Dead on Mars

Chapter 125: Sol Two Hundred and Seventy-One, The Germans Have Eighty Years of Replacement Parts

Mai Dong got some sleep after lunch. Extravehicular activity was exhausting work. Furthermore, Mai Dong was only a weak, malnourished girl. She needed to maintain enough physical and mental strength to handle the upcoming tasks.

Tomcat and Tang Yue began their plans.

“I’ve just contacted the United Space Station’s system. The self-check report has been sent to me.” Tomcat opened the report on the computer. Tang Yue moved a chair over. “The S1 solar panel’s revolving mechanism has malfunctioned. The actual reason might be due to a light sensor.”

The United Space Station’s main solar panel and heat dissipation board were both installed on a framework. They weren’t fixed in place but would rotate based on the angle of the sunlight to obtain the greatest amount of solar exposure. Responsible for this was a light sensor. It was a tiny gizmo that was installed on the solar panels.

“The source of the malfunction is a disconnection in the control wire labeled C1002. It might be that the conducting wire has been cut or fallen off, but it’s not a major problem.

Tomcat entered the Mars United Space Station’s power system and obtained the malfunction spot from the computer’s self-check. As an engineer, Tang Yue instantly understood the cause of the problem. It was indeed a disconnection and solving it was easy. They just needed to swap the conducting wire.

“This part was designed by the Germans?” Tang Yue asked.

“No, the light sensor supplier is a precision instrument company under General Electric.” Tomcat was taken aback. “Why do you ask?”

“Because if it’s a German product, they would definitely have dug a hole beside it, burying eighty years worth of replacement parts.” Tang Yue shrugged.

To fix such a malfunction on land would take only about ten minutes. But once such a simple procedure was placed in orbit, it became a rather difficult problem. Extravehicular activity was, to date, a rather dangerous matter. It was usually done by the experienced Commander with many others to provide assistance.

Now, with Old Wang and Thomp gone, Mai Dong needed to shoulder this mission alone.

As a result, Tomcat and Tang Yue had to do all the preparatory work for her.

“The S1 battery bank is here.” Tomcat pointed at the block diagram on the computer with its claw. “It’s the innermost solar panel of this row of solar panels. It has a straight line distance of only thirty-five meters from the Crystal core module. Using the arm should be enough to send Miss Mai Dong all the way to the malfunctioning area. This is a common repair job.

“Swapping the conducting wire requires the dismantling of the sensor’s outer shell. The work involved is a little complicated. Mai Dong needs to bring along the repair kit.” Tang Yue leaned onto Tomcat’s shoulder, rubbed his chin and said, “I’ve done it before, but it wasn’t the S1 battery bank, but S4. Back then, Old Wang and I headed out to swap the aged light sensor. He was in charge of the repair work while I was responsible for handing him the tools… One will need to use a pair of scissors to cut open the lid’s outer skin. There will be four 8.0 mm Penta screws. Removing three of them allows the outer shell to be opened. When doing it alone, it will definitely be quite a frenzy.

“Furthermore, the darn screwdriver on the space station sucks, especially when you’re wearing gloves. It easily slips.” Tang Yue recalled. “Back then, Old Wang wrapped a band connected to the screwdriver to his wrist; otherwise, the screwdriver would have flown away.”

“How long did it take you both to swap the sensor?”

“Two and a half hours.”

“Make a detailed checklist of the steps involved.” Tomcat nodded. “We shall prioritize fixing the solar panels. Extravehicular activity mustn’t exceed four hours; otherwise, Miss Mai Dong’s body won’t be able to take it. We can do the inspection of the Eagle’s heat-resistant tiles later.”

Tang Yue got out a piece of paper and began listing down the detailed steps needed for the repair work based on memory.

Mai Dong was only a botanist without any space station repairing experience, so she needed Tang Yue’s and Tomcat’s guidance.

Humans truly had unlimited potential. A tiny lady like Mai Dong was truly capable to handle all kinds of matters, including heavy manual work.

“We shall split the repair job into three stages. We will head out not more than four times.” As Tang Yue wrote, he muttered. The first extravehicular activity is to evaluate the situation and cut through the skin. This process will take about half an hour… How long will the entire return trip take including the exit and re-entry of the airlock?”

Tomcat did a count. “Half an hour.”

“Then this stage will take an hour.” Tang Yue tapped the paper with the pen tip. “After this stage is completed, the space station would have circled behind Mars. Mai Dong can return to the space station to rest before preparing to head out a second time.”

“Did you take any breaks back when you were swapping the sensor?”

“No.” Tang Yue shook his head. “Old Wang is a workaholic. We finished the job with torchlights, but Mai Dong isn’t able to do it alone. Without enough help, it’ll be easy to have problems crop up.”

Tomcat nodded and touched its ear.

“After the sun rises, you will head out a second time. The mission is to dismantle the sensor’s outer shell, remove the C1002 conducting wire, which is a dark red wire. It will be rather deep, and above it are two lines—B3074 and B3075. To swap C1002, you need to remove the two wires first. This will be a troublesome process and will take a lot of time. We aren’t in a rush to swap out the wire during this stage. The three wires can be removed and brought back to the space station.

“Mai Dong will need to take the repair tools for this job… She will need to use many things. I need to list down a tool sheet.” Tang Yue drew a checklist on the piece of paper. “The tools used during the job mustn’t be forgotten. Whatever is taken out needs to brought back in.”

“You will have to remind her when the time comes.”

“I will.” Tang Yue pointed at the back of his hand. “Do you know what we did in the past? We stuck a slip of paper with all the things to take note of on the back of our hands. After finishing the job, we would look through the list.”

“Before the sun sets, Mai Dong needs to return to the space station and prepare to head out a third time. In this third trip, Mai Dong will take the spare parts, taking the spare conducting wire and B3074 and B3075 to the sensor. Only after installing the conducting wire, closing the lid, and screwing down all the screws, will the job be considered complete,” Tang Yue continued. “If she fails to complete the job on the third trip, there will still be a fourth… Of course, it will be best if everything goes smoothly and she completes the mission on her third trip.”

“Are there any contingency plans?”

“If the inspection from our first extravehicular excursion is worse than we expected, making it impossible to fix it, we can only abandon the S1 battery bank. We will give up all the plans, and Mai Dong is to immediately return to the space station,” Tang Yue replied. “The United Space Station can still operate normally without the S1 solar panel.”

Apart from a strategic abandonment of plans, they had no other contingency plans.

Tang Yue pushed the piece of paper that was filled with words to Tomcat.

Tomcat carefully looked through the form without missing a single word.

“OK?”

“OK!”