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Volume 4: Walking in the Solar System Chapter 64: Mars (2)

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    There are only two years left for asa to prepare to land on Mars, and the work is proceeding in an orderly manner.  The LTA space station is too small, and astronauts cannot work for long periods of time and often need to go down to the ground.  The equipment manufacturing area of ??Yunhai Base is mass-producing various robots and smelting and manufacturing equipment, and has sufficient reserves of materials and energy.  Chen Deqi put forward a long-planned plan to build a ring-shaped space city with a diameter of 1,800 meters at the Lagrange point between the earth and the moon. It is close to the moon and is relatively easy to build.

    Li Zhuang now works at three o'clock and one line all day long and rarely goes to Xinwei City, but that doesn't mean others won't tell him.  Lawrence Hardy, the new CEO who has been in office for two years, often comes to his home and is the type that he cannot refuse because Hardy's son is Li Zhuang's prospective son-in-law and the fianc¨¦ of his eldest daughter Li Xinling.  Hardy's wife is also Chinese, and her surname is Yu, so her son is three-quarters Chinese. At first glance, he looks Chinese. There is a Chinese named Yu Kaiting, who is quite domineering.

    Cyndi Li, who did not seem to be top-notch smart when she was a child, eclipsed her three brothers when she grew up. She got a doctorate at the age of 21.  Yu Kaiting is her doctoral classmate, one year older than her, and her mentor is the famous Director of the Department of Physics, Durand.  The marriage between the second-generation president of United Technologies and the "King" was purely accidental, and there was no political factor involved.  Most employees are happy to see this happen. Although Weizhou is stable now, it will still be a long time before the generation born in Weizhou takes over all management rights. The fewer variables in the transition period, the better.

    "Larry, has Chen Deqi's team calculated the cost of the donut-shaped space city?" Li Zhuang asked after listening to Hardy's introduction.

    "Preliminary calculations show that based on our financial resources and operating model, it is acceptable. Yunhai Base manufactures most of the spare parts. This space city can accommodate five thousand people, and it can continue to be upgraded into a cylindrical space city. Of course not  It is necessary to do this, the cost is too high." Hardy said and mentioned the key part, "This space city will not lose money and can make a lot of money. The production rate of many products will be improved in the zero gravity of space. It is the first choice for space hotels.  .¡±

    "Haha, you think about it for yourselves, I'm just asking casually. How are you preparing the Mars spacecraft? Do you plan to build a base at once?"

    "Yes, the early Mars landing probes have achieved fruitful results. The Phobos base is being transformed into a space station. The time has come and we cannot wait any longer, otherwise the cost will increase significantly. The Mars life simulation base in the desert is prepared for this day.  Over the past nine years, the parameters have been adjusted many times based on the data sent back by the Mars probe, and the astronauts will be able to quickly adapt to life on Mars."

    Hardy is familiar with the aerospace field and comes from an aviation family. He is friends with Chen Deqi, who is about the same age, and cares very much about ASA, unlike Zhou Qisen.  The advent of the great aerospace era requires such a professional, whose management capabilities are close to Zhou Qisen and slightly better than Fox.

    "Using AND-2? How big is the spacecraft? How many astronauts are prepared to transport?"

    Hearing what Li Zhuang said, Hardy couldn't help but smile, very brightly. His still handsome face made the computer expert jealous, and at the same time he was a little confused, "What's wrong?"

    "They all said that your memory is not very good. I didn't believe it. Now I really believe it. You actually remember the code name of the gas core nuclear fission engine. You are not young and have not declined yet. I heard that people who use their brains too much are prone to it.  Got Alzheimer¡¯s.¡±

    "Halo, please don't interrupt and answer my question." Li Zhuang's mentality is very young, although he looks older than Zhou Qisen. I don't know why, maybe because he has been engaged in high mental consumption work for a long time.

    "Okay, Mars is too far away and travel is inconvenient. We are going to set off in three batches. The first batch of six astronauts will go to maintain the Phobos base first, and the second batch of 20 astronauts will go to the unmanned scientific research station on the Golden Plains.  The images sent back by the base mastermind show that the construction of the underground living area is very smooth. The third batch is a cargo spacecraft, specially designed to transport supplies. It departs two weeks later than the second batch and arrives one week later."

    "Oh, will we use an artificial gravity device this time?"

    "AND-2 is very powerful. A spacecraft propelled by AND-2 plus an ion engine is much faster than a chemical engine. It can reach the Phobos base within a month. It will not be used for the time being. We plan to use it on the giant moon fire."  On the spaceship, forget it, I will send you an email with the details tonight."

    The two chatted for a few words. Hardy was very busy, so he said goodbye and left. Li Zhuang saw him to the gate and then went out for a walk.  The hard-working biochemical robot bodyguard follows him as usual. The community is under closed management, so walking at night is very safe.  Chen Xiaojun and Li Meng are now older, and their sons take over, with Arthur taking the lead, but they spend most of their time studying and preparing for future unemployment, as their proteges have a tendency to self-imposed confinement.

    Time makes people grow old. Compared with the cheerful Xia Yuande, Li Zhuang looks older. The company's advanced health products seem to have little effect on him.  This situation isWhat started happening more than ten years ago was slow at first and then gradually accelerated. The "robot" became increasingly haggard, but the results of the physical examination proved that he was healthy. Han Shumei was puzzled. Fortunately, it is now stable.

    ?????????????????????????When Sunwei got married, his wife was Liu Jing's daughter Liu Jie, which reunited the two generations because they were still studying and had no children for the time being.  Their new home is in the same community, but they live in the school, and their home relies on the wai991 smart home management system given by Li Zhuang as a wedding gift.  Sunway did not disgrace Li Zhuang. Although he was not as smart as his younger sister Xinling, he was still admitted to Sunway Polytechnic based on his own ability. He studied chemistry, which he liked, and studied under the company's "celebrities" and famous chemists.  and chemical engineer Bill Frings.  Liu Jie studied medicine and picked up her grandmother's old profession. She is a rare smart person. Her mentor was Dr. Hoffman, the former WIH dean.

    "Serena and Xiaowei have similar personalities. They are often inseparable. They are about to turn twenty-five. They are both majoring in biology. One is a student of Jolonem, and the other is a student of National Treasure.  They are smarter than their brother Sunway, but they just like to play too much. In this aspect, they inherit more of Lisa's character.

    "Oh, none of the four children is the same as me. If it weren't for the eight children, I would have lost my old profession, and people would say that I am an alien robot." Li Zhuang couldn't help but sigh as he walked.  tone.

    "Hello, teacher, are you out for a walk again?" came a greeting, and then a babyish voice also said: "Hello, Grandpa Li!"

    When the melancholy old man heard the voice, he knew it was Zhou Qisen's eldest son Zhou Shen, and the voice behind him was his son Zhou Huawei.  Zhou Shen did not inherit his parents' profession, but was very interested in computers and automation. Li Zhuang accepted this outstanding disciple and is now one of the pillars of the Automation Research Institute.

    "Well, you and Yuanyuan are also here?" A young face with a bright smile appeared behind Zhou Shen. It was Sun Yuan, the eldest daughter of the national treasure, holding their girl in his arms.

    "Hello, Uncle Zhuang. The children are crying at home. Shen Shen and I will take them out for a walk."

    Sun Yuan greeted him obediently, and left talking and laughing with Zhou Shen and the children.  Guobao and Han Shumei didn't deal with each other, and their relationship until now was very ordinary, but they unexpectedly became in-laws. Zhou Qisen scratched his head for this for a long time.  I learned this problem from Li Zhuang. He used to pay attention to his image and rarely made small moves. Now he stays in the laboratory all day and becomes more and more sloppy.

    After returning from a walk, the house was empty. Lisa was probably still playing at Liu Jing's house. Li Xiang thought that she might also be with the two of them. The "threesome" had close contacts.  Da Mian and Sophia went to Da Mian's sister's house in Perth. Li Zhuang was the only one in the huge courtyard, which was more uncomfortable than living in a small house before. Fortunately, he had a smart home to accompany him.  Da Xiaoxiao just celebrated his 29th birthday, and Li Zhuang specially celebrated it for him.  The Trumpet family sent weird letters of congratulations to the patriarch, and Vicky sent a gift on behalf of the Vicky family, a small pure gold trumpet, which was very interesting.

    "Father, Dr. Hardy's mail has arrived." The loudspeaker sounded, and Li Zhuang suddenly became energetic and walked to the deep basement in a familiar way.

    Hardy¡¯s article is very organized. He starts with a popular science article, which is mainly about knowledge about Mars. It contains some private information that has not been made public by ASAs, including the distribution of mineral resources on Mars and high-definition maps.  Every other line was like a mountain. Li Zhuang scanned the ones he could understand, and he began to have some clues in his mind.

    Mars is the fourth planet in the solar system from the inside out. Its average distance from the sun is 1.52 astronomical units, and its orbital period is 687 Earth days, 1.88 Earth years, or 668.6 Martian days.  A Martian day is 24 hours, 39 minutes and 35 seconds, which is equivalent to 1.027 Earth days.  It is a terrestrial planet with an average radius of 3389.5 kilometers, about 0.532 times that of the Earth; its surface area is equivalent to the total land area of ??the Earth, which is 140 million square kilometers; its surface gravity is about 0.377 times that of the Earth, its rotation axis inclination angle and rotation period are similar, and its revolution  A week would take nearly twice as long.

    Mars has an atmosphere, but the pressure is very low, only one percent of Earth¡¯s, and 95% of the gas is carbon dioxide.  The greenhouse gases on Earth did not warm Mars because they were too thin to retain heat.  The average surface temperature of Mars is about -55c, and it rarely exceeds 0c even in summer; in winter, the surface temperature can even reach -140c.  At such low temperatures, even carbon dioxide will freeze into ice. There are huge ice caps at the north and south poles of Mars. The north pole is mainly water ice, and the south pole is mainly dry ice.  When Mars is at its winter solstice, it is at its aphelion and therefore extremely cold.

    These natural conditions constitute Mars¡¯ unique climate environment.  On the surface, although the conditions on Mars are harsh, they appear stable. In fact, Mars is restless, with huge dust storms.  These dust storms erupt every 2 to 4 Martian years and linger for several months.  The Phobos base and the Mars probe orbiting Mars have recorded detailed parameters of dust storms.These are very important. It is very important to land on Mars and expand the Golden Plains base. If it is completely underground, the amount of work will be staggering. In the early stage, some large buildings will inevitably need to be placed on the surface of Mars.

    Mars is a deserted orange planet that is daunting. Its surface is covered with large and small volcanoes, and the southern hemisphere is full of traces of meteorite impacts.  Here is Mount Olympus, the highest mountain in the solar system, which is about three times as high as Mount Everest.  There is the Grand Canyon Mariner, the most majestic valley in the solar system, which stretches for more than 3,000 kilometers, is more than 600 kilometers wide at its widest point, and is up to 8 kilometers deep.

    Although Mars is the first choice for space colonies, except for the high-temperature Venus, the energy required to reach Mars is less than that of any planet, but its natural conditions are not good.  Jimmy Bedford, director of the ASA Mars Project, believes that the terraforming time of Mars may be twice as long as previously predicted, that is, more than a thousand years. However, he admits that technological progress is accelerating and the acceleration is unstable. He can only  It can be inferred from the company's current technical level and speed of progress.

    Both the Earth and Mars have atmospheres, and aircraft entering and exiting the atmosphere are more complex than spacecraft. Many additional functions will increase the mass of the aircraft itself, thereby causing waste.  ASA's plan is very clear. It will turn Phobos into a giant space station, produce most of the spacecraft components on the moon, and transport the parts that cannot be manufactured from the earth.  Vehicles entering and exiting Mars and Earth are separated from space vehicles to maximize cost savings, and space docking technology is very simple for asa.

    Phobos has long been named Phobos. Because of territorial disputes, asa is currently negotiating with other aerospace agencies to jointly build a Phobos base.  There is a tendency for earth aerospace agencies to unite, but because of the large initial investment of asa, other agencies are calculating the shares and territory they can occupy.

    The cost of launching a rocket from the moon is only one percent of that of the earth. The production cost of the carbon nanotube-reinforced titanium-aluminum alloy lunar factory used for the main structure of the spacecraft is much lower than that of the earth.  The amount of working fluid liquid hydrogen required by and-2 and ion engines is not large, and the production capacity of the lunar factory is sufficient.  The three-kilometer-long electromagnetic catapult at Yunhai Base was completed last year and underwent ejection tests. It can launch small and medium-mass satellites and spacecraft components to the Asa lunar space station assembly factory at a low cost.

    Hardy then introduced the design plans and finished drawings of three Moonfire spacecrafts. Li Zhuang watched with great interest. Compared with more than ten years ago, the level of asa was obviously higher than nasa.  Even without the GK virus, other agencies, including NASA, are no match for ASA, no matter in terms of personnel quality, quantity, or investment.

    The Moonfire spacecraft is a means of transportation from the moon to Mars. It is divided into manned spacecraft, unmanned cargo spacecraft and mixed spacecraft. It is not much different from the moon-Earth spacecraft, and still uses a combination plan.

    The manned spacecraft is directly named mma1m. Asa is now tired and too lazy to play games. The test spacecraft is preceded by the codename e, the detection spacecraft is preceded by the codename p, and the others are the same.  The mma1m's living cabin is very large and has been redesigned for the cosmic ray protection and living conditions that must be considered for long-distance space voyages.  The bulkhead of the living cabin is equipped with nano-sensors, and the protective material is a lithium boron aluminum plus polymer material composite plate. A spiral superconducting radiation barrier is installed in the middle layer, and the outermost layer is a liquid hydrogen tank made of nanomaterials.  Hydrogen has good properties of blocking cosmic rays and can be used as a cosmic ray barrier.  Boron and lithium filter neutrons, and aluminum absorbs electrons.  The magnetic field generated by the new ion engine, which integrates the advantages of aid-1, aid-2 and aid-3, also protects the living cabin to a certain extent. Its official name is aid-16i, and its thrust and specific impulse are both adjustable.

    All cabin surfaces are covered with a layer of molecular material called "ionomer" developed by the Aerospace Materials Research Institute. After improvements by the Nanoscience Department, its self-healing ability has been upgraded to a higher level than before.

    Theoretically speaking, mma1m¡¯s living cabin is very well protected, but the actual effect still needs to be verified. The initial idea is to use biological servants to conduct experiments. They are no different from the human body and are acceptable.

    The weight of a spaceship is equal to money, but life is higher than money, especially the lives of high-quality talents are more valuable than gold.  ASA has always spared no effort in protecting astronauts, and the life support system has a large design margin.  No matter which theoretical system is followed, the mass change of a spacecraft at low speed and in the solar system environment is extremely limited. Even at the level of asa, it can only achieve a speed of 200 kilometers/second. The mass can be regarded as constant without considering too many variables.  .

    The mma1 series adopts the lunar orbit assembly scheme, and the actual mass will vary depending on the assembly cabin.  The cabins that have been designed and manufactured include large living cabins, command cabins, landing cabins, rescue cabins, biological culture cabins, scientific research cabins, cargo warehouses, control cabins, conventional power cabins, and-2 nuclear power cabins, and indispensable lighter and more powerful cabins.  Sturdy additional segments and more.

    A manned spacecraft is a passenger ship, a cargo spacecraft is a cargo ship, and a spaceship that carries both passengers and cargo is naturally a mixed passenger and cargo ship.  This is related to the name of navigation.On the other hand, human beings have strong thinking inertia and often transfer terms from one industry to other similar industries, but they are actually different.  Just like the train that has been calling for hundreds of years, although it has stopped breathing fire for a long time, everyone knows what type of transportation it refers to.

    Aerospace agencies classify and classify spaceships according to their quality and purpose, and ASA is no exception. It continues the old habit and divides combined spaceships into M, C and MC series. In theory, the C series of unmanned cargo ships driven by smart brains should be the most frequently used.  , but the MC series of mixed passenger and cargo ships has become the protagonist of the lunar and earth spacecraft as the asa accelerates the speed of space immigration.  The VA2 space airliner, which can carry 20 passengers, is the protagonist of the Xinwei Space Center to the LTA space station. Asa uses the return lunar-ground spacecraft to mount the living module and landing module to the moon. It is estimated that transporting 5,000 people to the moon will cost 200 million gold.  coupons, within the acceptable range.

    The first baby born on the moon is three years old this year and has no obvious physical abnormalities. It is not yet known whether he will grow very tall in the future.  The lmb base has a medical team of fifty people, which is affiliated to the asa aerospace medical laboratory and is composed of elite forces drawn from multiple brother units.  The life support system of the mma1 spacecraft and the controlled life and ecological support systems of Phobos and Mars are all researched by members of the LMB medical team. Their conditions are better than those on Earth. Another batch of researchers from the astronaut center will be transported before the Spring Festival.  To the moon.

    The site selection of the asa Mars Golden Plains base is similar to that of the Moon Sea of ??Clouds base. They are both close to the mountain. The underground plan is temporarily used. After the city is formed in the long term, the cave dwelling plan will be used. This plan is the most comfortable and safe to live in.  The official name and radio call sign of the Golden Plains base was taken from Perth, henceforth "Little Perth" and "LPT".  The price paid by Western Australia is high, but the state parliament passed the proposal very smoothly. This is a rare honor. Maybe there will be a large city called New Perth on Mars in the future.

    According to the plan, the Little Perth Base will add at least 100 astronauts every 26 months. Due to the inconvenience of travel, artificial gravity equipment and necessary scientific research, production and living facilities are ready at once.  ASA is designing a large landing module that will land directly at the Little Perth base.

    The scale of the spacecraft based on the plan cannot be small. The initial mass of the first mixed mma11mc is about 800 tons, and the payload is 480 tons. It will send six astronauts to the Phobos base, and then the three of them will take the landing module to the Little Perth base for inspection.  According to details, the three people stayed at the Phobos base to assemble equipment and communicate with the ground.

    After obtaining valid data, the second mma12mc hybrid spacecraft will be adjusted based on the data to transport twenty astronauts to the Phobos base. This spacecraft has three living cabins and a rescue cabin, with an initial mass of about 1,000 tons and an effective  Load capacity 350 tons.

    Following them was the third unmanned cargo spacecraft mma13c, whose target was still the Phobos base. This spacecraft had an initial mass of 1,500 tons and a payload of 975 tons.

    After gathering in the lunar orbit, the spacecraft will be driven directly to Mars by the AND-2 propulsion module. It will no longer fly around frequently to obtain escape velocity like a probe. The astronauts' journey time will be greatly reduced, and they will be less likely to cause conflicts due to the small space and be less susceptible to cosmic radiation.  s damage.

    These will be completed within two years, and the facilities of the Mars LPT base will be no less complete than the lunar LMB base.  The Phobos base has a permanent team of six people, and the LPT base has a team of 20 people stationed in the initial stage, which can easily support the arrival of supplies 26 months later. The design margin of ASA is about 50%, which means that this group of people can even be on Mars.  Stayed there for 39 months without any problems.  If they are strong enough, they can build new facilities to live on forever.  The twenty-six people are equally divided between men and women, which helps reduce conflicts.

    "The advantage of Mars is that it has water and minerals, while Phobos has water and carbon. The disadvantages are all within the acceptable range. What I am wondering now is why the reserves of titanium on the moon are so large? It seems to be prepared for humans to build spacecraft on the moon.  Yes! If we set off from the earth, it is impossible for us to have a spacecraft of this size. The atd-2 deuterium-helium trinuclear fusion engine is being tested. It can drive a spacecraft of tens of thousands of tons. We have the ability to fly a spacecraft of this level on the moon.  It is almost impossible to make it on Earth, and it will be financially bankrupt unless an anti-gravity engine can be developed."

    Hardy¡¯s article suddenly came with this sentence at the end. Li Zhuang couldn¡¯t help but smile when he saw it. This is a question that everyone wants to figure out, but the joint geological and geographical survey team of the Lunar South Pole Village has so far not come up with a conclusion that can convince everyone.  Titanium ore on the moon is easy to smelt and has high purity. The manufacturing cost of nanomaterials under microgravity conditions is much lower than that on the earth. Therefore, the cost of carbon nanometer titanium aluminum alloy, the main component material of the spacecraft, is not high. It is a natural aerospace material base. Others  Resources are equally abundant.

    "I don't know, I'm just a senior repairman and can't take care of aerospace matters." The computer expert muttered and returned to the ground.

    After humming a song and taking a shower, she entered the living room. Lisa grabbed him and asked him a strange question: "Do you have any conflicts with Li Xiang? I always feel that the relationship between you two brothers and sisters is weird. It's both affectionate and  sparse??.  "

    ;
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