Tang Yue wasn't sure if Buddha was still around, as he wasn't a Buddhist. Tang Yue could recite the Tranquil Mind Mantra, but not the Diamond Sutra. However, Tang Yue vaguely remembered that Buddha's jurisdiction was not limited to Earth. In Buddhism, there were three types of tribulations: minor, medium, and major. A minor tribulation lasted for 1.68 million years, and every 20 minor tribulations was a medium tribulation, which meant that it lasted for 33.6 million years. The last 80 minor tribulations was a major tribulation, which meant that the major tribulation lasted for 26.8 billion years.
Currently, the known age of the universe was about 13.8 billion years, which wasn't even long enough for a tribulation in Buddhism. The Buddhist scriptures said that every major tribulation had the birth of a thousand Buddhas, which meant that before the Big Bang, there was still a large group of nagging old monks.
But what kind of Bodhisattva was Gatling Gatling Bodhisattva?
Tang Yue took another sip of the strong coffee, closed his eyes, and opened them again. At this time, he couldn't care less about saving water. If Old Cat was here, he would never let him be so extravagant as to waste fresh water to make coffee.
Without Old Cat, he could do whatever he wanted, and no one would care about him even if he was in the sauna.
Mai Dong left the Crystal module, nimbly bypassed the cables floating in the air, and went through the module interface. She needed to do a routine inspection of the space station and take care of the plants in the petri dishes. Ah Changshan, Haijing, Runtu, and the Chi hadn't seen Mai Dong for a whole day. The Joint Space Station would pass over Kunlun Station in 40 minutes, and Mai Dong could use this time to complete her daily routine.
"Tang Yue, I think we're doing this too slowly."
Mai Dong was wearing headphones. "It's been 36 hours since Mr. Cat went missing. We've been looking at photos for 24 hours, and we've only analyzed 1,400 photos. This is only 1/66 of the total work. Won't it take us two months to finish looking at all the photos?"
"Yes." Tang Yue nodded. "More than 1,500 hours."
Mai Dong pulled out a particular control panel from the space station and stuck her head out to check the cables before pressing a button. "Is there a faster and more convenient method?
Aren't we pressed for time?
Image interpretation should be done as quickly as possible. "
Tang Yue leaned back in his chair. The image on the computer screen changed, and the photo number jumped to 1480.
"What other methods do we have?
The maximum resolution of the camera is only five meters, and the maximum field of view of the lens is only about two thousand square meters. Calling it a remote sensing system is already praising it. To think that it's a Zeiss product. "
Tang Yue sighed. "We only have a poker in our hands. Do you expect it to be comparable to the Weber telescope?"
Logically speaking, it wasn't difficult to search for a target on the Martian surface. If Jiuquan and Wenchang were to do it, they could come up with hundreds of different plans. Furthermore, each plan was simpler and more convenient than the last. Things like high-precision surface scanning, super image blurring, and recognition, much less using the United Space Station, they had the ability to find Tomcat from thousands of kilometers away on Earth.
But no matter what method was used, there was a prerequisite, and that was imaging.
High-precision and high-resolution surface imaging was the key to everything. This was the common point of all the plans and the basis for implementation. The other fancy parts such as super computer AI contrast recognition were just to shorten the time and speed up the process. If the imaging step was not taken, everything else would be empty talk.
"If we had a super powerful telescope with a resolution of less than one meter and a field of view of more than one square kilometer, why would we have to work so hard?" Tang Yue said. "Wouldn't it be easier to get two panoramic photos and let the computer compare them?
The problem is that we don't have it. "
That was the truth. Tang Yue also didn't wish to use such a primitive and slow method. Using his naked eyes for a long period of time nearly blinded his Khorium gold-plated eyes. Unfortunately, his basic conditions were lacking. Apart from his eyes, he didn't have any other tools that were more suitable.
"To be honest, you're lucky to have found this optical tracking system."
Tang Yue said, "If we don't even have this, then we're really helpless. If it's slow, then so be it … We have to believe in Old Cat. It's life is very tough."
"There's one in the Dawn module." Mai Dong pushed the control panel back. "High-efficiency observation equipment. There's one in the Dawn module."
"I know there's one in the Dawn module, but the Dawn module has been destroyed." Tang Yue shook his head.
Back then, the Dawn module's wall had cracked during the collision, causing a very serious loss of pressure. Old Cat had closed and locked the hatch, cutting off the power and air supply. Now, the Dawn module was just a cold tomb, completely unusable.
Mai Dong thought for a moment. "I can try to restart the equipment in the Dawn module."
Tang Yue was shocked.
"Don't do anything rash, girl!" Tang Yue was very strict. "Don't open the hatch without permission, and don't enter the Dawn module!"
The last time, Old Cat and Mai Dong had tried to repair the Dawn module, but they had failed in the end. The Dawn module, which had lost air and pressure for more than three months, was no different from the outside world. No one knew if the equipment, which had been exposed to the vacuum for a long time, could still work.
Mai Dong alone would not be able to restart the Dawn module. She was just a layman, and acting rashly could lead to disastrous results.
Old Cat was missing, and if something happened to Mai Dong, Tang Yue could really find a crooked tree and hang himself.
Hmm … Then he wouldn't die anytime soon.
"Did you hear me?"
Tang Yue was very worried that the girl would do something stupid in a moment of impulse. "You're definitely not allowed to open the hatch!
You're not allowed to enter the Dawn module! "
"Oh … I got it," Mai Dong said.
"Promise me."
"I promise you, I'll definitely not open the hatch and enter the Dawn module without permission," Mai Dong said.
"I swear on the lives of Ah Chang and the Classic of Mountains and Seas."
The girl was stunned, then pursed her lips. "You're so evil."
Tang Yue shrugged. A great man had to be ruthless.
"If we can't use the equipment in the Dawn module, then we'll have to change our search method. At our current speed, we'll need another two months. This definitely won't work." Mai Dong was deep in thought. "Is there a faster way to search?"
"The method we're using now is already the most efficient. Scanning in sequence, searching by number, we won't miss anything. If we continue using this method, we'll definitely be able to find Old Cat."
"Actually, we can change our way of thinking."
The girl twirled her hair around her fingertips. "Prioritize searching for Mr. Cat's most likely location."
"Isn't his most likely location the Chelomey probe's landing point within sixty kilometers of Kunlun Station?"
They had lost contact with Old Cat for forty-eight hours. Based on its normal speed, its location could only be within sixty kilometers of Chelomey. Any further and it would exceed the Mars Wanderer's performance limit.
"No … No, this area is still too big."
Mai Dong shook her head. "Think about it, Tang Yue. Whether Mr. Cat's vehicle was damaged or the antenna malfunctioned, the biggest reason is that it was hit by a huge external force. However, this kind of thing wouldn't happen if it was driving normally on flat ground."
Tang Yue was stunned.
"Mr. Cat couldn't have flipped over on flat ground. The most likely cause of the accident is the terrain," Mai Dong continued to explain.
Tang Yue understood. "So we should prioritize searching for areas with cliffs, steep slopes, and gullies?"
“Bingo！”
Mai Dong snapped her fingers, indicating that Tang Yue was absolutely right. If Old Cat had unfortunately flipped over, it would most likely have fallen into a deep gully or at the bottom of a cliff.
This kind of steep terrain was very rare in the Isidis Planum. Tang Yue and Mai Dong only needed to search one by one to find the scene of the accident.