Looking at the "soil" that had turned into a pile of crimson fragments, Bai Yixuan's expression turned ugly.
"broken."
He said in a low voice, "How long of drilling pipe have we prepared?"
Hong Fan thought for a moment: "Just to be on the safe side, I probably brought about thirty meters."
"What's wrong?"
Bai Yixuan breathed a slight sigh of relief and pointed to the drill hole a few centimeters in front of him: "Look, the drilling machine drilled five meters, and all that came out was dust and fine particles."
"Professor Lü estimated at the time that this part was only two to three meters deep!"
Upon hearing this, Hong Fan realized the problem.
Bai Yixuan continued with a slightly grave expression, "Currently, we don't know how deep this part is. Fortunately, we brought a 30-meter drilling pipe, otherwise... I estimate we wouldn't even see a shadow of the underground ice layer!"
As he spoke, Bai Yixuan put the drilling steel pipe back onto the drilling machine.
"Let's continue. Hopefully, we can find so-called Martian life within the length of the steel pipe."
...
Meanwhile, inside the US Mars capsule, one kilometer away.
"Beep! Beep! Beep!"
Just as everyone was preparing to go to bed and rest, ending this tiring and depressing day, a piercing alarm sounded from all the speakers in the Mars capsule.
Andrew, who had just lay down on the single bed, suddenly opened his eyes and sprang up from the floor with a somersault.
What's going on?!
Hearing the alarm blaring, a flash of anger crossed Andrew's eyes.
Damn it, are the Xia people coming again?!
Without thinking too much, he casually put on his clothes and ran straight towards cabin number one.
A few dozen seconds later, Andrew pushed open the tightly closed door of the No. 1 cabin.
He immediately looked toward the radar.
No abnormalities were found.
He paused for a moment, then turned and looked around.
The next moment, his pupils suddenly contracted!
"Captain! What happened?!"
Bruno and Joey's voices came from behind: "Are the Xia people here again?"
"no!"
Hearing Andrew's response, Bruno and Joey breathed a slight sigh of relief, and their expressions relaxed considerably.
"Something went wrong with our central control computer..." Andrew said as he hurried inside.
"hiss!"
"WTF??!"
Bruno and Joey gasped sharply, their eyes widening in shock!
...
"Bruno?" Andrew looked at Bruno sitting in front of the computer with a serious expression and asked in a low voice, "What exactly happened?"
As he spoke, Andrew's eyes were filled with panic and unease.
This is the central control computer!
If any malfunction occurs, all three of them will die inside this tiny Mars capsule!
Bruno tapped a few keys on the keyboard, and his face instantly turned grim as he looked at the lines of error code that appeared on the screen.
He slowly turned his head and gave Andrew beside him a meaningful look: "Captain, you were right."
"Our air circulation equipment has malfunctioned."
"To be precise, the problem lies with the carbon dioxide absorber in the air circulation system."
"At the current pace, in about three days, the Mars capsule will be filled with large amounts of carbon dioxide and other toxic gases."
"Even with sufficient oxygen, excessive carbon dioxide can still cause us to die."
Andrew's expression changed drastically.
In his panic, a thought flashed through his mind: "Bruno! I remember that Pathfinder III carried some components, including a carbon dioxide absorber, right?"
Before Bruno could reply, Joey chimed in, "Yes! Definitely!"
"To prevent any accidents, NASA specifically equipped the system with two complete air circulation systems!"
Hearing this, Bruno breathed a slight sigh of relief.
The previously solemn expression vanished, replaced by an indescribable sense of ease.
He shrugged slightly and said jokingly, "Everyone, it was a false alarm!"
"I thought we'd have to ask the 'Mystic Maiden II' spacecraft next door for help, but it seems our NASA is pretty reliable after all!"
He joked as he opened the hatch of Mars Pod One: "Come on, you two, let's go to the warehouse and find a spare air circulation system!"
...
Mars Module 3.
As a warehouse that supported the three astronauts for three months, the No. 3 module contained mostly various types of compressed food.
Of course, in addition to various kinds of compressed biscuits, NASA also thoughtfully prepared some canned fast food to improve the astronauts' meals.
Although these canned fast food items don't taste very good, they're still much better than compressed biscuits.
Andrew and Bruno laboriously moved the boxes full of food and fresh water in front of them aside.
"Found it!"
Andrew's eyes lit up as he looked at the box in front of him that was marked with the logo of an air circulation device.
Bruno breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing Andrew's voice.
"We finally found it..." Bruno wiped the fine beads of sweat from his forehead. "We've practically turned this warehouse upside down!"
As he spoke, Bruno tugged at his collar and said with a strange look, "By the way, don't you guys feel a little stuffy?"
"Has the carbon dioxide concentration already started to rise?"
Upon hearing Bruno's remarks, Joey glanced at his watch and then rolled his eyes.
What are you saying?
"The carbon dioxide concentration inside the cabin is currently 0.1% higher than normal, it would be strange if you could feel it!"
"It's purely psychological!"
Bruno chuckled and crouched down to help Andrew drag out the large box.
After the box was opened, a look of relief flashed in the eyes of the three astronauts as they saw the brand-new air circulation equipment inside.
“I remember the air circulation equipment needs to be replaced outside the Mars capsule, right?” Andrew said, frowning as he found the carbon dioxide absorption device. “Looks like we’ll have to do another spacewalk.”
...
Mars Module No. 5.
As the only passage between the Mars module and the outside world, the airlock plays a vital role.
During the exoplanetary exit, the airlock ensures that the air pressure inside the cabin is equal to that of the Martian atmosphere.
During entry, the airlock ensures that the cabin has normal atmospheric pressure.
These two points not only ensured the safety of the Mars capsule, but also the safety of the astronauts.
Andrew and Bruno, dressed in bulky silver-white spacesuits, exchanged a glance through their rounded glass visors.
The next moment, Andrew reached out and pressed a button on the control panel.
"drop!"
"Pressure equilibrium is being reached..."
"The pressure has been balanced!"
As the green light came on, Andrew crouched down slightly and grasped the outer gate leading to Mars at the end of the airlock.
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