The old cat and Tang Yue sat in front of the computer for a full six hours, until the sun set outside and the dark star curtain climbed up, and one person and one cat did not dare to take a breath during these six hours, although the attitude adjustment of the space station was an extremely slow work, Tang Yue could not even see the reduction of the angle with the naked eye, but this was actually the most urgent life-and-death crisis that the joint space station had faced since its establishment.

In these six hours, the United Space Station orbited Mars nearly seven times, and Mai Dong was finally able to set the sun in the center of the porthole - three axes are needed to stabilize the station's attitude, the first X-axis has been stabilized, and the next step is to solve the roll in the Z-axis plane.

"It's troublesome...... the old cat's two paws hung on the keyboard, but he just didn't press it down, "The degree of freedom of SPT276 is too small, and the thrust direction cannot completely coincide with the rolling direction, and there will be excess sub-speed." ”

Tang Yue stared at the space station on the monitor, in general, the joint space station after the impact was in an extremely complex state of motion, Orion almost cut the space station in half, the latter's center of mass has undoubtedly changed dramatically - the trouble is that the old cat still lacks effective detection means, it can only fumble to adjust the thrust of the engine.

"How much propellant is left in SPT276?" The old cat asked.

"Twenty-seven percent."

"We may not be able to fully stabilize the attitude of the space station." The old cat sighed, "As far as the current situation is concerned, without adding other disturbances, we can reduce the rolling speed of the space station to three degrees per second at most—this is already the optimal solution." ”

The SPT276 electric rocket will be turned on again, which will be its last mission, and after stabilizing the attitude of the space station as much as possible, SPT276 will completely run out of working fluid and end its historical mission. It was born in the precision workshop of Kawasaki Heavy Industries, followed the Hayabusa III probe launched by an H3A rocket at Tanegashima Space Center, and set foot in the asteroid belt two kilometers away, and its journey was four billion kilometers before finally resting on the Mars United Space Station.

Sunlight shone in through the porthole, which was probably the only thing in the entire crystal capsule that remained relatively stationary with Mai Dong, everything else was slowly turning, and the bits and pieces floating in the capsule had been put away by the girl, fixed in the bulkhead and storage box, and they rolled along with the space station.

There is no physical contact between Mai Dong and the core module, she can keep the same direction as the Sun and Mars, but then there is a relative movement between her and the space station, Mai Dong let out a soft breath, the water vapor condensed on the glass mask, and the bulkhead of the core module slowly swept over her head.

The current temperature in the core module is -11 degrees Celsius.

After the destruction of the OGS, the oxygen and fresh water circulation failed, as well as the temperature control system, and the temperature in the crystal module began to drop sharply after entering the far side of Mars, and only rose slightly back to the sunny side.

She took a small sip of water from her straw and moistened her dry throat.

The remaining three litres of fresh water are all in the suit's water bag, and there are two sets of in-cabin suits, each containing 1.5 litres of fresh water.

Even more scarce than water is food.

Mai Dong only has two compressed biscuits in her hands, and the reason why these two biscuits survived is because of Mai Dong's work habits, a while ago she worked tirelessly to modify the Orion spacecraft, often carrying a wrench screwdriver and biscuits with her, and then developed a habit of always carrying food in her pocket and a piece in one pocket.

The two fortune cookies escaped with Mai Dong, and its compatriots had already been scattered in the vast depths.

Tang Yue...... Can you hear me? ”

The instrument panel of the emergency communication system passed in front of Mai Dong's eyes, the only red indicator light was flashing, once a second, the old cat's deceleration was effective, and the flipping speed of the space station was obviously slowing down.

"Huh? Girl? I'm here. ”

"Is the space station still saved?" Mai Dong's tone was calm, "If you can't save it......"

"Yes, yes, yes! Rest assured, there is absolutely one! The space station is definitely still alive, and we are about to control the attitude of the space station! Tang Yue hurriedly interrupted her, "Tianzhou 37 is on its way!" As long as you hold on, it will be able to carry you safely! You have to believe in the party and the people! ”

"Every time you make me believe in the party and the people." Mai Dong smiled faintly, "But there is not even a party branch here." ”

"I'm going to develop the old cat into a party member now!" Tang Yue said, "In this way, we have a party branch, and the organization has studied and decided on a rescue method!" The lifeboat is coming soon! Tianzhou 37 is coming soon! ”

"But it won't be there in twenty days." Mai Dong said, "I only have three liters of water and two biscuits in my hands, and I can't last until then." ”

"Let's make it accelerate! We can let the Tianzhou 37 ignite the engine and rush over as fast as possible! Tang Yue's voice sounded very calm, "Did you say it...... Old cats? The branch secretary asks you, let the Tianzhou 37 cargo spacecraft start the rocket engine, and hurry up! ”

"I've already asked Tianzhou 37 to start the engine." The old cat took off his headphones and replied in a low voice, "The estimated arrival time is two hundred and fifty-one hours later, that is, ten days later." ”

"Make it a little faster! The girl only had three liters of water left and two biscuits. Tang Yue's face was hideous, and he stayed away from the microphone so as not to be heard by Mai Dong, "Except for the fuel used for landing thrust reversers, all the other propellants are used for me!" ”

If he hadn't deliberately lowered his voice, he would have almost shouted.

"You don't need to remind me of this!" The old cat replied in the same tone, "But how much propellant you spend to speed up, how much propellant you have to spend to slow down!" Otherwise, don't say landing, you won't even be able to complete the orbit! Ten days is already the limit, and if it is shortened, it will not be captured by the gravity of Mars, and it will pass by Mars, and then it will be really finished. ”

The old cat's eyes were fierce and his hair was fried, as if he had met a stray dog who wanted to steal cat food from him.

Tang Yue and the old cat stared at each other for a long time, the two sides finally took a step back, no matter how much they quarreled, it would be useless, no matter which side won the quarrel, it had no effect on the result, Tang Yue was dizzy, the old cat was right, Tianzhou 37 could not accelerate indefinitely, and enough fuel must be set aside to slow down into orbit.

Tang Yue pressed his forehead and sat down on the chair, "Girl, there are still ten days, as long as you hold on for another ten days, Tianzhou 37 will be able to arrive, although there is a bit of a lack of food and fresh water, it will be a little difficult...... But you have to have faith. ”

"Hmm."

"In addition to food and fresh water, the bigger problem is the orbit of the space station." The old cat interjected, "The explosion and impact of the Orion propellant tank have caused the orbit of the space station to be drastically reduced, and this is the most fatal, and it won't be long before the Mars joint space station crashes into the atmosphere." ”

"How much longer?" Mai Dong asked.

"It's hard to estimate, I don't have detailed orbital data from the space station right now, and I can't calculate it accurately." The old cat replied, "What's more, the situation of the space station itself is not stable, many structures are on the verge of disintegration, and based on the current situation, the remaining life of the joint space station should be seven days......

Seven days?

Tang Yue's heart shrank suddenly.

The old cat stared at the computer monitor and finally added.

“…… to eleven days. ”