Die on Mars

"Demolish! Demolish! Demolish everything——!" The old cat waved his paws and shouted like the director of the demolition office, "Renovate the shanty town! Don't leave anything behind!"

"OK." Maidong buried his head in the command module of the Eagle lander, holding a screwdriver in his mouth, a tool bag hanging on his body, and flashing a flashlight, "The fourth nut has been removed, and its number is MOYU-2A. .”

The girl held a flashlight under her arm and stuffed the floating screw into the bag. This was the last screw on the protective cover. When she removed the cover, she could see the connection bayonet between the seat and the floor. Maidong was dismantling the seats inside the command module of the Eagle lander. In order to reduce the weight as much as possible, Lao Mao asked her to remove all irrelevant things on the Eagle spacecraft.

There are a total of six seats in the lander's command module. The two chairs in front of the center console belong to the commander and co-pilot, and the remaining four chairs are crew seats.

Ophiopogon japonicus only needs one chair, and the remaining five can be dismantled.

"Mr. Cat, where do you put the dismantled chairs?" Maidong wiped the sweat from his forehead with a towel, "These seats are very big and take up a lot of space."

"Put it in the Silence cabin first, find something to fix it, and then throw it outside together after you have dismantled all the chairs." Old Cat replied.

"Throw it outside the cabin?" Maidong asked, "Push it out directly?"

"That would be too dangerous. It may hit the battery panels of the space station. When throwing garbage, we have to use a super arm to push them far enough."

Maidong removed the seat and dragged it around and through the spacecraft interface.

"One chair is twenty kilograms. The mass of five chairs is one hundred kilograms. If you round up, it is one ton." Old Mao leaned on the back of the chair with a pen in his mouth. "This is not a small number. On the Eagle lander The total mass of the upgrade is only fifteen tons, which is reduced by one-fifteenth."

Tang Yue didn't bother to pay attention to the old cat's mutter, as long as it didn't round up like this when calculating.

"After all the dismantling work is completed, how much mass can the Eagle lander be reduced?" Tang Yue sat across the table and was writing "A Brief Examination of the Development of Modern Art Schools".

Lao Mao slid the mouse and rotated the upgraded structural model of the Eagle lander on the screen. "Remove everything that can be dismantled. This is to reduce weight and for safety reasons. The spacecraft will inevitably bear a huge load when landing." Impact, this is just like a car rear-end collision. Seat belts and airbags alone are not enough. We must also remove all parts that may threaten the safety of the occupants. Otherwise, a small plastic fragment at high speed will be as lethal as a sharp knife."

The mouse marked the structure of the lander in red one by one. "Eighty percent of the mass of the Eagle spacecraft comes from its own structure, which is the shell. This shell is the only barrier that can protect Miss Maidong in harsh environments. , everything else is unnecessary except this shell.”

"Twelve tons?"

"Thirteen tons," said the old cat, "plus the chair, which weighs one ton in total."

"Don't we need to keep things like control computers and life support systems?"

"Don't keep it." Old Cat shook his head. "It's useless to keep it, because the battery and compressed gas cylinder must be removed. There is no power supply. Any electronic products are just bricks that add weight. Life support can only rely on Miss Maidong's cabin. Taken externally.”

"The problem is that the extravehicular suit cannot last for a long time. Its self-sustaining ability is too weak."

"Eight hours, as long as it lasts for eight hours." Old Cat said in a deep voice, "I tried my best to control the Orion spacecraft to fall within a thirty-kilometer radius of Kunlun Station. Then we removed the battery of Kunlun Station and drove the stray dog ​​to rescue it. Even if she destroys the Mars rover, she still has to rescue that girl."

Tang Yue stopped what he was doing and said, "The communication system cannot be retained. Doesn't that mean we are in a state of disconnection... The risk is really great."

"The whole plan is very risky from beginning to end. Losing contact is nothing." Lao Mao said, "The control and positioning during the landing process are handed over to the Orion computer. I believe it will work until the end. The Eagle spacecraft does not have to do anything. , just protect Miss Maidong."

Tang Yue let out a sigh of relief.

"When this plan is completed, we will probably have nothing left except Kunlun Station."

"This is the price of saving someone. Use all the resources in your hands to exchange for the survival of another person. I told you what those pioneers did back then. It was also to exchange hundreds of tons of propellant and rockets for one person. A small fraction." Old Cat said, "The quality of life is much heavier than Orion plus the space station."

Maidong unloaded the second seat. Her speed was very fast and her work efficiency was quite high. During this time, her hands-on ability has been fully exercised.

"Attention, Miss Maidong, you have to check carefully to see if there are any missing parts. There cannot be any loose parts in the command module. Do you understand?"

Maidong dragged the seat into the Silence cabin, then turned around and got into the interface, "Can't you leave anything behind?"

"Yes." Old Cat nodded, "These will be serious safety hazards during the landing process. In the final stage of landing, the lander will withstand severe impacts, and a loose screw will be as powerful as a pistol bullet. "

"Ok, I see."

Maidong began to disassemble the third seat. According to the order given to her by the old cat, she first removed the seat, then removed the lining, and finally removed the computer and control panel. In extreme environments, the buttons and switches on the control panel were all threats to the girl. As a potential killer of life safety, Maidong had better dismantle the command module into an empty shell.

"Mr. Cat, where are the supplies?"

"supply?"

"There is still some fresh water for food on the space station, as well as these tomatoes and plants I planted. Can they be brought down?"

"I'm afraid not." The old cat shook his head, "Miss Maidong, we must put your safety as the top priority, and put off everything else... To be honest, even if we try our best, we may not be able to guarantee your safety. Carrying anything else will significantly increase the uncertainty, I hope you understand.”

Fresh water and food cannot be carried in the space station. Apart from Maidong himself, Lao Mao does not plan to load any movable objects into the Eagle spacecraft. Orion 2 has extremely high requirements for attitude control when it re-enters the atmosphere. Deviation will result in the destruction of the ship and the loss of lives, so the center of gravity of the spacecraft cannot be affected in any way.

The food and fresh water in the cargo hold may shake during high-altitude landing, disrupting the balance.

At this time, if you can lose one kilogram, you will lose one kilogram.

"I understand."

"Hey, old cat, can we discuss this again? Maybe we can find an opportunity." Tang Yue interjected. He knew that Ophiopogon japonicus had deep feelings for those plants. Letting Ophiopogon japonicus abandon the ship and escape alone was like asking his mother to escape. Abandoning his own children, "If it doesn't work, you can bring the remaining seeds of Ophiopogon japonicus with you. You can't bring grown-up plants and other things with you. You can always bring the seeds with you in the pocket of your spacesuit." Come down and plant."

"Yeah." Maidong nodded.

The old cat cast a helpless look across the table. He took off his headphones and said, "Tang Yue, the safest way is to bring nothing."

"I know." Tang Yue also took off his earphones, "But plants are also precious life on earth. Saving one more life is worth a life. Do you know what is the biggest realization I have after staying on Mars for such a long time?"

"What is it?"

"I am not more noble than a tomato plant. Our lives are equal." Tang Yue replied, "Plant seeds weigh only a few grams. Will carrying them in your pocket really have any big impact?"

Old Mao stared at Tang Yue and gave in after a few seconds.

"Well, it won't really have any impact...but except for plant seeds, nothing else is allowed."