The Science Fiction World of Xueba

After completing the daily communication with the earth, Pang Xuelin lay back to his position, leaned on a pillow, picked up the paper and pen beside him, and continued to calculate.

One of the two rovers became the duo's bedroom, where they spent half their day. Most of the time, they can only lie down and close their eyes to rest their minds, reducing consumption and carbon dioxide output.

Seeing that Pang Xuelin was still busy, Watney on the side couldn't help but be a little curious: "Pang, hasn't the mathematical model you made already been handed over to Venkat and the others? The results of the supercomputer simulation show that we have every chance to persist until the supplies arrive. what do you do now?"

Pang Xuelin said: "I'll make a backup rescue plan, just in case."

"Backup rescue plan?"

Watney was slightly taken aback.

Pang Xuelin said: "Venkat and the others originally planned to take advantage of Homan's transfer window to send us supplies half a year later. Now the time is half a year ahead of schedule. I am worried that the task is so hasty and something will go wrong at that time, so I will make a backup rescue plan."

"Don't be crowed, if something goes wrong, we will be in big trouble!"

Watney was taken aback.

After so much on Mars, his heart couldn't take it anymore.

Pang Xuelin shrugged, and gave Watney a wry smile: "I don't want to do this either, but it's always just in case!

In the movie "The Martian", because the supply mission was too hasty, the final supply ship exploded during liftoff, destroying the ship and arrows.

According to the nature of the system, there will probably be problems with this supply mission.

Therefore, Pang Xuelin is going to refer to the final rescue plan in the movie and prepare a backup plan in advance.

...

The 221st Martian day.

Earth, Florida, Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral.

This is a launch mission that attracts worldwide attention.

Ares Program Command will use NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) to deliver resupply spacecraft to Mars.

This super rocket, with a load of 165 tons in low-Earth orbit and a load of 38 tons in ground-fire transfer orbit, is standing on the LC39A launch pad of the Kennedy Space Center.

1.5 kilometers away from the launch pad, tourists from all over the world packed the viewing platform to the brim.

Behind the crowd, a beautiful girl wearing a CNN press card was talking to the camera lens.

"Friends of the audience, good afternoon, everyone. Today we will bring you the 92nd launch mission of the SLS space launch system. According to the news we have received from the front, this launch mission will use the latest deep space cargo spacecraft. The spacecraft weighs about 10 tons empty and can send 20 tons of payload to the Earth-Mars transfer orbit. It is expected to fly for thirteen months and finally enter Mars orbit on the 585th Martian day. Sub-Plains made a soft landing to resupply Pang and Watney. Now fifteen minutes until the launch time, we will return the time to the studio, and we will witness this historic launch with you later..."

Kennedy Space Center Command and Control Room.

Venkat and Tian Mu stood aside, watching the engineers make the final preparations before the launch.

Tian Mu said: "Karp, are you sure? This launch is too important. This is a rare launch window. If it fails, the next launch window will take at least a year and a half to reach Mars. Pang and Watney basically support it." Not for that long. If Pang and Watney end up on Mars, it could have a devastating effect on the entire Ares project."

Venkat took a deep breath and said: "I can't give you a guarantee! This task is too urgent. The original preparation time of at least half a year has been shortened to one month. The equipment test and arrow ship debugging and inspection have been cancelled. It can only be said that everyone has done their best, whether they can successfully complete the supply task,

Let's see if God bless Pang and Watney! "

Venkate, who has always considered himself an atheist, unexpectedly made a cross on his chest at this time.

Tian Mu also sighed, he knew that Venkat was telling the truth, but right now, he can only hope that the launch can be successfully completed!

Soon, the launch entered the final preparation stage!

"I am the flight commander, start checking the launch status!"

"Yes sir, start checking launch status!"

"Launch status check complete!"

"I'm the flight commander, ready to launch!"

"Start the countdown, ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, light the fire!"

A cloud of white smoke rose from the LC-39A launch pad, and the dazzling flames below the rocket could be vaguely seen. The SLS rocket burst out with a deafening roar and slowly flew away from the launch pad.

"Rocket is in good condition, spaceship is in good condition, start vector turn!"

The rocket began to turn slowly, and on the big screen in the control center, it could be seen that the rocket was flying very smoothly, and everything was going smoothly.

clatter——

There was warm applause in the hall of the command center, and everyone stood up, cheered and hugged.

Venkat and Tian Mu smiled at each other, Tian Mu stretched out his hand and said, "Congratulations! Your work is very beautiful!"

At this moment, an engineer's voice suddenly sounded in the command center: "The rocket trembles abnormally!"

As soon as his words fell, on the big screen, the rocket suddenly trembled abnormally, and the rocket began to disintegrate, followed by a dazzling fire, the SLS rocket and deep space cargo spacecraft worth hundreds of millions of dollars turned into a ball of flames and disappeared in the in the sky.

The people who were still celebrating were silent like ducks being strangled by their necks.

The smiles on the faces of Venkat and Tian Mu froze instantly, and both hearts sank. The thing they were most worried about happened.

...

Mars, Arcidalian Plain.

Pang Xuelin and Watney are roaming in the car, waiting for the news from the earth.

"Pang, there should be no problem with this launch, right?"

Pang Xuelin smiled bitterly: "Watney, you have asked me three times, no matter whether there will be any problems with this launch, I have a backup plan, so don't worry!"

At this time, the computer screen of the rover suddenly lit up, and a line of words appeared on it.

[20:51] JPL: Xuelin, Watney, this is Tian Mu. Let me tell you a bad news. The launch of the supply mission failed, and the rocket disintegrated in mid-air. Now our expert team is trying to find a way. I hope you can persevere. We will never give up easily until the last moment!

[21:05] Rover: Received, we are prepared for this outcome. This resupply mission is too hasty, and Watney and I can understand it. During this period of time, we have also made a corresponding plan, and I will send you a backup plan for your reference later, and you can decide whether to adopt it or not!

After the input was completed, Pang Xuelin also sent the plan he had carefully prepared during this period to the earth at the same time.

Then, he turned his head and made a helpless expression towards Watney who was in a daze.

With a bitter smile on Watney's face, he said, "Pang, I didn't expect you to guess it right! F****ck!"

Pang Xuelin had already been mentally prepared for this situation, and said lightly: "Watney, we still have a plan. Believe me, we won't die so easily!"

...

Earth.

In the conference room of the Kennedy Space Command Center, Venkat sat in the conference room with several senior NASA officials, silent.

At this time, an official in charge of the launch mission said: "Preliminary investigations show that this failure was due to the fact that the bulky protein supplements in the supplies melted due to the increase in temperature inside the spacecraft, which caused the center of gravity of the ship and arrows to be out of balance. , if we are fully prepared, we can completely avoid this problem!"

"What's the use of saying this, the most important thing now is that we should find a way to get Pang and Watney back from Mars safely!"

Venkate said.

At this moment, the door of the conference room was suddenly pushed open. Tian Mu hurried in with a few documents, and said to Venkat and several senior NASA officials present: "We still have a chance. Pang and Watney have been mentally prepared for this failure, and Pang also proposed a highly feasible rescue plan!"

"A rescue plan?"

Everyone present was slightly taken aback.

Tian Mu distributed the document that had just been printed out and smelled of ink to everyone present, and said, "This document was sent by Pang just now. I just took a look at it. Pang's idea is that the Hermes The spacecraft is about 20 days away from the earth. We can order the Hermes to accelerate to the earth, and then use the gravitational slingshot effect of the earth to fly back to Mars. When the Hermes meets the earth, We will launch the supply ship to dock with the Hermes, and then the Hermes will complete the final supply mission!"

"Genius idea!"

Venkat raised his head, eyes sparkling.

Tian Mu nodded and said: "This plan is indeed feasible, but one thing is that the Ares III mission team has left the earth for three and a half years, and there are still 20 days before they return to the earth. If we order them now Speeding up means that they will at least extend the mission time by more than half, and if an uncontrollable accident occurs during the period, what we will lose is the entire Ares III mission team!"

Venkate was silent for a moment, and said: "I suggest that this plan be submitted to the joint meeting of member states of the Ares Project, and let the expert teams of each country discuss and decide together!"

"I agree!"

"I agree!"

"I agree!"

Tian Mu frowned slightly, and looked at Venkate in surprise.

In fact, at this time, the headquarters can directly issue orders to the Hermes, and Venkat submitted it to the joint meeting of the members of the Ares Project, obviously not wanting to take the risk.

Venkat seemed to understand Tian Mu's thoughts and winked at him.

After the meeting, Tian Mu stopped Venkat directly and said, "Karp, what did you mean just now, we can give orders directly!"

Venkate laughed, pulled him aside, and said, "Tian, ​​NASA can't take this kind of political risk that might push the entire Ares 3 mission team into danger, and leave it to the Ares Project." Joint meeting review is the best choice!"

Tian Mu frowned and said, "But with the nature of the joint meeting, it is more likely to reject this plan!"

Venkat laughed and said: "I have a way to force the joint meeting to agree to this plan."

"any solution?"

Tian Mu asked suspiciously.

Venkate said with a smile: "We will go to the communication center later, I will open an encrypted channel, and send Pang's plan to the Hermes by email. You said that with the characters of Lewis and Sergey, they seem to have abandoned Teammates? At that time, the Hermes will take the initiative to accelerate, so the Ares Project Joint Meeting will probably have to pinch its nose to recognize this rescue plan!"

Tian Mu's eyes lit up involuntarily, and he patted Venkat on the shoulder and said, "Karp, I didn't realize that you are so cunning!"