The aircraft carrier has been launched into the water, and you still call it a toy?

Chapter 109 The Whereabouts of Starship One
America's Starship Two.

As scheduled, at the rocket launch center in Florida, it slowly rose into the sky.

This is the second ship for the purpose of rescue.

With only three astronauts to maintain the operation of the starship, they headed for the vast space.

According to NAS calculations.

To find Starship One, the difficulty is actually not small.

The vastness of space is simply too vast.

If you want to find Starship One.

Finding a needle in a haystack is not an exaggeration!
Before the launch, it was also said that Starship One disappeared on the way to the moon.

It is also easy to find.

But what they didn't know was that Starship One passed through the Van Allen radiation belts.

Are there any major failures?

Especially the failure of electronic equipment, once it appears in the extremely dangerous environment of space.

That is often fatal!

Although Mark has repeatedly assured that the life support system inside the starship uses less electronic equipment.

After resisting the flow of high-energy particles, it should still be able to continue to be used.

But no one dares to say that it must be fine.

They all say to be responsible, but this responsibility is the most difficult to bear!
After all, human life is at stake!

America deployed observatories, as well as radio telescopes, all over the place.

Even survey telescopes in space are used.

But in a short time.

Still no trace of the starship has been found.

This is not like the way satellites scan Blue Star, a few high-orbit satellites can complete the global scan.

In tens of thousands of kilometers, or even hundreds of thousands of kilometers of outer space.

It is not as pure as the naked eye can see.

Countless asteroid fragments, meteorites, comets, etc., may affect the judgment of ground observation stations.

And I don't know if the power system of Starship One is still working properly.

Who knows, the starship may well lose power.

Where will it drift in space.

What if it is hit by other celestial bodies! ?

In space, any unexpected danger may appear.

The most pessimistic guess.

Probably when Starship One passed through the Van Allen radiation belts.

Encountered an extremely strong flow of high-energy particles.

The entire spacecraft, including the astronauts inside, may have all perished under the impact of this huge particle flow!
Of course the most optimistic estimate.

Maybe the starship is now fine except for the damage to electronic equipment, and the astronauts are fine.

Perhaps the starship has lost power.

But the life support system is still functioning normally.

It's just that the astronauts can only helplessly watch the starship floating in the universe.

And they can't do anything about it.

Because the first damage is the communication system.

under these circumstances.

All the astronauts on Starship One can do is probably pray!

Pray that America will come to their rescue.

...

In the vast space.

A huge spacecraft that has lost power is drifting.

You can spot it if you get closer.

This spacecraft is exactly America's lost Starship One!
now.

Inside Starship One, a meeting is in progress.

All the astronauts looked a little haggard.

Some people even had a pale sickness on their faces.

Looks in very bad shape.

If they can't find a way out, or if they can't wait for rescue.

We have to accept the occurrence of downsizing.

"Alan has already experienced intermittent shock, if he is not treated again."

"I'm afraid it won't last long..."

The captain of the lunar exploration project, Dr. Claude said in a heavy tone.

"The number of emergency medical kits we carry is still too small, and the variety is not rich enough..."

Another expert in charge of the team's medical treatment said with some frustration.

when passing through the Van Allen radiation belts.

They encountered a strong stream of high-energy particles.

Not only the communication system was completely paralyzed, but even the power system was destroyed!

A huge starship.

Only the two small Hall thrusters are still working.

But only with these two small propellers with a thrust of only 5.4 N, except when encountering dangers such as meteorite fragments.

Able to avoid obstacles in an emergency.

Can't do anything else!

And even emergency obstacle avoidance actions cannot be done without limit.

Because the power system of the starship has also failed!
The solar panels are not working properly, and the power reserve on the starship.

It can only support the Hall thruster to be used a few times!

And more power is used to keep the astronauts in the starship alive!

So now the interior of the starship.

Illumination is provided only by an emergency light which does not draw on the starship's reserve power.

There are several more emergency lights like this one.

But they didn't dare to waste it too much.

In this dim environment.

People's mood is even heavier.

"Dr. Cloud, can I ask you a question?"

In the dull atmosphere, the voice of a female astronaut suddenly appeared.

She is one of only three female astronauts on this mission to the moon.

And of course a product of America ZZ being right.

Because her astronaut skills are not strictly up to standard.

However, NAS and Mark wanted to gather more people.

Even if they came close to meeting the standard, they still passed the audit.

Confront the female astronaut.

Dr. Cloud didn't know how to answer.

To say that America's side will definitely come to the rescue.

He wasn't even sure.

Because the starship they were on was the product of catching ducks on the shelves.

With the existing technology of the starship.

It's not even close enough to go to the moon.

However, Daxia has already started the moon landing plan, and America urgently needs them to go to the moon.

That's it!

America needs to prove she's capable of putting a man on the moon.

Come to consolidate our unsurpassed leading position in the aerospace field!

Under such circumstances, the reliability of the starship launched urgently can be imagined.

After a long silence.

Claude decided to comfort the female astronaut.

Now that everyone is staying in the same place, it's better to boost everyone's morale.

"Will do!"

"Perhaps the spaceship to rescue us is coming towards us!"

Even so.

But Dr. Crowder doesn't think rescue is really possible.

The difficulty is too great!

The most important thing is that we can't wait for time!

Starship technology is far from reaching maturity.

Congress, and the NAS, will not necessarily agree to launch a rescue spacecraft.

And even if you agree.

With the current starship technology, it may not be possible to find them successfully and rescue them smoothly.

If you take another spaceship.

Then it's not worth the loss!
Of course, from his own point of view, he definitely hopes to be rescued.

But things are often shifted by personal will.

Considering various factors, the chances of America launching a rescue spacecraft are not high.

Through this voyage.

He discovered that the design of the starship was very flawed.

Many supporting systems are very worrying in terms of reliability.

It's fine if there's no emergency.

Once an emergency like this one arises, a series of problems are exposed.

The consequences are obvious.

They may be wandering in the vast space for an unknown period of time.

Eventually after running out of food and oxygen.

Died tragically.

Perhaps before that, some human ugliness may also be staged.

But none of this made any sense.

in the space environment.

It is impossible for anyone to escape the ultimate fate.

Dr. Cloud's words did not comfort the female astronaut.

Because they clearly feel it.

The starship is speeding up and drifting in a certain direction!

"Oh my god!! The starship is accelerating!!"

"what happened!!!"

"Is the spaceship powered!???"

"..."

The astronauts inside the starship are all shocked at this moment!
But they were not happy for long.

The pilot of the starship looked at the various instruments.

He said loudly to the crowd:
"No!"

"This is not the power of the starship itself!!"

"The power system of the starship is still in a state of paralysis!!"

Dr. Claude's expression changed, and he hurriedly said: "We were captured by the gravity of a certain celestial body!!"

"Go to the observation window and have a look!!"

A few days have passed since the starship accident.

According to the current position of the starship.

The most likely object to capture a starship... is the moon! !

The moon has about one-sixth of the gravity of the blue star!
At present, the power system of the starship is paralyzed, and even the landing system cannot work normally!

Without the help of attitude adjustment and rocket reversers.

The starship will hit the moon like an immobile elephant! !
Even if the gravity of the moon is only one-sixth of that of the blue star!

If you hit it like a headless chicken!

Nor is the hull of the starship able to withstand it! !

I'm afraid at the moment of impact.

The starship will simply disintegrate! !
And the astronauts inside the starship probably won't fare much better!

Accompanied by Claude's shout.

Several astronauts in relatively good physical condition loosened the rope hooks that fixed their bodies.

Float towards the position of the observation window.

Dr. Claude followed closely behind and also drifted past.

It didn't take long.

They came to the observation window.

through glass.

A earthy gray planet full of craters appeared in sight...

Moon!

They were really captured by the gravity of the moon and came to the vicinity of the moon! !
If the starship lost power immediately after passing through the Van Allen radiation belts, it might not have been captured by the moon.

The problem is that the starship's communication system was directly paralyzed first.

And the power is still there.

It's a problem with the power control system.

But after sailing for a while.

The power system was completely paralyzed, and the starship became a floating object without power.

It was estimated by scientists.

The gravitational radius of the moon is about [-] kilometers.

In other words.

The starship may have been captured by the moon's gravity long ago.

It's just that the initial velocity is relatively low at the beginning, and everyone still doesn't feel it clearly.

But as the distance to the moon gets closer and closer.

People only noticed when the speed of the starship changed significantly.

"Dr. Cloud, what should we do now!?"

In this situation, they had no idea at all, and they couldn't help but look at Dr. Claude.

Dr. Claude's expression changed several times, and finally he took a deep breath.

"It depends on our luck now!"

"Next, we have a choice."

"When the starship is accelerated to a certain degree by the moon's gravity, it will inevitably hit the moon!"

"When the starship is about 100 kilometers away from the moon, we can start the only remaining working Hall thruster."

"But the thrust of the Hall thruster is only a few cows, and it is impossible to reverse the thrust at all."

"So we are going to give the starship a side force and try to enter the orbit around the moon."

"But now without the assistance of a computer, I don't know how likely it is to succeed."

"But this is one of the few options we have!"

"Another choice, maybe it can't be called a choice."

"Because once we try to enter orbit around the moon and fail, we will definitely hit the moon!"

"At that time, our fate can only be decided by God!"

Claude's words made everyone feel even more depressed.

But it's exactly as Dr. Crowder said.

This is one of the few choices they have!
It's better than staying in the starship all the time, running out of food and oxygen, and everyone suffocating to death.

Because in orbit around the moon, there is America's lunar probe.

First, America can determine their location.

Secondly, even if America cannot successfully land a man on the moon in a short period of time.

But it is also possible to launch some supplies to replenish their consumption.

America still has the ability to launch some small payloads to the moon.

of course.

If the plan fails.

They can only accept the fate of hitting the moon.

soon.

Claude told all the astronauts about his plan.

For some astronauts who are almost numb.

Claude's plan, although it seems that the success rate is not very high.

But anyway.

In a situation where despair is too desperate, this is indeed an inspiring good news!

waiting time.

In the eyes of these distressed astronauts, it is so long.

Until the acceleration of the starship is getting faster and faster.

Everyone's mood instantly became tense!

Make or break in one fell swoop!
Claude roughly estimated the height from the moon through a simple formula.

All this can only be done with paper and pen.

Because most of the electronic equipment inside the starship is paralyzed.

1000km…

800km…

500km…

200km…

Claude's nerves were tense, and one hand was raised.

when his arms fell.

Another astronaut in charge of controlling the Hall thrusters will turn on.

Claude silently counted down a few numbers in his heart.

Suddenly the arm fell!
"start up--!"

The people inside the starship just felt the spaceship stop lightly.

Then continue to fall!
failed? !
Claude was shocked, and looked at the astronaut who was in charge of observing external movements.

"Dr. Cloud!"

"The starship has shifted!"

"But the angle is still not enough!"

"We're still falling to the moon!"

The astronaut in front of the observation window said loudly.

Cloud asked the astronauts controlling the thrusters, "How about our power reserves?"

……

(End of this chapter)