The Science Fiction World of Xueba

Early the next morning, Pang Xuelin woke up from hunger, and when he opened his eyes, he saw Watney chewing an energy bar.

"I found this in the car. It is estimated that Martha and the others left it when they went on a mission. There are four sticks in total, which can be used as our food today."

Pang Xuelin took the energy bar, tore open the package, stuffed it into his mouth and started chewing.

With some food in his stomach, Pang Xuelin took a breath and said, "Watney, have you thought of any way?"

Watney shook his head and said: "The only way I can think of is to open the airlock and let all the air inside overflow, but in this way, the plant seeds in the habitat and the bacteria produced by our fertilizer will all be destroyed. Died from the cold and lack of oxygen, we won't last a year without enough food. Well, if only we had air separation..."

Pang Xuelin's heart skipped a beat, and he asked, "What did you just say? Air separation equipment?"

Watney said, "Yes, air separation equipment, but we don't have any of that."

Pang Xuelin said: "But we have an atmospheric regulator!"

Watney was slightly taken aback, and said: "The atmospheric regulator can only adjust the oxygen content. It can lower the temperature to 90K at the lowest, so that the oxygen can be liquefied, but the nitrogen with a freezing point of 77K can maintain the gaseous state. But the freezing point of hydrogen is only 21K. , we have no way to separate the hydrogen at all."

Pang Xuelin laughed and said: "We don't need to separate the hydrogen, we only need to separate the oxygen. As long as the oxygen concentration in the habitat chamber is reduced to a certain level, then no matter whether we ignite or do something, the hydrogen will not explode. , At that time, we can use an oxygen tank to spray oxygen into the air, and then use batteries and wires to create electric sparks, so that the hydrogen in the habitat can be burned in a controlled manner, and the hydrogen can be slowly removed.”

Watney said: "But if the oxygen level is too low, the bacteria and plant seeds will still die!"

Pang Xuelin couldn't help but frowned. If this still doesn't work, he really has no other solution.

"Wait! I have a way to keep plant seeds and bacteria alive!"

Watney said.

"any solution?"

"We can reduce the oxygen concentration to a certain level, about one percent, and then lower the temperature in the habitat to freezing point. At that time, whether it is plant seeds or bacteria, they will enter a state similar to hibernation, and hundreds of One-third of the oxygen concentration, there is no way to make the hydrogen explode, so we don't have to worry about not being able to grow it later!"

Pang Xuelin's eyes lit up, and he said, "Okay, that's what we'll do!"

This method is simple to say, but it is very troublesome to do.

The two ventured back to the habitat, first adjusted the air temperature in the habitat to freezing point, then activated the atmospheric regulator to separate the oxygen, and waited until the oxygen content in the habitat dropped to 1%, they stopped the atmospheric regulator Work.

Then, Pang Xuelin and Watney found a tank of jet-type pure oxygen and made a small electric spark generator. It took them a whole day to clear the hydrogen in the habitat.

In the next month, Pang Xuelin and Watney will control the daily water production to less than 40 liters, and the rest of the time will be to clean up the hydrogen accumulated in the habitat due to water production.

After 32 Martian sols, the two used 500 liters of hydrazine to produce a whole ton of distilled water.

The remaining 100 liters of hydrazine are used as an emergency reserve.

For this ton of water, they added 200 liters of water to the water circulation system, and the remaining 800 liters of water, all of which were mixed with 20 cubic meters of Martian soil.

...

The 35th Martian day.

Today is a big day for Pang Xuelin and Martin Watney.

They will go down in history as the first humans to farm on Mars.

Today's planting results will also become the foundation for their future survival on Mars.

But before planting, they have to check the status of the equipment inside the entire habitat.

There are three airlock doors in the habitat cabin, which are respectively located in the living cabin, planting cabin and energy cabin.

The planting cabin and the energy cabin are respectively connected by gates and the living cabin, and the three cabins are arranged in a zigzag structure.

In order to prevent accidents, Pang Xuelin and Martin Watney checked the heating system, main battery pack, nitrogen and oxygen storage tank, lighting system, computer system, water circulation system, and air conditioning system.

Afterwards, the two completely closed the electronic control system of the airlock door on the side of the planting cabin, adjusted it to a mechanical control state, and sealed it up.

For a long time in the future, they will no longer enter and exit through the airlock door on the side of the planting cabin.

As for the gate between the living cabin and the planting cabin, they also turned off the electronic control system and chose mechanical control.

The two agreed that at any time, when entering or exiting the planting cabin, the hatch must be closed manually.

After all the preparatory work was completed, the two began the formal planting work.

Watney has already cut open the potatoes and dug holes in the soil of the pod.

Pang Xuelin imitated Watney, buried half a potato in the pit, poured a spoonful of good fertilizer, added a spoonful of water, and then covered it with Martian soil.

It took the two of them two hours to manage the planting area in the early 100s.

"Pang, we will definitely survive on Mars!"

Pang Xuelin and Watney looked at each other and smiled.

...

After coming out of the planting cabin and closing the hatch, the two rewarded themselves by warming up two packs of fried rice in the microwave.

Pang Xuelin said: "Watney, next, we almost have to consider how to restore communication with the earth."

Watney took a sip of the drink made of polypeptide protein powder, frowned and said, "Pang, I'm afraid the only way now is to go to Schiaparelli and use the plan to land there in advance to prepare for Ares IV." MAV (Mars Ascension Vehicle), to restore contact with Earth.”

Pang Xuelin shook his head and said, "For the long journey of 3,200 kilometers, relying on the rover alone is too dangerous. I don't recommend it."

Watney shrugged: "Then can we have a better way?"

Pang Xuelin smiled, put a spoonful of rice into his mouth slowly, and said, "There may not be a solution."

Watney was taken aback for a moment, and said, "What way?"

Pang Xuelin got up and took off a topographic map hanging on the wall, put an X on it, and said: "Our current location is in the Arsidaria Plain, with latitude and longitude of 31.2 degrees north and 28.5 degrees west. Do you remember the training we participated in before participating in the Ares project? Before we officially landed on Mars, we used the Mars rover to conduct large-scale unmanned exploration activities on Mars."

Watney looked at the X on the map, his eyes became brighter and brighter: "Mars Pathfinder, I see, Mars Pathfinder!"

Mars Pathfinder is an unmanned exploration spacecraft launched by NASA in December 1996. It landed on the surface of Mars on July 4, 1997. In addition to the landing module, there is also a 10.6 kg Mars rover Sojourner. It was originally planned that the working time of the Mars Pathfinder would be one week and one month, but in fact it worked for three months and harvested a large amount of unprecedented Mars intelligence.

Pang Xuelin said: "The position of the Mars Pathfinder is 28.9 degrees north latitude, 29.6 degrees west longitude, 800 kilometers southwest of us. At the beginning, it stopped working only because there was no electricity. As long as we pull it back, we can Use it to restore communication with Earth. And now that it's been so long, I think the Ares Project Command should find out that we are still alive!"

Watney nodded and said: "You are right, but the distance is 800 kilometers, and the round trip is 1,600 kilometers. Our rover can run for three to four hours at most when it is fully charged. If it is calculated at a speed of 30 kilometers per hour, one time It can travel 100 kilometers on a charge. The problem is that the power of the rover still needs to maintain the temperature inside the car, so it can only go 50 kilometers on a single charge. And after this distance, we have to spend three to four hours It can be fully charged. It can travel up to 100 kilometers a day, which means that it will take at least 16 days for our rover to bring back the Mars Pathfinder. In addition, we have to carry enough liquid oxygen, carbon dioxide filters, etc. Equipment, and sufficient food must be guaranteed..."

Pang Xuelin smiled and said, "I have a way to halve the resources consumed on the road."

Watney wondered: "What way?"

Pang Xuelin said: "Do you still remember the radioisotope thermal battery in MAV? (RTG)"

Watney was taken aback for a moment, and said, "Didn't Commander Lewis order that thing to be buried?"

The radioisotope thermal battery (RTG) is a device in the MAV.

As a Mars launch vehicle, MAV is the only equipment for astronauts to return home.

It will soft-land at the predetermined position a few years before the astronauts land on Mars, and then wait for the arrival of the astronauts. When they need to return, they will leave Mars in MAV and dock with the Hermes spacecraft.

In order to ensure that the MAV is reliable in an unmanned state and can perform system self-inspection in a timely manner, scientists installed a radioisotope thermal battery on the basis of solar cells.

This radioisotope thermal battery (RTG) contains 2.6 kilograms of plutonium 238, which is very unstable and can decay all the time to release radiation and energy. It can generate about 1500 watts of heat and 100 watts of electricity .

Pang Xuelin said: "We can dig it out, put it in the rover, and use it to heat the air in the rover, so that the rover doesn't need to consume extra power for heat preservation."

"This is a good way!" Watney clapped his hands: "In this way, we can bring the Mars Pathfinder back in only eight days! And going to the Schiaparelli impact crater in the future can also help us save money." plenty of time."

Pang Xuelin said: "That's true, but this time you don't have to go, I can just drive over. On the one hand, the planting cabin needs your attention. This is the foundation of our survival on Mars. There must be no problems. On the other hand, only If I were alone, the CO2 absorber and liquid oxygen consumption could be halved, we must save resources now."

Watney hesitated for less than a second before accepting Pang Xuelin's statement.

"Okay, then let's dig out the RTG tomorrow, test the rover, and then set off."

"good!"

Pang Xuelin nodded.