"The first step is to remove the damaged Dawn experiment module."
Old Cat used the mouse to circle the module at the end of the Joint Space Station. The Dawn module was still docked to the Crystal module, but it had long been abandoned. Power and control had been cut off.
Mai Dong hugged her laptop as data cables floated around her. She was huddled between layers of control panels, her face illuminated by the computer monitor's white backlight.
"Mr. Cat, the hatch is locked. The system self-check is complete. The space station is normal. Orion II is normal."
"Kunlun Station received."
"Generator ready to ignite," Mai Dong reported. "Raptor-02 ready. Three, two, one … ignite."
The space station trembled slightly. Mai Dong looked up. The tremors were transmitted from the walls to the data cables. Energy flowed along the long black wires, and the floating pen and paper reacted much more slowly. They were still floating leisurely in the air. In a zero-gravity environment, these floating objects had almost no interaction with the space station. From a certain perspective, they were independent entities. They were just flying at the same average speed of three kilometers per second.
Orion II's rocket engine was activated once again. It rotated the space station with a very small amount of thrust. This was an attitude adjustment, and the goal was to remove the Dawn experiment module.
"Joint Space Station roll complete. Attitude stable. Raptor-02 shut down." Mai Dong turned off the engine. "Mr. Cat."
"OK, well done. You are now a very skilled spaceship pilot, Miss Mai Dong." Old Cat nodded. "The arm has been locked. All attention … disconnecting the mechanical connection."
The moment Old Cat said that, Mai Dong felt the core module shake slightly. This meant that the Dawn module had officially separated from the core module. Ever since Old Cat cut off power and control nine months ago, the last mechanical connection had been disconnected. This veteran module that had existed since the Joint Space Station's establishment had finally completed its historical mission. It could finally retire in peace.
The arm swept past the porthole with the Dawn cabin. Mai Dong watched it disappear behind the solar panels.
"Mr Cat, did you release it?"
"Yes, it will be in the orbit of Mars for about three months," the Old Cat said. "Then it will crash in the atmosphere."
The girl closed the laptop in her hand and folded her arms not far away.
"The second step is to modify Orion and the Joint Space Station!
After removing the Dawn module, the remaining space will be used to dock with the Orion spacecraft. It sounds simple, but the same work will take at least half a month in Earth's orbit. "
Old Cat paced back and forth inside Kunlun Station. It was highly focused. As it sorted out its own logic, it loudly described the steps of its work.
"Other than the command module, the other seven modules on the central module of Orion II will all have to be removed."
Old Cat sat on the table with a monitor in its arms. It pointed out the schematic diagram to Tang Yue and Mai Dong. "The optimal plan is as follows: first remove the alpha-service module of the central module of Orion and dock with the Crystal module. The second module to be removed is the beta service module, which will dock with the hope module. Finally, the gamma service module will dock with the discovery module!"
Old Cat's toes moved on the screen, and the touch-screen monitor showed the docking result.
According to Old Cat's plan, after the modification, the Joint Space Station would increase to nine modules.
"Why are all the modules of Orion codenames?
Don't they have names? "Tang Yue asked.
"Of course they do." Old Cat glanced at him. "I just forgot."
"What about the airlock?"
"Without a doubt, we will first remove the airlock before docking."
Old Cat looked at Mai Dong. "This will require a long time and a large amount of EVA work, Miss Mai Dong."
"Okay." Mai Dong nodded.
"We have to hurry."
Old Cat held the monitor in its arms. "The remaining four modules on Orion are all inflatable modules. We have to empty and pressurize these four inflatable modules and tie them to the outer shell of the Eagle lander."
"As airbags."
"Yes, as airbags when the lander lands."
Old Cat nodded. "At this point, only the command module will be left of the central module of Orion II. The command module will be responsible for the control and communication during landing …"
"Old Cat, the entire line is red again!"
"Change."
"The current attack angle is 12 degrees 37 minutes 55 seconds. Reduce it by one second?"
"Reduce!"
"Data overflow."
"Smash!"
Once the modification of Orion II officially began, there was immediately a shortage of manpower. Kunlun Station's HP computer and the space station's computer system were running at full capacity. Every monitor in front of Tang Yue was filled with graphs and data. He had a pen and paper in his hand and memorized everything.
Old Cat paced around Kunlun Station like a feline suffering from zoo syndrome.
"Old Cat, the first prediction of Comet Tomcat-Tang-Mai I'm out!" Tang Yue suddenly stood up and waved the draft paper in his hand.
The space station's telescope had finally collected enough data. The workstation made calculations based on the observed data and made a preliminary prediction at a distance of one astronomical unit.
"It will hit the northern hemisphere," Tang Yue said.
"Nonsense."
Old Cat pulled a chair over and turned on the computer's prediction results. The graphical simulation was very intuitive. It was a colorful topographic map. Red was a plateau, blue was a plain, and there was a blinking red circle on the surface of Mars. It was very eye-catching.
"This is the range of the comet's possible impact. With all the data collected so far, the computer can only be accurate to this extent."
Tang Yue enlarged the map of Mars. The workstation marked out the area where Comet Tomcat-Tang-Mai I would likely hit the surface. It was a very large oblate with a semi-major axis of more than 3,000 kilometers. The detailed latitude and longitude of the ellipse's center were 18 ° N, 45 ° E.
Old Cat pondered for a moment.
"This area is too broad and rough. It covers almost half of the Arabia Terra and the whole of the Sabaea Terra."
Old Cat pointed at the map. "Look, we are located in the Isidis Planum. To our west is the massive Sabaea Terra. You have to know that it is 4,700 kilometers wide. Further west of the Sabaea Terra is the Arabia Terra. Its east-west length is also 3,000 kilometers.
The center of this ellipse is located in the middle of the Sabaea Terra, but its semi-major axis is 3,000 kilometers. That is to say, this area of more than 28 million square kilometers is the possible impact of Comet Tomcat-Tang-Mai I. The comet could hit anywhere in this ellipse. "
Tang Yue stared at the large red circle for a long time. Then, he pointed at the small plain on the map. The latter was also within the range of the large circle. This meant that the comet could also hit Kunlun Station.
"Kunlun Station is also within this circle."
"The area of the Isidis Planum is too small. What we are looking at is not the probability of the comet hitting the Isidis Planum. The center of the predicted area is 2,500 kilometers away from Kunlun Station. I said that the impact of the comet will destroy everything within a radius of 2,500 kilometers. If it happens to hit the point of 18 ° N and 45 ° E, then Kunlun Station will be destroyed."
Old Cat's voice was low. "Kunlun Station's survival depends on whether the distance between us and the impact point is more than 2,500 kilometers."
"That is to say, if the comet hits the west of the center of the ellipse, Kunlun Station will be able to escape the disaster," Tang Yue said.
Old Cat nodded. "If it hits the east of the center, then the distance between Kunlun Station and the impact point will be less than 2,500 kilometers. Everything will be over."
"A 50/50 chance?"
Old Cat nodded slowly. "Roughly speaking, it's a 50/50 chance."
Tang Yue raised his head and took a deep breath. "So, there is a circle of divine retribution above Kunlun Station. Next, we have to see where the circle shrinks. If it shrinks to the west, then Kunlun Station will be safe. If it shrinks to the east, then we will be involved in a disaster that will destroy the world."
"Yes, that's what I mean. Continue to collect observation data." Old Cat pressed on Tang Yue's shoulder. "We have to see where it shrinks to."