Dr. Schmitz smiled and nodded, took another sip of coffee, and then sat down in his chair and said, "The Mars spacecraft are not built like the International Space Station. As you all know, the International Space Station (ISS) is an international cooperation program jointly promoted by six major international space agencies. The six space agencies are NASA, the Russian Federal Space Agency, the European Space Agency, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, the Canadian National Space Agency and the Brazilian Space Agency. There are also 16 countries or regional organizations involved in the program, so the ISS can be described as a hodgepodge! ”

"Although the interface standards of the various functional modules, cargo compartments and supply modules of the International Space Station are the same, in my opinion, the big guy can only be used as a near-Earth experiment platform, in fact, the big guy does only have such a single function. And the Mars spacecraft we want to build is different, because this spacecraft is specially designed for deep space exploration A real spacecraft that can carry out long-distance space shuttle, of course, the main purpose of this spacecraft is Mars, of course, if you want to go to the moon, with the function of this spacecraft is more than enough, therefore, as long as this Mars spacecraft can be successfully built, then we will have the world's first manned Mars exploration spacecraft! ”

Dr. Schmitz took out a picture of the same Mars spacecraft that Tang Feng showed Sam just now, pointed to the spacecraft on the pictorial and said: "The Mars spacecraft I designed has a total length of 147 meters, which is the same height as the Pyramid of Khufu, and from beginning to end it is the auxiliary ion engine functional module, the small nuclear power plant functional module, the cockpit is the core lunar spacecraft, the communication module, the backup fuel tank, the electronic equipment cabin, the living materials reserve cabin, the water and oxygen production cabin, the second main fuel tank, and the living materials reserve cabinOh yes, there are two storage compartments for living supplies on the spaceship, but they are not together, they are separate. After the second storage compartment is the fuel compartment of the nuclear reactor, and then the rotating body connected to the main spacecraft. After the rotating body. It is another small nuclear power plant functional compartment, then the first main fuel compartment, and finally the main ion engine functional compartment, which is also the location of the main engine of the entire spacecraft. ”

"These are the sixteen main compartments of the main ship, in the front section of the main ship, that is, the two wings of the electronic equipment compartment and the living goods warehouse. Each of the four folding solar panels will have the same power as the solar panels on the International Space Station, providing no less than 100 kilowatts of power to the spacecraft. But the solar panels generally don't turn on, because our spacecraft has two small nuclear reactors with a total power of 200 megawatts to provide enough power for the entire spacecraft. Solar panels are just a backup power generation device, and we are going to fly in deep space, and this necessary backup equipment is a must. ”

"The 16 functional and cargo compartments are all made of state-of-the-art aluminum-lithium alloys, which are about 40 percent lighter than the modules currently used on the International Space Station for the same volume and strength. So our cabins can be made bigger, and only when we have enough space will our astronauts be more comfortable on long-distance space flights. ”

"Of course, in addition to these cabins, there are also the necessary racks, manipulators, and communication antennas on the outside. These are the main building blocks of the main ship. In my design, the total mass of the main ship will be three hundred tons! A heavy launch vehicle would need to be lifted off at least eighteen times before it could deliver all the materials needed to build the main spacecraft to the intended orbit. ”

After a pause, Dr. Schmitz took another long sip of coffee and continued, "That's basically it for the main ship. Now let me tell you about our living compartment and other cabins that are located in the rim position. ”

"In this spaceship I designed, the compartment in the rim position was very important. Because in addition to normal driving and maintenance, astronauts spend most of their time in these twelve cabins. The rim chamber is composed of a total of twelve identical compartments, each with a diameter of 4.4 meters and a length of 38 meters, in an arc, each of which needs to be spliced together with four compartment components. These chambers are all made of aluminum-lithium alloy. Under the condition of ensuring strength, the weight of each compartment will reach 28 tons, that is, with the current GTO capacity of Star-1, it is not possible to transport all the components required for a cabin to the predetermined orbit in one transport. But there is no way around it. In order to ensure the health of astronauts, such a large functional compartment is indispensable. ”

Tang Feng interjected: "The rim cabin is the most important living area in this spacecraft, so no matter how much money is spent, we must build this rim cabin well, so that our astronauts can live in it more comfortably." ”

Dr. Schmitz nodded and said, "This is what Don has repeatedly requested, which is why I designed it this way." And these twelve cabins are connected to each other through the airtight door, usually the airtight door between these cabins is open, that is, astronauts can go to any of the rim compartments through the airtight door, but if any of the rim compartments leak or other accidents, the airtight door can be locked in the first time. This design is also considered to be beneficial to the health of astronauts. ”

"Of the 12 functional cabins, one of the special cabins is used as a galley and dining room, and our astronauts can cook cooked food in this cabin with electric heating, because there is gravity here, so there is no need to worry about accidents when cooking. There are also two cabins for the astronauts to sleep in, and one cabin for fitness and recreation, which allows our astronauts to enjoy the same treatment on the ship as they do on the ground. In addition, the remaining eight cabins, which I am ready to use to grow plants! ”

"Plants? Isn't it impossible to grow plants in space? Plants grown in weightlessness often undergo unpredictable changes! Sam asked.

Dr. Schmitz said with a smile: "That's the plants planted on the space station, don't forget, as long as our wheel cabin rotates, it will give the cabin a certain gravitational pull, so I will try to plant some plants in it, one is to produce oxygen for the spacecraft, and the other is to allow the astronauts to have fresh vegetables to eat, which will greatly reduce the probability of astronauts getting sick!" (To be continued.) )