Nguyen Lam was still concentrating on deceleration. After 15 minutes of the sun's gravitational influence, the spacecraft had a flight speed of 27 km/s, and Ruan Lin pressed it to a minimum during this time, with only 0.8 km/s speed attached.

Later, the Titan will be judged to be flying away from the sun and will begin to slow down. And Ruan Lin had to switch back and forth between acceleration and deceleration. It's like playing a flappy bird, sometimes high, sometimes low, but the result has to be stuck in between, which is a dilemma.

WIT conducted its own debriefing: "Dr. Nguyen, Mercury is closer to the Sun at this time, and the speed of its revolution has changed. The current rpm speed is 49.87 km/s, which is expected to change to 49.23 km/s at our closest approach to Mercury. I have attached a calculation condition based on the relativistic precession of Mercury's perihelion, and our speed cannot be reduced to 51.13 km/s. This velocity must be constant at a distance of 600,000 kilometers from Mercury. ”

Wit continued: "If the speed decreases below this value, we will continue to be pulled by the Sun next to us, and we will not be able to catch up with Mercury. At this time, the Titan will be like a person holding a rope in both hands, and it will be in a dilemma. Unless we do a gravitational slingshot orbit around the Sun and Venus. If we are above this value, we will be accelerated by the gravitational pull of the Sun at such a close distance by 0.09 km/s, that is, our speed will increase by 5.4 km/s every minute. The result is one of two options: go straight into the sun or spend a lot of time disengaged. ”

These reports of the WIT are based on the further refinement of Ruan Lin's calculations. When Ruan Lin consulted human data, he found an interesting point: the calculation of Mercury's rotation and revolution was recorded in the "Three Calendars" as early as 1800 years ago, and it was almost the same as modern measurements.

Ruan Lin has long been completely aware of the Titan's acceleration and deceleration laws. Time will take care of the rest.

At this time, Titan was less than 670,000 km away from Mercury. Ruan Lin began the final control speed: "WIT, check and calibrate the speed again, be sure to make sure it is correct!" ”

According to the calculation results of WIT, Ruan Lin has controlled the Titan at a constant 51.13km/s at this time. At its current speed, it would take another 3.64 hours to reach Mercury's gravitational range, followed by a gravitational slingshot to accelerate away.

The thrilling voyage soon came to an end. Although the exterior of the Titan is composed of titanium alloys with thermal insulation, in order to be on the safe side and maximize the acceleration of Mercury's gravitational slingshot, Ruan Lin decided to maneuver the Titan into an elliptical orbit 500km above the surface of Mercury. The elliptical orbit also protects Titan from the massive amount of heat reflected off Mercury's desolate surface.

To get into Mercury's orbit, Nguyen Lin would have to make several fuel orbit changes, which would slow down one more step until Mercury's gravitational pull overcomes the drag of the nearby sun.

Ruan Lin sighed: "It would be nice if Mercury was the same as Venus, the Titan could use atmospheric braking to slow down, and Mercury's atmosphere is too thin!" ”

If there is a probe that can record this from a distance, it can see a fly-sized vehicle flying towards the behemoth of the sun.

At this time, Titan was 70,000 km above the surface of Mercury. Although it took Ruan Lin less than a second to calculate the number of orbit changes and the acceleration and deceleration. But to use the gravitational slingshot, Titan must also fly to the far side of Mercury, which will continue to get closer to the Sun.

Even though Ruan Lin had almost unlimited computing power at this time, his life was at stake. Ruan Lin carefully manipulated the Titan, and a single mistake would have dragged the Titan into hell.

After 13 fuel orbit changes, Titan is now 500 km above Mercury's surface, almost without error from the previously calculated elliptical orbit altitude. The next step is to make the final acceleration with Mercury, the fastest orbiting planet.

Through the astronomical telescope, Ruan Lin observed this planet where ice and fire are blended: Mercury has a thin atmosphere and is too close to the sun, and the temperature in the equatorial region can reach 430 °C during the day and drop to -170 °C at night.

Its surface resembles that of the Moon, and because the atmosphere is as thin as it is there, it is full of craters left by collisions.

And these impacts also left a glimmer of light on Mercury: most of Mercury's surface is grayish-brown. The bright streaks dotted are called 'crater rays'.

At this time, Ruan Lin easily observed the largest basin on Mercury: the Carolis Basin. It is an impact basin formed by a meteorite impact with an area of nearly three million square kilometers, equivalent to the land area of India on Earth.

It is also one of the largest impact basins in the solar system and an explosive volcano. It resembles a bulging pustule on Mercury, which can be spotted even by the naked eye at this distance.

Nguyen Lin then observed an unusual light: it was the Eminescu crater, the edge of which was illuminated by a bright halo of matter, showing a golden reflection of light.

While flying to the acceleration phase of Mercury's orbit, Nguyen Lin saw the poor Courier, which was on a one-time 'kamikaze' mission. After taking its last photograph of the surface of Mercury, it crashed into the surface of Mercury at a speed of 3.9 km/s, causing a crater about 16 meters in diameter on the surface of Mercury.

Ruan Lin sighed and said, "Sleep here, friend." I'll do what none of you have been able to do. ”

With the help of Mercury's gravitational slingshot acceleration, it is about to enter the final step and find a suitable launch point to leave.

Ruan Lin felt extremely sorry that he did not observe the Parker on this trip. Next, it is up to me to carry your wishes and explore the outside world step by step.

Due to Mercury's small size, after Titan's 18-minute orbital flight, it was time for the final gravitational slingshot acceleration.

Ruan Lin is very familiar with this process, and has already calculated the angle of entry. Wait for the final all-out sprint.

Ruan Lin breathed a sigh of relief in his consciousness: "Wit, after we leave Mercury, the operation of the Titan is still up to you, this time it's okay to be in danger!" ”

"Okay, I'll continue to manipulate the Titan, and the rest of the computing power will continue to work with you to refine the big framework for controlled nuclear fusion." wit replied.

At this time, the Titan successfully broke away from Mercury's gravity. At this time, the acceleration is gradually rising, and Ruan Lin calculates that it will reach its peak in 7 minutes, and Titan will become the first spacecraft in human history to use Mercury for a gravitational slingshot! It was a risky and rewarding attempt: the Titan has now reached a peak speed of 108 km/s!

Titan is now 720 million km away from Jupiter, about 4.8 astronomical units. If nothing else is taken into account, it will take only 77 days to reach Jupiter at this rate!