Chapter 142 Landing
Outside the porthole, the thick clouds on the huge planet reflected the light from the sun, which even made Zhou Cheng feel a little dazzling.
As seen from Earth, Venus is the brightest planet besides the Sun and the Moon.
Ideally, the brightness of Venus alone would be enough to barely cast a shadow on a person.
The reason it is so bright is because its cloud cover is so thick.
This makes its internal temperature extremely high.
The surface temperature of Venus is as high as several hundred degrees Celsius, and it is everywhere. Not only that, it also frequently experiences acid rain, and various toxic and harmful gases are everywhere.
"Fortunately, my target is not Venus, but Mercury. Although Mercury is farther away and closer to the sun, which exposes it to higher radiation and more heat, I can avoid both radiation and heat.
You can hide in any canyon or behind any mountain and avoid these effects, unlike on Venus where there is nowhere to hide."
Sighing in its heart, the Hope spacecraft quickly approached Venus, and then with the help of Venus's gravity, it completed a deceleration, and at the same time completed a change of orbit, adjusted its course, and chased towards the more distant Mercury.
Mercury is orbiting the sun, and at this moment, the Hope spacecraft is also orbiting the sun. However, the Hope spacecraft is moving faster, so it can gradually catch up with Mercury from behind, and then be captured by its gravity and enter its orbit.
This process requires extremely precise control. The speed cannot be too fast or too slow, and the angle cannot be too large or too small. Each engine start-up and thrust must be just right. Otherwise, either the already limited fuel is consumed, requiring more fuel to adjust, or the adjustment is not accurate enough, ultimately preventing the spacecraft from reaching the intended orbit.
During this process, you also need to pay attention to the sun at all times and adjust the sun visor to prevent the scorching sun from shining on the hull.
Everything is so complicated and so precise that the slightest mistake could result in the destruction of the ship and the death of people.
Fortunately, Zhou Cheng had received the most rigorous training while on Earth. Furthermore, Earth's forces were always keeping a close eye on this place, providing Zhou Cheng with guidance and reference at all times.
It was under these circumstances that the last few months slowly passed.
Behind him, Venus has degenerated from a huge celestial body to a shining star.
Its position in the sky is not far from the Earth. At the same time, the Earth is also an extremely bright star in the sky at this moment.
From this angle, the two shining stars stand side by side, which is extremely beautiful.
In front of us is the dark gray Mercury.
At this moment it is no longer the size of a star, but has grown to the size of the moon.
Always paying attention to the distance between him and Mercury, his own speed and angle, Zhou Cheng approached it cautiously.
Mercury grew larger and larger, eventually filling almost the entire field of vision. The Hope spacecraft was only a little over 300 kilometers away.
According to its original orbit, the Hope spacecraft will pass by Mercury at this distance and continue moving forward.
But at this most critical moment, the engine of the Hope spacecraft started.
The ejection of high-speed flames significantly slowed down the spacecraft. As a result, the spacecraft, which was about to pass by Mercury, lost the speed required to escape Mercury's gravitational field and began to orbit it at a speed of about four kilometers per second.
After three years and a voyage of hundreds of millions of kilometers, at this moment, the Hope spacecraft was finally successfully captured by Mercury's gravitational field.
It began to orbit Mercury at a speed of 1.2 hours per orbit.
Similarly, every 1.2 hours, Zhou Cheng will experience a cycle of day and night on Mercury.
Through the porthole, Zhou Cheng clearly saw the bumpy surface of Mercury and truly felt its dead silence and desolation.
Mercury rotates very slowly. Using the same analogy of years and days as Earth's 365 days, each Mercury day lasts for the same amount of time as two Mercury years.
This slow rotation causes one side of it to face the sun for a long time, while the other side faces away from the sun for a long time.
On the side facing the sun, the highest temperature can reach over 400 degrees Celsius, while on the back the lowest temperature can drop to over minus 170 degrees Celsius.
Zhou Cheng orbited Mercury like this for a month.
During this month, he released three Mercury satellites to serve as a transit point for future communications with the Earth.
At the same time, Zhou Cheng also conducted a detailed exploration of Mercury's topography and sent the data back to Earth for analysis by people at the Earth base to confirm the best landing site.
Once the Hope spacecraft, with a total mass of over a thousand tons, landed, it would be impossible to move it. The landing site had to be carefully selected.
In addition to these two things, Zhou Cheng also began to conduct detailed inspections and tests on the Hope spacecraft to confirm whether the landing reverse thrust rocket was working properly.
Time passed as the landing retro-thrust rockets were constantly adjusted, started, and shut down.
After Zhou Cheng finally confirmed that all the reverse thrust rockets were working properly, the people at the Earth base also finally determined the landing site.
It's at Mercury's pole. There's a massive impact crater with a gently sloping surface. If the Hope spacecraft were to land there, it could not only use the crater's walls to shelter from the scorching sun and intense radiation, but also place solar panels just outside the crater, generating energy.
Moreover, according to previous exploration, there is a large amount of water ice at the bottom of this crater because it is permanently shielded from sunlight.
If there is a shortage of water in the Hope spacecraft, Zhou Cheng can obtain supplies more conveniently.
After considering various factors, the Earth team finally gave this answer.
Then, it's time to land.
The Hope spacecraft started its main engine again and began to slow down.
Losing speed, the spacecraft began to fall towards Mercury.
Under precise control, the spacecraft finally completed the adjustment after seven hours and more than four orbits around Mercury.
This landing will be the end of the entire journey.
The terrain of Mercury began to expand in Zhou Cheng's field of vision. The rolling mountains, the uneven surface, and the impact craters everywhere were clearly visible.
"Fortunately, Mercury has only an extremely thin atmosphere, otherwise, this landing would be much more difficult and risky."
Zhou Cheng was thinking silently, concentrating on controlling the spacecraft.
When there were only a few thousand meters of altitude left, the reverse thrust rockets were activated, pushing the huge ship to slow down suddenly.
The spacecraft continued to descend slowly, and finally, it stopped steadily on a flat ground on the wall of the crater.
Zhou Cheng's heart, which had been hanging in the air, finally settled down.
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