"The length is eighty-eight meters, and the total length of the main truss and the engine is sixty-three meters, excluding the power system module."

"The mass of the power module is ten tons, accounting for 2.44% of the total mass of Orion II, and the total mass of the command main module is seventy tons, accounting for 17.11% of the total mass of Orion II, it is obvious that these masses can be reduced, and 80.44% of the mass of the entire spacecraft is concentrated on the power module."

The old cat paced back and forth in the hall of Kunlun Station, holding a model of the Orion spaceship in his hand, talking to himself.

"Old cat, the angle of attack has been calculated." Tang Yue dozed off on the table, woke up in a daze, and looked at the monitor, "The whole line is red!" ”

"Where's Bichong...... There is also the engine impulse data...... "The old cat turned around and frowned, "The whole line is red?" ”

Tang Yue wiped his saliva and nodded, "What do you mean?" What does this mean? Is it a good thing? ”

"It means it's blown up." The old cat leaned over and glanced at it, and sure enough, all the numbers on the display exploded, completely out of the normal range, "It means that if the Orion 2 spacecraft enters the atmosphere at a 20-degree angle of attack, then its No. 3 propellant tank will break away from the main truss, causing the oxidizer delivery pipeline to break, causing leakage, and finally causing an explosion...... Nine Raptor 10D engines exploded together. ”

"Oh, okay." Tang Yue grabbed his hair.

"Adjust the angle of attack, recalculate!"

The old cat instructed.

"How much?"

"For a second." The old cat said.

"A corner second?" Tang Yue asked, "Adjust to 19 degrees, 59 minutes and 59 seconds?" What's the difference between this and twenty degrees? ”

"There's no difference, but it's worth a try."

Tang Yue adjusted the parameters, and the workstation continued to work.

A few seconds later, a warning pop-up popped up.

“ERROR！”

"Dead again." Tang Yue silently restarted the process and entered the cleared parameters one by one.

During this period of time, the HP workstation has been continuously overloaded, although the old cat has a lot of complaints about its frequent burdens, but objectively speaking, this computer is indeed hard work, and the CPU comrades have given full play to the spirit of hard work, such as fluid dynamics orbital dynamics such complex calculations, often hundreds of parameters of simulation, without the help of the workstation, let Tang Yue use pen and paper to calculate, he can calculate until next year.

"Old cat, you have to be kind to the computer, it's not that it wants to die on purpose, it's the same root, why not be too anxious."

"You don't help it talk." The old cat pouted, "Cheap machine is hypocrisy." ”

·

·

·

“…… Three, two, one, engine shutdown. Mai Dong reported, "The Joint Space Station has entered the scheduled orbit. ”

"OK, Kunlun Station received." Old Cat and Tang Yue stared at the cursor on the monitor, and the latter successfully entered the orbit as planned, "Miss Mai Dong, you have successfully entered the orbit. ”

In a routine orbital adjustment, the Orion 2 spacecraft used its own engines to raise the United Space Station by six meters.

The Joint Space Station has to adjust its orbit every once in a while, but it is not powered by itself, and needs to rely on the Orion spacecraft to provide thrust to raise its altitude a little, sometimes this work is done by Orion One, sometimes by Orion II.

Mai Dong exhaled.

"Tang Yue, Mr. Cat, can you start disassembling the Orion spacecraft today?"

"Mai Dong, you rest first." Tang Yue said, "Eat something and wait for the sun to rise." ”

After the dismantling of the Eagle lander, Mai Dong's task will be even heavier, in order to ensure safe entry into the atmosphere, Orion 2 needs to dismantle all the power modules and main modules, shorten the length of the spacecraft, and reduce the weight of the spacecraft.

With a length of 25 meters, a sturdy metal truss, eight solar panels, and a supporting servo management mechanism, and a total width of 60 meters, it is the most conspicuous and massive part of the Orion spacecraft, but the mass is the lightest, only 10 tons.

The central main module is the center of the Orion-2 spacecraft, with a total length of 30 meters, a total of eight cabins, docking with each other, the volume is quite large, it is no different from the space station in terms of function, but in terms of use, the main module module of the Orion spacecraft is more focused on the life support of personnel, most of the supplies are stored here, and the United Space Station is responsible for the vast majority of scientific research tasks.

Modular design is the mainstream of today's spacecraft development direction, and the Mars program has set off a new round of space technology development, one of which is the standardized universal interface, which is used to dock between Orion and the space station's cabin.

After the entry into service of the Orion spacecraft, the boundaries between the spacecraft and the space station became more and more blurred, and any compartment on the Orion spacecraft could be dismantled and incorporated into the space station, and the expansion of the space station was as easy as building blocks.

"Which part to dismantle first?" Mai Dong asked, "Dismantle the solar panels?" Or is it a module for the main module? ”

"First dismantle the cabin section of the central main module, and then dismantle the power module, but don't worry, this thing is still quite troublesome, especially the power module, I haven't thought of any absolutely safe way." The old cat replied, "Let's take it one step at a time. ”

The power module is a 25-meter-long, ten-ton behemoth that can smash an entire space station if it is not handled properly.

The modular modification of the Orion spacecraft, while it may sound like building blocks, is actually a demolition of a building – large, heavy, time-consuming, laborious and dangerous.

The United Space Station does not have the conditions to disassemble the truss, Mai Dong lacks the necessary tools and facilities, and the power module is simply composed of trusses and battery panels, which is basically a skeleton mechanical mechanism, and the super arm on the United Space Station is helpless for this kind of thing that has no interface, after all, the latter is not a real claw, and it cannot be grabbed like chopsticks.

The Earth space station is the dock of the Orion spacecraft, and all repair and dismantling work should be carried out in Earth orbit, and the new ISS has specially built a set of fixed frames and towing cables to deal with the more than 80-meter-long trusses, which can be constructed in weightless low-earth orbit and safely operated these dangerous large iron shelves.

"There are eight modules in the central main module, how many need to be removed?"

The eight compartments of the main module are located in the middle of the main truss of Orion, the most important of which is the command module, where the ship's system computer is located, which is the core of Orion.

The other seven modules are crew modules, including the living module and the material storage module, flying from Earth to Mars, even if it takes more than three months to take the fastest high-thrust transfer orbit, and the materials on board the Orion spacecraft must be enough to live a team of six.

"Except for the command module, all other cabins are unloaded." "But they can't be discarded, we have to pick out the flexible inflatable compartment and use it as a cushion for the final landing." ”

"How do you use the inflatable cabin as an airbag?" Tang Yue asked, "I remember that the previous probes used to inflate the airbags quickly at a height of 100 meters above the ground, and these cabins can also do the same?" Do we have an air pump? ”

"Of course not." The old cat shook his head, "We don't have an air pump. ”

"You want to tie the inflated compartment directly to the lander and then enter the atmosphere?"

"That's right."

"Holy, you're going to make the Eagle ship jump off with a few big balloons strapped to it? Those balloons won't be blown up? Won't be blown away? ”

In Tang Yue's concept, the airbag inflation is the last step, and when the distance from the ground is less than 100 meters, the buffer airbag is reinflated.

But the old cat didn't think so, and it was ready to let the lander fly down with a balloon strapped to it.

"Tie it tightly, we can handle this kind of thing like Orion vertical landing, what is it to tie a few balloons?" The old cat is very calm, "Life and death are downbeat, and if you don't accept it, you will do it." ”8)