These past few days, Zhang Fan has been frantically studying professional knowledge about space.
Zhang Fan had never realized how much he craved the power of knowledge.
Those technical space terms, dry flight charts, and complex orbital curves now seem as beautiful and alluring as a graceful young woman.
Zhang Fan regretted not paying attention in class when he was with Professor Su.
What would happen if the last male animal in the solar system met the last female?
Spring has arrived, all things are coming back to life, and it's mating season again on the vast grasslands...
Just thinking about it is exciting!
Zhang Fan felt it was his duty to shoulder the great mission of continuing human civilization!
Note that this wasn't his request, after all, he's the only single guy left in the solar system, so the other person didn't have any other options, right?
At first, he naturally refused, but as the chosen one, he could only reluctantly accept this fate.
But soon a bucket of cold water was poured over his head.
Zhang Fan discovered that he couldn't get to the Soyuz space station, and Ishihara Yui couldn't land either.
The Soyuz space station, serving as a transit station for landing on Mars, does not have the capability to land on Mars itself, and the Vulcan spacecraft did not carry a landing module.
The farthest distance that the Bird's Nest can reach into space is the DF3 weather rocket standing on the outside.
The DF3 weather rocket is a short-range, small weather rocket whose main function is to launch a small weather satellite into low Earth orbit during extreme Martian weather events, such as dust storms, to monitor extreme weather conditions from the air.
The Soyuz spacecraft orbits at an altitude of 500 kilometers above the Martian surface, while the DF3 weather rocket can only deliver satellites to a low Earth orbit at a maximum altitude of 200 kilometers above the Martian surface.
Even if the DF3 weather rocket has a range of 500 kilometers, Zhang Fan would still be unable to travel to the Soyuz space station by rocket.
Weather rockets, as the name suggests, are used to launch weather satellites and are not designed for human use. Using them to leave Mars is tantamount to launching a naked person into space.
The "Bird's Nest" base and the "Soyuz" space station are 500 kilometers apart, which seems far, but it's really nothing in the grand scheme of the solar system. If you were to turn the solar system into a navigation map, then Zhang Fan and Yui would be like two cars that rear-ended each other.
It seemed within reach, but Zhang Fan couldn't break through the 500-kilometer barrier.
Yui Ishihara often returned to the "Vulcan" exploration ship because it was smaller and more familiar to her, unlike the "Soyuz" which was so spacious and frightening to girls.
"Mr. Zhang Fan, am I going to die?" Ishihara Yui looked dejected and pitiful in the communication screen.
Neither side could reach the other, meaning Yui Ishihara would have to spend the rest of her life alone on the "Vulcan." The heat was bearable; as long as she turned off video communication, she would be "free," making the heat acceptable.
Yui Ishihara's demeanor during the communication was somewhat like that of a news anchor: impeccably dressed at the table, but completely naked underneath. No wonder, it was simply too hot inside the "Vulcan."
Zhang Fan would never tell her that her entire body could be seen through the reflection on the monitor behind her.
"Mr. Zhang Fan, are you alright?"
"I'm fine."
"But your nose is bleeding..."
"Huh?" Zhang Fan rubbed his nose and quickly changed the subject. "I've been feeling a bit feverish lately, uh... Yui, you just said you could eat your food for a few more days?"
“Three days.” As Ishihara Yui said this, her face fell, and she looked like she was about to cry again.
"Don't worry," Zhang Fan quickly reassured her. "Mars probes usually have emergency food supplies. Try looking for them."
"Waaaaah... Mr. Zhang Fan, what I'm eating now is the emergency food stored on the 'Vulcan'." Ishihara Yui was only going to stay on Mars for one day, and they only gave her enough food for one day, which she has already finished.
"Wait a minute, I heard that the standard emergency food reserves on a Mars probe are usually enough to feed the astronauts for a week, and it's only been a few days..."
"Waaah..." Yui Ishihara cried even louder, "It's all my fault, Mr. Zhang Fan, the food storage area on the 'Vulcan' can't be refrigerated, and a lot of the food inside has spoiled, 555..."
"Why didn't you move the food to the space station in advance?" Even if there is no special compartment for storing food on the space station, at least the food would not be exposed to the high temperature of the Vulcan and spoil so quickly.
"The space station is too big, I'm scared there."
Zhang Fan was speechless. He really couldn't understand why JAXA Space Agency would choose such a silly girl and put her on Mars, which is 60 million kilometers away from Earth.
“There’s an old saying in our country, ‘Heaven never seals off all paths.’ I have some good news for you. Do you want to hear it?” Zhang Fan comforted Yui.
"What is it, Mr. Zhang Fan?"
"I've found the air conditioner motherboard you requested."
"Really? Year!" Ishihara Yui burst into laughter through her tears; she really didn't want to live this oven-like life anymore.
"But you have to hold on until I get the food and motherboard to you."
"Okay! Mr. Zhang Fan, thank you." Ishihara Yui bowed deeply. "I will do my best!"
How many steps are involved in delivering the food and air conditioning to Yui?
It consists of three steps:
1. Stuff things into the rocket.
II. Ignition.
III. Rocket docking with space station.
It's that simple.
Damn it! This is not simple at all!
Let's set aside whether the DF3 weather rocket can reach the Soyuz space station and dock with it.
Zhang Fan checked the operation manual for the DF3 weather rocket. The pre-launch inspection alone involves nearly 10,000 procedures, which is far beyond what can be completed in three days.
If Zhang Fan had completed these procedures step by step, by the time the DF3 weather rocket was launched, Yui would have long since become a female corpse in the space station.
However, there is also good news: the Soyuz is equipped with a maintenance robotic arm. As long as the target can be launched into the range of the robotic arm, the Soyuz can capture the target without direct docking.
This greatly increases the margin for error, making Zhang Fan's plan less difficult.
It's as easy as hitting a golf ball from Antarctica into a hole in the Arctic Ocean.
Damn it!
Zhang Fan's approach to solving problems was simple and crude.
Since the DF3 weather rocket could not be launched by following the established procedures, and the rocket's thrust was insufficient to reach the Soyuz space orbit, it was better to start all over again!
Utilizing all available resources, we will completely modify the DF3 weather rocket, transforming it into a launch vehicle capable of reaching a space orbit 500 kilometers above the Martian surface!
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