Die on Mars

Maidong's eyes were close to the eyepiece, and he slowly adjusted the magnification knob. He discovered that the optical tracking system in the cabin section was a difficult thing to operate. It was once used to assist the rendezvous and docking of the Orion spacecraft. It was used in the Canadian Super Arm After it was put into use, this system basically ceased to be used - the super arm can directly capture the Orion spacecraft and perform precise docking, and original optical tracking is no longer required.

The orbit of the Mars Joint Space Station is more than 300 kilometers from the earth's surface. It is difficult to lock the target for earth observation at this distance. A slight deviation can lead to a loss of thousands of miles. A slight shake of the lens can cause a deviation of tens or even hundreds of kilometers. Tang Yue planned The total scanning range is only ninety-five kilometers long, which means that if Maidong accidentally shakes his hand, the camera's field of view may jump to one hundred and eighty thousand miles away.

The girl slowly turned the knob, adjusting the direction of the optical tracking system arcsecond by arcsecond. The ravaged surface of Mars flashed quickly from her field of vision. The data diffracted in the eyepiece jumped rapidly, and the computer marked it with green numbers. After knowing the exact longitude and latitude of the target position, the laser diffracted the numbers on the eyepiece. Maidong adjusted the camera's magnification to the lowest. In this state, the lens's field of view is the largest and is suitable for finding the target.

In Maidong's eyes, all she could see were crimson sand dunes and criss-crossing black shadows. She could not see the Martian stray dogs or the Kunlun Station. Those targets were too small, far beyond the reach of the human eye. Resolution ability... It was once rumored that the Great Wall could be seen from space. This famous rumor was widely circulated among the people. In fact, the width of the Great Wall of four to five meters is far from the resolution accuracy of the naked eye in low-Earth orbit. If Astronauts really want to see the Great Wall from the International Space Station, which would probably have to be equipped with powerful light bulbs at night.

"12 degrees 54 minutes north latitude, 87 degrees east longitude... 87 degrees east longitude, these are the coordinates of the Kunlun Station, so the location of the Chelome is here..." The girl searched for the landing site of the Chelome probe according to the longitude and latitude. , the location where Old Cat last communicated with the space station was the landing site of Chelome, so she will start her search here.

According to the traveling speed of stray dogs on Mars, the old cat can travel an average of thirty kilometers a day. Their last contact was twenty-four hours ago, which means that the most likely location of the old cat is right before the probe lands. The distance from the starting point to the return route is 30 kilometers.

Maidong divided the rectangular area drawn by Tang Yue into six parts, each part thirty kilometers long, and she prepared to search according to the blocks.

The part where the Chelome probe landed is the first priority to be searched.

"Ophiopogon japonicus?"

"Yeah, okay, got it, I'm getting familiar with this system..." Maidong's eyes left the eyepiece and pulled out the keyboard to enter the correction parameters, "This thing is a bit old."

The optical tracking system in the Discovery cabin is indeed an ancient device. It uses a straight-through optical path. There are no optical fibers, no displays, and no precision servo motors. If the Dawn cabin is not damaged, Maidong can use advanced ground-based technology. With the remote sensing system, scanning an area is just a matter of entering a few lines of parameters and clicking the mouse. The lens will automatically focus and the image will be automatically input into the computer. There is no need for such troublesome manual operations.

"Can it be done?"

"It's done." Maidong raised his eyebrows and smiled slyly, "Do you have confidence in me...Who am I?"

She tried adjusting the magnification and found a rocky beach in her field of vision, then used the cross mark in the center of the lens to point at a boulder and pressed the button.

The photo entered the computer monitor. The girl carefully checked the clarity of the photo. She leaned closer and squinted her eyes to look up and down. She was testing the reliability of the system, so she randomly found a target to take pictures of. Maidong tapped on the keyboard to switch photos.

"Hmm... there's a bit of ghosting. Is it a focus problem?"

Maidong shook his head, adjusted the lens again, then tested the system, continued to take pictures, repeatedly compared the sharpness of the photos, and adjusted the status of the thing bit by bit.

"The exposure time was too long."

"The image could use some sharpening."

"The resolution can be improved a little bit more...a little bit higher..."

Like an old photographer, Maidong adjusts the equipment in his hands and strives for excellence. The United Space Station can pass over the Ixidi Plain every more than an hour. In order to save time, Maidong must take as many photos as possible during each window period.

The Mars United Space Station flew silently in orbit, gradually approaching the Ixidi Plain.

"Girl, where have you been?"

"I am already approaching the Ixi Plain. The optical tracking system is ready. It is estimated that I will enter the effective scanning area in one minute." Maidong clung to the eyepiece and took a deep breath. All the details had been adjusted to the best. She Staring at the diffraction parameters in the eyepiece rather than the image passing by at high speed, because the images were all the same and a wasteland, only the parameters could tell her whether she was on target.

In a sense, Maidong was shooting blindly. She couldn't see the target she was looking for and could only press the shutter based on the location data.

"Tang Yue." Maidong suddenly called him.

"Um?"

"Do you know what I'm thinking about right now?"

"what's on your mind?"

"It feels very strange. I feel like Mars is like a huge microorganism, such as a single cell of bacteria or yeast, and I am observing this huge cell with a microscope. This feeling is like taking an experimental class in college. , observe the specimens on the slide." Maidong said, "I can clearly see every detail of this huge cell, the proteins on its cell membrane, the phosphate groups..."

Giant microorganisms? Tang Yue was stunned. Can these two words be combined together?

"Really, it's not like I'm observing a celestial body with a telescope, but a huge..." The girl paused and found a word, "life."

Tang Yue shook his head. He obviously couldn't understand the feeling of Ophiopogon japonicus in Kunlun Station. He could only drag solar panels back and forth. In his eyes, Mars was just an endless salt-alkali land. Li Bai once said that he did not know the true face of Mount Lu because he was in this mountain. If he were also on a space station in low-Earth orbit, he might be able to understand the girl's thoughts - Mars is not a dead and exhausted celestial body, but a huge rhythmic life. .

Of course, with Tang Yue's artistic talent and ideological level, he would probably say that this is just a piece of shit.

"There are still twenty seconds left to enter the effective scanning area. I am going to cut off contact." Maidong noticed the computer prompts and said, "Wish me good luck."

"Good luck."

Maidong took off his headphones, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath.

Don't shake your hands.

Don't let your hands shake.

Maidong said to himself silently.