spaceflight manual

Chapter 29 Preparations for Sailing
Wang Pingan's crew should embark on a journey to Mars on the fourth day after arriving at L2.

But on the third day after arriving at Sun-Earth L2, their work began.

The crew of Wang Ping'an needs to go to the port to supervise the routine maintenance of the cargo ship and the shipment of the cargo they will be responsible for.

This is also the routine process of the Space Force. On Earth, the cargo shipment of the cargo ship is basically managed by the first officer, and the first officer is also responsible for handing over to the handover officer when loading.

However, the spaceship does not have a detailed division of labor between the captain, first mate, and second mate, and the preparations for the spaceship before it sails are also very complicated, so two astronauts are required to work together with the handover shift, cargo shift, and maintenance shift at the port. .

Wang Ping'an and Angeli went to the port at 0600:[-] that day.

While floating on the trestle in the port area, Wang Ping'an suddenly said: "The rate of turning heads is a bit high. Is the silver star so attractive?"

According to the regulations, the officers and soldiers of the Space Force must wear the medals all the time after they get the medals. The medals are hung directly on the chest in the uniforms, and the medals are worn in the training uniforms.

In addition, astronauts with medals should theoretically paint corresponding signs on their space suits. However, because the Space Force cannot use space suits for special use, most of the time they are used by a group of people in turn, and they have to be painted every time. The medal logo is too troublesome, and the instructors turn a blind eye to this regulation.

Wang Ping'an is now wearing regular clothes, so he wears a metal Silver Star Medal. He lightly rubbed the surface of the medal, and muttered: "Why does it feel like everyone is looking at me..."

"Look here." Angorie patted him on the shoulder, then pointed to her face.

Wang Pingan: "What's the matter? Can you see if there is any gum in your eyes?"

"What eye shit, everyone sees it's not you, it's me."

"Are you sure?" Wang Pingan asked back, "Maybe they are looking at me as a troublemaker!"

"...Then I really can't argue with you, it should be up to you." Angeli changed her words decisively.

Wang Pingan smiled. At this time, he saw the ship's number outside the window, pointed to the ship and said, "Look, that's the ship we're going to take, PQ51. The number should be to deliver luxury goods and fresh supplies to Mars." and all kinds of bulk goods."

Angeli: "Fresh supplies?"

"Yeah, like breeding stock for large-scale breeding farms on Mars or something. Crashing the stock and a complete circulatory system into a container will keep the stock alive even if the container is thrown into space."

Angeli: "Can't Mars produce these breeding stock?"

"The species cultivated on Mars are quite different from the species on Earth due to the difference in environment. For example, cockroaches on Mars can survive storms on the surface of Mars..."

"Why are there cockroaches on Mars?"

"Although I want to tell you a story about a fatal mistake caused by human negligence, it was actually brought in by humans on purpose. Cockroaches are very good biodegraders, and they can throw everything into the cockroach pond for them to eat, and then Then crush the cockroaches, and the high-quality biological protein is completed."

Angeli frowned and covered her mouth: "You won't tell me that Martians eat food made from this thing?"

"Of course not. The biological protein produced by cockroaches is used to feed meat poultry. It is the kind of meat poultry that has been genetically modified so that a chicken has twelve wings."

Wang Ping'an suddenly lowered his voice and said in a low voice: "Of course, there are also some biological proteins that are directly made into synthetic food for humans to eat, but no one will tell you this, so on Mars, don't eat synthetic food."

Angeli was worried at first, but she immediately rolled her eyes: "No, you seem to be lying to me."

Wang Pingan laughed out loud.

After laughing, he said seriously: "As I said just now, all living creatures are packed in closed containers with a circulation system. We don't need to feed them at all, and we don't even care about their life and death. As long as there is no sign of external force opening the container, the It’s the container company’s business if the stuff dies, we’re just working.”

Angeli: "The Space Force actually still transports this kind of thing."

"The orders that are sent to us are usually large enterprises that are under the Production Planning Management Committee. We don't accept orders from private companies. Private companies have their own transportation methods, and then..."

Wang Pingan pointed to the torch cruiser that was setting sail outside the porthole: "Look, this is probably to inspect the ships of private companies. They will transport all kinds of contraband to Mars."

"I thought the torch cruisers were all about dealing with the enemy."

"What kind of enemy, octopus-like Martians? There are indeed torch cruisers fighting pirates, but space is too vast.

"There are 50 asteroids between Mars and Jupiter. Except for the hundreds of resource-rich asteroids occupied by the Space Force, such as Ceres and Vesta, the rest are mined by private companies.

"Private companies use a large number of contract workers. We don't know exactly how many people live in the asteroid belt. Many small companies with only two or three ships have colonies scattered all over the place. The pirates' strongholds are hidden in all of this.

"Even if it is a torch cruiser, it can only patrol a small part of the area if all the deltas are exhausted. Clearing up the pirates is currently an impossible task.

"The elite fleet of the Space Force spends most of its time fighting wits with smugglers, and the rest of the time it is mainly responsible for dealing with all kinds of lunatics. The main task of the ordinary Space Force is not only transportation, but also rescue and disaster relief."

Wang Pingan paused and emphasized again: "And the most important job is emergency rescue and disaster relief. Do you know that there is a consensus in space?"

"I don't know, what?"

"It's just calling for help from the Space Force when you are in danger. Even pirates will fucking do that. It's better to be tried by the court of the Aviation Management Committee than to die."

Angeli opened her mouth wide: "Uh... To be honest, this is a bit different from my cognition. Isn't there anything more like a regular army mission? Or, if the Trisolarans come over, the space army won't Just use cruisers to fight it?"

"No, look over there!" Wang Pingan pointed to the longest pier in the space port, "See the big guy parked at that pier? It's a dreadnought, equipped with the most powerful plasma launcher, One shot can evaporate ten tons of homogeneous armor. The Bravery we were on before was half damaged no matter what angle it was shot at.

"The dreadnought itself has thick armor, and the entire ship's armor alone has a mass of nearly [-] tons. In addition, it has a super-large phase laser array, which can evaporate most of the live ammunition weapons. Such a behemoth, it is Two words, invincible.

"And guess what its main mission is?"

Angelie: "What is it?"

"Parade. So we nicknamed it again, the hotel. If you are assigned to a hotel to serve as a soldier, you are out of luck, because what awaits you is endless deck cleaning, ceremonial training and no dispatch at all." Useful combat training.

"The promotion of the people above is very slow, and basically they can only rely on the number of years."

Wang Ping'an curled his lips, and continued: "On L2's local network, I often see people serving in the hotel discussing the possibility of Jupiter or Mars independence. Once the war of independence breaks out, they will come in handy."

Angeli asked curiously: "Is it actually possible for Mars and Jupiter to be independent?"

Wang Pingan shrugged: "Jupiter can't, because Jupiter doesn't have a complete industrial chain. It is still a place of resource production, and industrial products are basically sent from Mars. Mars, they already have a complete industrial chain, but they can't produce products on Earth. Luxury.

"In addition, there are only schools of science and engineering on Mars. If you want to study liberal arts, you can only come to Earth. In addition, the teaching and research level of Mars schools is not high. Even scientists who were born and raised on Mars will eventually come to Earth to study .

"Furthermore, the Space Force and the Production Planning Committee have been promoting the perception that we are people from the solar system. In places where the Space Force and the Production Planning Committee are strong, this is a consensus. It is unreasonable for all the people of the solar system to fight for independence.

"Finally, the Chinese language has been popularized on a large scale. In Huaguo culture, there is a concept of great unification, which has been widely spread along with the Chinese language. Do you know that there is a theory called Guangtu Juzu?"

Angelie nodded: "Yes, we have many scholars in France who hold this theory and say that we should become the No.60 six nations."

Wang Pingan nodded: "Now this is the theory promoted by Mars, and Mars is also a part of the Guangtu family."

Angeli let out a sigh.

While having these conversations, the two have been floating along the trestle bridge at an unhurried speed, and finally they are about to float to the loading deck of the PQ51 spacecraft.

The squad leader at the pier was already waiting. He reached out to help Wang Pingan stop, and Wang Pingan grabbed Angeli again.

After saluting each other, the shift leader handed over a tablet: "We've already filled half of the cargo list this time, and you can check and accept it directly if you come later."

Wang Ping'an looked at the phone: "We ordered it, it's only 0635 now, it's less than 0700."

"I didn't blame you either, just teasing, don't be nervous." The squad leader glanced at Wang Ping'an's silver star, "Not bad, you risked your life in exchange for it?"

"It's okay." Wang Pingan said lightly.

The squad leader stared at him: "Oh... I remembered, you are the one called the scourge!"

"Is my name already known to the engineering department?"

"Didn't know, but hearing that you've got a super nice French partner, you know all about it. Shit, I should have noticed that the name on the manifest was French."

Angeli smiled, took the manifest from Wang Ping'an and said, "I'll go and confirm the goods."

"give it to you."

Wang Pingan watched Angeli drift away.

Shift leader: "It's shit luck. But let's not talk about it, let me tell you the business. There is a small problem with the status of the spaceship. The dynamic sensing system for the cargo warehouse is broken. We are rushing to repair it. Generally speaking, it will be replaced directly. But unfortunately there are no spare parts now. Your ship is an old ship, can you tell?"

Wang Pingan looked at the spacecraft and nodded: "Yes, the pipeline layout of the tritium reflex engine is old-fashioned, and the heat dissipation is also cobalt."

Cobalt heat dissipation is to inject cobalt particles with heat into space, and then collect the cooled cobalt by magnetic force.

And now the latest spaceship cooling has used liquid tin.

Shift leader: "Yes, it's hard to find the accessories of this old ship, so we can only disassemble some new gadgets that are used now, and then weld them on by welding.

"It should be barely usable. Instead, we will search the warehouse carefully with motion sensors before closing it to ensure that there are no stowaways hiding inside."

Wang Pingan: "That's it, I'll trouble you. However, there are generally no illegal immigrants on the route to Mars."

After all, Mars is also a civilized world, and most of it is controlled by the Production Planning Committee and the Aviation Management Committee, and there is no "opportunity to soar into the sky" that the smugglers expect.

Generally, the most frequent smuggling is to go to the asteroid belt. Headhunters are constantly promoting in the earth circle that the asteroid belt is full of opportunities, which can start a new life or something.

Brand new life: refers to being in fear all day long, and being terrified of pirates.

Of course, there are some people who go to the asteroid belt to be pirates.

The shift leader continued to introduce: "The fuel for you this time is 6050 tons, of which 50 tons are redundant."

Wang Pingan: "Wait a minute, how come there are so few? Generally, there will be 500 tons of water as redundant fuel."

A new generation of spacecraft has begun to use water—hydrogen and oxygen in water to be precise—as propellants.

"Something went wrong in the work of capturing the new comet, so the water distribution plan was adjusted." The shift leader said, "The Aviation Management Committee is aware of this situation, so it should not arrange for you to perform other tasks midway. Honestly follow the route Fly, if you don’t need the fifty tons of water, you can even set up a swimming pool on the spaceship for diving.”

Wang Pingan: "Then I have to bring a net that is big enough."

When water is poured into the fine-mesh net in a weightless state, a relatively regular water polo will be formed. This is how the space resorts built by private companies for wealthy people build gravity-free swimming pools.

The shift leader: "Then bring it. Take the swimsuit by the way."

Wang Pingan: "Is there anything else bad you want to tell me?"

"No more, uh... There is something wrong with the airtight gate A2, but it has been repaired. However, I still recommend not to use A2 to go out of the cabin. In case of severe decompression, you may be ejected out of the ship. No more up.

"Do you want us to install any games for you in the mainframe of the spaceship? We can just plug it in and finish it?"

"Give me more energy-consuming time."

"Please, don't you have more suitable things to pass the time?"

"Are you kidding me? She and I are partners, not couples."

The shift chief shrugged.

At this time, Angeli came back from inspecting the goods: "Oh my god, there's that smell in the warehouse."

"Normal." Wang Pingan said, "Live poultry is like this. You have to be thankful that most of the smell is sealed by the container."

Angeli: "I saw someone opening a container of luxury goods."

"That's the customs working," Wang Ping'an replied, "Did you see what's inside? It's shiny, right?"

Angeli shrugged, and said, "I also found a lot of containers of snacks, and the customs are opening them one by one for inspection."

Shift leader: "Actually, opening is just a process. Scanning can determine whether there are contraband in the container."

Wang Pingan: "It is necessary to take a formality, a sense of ritual."

Angeli: "I have nothing to say. We can supervise the loading and unloading of these things today, right?"

"Yes, then we can move to live on the ship tonight, and submit a departure request to the control tower at 0900 tomorrow morning."

Angorie shrugged.

At this time, Wang Pingan suddenly thought of something, and said to Angeli: "By the way, we still have a series of paperwork, which should be completed by the operator outside the cabin. I will teach you how to fill out the series of forms later. "

Angeli looked at Wang Pingan suspiciously: "Isn't it true that you have pushed my own job to me? Comrade Commander?"

"Of course not. I'm sure the job should be done by the EVA."

But the squad leader said: "Girls have more beautiful handwriting, and their signatures are better."

Angeli raised her eyebrows and looked at Wang Ping'an.

Wang Pingan scratched his head: "Well, in fact, it should be done by the commander, but... can't you share some mechanical work?"

Angelie sighed: "Okay, mechanical work. Where do we start?"

**
At 2200 that night, the crew of Wang Pingan finally finished their work for the day.

They then settled down on the small bridge of the spaceship.

The bridge is much more spacious than the standard double lieutenant's cabin of the Space Force. Wang Ping'an lay directly on the bed in a large font.

Then he floated up immediately.

The beds are arranged perpendicular to the axis of the spaceship, so that when the spaceship sets sail, the acceleration will push people against the bed during acceleration.

As for the deceleration process, the recoil engines of modern spacecraft are generally not as powerful as the main engine thrust, so they can only be used to adjust the attitude slightly.

So at that time, the acceleration will still press the astronaut on his bed.

Wang Ping'an kept the big font floating on the bridge: "It's great, I don't have to be restrained by a single capsule bed anymore."

Angeli: "Be careful not to come to my side."

"Don't be so extravagant, we are partners, 32 weeks... Uh, how many weeks is the new voyage?"

"33, one week more."

"Yes, 33 weeks, a little bump is normal."

As he spoke, Wang Pingan flexibly switched to the position of Venus lying in the air.

Angorie shrugged, this action made her float down and landed on the bed.She changed the subject: "By the way, it's up to you to teach me how to pass the time during the flight, teacher."

Wang Pingan: "Well... there are two of us now, we can consider playing Go or something. I used to play against the computer, but the computer is so powerful that I can't win at all. It's no fun at all."

"I see, you just use me to find confidence, right?"

"It was discovered by you."

"By the way, you said you can still spell models, where do you spell them?"

"Well, you have to change the mode of the ventilation system, otherwise the bridge will soon be full of paint and paint. Small modifications like this can be done by yourself. The disadvantage is that the ship will be inspected after the voyage is over. The engineering staff scolded, and by the way, make a note on the violation record."

Angeli opened her mouth wide: "Don't tell me about your pile of violations, many of them are because of this!"

"You guessed it."

"You, you." Angeli said helplessly.

**
Next day, 0800 hours.

Wang Pingan put on the training uniform, which still had a cloth silver star on the chest.

Before leaving the port, there is still the final work to be done, which is to hand over to the engineering team on duty today, and then close the warehouse.

The warehouses of cargo ships are designed so that they cannot be opened in space, so that even if they encounter pirates, they are not so easy to be robbed.

Of course, there are basically no traces of pirates within the orbit of Mars. This design has no meaning for the route from Earth to Mars.

But it's necessary for a spacecraft going from Mars to Jupiter.When designing a ship, the designer does not know what route the ship will eventually run on.

Together with Angeli, Wang Pingan tapped the number of containers in the warehouse for the last time, and then went to the loading and unloading deck to hand over.

When the engineers were about to close the cargo door, Wang Pingan suddenly shouted: "Wait a minute! The shift leader said yesterday that the engineer would take a motion sensor to walk around the cargo warehouse before closing the door."

"Is there such a thing?" The new shift leader looked puzzled, "Why? The warehouses are all equipped with dynamic sensors?"

"Because the one on our ship was broken, we made a makeshift one."

The shift leader: "Okay, let's search around for you, comrades, take the motion sensor, go into the warehouse and take a look around, every corner must be visited."

An engineer muttered: "It's normal for the live poultry, cattle and sheep on this boat to move a little bit."

"Hey, it's not too much trouble to search around, hurry up." The shift leader urged.

At this time, the handover officer came over: "What's wrong, the door is still not closed?"

"A little problem, we have already counted the containers." Wang Pingan replied.

"Then sign it." The handover officer stretched out the tablet in front of Wang Ping'an, "Remember to pull out your hair, even nose hair."

After he finished speaking, he laughed, and he seemed to think that the phrase nose hairs is also very humorous.

Yet no one else laughed.

After Wang Ping'an finished signing, the engineers who had just searched the warehouse also came out at this time: "There is nothing but chickens, ducks, cattle and sheep."

"Have we closed the door?" The squad leader asked Wang Ping'an.

Wang Pingan nodded: "Shut it up, we are also ready to leave."

The handover officer saluted: "Bon voyage."

"Thank you." Wang Ping'an and An Geli returned the gift together.

(End of this chapter)