Die on Mars

Tang Yue and Lao Mao sat opposite each other, with pen and paper between them.

Dim lights fell from the top of the head, shining on the faces of one person and one cat. Tang Yue was very serious, and the old cat was also very serious.

"Can we completely cancel the intermediate orbit, abandon this 280-kilometer-high circular orbit, and only accelerate once, so that the Eagle spacecraft can jump directly from the parking orbit into the orbit of the space station for rendezvous and docking?"

"Okay, but the risk is high."

"How big is the risk?"

"Jumping from an altitude of 280 kilometers to 380 kilometers requires an acceleration and a deceleration, which consumes a lot of propellant."

"Is there enough propellant left for us to try a few more rendezvous attempts?"

"Reiji."

"In other words, no matter what strategy we adopt, we can only rendezvous and dock once in the end?"

"right."

"So which strategy ends up with more propellant left?"

"I need to calculate."

The old cat sat on the chair, closed his eyes, and began to meditate.

Then it started to smoke.

Half a minute later, the old cat opened his eyes, picked up a pen and paper, and began to write and draw, "If we abandon the original plan of two intermediate orbits and two orbit changes, and use the strategy of jumping directly into the orbit of the space station, then We will be able to save 10 percent of propellant and four hours of time...but jumping directly into the orbit of the space station is more difficult and requires remote guidance from the Kunlun Station."

"Save ten percent of propellant?"

"Ten percent."

Tang Yue immediately agreed, "That's it! This is Plan B! Let the lander jump directly over! Don't waste a second! Don't burn a milligram of fuel! Old cat, you will be responsible for the control and guidance! I will be responsible for helping you Find the signal!”

Tang Yue inexplicably gained confidence and chose the plan very decisively. The old cat looked a little dazed and thought, when did this sad dog become so stubborn? It didn't know where Tang Yue's excitement came from. A few minutes ago, this guy was clearly disheartened and extremely depressed.

"We are already dead." Tang Yue said.

The old cat was stunned and didn't understand what this meant.

"We are already dead." Tang Yue repeated, "The launch of the Eagle spacecraft has failed, and Ophiopogon japonicus was bound to die... but God gave us another 2.477% chance. Can you understand?"

Old Mao immediately understood what Tang Yue meant.

They were never forced into a desperate situation.

But he was already in a desperate situation! Tang Yue and Lao Mao have been fighting against the odds since the moment the earth disappeared.

The failure of the Eagle spacecraft to enter orbit was supposed to be a 100% dead end, but a powerful rocket engine gave them the last glimmer of hope.

This is putting oneself to death in order to survive.

"When is the nearest orbit change window?" Tang Yue asked.

"The latest time window was five minutes ago." Old Cat glanced at the time, "The next time is one hour and fifteen minutes later."

Tang Yue turned around and dragged up the Mingguang armor outer suit, "I'll get you an antenna. Leave the signal problem to me. I will let you contact the lander before the next orbit change window comes! You go and drive that violent Maozi." Space tractor, give it a super big drift at apogee! I believe in your driving skills...the god of Akinayama baby carriage!"

"Don't worry! I'll also drive the tractor for you like a Lamborghini! Look at how I perfectly reverse the truck into the garage!" The old cat gave a thumbs up, "Good Luck!"

Tang Yue put on the Mingguang Armor, picked up the antenna, strode out, and shouted: "Dear comrade RD-0172! Although the country is big, we can't take another step back! Because behind us is Moscow! Ula——!" "

The old cat watched him bend down and get into the airlock, and suddenly realized that he was right that he thought Tang Yue's back looked like a bear. He not only looked like a bear, but also a furry bear.

Tang Yue's inexplicable confidence may not only come from his awareness of risking his own life but also the Russian text on the RD-0172 engine.

Then a loud roar came from the airlock.

"Vodka! Davarisi—!"

·

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"Dear Mom and Dad, I am Maidong. I am writing this letter to you on the Mars United Space Station. I am fine here..."

Maidong was stunned, and then pressed the backspace key to delete all the words.

"Dear Mom and Dad, I am Maidong. When I wrote this letter, the sun had just risen from the other side of Mars. The golden sunlight illuminated half of the Crystal cabin. The scenery here is really beautiful. ah……"

Maidong shook his head and deleted all the words he wrote again.

"Dear Mom and Dad, I am Ophiopogon japonicus, are you okay? I'm going to die soon..."

Delete again.

"Dear Mom and Dad, I am Maidong, and I will be going to your place soon..."

Delete again.

Maidong typed and deleted over and over again. She felt that every sentence she wrote was inappropriate, from the beginning to the end.

The girl's slender fingers finally stopped on the keyboard, and she fell into a long silence. Her mind was obviously full of what she wanted to say, but when she really wanted to start writing, she was at a loss and didn't know where to start. This is just like you I was full of words and wanted to talk to someone. I raised my head and looked around, but suddenly I found that the world was vast and I was alone.

Maidong sat on a chair with a seat belt on her body. She stared straight at the computer screen, the cursor flashing second by second.

Maidong has written many articles since she was a child, and writing has always been her strong point. However, this girl has never written a suicide note, and she has never tried to leave a suicide note to the deceased. The earth has disappeared, and her parents, family and friends Her colleague is long gone. If she writes a suicide note here, who can she leave it to?

But she still wanted to leave something to the world.

Maidong didn't know whether Tang Yue and Lao Mao could really make the Eagle spaceship successfully deliver supplies, but at this moment, a sandstorm was breaking out at the Kunlun Station, and communication was interrupted. Even if Maidong was not a professional flight expert, she knew how difficult it was. Successfully The hope is very slim. If the Eagle spacecraft fails to rendezvous and dock with the Joint Space Station, then she will be dead.

Maidong had to finish this while he still had a little strength to write a complete letter.

But after writing, where should you send the letter?

Maidong's eyes fell on the control panel, densely packed with complicated buttons and switches.

Use the communication system on the space station to convert this letter into an electromagnetic signal and send it to the vast deep space?

Just like the last cry of the last person in the universe, Maidong doesn't know how far the radio waves emitted by the space station can travel. Due to the interstellar extinction effect, the cosmic dust permeating the vacuum absorbs electromagnetic radiation, and the radio waves will The decay accelerates as the distance increases, and finally weakens to the point where it cannot carry any information.

But this distance must be very, very long. This lonely beam of radio waves will carry the girl's last words and fly in the vast vacuum for hundreds of millions of years.

Just thinking about it makes me lonely.

If there is anything in this world that is the loneliest, then it must be the last radio wave sent by human beings, carrying a language that no one in the universe can understand, from birth to death, running towards an endless distance.

So leave this letter on the space station?

Wait a few years after his death, the United Space Station runs out of life, crashes into the atmosphere, and lets the letters burn with the space station, turning into ashes and spreading on the vast plains of Mars?

Maidong sighed quietly and hugged himself tightly.

As the last person on the United Space Station, she wanted to write a letter, but she didn't know who to leave it to.

Although the universe is huge, there is no place where a letter can be placed.