After completing the daily communication with the earth, Pang Xuelin lay back in his place, leaned on a pillow, picked up the paper and pen on the side, and continued to calculate.

One of the two rovers became a bedroom for the two, and they spent half of their day in the rover. Most of the time, they can only lie down and close their eyes to recuperate, reduce consumption, and reduce carbon dioxide production.

Watney on the side saw that Pang Xuelin was still busy, and couldn't help but be a little curious: "Pang, hasn't the mathematical model you made already been handed over to Venkat and them, the results of the supercomputing simulation show that we have every chance to hold on until the supplies arrive." What do you do now? ”

Pang Xuelin said: "I'll make a backup rescue plan, just in case." ”

"Backup rescue plan?"

Watney was slightly stunned.

Pang Xuelin said: "Venkat and they originally planned to send us supplies in half a year by taking advantage of the Homan transfer window, but now the time is half a year in advance, I am worried that the task is so rushed, and there will be problems at that time, so I will make a backup rescue plan." ”

"Don't be a crow's mouth, if something really goes wrong, we'll be in big trouble!"

Watney was taken aback.

With so much to do on Mars, his heart can't stand the toss.

Pang Xuelin shrugged his shoulders and gave Watney a wry smile: "I don't want to do this either, but I have to be just in case!"

In the movie "The Martian", because the supply mission was too hasty, the final supply spacecraft exploded on the way to liftoff, and the ship was destroyed.

According to the urine nature of the system, there is a chance that there will be problems with this supply mission.

Therefore, Pang Xuelin is ready to refer to the final rescue plan in the movie and prepare a backup plan in advance.

……

221st Martian Day.

Earth, Florida, Cape Canaveral Kennedy Space Center.

This is a launch mission that has attracted global attention.

Project Ares Command will use NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) to deliver supply spacecraft to Mars.

The 165-ton low-Earth orbit (low-Earth orbit) and 38-ton Earth-to-Earth (38) superrocket is standing on the LC39A launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center.

1.5 kilometers away from the launch pad, thousands of visitors from all over the world crowd the viewing platform.

Behind the crowd, a beautiful girl wearing a CNN press card was talking to the camera lens.

"Audience friends, good afternoon, today we will bring you the 92nd launch mission of the SLS space launch system, according to the news we got from the front, this launch mission, will use the latest deep space cargo spacecraft, this spacecraft has an empty weight of about 15 tons, can send 20 tons of payload to the earth-fire transfer orbit. It is expected to fly for thirteen months, eventually entering orbit on Martian Day 585, followed by a soft landing on the plains of Ashidalia to resupply Pong and Watney. Fifteen minutes before the launch time, we will return to the studio and we will be with you later to witness this historic launch ......"

Kennedy Space Center Command and Control Room.

Venkat and Tian Mu stood on the sidelines, watching the engineers make the final preparations before launch.

Tian Mu said: "Karp, are you sure, this launch is too important, this is a rare launch window, once it fails, the next launch window will take at least a year and a half to reach Mars, Pang and Watney can't support it for that long at all." If Pong and Watney end up on Mars, it could have a devastating impact on the entire Ares project. ”

Venkat smiled bitterly: "I can't guarantee you!" This mission is too urgent, the original preparation time of at least half a year has been directly shortened to one month, the equipment test, the debugging and testing of the arrow ship have been cancelled, I can only say that everyone has done their best, whether they can successfully complete the supply task, it depends on whether God can bless Pang and Watney! ”

Vencarter, who has always considered himself an atheist, even made a rare cross on his chest at this time.

Tian Mu also sighed, he knew that Venkart was telling the truth, but for now, he could only hope that this launch could be successfully completed now!

The launch is in the final stages of preparation!

"I'm the flight commander, start checking the launch status!"

"Roger, the launch commander inspects all sites, the personnel are in place, and the system is ready!"

"Start pre-launch preparations!"

"Quadrature Amplitude Modulation 1."

"Get in place!"

"Quadrature Amplitude Modulation 2."

"Get in place!"

"Propulsion Engineer!"

"Get in place!"

"Power test operation!"

"Get in place!"

"Launch Weather Chief!"

"Get in place!"

"Air Force Logistics Chief!"

"Get in place!"

"Guidance Engineer!"

"Get in place!"

"Payload Test Command!"

"Get in place!"

"Rocket Launch Supervisor!"

"Get in place!"

"I'm the flight commander, ready to launch!"

"Start counting down, ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, ignition!"

A cloud of white smoke rose from the LC-39A launch pad, and the dazzling fire below the rocket could be faintly seen, and the SLS rocket erupted with a deafening roar and slowly flew away from the launch pad.

"The rocket is in good condition, the ship is in good condition!"

"Good balance!"

"The route is correct!"

"1000 above sea level!"

"1500 above sea level!"

"Pitch roll maneuver begins!"

The rocket began to turn slowly, and on the large screen in the center of the charge, it could be seen that the rocket flew very smoothly and everything was going smoothly.

Whoa—

There was a round of applause in the hall of the command center, and everyone stood up and cheered and embraced.

Venkat and Tian Mu looked at each other and smiled.

At this moment, an engineer's voice suddenly sounded in the command center: "The rocket has an abnormal tremor, air control!" ”

The originally relaxed atmosphere of the scene became tense again.

"The on-board guidance system has been taken over! There is a slight swing in the body of the arrow, which is controllable for the time being! ”

"Keep watching!"

Venkat and Tian Mu stared at the big screen tightly, feeling that their palms were sweating.

"3000 above sea level!"

"Pitch roll maneuver complete, 22 seconds later!"

"The tremors intensified!"

"The aircraft pulse signal is abnormal!"

"Ground telemetry showed a deviation of 200 meters from course."

On the big screen, the rocket's originally stable inclined flight began to deflect its trajectory, and then, parts continued to fall from the rocket, accompanied by a dazzling fire, and the SLS rocket and deep space cargo spacecraft worth hundreds of millions of dollars turned into a ball of flames and disappeared into the sky.

In the hall of the command and control center, everyone was like a duck choked by the neck, unable to say a word

Venkat and Tian Mu's faces were gloomy, and what they feared most had happened.

The Kennedy Space Center Observation Deck, which had been cheering before, also became silent.

……

Mars, Asidaria Plains.

Pang Xuelin and Watney were inside the roaming car, waiting for news from Earth.

"Pang, there shouldn't be any problem with this launch, right?"

Pang Xuelin smiled bitterly: "Watney, you have asked me three times, no matter whether there will be problems with this launch, I have a backup plan, you can rest assured!" ”

But apparently, such comfort did not help, and Watney was still uneasy!

At this time, the rover's computer screen suddenly lit up, and a line of words appeared on it.

[20:51] JPL: Xuelin, Watney, I'm sorry, the supply mission launch failed! The rocket had an abnormality and disintegrated during liftoff.

Sure enough, it happened.

Pang Xuelin sighed in his heart, quickly tapped the keyboard, and replied to the message.

[21:05] Rover: Roger, we are prepared for this outcome, this supply mission is too hasty, Watney and I can understand. During this time, we have also made corresponding plans, and I will send you a backup rescue plan for your reference later, and you can decide whether to adopt it or not!

After the input was completed, Pang Xuelin turned his head and made a helpless expression at Watney, who was in a stupor.

Watney showed a bitter smile on his face and said, "Pang, I didn't expect you to guess correctly!" F****ck！ ”

Pang Xuelin said: "Watney, we still have a plan, believe me, God is not so easy to take away our lives!" ”

……

Earth.

In the conference room of the Kennedy Space Command Center, Venkart sat in the conference room with several senior NASA officials, silent.

At this time, an official in charge of the launch mission said: "Preliminary investigation shows that this failure is due to the fact that the original lumpy protein supply in the supply materials melted due to the temperature rise in the spacecraft, causing the center of gravity of the ship and arrow to be unbalanced, and if we are fully prepared, we can completely avoid this problem!" ”

"What's the use of talking about this now, the most important thing is that we should find a way to get Pang and Watney home safely from Mars!"

Someone spoke up!

At this moment, the door of the conference room was suddenly pushed open, Tian Mu took a few documents, hurriedly walked in, and said to Venkart and several senior NASA officials present: "We still have a chance, I just communicated with Pang, and Pang proposed a highly feasible backup rescue plan!" ”

"Backup rescue plan?"

Everyone present was slightly stunned.

Tian Mu distributed the document that had just been printed out and was still filled with the fragrance of ink to everyone present, and said, "This document was just transmitted by Pang, and I just took a rough look at it. Pong's idea was that the Hermes spacecraft was now about 20 days away from Earth, and we could order Hermes to accelerate to Earth, and then use Earth's gravitational slingshot effect to re-accelerate and fly to Mars. When the Hermes meets Earth, we launch a supply spacecraft to dock with the Hermes, and then the Hermes completes the final replenishment mission! ”

"Genius idea!"

Venkart looked up, his eyes sparkling.

Tian Mu nodded and said: "This plan is indeed feasible, but there is one point, the Ares No. 3 task group has been away from the earth for three and a half years, and now there are still twenty days before they return to the earth, if we order them to speed up now, it means that they will at least extend the mission time by more than half, and once an uncontrollable accident occurs during this period, we will lose the entire Ares No. 3 task force!" ”

Venkat was silent for a moment and said, "I suggest that this plan be submitted to the joint meeting of the member countries of the Ares Plan, and the expert team of each country should discuss and decide on it!" ”

"I agree!"

"I agree!"

"I agree!"

The rest of the senior NASA officials in the conference room expressed their opinions.

Tian Mu frowned slightly, and glanced at Vencarter in some surprise.

In fact, at this time, the command could have given orders directly to the Hermes, and Venkart submitted it to the joint meeting of the members of the Ares program, apparently not wanting to take the risk.

Venkat seemed to understand Tian Mu's thoughts and glanced at him.

After the meeting, Tian Mu directly stopped Venkat and said, "Karp, what did you mean just now, we can give an order directly!" ”

Venkart laughed, pulled him aside, and said, "Tian, NASA can't take this kind of political risk that may push the Ares 3 mission team into danger, and it is the best choice to hand it over to the Ares Project Joint Conference for review!" ”

Tian Mu frowned and said, "But with the urine nature of the joint meeting, it is more likely to veto this plan!" ”

Venkart laughed and said, "I have a way to force the joint meeting to agree to this plan. ”

"What's the solution?"

Tian Muhu doubted.

Venkart smiled: "Later, we will go to the communication center, I will open an encrypted channel, and send Pang's plan to the Hermes by email, do you say that with Lewis and Sergey's personalities, they are like people who abandon their teammates?" When the time comes, the Hermes will take the initiative to accelerate, then the joint meeting of the Ares plan may have to pinch their noses and recognize this rescue plan! ”

Tian Mu's eyes couldn't help but light up, and he patted Venkart's shoulder and said, "Karp, I didn't see it, you guy is so cunning!" ”