Die on Mars

When the Eagle spacecraft is closest to the Joint Space Station, the distance between them is only 110 kilometers.

At this distance, if someone on the Eagle spacecraft looks in the direction of the space station, he will be able to see the other person with the naked eye. The huge solar panels and white bulkheads reflect the sunlight like a layer of dark velvet. A sparkling brilliant diamond.

The Russian-made RD-0172 engine starts, the turbine pump runs rapidly, liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen burn in the combustion chamber, and are sprayed out at high speed through the nozzle.

The vacuum isolated the roar of burning propellant, and the Eagle spacecraft accelerated in silence. This behemoth weighing more than ten tons began to deviate from its own orbit!

The old cat stared at the computer. The flight trajectory of the lander drew a large arc on the screen. This arc was perfectly tangent to the orbit of the United Space Station. This was the transfer orbit of the Eagle spacecraft - they gave up. In order to achieve a solid plan of two orbit changes and two transfer orbits, the price to be paid is that the operation accuracy must be greatly improved to allow the lander to jump into the orbit of the space station accurately.

This is like asking someone to drive a large trailer with eight rear wheels weighing more than ten tons, perform a drift lane change at more than ten times the speed of sound, and drive it accurately into a road that is only two meters wider than the truck. centimeters in a narrow alley.

The old cat is now the driver of the truck.

It was three hundred kilometers away to control the Eagle spacecraft. This was a docking mission with a success rate of only 2.477%. Tang Yue risked his life to get the opportunity for it, so the old cat also had to fight for it. Good luck.

"Correct the orbital surface! Correct the attitude!"

"Correct the time deviation... The target aircraft and the tracking aircraft are time synchronized. Synchronization is completed! Orbital parameters begin to be corrected!"

"Correction completed!"

"Forward phase modulation..."

There are only rapidly changing icons and parameters in front of Lao Mao. The lower part of the computer screen is filled with various countdowns. Each process begins and ends, just like gears meshing with each other. Lao Mao is the most important part of it. Eagle All data from the spacecraft and the joint space station are summarized here!

A huge stream of data poured down from the 400-kilometer orbit above their heads, passed through the antenna in Tang Yue's hand, and entered the system computer of Kunlun Station. The old cat sat in the center and gave orders.

"The Eagle spacecraft passed the first parking point! The absolute speed is 3451.22 meters/second, the relative speed is 227.89 meters/second! It is 60166 meters away from the target aircraft! Entering the remote guidance section!" Old Cat shouted, "Ophiopogon japonicus!"

"receive!"

"Turn on the transponder and the MR system starts to search!" Old Cat instructed, "Lock the tracking aircraft! Girl, you know how to do it, right? I just taught you!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah! I know, I know! Open the RAD control panel, press the TURN ON button... the POWER button! Next is PRHEAT! Then adjust the microwave radar parameters... wait until the red cross appears in the center of the screen and then adjust the pitch angle!"

Two minutes later.

"Locked! Mr. Cat, the microwave radar has locked the target!"

"Very good! What a smart little girl! The Eagle spacecraft enters the second parking point! The absolute speed is 3554.36 meters/second, the relative speed is 221.41 meters/second! The distance to the target aircraft is 35188.69 meters!" Old Cat shouted, "Ophiopogon japonicus" !”

"receive!"

"MR system angle measurement! Establish a relative motion coordinate system!"

"OK... the angle measuring antenna array element has been started, confirm the signal carrier phase difference! Confirm the signal carrier phase difference!" Maidong's voice was trembling slightly, "Confirm the upper and lower bounds of the angle measuring range!"

"The upper and lower bounds of the azimuth angle are determined! The azimuth angle step length is determined!"

"The upper and lower bounds of the pitch angle are determined! The pitch angle step length is determined!"

Maidong grabbed his earphones and shouted.

The data on the screen in front of Lao Mao was refreshed, and a complete coordinate map was constructed.

"Very good, girl, you're doing a good job, don't be nervous... Calm down! Calm down! You can do it! The Eagle spacecraft is preparing to enter the seeking phase! The absolute speed is 3517.32 meters/second! The relative speed is 220.08 meters/second! The distance to the target aircraft 11278.39 meters!" The old cat comforted Maidong and gave instructions to the Eagle spacecraft, "Turn the direction of the RD-0172 engine! Start slowing down!"

The lander on the screen is gradually approaching the space station, and the distance between the two has shortened to ten kilometers.

At this point, even Maidong in the core cabin could see the Eagle spacecraft. Through the porthole, she could see a shining white spacecraft in the dark deep sky in the distance. It was only the size of a grain of rice. , like a lonely boat in the deep sea.

The girl's tears burst out uncontrollably.

"Tang Yue! Tang Yue, are you okay? Can you hold on?" the old cat asked.

Tang Yue hadn't made a sound for a long time, and Lao Mao was a little worried about his condition.

"It's...it's okay, don't worry about me. How...has it reached?"

Tang Yue's voice was very weak.

"There are still the last five kilometers!" Old Cat said, "The Eagle spacecraft has entered the third parking point! The absolute speed is 3511.17 meters/second! The relative speed is 107.35 meters/second! It is 4823.07 meters away from the target aircraft!"

"Then...are we going to succeed soon?"

"Yes! That's right! We're going to succeed soon! We're going to succeed soon! Just hold on a little longer!" Old Cat nodded. The distance was close to five kilometers, which meant that the long-range guidance section was over, and the search was next. section and approach section, the rendezvous of the Eagle spacecraft has been successful, and there are only the last five kilometers left for docking.

For this difficult and long journey of more than 400 kilometers, five kilometers is really negligible.

"Ophiopogon japonicus!"

"receive!"

"Turn on the track control sensor!" Old Cat instructed. "Its operation panel is on the right side of the RAD system! It has the white English abbreviation TCS on it! Do you see it?"

"TCS, TCS... Found it!"

"Open it!" Lao Mao ordered. Different telemetry equipment on the space station has different ranges. At a distance of one hundred kilometers, the guidance equipment of the Joint Space Station is microwave radar, but microwave radar has limited accuracy at short distances, so when the Eagle When the spacecraft approaches within one kilometer of the space station, the TCS system, whose full name is Tark Control Sensor, takes over the work of the microwave radar.

The core of the track control sensor is a laser range finder. The measurement accuracy of laser at short distances far exceeds that of microwaves.

Ophiopogon japonicus turns on the TCS system.

The next second, the data appeared in front of Lao Mao.

"The orbital parameters have been revised again!"

"The azimuth is corrected again!"

"The depression angle is corrected again!" said the old cat, "Ophiopogon japonicus turns on the optical imaging sensor!"

"Received! The optical sensor is on!"

"Beautiful! Maidong, you are such a talented girl!"

The distance between the Eagle spacecraft and the space station approaches 800 meters, and the relative speed drops to 30 meters per second.

Lao Mao accurately controlled the lander, and the attitude control rocket subtly adjusted the state of the Eagle spacecraft. It was already aligned with the interface of the space station, ready to hit the hole in one.

The driving skills of Lao Mao, an experienced driver, are really unbelievable. The system computer gave the prediction results. A red line and a blue line perfectly overlapped. This showed that the Eagle spacecraft was flying on the most perfect track, without any deviation.

It really drove this large trailer weighing more than ten tons into the alley, without even wiping the rearview mirror.

If it flies on its current trajectory, the Eagle spacecraft can completely slow down to a safe speed before docking and dock autonomously.

The old cat breathed a sigh of relief.

There are still four hundred meters left, and the relative speed drops to fifteen meters per second.

"Tang Yue, can Tang Yue hear me?" The old cat called to Tang Yue, "We are about to succeed! There is still half a minute! The express will be delivered in half a minute!"

"Okay, then I'll... hold on for another half minute!"

Lao Mao nodded. If there was no Tang Yue this time, the docking would definitely have failed. Tang Yue risked his life to hold up the antenna, allowing Lao Mao to successfully contact the lander and the space station and provide them with guidance, even though it was originally only 2.477% The success rate is high, as long as you are willing to bet your own life, miracles can happen.

There are still three hundred meters left, and the relative speed drops to ten meters per second.

The old cat wanted to cheer.

Haha, it works! It says it can work!

"Cat...Mr. Cat?" Maidong called it timidly.

"Um?"

"Is there something wrong with me here...the space station is calling the police," Maidong said.

Call the police? The old cat was stunned for a moment and before he could react, an alarm window popped up on the screen in front of him, with a huge exclamation point and eye-catching red letters flashing crazily.

WARNING:IMPACT!

The old cat was stunned for a moment, then pressed the earphones and subconsciously shouted: "Run! Run! Ophiopogon japonicus, run away -!"