Die on Mars

The second time I left the cabin, Ophiopogon came with a file.

At first, she had doubts about this method. Wasn't repairing the spacecraft's insulation tiles with a file really not using a soldering iron to repair the CPU?

"Who told you that the lander's insulation tiles are the CPU?" Old Cat said lightly, "It's just a tractor. Is there anything wrong with using a hammer to hit the tractor? Back then, workers at the Stalingrad Tractor Factory in the Soviet Union used The hammer in his hand knocked out tens of thousands of tractors...and more T-34 tanks."

Maidong breathed a sigh of relief.

According to Lao Mao, there are no troublesome steps at all in repairing the Eagle spacecraft's insulation tiles. Laymen habitually like to imagine that the work is too complicated.

The expansion of the insulating ablation material only needs to be smoothed, so the only tool required is a file.

"Be careful, girl, slow down a little." Tang Yue stared closely, "Don't be anxious, your body temperature and heart rate are rising."

Maidong's extravehicular spacesuit is monitoring her physical condition in real time, and all the data is summarized in front of Tang Yue's old cat.

"I know." Maidong leaned to the side and used his back to block the direct dazzling sunlight. "It's easier than I thought. The outermost layer is a porous foam structure. I thought it was as hard as ceramic tiles. It’s ceramics.”

Compared with mechanical repair, Maidong feels like he is doing some carpentry work.

"Ding!" sounded, and the workstation prompted that the calculation was completed.

The old cat took a glance.

"Failed."

"What failed?" Tang Yue asked.

"Two processes, the simulation result of the Eagle lander's unpowered reentry into the atmosphere, failed for the sixty-sixth time." Lao Mao explained, "The other one is trying to use the engine on the Orion spacecraft. I temporarily ignored engineering and technology. The difficulty in details was just to consider the feasibility of a safe landing... In the end, I found that, let alone a successful landing, it could not even maintain the most basic structural strength."

"What's the meaning?"

Lao Mao took off his headphones, turned around, picked up the pen on the table and gave Tang Yue a demonstration.

"This is the Eagle lander."

Old Cat shook the pen cap in his hand.

"This is a rocket engine."

The old cat shook his pen again.

"Now we use some kind of tape of unknown Zentraedi material to tie them together tightly, and then use Iron Man's powers to manually disassemble the rocket engine and make a control system to allow the Eagle spacecraft to The computer can control the engine." Old Cat inserted the gel pen into the pen cap, "Finally threw them into the atmosphere of Mars..."

Tang Yue stared at the pen in Lao Mao's hand.

"Do you know what will happen?" The old cat slowly came closer, a pair of brown cat eyes reflecting Tang Yue's face.

"What will happen?" Tang Yue swallowed.

"Big fireworks." Old Mao threw the pen on the table and made an explosive gesture. "Once this piece of stuff enters the gravity circle, it will completely disintegrate. The fuel tank will 100% explode when it enters the atmosphere while lying down. , the thin shell of aluminum alloy is easily deformed without support.”

"You mean we can't use the engines on Orion?"

"Yes." Old Cat answered simply, "It's completely unrealistic. You'd better give up."

"But I want to struggle a little more."

"The power module of the Orion 2 ground-fire transfer spacecraft uses nine Raptor 10D high-pressure supplementary combustion engines connected in parallel. Each engine has a thrust of more than 90 tons. Only this kind of thrust can support the orbit change of the entire joint space station, but The Raptor 10D engine is not for the Eagle lander." Lao Mao said, "This thing is almost as heavy as the Eagle spacecraft. Tying it to the lander will completely destroy the aerodynamic shape of the latter, and the originally uncontrollable attitude will It will become more difficult to control.”

"Designing an aircraft has never been a simple matter of addition and subtraction. People at the Central Fluid Research Institute and Skunk Works know it very well, and you also know it very well... There is no need to struggle anymore, it can't be rescued."

Tang Yue turned his attention to the monitor. In the video, Ophiopogon japonicus was still working hard to repair the insulation tiles.

"Did you try your best?"

"All configurations have been tried, but none have succeeded." Lao Mao said. "The engine lacks the protection of heat insulation tiles and will burn up in the atmosphere."

"The thrust-to-weight ratio of the Raptor 10D engine exceeds 1, right? Its thrust-to-weight ratio exceeds 1, right?" Tang Yue asked, "If its thrust-to-weight ratio exceeds 1, can we...can we push back the whole way and land vertically?" Just like the original Falcon 9?”

"It can't be done." Old Cat shook his head, "I have simulated it so many times, but there has never been a time when the Eagle spacecraft can completely cross 10,000 meters."

"Ten thousand meters?"

Old Cat nodded, "The altitude of 10,000 meters is a hurdle. Once the altitude drops below 10,000 meters, the atmosphere will suddenly become denser, and the dynamic pressure on the lander will also increase sharply... The Eagle spacecraft with the engine attached It will lose its attitude immediately. The Eagle lander's ascent stage is not an airplane and has no wings. Once it falls into a roll, it cannot be rescued."

Tang Yue grabbed his hair.

Damn it.

"Not using the engine is a dead end, using the engine is also a dead end... Damn it, is there really no other way?"

"But 'using engines is a dead end' is a false proposition in itself. I am just stating to you the workstation's feasibility prediction of using the Orion spacecraft engine for landing. In fact, it is too difficult to implement, and Miss Maidong is alone. It can't be completed at all." Old Cat added, "I said you asked her to dismantle the frigate with her bare hands, do you think she can do it?"

"How do you want me to tell her this?" Tang Yue was very irritated. "Tell her that you are dead? It is impossible for the Eagle spacecraft to land at all?"

"This is not my business." Old Mao shrugged, "I told you the result and you decide what to do. Or you can tell her the result and she decides what to do."

Ever since he learned that the comet was about to hit Mars, the old cat had become more and more Buddha-like. Before, it strictly controlled Tang Yue's life, controlling the amount of food and water, and waking him up on time every morning. Now the old cat has No longer paying attention to these trivial matters, Tang Yue slept until as late as he wanted.

When Tang Yue asked, Lao Mao said, "This is not my business, you decide for yourself."

"You don't care about anything, what's the use of you..." Tang Yue slumped on the chair and sighed.

"I'm useless, I'm useless. I'm going to dig a hole and bury myself. Don't bother me for the next five hundred years." The old cat turned and left.

"Hey, Brother Cat, stay here. I'm just saying casually. Why should you take it seriously? That girl Maidong is still working. You can't let go of your burden!"

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Maidong spent a long time smoothing the insulation tiles. She carefully inspected the fruits of her labor inch by inch, and put the file away in her tool bag with satisfaction.

"Mr. Cat, Tang Yue, the insulation tiles have been finished." Maidong returned to the space station, "What should we do next?"