Dead on Mars

Chapter 167: Sol Two Hundred and Eighty-Three, Ten Thousand Meters

The next day.

The twentieth simulation test.

“Mr. Cat, Tang Yue, I’m in position.” Mai Dong donned an EVA suit and sat back on the Eagle’s Commander seat. She buckled her seatbelt and lowered the lander’s protective shutters.

“This is Kunlun Station. Roger that,” Tang Yue replied. “Ensure smooth communications.

“Orion II’s computer offline.

“Atmospheric modeling complete. Lander fluid dynamic modeling complete. Navigational errors corrected.

“Engaging EDL mode. GNC is a GO. Guidance control strategy installed. GNC data will be updated three minutes prior to atmospheric entry. Radial height of 125,000 meters.

“COMM link for atmospheric entry is a go. UHF signal is a go. X-ray signal is a go.”

Tomcat sat in front of a desk with monitors and keyboards circling it. It was using all its limbs as it sat with its buttocks slanted. The chair in front of it had a keyboard meant for its hind legs. Tomcat began a massive showcase of yoga as it easily typed on the keyboards.

“IMU is a go. T-minus five minutes until despin command is issued.”

“Mass balanced, flight-angle path adjusted. Angle of attack adjusted. –5°.”

Tang Yue and Tomcat’s voices sounded one after another on Kunlun Station.

In Tomcat’s words, there was a high chance for the test’s success. It had spent plenty of time debugging the Orion II’s control program and hadn’t rested for days—all to ensure that every detail was flawless. They lacked the conditions to do an actual physical simulation, so they could only rely on virtual software simulations. Tomcat had set the harshest test environment to ensure that Orion II had enough redundancy for error.

Tomcat had done its best, and it was unsure how it could do any better if it failed again.

The cat and man believed that since it was possible in theory, it meant that there was a possibility of success. No matter how low the probability, even if it were a million in one, as long as it existed, no one was going to stop them from repeating the trials and test for errors to approach the limits.

No matter how low the probability was, there was a limit to it.

But human subjectivity was infinite.

This was a belief of Marx.

Tomcat’s critique was that he was only partially correct.

This was because a cat’s subjectivity was also infinite.

“Inertial coordinates established. Kunlun Station is a go. Orion II systems all good. Raptor-01, 03, 05, 07, and 09 are GREEN. Ready to launch. All stations on standby—”

Tang Yue looked up and looked across the monitors at Tomcat.

Tomcat had its head buried in between the monitors, slowly nodding when it noticed Tang Yue’s gaze.

“Miss Mai Dong.”

“Yeah?” The girl nodded.

Tomcat and Tang Yue stood on two ends of the table as they stared at the monitor screens. Tang Yue raised four fingers as he did a silent countdown. Four!

Tomcat raised three claws.

Three!

Tang Yue raised his index finger and middle finger to his head as he roared inwardly.

Two!

Tomcat raised its dewclaw. One!

Ignition!

Commencing 745-second countdown!

Orion II, a spacecraft that shuttled between Earth and Mars was entering the simulated atmosphere for the twentieth time!

The five Raptor engines ignited as flames spewed out, streaking a blade-like mark in pitch-black space. The intense vibrations passed through the fuel tanks’ hull as Orion II’s massive body began to decelerate. It followed a predetermined flight trajectory in its descent as the truss suffered from immense stress. Thankfully, the computer’s control was precise enough, preventing its medial axis from deviating from the preset angle.

Gravity and the engine’s thrust were directed onto the spacecraft longitudinally which was a tremendous challenge for its structural integrity. With the spacecraft being so thin and long, it could easily snap in an extremely weak gravitational field. Therefore, Tomcat needed to have all the forces applied along the vertical axis. It could withstand compression, but not shear forces.

Orion II’s computer began sending alerts.

All the sensors on the spacecraft were reporting the situation the force had on them. In the simulation, these numbers were provided by Kunlun Station’s workstation. Tomcat had tried to make it as realistic as possible so that the descent would also encounter similar situations.

In Tang Yue’s words, Orion II was in a critical condition. It couldn’t suffer any disturbance, and no one was to touch it. Otherwise, the hanging strand of hair that hung a heavy load would snap.

“118,774.6 meters above sea level. 4727 m/s!

“115,054.9 meters above sea level. 4591 m/s!”

“106932.2 meters above sea level. 4378 m/s!”

Tang Yue put his hands on the table. He could no longer sit, but there was nothing he could do. All he could do was stare intently at the spacecraft’s conditions. Tomcat had told him that this was the simulation that held the greatest hope as it had designed a flawless program. There weren’t any problems to be found. Hence, if the test were to fail again, there was nothing Tomcat could do.

Orion II’s altitude dropped rapidly and nearly every sensor was sounding an alarm. The forces directed on the sensors had already far exceeded the design limit.

“Atmospheric density raising. Take note of turbulence—excellent! Excellent! RCS stabilized. The situation is within expectations!” Tomcat pumped its paw. “Steady… Steady, you b*stard…”

Orion II needed to decelerate sufficiently before the atmospheric density rapidly rose. Otherwise, the intense adiabatic compressions would destroy the spacecraft.

“97,335.4 meters above sea level. 3945 m/s!”

Tomcat stared at the temperature and pressure sensors. The temperature had already reached 300°C, and certain components that weren’t heat-resistant had begun melting. However, they were still within the spacecraft’s tolerance limits. In the workstation-created world of math and code, Orion II was stably descending.

“GNC numbers have been updated. Mass balanced. Flight-path angle adjusted!”

“Code 1027 alert!

“Code 1160 alert!”

Tang Yue’s forehead was covered with cold sweat. He and Tomcat were powerless at changing Orion II’s fate. Its survival was in its hands.

He and Tomcat watched as the spacecraft descended tens of thousands of meters. Even though the atmospheric entry to the landing didn’t take more than twelve minutes, every second was excruciating for Tang Yue. He was afraid that the computer would produce a problem the very next second, telling him that the spacecraft had crashed.

Orion II descended with a blazing trail. With almost zero oxygen in the Martian atmosphere, the material that was emitting light was, in fact, the melting material on the spacecraft’s hull. There was constantly paint or components being ripped apart due to the intense tremors, but thankfully, that didn’t affect the spacecraft’s stability.

The air was compressed into a shockwave under the high speeds, and during the descent, this plasma body would screen away electromagnetic waves, blacking out any communication. It was called the Blackout Problem, but as Orion II’s speed was strictly controlled, the blackout wasn’t anything serious.

“35,783 meters above sea level. All stations, be on standby. Entering high heat zone.”

At an altitude of about 30,000 meters, Orion II would experience a danger zone. At this height, the spacecraft’s external temperature reached its peak. In the past ten or so simulations, half of them had failed at this stage.

The structure and materials differed across Orion II. Some parts of the dynamic module could withstand more than 2000°C, but the command module could only withstand 400°C. In such a situation, the weakest link decided life and death. Once Orion II’s command module exceeded 400°C, it would immediately burst into flames and be destroyed.

“Altitude of 32,580 meters,” Tomcat reported.

“Temperature sensor alert. The heat dissipation of the computer is abnormal.” Tang Yue sounded out. “The external temperature is at 332°C.

“Altitude of 31,932 meters.

“355°C.

“Altitude of 31,541 meters.

“362°C.

“Altitude of 30,274 meters!

“375°C!”

Orion II passed through the atmosphere, despite the hot airflow, while its roaring engine tried its best to decelerate.

“Altitude of 29,289 meters!

“388°C!

“393°C!

“395°C!”

The temperature sensor’s numbers were rising sharply.

“398°C!

“400°C!” The temperature had reached the critical temperature as it touched a red threshold. Tang Yue’s heart clamped up.

“Orion II has successfully decelerated and has exited the high heat zone!” Tomcat’s words were one second delayed as the cat and man held their breaths. Kunlun Station fell into a deep silence as the monitor’s symbols blinked rhythmically.

Even though the spacecraft had exited the high heat zone, the temperature had reached its limit. Disaster could be brewing in that silence, and no one knew what kind of structural changes like melting or embrittlement could happen. Such changes could result in disintegration, and no one knew if Orion II would encounter any problems, or have an alert pop up the very next second about a crash.

Tang Yue clenched his fists.

Tomcat pressed down on its earpiece.

Half a minute later.

There weren’t any alerts or crashes. Tang Yue and Tomcat watched as the temperature rapidly dropped while Orion II’s self-checks reported that everything was normal. The spacecraft landed stably.

“Orion is descending… It’s descending! It survived! It survived! Tang Yue got up and pressed down on Tomcat’s shoulders in excitement. As he looked into the pair of cat eyes, he laughed. “Hahahaha! That baby survived!”

300 seconds into the atmospheric entry.

Orion II had successfully crossed the ten-thousand-meter barrier.