"Check the crash location, see where the nearest satellite is, and turn the camera!" Liu Haibo remained calm in the face of danger, or it was not a danger at all. It can only be said that this is a small accident during space exploration. When exploring unknown areas, detector damage and even personal casualties are inevitable.
Just like in the process of human exploration of the ocean, there are still fewer damaged equipment and dead scientists! It's just not reported. Sometimes, in order to explore the sea areas surrounding their country, countries will order the use of military forces to explore, thus causing more casualties.
"The nearest satellite is No. 2, which mainly detects X-rays. Nanosatellites are known for their single but powerful functions, so they do not carry cameras." Lin Yun was a little helpless.
Liu Haibo said casually: "Then scan the X-ray fluctuations here. I don't believe there will be no traces left! This time we have planned an expedition and have a plan to land on Ceres! Therefore, for everyone's safety, no questions can be raised Relax.”
"Yes!"
Since the captain said this, Lin Yun no longer had the right to refuse; what's more, he was doing this for his own consideration.
However, by this time, several minutes have passed, and in this rapid space, it has lost its due value. It can only be detected that there are still debris from the original satellite. Based on the x-ray scan, it looks more like it was penetrated.
"It is possible that it encountered asteroid fragments, etc., and other satellites have not had problems for the time being. We are preparing to release nanosatellites of the same type to make up for the detection of nanosatellite No. 3." Lin Yun checked and checked for a long time before coming to a conclusion.
"Okay. Continue monitoring." Liu Haibo was not surprised by such a result, but he was still a little cautious because he could not see the real reason with his own eyes. This is the sky after all.
However, it is not incomprehensible. The initial velocity of the spacecraft carrying the nanosatellite, plus the ejection speed, is basically at a speed of thousands of kilometers per second. Relatively speaking, the asteroids and various interstellar debris here are very fast. Some are thirty or forty kilometers long, and some are only a few kilometers per second. Maybe this is very fast on the ground, but in space, it can only be regarded as slow. Not to mention, the asteroid belt often plays collision games, with large and small debris flying around here, many of which are not regular at all. Therefore, it is entirely possible for nanosatellites to collide with undetected debris.
In the asteroid belt, it can only be said that it is relatively open and safe in some cases; but it is not always safe. In fact, no space environment can be said to be absolutely safe.
The nanosatellites continued to transmit detected data back, and various computers in the spacecraft were running crazily. Astronomical data requires a lot of calculations. In many cases, in order to obtain accurate results, it can be accurate to dozens of decimal places. And some data itself is very large. Such as the speed of light, the mass of the sun, etc.
"Didi...Ceres was discovered! Didi...Ceres was discovered!"
The dull spaceship was detonated by this news.
Ceres is one of the main targets of this exploration. As the largest asteroid that has been discovered in the asteroid belt, it can even be classified as a dwarf planet - it is basically round, but does not clear the rest of the stars in the orbit. It has relative Stable orbit around the sun; Ceres is very representative and is the only dwarf planet in the asteroid belt that has been discovered.
Of course, this is not the point. The point is that Ceres is not only the largest body in the asteroid belt, but more importantly, it is said to have a lot of water and solid water on it. Some detectors have even discovered that Ceres has water vapor jets on its surface. Some are like comet-like jets of sublimation.
For Liu Haibo, who understands Zhang Jingyuan's crazy thoughts, having water is the most important thing. In fact, the most important point in detecting Ceres this time is to detect how much water there is on Ceres and whether there is liquid water. In addition, of course there is a question in the scientific community: whether there is other life in liquid water, even primitive single-cell life, or even simple life without cellular structure - such as viruses; of course some people say that viruses cannot It counts as life.
But in space exploration, the discovery of life beyond the earth, even viruses, is of extraordinary significance: this means that there should be life everywhere in the universe!
Faced with this exciting news, Liu Haibo immediately ordered: "Start to slow down, release the detector, and prepare to detect Ceres. In addition, the space shuttle is ready to land on Ceres."
The location of Ceres was discovered by accident at 100 million kilometers. Ceres is so big and is the focus of exploration, so it was discovered early.
"Received. Ceres' current speed is 16 kilometers per second, and its orbit radius is 412 million kilometers. It is falling back, and its speed is increasing slightly. It is 103 million kilometers away from us."
Liu Haibo: "Keep moving forward and start slowing down at a distance of 7 million kilometers from Ceres!"
"Received. Please be prepared. The spacecraft will begin to slow down in 28 hours. Please adjust your schedule and tidy up your room.
At that time, the spacecraft will reverse acceleration after flipping over, and the acceleration will still be 8 meters per second. The spaceship will enter a countdown in the last hour. ”
At the same time, the spacecraft also sent news to the ground that it was about to land on Ceres. But now the spacecraft is separated from the earth by just one sun, and the distance is about 500 million kilometers. It takes a full 7 hours for the signal to be transmitted back to the ground.
But now the spacecraft has a stable flight time of 28 hours, and there is still enough time to receive signals from the ground, including commands.
Fifteen hours after transmitting the signal, Liu Haibo indeed received the communication from the ground, but it was a large compressed packet. After unzipping, it turned out to be a series of pictures, blessings from their families on the ground. At the end, there is only one sentence: I wish you all peace, and put life first in all tasks.
"Everyone, take a look." Liu Haibo quietly transferred the picture to the host.
In this cold space, greetings and care from the ground are so precious. Due to current communication technology and other reasons, there is not much communication with the ground. Although the superstring communication device can contact the ground at almost any time, the cost is too high - millions of electricity per hour, which is a death-defying act in space. Maybe in the end, we will lose these millions of kilowatt-hours of electricity and die in space!
With the care from the ground, the pilots are more motivated...
27 hours...
"The spacecraft is about to slow down, please be prepared. The countdown begins now: 59 minutes and 55 seconds..." In space, the spacecraft is still traveling rapidly, but now, using the side thrust, it begins to slowly turn over in space. . This is just turning over, not changing the flight direction, so it is relatively easy. But such a turn over took a full three minutes.