Die on Mars

"Press F to enter the tank...ah no, enter the lander."

Tang Yue held his head, bored, his expression numb.

This is the eleventh simulation today. The old cat has already bet everything it can, from its own cat box to the water glass on the table - "I swear on this water glass, I will be able to get it in the next test." Success!", but even with such great certainty as Mars, Orion 2 could not land safely. The old cat fought and failed again and again, and the spacecraft failed every time.

"Remember Ophiopogon japonicus, press the Tab key to bring up the menu bar, and press the M key to open the map..."

Tang Yue is talking nonsense.

"I remember, press the Tab key to bring up the menu bar, and press the M key to open the map."

Maidong also talked about cross talk.

Since many tests failed, and none of them could successfully land below 10,000 meters, the old cat had already entered into deeper corrections and adjustments. It began to review its own plan from the beginning, designing programs and testing them at the same time. He was uttering unexplained curse words and pounding the keyboard like a machine gun.

As for Tang Yue and Maidong, they were taking a rest following the old cat's advice.

Ophiopogon japonicus is taking care of the plants in the space station. The tomato lettuces are growing very lushly in the incubator. They are destined not to be taken down the orbit and can only stay on the joint space station. Ophiopogon japonicus does not know about them without anyone taking care of them. How long can they survive? The plant incubator can run automatically, and the lighting and irrigation can be set in advance. If there are no problems with the power and water sources, they should be able to live until they die naturally.

"Ah Chang, Ah Chang...you have dropped your leaves again."

Ah Chang is also an old tomato plant that has borne fruit twice. Even in its normal life cycle, it has reached the end of its life and is about to reach the end of its life.

As old as Ah Chang are Shanhaijing and Xian. They are both old things whose vitality has declined and have long since stopped bearing fruit, but Ophiopogon japonicus still raises them. In a space station where land and water resources are extremely precious, they no longer have the value to continue to be cultivated. Old Cat once suggested that Ophiopogon japonicus cut off their source of nutrition and use their corpses as fertilizer.

But Tang Yue said that the meaning of life cannot be quantified.

Letting them die peacefully is the basic respect that one carbon-based organism has for another carbon-based organism.

"You must live with dignity. What do you think distinguishes us hairless naked apes, tomatoes, lettuce, and non-living things like stone and soil?" Tang Yue said leisurely, "It is the inherent dignity of life."

Ophiopogon japonicus adjusts the light in the incubator. If Ophiopogon japonicus leaves the joint space station, she will shut down all unnecessary mechanisms and reduce the power of the life support system to ensure the survival of the plants as much as possible.

"I may have to leave you, Chang, Shan Hai Jing, and Yu." The girl whispered to the tomatoes in the box through the glass, "You should be well."

Maidong didn't know whether she could land successfully, but when she left the space station, she would definitely say goodbye forever.

Lao Mao once said that the impact of a comet would 100% destroy the space station. Maidong could only pray that the space station could escape the disaster, at least until the tomatoes and lettuces could die normally.

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"Kunlun Station Earthquake Disaster Prevention Guide..." Tang Yue frowned and looked at the list in his hand, "Did you write it?"

"Of course I wrote it." Lao Mao stared at the monitor, crossing his arms and legs.

"According to this, we can keep Kunlun Station?" Tang Yue glanced up and down. The list listed hundreds of action measures in great detail. He didn't know when Lao Mao completed it. In recent days, the latter had clearly Focusing solely on the landing of the Orion 2 spacecraft.

Multitasking is a basic skill of old cats. It can use its front paws to do math and its back paws to write history. It is a cat anyway, and no one stipulates that cats cannot hold pens with their back paws.

"According to this, we have the highest probability of keeping Kunlun Station." Old Mao said, "Tang Yue, have you never seen what it would be like for a comet with a diameter of thirty kilometers to hit the earth's surface?"

"Say it as if you've seen it before."

"I haven't seen it either. To be precise, no living thing on earth has ever seen it. The last batch of lucky people who witnessed the asteroid impacting the earth saw something that was just a younger brother in front of the giant monster we have to deal with now." The old cat shook his head, "But we have mathematics and physics, as well as HP workstations, which can make predictions and estimates."

Lao Mao pointed to the paper in Tang Yue's hand.

"If we are lucky and this comet falls at a distance of 2,500 kilometers, then at least the Kunlun Station will not be destroyed at the moment of the impact... What we need to survive is the next series of chain reactions and Secondary disasters, what do you think is the most destructive secondary disaster?”

"Shock wave?"

"Oh, you can rest assured about this." The old cat waved his paws, "I think the energy of the impact can accelerate the airflow to Mach 8 or 9, but this is Mars, the atmosphere is too thin, no matter how strong the wind is, it will Don’t move to Kunlun Station.”

"earthquake?"

"Bingo!" Old Cat snapped his fingers, "Yes, in the absence of tsunamis, earthquakes are the most destructive disaster. This impact will cause an unprecedented violent earthquake - definitely something you have never seen before. In the new version, the commonly used Richter scale is no longer applicable here. If you insist on applying the Richter scale, then the earthquake intensity at the epicenter should be 17 on the Richter scale... Well, that’s right, don’t stare, it’s 17 on the Richter scale. "

Tang Yue's hand shook.

He was still immersed in the dream of reaching the peak of eight or nine on the Richter scale.

"At the moment of the impact, seismic waves will propagate along the underground rocks. The longitudinal waves are fast. 357 seconds after the impact, the longitudinal waves will be the first to reach our feet. The longitudinal waves are propulsive waves and will make the ground float up and down." The old cat pointed to his feet.

"How big is the fluctuation?"

"I have done a rough simulation." The old cat raised a toe, "Two thousand five hundred kilometers away, the surface will fluctuate up and down by at least one meter."

"One meter?" Tang Yue stared, "Can it shake the Kunlun Station up to one meter high? Then the Kunlun Station will not fall apart?"

The floor of the Kunlun Station has no direct contact with the surface of Mars. It is actually supported by a circle of six legs, about tens of centimeters above the ground. The frame of the Kunlun Station was designed with buffering and earthquake resistance in mind, but those designers and engineers Absolutely no thought was given to an earthquake measuring seventeen on the Richter scale.

"Don't worry, there is a transverse wave after the longitudinal wave. The speed of the transverse wave is slightly slower than the longitudinal wave. It will arrive at our feet 625 seconds after the impact. The transverse wave is a shear wave. It will tear the ground forward, backward, left, and right, tearing the entire surface. They are all torn apart. I can't simulate this. Different geological conditions have different final results." Lao Mao said, "But one thing we can confirm is that the Kunlun Station under normal conditions will never be able to withstand this wave. It will definitely fall apart."

"How to do this?"

Kunlun Station is the home that everyone depends on for survival. If it is destroyed, everyone will die.

"It is unrealistic to confront this universe head-on. It would be courting death... But five thousand years ago, Dayu's flood control program told us that blocking is worse than sparing. The wisdom of our ancestors can be used everywhere." The old cat replied, "Since Kunlun Station will definitely fall apart, we might as well let it fall apart in advance."

Tang Yue was stunned. He raised the "Kunlun Station Earthquake Resistance and Disaster Prevention Guide" in his hand, with a big word in it that stood out.

"dismantle!"