Dead on Mars

Chapter 140: Sol Two Hundred and Seventy-Five, It Is the Way of Heaven to Take from What Has an Excess in Order to Make Good What Is Deficient

The total area of heat-resistant tiles exceeded twenty square meters. Mai Dong lacked professional inspection tools such as an ultrasonic fault detector or an X-ray detector. All she could rely on was her eyes.

“The heat corrosion is very severe.” Mai Dong reached out her hand and gently caressed the black surface. “The surface is very rough and it looks a little like plastic.”

“That’s the phenolic impregnated carbon ablator. Its fixing agent is phenol formaldehyde which is also known as Bakelite,” Tomcat explained. “So it’s very normal to look like plastic. Some car tires are made of this material.”

The Eagle lander had experienced heating from adiabatic compression during its first atmospheric entry. The 2000°C temperatures evaporated and sublimed the heat-resistant tiles, causing the surface to look nothing like new. It was akin to a patient with severe burn injuries. There wasn’t an inch of skin that remained intact.

If it wasn’t because Cryptic Yang’s girlfriend’s brother’s mentor’s eldest nephew’s seventh maternal granduncle, the NASA department head, had said that it wouldn’t be a problem, Tang Yue wouldn’t have had the confidence. The heat-resistant tiles looked pathetic after the high-temperature heating. The surface was uneven and charred. It felt rough to the touch and there were large swaths that had melted into glass as they glistened with light.

Thankfully, the Eagle lander didn’t rely on looks.

No matter what kind of fiery inferno it had been in, as long as the original design had left behind sufficient redundancies, it would definitely be able to enter the atmosphere again.

The arm slowly moved Mai Dong. With the glass visor in place, the girl carefully inspected the heat-resistant tiles on the lander.

“Those spots that look to be badly burned don’t matter. It’s normal,” Tomcat informed her. “The heat-resistant tiles on the Eagle rely on the burning and subliming to wick away heat. Miss Mai Dong, what you need to look for are rather deep cracks and uneven areas.”

“Cracks and uneven areas, right?”

“Yes, in extreme environments, cracks might cause an accumulation of stress, causing the cracks to widen and the heat-resistant tiles to drop,” Tomcat observed the screen and nodded. “The uneven spots will result in uneven heating and cause the heat-resistant tiles to crack. These situations might cause an accident.”

“I got it.”

Mai Dong breathed in a little as she raised the intensity of the two LED lamps on her helmet.

“How should they be fixed if there are cracks?” Tang Yue asked with a suppressed voice. “Patch it?”

“What are you going to use?” Tomcat retorted. “Do you have Super Glue 502?”

“No.” Tang Yue asked. “Can Super Glue 502 be used to patch it?”

“Clearly not.” Tomcat shook its head. “But we don’t even have a bottle of Super Glue 502.”

“Then… Then what do we do?”

“Nothing,” Tomcat said. “That’s why it’s best we pray that there won’t be any crazy cracks.”

Tang Yue was rendered speechless. He was accustomed to having backup plans. If Plan A failed, there was a Plan B, and if Plan B failed, there was a Plan C. Behind Plan C were a series of plans. All they needed was to inform Mission Control, and the engineers would come up with a bunch of solutions within twenty minutes for selection.

Back then, he had failed to appreciate such a luxury. It was equivalent to having a massive world-class team back you. Truly, it was a case of not knowing what he had until it was gone.

The saying that there is always a way out, works only when there’s someone to pave the way out for you.

If Tomcat said that it was hopeless, then it was truly hopeless. No matter how hard one tried, reality would just hit them coldly in the face.

“I can’t see any cracks.” Mai Dong’s voice sounded over the comms. “The heat-resistant tiles are tightly joined together, but I see a protruded area…”

Mai Dong moved the camera to let Tomcat and Tang Yue see it.

“It’s really a protrusion.” Tang Yue stroked his chin. “Is that the Eagle’s crown jewels?”

The girl gently pressed her hand on the protruded part. Across the flat belly of the spacecraft was an obvious bulge, like a wart. “This is likely caused by heat expansion of the material. Mr. Cat, does it matter?”

Tomcat stared at the screen and pondered in silence.

“It’s a potential safety hazard. It’s best we eliminate it.”

“What’s wrong?” Tang Yue asked.

“It is the way of heaven to take from what has an excess in order to make good what is deficient. If it’s deficient, we add to it, if it’s an excess, we cut it off,” Tomcat replied. “The way to eliminate the hazard is to remove the excess portion. Miss Mai Dong, that will be all the inspection work for now. Return to the space station to have a break. We will resolve the problem during your next EVA trip. We’ll deal with it like dealing with a pimple.”

“That violent?” Mai Dong was taken aback. To girls, pimples were absolutely irreconcilable enemies.

“Yes, that violent,” Tomcat said.

“Then what should I take to deal with it?” Mai Dong asked. “Softening treatment at high temperatures? Or think of a way to remove it and reinstall it? But there aren’t many tools in the space station…”

Mai Dong believed that repairing the heat-resistant tiles would be a complicated and intricate task. It might even need a set of massive machine tools, but the space station clearly lacked such conditions.

“What tool should I bring?”

“A file.”

…

“Tang Yue, I’ll be washing these dirty clothes of yours.” Tomcat carried a bunch of clothes as it said, “There isn’t anything in the pockets, right? If you have anything to hide, quickly take it out.”

“There’s nothing.” Tang Yue bent his back and entered the Radiant Armor as he extended his hands into the suit. “Go ahead and wash them.”

“It smells of semen.” Tomcat used a pair of tongs to pick up the dirty underwear as it frowned. “I’ve told you before to stop reading Old Zheng’s educational material under your blanket…”

“Scram!”

Be it on Kunlun Station or the space station, laundry was always a troublesome matter. Water was a very precious resource, so it couldn’t be wasted on something non-mission-critical. Based on the ISS’s protocols, clothes didn’t need washing. They switched into new sets after they were dirty. They would then be stuffed into a cargo spacecraft and thrown into the atmosphere for burning.

The early Mars missions continued such protocols. The United Space Station didn’t have any washing machines. Everyone brought enough disposable clothes that were sealed in bags. They were all made of soft anti-bacterial and anti-odor material. Innerwear was changed once every six days, and outerwear was changed once a month. At the end of each period, they would be thrown into the trash.

But with the Mars landing missions constantly extending, the clothes the astronauts needed to bring kept increasing. A six-member team would need four hundred sets of clothing a year which was a rather terrifying number. Orion had to specially make space for the clothes.

Therefore, Kunlun Station was later installed with a tiny washing machine.

It was tiny, no bigger than a microwave oven.

Tang Yue didn’t know how it worked either since there was no need for detergent. It was possible that it used high-temperature steam to kill bacteria and sterilize the clothes, but the water recycling efficiency was low. Therefore, doing laundry was a rather extravagant matter. Tang Yue would accumulate a large bunch of clothes and wash them all at once.

Tang Yue kept the frequency of doing laundry in perfect check to conserve water. He was very familiar with such methods; after all, it was a trait that all men who had undergone a university education were equipped with—how to shower the least number of times in the longest possible period without stinking.

“Be careful. I only have those few pieces of underwear left.” Tang Yue was very displeased with Tomcat’s roughness. “I won’t have any spares if they are torn.”

“Got it. Got it. Rest easy.” Tomcat wore a helmet over its head as it attempted to pick up Tang Yue’s underwear with tongs from a distance away. However, its left arm wasn’t working well, so no matter how it prodded, it wasn’t able to clamp it up.

“Then, I’ll be heading out to move the solar panels.”

“Good luck.” Tomcat continued prodding the underwear on the floor.

…

Half an hour later.

“Tang Yue, don’t be mad. Listen to me. Listen to me. I made that hole deliberately. It’s true, really… This hole is for ventilation. You can let your balls breathe in fresh air…”