Dead on Mars

Chapter 190 - Sol Three Hundred and Twenty-Two, Stare at the Sun
Chapter 190: Sol Three Hundred and Twenty-Two, Stare at the Sun

“Coordinate system established.

“Coupling model established.

“With the origin as the target’s center of mass, the core module will align with the x-axis, and the y-axis will be coplanar with the core module. The z-axis and y-axis will remain perpendicular… The intermediate axis angle of the space station is 14° 25′ 37”.

“Attitude control modeling completed!

“Obstacle-avoidance model completed!”

Tang Yue and Tomcat were very careful. Using SPT276 to stabilize the space station wasn’t an easy task. This engine had once been installed on the Hayabusa III asteroid probe. Due to the long-distant orbital maneuver, it wasn’t originally part of the attitude stabilizer on the space station. Even the control data link was added at a later date. The space station’s three-axes stabilizer had already been placed out of commission from the collision.

“The United Space Station has angular velocity in all three axes,” Tang Yue said. Based on the data transferred from the space station, the space station wasn’t just spinning simply. It was rotating while tumbling about.

“I see it.” Tomcat stared at the slowly spinning space station model. “SPT276 has very limited degrees of freedom. The velocity along the x-axis can be resolved. But it will be much more complicated for the z-axis… Miss Mai Dong, do you copy me? Miss Mai Dong?”

“Mr. Cat, I copy you.”

“Listen to me. Can you see the Sun?” Tomcat asked.

“Yes.”

“Alright.” Tomcat wore a heavy expression. “The sensors on the space station are basically out of commission. We have to find a reliable reference point. The best reference point is the Sun. We will be aligning towards the Sun.”

“Mai Dong, stare at the Sun,” Tang Yue said. “The Sun, the window, and your eyes will form a line. This line is the baseline… Get it? Mai Dong, you must stare at the Sun.”

Mai Dong looked up. The bright sunlight was passing through the glass window into her eyes. But soon, it flew across the window. The star was more than two hundred million kilometers away. Even photons took thirteen minutes to cover this long distance. In the void, they drew out the straightest lines in the universe—if one didn’t consider the influence of gravity. Light would propagate in a straight line, something even the straightest ruler could not reproduce.

Light would draw out their reference line.

As long as Mai Dong stared at the Sun.

“Next, we will have to shut down the space station’s system and most of its functionality. I’ll redirect all the power to the SPT276.” Tomcat sat there and began adjusting the space station’s power allocation.

SPT276 was the strongest electric rocket, but similarly, it was an electricity guzzler. The power expenditure was alarming. Back on the Hayabusa III, it’s true name was “five-hours of charging, two hours of work.” Due to the short endurance it had, the Hall thruster’s advantage couldn’t be brought out. However, this was a product of JAXA, and the Japanese often had out-of-this-world ideas when it came to aeronautics.

The United Space Station’s battery reserves far exceeded those of the Hayabusa III asteroid probe, but it still couldn’t handle its peculiarities.

Just as Tomcat said that the LED light above Mai Dong’s head died out. Tomcat had remotely switched off the space station’s computer, diverting all the power to the engine, leaving only the communications system operational.

“Miss Mai Dong, communications system test.”

“Copy.”

“Its thrust is only seventy Newtons.” Tang Yue bent down. “How long do we need to stabilize the space station?”

“Although it’s only seventy Newtons, its advantage is that the moment of force is high enough. This is because the SPT276 is installed on the truss. Even though the truss is small, we don’t have to worry about the torque as long as the length is long enough. In addition… I expect that the present United Space Station’s overall mass is less than a hundred tonnes.”

Tomcat was connecting the backup batteries to the super-capacitor. SPT276 was a 600 kW stationary plasma thruster, so the energy density it could release instantaneously far exceeded the space station’s battery. Therefore, there was a need to store up energy before initializing the SPT276.

The item responsible for that was a capacitor. It was called a super-capacitor by everyone. This capacitor was, in fact, the reason the SPT276 was so big. It was extremely fast, allowing the engine to take precise control at the millisecond level.

“The super-capacitor is charged up. The primary battery has 2% capacity left. The secondary battery has 33% left.”

The two batteries of the United Space Station’s core module were solid-state batteries. The power density exceeded 400 Wh/kg.

“How long does each release take each time?”

“Five minutes. While the pulses occur, the actual speed reduction will take forty minutes,” Tomcat replied. “We should be able to reduce the space station’s spinning to an angular velocity of 7°/s.”

“And then?”

“Then wait for the next recharge.” Tomcat looked at the time. “The next recharge will end about six hours later. Then, we can begin our second attitude adjustment.”

“Another six hours?”

At this critical juncture when a second determined one’s fate, Mai Dong’s life was hanging on a thread. Yet, the rescue provided by the surface was like a turtle’s crawl.

“It’s because the solar panels are gone,” Tomcat said. “After all, we only have four panels left. All stations! Commencing initialization of SPT276!”

Tomcat switched on the Hall-effect thruster on the truss, causing the Xeon ions to accelerate in the electric field. The high-speed plasma spewed out doing work on the space station. However, Mai Dong didn’t feel a thing. The core module was still spinning with the occasional dull thud sounding from space station fragments hitting the Crystal. The electric thruster’s thrust was just too small, and with Tomcat’s precise control, the time it took to slow down took more than forty minutes.

After losing power, the Crystal was nothing but an empty shell. Mai Dong looked out of the window and the fragment closest to her was floating just meters away from her. It was probably the hull of a module and it was about the size of the incubator. It was deformed, with one side covered in a white membrane, while the other side was silver metal. It was slowly spinning, reflecting the sunlight as it spun.

Mai Dong was extremely thirsty, but she didn’t dare drink any water.

There were only three liters of water left in the core module. It was all stored in the spacesuits’ water bags. The girl knew that she needed to rely on this pittance to hang on for a very long period of time. She had already lost the OGS, preventing the oxygen and water from being recycled.

Water and oxygen were no longer renewable resources.

There was another soft, dull thud.

Clearly, some object’s fragment had hit the core module. Thankfully, their relative speeds weren’t too great.

“Is there anything I need to do,” Mai Dong asked, “apart from staring at the Sun?”

“Lass, just protect yourself. Leave the other problems to us…”

Tomcat suddenly cut off Tang Yue. “Miss Mai Dong, if you wish, sing a song.”

Sing?

Tang Yue and Mai Dong were taken aback as the latter fell into a daze for a few seconds before giggling.

“Alright. What should I sing?”

“Sing…” Tomcat stared at the space station on the monitor. “God is a Cat.”