Dead on Mars

“Airbags?” Mai Dong and Tang Yue nearly answered at the same time.

In the early Mars exploration missions, the engineers used a rather simple and crude solution to deal with the final stage of landing—the last tens of meters—by using airbags.

By wrapping the probe in an airbag, they allowed it to crash straight into the Martian surface and decrease its altitude and energy by repeated bounces. In essence, it was no different from the safety airbags in a car. It was ancient and simple, but rather reliable. After the probe was detached from its parachute, it would rapidly pump up an airbag, allowing itself to be wrapped in a protective ball.

Before a high-end Martian rover like Curiosity was put into use, many pioneers that headed to Mars had relied on such simple spherical airbags to protect themselves.

“Where do we get the airbag from?” Tang Yue asked.

The United Space Station didn’t have parachutes or airbags. With the Mars landing projects developing deep into the middle of the 21st century, primitive and highly limited landing methods such as decelerating airbags had long been eliminated. An airbag could only protect tiny and light landers. With landing missions carrying tens of tonnes, they required parachutes and reverse-thrust rockets.

“That’s something we should thank the Russian engineers for…” Tomcat said leisurely. “It turns out that they enjoy using inflatable cabins in their spacecraft and space stations.”

…

“Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, Goddard, Oberth, Korolev, Wernher von Braun, as well as NASA, CNSA, RSA, ESA, please receive a kowtow from me!” Tang Yue stood in the middle of the Hab looking all reverent as he gave a deep bow at the tablet on the table. “If you can hear me in heaven, please bless this landing mission with success. Your children and grandchildren are relying on you all.”

Tomcat glanced at the tablet with the first name being Konstantin Tsiolkovsky.

“By writing it that way, the elders won’t be able to read it in heaven,” Tomcat said with a curled tongue. “You should write КонстантинЦиолковский.”

“Go away. Mind your own business.” Tang Yue rolled his eyes. “We already agreed that we are leaving the science to you, and the metaphysics to me.”

“Do you know how to do divination?” Tomcat held up its head. “Try doing one.”

“I’ve done it.”

“How was it?”

“Fire on top, water below. The Wei Chi hexagram,” Tang Yue replied.

“What does that mean?” Tomcat shot him a glance.

Tang Yue was quite a talent in metaphysics. Not only did he know incantations, but he was also skilled at divination. If he hadn’t come to Mars, he might have been a charlatan going about scamming others. Tomcat had no idea how Tang Yue had such knowledge. According to Tang Yue, an old neighbor had taught him when he was young. The old man was skilled and said to have been consulted by members of high society for geomancy-related matters. He enjoyed eating cuttlefish, so people called him Immortal Cuttlefish. Tang Yue had often visited him with grilled squid.

Every time Tang Yue relegated such matters to the realm of absurdity, of superstition, Tang Yue would use the Russians as an example.

The Russians had gotten Russian Orthodox Church priests to bless the rockets.

” Wei Chi , or Before Completion is a hexagram that says to handle external forces properly, we must above all arrive at the correct standpoint ourselves. In other words, it’s nothing but a dangerous booby trap if not handled well.”

“Booby?” Tomcat was taken aback. “I’m being serious with you. What the hell are you thinking?”

“What the hell are you thinking? I’m talking about a booby trap. Booby! Booby! Do you know what that is?”

“I obviously know what that is.”

“You silly cat,” Tang Yue said. “Come, repeat after me! Booby—Trap—! Booby—! Get it?”

Tomcat suddenly shut up as its expression turned solemn before pointing to the table.

Tang Yue turned his head over.

Mai Dong had a cold expression. Perv!

…

“The divination says that it will be dangerous.” Tang Yue sighed. “The external forces are plenty and difficult to overcome.”

“That’s quite an accurate divination. Isn’t that exactly what we are facing? We are pushed into a corner with despair everywhere.” Tomcat placed its chin on the table as the workstation’s monitor flickered. It blue-screened once again as the case fans suddenly went silent. Tomcat kicked the table leg. “Damn it, there’s a segmentation fault again.

“It’s an ominous portent that says success won’t be obtained. I hope no problems happen during the landing.

“Metaphysics aren’t useful on Mars. Our ancestors tweaked such things for Earth. After all, the gods there aren’t the same gods here.” Tomcat restarted the workstation and switched the monitor off and on. “Let’s depend on science. Mathematics and physics are universal… Miss Mai Dong, are you ready?”

“OK, Mr. Cat,” Mai Dong replied. “I’ve given you full authority.”

“Good job.” Tomcat connected to the United Space Station’s computer, gaining full control over its systems. This was requested by Tomcat as it made Mai Dong follow the steps to expose the low-level code of the control system.

Thus, Tomcat could freely change the space station’s routines. If it so wished, it could even circumvent the astronaut’s commands and directly switch off the life support system. If it really did so, all living beings in the space station would cease living in five minutes.

“Miss Mai Dong, I’ve already connected to the United Space Station,” Tomcat alerted her. “From this moment forth, you shouldn’t randomly change the computer’s operational mode.”

“Got it.”

This was a necessary procedure. To allow Orion II to enter the atmosphere, Tomcat needed to completely change Orion’s flight program. This was equivalent to re-writing the low-level software for the spacecraft. During the design stage of Orion II, the engineers had never imagined letting it enter the atmosphere; therefore, the computer system lacked the necessary software to do so. Thankfully, there was sufficient redundancy in the hardware. Orion’s structure and engines allowed for Tomcat to write a new program.

To Tomcat, machine language was its mother tongue.

It needed to design a safe descent trajectory. In the past, such work was done by an entire group formed by many specialized teams. Due to the massive amount of work, the entire EDL process could be split into three segments—Entry, Descent, and Landing. Each segment was a topic worth researching. The problems involved were multifarious and complicated. It involved every piece of hardware on the spacecraft.

In addition to the software was the equally troublesome GNC system—Guidance, Navigation, and Control. These were the missions of the computer and sensors, and this also produced huge problems and theses.

The EDL system was responsible for a safe landing, while the GNC system was responsible for navigation. By working together, they would allow for a safe landing for Mai Dong.

In the past, this was probably a project collectively done by more than ten universities and research institutes, ranging from hardware to software. However, all of this was now placed on the shoulders of Tomcat alone.

After all, Tomcat was the Universe’s most impressive crosstalk master and programmer. Among crosstalkers, it was the best at programming, and in programming, it was the best at crosstalking.

It could drone on and on while typing out control code that allowed for a four-hundred-ton spacecraft to land on Mars.