Die on Mars

Maidong stumbled through the narrow passage, got into the airlock of the Orion spacecraft, and hurriedly put on a heavy, fully pressurized outer suit.

"Quick! Quick! Quick! Quick, quick, quick! Girl, go faster! Go faster!" The old cat stretched his arm remotely while staring at the time on the screen.

The Eagle spacecraft is approaching the United Space Station. Time waits for no one. Maidong only has this chance. If he misses it, they will never be able to catch the lander again.

Maidong fastened the safety rope to himself. It was the longest nylon safety rope in the space station. It was five hundred meters long and could withstand more than fifteen tons of pulling force. Then he struggled to unscrew the outer hatch of the airlock. , shouting breathlessly: "Mr. Cat! Mr. Cat...I'm out!"

"OK!"

The big arm was already waiting for her outside the airlock. Maidong gently pushed the airlock bulkhead and awkwardly floated out of the cabin. He stood on the maintenance platform at the end of the robotic arm and locked it with his feet. .

"Sit tight, girl!" Old Mao said in the tone of a graduate excavator master from Lanxiang, "I'll take you there!"

The super-big arm began to move, and the long arms that were originally folded together opened one by one. It carried Maidong close to the location where the Eagle spacecraft was expected to pass, and the United Space Station also adjusted its attitude and rolled slowly. Looking from a distance, it really looked like the space station stretched out a strangely long hand to intercept the passing Eagle spacecraft.

Although it is said to capture the Eagle spacecraft, the super arm is not a crab's claws after all, and it is impossible for it to directly grab the lander flying by at high speed. On the contrary, because the super arm is actually a very fragile structure and cannot withstand a strong impact, it not only cannot intercept the Eagle spacecraft directly, but also needs to keep a distance and not have physical contact with the lander to avoid accidents.

So the person who really takes on the task of capturing is Ophiopogon japonicus.

She carried a handheld laser rangefinder and another nylon safety line hung from her chest.

Maidong stood on her big arms, and through the transparent mask, she could see the Martian brown-red earth spread out under her feet. The water vapor the girl exhaled condensed on the glass, and her eyes reflected the brilliant light.

This is not her first spacewalk. Usually when team leader Wang went out to perform maintenance work, Maidong also begged the team leader to take her out and float in the deep vacuum. She was often excited and nervous at the same time. This girl I always say how wonderful it would be to live in space for the rest of my life.

Lao Wang was helpless. He had a wife and children. How could he spend his whole life in space?

Those people who have spent their entire lives in space have another great title...martyrs.

"Miss Maidong!" Old Cat's voice sounded in the earphones, "Repeat the operation essentials!"

"Okay...operation essentials operation essentials...five seconds!"

"Yes, five seconds!" Old Cat nodded.

Five seconds is the operating time Laomao has secured for Ophiopogon japonicus. The length of the super-arm is 70 meters, and the vertical distance between the lander's flyby trajectory and the space station is 60 meters.

If you simply calculate, draw a circle with a radius of 70 meters, and the cross-section segment 60 meters from the center of the circle is the position where the Eagle spacecraft can be contacted - the length of this line segment is 60 meters, and the relative speed of the lander It is six meters per second, so it takes about ten seconds for the Eagle spacecraft to pass through the capture range of the big arm.

But the super arm is not a straight line, and its movement speed is difficult to keep up with the flying Eagle spacecraft, so the time that Maidong can actually contact the lander... is only five seconds.

Within these five seconds, Laomao will remotely control the super arm and the Eagle spacecraft to move in the same direction, trying to reduce the relative speed between the two and create conditions for Ophiopogon japonicus to move.

Maidong has five seconds to catch the Eagle spacecraft.

"Safeline!"

"Yes, safety line." Old Cat nodded. Maidong needed to fasten the safety line to the hull of the Eagle spacecraft. The high-strength safety line can withstand more than ten tons of tension, and it has the ability to brake the Eagle spacecraft.

However, the surface of the lander is round and smooth, and there are few places where the safety rope can be fastened. There is a handle on the emergency escape hatch of the command module. There is one door on each side of the fuselage. Maidong only needs to fasten the safety rope. One of the handles can hold the Eagle spacecraft. The high-strength safety rope is 500 meters long. Once the connection is confirmed, Laomao will gradually tighten the rope, slowly decelerate over a distance of 500 meters, and finally decelerate to zero.

"Listen, Miss Maidong, I will listen to your instructions now." The old cat said, "Do you have the laser rangefinder on you?"

"Bring it." The girl took out the laser rangefinder from the tool bag on her chest. The handheld laser rangefinder is a DV-like thing. It is small in size but very accurate. In previous rendezvous missions, astronauts often used it Use this thing to assist docking.

Maidong could already see the Eagle spacecraft in the distance, a small dot reflecting white light, which stood out against the dark background.

She lifted the laser rangefinder.

"The distance is 1202.44 meters... Mr. Cat, the position is 0.52 meters to the left."

"receive."

The old cat controlled the big arm and moved slowly.

"There is still a deviation of 6.2 degrees...Mr. Cat."

"receive."

The Eagle spacecraft was no longer controllable, and Laomao and Maidong could only adjust their posture to adapt to the state of the lander. There is no doubt that doing this is extremely risky. Ophiopogon japonicus must get very close to the Eagle spacecraft. If it is too far away, it will be out of reach. If it is too close, it will easily cause scratches and collisions.

This is like asking Maidong to stand on the side of the road with a rope in her hand, waiting for the eight-wheel trailer weighing more than ten tons to pass by. She has to hang the rope on the rearview mirror of the car at the moment the truck passes by. If the position is deviated, either the rope cannot be hung, or the person and the rope are hung together.

This is a precision surgical operation that allows an old cat 300 kilometers away to remotely control a 70-meter-long robotic arm to make subtle adjustments at the decimeter or even centimeter level. However, no doctor in the world can use a 70-meter-long robotic arm. The lancet performs surgery on people.

"The distance is 1031.74 meters, Mr. Cat, 0.30 meters to the right." The girl's voice was very soft. She watched the Eagle spacecraft in the eyepiece gradually expand, and now she could see the painting and logo on the lander clearly.

"receive!"

"Adjust the elevation angle by 3 degrees."

"receive."

The old cat's answer was concise and powerful.

"Lock." Maidong put away the laser rangefinder and stuffed it into the tool bag on his chest.

"Lock!" Lao Mao pressed the button, and the motors and bearings inside the super arm were stuck one by one, and the position was locked!

Maidong held the nylon safety rope in his hand and took a deep breath.

"Miss Maidong! Miss Maidong! I see that the air pressure in your spacesuit is dropping." Old Cat reminded.

"Yeah." The girl nodded, "I'm lowering the air pressure, otherwise the astronauts will be too bloated and their hands and feet won't be able to bend, making it inconvenient to move."

Maidong stood alone in the deep sky. She looked at the lander in the distance, and her heart suddenly calmed down. The Eagle spacecraft approached silently, and the colorful eagle on the fuselage was huge and eye-catching.