handed over to the Ares 3 team."

"Mitch," Teddy continued, "how are the launch preparations going?"

Ares flight commander shrugged. "Hawkeye 39 has given up the launch control room, so we are basically ready at the Kennedy Center and Johnson Center. Sleipnir 39 is arranged at launch pad A, and Sleipnir is located at B for launch. , so that once the No. is launched, the crawler transport vehicle can immediately carry the No. aircraft to the launch tower. After the launch is completed, we will hand over the aircraft to Venkat's team for cruise control and landing work."

“What was the response like in the media?”

Annie, who was busy scrolling through her phone, raised her head. "I will announce the latest project progress to the media every day." She said, "Search data from Google shows that the popularity of 'Norse mythology' related content has increased recently. According to our expectations, public attention will increase with the launch of The tide is rising further as the date approaches, so I hope you'll be prepared for a lot of media activity over the next six weeks."

"Then let's just go with the flow." Teddy replied, "We can use this to put pressure on Congress to find ways to make up for the funding gap in the Ares mission budget caused by funding the Sleipnir project. By the way, those What's going on with the rescue mission opponents - the guys who want to 'let them die'?"

Speaking of this, Annie even had a smile on her face. "It's a perfect slap in the face. They are now more awake," she said. "The number of people using the 'Bring Them Home' hashtag exceeds them by twenty times. Data from Gallup and Monmouth polls show that More than three-quarters of the people in the United States support the rescue mission. And this time even the online funny community is on our side. Apparently Spitfire has become their recognized 'Queen of Alien Tricks' '." The smile on her face gradually became more and more indulgent, "And a certain 'Filthy Fred' can only face the rebellious and incompetent rage of his accomplices. My men have discovered more than fifty paragraphs of 'treat them with their own medicine' It’s a spoof video of “The Human Body”.” At this time, she realized that her gloating was a little too much, and quickly added, “Of course, this result was completely calculated by employees in their own free time.”

Teddy wasn't too impressed. "Okay," he said, "continue." Then he turned to a large display screen in the room and said, "Maurice, where are the thrusters?"

Morris Stein, director of launch platform operations at the Kennedy Space Center, frowned. "We are behind schedule." His answer was very straightforward, "But it is actually SpaceX that is behind schedule. Last week we received the first red Falcon and are currently undergoing final inspection. But they refurbished the second thruster. The job is two full weeks behind schedule, and there is almost no movement on the third batch. They always insist that they will finish the job before the deadline, but I can't see how they plan to finish the job in time. .”

"So," Teddy asked, "there's no hope of launching early?"

Morris shook his head. "No chance," he replied. "My team estimates that the launch of Sleipnir 2 will be delayed by about a week, and Sleipnir 3 by three weeks. It may be even longer if there are schedule issues at JPL." .”

At this time, Teddy turned to another screen, which showed Bruce Wu who was currently in the California office. "Bruce, how are you? There will be no problem with your progress, right?"

Bruce shrugged. "We've encountered some obstacles," he said, "but we were prepared for this and left plenty of time in the original plan. Of course it's impossible to finish early; but as long as we avoid major mistakes in the future, we should be able to stay on schedule Deliver all three aircraft.”

"Not bad." Teddy replied, "How is the payload of the aircraft?"

"All three Sleipnir supply vehicles use the same roll landing design." Bruce replied, "Each is equipped with a transponder that the rover navigation system can recognize, which can help guide Mark to drive the modified The rover heads toward the aircraft landing site."

"Each vehicle can carry less than a metric ton of material to Mars - a weight equivalent to only one-tenth of what a standard resupply mission can carry. Five hundred kilograms of this is the payload, and four hundred kilograms in the payload A kilogram is food, which can normally provide food for four astronauts for about three hundred days."

"The remaining 100 kilograms of the load include spare parts for the radio systems carried by Sleipnir 1 and 3, and Sleipnir 2 is a spare flight suit with an anti-damage helmet prepared for Watney. There are also spare cabin canvases and sealants carried by each of the three aircraft, and some miscellaneous things can be stuffed into the remaining space.”

"Finally, we will adjust the configuration of the three aircraft's onboard radio systems so that they can replace Hermes for Pathfinder signal relay. Of course, this will only start to take effect about four months before landing. But something is better than nothing. We even plan to make software adjustments after launch to combine the three spacecraft into a flying radio antenna array to correct data transmission errors and increase the data bandwidth from Mars to Earth. . However, it is a pity that the opposite transmission cannot be improved due to the time difference between the aircraft."

"That's not bad." Teddy replied, "keep me informed if there is any progress. And Dr. Keller," he then turned to the Ares 3 project surgeon and asked, "What will the team members face when the supplies land?" difficulty?"

The doctor shrugged. "They would need at least one, or possibly two, successful harvests in the cave farm to have enough food to last until supplies arrived," he said. "We know nothing about the nutrition of a dragonfly or a fireball." The horses may suffer from sodium deficiency, but otherwise should be fine. Watney is our main concern."

Keller adjusted his glasses and continued: "Watney's current diet has been reduced to one food packet a day, a few potatoes, and a handful of alfalfa leaves. Depending on how rigorously he adheres to this plan, his protein deficiency It may have no real effects, or it may be extremely serious. The biggest danger is that the monotonous diet he chooses will lead to insufficient food intake, and there is basically nothing we can do about it except to consider encouraging ponies to become His eating partner, making sure his food intake meets his daily nutritional needs.”

"How will this affect his ability to retrieve supplies in the future?" Teddy then asked.

"His body will gradually weaken," Keller replied. "The exact extent cannot be determined at this time. In addition, his judgment will also be slightly impaired due to the lack of key fatty acids to repair nerve myelin. When the time comes, he will need Only with the help of others can he transport the supplies back to the residential area. But even considering the worst case scenario, he should be able to complete this task. Of course, if the supply landing position can be closer to the residential area, it will naturally be easier for everyone. It will be more convenient.”

"Will this cause permanent damage to him?"

"We still can't predict it at the moment." Keller replied, "But as long as he resumes his normal diet, we will see the result after a month."

"Okay." Teddy sorted out his notes, "Everyone did a good job, and I hope it can continue. I stress again, if anyone can find a safe way to speed up the rescue process without endangering Mark's life, he must do it first. Report to me as soon as possible.”

Recipient: Venkat Kapoor ([email protected])

From: Mike Bendalk ([email protected])

Subject: Request regarding satellite communications

Tell the satellite communications department that we can complete the orbit adjustment calculations during the day tomorrow. My number one right-hand man had just gone on vacation, and he still had several months of unpaid vacation leave on his account. I was really embarrassed to refuse. Unless I fire him outright, but usually he's so reliable that I can't find a replacement. He may have some thoughts of his own in his mind now, and he's really embarrassed that he doesn't want to let it go.

Sorry to keep you waiting.

Mike

Aerospace Dynamics Department