My Little Pony: My Little Pony The Martian

The sun rose as usual, and Cape Canaveral ushered in another sunny day, as clear as crystal. The two giant metal towers on launch pads 38A and 38B rose into the sky, casting shadows across the wetlands below. The Sleipnir 38 aircraft is sitting on launch pad 38A, preparing for final inspections before launch; there are fewer personnel in charge of Sleipnir 38, which is located on launch pad B and will be launched the next day. null. Sleipnir is currently on a giant crawler in the aircraft assembly building. Once Sleipnir is launched, it can be immediately transported to launch pad A.

Outside the temporary land and sea control zones, tens of thousands of people gathered. There is a constant flow of vehicles, large and small, and various boats come and go. People scrambled for favorable viewing terrain and kept approaching the cordon, leaving security personnel struggling to cope. A large number of ships and Coast Guard speedboats full of sergeants shuttled through, trying to maintain order around the aerospace center.

And there are millions, even billions, of viewers watching this crucial launch through televisions, the Internet, radios, and even telephone lines and all possible means of communication. The world is eagerly awaiting an answer: Will humanity's first attempt to launch an emergency supply mission to another planet succeed?

HERMES – ARES 3 Mission Day 303

Everyone in the cabin gathered around Johnson, listening to the launch countdown audio live broadcast from Earth that was delayed by two minutes. They also relayed the signal to the radio system of the alien spacecraft, because although the quality of the radio signals sent by the alien spacecraft has not reached the standard for transmitting voice information, Hermes' superior signal transmission strength can still carry downlink audio. content.

Then the team members heard Mitch Henderson's instructions coming from the rustling loudspeaker, and they all leaned forward, "This is the flight director. Start launch status check."

The entire Ares 3 team was silent as the launch controller in Florida checked the contents of the "launch/non-launch list" item by item and received affirmative replies from each sub-system controller. When Mitch issued a report that Sleipnir One was launched as scheduled, the team members on the bridge who were in the Hermes rotating simulated gravity environment subconsciously straightened up and made a series of slight noises.

Time passed by minute by minute, and the countdown soon reached a critical stage. The red Falcon Heavy switched to internal power and the onboard computer took over launch control. The fuel delivery line is disconnected. The final automatic check process is completed and all systems are reported to be in good condition. At the same time, the countdown keeps moving forward.

Fifteen seconds before launch, the launch timer officially starts counting. The Hermes crew gathered together in front of the terminal to concentrate, almost becoming one.

"Six...five...four..."

Martinez, who had been praying silently, began to recite "Ave Maria" loudly.

"Ignition program started."

Baker's hands tightened on Johnson's shoulders, but she didn't move an inch.

"three two……"

Vogel on the side just stared at the floor in silence.

"ignition."

Lewis retreated behind everyone, crossed his arms, and held his upper arms tightly in his hands to restrain his strong desire to beat the rhythm on his sleeves.

"One...takes off! The SpaceX red Falcon takes off, carrying the Sleipnir 3 supply vehicle and flying to Mars Ares ."

However, the team members cannot breathe a sigh of relief just yet, and it is too early to draw a conclusion now. No Ares resupply mission has ever failed in history, but they have witnessed countless satellite launches fail for various reasons. It is impossible to ensure that the launch mission is foolproof.

"Trim?" After the aircraft took off, the flight control authority was automatically transferred to the mission control center in Houston, and Mitch Henderson began to take over.

"Trim normal, flight control."

"track?"

"No deviation, flight control."

"Height one thousand meters. Safe termination height reached."

"Pitch and roll maneuver sequence begins."

"There are still thirty seconds until maximum dynamic pressure."

"A little wobbly, flight control."

This sentence instantly attracted the attention of everyone present. During the transmission, there should be as little dialogue as possible on the controller's band. The word "swing" should not appear at all under normal circumstances.

"Say it again?"

"Aviation control, some slight longitudinal vibrations were detected. The computer has begun to take over processing."

One of the many thrusters on the Red Falcon Heavy's first stage had a very minor fuel pump clog, causing thrust to fluctuate and wobble in an unexpected but far from catastrophic way. The entire aircraft. This is just a further addition to the various tremors experienced by space vehicles during normal launch.

However, just inside the first stage of the thruster, one of the cables connected to a certain flight control gyroscope was defective, but it was not replaced during the inspection process several weeks ago because it was covered by an external insulation layer. As a result, the metal wires inside the insulation layer stretched and broke, causing the data signal that should have been stably transmitted to the onboard control computer of the first stage of the thruster to become weak and intermittent. This unexpected and unprecedented failure caused the first stage computers to interpret incorrect pitch status data and attempt to compensate for severe sudden attitude deviations that did not actually exist.

After one point and five seconds, the computer discovered the glitch, cut the failed sensor out of its decision-making logic, and attempted to correct the effects of the error. Unfortunately, this remedy came a second too late.

"Oops!"

The Ares astronauts, who had been paying close attention to the communication frequency band, felt their hearts sink.

"Aviation control, the aircraft began to dive violently downwards."

"Can it be corrected?"

"Telemetry data is unreliable, flight control."

"The current acceleration load of the aircraft is 5G, which is still increasing."

"The computer is trying to compensate, but currently the vehicle is still below the target orbit."

"Do whatever it takes to correct the trajectory." Miche could barely breathe.

"There are still ten seconds until maximum dynamic pressure."

Within five seconds of this point, the flight control computer of the first-stage booster of the Sleipnir 1 aircraft always believed that the pitch attitude of the aircraft was far beyond the predetermined rotation path, so it tried to maintain the attitude as much as possible To compensate, the thrust of a specific engine was reduced and the engine nozzle was twisted to the maximum dive position. However, this series of measures caused the aircraft to start to deviate in the other direction of the normal flight trajectory. To make matters worse, the aircraft is about to experience the highest aerodynamic stress load it will experience during launch - the so-called "max Q" moment.

As the rocket continues to accelerate, the properties of the air gradually approach the critical point of incompressibility. At this time, the extremely thick air violently impacted the upper side of the unbalanced rocket, pushing it to the ground regardless of the computer's efforts to restore the aircraft's intended trajectory.

The Red Falcon Heavy rocket is the most powerful thruster system that has been successfully launched into space in human history. However, no matter how powerful the thrust is this time, it is of no use and may even be counterproductive; because the increased thrust used to compensate for orbital deviation also The aircraft further accelerates closer to max Q, and the crushing aerodynamic pressure will only become stronger.

This kind of mistake wouldn't be so devastating if it happened at almost any other stage of the flight, but once you're in the wrong place at the wrong time, there's nothing you can do about it.

The locking mechanism connecting the first and second levels was damaged, and the huge rocket instantly broke into two pieces. The first stage crashed directly into the second stage and the aircraft it carried with great thrust.

A giant fireball exploded in the clear sky off Florida's eastern coastline and was still visible for miles.

The Hermes team members listened quietly to the ending.

"Aircraft telemetry data interrupted, flight control."

"The aircraft was lost?" Mitchell asked, "The entire aircraft was lost?"

"First-level guidance signal lost, air traffic control."

"Second level signal lost, air traffic control."

"Try to reconnect."

Upon hearing this, Martinez suddenly punched the bulkhead. "Damn it!"

"Connection failed."

"Satellite communication?"

"The satellite failed to receive the signal."

"ground?"

"Aircraft control, a giant fireball was observed not far from the last position of Sleipnir 1 before it lost contact."

"Vacation control, Navy destroyer Stoughton reported sighting of debris falling into the quarantine area."

There followed a long silence. Mitch Henderson finally broke the oppressive silence: "Ground control, this is air traffic control. Lock the door."

Vogel on the side was still staring at the floor in silence.

Beck's grip tightened.

Lewis spoke. "Everyone, it's time to get back to work." She said, "This is just one of them, and there are the next two. NASA's redundant measures are not unreasonable. As long as the other two aircraft can arrive successfully, Mark and his friends will be fine.”

Sleipnir 585, which was launched the next day, was safe and successfully entered the Earth's orbit, and then entered the Mars transfer orbit with perfect accuracy. The aircraft carried nearly a hundred solar days' worth of food, as well as spare habitat canvas and other spare components, and set out on the road, preparing to land somewhere south of the Ares 3 residential area around Sol .

The Hermes team members, who had been paying attention to the movements on the ground, finally breathed a sigh of relief and prayed that Sleipnir 3 would also have such smooth sailing.