The Science Fiction World of Xueba

Martian Day 2.

It took a whole day for Pang Xuelin and Watney to clear out the material cabin. They moved all the living materials, experimental equipment, medical supplies, etc. into the living cabin. The originally spacious living cabin was suddenly packed to the brim.

In order to save food, the original three meals a day were changed to two meals a day.

Fortunately, the aerospace-grade polypeptide protein powder and vitamins are very sufficient, and the two of them will not suffer from malnutrition due to reduced food.

Coupled with the fact that the gravitational acceleration on the surface of Mars is only half that of Earth, they would consume much fewer calories for a day of heavy physical labor than when they were on Earth.

On the third day, Pang Xuelin and Watney recovered the main parachute in the MDV (Mars Landing Vehicle), cut it into a suitable shape with a knife, and laid it on the inner wall of the material compartment, including the floor, wall, and ceiling.

Water vapor condenses on contact with the film, which prevents water loss as much as possible.

"Pang, we have to find a way to compost. Although the soil on Mars has all kinds of trace elements needed for plant growth, if it lacks bacterial activity and the specific nutrients provided by animals in daily life, even if the Martian soil is transplanted into the earth's environment, There is no way to grow it either. Next we have to do some dirty work!"

Pang Xuelin recalled the scene where Mark Watney prepared the soil in the movie, and he was a little disgusted, but he still said: "Watney, you are a botanist, you can directly order what you need!"

Watney laughed: "The excrement in our habitat will be packed and thrown outside after being vacuum-dried. I need you to conduct an EVA to collect these things. The microorganisms in it are probably already on Mars. All die in the atmospheric environment, but all kinds of protein, sugar, and fat are still there. We need to add water to stir and ferment this stuff, and the bacteria in the habitat will soon grow on it again. But I'm afraid we have to bear it. The stinkier the better, so you better get some more stuffy noses."

"No problem, but Watney, can you stop talking about this at meal time? To be honest, listening to you talking while eating this lump of space food is really hard to swallow!"

Watney couldn't help being taken aback: "I'll try my best!"

"Ha ha ha ha……"

The two looked at each other, and both laughed loudly. In such an environment, it was a rare pleasure to have.

After laughing, Pang Xuelin said again:

"Watney, I think there is another issue we need to pay attention to."

"what is the problem?"

Pang Xuelin said: "After the material cabin is changed to the planting cabin, this will become the foundation of our survival on Mars. We must ensure that the planting cabin can operate normally in the next few years. Therefore, I want to close the airlock on the side of the planting cabin. , In addition, the electronically controlled gate between the living cabin and the planting cabin has also been changed to a mechanical gate. In addition, we test the air pressure, temperature, humidity, gas composition, etc. of the planting cabin every day, and make a record, just in case."

In the movie, Watney could have survived longer on Mars, but it was the airlock that accidentally exploded, destroying all the potatoes he planted, and finally almost failed to wait for rescue.

Watney pondered for a moment and said, "You are right, leave this to me. In the next few days, our focus will be on soil and water preparation!"

...

Martian day 5.

It took three days for Pang Xuelin and Watney to complete the composting work. In addition, the two transported more than 20 cubic meters of Martian soil into the planting room, and spread it evenly in the planting cabin.

The process of composting is hard to describe. Anyway, the two of them would never want to smell that smell again in their lifetime.

Next, the most dangerous work of water production begins.

To prepare water from hydrazine, under normal circumstances, burning hydrazine is sufficient.

But hydrazine is a highly toxic chemical,

It can strongly corrode human skin and eyes, and may cause liver damage after inhalation.

If it is burned directly, it will easily cause hydrazine to volatilize, which is too dangerous.

The two thought of a way. First, drop liquid hydrazine into a metal iridium bowl. Iridium can catalyze hydrazine to decompose it into nitrogen and hydrogen, and then burn the hydrogen to get water.

Of course, the operation difficulty and danger of this process are not small.

It took Pang Xuelin and Watney another two days to create a simple chemical reaction experimental device using some discarded materials and experimental equipment already carried in the supply compartment.

According to theoretical calculations, Pang Xuelin does not have a fake Watney hand. In the movie, this guy underestimated the slight disturbance caused by his own breathing to the experiment, and was directly blown away by hydrogen when he made water for the first time.

After Pang Xuelin considered all aspects thoroughly, he asked Watney to check again, and after confirming that there were no problems, the two put on the bulky EVA space suits and started the first journey of water production.

"let's start!"

Pang Xuelin gently unscrewed the valve of hydrazine, and hydrazine slowly dripped into the iridium bowl along a slender glass pipe, and then quickly bubbled up, releasing heat.

This reaction is semi-closed in an ultra-high molecular weight polyvinyl chloride film, and hydrazine is decomposed into nitrogen and hydrogen under the catalysis of iridium.

The density of nitrogen is slightly lighter than that of air, so it can stay in the film. Hydrogen is exported along a slender glass tube above and enters the gas collecting bottle. Water is added to the gas collecting bottle. The short tube enters and the long tube exits. When all the water in the bottle is drained, the long pipe drain is ignited.

The water vapor produced by hydrogen combustion passes through the water circulation system and a condensing water collector made by the two

Soon, all the water in the gas cylinder was discharged by the hydrogen, and Watney created an electric spark at the drain, and a light blue flame began to burn. Watney laughed and said: "It's great, We did it!"

Pang Xuelin also heaved a sigh of relief.

The compression pump at the base of the MAV is used to compress carbon dioxide, and then the oxygenator converts the carbon dioxide into oxygen. Finally, the oxygen and hydrogen are burned to obtain the most precious water. This process is easy to say, but it is too difficult to do.

A small mistake in any link may cause the experiment to fail.

A day later, a 50 liter tank of hydrazine was completely burned, the condenser contributed nearly 50 liters of water to them, and the water circulation system also collected 25 liters.

"Pang, we have a full six hundred liters of hydrazine. In two weeks, we can collect 1.2 tons of water."

Watney exclaimed excitedly.

With so much water, he can even partially remodel the living cabin. In this case, not only can the calorie problem be solved, but he can even grow some vegetables to try something new.

Pang Xuelin didn't respond, he frowned while looking at the water in the bucket.

Watney asked strangely, "Pang, what's wrong with you?"

Pang Xuelin shook his head and said, "Don't you find it strange? 50 liters of hydrazine should be able to produce 100 liters of water, but we only collected 75 liters."

Watney laughed and said, "I thought what were you worried about? Didn't you find out? A lot of water droplets have condensed on the bulkhead and dome of the planting cabin, plus the part absorbed by the soil, there is such an error. Is it normal?"

Pang Xuelin said: "Do you think these waters add up to 25 liters?"

Watney frowned and said, "What do you mean?"

Pang Xuelin said: "Go and check the No. 1 oxygen storage tank to see if the oxygen storage is more or less."

"good!"

Watney checked the reserves in the oxygen storage tank, and quickly returned to the planting cabin, saying: "Pang, it's strange, the liquid oxygen content of our oxygen storage tank has risen by nearly seven liters."

Pang Xuelin said: "That's right! Watney, you see, today we used the compression pump left by MAV to produce 50 liters of liquid carbon dioxide, and then used the oxygenator to convert the carbon dioxide into oxygen. It stands to reason , if all the oxygen reacts with hydrogen, then the oxygen content in the oxygen storage tank should be basically the same as before, but now, the liquid oxygen content rises, indicating that there is still some hydrogen that has not reacted with oxygen, and our hydrazine storage tank , the hydrazine is empty, what does that mean?"

Watney also reacted at this time, with a look of panic on his face: "What do you mean? Some hydrogen gas escaped through the flames... What is the explosion limit of hydrogen gas?"

Pang Xuelin said: "4.0% to 75.6%, we have an atmospheric analyzer in the rover, and we will take the gas in the cabin out for analysis."

Just doing what he said, Pang Xuelin immediately found a ziplock bag, and then he and Watney wore EVA spacesuits out of the habitat cabin and entered the rover.

Soon, the test results came out.

The gas ratio in the sample is: nitrogen 54%, oxygen 9%, hydrogen 37%.

The two couldn't help but looked at each other. The planting cabin they were in just now was a huge bomb.

Pang Xuelin breathed a long sigh of relief, and said: "We should be thankful that the hydrogen combustion was carried out in the condenser before, and the hydrogen content in the condenser did not reach the explosion limit, so we escaped a catastrophe, but now, in the planting cabin, as long as A tiny static electricity may cause a big explosion."

Watney frowned: "Then what shall we do next?"

In this case, not to mention water control, even returning to the habitat would be frightening.

Pang Xuelin smiled wryly and said, "Stay in the rover for now, there will definitely be a solution."

There is no such scene in the movie. When Watney made the water, except for a small explosion caused by a miscalculation at the beginning, it was easily completed. But now, it has become different!

Pang Xuelin couldn't help frowning.

That night, Pang Xuelin and Watney didn't sleep well in the rover.

The carbon dioxide filter in the rover and the carbon dioxide filter in the EVA spacesuit can last up to two days before they must return to the habitat.

But the problem now is how to deal with the mixed air in the habitat. Even sparks generated by tiny static electricity may detonate the entire habitat. They must come up with a safe enough disposal method.