MTL - The Science Fiction World of Xueba-Chapter 30 Global focus

一 Early the next morning, Pang Xuelin and Watney performed an EVA mission and drove a rover to a radioisotope thermal battery (RTG) buried site four kilometers away.

In view of the danger of this battery, Colonel Lewis, commander of Ares III mission group, sent someone to dismantle the RTG from the Mars lift vehicle (MAV) just after they landed, and buried it directly south of the habitat. At the top of a small hill four kilometers away, a green flag was inserted, warning members of the task force not to approach.

After that large-scale sandstorm, the green flag was blown out of sight, but Xiaoqiu could see at a glance that Pang Xuelin and Watney easily found the place where the RTG was buried.

The two dug out the sand with a shovel, exposing the cylindrical metal casing of the RTG. The outer side of the casing is covered with heat sinks. Even through the space suit, the two can still feel the radiant heat emitted by the decay of the 238.

The periphery of the 的 RTG is covered with thermoelectric elements. The 钚 238 in the center of the battery emits high-energy alpha rays. The principle of thermocouples is used to generate a potential difference in different metals to generate electricity.

Its advantage is long working time, and it is not affected by environmental changes such as external temperature and pressure.

Rhenium is only relatively inefficient. At present, the energy utilization rate is only 10% to 20%, and most of the thermal energy is wasted.

Pang Xuelin and Watney could just use it as a heater for a rover.

Watney's hair was a little bit puzzling: "Pang, isn't this stuff too dangerous to put in the car?"

Pang Xuelin said: "Rest assured that under normal circumstances, the radiation shielding layer will not be damaged for decades, which is enough for us to use on Mars for a long time."

The two carefully moved the RTG into the car. Pang Xuelin closed the car air-conditioning system, but the temperature in the car did not drop, but rose rapidly at a rate visible to the naked eye. After less than ten minutes, it rose to 37 degrees Celsius.

不 "No, this stuff is too hot, I will be suffocated in a space suit."

Watney took off his helmet and took off his space suit, leaving only a T-shirt and shorts, but still sweating hot.

He Pang Xuelin was similar. He said, "Patience, let's go back to the habitat first. When the insulation layer of the rover is removed, it should be much better."

Back to the camp, the two started the rover renovation project.

The carriage of the rover is actually a large pressure-resistant cabin. The outer shell is a layer of high-strength carbon fiber material, filled with thermal insulation foam in the middle, and an inner layer of insulating plastic.

Pang Xuelin and Watney first disassembled the insulating plastic, and then carefully removed the insulation foam.

Of course, they did not remove them all at once, but removed them piece by piece, until the temperature dropped to about 25 degrees Celsius after RTG was placed in the car.

Next, they spent three more Martian days to transform the rover. First, they installed six solar cells on the roof to provide a portion of the power while the vehicle was driving.

In addition, Pang Xuelin also carried eight solar cells in the car, which can be taken out and recharged when trimming.

Second, the liquid oxygen tank is installed in the rover. The self-sustaining power of this rover can be used by three people for two days at most, and one person can barely use it for six days.

Therefore, Pang Xuelin carried an additional 25-liter liquid oxygen tank.

The density of liquid oxygen is about one thousand times that of gaseous oxygen at standard atmospheric pressure. A 25-liter liquid oxygen tank is equivalent to 25,000 liters of oxygen. A person's daily oxygen consumption is about 588 liters, so the oxygen content is more than enough.

What really limits Pang Xuelin's mission time is the carbon dioxide filter and food. There is no oxygenator in the rover. The carbon dioxide filter is also needed to absorb the carbon dioxide exhaled by Pang Xuelin.

In order to ensure the redundancy of the task, Pang Xuelin brought a carbon dioxide filter for 500 hours and enough food for 20 days.

As for drinking water, Pang Xuelin only brought five liters. As long as the power is not interrupted, the on-board water circulation system can solve the problem of maintaining sufficient fresh water supply.

40th Mars Day.

Pang Xuelin bid farewell to Vdani and drove a rover to start the journey to Mars.

What Pang Xuelin didn't know was that everything he and Vodani had transmitted to the Earth 8,000 kilometers away through the Mars satellite. (Earth fire distance from 55 to 400 million kilometers)

Uh ...

Earth.

"Dear friends, good evening, welcome to the" Eastern Space Time "tonight. I am the host Bai Xuesong. Today, we turn our attention again to our astronaut Pang Xuelin and American astronaut who were left on Mars because of mistakes. Watney, in the past few days, the two have carried out several EVA activities again. What is their purpose? Where has the rescue plan of the joint command of Ares planned progressed? The failure of Ares III will again What impact did the Ares 4 mission have? Ares 3 crew members in the Hermes spacecraft knew that their two teammates were still alive? What do you think of this next? A few questions, please ask Dr. Tian Mu, Chinese commander of the Ares Joint Command.

"Dr. Tian Mu, hello, welcome to Tonight in Space."

"Hello host, good evening friends."

Bai Xuesong said: "Dr. Tian Mu, in the past week, two heroic astronauts, Pang Xuelin and Watney, have become the focus of global attention, especially after China and the United States held a grand state funeral of these two space heroes. The sudden resurrection of two heroes has caused a huge sensation. To some extent, these two space heroes have become the two most concerned human beings in the solar system. I would like to ask Ares Project Command What is the attitude towards this incident, will anyone stand up and take responsibility for this incident? "

Tian Mudao: "Host, first of all, I have to correct a detail. This incident was not a mistake, but was caused by an accident. When a large-scale sandstorm broke out on Mars, Ares III was facing great danger. Command The evacuation order was correct, but no one expected that the satellite communication antenna would suddenly fall off and hit two of our astronauts. The life monitoring system at the time showed that the two astronauts were dead. Based on the principles of the Mars mission, Ares Members of Task Force 3 have given up on the astronauts' corpses for no reason. Of course, the consequences of this series of accidents are not what we want to see. "

Bai Xuesong nodded: "Dr. Tian Mu, then I would like to ask, have the Ares Joint Command contacted the two astronauts at this time? Where has the rescue plan progressed?"

Tian Mudao: "Because the satellite antenna is off, we cannot contact the two astronauts for the time being, but we have already mobilized more than 20 satellites over Mars to take pictures of the habitats on the Asidalya Plain. Basic It can guarantee that a new batch of images will be obtained in three to five minutes. At present, the rescue plan is still being worked out, and the International Astronautical Federation has reached a consensus that we will rescue our astronauts at all costs. And I believe, Pang Xuelin and Watney are also doing their best to help themselves. Satellite photos of the past few days show that they are transforming the rover. We suspect that they will go to the Schiaparelli impact crater 3,200 kilometers away. The MAV there for Ares IV is in touch with the Earth. "

White Cedar Road: "The journey of 3,200 kilometers is definitely a thrilling adventure."

Tian Mudao: "In fact, our command does not favor the two astronauts on such an adventure. We prefer that they stay in place and wait for rescue. But in the current situation, they can understand this choice. "

White Cedar said: "I hope that our two aerospace heroes will arrive safely. Finally, I would like to ask what the crew of Hermes did after they learned that their teammates were alive?"

Putianmu groaned for a moment and said, "In order to ensure the safety of Ares III during the return flight, we have not disclosed to them that the two teammates are still alive ..."

White Cedar froze slightly and just wanted to answer.

At this moment, Tian Mu's cell phone suddenly vibrated.

Tian Mu took out his mobile phone and glanced at him. Then he made a gesture to the director. The director immediately switched the screen to Bai Xuesong. Bai Xuesong understood it and took the conversation from Tian Mu's mouth. All members of the Ares program ~ www.novelbuddy.com ~ expect the two astronauts to return safely, and we also believe that our space experts have sufficient capabilities to bring these two astronauts back from Mars. Below we Insert an ad, see you later ... "

Putian Mu took the opportunity to leave the studio and pressed the answer button.

On the other end of the phone, Liu Wenhong, a member of the Ares China Command Center, said: "Head, the rover is out, but it is strange that the rover is not driving towards the Schiaparelli crater in the southeast direction. It was southwest, and there was only one person at the time of departure. The preliminary judgment should be Pang Xuelin, and Watney should stay in the habitat. "

One week ago, it was Liu Wenhong, who was responsible for studying the photos of Mars satellites, discovered the anomaly in the camp, so that everyone realized that the two astronauts were still alive.

Putian Mu's brow frowned slightly and said, "Are there any judgments by the expert group? Is there any new news from NASA?"

雯 Liu Wen red road: "It is still under discussion and NASA is making further judgments."

行 "OK, then you follow up, I'm done with the show ..."

Before Tian Mu had finished, Liu Wenhong interrupted him immediately: "Wait, head, the latest news came from NASA, the direction of the rover was aimed at the Mars Pathfinder probe 40 years ago and landed Area, about 800 kilometers from the habitat, my God, NASA suspected that Pang Xuelin and Watney wanted to use the probe 40 years ago to re-establish contact with the headquarters. NASA is currently urgently searching for Mars I believe there will be good news coming soon. "

"Great, remember to keep the information synchronized, I'll be right back!"

Putian Mu shook his fist, excited!